snow is falling...beautiful night!!

 i always enjoy the snow falling.  so gentle and quiet.  i also like the sound of rain..but this time of year...i prefer snow.  above and a few others in here are just me having fun with this app on my ipad.

 some of these may be duplicates from before.  phone shots.  above is myself as i was headed off to work.  not sure why i took it...but it does show my shorter hair.

 i'm pretty sure i've used this one before...but that dog is so dang adorable i don't mind a repeat.

 3 nights of work worked.  one in the adult icu and the next two in the ER.  you do occasionally work with some questionable characters in this job.  nothing like seeing prison tats and swaztikas on your patients body....nice.  Nursing means looking past the body art that is offensive and the personalities that are offensive.  Nursing means letting it go when you are offended by the sexual comments and the attempts at groping. Nursing means you care for those who are drunk and high and homeless.

 nurses in general are super nice and sweet people but we also can be found to use humor to cope with some of the stuff we have to deal with.  it gets you by.  you share the crap and try and laugh at it all.  nurses often have the sickest senses of humor and tell some great stories.  some would probably be offended by what we say and how we view things in our world.  so often you will find that nurses tend to hang out a lot with other nurses.  we get each other...we've been in the trenches.

 above is Lake Hood and below was a moose that passed right in front of my loaner car...so near there is probably fur on the grill.

Me...probably 3 years old.

 one patient this stretch was telling me how lovely my breasts were as i was leaned over putting in his iv...no place to run...just had to let him have his little free show i guess.  not much was showing believe me...but the crap that these guys spit out at you.  i'm sure it happens more times than i can remember. you just roll on it and move on.

 we don't change too many people in this life.  you can hope, you can give kindness but 9 times out of 10 the alcoholic keeps drinking, the drug addict keeps getting high, the smoker keeps smoking and the severely obese keep eating large and unhealthy quantities of food. we all live hoping that this person or that person is the success story..the 10th person who turns their life around.  sometimes it happens.

 i try my best to be as kind, respectful and non-judgemental as i can...i pray for these things...along with patience and that i don't screw anything up too badly every time i go to work.  it's a frustrating job some days, especially those days when you end up with too many of those patients that will just be back to the same as soon as they leave.  we had one guy swearing and yelling.  he was homeless and was clearly hoping that by faking some ailment he could get a warm place to sleep for a bit, food and a shower.  there are no good answers to these issues and it's clear this is happening in every ER across the nation and in every hospital.

 had a sad case in the ICU.  good people...sometimes bad luck just is unavoidable in medicine.  you do nothing wrong, you are healthy overall, but your body has some issue that strikes when you least expect it...the consequences can be dire.  grateful to our men in the service for the good that they do and for the kindness they extended to one of their own this week.  i'm tearing up just thinking of it now. we sometimes see the worst of the worst in this job but we also see the best of the best.  when you tie it all together it's a rewarding job.

 i'm grateful that i am a nurse.  when i went into nursing i had no idea how it would change me and make me a better human but it has, it really has.  i am much kinder, much more compassionate and understanding, less judgemental and more appreciative of all that i have been gifted with.

 not much sleep today as i had a list of stuff to get to.  hit dog park with Blossom but i wish i'd had cleats as it was just one big ice sheet.  we chilled in the main section of the park and just enjoyed the other humans and dogs.  Rio stayed home though she was not staying without a bit of a fight.  she seemed determined to get out for a walk . way to slick for her though.  her back legs are not working all that well on dry land, it's even worse with ice.  her usual extra meal of cottage cheese and bits of hot dog were refused.  i had to warm up some cooked salmon and add that to the mix.

 these looked like bear scratches on the tree trunk.  impressive

 headed to Target to get a baby shower gift....i realize that i've been aware of this baby shower for nearly a month and just got to getting the gift an hour or so before heading over.  i've been bad about making baby quilts...may still get to it for this friend.  she's now my boss as well.  excited for her new adventure as a mom.  fun to be at the shower with several of my co-workers and the babies that you hear about, that you watched carried over the months at work.  in general it seems nurses are pretty protective of their pregnant nurse co-workers.  you work very closely with folks...kind of like being in the thick of a sort of battle together.  it binds you and bonds you.

 the party was nice, the table of snacks was impressive.  one of the hosts had asked me for a few of my pictures as the theme for her baby's room will be woodland critters.  so i had supplied a few pics for her to blow up and frame and then give to the expectant Mother.  she'd made appetizers to mimic the photo's.  so there was a bright mushroom and one of the porcupine pics below.  i think i took some decent pics with my phone i'll have to post them to share later.  fun to see a few of your pics prominently displayed on this impressive table setting.

 guess we had a little 4.something quake while i was running around at work.  was pretty busy in the ICU that night.  the serviceman noticed it and then other patients or their families mentioned it as well.

 strange Mormon news.  facebook was abuzz with it.  seems like the church has been working hard to not come off as so awful to the gay community and then...they just are back mired in it.  they are now seeming to try and soften the negative again.  if your parents are gay and you are a kid who wants to be Mormon, you will be required to wait until you are 18 and no longer living with your gay parents in order to be baptized.

 Mormons usually perform baptisms on kids at the age of 8 or above.  i think they are attempting to prevent getting mired into battles with parents of these kids.  my niece posted the church's response, their attempt to fix the mess created by this news.  i made a few comments but didn't want to escalate the thing much.  sometimes you just feel like...do some people forget that everyone doesn't think just the same as they do.

 there are gay mormons out there.  not sure why they would stick with it, but then i'm still surprised that there are black mormons too.  i know they came out with some video to try and explain the past views of the church. i haven't seen it.  i just remember what i was given to understand as a kid in the church...God had turned blacks that color as some sort of punishment.  not sure what circumstances i heard this  but it wasn't just once or twice.  it seemed to be common knowledge growing up Mormon. the details of this...i have no recollection. it just seemed strange at the time and still seems odd.  Black males were not allowed to hold the priesthood until sometime in the 1970's.  they could be Mormon but not full fledged members in that the priesthood was withheld. there are gay mormons out there but i really don't know how often it comes up that kids of gay parents wish to get baptized.

 probably would be wiser to just make a blanket rule that nobody under 18 will be allowed to be baptized Mormon until they are 18 unless they have the consent of both parents, unless one is dead or had given up parental rights, then just one parent.  seems like respecting parents to raise their kids in the spiritual or lack of spiritual way they desire should just be across the board, then you would offend less people.

 it was interesting after i had my records removed from the Mormon church i got a letter from the main church headquarters telling me my baptism was revoked.  i was like, whatever...but i must tell you, my other friends who are Christians in many other churches were often upset to hear this and found it shocking that the church would revoke my baptism.  in their minds if you were baptized that was more between you and God and not really related to a certain denomination.  they often seem to try and reassure me that nobody can revoke a baptism like that.

 sins of the fathers not being placed on the child came to my mind as did the picture i have in my mind of Jesus beckoning the children to come to him.  this ruling does no doubt cause some pain to many out there.  children love their parents, they are all they know.  just seems like this will cause them more pain as they have to wrestle with choosing between the church and the parents who raised them. it wasn't put out as a revelation .  i don't know....the further out i am from this church and organized religions in general the more baffling these things are to me.

 in my opinion too often the religions are more corporations than worship.  entrenched in politics, spending money on political issues...i feel some stiffer rules must be laid out and tax exemptions should be questioned more for many of these organizations.  way too much blurring of the lines.  if you want to fight political issues separate it from the church and individual members are welcome to start their own battle not related to the church itself.

 was doing some sand writing a bit back. i was actually working on my calendar for 2016.

 watched the Jeff Corwin episode for Ocean Mysteries i think it's called on Round Island.  nothing can be bad about highlighting one of my favorite places...obviously dear to me.

 it was a bit sad when he just mentioned the Sealife Center and Georgia Aquarium as contributors. not that i expected a shout out for WARIS on the show.   i did shout out myself as i watched it though.  several other zoos/aquariums and the Annenberg Foundation (via Explore.org) were also involved.  i spoke to the Director at the Sealife Center several times and i really feel like i helped her to understand the value of having staff out there in those conversations and emails and i know she also read the articles i'd written in the paper. the first article was really well received.  i'm the squeaky wheel...in the end i'm just thrilled that it got the funding last year and that things are looking good for next year.

 Rio enjoying a day on the beach..okay.  hard to tell if she is actually enjoying the beach or just exhausted from the walk down to the beach.  the vet seemed surprised that i had walked her that far.  i think she is nuts about Rio.  she clearly likes Rio more than Blossom.

 this just reminded me of something.  when i took Rio in and she was sick, the vet sent the tech in to give Rio sq fluids.  as the tech was giving the fluids in the room she was getting and sending texts and even answered a phone call.  really....you are on the clock...put that dang thing down.  at the very least she should have stepped out to take a call.  when you are at work the phone should stay on silent or vibrate and never be taken out of your pocket in front of a client.  these phones are ridiculous sometimes

 how could my vet not adore this beautiful pup!!

 not much snow coming down right now.  our weather forecasters were talking 8-10 inches...big storm.  i think these weather forecasters have become drama forecasters. they are rarely right.  we were laughing at work that we should have become weather forecasters.  you can say whatever crap you want and it really doesn't matter if you are wrong.

 Rio does look thrilled.  not sure she really needs to go walking anymore. she is pretty weak in those hindquarters.  she is back to wanting to follow me up and down the stairs.  goofball.  haha. of course, she is no longer confident enough to do this task on her own so she starts to just whine out. it's so pathetic and really quite loud.  i am adored i guess and for that i should be happy.  i'm not adored much...except by drunk and disgusting perv types.

 they were showing some of Downton Abbey this week between shifts so i was sneaking in some shows...always enjoy that show. i think i've not seen the last season or so.  will have to catch up and see what has happened at the abbey

 enjoyed dinner with friends tonight.  always great to get together and laugh and eat good eats.

 sad story this week... a caregiver at an assisted living facility was killed this week by one of her patients.  he got mad and strangled her to death.  she'd been a caregiver in one way or another for over 25 years.  reminds you how dangerous a job this is at times. especially for all those folks in these little alfs...often alone with several patients.  not everyone is willing to put themselves in that position.  it's a tough job but it shouldn't be deadly.

 headline.."paul ryan says he won't work with Obama on immigration reform" i'm shocked...!!  really.  that seems like a waste of space in a paper. did people believe that he would?

 these are some moose that were chilling by the airport one day.

 i was out moosespotting.

 never tire of moose.

 this porcupine was up a tree in Kincaid.  OMG his little face is so adorable!!!!  all you think about is the prickly spines...they are pretty dang cute though.

 one of the girls at the shower today was showing me pics of her little 2 year old standing and this porcupine was chilling some 20 feet behind them. he was thrilled!!

 i caused several other cars to pull over and jump out for a look.

 this was the picture that was on the table at the party today.

grateful :A.  adorable animals, they come in all shapes and sizes  B.  that life is not stagnant. that we can all evolve and grow C.  for being a nurse