walks are so relaxing!

 took the pups on a lovely walk today.  we walk every day. the high energy pups keep me from slacking off.  Blossom has gotten less demanding as time has gone on..i think some times i'm the one pushing her to keep walking.  dogs for sure have that fear of missing out syndrome.  these are from a trek out North Bivouac. i went out there again today.

 these fun filled mushroom days excite me.  i should try to hit a few other of my favorite mushroom spots these next days off.  the month is passing so fast.  soon it will be winter.

 blustery out there today so loads of fall leaves on the ground around these mushrooms now.

 had a pleasant night in ER last night...well except trying to give report to one nurse up in PCU...

 i have a hard time containing my annoyance some times...well often times i guess.  some folks are just so neurotic and detail oriented. i have never really been that sort.

 in the old days of paper charting i remember i'd figured out how to tell the most crazy nurses by how they documented on the medication record.  a normal person gives a med and tends to document the time given to the 1/2 hour or maybe 15 minute mark...a neurotic nurse will write the exact time....like if we both gave a med at 10:34, i'd write 10:30 and the crazy nurse would write 10:34.

 you will have to bear with more and more mushroom pictures..but i'll flip back and forth between other pictures from other summer fun.

 it seems like it's been a rainy August. i like rain overall.  gotta try and get the lawn mowed again. with all that rain it really grows fast.  with 3 dogs i really have to keep up on all the lawn piles too.

 Tusker seems to be healing well post neuter.

 these are all fungi...such crazy variety!!

 just got a message response from over a year ago from a person we met up in Barrow.  hehe.... she was super nice so i'm happy she responded...better late than never, right.

 this week the pups are starting to get into actually fetching the tennis ball.  they aren't too ball crazy, but seem to take turns fetching and returning.  they are dropping the ball pretty well, how much of this have they just learned from watching Blossom and i interact?  Blossom does seem to be content to allow them to fetch the toy the bulk of the time.  occasionally she'll just take a turn and carry it.

 went out moose spotting in the afternoon. we had success. it was good as well because the pups have been barking...another new discovery...at moose so it was an opportunity to start to teach them to not bark at moose.  so funny that their barks sound just like Blossom.

 have these little flashes of missing Pogi....today i realized that i had set his ashes right in the window sill where he liked to sit.  i'd see him there as i drove out of my driveway.

 the night before at work was a bit nuts.  they decided to give me a patient to transfer out so that they could have me do Peat...Peat is the nurse that wanders around the hospital in an attempt to prevent medical crisis.  an early intervention team of sorts.  i had been oriented to it several years ago now when i joined the float pool.  i didn't like it

 now i remember why.  for me it's stressful feeling this responsibility for an entire hospital of people.  how can i prevent something bad from happening to all those people.

 a person had been moved from the ICU earlier and the day Peat nurse had told me she was getting them moved from where they had been moved to another higher acuity unit.  i figured i'd start there and expedite that move.  didn't like her breathing status, but i checked back a few times in the short time i was Peat that night.  her breathing worsened and when i got there it seemed a bit of a cluster...

 i was probably a bit too non-reactive appearing..of course, i'm the person who appeared totally calm when a grizzly bear had just attempted to enter a car i was in...i could tell that a few folks there were looking at me to get all worked up about what they were worked up about.  not sure i was take charge enough, who knows.  we got her moved back over to ICU where my night as Peat nurse ended and i became ICU nurse again.

 that is the other thing i don't like about Peat. my night was all crazy...i'd rather just come in, get an assignment and go with that instead of being whipped around like i was.  so i got her and then i got a trauma from ER, then in the wee hours i had to take the trauma back to CT.  thankfully, i have wonderful co-workers who helped me get through the night.

 several super nice co-workers who boosted me up.  when i made my rounds as Peat i made sure and mentioned that i was not a full on Peat nurse but that i would do the best i could to help them out where i could.

 in one way i was happy that i was thrust back into the position for a night. it reminded me why i was happy to drop it from my list of duties in the Resource pool. i'm flexible enough i think.

 my cute Blossom

 in ER last night they were going to put me in the more critical area for the bulk of the night.  i actually got it switched.  after the crazy night i'd had the night before i really just wanted a more brainless regular ER assignment.  one of the charges down there worked Peds with me and i think she tends to put me in the more acute area...i suspect she thinks i'll enjoy it more.  i'd rather just do 4 hour stints there..i get enough excitement.  after you've worked icu for so many years, well, i've had plenty of excitement.  haha.

 my adorable furs.

 so many things i haven't gotten to this summer.  boo...it's almost over too.  won't be time.  hopefully we do get a nice road trip in to Byers cabin and then across the Denali Highway. i will be tight on time that week.  will have to try and figure that out.  hmm....

 love the purple in these shelf fungi.  so pretty

 the Olympics is over..so sad. always fun to watch what i can of it.  i'm not into the opening/closing ceremonies really though i do enjoy the openings parade of athletes.  that is always cool

 a whole article on the crazy mushroom year we are having complete with pictures....just noticed it now...it looks like above may be Trichaptum.

 talking about how all our rain is the cause of all these lovely mushrooms.

 my neighbors were quietly knocking on my door tonight, they are painting and wanted to know if i had any leftover paint so they could match it since we are connected homes.  the first thing that came to mind when i heard the knocking was a random and bizarre sexual assault.  a guy appears to have randomly knocked on a door and when the lady came to the door he found a way to ask questions i'm guessing to figure out if she was home alone.  he assaulted her.  i was sneaking around trying to get to my peep hole to see who it was.

 so happy i put that peep hole in...i know it can also be used to look  in at my place too, but i like having the option.

puppies are tired tonight. i have been trying to encourage them into this tennis ball fetching stuff and decreasing the wrestling.  seems healthier.don't want them to associate being off leash with only wrestling. an American woman won the wrestling gold by the way..very cool!!

 read and heard a few reports done about how male/female athletes are covered/spoken of differently in the Olympics and obviously in sports in general.  it is an interesting occurrence that you kind of brush past until you are really paying attention.  it is kind of funny.

 men are referred to as men and women are often referred to as girls.  there were many comments regarding very tall volleyball players and how difficult it must be to find boyfriends being so tall.

 there was a swimmer from Asia can't recall where but it was noted that she was just open about being on her period and how that impacted her swim.

 it is interesting once you start paying more attention to how males/females are talked about during the events.

 starting to get some sales for our reusable WARIS bags. want to try and contact Shutterfly and see if they have better deals on the bags and shipping before i order any more. shipping is a rip off with them i find..worth asking the question.

 the bags are super light so cheap to ship.  we should get a few off in the mail to some donors this week.

 they had a live chat with the rangers who are back in Anchorage now.  i was sleeping during the live chat but was able to watch after the fact.  always fun. posted it to our facebook pages.

 these are some iphone snaps by my niece CPB when she was up here visiting with her beau and kids.  pretty sure these are all hers...i have some iphone pics from her trip up as well, i'm sure some will end up getting mixed together.

 the kids had a great time with the pups and the pups, of course, loved the kids too.

 we found some snow for the kids to enjoy...looks like they did.  haha

 snuggle time with Tusker.

 they are already bigger than these from just under a month ago i think

 we had a great time...need more relatives to visit.  :-)  it gets me out

 i actually took this with her phone...thought it came out super cute.

grateful for:  A.  surviving the busy nights at work and all the help from wonderful co-workers B.  the creativity and variety of this world we live in.  it's always clear to me that if there was a God who had a hand in making it that God really loved this earth....it would have been just as easy to make one model of butterflies or mushrooms or flowers or birds...but we have all this variety..to me that must means we have a greater responsibility to protect that which was so obviously loved.  C.  the details in all that we are surrounded by...if you walk in the woods look for all the details, don't just look at the big picture...you will miss a great many amazing things. night...