how long does it take a soul to leave a hospital bed?

 often in hospitals rooms are a premium.  one of my patients passed away in the wee hours the other night.  all went fine with it.  i'd called family in and so they were there with the patient. was thinking i'm like one of those cats in a nursing home.  i have a sense of these things i guess.

 after there was talk of another patient who was waiting in the ER for a bed.  personally, i feel like it's respectful to give the soul a few hours to clear out of the room.  should there be some sort of ceremony or blessing?  no idea.  just seems odd to just toss another person in a bed that held someone who had passed...i guess the question is how long would you want to have that bed unoccupied before you occupied it if you were a patient?

 ran in to our spiritual care guy the next night.  he seemed to agree that it would be at least respectful to be able to not rush the process to replace a new patient.

 i deal with death often as a nurse.  i remember being a patient for several days and laying in that hospital bed wondering how many people had passed away in that very bed.

 people seem the most grateful to you in that time of life that is death.  our culture isn't really very good at death often... mostly just unfamiliar and scared i think.  you end up being a bit of a guide some times. helping folks to know what to expect and how they can be most helpful for their loved ones.

 haven't worked at too many hospitals but nobody has ever checked in  with me or asked how i was doing after a death..especially those pediatric deaths. i recall not too long ago a peds patient has passed and they sent the nurse home...i can assure you that has never happened to me.  mostly they are wanting me to expedite the process and get on to another new patient.

 i held them off this week after this death and i have done that in the past as well.

 got my flu shot this morning.  i'm always achy and tired after i get it. overall, i will say i've had less brutal cold bugs since i've started getting them.  i'm not keen on shots though.

 woke late today so figured i'd bag on Homer.  hit the dog park again and then headed to Point Woronzof to watch the sunset.  they are getting earlier.

 there was a tug and barge out there, always makes it nice.

 saw 6 moose on my drive but it was getting a bit dark for any decent photo ops

 saw moose every day on the way home from work too.  no pics of those either.

 the eagle above was at the dog park.  lots of little dogs chill there....better hang on to them.

 my pups are big enough i don't need to worry about eagles anymore.  i do worry about bears and moose though. the pups are wanting to bark at big stuff.  we haven't met a bear, which i'm fine with but they do need to learn to not bark at the moose.

 we practiced as we drove around this evening.

 did quite a bit of raking this afternoon before we walked as well.  the garden sorts say leave the leaves...but i have 3 dogs loads of leaves in the yard make it tough to find the dog poops.  was putting the hose away but first we did have some hose play time.  Ivy was cracking me up.

 lots of folks out watching the sunset tonight.  supposed to be good northern lights chances tonight.  i've peeked out the back yard a few times.  haven't seen them yet.  good clear night though.

 cruised over to Lake Hood for the remnants of the sunset with planes

 thought they turned out fairly cool.

 hadn't grabbed my big camera..oh well.

 got on call one night but was called back in by 9 i think.  ER, then RCU and then i started 3rd night in ER, precepting a new hold nurse. i jokingly told my "waiting in the ER too long Patients" that i was a bit of a room genie of late.  when i come do holds the patients that will never get a room that night, get them. within a half hour they were all getting rooms and eventually i had no patients. off to ICU to work.

 very jealous of all the remodeling going on around me in the neighborhood...i want to remodel!!

 i've got to stop procrastinating and start really figuring out what i can do, what i want to do and all that stuff.

 pups seem pretty beat. that dog park is great for wearing out puppies.

 i raked up 5 bags of leaves...still more out there but that was enough for one day. still need to put the patio furniture away.  want to do a good cleaning out of the house as well.  maybe toss stuff out front with free signs.  place feels so crazy and cluttered right now. should watch a few episodes of hoarders, that usually inspires me to trash stuff.

 it is sad and surprising how much crap accumulates in a place.

 came home to the destroyed retractable leash.  so that is 2 of these lost this summer. i think i must have dropped one on a trail somewhere.  hopefully all the bits pass through...hope they just scattered the bits and don't swallow but i think Tusker does swallow some of this stuff.

 a beloved petrified tennis ball.

 this week when i returned home from work there was frost all over and the outside water bowls for the dogs are frozen.  not through, but there is a frozen layer on the top.

 the early bits of the sunset seen from the dog park at U-Lake.

 these are cell phone shots from tonight

 the light really was bright on Ivy for a bit.

 my hands feel puffy. strange. too much hard labor.  really should hire this out and claim i'm too delicate for hard labor in the yard.  anyone want to come do all my yard work...kind of scared of my weed whacker. it's a serious machine.

 caught this splashdown of the tennis ball.  and one of the pups jumping in the foreground.  haha.

thankful for:  A.  soft warm bed.  B. dog parks C.  yard work..despite whining about it, it does feel good to get some of it done