conception control-ramblings in the wee hours

 as i watch the Republican Party seeming to implode this past year i am often of the mind that a new party should come in.  my new party would be called the Rationalist Party.  i believe, i hope, i delusional feel that most of us average American citizens are actually rational people.  we see the world as grey, i think this part would also probably cater and draw in a middle class constituency.

 as i ponder the values of my newly formed make believe party one issue came up...my mind is always on, unless i'm sleeping and even then i'll wake up with crap smoldering through my brain.

 i'm thinking we should rename Birth Control to Conception control.  seems silly on the onset i guess, but it has always seemed better to prevent the conception of children than to prevent the birth of said children.

 i think most rational folks agree that abortion is a nasty business that we should avoid.  i am not for removing the option, just feel we should do everything we can to help folks not get to the point of having to consider the option.

 had another idea for our overcrowded prisons.  non-violent criminals could be offered an out by joining a prison detachment to the military.  always seems wrong that those who break the law get a pass on dying in a war zone while those who have clear records risk their lives.  perhaps, we could give these folks a chance to redeem themselves and have a new start in life.  any illegal activities while in this prison detachment would come with removal from the detachment, being put back in prison and having a 50% addition added to your original time.  so if you were given 3 years and chose the prison military route you would then have to return and serve a total of 4.5 years.

 more violent leaning criminals that have a hope of rehabilitation could possible be put in a service detachment...sent to parts around the globe that need volunteer service.  again, if any criminal activities they would be returned to prison to an additional 50% added time to original.

 Rational Party members would be for term limits, perhaps a flat tax across the board with none of these loop holes that allow the wealthiest to get out of paying taxes while the middle class gets stuck with the bill.  my sister and i were actually discussing this.  we have very different views on many things but we both seem to see that there are some areas of compromise or some areas where we do agree...now we didn't discuss my conception control plan.

 no idea how new political parties form in our government...just have a loose feeling that one needs to form.

 the Rationalists would be for protecting the environment but also be willing to negotiate as we do understand that our natural resources are useful. some balance between utilizing those resources and protecting them is in order.

 it seems that folks use to trust their employers to care for them overall.  i fear that these big companies have too many selfish, greedy folks running them.  they need to be reigned in.  it seemed i was raised with a dislike of unions, but i have come to understand that they were formed due to the fact that these big companies were not taking care of their employees fairly. i have found this in my own career

 when i lived in Ketchikan it became known to me that a newly hired new grad was hired on a newer pay scale. so someone with much less experience than me was hired almost at my wage.  armed with this new knowledge i called around to various hospitals in Alaska.  i spoke to the HR at these places, explained my experience, years and such and asked what my starting wage would be....i then called my own hospitals HR under a different name of course, and asked what my starting wage would be with my experience.

 it was a full $2/hr more than what i was making.  i'd only been there about 3 years, imagine those that had been there 10-20 years.  you were hired at a much lower wage, got raises but that percent slowly rose and didn't keep up at all with the current wages.  these were never adjusted.

 being the outspoken person i am, i went right to the director of nursing.  i'm sure i could have battled for more money since as it turns out, within 24 hours i was cut a check and had a raise and a promise that the company would look into this injustice.  they never did and a few years later, the nurses unionized.  this was in large part due to this wage descrepancy. i recall sitting with several nurses of varied experience at a restaurant.  each wrote down their years of experience and their hourly wage...it wasn't good.

 the long hikes i think i'll take each day have not happened.  the trek to Homer..a no go.  have gotten my steps in and the dogs are happy.

 yesterday i started room one major clean up. great to go through all the stuff in the kitchen and get rid of outdated stuff and re-organize.  doing my spring cleaning a bit late, but that is okay.

 Rationalists wouldn't have total set rules since we would be open to discussion.  things change in our world better to not be trapped with this belief of that belief when science or society may alter how we view those beliefs.

 i just often have felt that our two major parties tend to work for those who are more extreme on either side and the average person doesn't feel they have a place.

 these are from this years first Monday walk.

 as you can see, Blossom found some mud.

 thankfully,the puppies have not taken to laying down in every puddle.

 Ivy has early class today.  i should probably get off this dang computer and rest another 30 minutes.

 woke with aches. i got my flu shot and i always feel tired and sore after i get the thing.  my arm is super sore and it didn't help that right after i started walking yesterday i toppled over after i tripped on a rock that was sticking out prominently.

 i landed squarely on the site of my shot.  ouch!!

 so far the puppies have not directly tripped me up.  i suspect though that minding 3 dogs on the trail makes me less aware of my own footing and i've taken a fall a bit more than normal. i am a shuffler...need to remember to pick up my feet when i walk.

 these are on the airstrip the other day.  we crossed over to avoid this moose

 puppies with moose across the airstrip. no barking this day...we are working on that. they feel the need to bark.  we had a meeting with a horse on last weeks monday walk.  they are still working on greetings but we are improving on our puppy skills bit by bit.

 anyway...those are some ramblings on the new party, The Rationalist Party.  any ideas, thoughts are welcome.  :-)  of course, this is just an imaginary party at this point.  clearly, this election will not be impacted by our new party and we will just have to suffer the next 4 years no matter what happens in this election i fear.

grateful for:  A.  ibuprofen  B.  snuggling puppies  C.  chocolate

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