It's been a long long time.

      It has been so long since I have written in this journal.   I used to write every day and visit everyone's blogs, slowly just stopped.  So I decided to start again.  I will be writing bout my fur babies, as usually posting more photos since it some what of an addiction with me, something to calm the restless soul.

   I am still overweight, have met my goals, gained it back to many times to count.  Now that I have hit the 60's I can't seem to get into the same mindset of losing.  Just trying my best to stay healthy.  Haven't achieved wealthy or wise, but am getting by.

    Still having the usual structural  problems with my bones and will finally be getting back to work after a  long 10 weeks off.  Wow.  Never been off work this long.  Still struggling with recurrent skin cancer, but that doesn't freak me out anymore either, it is what it is.   I did do a poster for my skin cancer group I am proud of.  So, have you used your sun screen and covered up today?  I am so lucky I have not have the extent of many of this group, yet.

   Piper is all grown up.  She will be 2 next month, so hard to believe how fast the time goes.  She has been a joy, she is a happy, silly little cuddle bug.  A sturdy little hunter of bugs and terrorizer of Hoss and Xena.  Of course she is spoiled, but she is worth it.

 

  Hoss is his usual handsome self.  6 years old now but isn't showing his age at all.  He is a big loving dog who loves everyone and everything, except baths and getting his nails done.  We have been honored and pleased to share his life.

 

 

Xena is still a brat, breaks my expensive things, wakes me up in the wee hours to get fed, has puking down to a fine art.  She is also affectionate, sweet and great pals with Piper, but loves Hoss best.

 

  And we have a new furbaby, Amelia, a labradoodle who is a real sweetie. It will be fun to watch her grow into those huge feet.  We are thinking she might be in the 60 to 70's when grown.  She is a real mellow puppy, not like hyper Piper at all.  

 

           So that is about all for now.  I won't be talking politics anymore.   I give up.  Too depressing.  Just photos, rambling and more, as usual.

 

 
Although this article wasn't written by me it is the life I, along with most nurses live and is a great article to share with anyone thinking of becoming a nurse.  I wouldn't change my career for anything because I would rather spend my life helping, rather then hurting, people any day.


14 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Nurse
1. Your schedule sounds great on paper, but it's way more work than it looks like. People swear nurses have the best schedule ever. For most nurses in hospitals, it's advertised as just three days a week for 12 hours. But when you factor in the time it takes for you to report on your patients to the oncoming nurse and vice versa (not to mention your commute), your day looks a lot more like 15 hours — and it starts before the sun comes up. Oh, and three days a week? Hilarious! Be prepared to regularly receive calls at 5 a.m. begging you to come in on your "day off" because the team is short-staffed. And you'll go in, because you were begging people yesterday for the same.
2. Being a nurse is not only medical care. It's being a patient advocate, a waitress, housekeeper, electrician, technology expert, mediator between families and doctors and families and families. You will be shocked by how many times a day someone asks you what channel NBC is or to reheat their food while you get them the Wi-Fi password. And if you thought illness brings families together, think again: I've seen everything from siblings who haven't spoken in years fighting over their mother's treatment to divorced parents that need assigned visiting hours because they can't be at the hospital at the same time.
3. If you don't have a good memory, you better come up with a system to help you remember everything. You need to remember more than anyone else — the doctors you work with will count on you to have answers about all your patients, including every disease process, every medication and time it needs to be administered, lab results, vital signs, urine output, lab schedule, and all new orders for the day. Be prepared to write down every single thing that you do.
4. Mistakes happen. Your first mistake is the worst, but they never get easier. You will never forget them and never make them again. If the mistake you made doesn't have immediate ramifications, you'll constantly worry about it until you're positive everything is OK with the patient. Medication errors are the hardest mistakes to cope with. You 100 percent will cry (just when you are alone, in a closet where no one can see you).
5. Nursing school will never prepare you for your first or 20th or last death. I've seen more deaths than I can count now. You will wish someone told you what to say to the mother who's showing you videos of their dying child before she got sick. You also wish someone told you what it was like for the 80-year-old man to tell you he's ready to go because he's lived a long full life. Each death affects you in a different way.
6. If you don't have a sick sense of humor already, you will develop one quickly. You will joke about anything and everything you've seen. Anyone else who heard your conversations with your coworkers would probably think you are terrible people, but it's truly a helpful a coping mechanism. You need one to be able to go on with your day and help all your patients even though you're so stressed.
7. You'll be on the phone even more than you were when you were a teenager. I wish someone told me how much time you spend on the phone with other departments in the hospital to get things accomplished. Pharmacy, laboratory, central supply, respiratory, social work, nutrition, case management: plan to call them each day multiple times. Start practicing your nice phone voice now, because impatience will get you nowhere.
8. Your body will hurt. Your body will age quickly. Standing and walking for 12-plus hours, holding your bladder, lifting patients who weigh more than 250 pounds: these are just a few of the physical feats you'll do each day. Many nurses develop back problems, so learn to use proper body mechanics early and buy a great heating pad. Crossfit has nothing on you.
9. You will get calls, texts, pictures, and emails from all your friends and family asking you for medical advice. People will always want to tell you a story about their health, like you don't see this all day, every single day. It can get annoying, but you love these people, so you will try to find them answers. If I get a text like this at work, I get the entire team of nurses evaluating your problem.
10. You'll feel underpaid, but nursing is one career that does offer extra opportunities for more money. We should be paid more money for our base work, as we monitor our patients more closely than anyone else. And while unfortunately you don't have a ton of control over your base salary, nursing is one career where you can always make extra cash by picking up more shifts at night, on the weekend, or overtime.
11. You may not always work five days a week, but you'll still miss out on a lot of your social life. No matter how many times you explain your schedule to your friends and family, they still won't understand why you have to work on weekends and holidays. Be prepared to miss birthday parties, holidays, beach weekends, happy hours, and more.
12. Your coworkers will truly feel like family. You will grow closer to the people you work with faster than any other friend or significant other you've met; you love them and you hate them, just like "real" family. You now celebrate holidays with them. They understand your stress and love of work more than anyone else in your life.
13. Eat breakfast on your commute, because it may be the only meal you get to eat all day. Some days you walk in and you may not leave just one patient's room for three or four hours depending on how sick he or she is. I can't count the number of lunch breaks I've missed or the grab-and-go lunches I've stuffed in my mouth — I highly recommend learning how to eat a lunch in two minutes.
14. Make sure this is really what you want to do. This is a very thankless, underappreciated job. You do this every day for yourself alone, so your heart has to be in it. You will have the biggest love-hate relationship with your career; while people in many industries feel this way, lives literally depend on you. There are days you leave work and you cry your whole ride home after the death of a patient you grew close with, but there are also days you walk out tall and proud of your job because you helped save someone's life. So on your hardest, most frustrating days, try to remember the good ones, because those make you the best nurse.

written by, Allyson is an R.N. at a hospital in Washington, D.C.

5 Months old already

    It has been 5 months today since Piper was born.    She has turned into quite the fun addition to our family.   She is a wild hyper litter girl at times and a cuddly lap puppy.   In the morning she gets up and goes out and then her lap of choice is the ole guys.   He plays pogo and she sleeps on his lap for another couple of hours.   Then for play she comes to me.  I throw, she runs and brings it back, over and over.   So much energy.

  We have been doing puppy classes.  Slowly she is learning.  She has sit, down, stay, and shake pretty good.  But come and walking nicely with the other puppies.   She pulls, barks, spins and slides all over the floors.   She is the most hyper puppy in the class, oh goody.

   She is finally potty trained.  Hopefully, or we are trained on taking her out the very second she even looks like she is looking for someplace to go.   He also got her first haircut.  She was a very wild haired puppy before.

 

We got it cut because it was tangling so bad.  Everything stuck in it.  Now she is much lighter.  She was very good when she had her haircut, no hyper madness for them.   I hope it take awhile to grown out because getting your dog groomed is expensive it turns out.   I have also never had a dog that needed grooming.  All big dogs, all short hair.   Now little dog, lots of wiry hair.  I may give it a shot myself but I have a feeling she won't sit as nice for me.  She does love her baths though.

  I tried this new soap for dogs.  Chubbs bars.  They are wonderful.   They lather up so well and wash out easily.  Piper looks so clean and smells so good.   I highly recommend it.  It seems expensive but the bars last a long time.

 

  Piper has been teething.  You can see her nice new not as sharp teeth sticking out.   Thank goodness.  My skin is so thin and I have scars all over from her playing.  Now it is just her nails.  Terrible breath though.  Hopefully that will get better.  She looks like she is going to get a underbite like her daddy the pug.   

  Now that her hair is cut she is lighter and looks kindof puggish.  Her tail is more curly then when she was little and her snout is pug, but not as flat and she shouldn't have the breathing problems of a pug.  She is just a nice combo of both.  Alert, friendly, but barks, active, inquisitive, snoopy, playful, hyper.  That is Piper.

 

    Poor Hoss.   He is a lazy guy.  Likes to sleep late in the morning.  Go out, come back in and sleep.  Go for a walk in the afternoon, and then back home to sleep some more.   The puppy however could go all day without sleeping.  She wants to play with her brother.  Hoss set the ground rules down pretty quickly.  He will play, when he is good and ready, and not in morning, and not for a long time, but he will play.   And he is so gentle with her. She climbs all over him like a little gnat.  On his head, she chews on his ears, she runs circles around him and goes under his legs, once biting him on his you know what and then spinning away madly before he could react.  When Hoss has had enough he will either pin her to the ground or give a special leave me alone brat growl and she has learned to stop.

   Poor Xena though.  She is almost bald from stress licking.   The puppy is now larger then her.   We are training her not to but she chases the cat constantly.   Sometimes Xena wants her to play but most of the time not.   Xena is bent out of shape by the puppy.   Every time I brush the dogs, the cat all of a sudden wants to be brushed and if the puppy comes she lashes out like a wild cat.  Puppy sleeping on my lap, Xena comes and pushes her way in and if the puppy moves at all she slashes at her and hisses which causes the puppy to go nuts which in turn turns into a dog and cat fight on my lap.  Not fun.

   So this is my update on the Piper.  13 pounds of fun.  In 4 weeks she will get spayed.  That should be fun, and by the summer she will be grown.   Hopefully trained to not chase the cat so the cat can grow some hair back. 

Our new Addition, Piper

      Piper was born on July 30 2014.    Her mom is a Miniature Schnauzer and her dad is a Pug.

   Piper is Schnug.

   Piper was the runt of a litter of 5.  I think that taught her to be scrappy.  She is a little terror.  The first couple days she was a sweet little cuddle bug, now she is all teeth and wiggle.  I had forgotten the puppy teething, oh man, my thin old skin is taking a beating until we get her trained.

   Her first visit she weighed 2.4 pounds and was 12.5 inches long, easy to carry in one hand.  Tomorrow is her 2nd vet visit and I know she has changed a lot.

 

She is a lot shaggier, her body fits her head better and she is not a clumsy as she was.  She rips around like a maniac.   I couldn't catch her if she got loose.  We are still working on come.

   The first week home Xena stalked her relentlessly.   We had to watch her carefully so she didn't become a extra snack for the cat.

Xena may look sweet but she is a terror in her own right.   Hoss didn't care for the puppy either.  The puppy snaps at him and leaps at his face and ears.   Hoss gives a loud growl and vacates to higher ground where the puppy can't reach him.  But he also is getting used to her.  Hopefully when the puppy isn't so hyper they all get along well.  Hopefully.

We were all so spoiled by Zoey.  Potty training was a breeze and I don't remember her being biting so much.  Granted in was a decade and more ago but I remember her being a perfect puppy and so easy to train.   Piper has not been as easy.  Maybe because she is so small.  I have never had a small dog.   Trying to teach sit and down and trying to gently press down on her little backside results in sharp teeth and she thinks a new game.   Her little head is to close to her backside and our hands.  Frankly, even though it is fun to watch her playing I will be happier when she is older.

  We will be starting puppy classes next month.  They are on a Monday so I can actually go.  She needs to learn manners.   So far all we have been doing is taking her all over getting her used to noises and people.  I can't let her walk on the trails yet until all her shots are complete which is a bummer.  I know that would help wear her out trying to keep up with Hoss.

   Hoss has been such a good dog.  So mellow and easy to care for and a joy.   Xena is still a total brat but shows some signs that she is calming down.   I put soft tips on her to protect the puppies eyes and they are coming to a understanding.  Plus Xena is welling to play with the puppy.   Hoss has a very short play span, then he is a lazy dog most the time.  perfect for us old folks.

   Piper was so small I couldn't find a coat for her and fall morning and evenings are cool.  Youtube showed a video on how to make coats from socks.  So starting with my size socks we made her on.   Then she got bigger and we switched to one of Ricks.

 

  On really cold mornings I use this as the bottom layer and then put her coat which is still  too large on her.

  That has been keeping her body warm but her poor little paws get really cold.  I have been thinking about premie socks.  I want to get her used to wearing booties early since she has such hairy feet everything sticks to them.  I have pulled so many stickers out of her paws that she is getting touchy about me messing with her paws, don't want that, don't want another dog I can't clip nails on.

  Any way, she has been fun and challenge and keeps me very very busy.  She is a cutie.

   And the shot that really makes me happy, all worn out.

What a year

 It has been over a year since our dear Zoey died. 

  Over a year that the evil cat Xena joined our family and almost a year since Hoss joined our family.  Oh what a year.

   Xena is a little terror.   Her nickname is last cat.  She rules her little kingdom with an iron paw.  Her wishes must be met or she goes on a rampage.   She wants to be fed at 6 am.   I want to sleep until 7.  8 would be good.   We have learned to sleep with our bedroom door shut.   At 6 am I hear her outside the door meowing.  Softly at first and then louder and louder.  In her past life she must have been a banshee.  Her wailing would wake the dead.  She keeps that up for around 10 minutes and if she doesn't hear us stirring she starts to hurl her 9 and half pounds at the door.   The noise she makes sounds like she has gained 30 pounds.  Solid wood doors, she is sure she can break them down.   I put the pillow over my head and groan.  Morning has broken..........

   The rule is she doesn't get fed until 8 am.  We refuse to let her train us to get up early and feed her royal pain in the butt.    For that hour she causes havoc.  Every time you go into the kitchen for coffee she races ahead, jumps on the table and snags you with a needy paw.   Feed me she whimpers.  I so hungry.........  When you leave the kitchen she races ahead of you and goes straight to the sofa where she starts agressively scratching the fabric.  Knock it off you say.  So she jumps to a shelf and starts to slowly push your fragile items closer to the edge.  Looking at you the entire time, pat, stare, pat pat, stare.  Daring us to stop her.  Her pupils large and black, the tip of her evil tail whipping.   Start to stand up and she leaps off to jump on the couch and purring loudly she climbs on your lap and rubs her little head on your hand.  You start to pet her and she bites you!  Not enough to break you skin, just enough to remind you what she is capable of if you don't feed her soon.

   You break in and get the food, her madly weaving in and out of your ankles.  Like she hasn't eaten for a month.   Meowing loudly the entire time.  Yes, I knew I could convince you to feed me early.  Triumph in her voice.  You put the bowl down.  She leaps at it and eats 3 tiny pieces.  Then walks away.  It was never about the food, it is about the power, of bending us to her will.  She wins.  Every time.

    This is the sweet starving kitten we rescued.   Evil ruler of our home.  Prone to weird habits and mannerisms Destined to drive us crazy.   Give her a house full of toys,  not good enough, she will pick pieces of Hoss's food out of the dish and bat it around the kitchen like mad until it ends up under the fridge or stove.  There is proabably a bags worth of food.   She will get her poo out of her litter box and pat that around, thus training me to clean her litter box each and every time she goes.

    When we first rescued her she purred all the time.  So sweet and affectionate.  Tiny little ball of sweetness and love.  Now she is 20 claws and teeth of terror.  What happened?   But,  she is the hunter of every spider and cricket that finds it way into our house.  She will spend hours stalking them and then, like the true monster she is, she will torture them for as long as she is amused and then send them to death.  I must admit to liking not having any crickets or spiders anymore.   

   So this is life with our rescue cat Xena.  Her Royal Highness pain in butt part of our family.  She awes me.

   Hoss on the other hand is the opposite.   He is a fawn colored lazy laid back goofball.  Also a creature of habit he sleeps in until 9 or 10.  He goes to bed at 9.  He naps off and on around 7 hours.  Imagine getting that much sleep.  Then he slowly gets up off whatever bed he decided to claim that night and comes into the living room.  There he stretches, rolls, scratches his back, stretches again and exhausted naps in that spot for another hour.  Then out for a leisurely walk around the yard.  First he has to stop in the doorway and lookout.  Checking for rain, which he won't go out in,  letting the cool air out in the summer and cold air in in the winter.  Standing there looking out, and looking out, and looking out.   I think he might have fallen asleep on his feet.  Hoss, come on snapping him out of his zoned out place and finally he will move.

   As usual I am always and forever trying to stay fit and active.  It gets harder and harder the older I get.  Walking Zoey you kept up a brisk pace.  Until the last few months when she was sick she was always a fast walker and could walk for miles.   Hoss.  Cold weather bothers him, hot weather bothers him, he is a trembling lump of shaking fur in a thunderstorm. 

    When we walk, being a male dog, we go 10 steps, he stops, smells and pees.  Another 10 steps, repeat.  On and on.  But not for long.  If we get a mile in it has been a good perfect day.  Usually it is about a half mile.   He goes slower and slower until I feel like I am leading a horse.  Him dragging behind me.  Slow plodding steps, only broken when people pass, then he sits.  And if I stop to talk to someone he takes that moment to lay down.  And if the person looks interested in petting him he rolls over making his tummy available.  He has never met anyone he doesn't like and will stop and roll for a tummy rub no matter where we are.

   Being so sweet and laid back we get to take him into the pet stores and out and about because nothing makes him happier then people fussing over him.  He especially loves children.   All my grandkids were here this summer and he was a happy dog.  Every morning he greeted each and everyone of them with a face licking and a boxer wiggle, his butt going a mile a minute.  Then when he could get away with it he would be a lap dog.

  Out weighing my granddaughter by 27 pounds is of no concern to him.  He thinks he is a lap dog.  His favorite perch in on one of our laps.

   2 things he loves.  Riding in the car and going into the stores.  Rick and my granddaughter were at Safeway shopping.   They heard a commotion and looking to the front the store saw one of the employees with a big dog.   Hoss!  He had figured out how to open the hatch of the van and decided to come in shopping with everyone else.  He found the cheese isle right away.  Now when he rides he is hooked on a leash tied to the bench seat.  He just can't understand why everyplace wouldn't welcome him.

   In the almost year we have had him I have heard him bark maybe 5 times.  I have never seen him so any aggression.  I have never convinced him that water isn't his enemy.  I bought him a pool, he wants nothing to do with, play with the hose!  He acts like I am beating him.  Try to get him in the tub for a bath, he becomes a 80 pound block of cement.  Unmovable.  Which is how Hoss handles anything he doesn't want to do.  Doesn't want to come in the house, lay down and don't move.  In your spot on the couch, big lump you have to physically pull off the cough.  Doesn't want to leave the pet store where all the kids are petting him, lay down and make us drag him by his collar out of the store or pick his big body up and carry him out to the laughter of the kids and employees.  What a ham.

   My new job is going well.   We have days when we run ourselves ragged and days when we only see a few patients.  I love it though.  Except working so often.   We are a small unit.  I work most days and  pick up extra.  I miss my long stretch off.  But, this is so much easier on my ole bod.   I am happy with it.

  So that's it, the kids were here all summer, they were angels, the pets are pets and I am still fat and sassy.  Another year..

More on my war on the insect.

   Ok, this won't kill the 8 legged monsters, but they do vacate the premises pretty darn quick.

3 cups water
1 tsp dish soap
1 tsp pepperment oil

   Mix all in a spray bottle and mist around all your windows and doors where spiders lurk.   In the basement I sprayed it right on their webs.   4 days later still no spiders to be seen.  Don't spray on carpet as it is oil.  And the plus side, safe for pets and smells goods.

Homemade Ant poison

   Every Spring I get these little black ants in my kitchen.   Hate those little buggers.  So I googled homemade ant poison and got this recipe.

Homemade Ant Killer

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons borax

Directions:

1
Place all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil (while stirring).
2
Boil for 3 minutes.
3
Using the plastic lids from milk containers place it in the effected room or outside where the ants are.
4
They will find the sticky liquid no matter where it is placed.
5
The ants eat this and then take it back to their nest.
6
Before long there will be no more ants as this mixture will kill them.
7
Store remainder in clearly labeled container with "Do NOT Eat" so no one mistakes this for syrup as this is poisonous. Keep this away from pets!

   I made this 2 days ago and set it out.   The first day there was a steady stream of ants going to the bait and taking off.  By the very next day............ not a single ant.  They take the bait and go to their nests.  Hopefully every single one has met a untimely death.  Sorry ants.  Not in my house.  I suggest making only 1/4 of the recipe since it is so effective and you don't need much.