Tick's

  
   I hate these little buggers.  Do they really serve a purpose in the world?  For the last 2 nights, thanks to the dogs laying on my bed I have woke up feeling ticks crawling on me.  2 last night, 2 the night before.  I am so glad sometimes that I am a light sleeper and feel them rather then wake up and have them attached.  Ugh.

    I started back to work 2 nights ago after being off for 10 weeks with a extensor tendon repair and removal of hardware from my wrist.  It has been going good but by the end of the night my wrist is pretty sore and swollen.  Hopefully that gets better soon.   I had to wear that lovely brace for 9 weeks.  I added the glove because it was driving me crazy pinching and hot.

   We had a nice good old sky blasting thunderstorm last night and got a much needed inch and a half of rain.  Anything that cuts down on the dust makes me happy.

      Momma deer had her babies, twins.  Unfortunately on must not have made it because for the last week I have only seen one of the baby.  I really like this doe, not skittish and lets me get lots of photos.  Just what I need, more deer pictures.

    I paid my house off yesterday.  What a wonderful feeling that is.  One less payment to make.  I will have my truck paid off by the end of the month, 2 less payments.  My goal, dept free again in 3 months.  As long as I can keep from injuring myself and keep working.
  
   Well, that's all for today.

 

Happy 4th of July

     Happy Independence Day to you all.   A day of remembrance and celebration across the country, other countries also.  

     Denmark, England, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. Denmark  Danes and Norwegians celebrate American Independence Day because thousands emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Other European countries, like England, Portugal and Sweden, hold celebrations near American military bases and or spots frequented by American tourists to boost travel during early July.

    On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence in a near-unanimous vote (the New York delegation abstained, but later voted affirmatively). On that day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.” On July 4th, the Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, which had been written largely by Jefferson. Though the vote for actual independence took place on July 2nd, from then on the 4th became the day that was celebrated as the birth of American independence.
    
   Personally I don't set off any fireworks, first because it is illegal in Iowa, which doesn't stop most of the state and 2nd, I am cheap.  They are expensive!  I listened last night, and all week, to my neighbors burning up thousands of dollars in a quick pop of noise.   I live in a lower middle class neighborhood,  money is tight for us all I believe, but not so tight my one neighbor isn't welling to spend a few hundred on the biggest and loudest noise makers he can buy.  I have nothing against them doing so,  just don't want to waste my money on them.  For one thing my city has had a large firework display going off every day for the last 4 days.  After their spectacular display, anything else seems rather silly.

   So building trust.   Hoss came to us 3 years ago a fearful and untrusting dog.  Having been shot and abused he was sure every blast he heard was aimed at him.  It would break my heart watching him shake and tremble, his panting so fast I thought he would collapse.  We tried hard to comfort him and distract him, Music, treats, lots of loving.  Last year he went 14 hours without peeing because every time we talked him into venturing out, a firecracker would go off and back in and under the bed he went.

   This year, we have completely won his trust and during the worse of it last night we were so happy to have him dosing on the floor, breathing relaxed, not a care in the world.  Took him out and even with firecrackers going off he went potty and even sat out in the yard for awhile.  We promised him we would never hurt him and he seems to know it.   He's happy, we are happy.

   Piper on the other hand is fearless.  I think she could go though a mine field going off and not be bothered, as long as there was a bug she could hunt she is just fine.  Tiny but mighty.

   The other night I took her out.  The lightening bugs have a bumper crop this year and she was thrilled.  Watching her leap and try to catch them was so funny.  Fortunately she didn't catch any.  

   Piper is so funny,  running across the yard the other day she ran into a Hoss poo.  She stopped dead in her tracks and lifted her foot, a sneer across her face.  She looked at me and came over on 3 legs, looking totally disgusted.   I washed off her foot and cleaned up Hoss's poo but she won't go to that side of the yard anymore.  Silly girl.

   Well, that's it.  Happy 4th.  I am going to bake a Old fashion rhubarb pudding cake and take it easy.  Tomorrow back to work for the first time in 10 weeks.  Please let it go well.

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.