midnightsjane

Sadly, I did not have pie. But hey, the day was good even without pie..'cause there was Pi. It will be another hundred years before these particular sets of numbers line up again, so celebrate the moment, eh? :) This comes from someone to whom mathematics will always be a mystery. One of the things I never excelled at in school, I blame my lack of math skills on the fact that I skipped grade two, and thus a big step in the math department. That's what one of my teachers told me years ago, and it sounds like a good enough excuse to me. LOL.

It's been beautiful here; spring has arrived in full bloom. The roads are starting to look like they've been snowed on, but it's only the cherry blossoms that have been blown off the trees by the wind today. My favourite trees are the magnolias, which are really coming on now. My thoughts are turning to my garden, and what to plant. I have to redo the fence, which has not made it through the winter unscathed. Jack offered today to put in some better fence posts for me, now that I've finalized the garden area. I'm going to take him up on that, because the metal stakes I used are not really good enough. I started turning over the soil, and I need to add some more of the old composted manure....luckily, we have a never ending supply of the stuff!

I've been busy at work, too. It was a crazy day yesterday, but good. I have to say I really enjoy working in the Cardiac Care Unit; it's different from the ICU in that there's a lot more coming and going of patients; they have a heart attack, come in for diagnosis and treatment, get their blocked arteries fixed, and go home, usually within 3 days. It's nice to have patients who actually get better and go home (not that that doesn't happen in ICU, but it's a much slower process for most of those patients). I'm also enjoying being able to talk with my patients, and having that interaction. It's not always a happy ending, we do get very sick people, but for the most part it's a lot less depressing than the ICU. It's also a lot easier physically; unlike the really sick ICU patients, the ones in CCU are usually mobile, and able to get up to the bathroom etc. I run around a lot, but I don't have to do so much heavy lifting. That's nice, especially since the tendinitis in my right shoulder seems to be flaring up again.

I finally took my car through the car wash this week; it was getting so dirty I was embarrassed to be seen in it! Sadly, just one or two trips out to the farm and it's getting dirty again. :(

Someone on Facebook posted a link to a review of one of my favourite movies, Ladyhawke. I loved that movie when I saw it years ago, and I've looked for a DVD, but never came across one. Tonight I found one on Amazon, so I ordered it. I was going to just stream it from them, but then I noticed that it only works in the USA. Darn. Anyway, I will have the DVD to watch whenever I want now...when I have time, that is. It's my happy spring present to myself.

Got to quit typing now. My shoulder hurts. Must go put more Voltarin cream on it.

Updatey kind of stuff:

Finally managed to watch the Doctor Who finale, part 2. That was quite a ride, and I enjoyed it a lot. Shed some tears along the way, and now I can't wait to see what the Christmas special has in store for The Doctor and Clara.

I worked nights this past Friday and Saturday, and I think the full moon had some influence on events. Friday night I almost got punched by one of my patients, who lost his cool rather dramatically because he'd knocked his phone off the hook and the voice kept telling him to hang up now. Have to tell you I was a bit scared, because he was really aggressive. Luckily we managed to calm him down before we had to call security. Over the years I've been sworn at, scratched, pinched, grabbed, but never punched by any of my patients. Not something I want to experience now.
A few hours later we found my other patient standing in the middle of what looked like the Texas chainsaw massacre. His monitor alarms went off when he climbed over the side rails of his bed in his muddled state of mind. I'd given him a half a sleeping pill, which I guess wasn't the best thing for a 78 year old gentleman. He was standing in a pool of blood, and there was blood spattered over the bed rails, the floor, him..he'd pulled out his arterial line and was literally spraying blood everywhere. I grabbed his wrist to apply pressure, while the other nurses helped him back to bed. When he finally kind of came to his senses, he was totally mortified by his actions. He said that he had no idea why he climbed out of bed, and kept apologizing. Happens a lot, we reassured him. When I left the room I looked at my arms and realized I had blood spatters on them too. Felt like I'd just walked out of a bad horror movie. Made the shift interesting. Darned full moon!

Had to go out to the farm this morning to help with the stalls. Left here in good time..good time to get stuck on the freeway in a humungous traffic jam. Must have been a bad accident, because there were ambulances and police cars and tow trucks going by, but by the time I got past the site there was just one car in the ditch, and they were sweeping the glass off the road. Just a reminder that the roads are going to be getting slippery now that the temperature is going down.

We've put the winter blankets on all the horses now. I put Rochelle's on today, but Midnight was being an ass and wouldn't let me catch him; he actually turned his butt to me and tried to kick me! Ungrateful creature, I only want to make sure he's got a warm coat on. We left him for today, since he was in a mood. We'll get it tomorrow.

I have made headway on the book culling exercise. So far I've carried about 20 boxes of books to the book donation bin, and I have six more stacked in the living room to go. Still have 2 bookcases left to sort. It feels good to let go of stuff and I plan to do a lot more decluttering as I get ready to move. Not long now. Trouble with living in one place for 20 years, I've accumulated a whole lot of crap.

Onwards.

Wow. October already! That was fast.

I had a good day, all things considered. A bit of a sleep in, with a trip to my doctor's office in the early afternoon (time for the annual checkup; I seem to be in good shape for the shape I'm in), then some grocery shopping and a visit with my friend Jill. That took up most of the afternoon.

This evening I made two pies, one savory, one sweet. A leek and potato pie, and a squash pie with the filling made from scratch using one of the squashes I grew. It's delicious, much like pumpkin pie, although the custard could be a titch more custardy. Hopefully it will set a bit more in the fridge. Otherwise I'm going to have to eat it with a spoon.. but it's tasty. Something more I can do with all the squash I have! Just now I blanched and froze a bunch of beans I picked from my garden yesterday. Susy Homemaker, that's me, LOL.

Finally managed to see this week's Doctor Who episode, which I quite liked. I'm finding Capaldi's Doctor intriguing, and I love Clara this season. Mark me well pleased.

I'm in the middle of a Farscape rewatch. I started awhile ago, and I'm halfway through season one. I do love this show so much!

Tomorrow the farrier is coming to trim the horses' feet, so I have to be out there early. It's going to be a busy day.

October is off to a good start.

:)

Well, September is here, and it's feeling more like fall than summer. Although having said that, today was really hot! The long range forecast for here is a warmer than usual autumn, so I'm hoping that we'll have a good stretch of this lovely dry weather, with the odd day of rain for a bit of a change. My garden is growing so well, and if it stays nice I should have another crop of beans this month. Today I picked beans and squash and kale and swiss chard and a big tomato. It's so satisfying to sit down to dinner and know exactly where the veggies on my plate came from. Makes 'em taste even better.

With this great weather we've been able to get a lot of jobs done out at the farm; last evening Sue and Jack finished putting the crusher dust on Jubilee's paddock, a job that must have been exhausting. Jack brought the crusher to the paddock with the Bobcat, and Sue raked it flat. Makes me think my tiredness after a busy day at work in CCU was nothing at all! The paddock looks fabulous, and it's so nice for Jubs now. It was the wettest and muckiest of the paddocks last winter, and now it's all lovely and dry. There is just a bit of fixing up in Dusty and in Florrie's paddocks, and Rochelle's paddock to do, and then we will have dry paddocks for every horse this winter. In this wet climate, that's a huge deal. No more worrying about the horses getting thrush in their hooves from the wet footing.

They are moving along with the work in the house, too. Today they were painting the posts on the veranda, and stuff inside; I haven't been in the house for a week or so, so I'm not sure what's happening in there. I do know that the tile for the bathroom floors has been chosen; a lovely gray slate. It's getting closer and closer to moving in day, only a couple of months now. Almost time to start sorting and packing my stuff..

Speaking of jobs, I really should be working on the one I was going to get done tonight: we are getting new IV pumps at work, and there is a tutorial and quiz online that we're expected to complete. I have tried to get to it at work, but there's never enough time, and I refuse to give up my breaks to do it, so since I found I could access the site on my own computer, I figured I'd do it tonight. Hmmm. It's already 10 p.m. Maybe I won't go there.. Damn. all the best intentions in the world, and I still manage to procrastinate long enough to avoid doing it. (Cause it's a long, and IMHO, repetitive test that could be done more efficiently by just showing us the damned pumps, but who am I to tell the PTB how to teach the staff to use the equipment?)

Now to go take the laundry out of the dryer, and maybe do something about that test.

And another week flies by. I can't believe that it's the middle of August already. Blink and you missed it! At least this week has been a little cooler, so I've been sleeping better. A tired Jane is a grumpy Jane..

Had three really hectic days at work; I was so happy to finish last evening. It was perc valve Friday in CCU, the day they do the TAVIs (transcutaneous aortic valve placement, a procedure pioneered by one of our cardiologists in which a new heart valve is inserted via a femoral artery into the heart, thereby avoiding open heart surgery). It's done for high risk, generally elderly people who wouldn't tolerate open heart surgery, and it's pretty amazing. Most of the patients do well, and go home within 72 hours. We do three every Friday, as well as all the angiograms that get done every week day, and sometimes it gets pretty bloody busy in the CCU. Yesterday was no exception, and I was run off my feet. By around 6 p.m. I was trying to deal with both my patients who had come back from the Cath Lab within 20 minutes of each other. Taking vital signs and checking pulses every fifteen minutes, then pulling out the angio sheaths (the catheters in the femoral artery and vein) and all the other things...whew. My coworkers tried to help, but they had their own stuff to do to. I found myself standing in the hall dithering..trying to do ten things at once, and getting nothing much done at all. So I took 15 minutes to shovel my dinner down my throat, because I'm sure my blood sugar was low. I ended up working 45 minutes overtime, getting my charting done. I was very happy to get home and collapse. So when the phone rang early this morning (at 5:45) and staffing asked me to come in, it was all I could do not to laugh hysterically. No way. And again just now, they called wanting to know if I could work tomorrow. Nope. I think I deserve a few days off. After all, I'm supposed to be retired!!

I was out at the farm this afternoon to see my horses and check on my garden. It was lovely, a bit overcast and cool. Sue and Jack went out to do their weekend shopping, and I was there alone. It was so peaceful, except for the propane cannons going off at the blueberry farm next door of course..we're used to them and hardly notice usually, but when it's super quiet, the bangs really echo! Pretty soon they'll have harvested all the berries, and it will be quiet again. Midnight and Rochelle are still having a great time in the field; Rochelle is getting spoiled, and hates coming in to her stall. She'd better enjoy herself now, because soon enough the weather will change and they'll have to come back into their stalls and paddocks. But for now it's good.

Nicole was telling me that Midnight comes down to the sandy patch of ground by the gate every morning to get a drink and then lies down for a nap. Rochelle comes too, and once Midnight is down, she lies down beside him, even though he pins his ears at her. She just wants to have a wee cuddle with her BFF. Seems like they do this every morning, but I have yet to see it.

I checked out the squash plants that are growing on the manure pile in the field; there seems to be at least 4 different varieties. Acorn, butternut, and something I think is a delicata and maybe a turban squash. Funny thing is, I only remember eating the acorn and butternut varieties! There must be at least 40 squashes there, from what I could see. I picked a couple of the delicata and this evening I roasted them to make pureed squash to freeze. I toasted the squash seeds too; they're very tasty with a bit of salt. A nice healthy snack.

Picked a bunch of beans, some peas and a couple of cucumbers, as well as swiss chard and kale, from my garden. Some rhubarb too. There is something so satisfying about growing vegetables, then sitting down to dinner and enjoying the taste of something that was growing not two hours before. I'm very pleased with life at the moment.

I stopped off at my friends' bookstore on the way home to give Jill some of the bounty from the garden. Her father loves rhubarb, so she took some for him (hers didn't do well this year). I was browsing through the books, and came across a book I think Sue will enjoy: Poirot and me by David Suchet. Sue is a huge fan of the Poirot series on PBS, as am I, and we were just talking about them today. I bought the book, and have been reading it all evening. Fascinating insights into character development by an actor who has captured Christie's vision of Poirot like no other, a really enjoyable read. Going to finish it this weekend before I pass it on to Sue.

And now it's the end of the day, and time to say goodnight.

I last posted a week ago..seems like yesterday. I really don't know where the time goes, it just seems to zoom by my best intentions to post regularly. LOL. Actually, I blame my new smart phone. Since I got it, with its ability to connect me to the internet and email, I haven't had to turn on my computer as often. Posting from the phone is a challenge, 'cause the teeny tiny keyboard makes me very impatient. Of course, there hasn't been a lot to post about, other than "hey, working" or "hey, working at my non paying job at the farm". Keeps me busy.

I am happy to say I've had my first harvest from my little garden this week. I picked snap peas, swiss chard and collard greens, and one ripe tomato, and had a tasty stir fry for dinner. The salad greens went straight from seed to tiny plant to seed because of the heat, so that was a bust. The beans are growing like a Jack in the Beanstock bean, and I hope they'll produce lots of beans. I have to plant more stuff. Was going to plant more lettuce and spinach today, but it was raining too hard to work in the garden. Still, I didn't have to water it!

The house is getting closer and closer to completion. The drywallers have been busy, and the builder wants us to pick paint colours, and the outside work is almost all done. The tile guy is putting the tile on the veranda, and the siding is almost all on, and OMG, it all looks so gorgeous. A friend gave Sue a beautiful magazine which is all about using colour, which is a challenge when dealing with a house this big. We want it to keep the flow, but not to look like boring builder beige. Lots to consider.

We have three of our young horses in training, so just about every day one of them is being ridden. We have a schedule so everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Today Dusty got ridden from 9 to 10, Florrie from 10 to 11, and then Sera had a lesson with our dressage teacher at 3p.m. They are all going really well, and we're so proud of them. Florrie has just been started; she's had all of 8 sessions with a rider, and she is being so good. It's a lot of work, because once you start them, you can't just stop. I am looking forward to getting Rochelle going in the fall, but right now we have enough on our plate.
It's so much fun, and so rewarding to see these brilliant young horses getting started on their careers. It's why we work so hard.

I'm going to have a day at home tomorrow. I think I'm going to spend some time going through my closet and toss all those old stained teeshirts, and all the clothes I don't wear anymore but have hung on to. Time to clean house, so to speak.

I might even have time to make a rhubarb crisp. I picked a bunch of rhubarb from the garden today, and I'm thinking rhubarb-apple crisp might be nice.

I'm so tired. Not exhausted physically tired, just lack of sleep tired. I was quite busy this week past with various things, including a very pleasant stint as tour guide for friends, ending with two busy night shifts at work. I was up all day Friday, worked that night, didn't sleep much yesterday, worked last night, and didn't sleep much today. So my eyes are a little heavy right now. Yawn. Gonna get myself off to bed early tonight and hopefully catch up on my time in dreamland.

I got home this morning at 8a.m. and had just walked in the door when the phone rang..it was CCU, wanting to know if I wanted to work today! Since I had just worked for 12 hours in ICU, I felt quite sure I didn't. LOL.

I had a busyish shift, more emotionally than physically tiring. My patient was a 40 year old man who had a sudden cardiac arrest - he collapsed on the street, got CPR by bystanders before the ambulance arrived, but had a very long down time before he got a heartbeat back. As a result, he has very significant anoxic brain damage, and his prognosis is grim. He had a steady stream of visitors all night long, all of whom were understandably upset. It's hard to tell people that their friend is most likely going to die, and that if his brain is injured beyond repair there is no point in keeping him on life support, and I'm sorry but no, just because you've heard of people coming out of comas it doesn't necessarily mean he will. I try to say these things in a sensitive and caring way, but in my head I know that this poor guy is for all intents and purposes dead. It's very sad, but sometimes it's just the way it goes. All I can do is pass tissues and let them cry. One of the less fun parts of my job.

So today I slept a couple of hours, then got up and made coffee, sat on the couch and finished another Dresden novel, played Candycrush, made some moves on Words for Friends, and made some chicken noodle soup for dinner. I was going to catch up on one of the shows I'm watching on Netflix (The 100) but I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake much longer.

I have another busy day tomorrow.

So disappointing. I indulged myself and splurged on some locally produced blue cheese yesterday. I love blue cheese and I was eager to try a fresh new one. What a letdown; the cheese has a weird astringent peppery bite, highly unpleasant. Yuck.

Much better, the fresh berries. Raspberries and strawberries, picked that very day. Just finished the raspberries with full fat Greek yogurt, definitely a yum.

I'm quite tired tonight; busy day. Got stuck in a big traffic jam on my way to the farm so I was feeling a bit flustered when I got there. We hustled and got the horses out so I could get to cleaning stalls. Poor Sue is still on the injured list, so it was up to me. I managed to get through all of them by lunchtime. Yay me.

I put a fence around the vegetable garden yesterday and when it was done I realized I had miscalculated and there isn't much room to walk in it. I'm going to have to do some serious tiptoeing! Things are growing, as seeds like to do! Now if I can avoid stomping on my poor wee plants..

With all the bad news we're inundated with every single day, I sometimes have to remind myself of all the goodness there is in the world. I'm no Pollyanna, always looking on the bright side of life, but I believe there has to be a balance. If all we see is the negative, dark side of our world, pretty soon we'll feel so defeated we become convinced there is nothing we can do to make it better. If we close our eyes to the badness, we pretend the world is just a cakewalk and probably do nothing to make it better. So I believe we have to look at the world's problems clearly and honestly, while reminding ourselves of all that is wonderful and joyful, in order to motivate ourselves to make the world the one we want to live in and leave to our children.

So to that end, I've decided to try to find at least 3 wonderful things to pay attention to every day. For today:

The sight of the barn swallows coming and going from their nest in the big barn. One of them was basically hovering like a hummingbird, while his/her mate chattered away like an enthusiastic cheerleader. They're charming and beautiful, and make the barn a happy place.

On my way home the other day, I saw what looked like something dragging a branch across the road...as I got closer, I realized it was a mamma duck with a string of ducklings trailing behind her, crossing the road. At the curb, the ducklings hopped up and followed Mamma..except for one, who seemed to be a little more awkward. He hopped, and missed, and hopped and missed, and I held my breath and willed him on, and then he hopped, and made it up the little bank, and off he went with his family. I cheered!

Goldie won the big challenge class (jumping 3'6") at the Thunderbird Show yesterday! She was clear both rounds with the fastest time. It was a big class with some very good horses. She got a big red ribbon, a ceramic plate, and $200. Jack was thrilled to bits, as we all are. Yay!

I got my garden planted yesterday. Now I just have to get a fence up so the cats don't dig in it, and the bunnies don't eat the veggies.

We're still looking for a new worker for the barn; we interviewed someone today who looks promising. Hope it works out. I have to buy my ticket to go to my niece's wedding, and I don't have much time left. Fingers crossed.

I just don't know where the month has gone; all of a sudden, May is half over and I haven't done half the things I had on my list! The days just aren't long enough. Plus, the whole working for a living thing just takes up way too much of my time. LOL. Still, being busy is better than sitting around being bored, I guess.

I worked nights the last three nights, and I have to work another one tomorrow night. I was busy all night last night, had a sick patient who was quite unstable and needed lots of my attention, so the shift flew by. I had brought a book with me to read, on the off chance that it would be a repeat of the previous night when I basically watched my patient sleep all night. I read one page and that was all! On the whole, I would rather be kept busy; the time goes by a lot faster.

It's been a nice week weather-wise here, so I had hoped to get some more work done in my garden. I need to get that thing planted. Just have to make time, and get organized, or it's going to be harvest time and I won't have anything to harvest!

The horses are enjoying the nice weather too. Midnight got to go in the field a couple of times this past week for a few hours. The grass is so rich we have to be careful, and let him get used to it. I don't want him getting a tummy ache! Once he's settled down out there, I'm going to put Rochelle out with him. She will love having all that space to run in, and I think the two of them will get along fine. They know each other, and I hope Midnight won't be a bully with her. He went out with Kyra, and she kept him in line because she was an old mare who knew how to deal with his pushiness. We'll see. I have to get Rochelle started this summer, and she's on Maya's list of horses she's going to work with, but not until later this summer. I just don't have time at the moment, and once we start, we're committed to keeping on with the training. We have four horses in training right now, and that's a lot for the moment. It's really busy out at the farm these days. Feels like old times when we showed a lot and had people coming and going all the time. The past few years were tough, when all our energy was just focused on keeping the wolf from the front gate and keeping the farm going. Now we're through that tough patch, and it feels like there is so much good stuff happening now. It's very exciting, and very motivating to keep going. Then one of the horses does something amazing, and it just gets the juices going even more.

Like Sera's first big adventure. Maya has been riding her in the arena, and out in the field, but she's never been off the property. So on Tuesday Maya brought her truck and trailer over, to take Sera to her farm for the day. Sera is pretty inexperienced, has never been in a trailer, so we weren't sure if she'd load or not. We have to start somewhere, so we went for it. Sera took about 15 minutes to figure it out. She almost hopped in first time, but the trailer moved a bit and scared her, so it took a bit of encouragement, but she went in without too much fuss. Amazing. We've seen horses who were twice her age with lots of training go nuts loading. It can be a real challenge. We wanted her first experience to be a good one, because it sets her up well for the future. She loaded, was very good on the trip over to Maya's place, spent the day there, got ridden in the outdoor arena, hung out in a paddock, loaded in the trailer again, and was back home for dinner. We are so proud.

The big jumper show starts on Tuesday at Thunderbird, and Goldie is entered. We're so excited to see her go. It's going to be fun.

I'm having a quiet evening, just some down time for myself. I'm almost finished rereading the last Dresden Files novel, in preparation for the release of Skin Games this month. Have to watch the season finale of Elementary, and maybe another episode of The Hundred, if I can stay awake long enough. I didn't sleep much today, because I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Shift work messes up my sleep cycle for sure.

At some point soon I have to book my flight to Ottawa. My niece is getting married on June 14, and my sister has asked me to come a few days early to help her with the preparation. My sister has taken on a lot, including making the bridal gown, and the wedding is going to be in their back yard, so I know I'll be put to work! And that reminds me, I have to shop for an outfit for myself, and a wedding gift. Time, I need more time!