sunny and 76

The record high for K-Falls today was 77. We hit 76. It was glorious! Pooh King and I spent the morning laying on a blanket in the grass reading magazines. We took walks all around town and laid in the grass inbetween. Tonight we went back out on the bike. He's starting to remember the cues for turns, and I don't have to hit the brakes nearly so often (because he runs in front of the bike to sniff something on the other side).


This daffodil is on the verge of blooming in the yard. I didn't plant it, but I'm sure glad to see it! Nothing blooming from the freesia garden yet. It will probably be another month or so before they start coming up.




These are some of the new blooms in my little garden. I only lost one snapdragon. The rest have not only survived, but they've got new blooms!







Ozfest is bound and determined to make it into Mission Impossible 4! She has taken to climbing up the screen door (well, it's not a screen so much as a metal security door) multiple times a day just to check out the scenery. She's kind of like my own personal neighborhood watch.








So much playing in one day makes for a lazy evening!

Decisions, decisions...

Do you ever think you just don't know what to do with your life? Well it is really hard sometimes when you're 31 and still thinking it.

Turning it around

It was actually a great day, I just love this song.

I got a thank you note from a patient today. A sweet little old lady and her family who took the time to say thanks after they went home. I have a file of notes I've gotten from patients. When I have a bad day at work, whether it's a patient or a coworker, I go home and read something from the file to remind me that I make a difference. I have saved special emails from my family and friends that help me remember what others like about me for when I don't feel good about myself. Sometimes you just need to file something under "for when I need it" so that when you need it, you've got it. And you turn it around.

Now, more Alaska pics...
There's a black bear at the shoreline.
The Valdez Harbor resident sea otter.
There's a juvenile bald eagle in the nest. Good camo!
Richardson Momument in the rain.
Meers Glacier

Just cool pics

Chugach Mountains from Richardson Highway
caves at Columbia Glacier
Freshwater entry to the ocean
caves out of the Port of Valdez
Iceberg outside of Columbia Glacier

So I decided I would start posting some of my pics from Alaska so you all can see how cool I am... or was... or maybe will be again. I'm learning that it's possible to be liking a place more and more each day at the same time that you miss another place and all it means to you. It's weird.





Today was a great day at work. Crying-boy was even nice. Of course, I kept him as my patient because I knew I owned him after the whole crying episode. And I was right. My other patients were great, even when they vomitted. The Rehab director asked me to think about staying for another contract. When I told him I wouldn't rule it out, he promised to make one of the aides wash my car every week. Said he would classify it under "other" as far as their duties went. I laughed. Then I started thinking about it.

I get paid to make grown men cry

Sometimes, it's just fun watching grown men cry. Let's go over exactly what happened...

My work day starts at 7:30 and ends at 6:00. That means I have to be done with patient care and have all my paperwork done (and be out the door) by 6pm. So today, a 29 year old man with WAAAAAY too much testosterone had surgery for the leg he broke playing softball yesterday. At 5:30pm, he's screaming and yelling at the nurses to get him out of bed so he can go smoke. Did I mention his delightful personality? So, being the nice PT I am, I agree to go get this guy out of bed (even though I should have been done seeing patients by then, and we usually don't get guys up the evening after they have surgery.) Now, he's a fairly big guy and I decide that 5 hours after he wakes up from surgery he probably won't be ready for crutches, so here comes the walker. His fiance (who's not a PT, by the way) promptly tells me that he can't use a walker, he needs crutches. I tell her that if he's ready for crutches tomorrow I'll let him go on them, but for tonight, it's a walker or nothing.

The guy calls me a bitch.

You know this isn't going anywhere good now.

Basically I told the man (very calmly and without calling him an asswipe, by the way) that he had the choice to get out of bed now with a walker with me, or he would have to wait until the morning to go out and have his cigarette. He decides he might be okay with a walker. So, I help him get out of bed, and when he stands up, not only is he glad he has a walker because he's shaking like a leaf, but he starts to cry. And I don't mean a little trickle down the cheek. I mean a full on, bawling his eyes out, including the "Oh god, why did this happen to me?!?!?!" stuff. I had a vicious little giggle on the inside which included thinking "because you're an asshole." Needless to say, he didn't go walking around like he thought he would. And I got the satisfaction of watching a grown man cry... after he called me a bitch.

PostSecret

...and any of you who don't check out PostSecret at www.postsecret.blogspot.com every Sunday when it posts, should. It's the coolest blog on the web. Besides me and Amanda, of course.

Come to the pageant...

I am currently missing a pageant. I thought about going, but decided to stay home and do laundry instead. Some things are not worth turning right at the hot tub and left and the lawn jockey for.

Weather today was cool but sunny for most of the day, then the rain set in. Hence the humor of having the Miss City of Sunshine pageant tonight.

Nothing really blog-worthy going on this weekend. Saw the movie "Derailed" which is seriously disturbing, and the movie "Take the Lead" which is Romeo and Juliette meets Save the Last Dance. Cute, but only worth a matinee ticket if you can't wait for the DVD release.

Time to vaccum again. I'm afraid.

Let's all welcome Laurie and Tosh (and you know I'm saying Taaaaaaaaaaash) to the blog-o-sphere. Keep up girls. If you thought all the madness was going to happen in Fayette-name, you're going to laugh your ass off at what happens to me on a daily (or near daily) basis!

how funny is this?

http://extimg.quizopolis.com/images/whitedot.gif" width="100%" height="100%"> How Will I Die Quiz You will die at the age of 95 You will die in a freak accident with a stripper pole Find out how you will die at

Of course, there's something wrong with the "tag", but that's okay. You get the idea.

What a day!

Finally, finally spring has sprung in Klamath Falls. It was BEAUTIFUL today. So, guess where I had to be? Learning how to save lives. Yep, apparently the American Heart Association thinks that every two years you need to be retaught CPR. Well, now it's called BLS-basic life support. So while it was 60+ degrees and sunny outisde, I spent 4 hours breathing into a rubber dummy (who I promptly named Stan) and re-learning how to do efficient chest compressions. Now I'm good for another two years. Pooh King and I took advantage of the day the best we could and took some good long walks. Tomorrow's forecast is not quite as nice, but hopefully the rain will hold off for long enough to get in a good bike ride before hunkering down on the couch with Pooh and Oz, and a movie in the player.

In other news... has anyone run over their foot with a vaccum cleaner? I was cleaning up and Pooh got cornered. So, in an effort to get him into the bedroom so I could finish, I lifted the vaccum and moved it so he could run through. As he tried to pass, he bumped the vaccum and it hit my toes. The beater bar, in full spin, hit my toes. It turns out dogs have a very good reason to be afraid of vaccums.

a tisket, a tasket

I got my easter box. Okay, it doesn't rhyme, but what is a tisket and a tasket anyway? Mom sent a delightful variety of goodies for Oz, Pooh and me. I had to wrestle that damn box away from those two to get the stuff out before there was easter grass everywhere. What a fiasco! Oz is going to turn to the Teva-way of "looking" for her treat every time a package comes.

When I got home from work today, the handy-whoever for the house had mowed the grass! Ahhhh, the smell of freshly cut grass is one of my favorites. Even after it's been snowed on. So, when I walked around the back of the house (following the general direction in which the lawn jockey is pointing) I noticed that they even mowed the back. Even weed whacked around the broke-down hot tub. God bless 'em. But the yard, despite the hot tub, looked a little bare. I let Pooh out, and we ran up the steps to investigate. What do you think I saw? The lawn guy (and by that I mean the mower man, not the jockey) had taken the two ratty chairs that had been in the yard, and PUT THEM IN the hot tub. So now, I have a broke-down hot tub with seating for two. I love this place.

Carey Dill Knapper (aka Dillbert) also informed me last night that I am really not my father's daughter. She called while I was walking to the Safeway to buy a roll of duct tape. Dillbert was quick to point out that she couldn't believe I didn't have a roll of duct tape on me. Dad surely has at least 3 rolls of duct tape stashed at various places around the farm for any duct tape emergency. While she may be right about that, I would like to point out that I AM my father's daughter, as evidenced by the fact that I used the newly purchased duct tape to attach the hose from the dryer to the vent in the wall so I no longer filled the apartment with hot warm air. Duct tape use #72.

I knew it was too good to last

There's only one thing to do when it snows after two sunny days... and that's take a nap on the couch.

True story.

Hello sunshine!

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god... the sun was out today!







You are looking at the future site of my freesia garden!








Pooh King was so excited he went to sleep.











I think he's smiling cause of the nap in the SUN!!!!!!

You've got to be kidding...

More rain. Rain and rain and snow and rain. Forecast for another week is rain. I am definitely NOT in the high desert. They lied to me.

Good thing the job rocks.

whoo hoo!

Mad props to Amanda who found a website to download Ladysmith Black Mambazo from. This is from their new cd, "Long Walk to Freedom." Did I mention that I sang with them?

whatever.

I plant flowers to coax out the sun. It snowed today. The flowers look okay under the plastic and I hope they're making it okay. Just goes to show that despite my best efforts, I don't control the universe. Oh well.

Come on Spring!

Before.












After.

Now, I didn't buy the cutesy little stakes at either end of the garden, but I did buy all the flowers and some bark to cover the mud. I am giving the sun a reason to shine. My little alley walk-up was so ugly, and I just couldn't stand looking at the muddy strip anymore. So today, I invested in some flowers and mulch.



Then I invested in some plastic tarping since it is still getting too cold at night, and I don't want my new friends to freeze.

I am much happier walking up to my door now.

Props

Mad props go out to my Poppy, Joe King, who spent his first day with his new John Deere 790, the newest, greenest tractor on Silver Bluff Road. If it wasn't illegal and bad to steal signs, I would have stolen this one and sent it to him (which would have probably also been a federal offense for sending via USPS... wait a minute, I wouldn't have done that. Go UPS!) By the way Dad, notice the excellent posture portrayed on the sign...




Today I drove over the Green Valley Pass on US 66 from Klamath Falls to Ashland. It was an incredibly beautiful drive and Pooh King and I had a blast.

It hasn't rained for 2 days (whisper it quietly and knock on wood) so we took advantage of the beautiful day.

Also, I got to catch up with Kemper T, whose birthday was on Wednesday. I just love that girl, and all who know me know how special our 1:29:29 conversation was! It's nice to have those friends (and I have a few... ) who have known you long enough to remember when, and know how far we all have come. I am so proud to have such a wonderful strong group of women to call friends!

It's been a pretty good week.

I love this sign.

Work has been really, really good this week. Kind of restores my faith and love for what I do. Got to love when the universe hands it back to you. I may not have it figured out just yet, but I'm getting there.

Oh, and by the way, it's still raining.

and today it's raining!

Here are the pics from yesterday.








All I can say is kudos to Klamath Falls. They have a very active theater, which is conveniently located right outside of my door. (Just take a right at the hot tub and a left at the lawn jockey.) I have to admit though, that from intermission on, all I could think about was the time change, and that my first Sunday was going to come very early!



And, my first Sunday was a good one. They REALLY need two PTs on for the weekend, and for now they've got a PT and an aide. The aides can provide a limited amount of patient care under direct supervision, but they're best utilized in getting patients and their stuff ready for a licensed person to come in and do the treatment, or in providing a second pair of hands with the more complex patients. Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad to have their help, but I'll be glad when they get another therapist in. But even busy as I was, it was a better day than any I had in Denver. Except maybe for the one where I worked 3.5 hours, got paid for 8, and went hiking at Red Rocks. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It's snow joke... again

This is what I awoke to this morning. Again today, it's been snowing on and off. Nothing is sticking now because the sun's out. It's weird.

Tonight's plan? "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". True story.

And speaking of blondes, let's review how I almost killed myself today. Also a true story.
I decided to buy those "bed raisers" to pick my bed up off the floor a little further so I can store some stuff underneath it. So, I made the trek to Fred Meyer's to get them. Low and behold, they don't have the same kind Amanda has (the 5" or so cone-shaped ones) so my only choice is 3 1/2 inch tall square wood ones. I'm thinking, 3 1/2 inches isn't much height, but it says on the box you can stack 2 of them together for up to 7" of elevation. Sold! So I bought 3 boxes of them.

Let's fast forward to back at the apartment. Now, I'm pretty sure there's no good and/or safe way to do this alone. Well, I guess I can say with certainty now that there isn't a safe way to do this alone. First, I try to lift the entire bed, one corner at a time and shove these blocks (in stacks of 2) underneath the leg. Not good. I get 2 successfully on, then while trying to shove the 3rd under, the bed slides off the other 2 blocks. So I take the mattress off. 2nd attempt? Not much better. I get the 4 corner legs on. All that's left are the 2 center support legs. So what do I do? I take the remaining blocks and crawl under the bed. Not a good idea. I get midway into shoving a block under, and the whole shebang starts to slide. I escaped just in time. I was almost crushed by the bed. I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I don't think any of it was worth remembering. So, being the persistent girl that I am, I take the box springs off the frame and start over. Now, that's the easiest way to get the blocks under the legs! The trouble, you ask? Trying to get the box springs and mattress back on without knocking the frame off the blocks. Two attempts later, sweaty and defeated, I decided that 3 1/2" of height was plenty to get some extra storage space. Besides, if that f*#king bed were to fall off in the middle of the night, I might have a heart attack and die. True story.

Okay, and now the pics won't load. I'll try to add them later.

It's snow joke

Isn't it supposed to be April showers? Well, then May 31 brings snow in Klamath Falls. Bizarre.

The only way to combat spring snow is to lay on the world's ugliest couch. (Sorry Amy, there's no competition in Klamath Falls... yet. When there is, you can come on the tour.) Of course, you don't actually want to touch the couch, so you lay on a blanket to avoid direct contact. Pooh King and The Great and Powerful Oz don't want the ugly to wear off on them!