911 !

Searcher called me at work today, twice in a row. Usually when I'm with pts, I ignore calls, but after the second call, I excused myself to see what was wrong. She'd been calling Hubby and me. Transformer "in back of the house" blew and caused a small fire in a tree. She said there were no more flames, but the leaves were still glowing and the transformer was still arcing and sparking. I hung up, dialed 911 and explained this to the fire dept. They praised me for calling as all is dry again, and it wouldn't take much to have the entire line of trees,lawns, and perhaps houses go up in smoke. They sent a truck out immediately and left me to call FPL. They have a miserable automated voice system that leaves no room for "press __ for emergencies," so I suggested this to the live person I finally had answer the call. She seemed disinterested, so now I'll email corporate and the PSC. I truly abhor lousy service, especially where it counts.

I then tried Hubby's cell twice: no answer. So I called the office and asked receptionist if he was out. No, she connected me to his desk, and sweetly as you please, I heard, "Hubby, May I help you?" I told him of our efforts to reach him by cell, so while we chatted he checked his phone. "Six missed calls??!!" I told him not to worry, I'd already called 911 and the FD was on the way to the house. "WHAT??!!" I quickly relieved his fears, but suggested he might want to go home and move the boat. It's not much, but it still runs! Later, I called him for an update. Searcher was a bit incorrect in saying where the transformer was; it was actually next door, but still cause for concern. A power line melted and went down as well. Bottom line, nobody's house went up in flames, and while the power was out for 4 hours (obviously, FPL did not find this an emergency), Searcher was sleeping and we were at work, so it didn't inconvenience anyone.

And that's all there is to report on this end!

Boat Trip Today

or...don't go out on a holiday weekend.

Yesterday, Hubby prepared the boat and food for us to go out on the boat this morning. I set the alarm for 6, but was up in the night - a LOT - thanks to the animals. First, the cat started doing his primordial meowing, followed by a painful yelp from Molly. Max bit and clawed her. My most oft-quoted line from Steel Magnolias refers to the cat: "He is evil and should be destroyed." A couple hours later, I heard collars jiggling and went to check it out. The pungent odor of dog poo welcomed me in the main bathroom. Molly had diarrhea all over the place. Earlier, she had eaten a package of German's baking chocolate. Since she's a good size, I decided this was not enough to kill her, and I was right. I'm really glad the dogs were not in their crate; it would have been all over both of them. This way, I cleaned the floor, sanitized it and my hands, and went back to bed. Woke up half hour later thinking something was wrong, but all was well. When the alarm went off at 6, I bolted out of bed to find and clean whatever else was messed up; this time, a large urine puddle in the bathroom. I cleaned that up, and by then, Hubby was awake. He looked at me and could tell I hadn't slept well, so we compromised: I went back to bed til 10, we went to First Watch for brunch, then came home and took the boat out around 2. We decided to stay around the river and not to Boca Grande pass or the Gulf since it was late.

Hubby noticed that the steering was quite stiff on the boat. I was glad I don't steer; he was really yanking at the wheel at times. As we went down river toward the Gulf, there were literally dozens of boats coming at us returning up river. They had left earlier in the day and were going home. There's a place in the Caloosahatchee called the "miserable mile" by local boaters. Here, the river is at it's narrowest, there is a spoil island just off the channel, and all are to be on their best behavior and drive at slow speed. Problem is, there are always folks who either don't know the waterways, or just don't care. Rent the Disney movie The Boatniks for an idea of what it can be like. Miserable.

We stopped just Gulfside of the Cape Coral bridge and fished about a half hour with shrimp. Didn't get a nibble. Pulled up stakes to go elsewhere, with no bait lost, which is extremely rare. Usually there are hungry catfish to steal bait, at the least. We continued down river ("here's the determined salmon, swimming upriver") and crossed over to fish near some mangroves, but the water became too shallow and we turned around. Meanwhile, we had noticed misting, or early fog beginning to settle over the water. Hubby has boated in fog, and it's not his favorite thing to do, especially without appropriate lighting, so we headed upriver for home. I was white-knuckled with teeth clenched as speeding boaters zoomed around us in no-wake zones. Hubby was quite concerned when a huge yacht came flying up behind us; he took evasive maneuvers to get away from him, but the guy seemed to deliberately closely tail us for a few minutes. I figured he wanted to hurt his boat less than we did. It probably cost more than our house. Back in the day when housing prices were normal.

We got home safely, trailered the boat without a hitch (pardon the pun), came home and ate our picnic here. We'd crated the dogs while we were out, and they made no messes. Whew!

Hubby said "Lesson learned: don't go out on a holiday weekend." He also says the worst thing about boating are the boaters.

~~shimfee

"Tropical Storm Threatens West Florida"

So reads the headline on comcast.net But don't worry. This is a huge blessing. We SO need the rain. It will replenish aquifers, wells, parched ground and hopefully extinguish the 200 wildfires that have been reported in the State. We're so dry, that there is fire burning in the muck inside Lake Okeechobee. Here's a bit on that from www.wikipedia.com "Lake Okeechobee, (IPA: /okɪtʃobi/) locally referred to as Lake O, The Big Lake, or simply The Lake is a freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the fourth largest lake completely within the United States. ^[1] Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,890 km²) and is relatively shallow, with an average depth of only 9 feet (3 m)." I can tell you that water managers prefer a depth of around 11-12 ft., since water from the lake is used for some folks' drinking supply. Right now, the lake is at its' second lowest on record.
Yay, rain!!!!
~~me

A loooong day

When I originally started this blog, I thought I'd write about past and current patients. If you put the blogs of all the interesting ones together, you could make a book. Somehow, it became more of my family and the "Girls." (Molly, by the way, rolled in eau de dead bird last week. Lovely. Necessitated a late-night bath. We both hated it.) Tonight I'll write about a patient.

I was called to clinic at 11:15. Seems there was a patient acting strangely, and some of my staff thought perhaps he ought to be informed that we couldn't help him. I decided to try some of my kindness, since at times, there are a few of my staff who can over-react and/or exaggerate.

Sitting in the interview was a tall, thin black male with a scarf on his head, the type that hugs the head tightly and ties in the back. He was completing his history. I asked him if he was ready for me to take care of him. No answer. I repeated the question. He looked up, finally, and shook his head "no." I told him to open the door when he was finished.

I thought this may require extra safety, so I asked the deputy to come nearer to the clinic area and be alert, where he couldn't be seen, but come quickly if needed. I finally had the pt. come to the exam room, and the next hour consisted of me s-l-o-w-l-y completing his exam and treating his affliction. Suffice to say that he exhibited obvious signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (it took him 15 minutes to adjust his shirts in prep to leave the exam room) and paranoia, and there may have been other problems as well; I suspect schizophrenia; he spoke of someone breaking into his home and putting a cream on his penis that changed its' color (color was normal.) This was a poor dude. Took me an hour to do what would have taken 5 minutes on a "normal" patient. And afterward, I was exhausted. He told me several times that "he was angry" because I "hadn't allowed him to finish." He would explain something and take a long pause, I thought he was through and would answer. I almost wish we had walkie-talkies, so he could say "over" and I'd know I could answer. That was the longest hour in years. I felt exhausted after that. However.....

.....I had to later do a "formal counseling" session with an employee who has found it ok to speak rudely and loudly to her supervisor. Not with me. Naturally, she thought this was our fault and mentioned a grievance. I told her to do what she had to do and dismissed her. Such is the life of management.

Well, Searcher just came home from "Iguana Mia." She and Ripped turned 20 today! They all went to the restaurant to have dinner with their friends, and the twins ate free. Nice.

G'night, y'all. Gotta do it all again tomorrow, but I hope not like today!

Later.

REAL sadness

For those of you who have had the pleasure of waking up to t.v. news and weather in southwest fl, i have some sad news: Jim Syoen, the best weatherman ever, is leaving nbc-2. No reason stated. I sure hope he wasn't fired. He was not the usual staid guy, not at all. And he's always voted "best weatherman" in our local paper. I don't know why he's leaving, but it's time for me to either stop watching the morning local news, or switch stations.

Sad day.

ssssssmokin'!

Received at work today:

The wild fire situation in Florida continues to worsen going into the weekend. Red Flag warnings, brisk easterly winds and lightning-producing thunderstorms will combine to bring smoky conditions and increasing fire threat to much of the state. There are currently 208 active fires burning 192,593 acres in the state and conditions may rapidly deteriorate around any of the Florida and/or Georgia fire complexes. The drought also continues unabated in the state and will continue to hamper firefighting efforts. Currently there is no need to change holiday weekend plans, but, this is a good opportunity to make sure your emergency contact and staffing information is current.

Yes, we've had several wildfires in our area, and the sky is often gray with smoke, and of course, that makes a lovely fragrance (insert sarcasm here.)

We need rain badly.

~~me

OK, where was I?

Much has happened since April 1st. Let me think. My Mom (bless her soul) treated my sister and I to a cruise. We went on Voyager of the Seas and took the Western Caribbean route. Let me digress by saying that I pronounce Caribbean with the strong emphasis on the second syllable; all other syllables receive little emphasis. Come on, think Lauren Bacall a few years ago, that husky, throaty voice saying, "You've got a little Royal Caribbean coming!" That's how she pronounced it, so it must be right.
Anyway, we had a great time. It was a perfect first cruise for my sister. Mom and Dad have cruised 16 times on RC alone, and many times on other cruiseslines. Yes, they were quite the gallavanters. And I could write blog after blog on their escapades alone.
My sister, Deb, didn't seem too excited about the whole thing until she saw the ships. If you come out of the Port of Miami, there is a point where you're downtown amidst tall buildings, then you go over a bridge, and suddenly - there are the huge cruise ships. It is quite impressive. Deb had a great time. We wend snorkeling, her first time, in Grand Cayman. We figured out how to do it on the cheap. On the way back from Cozumel (one of our four stops: Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman Island) we (the captain and staff) found two life boats floating, so we checked them out. They were empty, so the guys deflated them and brought them aboard, so as not to confuse the next cruise ship. About 30 minutes later (and this is not too far from Cuba) we were stopped dead-in-the-water again when we came upon an inverted catamaran. It looked so small from our 6th-deck room, but turned out to be a 35 footer. The passengers were all curious about a possible relationship between that and the empty lifeboats. Face it, they were agog! When I got home, I found this on a google search: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,132022,00.html Check it out.

One week after I got home, I had to go to Orlando for a State nursing director's conference. I thought it was going to be boring, but it really was pretty good. I was glad to get home, though, and stay here until.........

.......next week, when my Mom and I travel to MD by car, leaving May 11th. We are taking her border collie, Shadow. She is a great dog. Mom has trained her to be a certified therapy dog, and she really helped take care of Dad.

In between, Dreamer graduated from FSU last Saturday with a Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education and a minor in Japanese. Go figure. Her hubby, who I have finally named Bear, is already seeking employment here, and Dreamer has applied at our local school board. Pray hard! They want to live here, and we'd love them to. We enjoy them. The graduation was well-organized, and we had fun spending time with the kids.

Ripped is engaged (as faithful readers know - all two of you!) to be married May 17th, 2008. I have spoken with him about making sure he won't be plum broke, my only concern. Sweetness is definitely the right girl for him, and we love her dearly.

And.......blow the trumpet!.......Searcher landed that job at the Sheriff's Dept.!!!!! She looks so cool in her uniform. And the stories she tells..... I just laugh and laugh. Today is her first day with a Field Training Officer, so I can't wait to hear how that went.

OK, you're all caught up.

Later!

Big Saturday

Hubby the Knifemaker had an order for eight knives. All finished, we drove to Port Charlotte to deliver them while a gun show was in progress. (Ah! The American Gun Show. No blending of colors here. All white males and females. Plenty of Good Ol' Boys. Interesting.) We delivered the knives, then he took me to Placida and El Jobean. Yes, these are real towns in FL. We ate lunch in Placida at a restaurant called The Fishery, overlooking beautiful blue water beyond the mangroves. And a kitty crawling around the mangroves. Food was good, company awesome. After that, we came home, cleaned up our little, old boat (these adjectives are to be taken in the literal sense) and cleaned up ourselves in time to go to Mom's, who fed us crabcakes for dinner. Yum! Real lump crabmeat. No shredded stuff here, and hardly any filler. We're from Maryland, after all! Then we came home, Hubby finished up on the boat, and I was reading Frank Peretti's Monster, which I just finished. I highly recommend this book; a great read. Would make a good movie, I think.
Ripped is home early tonight; don't know why. Sometimes a lightbulb goes on in his head which causes him to realize that he needs more sleep.
Searcher is still in Tally, will come home tomorrow. Send up a prayer for safe travel.
This Saturday, I leave on a one-week cruise to the Western Caribbean, a treat from my Mom. My sister's coming, too - her first one. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun, and don't worry - we won't fall off the balcony in a drunken stupor!
Later!