Things You Should Know.

1) - just because the sign says "10 for $10" does NOT mean you have to buy ten. It means they would like you to. If you buy 2, it's still only a dollar apiece.

2) The two most useless signs in WV are "Falling Rocks" and "Sliding Road" - despite the warning there is absolutely nothing you can do in the event the rock falls or the road slides so why even point it out??

3) While driving the backroads it's a good idea to make sure everything in the car is secured down - I discovered that while negotiating a hairpin turn on Bald Hill Church Road, a can of V8 can become a missle.

4) I still don't know why I should turn off my cell phone in the Blasting Areas - and how would they know?

5) Cows do indeed smell bad close up.

6) It's best not to stick hands or feet in any opening unless you're fairly certain it won't collapse a million miles down or there's no resident in there. You need to resist the temptation.

7) The hills are not alive with the sound of music. They are alive with the sound of mine shaft fans.

So here it is finally Friday. I have an infusion this afternoon so I'm free to roam about the country, at least for the morning. David is going to the doctor's today, he had a cold a couple of weeks ago and cannot shake the cough. He's driving me crazy and has informed me it's not socially acceptable to glare at the infirm. I pointed out that if the infirm would go to the doctor's like he should've, it would cut down on the glarin a great deal. We're going to clean the carpets this weekend as Pearl seems to be fairly safe - she's down to an accident every couple of days or so, which isn't bad for her age. She went to the vet's yesterday and got her microchip done and she has a little yeast infection in her ear. So we get to stick medication in her ears twice a day. Yippee, she loves that.

 

 

Following The Path That Leads You Home

I've been doing a lot of traveling as you can tell from these pictures and the week is only half over. As I settle more into my job, I do have to say I enjoy it. I drive between 80 and 120 miles a day but it's all country roads and I've time to stop, take pictures and  do some exploring. Around here if there's a historical site they just plunk a sign explaining what you're looking at and everyone's free to come take a peek. I probably know this corner of the country better than some of the people that live here. And the people that live here! We're from all over the country - I've met more "city people" that I ever expected and more than you'd think from Long Island. I've met people from Texas, Chicago, New Jersey, pretty much everywhere. I stop in every little roadside store I find  - I can tell you where the best home made honey is or who has fresh eggs every day. The owners love to chat, business on the side of the highway in Bruceton Mills isn't too heavy even on the weekend so sometimes you serve as the customer and today's entertainment. People around here tend to be scary patriotic, a little backwards, not as prejudiced as you would think (but it's there) and occasionally too devout - but they are also very tolorent of thier neighbors, will help anyone out and are so kind at times you wonder what planet they came from. They're proud of thier history and families, thier towns and thier homes. Now that we're a bit more settled (for once!) I've met a couple of neighbors and there's someone at work I want to have over to the house. Things are, on the whole, pretty good this week.

Don't You Wish This Was Yours?

Pearl has accumulated quite a collection of toys in the short time she's been here. Charger's enjoying it too - for the first time in his life there's an endless supply of rawhides that he could never have  since Copper had "ownership issues". We could never figure out why Copper got so territorial with them, it was the only thing he did get possessive about and  the fallout was Charger got none too. So Charger is now constantly chewing away and he's good with Pearl, so the world is his rawhide. We're still trying to figure out travel plans for everyone and how I'm going to deal with things here.Pearl is too small to spend 9 hours alone and I have three days that will have to be covered. I might take a day or two off which would be good  - since no one would be here but me I could really get some stuff done.I've been at my agency since July and have only used about 4 hours of vacation time and if I don't get it used up by the end of June I lose it. Eek. And that would still leave me two days or so left. I have a habit of hoarding my days in fear that if I need them I'll lose them and be frantically trying to take them off as the deadline nears.The other nurse had her last day on Friday which left a sea of calm in her wake. There's a new nurse there already and we have a back up for me at the Morgantown office. Sounds good to me.

Sigh, it's raining it's SNOWING.....

Once again we are back to winter. We woke up to snow - not a lot but enough to be annoying. We had that brief spell of warm weather and since then it's been in the 30's and 40's. I haven't walked all weekend, with the coal dust in the road if there's been any rain it kicks up an awful mess. David spoke to his mom again yesterday,she's home and doing well. He's planning on leaving for Ray's on the 8th and he and Ray will go to LI for Easter. Jackson and I will be here with Pearl, but since we don't do much it's not that big of a deal. I've heard from Adam several times, they're out at sea for a couple more months and he's been busy busy. David and I are starting to figure out what to do with the house again. This week's project will be the doors in the foyer - one is missing and the other two are badly damaged on the backs - did I mention the former owners breed mastiffs? David had moved one to Jackson's underground abode for him and now he's complaining because there's no door to the computer room. I told him I was very sorry, we can only afford so many doors so we have to move around what we have. Jackson failed to see the humor in that. The big problem with the foyer is it gets very little light and the no windows combined with the dark paneling certainly don't help. David's going to sheetrock and then use french doors and frost the glass. That way Jackson the vampire will get a little more light although they argue about that - Jackson likes the Dark and Dismal school of decorating and of course David went to the Sunshine and Roses School of Design.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammuniton

I find it amazing that during this "War On Terror" one can still cheerfully box up and mail firearms all over the country. It's that time of the year again when David decides that all the carefully bought and restored guns he's searched for so long and  worked on so hard are not exactly what he wanted.  I no longer get upset about this little quirk - he never loses money and I think enjoys the searching and restoring more than he enjoys the actual gun. This is fueled by the internet which has things like Gun America that likeminded people can meet and and exchange guns like they're collectable teapots. So for the past month we've been making phone calls, consultations and have shipped and recieved from California, Kentucky, and who knows what else. All I know is we are getting a replacement lock from Alabama and the person who didn't send the bluing is in big trouble. Speaking of trouble,the cats have been making all sorts - Vincent has turned into some kind of feline serial killer and cheerfully spent the day offing a variety of wildlife - he did a barn rat, nest of bunnies and some birds and who knows what else. He may be incarcerated pretty soon. Claw's face is finally healing and we can look at her without laughing. Last week something must've fought back and bit her on the lip. Her upper lip swelled a little and she looked like she had the world's worst overbite. Then it went down but she had a little scab that ran across which inspired Jackson to start referring to her as "Hitler the Cat" and was slightly funnier than the previous week, THEN something scratched her right down the middle of her nose and that didn't help in the least. She might need to stay in the house too. Mr. Lee is just trying to ignore the whole bunch of yahoos as best she can. Oh, and other trouble - the coal mine access down the road will no longer be available for picture taking as they have started locking the gate. Hmmm.

Too Old For This

Poor Charger, all he wanted was his friend back and what he got was Pirahna Girl. She constantly wants to play puppy games which pretty much consist of biting and jumping. Charger likes to play - to an extent  - but not the one Pearl does. We were running everytime he growled at her but now let her take her lumps. Charger is very good with her, he lets Pearl know when he's had enough, but doesn't hurt her. On the news today they had a hilarious story out of Pittsburgh in which a SWAT team was called in, hundreds of people evacuated from office buildings and even the mayor showed up for a gunman spotted on the roof of one of the buildings. Turned out to someone from Fayette county brought a pellet gun to work to take potshots at pidgeons on his lunch break. The "gunman"s name is not being released on account of stupidity I suppose. I love living here. Jackson got his haircut yesterday, Becky and her mother take him to some salon over in Sabraton - as long as he does it I don't care who he goes with. Adam emailed me a couple of days ago, he's out to sea again, this time for a two month stint. David's mom is doing well, he spoke to her for a few minutes and she's sore and tired, but well. She's been having problems for awhile so the surgery should make her feel better

No Rest For The Weary

Pearl has been sleeping until around 4-ish, then starts in. Now, we get up pretty early, around 4:30 but I like to sit and drink my coffee in bed, watch a little off hours tv - both of which are impossible with a squirming excited puppy. The reason I get up so early, I don't know. However, after talking with a patient of mine that was a former night worker I think it has to do with the drastic change in schedule since he complained of the same thing. After working nights for years it's impossible to get back to a normal sleep pattern - it's been almost a year now and I seem to have settled into the between 4 and 5 am routine. I'm not complaining too much since this certainly beats the between 2 and 3 am wakeup I was doing for quite awhile. David loves to be up this early which doesn't help, there's no rolling over and going back to sleep once he senses I'm awake, despite my threatening his life a million times over. He darts off and gets the coffee, pops on the tv and then takes Pearl out since all noise gets her going. David will be calling home this morning, the doctors at Stonybrook reconsidered and Hope had a stent placed late yesterday afternoon. His sister said she did great although I'm sure she gave them a hard time. She's never had any operations and of course, hasn't spent any time in the hospital. David's sister and niece are up there now to help take care of her.

Better News.

David heard from his sister last night, Hope is up in Stonybrook but the vein that clogged in her heart is a small one and they're treating it with medications which are working. She should be home in a few days. David had planned on going back in a couple of weeks and will probably stick to schedule as both of his sisters are there already. So he's very relieved and will hopefully be able to talk to her today. Our anniversary was not much, we had dinner at home and exchanged Peeps in a Symbolic Expression Of Unity. Actually we just like pounding down the Peeps but that sounds so much more impressive, doesn't it? Pearl continues to misbehave, but not quite as badly - I think a lot of her problem is we haven't had a puppy in the house in years and things change. The kids are no longer young and one isn't here and where we live poses different problems. If she runs - she's gone and there's no houses out there to find her so we can't just let her run without a lead. She'll get older but at the moment she's making us crazy. I continue to knit, I finished the hat and it's already gone, I gave it to someone who's way to young to lose her hair. I'm still working on the blue sweater which is slow going - it'll be beautiful when it's done, but the needles I'm using are very small which means it takes forever to knit up. Jackson had a monster headache yesterday, I'm wondering if maybe he's not developing allergies as this is the time of year for the sinus headaches. He's still going on about "The Hills Have Eyes" which we are not going to see, at least not both of us. He has his little list of movies I'm willing to take him to and that one is not on it. V For Vendetta was surprisingly good - on the ads it looks like a horror type movie but it's anything but. I think because the mask the lead character wears resembles the one worn in "Saw" (there's another one that won't be making the list), but it's really a VERY political thriller. The other two on his list are "Ultraviolet" (I'll go for the popcorn) and 16 Blocks.

Oh dear - David's mom had a heart attack last night.

Perpetual Motion

Forget everything I've said about Pearl -she's been bad since yesterday. She's pooped and peed in the house, chased the cats, gotten tangled up with Charger, got everyone up last night, bit me on the lip and just isn't listening in general. She is, at the moment, sitting under my chair chewing the legs - and I'm letting her. I know it'll get better but I'm about this far from putting her in a cardboard box with "Free puppy" written across the front. Her speed is phenomenal - we now keep her on a retractable lead and harness as she can outrun everyone,especially while chasing the cats. the things you forget about Vizslas!! I shaved Charger this morning so at least I got that done. David was supposed to help but ran off to the shooting range as there is some big too-do there this weekend. Charger has an amazing amount of hair, doesn't he? I did a pretty good job this year, a few bits escaped me but not many. Jackson and I are going to see "V for Vendetta" this afternoon, I refuse to see "The Hills Have Eyes" which appears to be about deformed people chasing not deformed people around with a variety of farm instruments. Harry Potter it's not. Since I was unable to go in the attic for two months after seeing The Grudge I didn't think that would be a good movie for me.I've been knitting a lot lately - keeps my strangling hands away from certain parties - I'm currently making a hat and a sweater. I usually don't do two projects at a time but someone needs a hat so I stopped the sweater(which is more complicated than I had planned on) and will hopefully finish the hat soon. Pearl's latest project is reconfiguring the carpet. Sigh. See ya.,

Sneakin' Around The Coal Mines

I was out  again with my trusty camera, there's always something interesting to get a picture of so I rarely leave home without it. They've been doing alot with the coal mine here recently. If you look along the river there's towers that all have "no trespassing" signs on them, BUT not all of them. David feels just because some of them are not posted it doesn't mean the average citizen can frolic at will on them. I disagree. It's sort of like the warnings they put on packages -  for example, if you look on disposible diaper boxes there's a warning not to put them near open flames which covers the company in case you forget and leave the baby on the stove. If it wasnt' there then you'd have toddlers lying about on burners all the time because no one said you shouldn't park the kid next to the soup, SEE? Same thing with the coal equipement, no sign, no warning. So David parked next to one without the little sign and I frolicked my butt right up there. About halfway up I began to feel maybe there was a reason for the signs so I took my pictures and frolicked back(quickly!) to the car before Mr. Crabby drove off, leaving me to the coal miners. And then when I was out walking I noticed the mine access they've been dismantling - THERE WAS NO ONE THERE - whoo hoo! Bonus round! So I frolicked on the side that had no sign with that pesky Trespassing word on it and sneaked right up to it. The access to the shaft was fenced off but I stuck my camera through and tried to get a good picture. It would've been better had I sneaked past the fence but that would've pushed the no trespassing issue, not to mention the 2 mile drop problem (hence, the reason for the fence). In other news I got good news from my boss, the medicare surveyors not only thought I did a good job on my visit but told her my paperwork was "top notch"!! and they found NOTHING wrong or deficient in my charting. Given the amount of paperwork in home care that is almost on par with the water to wine thing. Pearl has been getting herself in dutch lately, she seems to enjoy pooping by the dining room table which no one else is enjoying. I'm off for the weekend and not oncall so I'm just hanging ten!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

We used to wake Pearl up because she's so CUTE. Now we know better. When awake she's like a heat guided missle, chasing cats, launching herself on Charger, she wants up, she wants down, shoe stealing, eating rabbit pooh, playing in the litter box. The last one gets David because she wouldn't eat so he started putting a teaspoon of chicken gravy on her food. He said he can't believe he's been trying to figure out how to get her to eat more puppy chow and then she goes and eats every piece of s**t she finds. On the other hand, she can already respond to "come", she only has about one accident a day and now that's getting to be less and she is a lot of fun to be around. Jackson has been working harder at school (so he says) and we will see. He's going to Tennesee with Becky's family over spring break which he's pretty excited about. David will be going to Ray's in April to do his kitchen and I will just be working. The medicare surveyors finally left yesterday so the office will be safe I hope. I have a half day today but will be working over. The quitting nurse continues to misbehave and I sincerely hope someone does to her in her next job what she's been doing to me. Her visits have been decreased and mine have been getting to be more so everytime she's asked to do one of mine she agrees to it - and then doesn't show up and I end up dealing with the fallout. My boss wanted me to give her my extra job today but I said no -I'd rather work the extra hour than have to deal with an irate patient or worse, have to drop everything and run out and do the visit myself anyhow.  I wish she would just leave.

Where Did Spring Go?

There's nothing worse than a very warm spell followed immediately by the ice age descending upon us. Two days ago the weather was almost summerlike - it got up to 79 and I was driving with the windows open. Well, except for passing through Masontown near the lime mines behind the trucks. Cough cough gag gag. They can kick up some dust and it's worse than the coal dust I have to say. I saw people in shorts and everyone came out in their yards. Then yesterday the temps dropped almost 50 degrees and this morning I swear I saw a snow flake. Things are crazy at the office  - the medicare surveyors are in town and this year instead of doing a spot check they're pulling every single chart in the office. And no one knows why. If they're anything like the IRS perhaps they do spot audits, who knows. All I know is I'm tired of them being there and keeping everyone in high gear all the time. I had one come with me on a visit yesterday and you know how it is when someone is watching, all of the sudden feel like you're doing everything wrong and second guess all things you usually do. Ew. Pearl's growing like a weed as puppies tend to do and enjoys making trouble. David remarked the other day she's very needy but that's not going to change - she'll just be bigger and needy given that she is a Vizsla. You would think since he's owned the breed from the time he was 11 he'd remember that but he doesnt'. We do enjoy her.

Another Day In The Neighborhood

Pearl seems to be taking over every waking moment around here, isn't she? Yesterday was beautiful in the morning so we took her out to explore the property and she impressed David by pointing the cat (just for the record, the cat was not impressed). Jackson spent the day over Becky's house, he got a late start because we ran into our neighbor Velma and stopped to chat. I went for a 3 mile walk down rt 100, it's very nice to walk here because so far, no one lets thier dogs run loose. I think it's the same reason we don't - you would never find them again unless they got hit by a car. David and I have been discussing it and will probably put up an electric fence like we had in Hampton Bays. I was going to go walking again today, but it's decided to rain so I guess that's not going to happen.. The only other thing in the offing is Sam's Club today - we've been trying to eat up what we have and get rid of what we won't. I've gotten a little better at not buying things simply because they look like a good deal (quart of capers for instance) or buying a small size and making sure I'll like it  rather than getting stuck with a large amount of something that looked way better than it actually was(the above mentioned quart of capers).

What Color Is Your Neck?

David and I stopped yesterday at Vance's to get our lottery ticket (aka "the redneck retirement plan") and saw this truck. We were both quite taken with it, I don't know the milage but for a 92 it's way spiffy. That would be when it dawned on us we were BOTH wanting a Redneck Truck. The only thing it lacked was a confederate flag in the back window which I'm sure you could easily purchase inside. Vance's is right down the road from us - it's a gas station/car dealership/auto parts/deli/convience store. It's always busy and they're very nice there. David has been busy lately - he's been doing his jobs around my work this week so the puppy hasn't been left alone for more than 4 hours yet. Pearl went to the vet's yesterday - David said the whole office was waiting for her - Dr. Kenney took off with her for about half an hour. David said he was loitering by the counter while everyone in building was playing with Pearl in the back - then they remembered that Pearl had not taken a cab and invited David to the back too. She's doing well and growing like a weed. So far this week she's been to the high school, my office and the post office. I'm on call for the weekend and I'm hoping no one will, but that's pretty farfetched. I'm still knitting, at some point I'll take a picture.I was actually thinking about learning how to sew - you would think since I can knit, crochet, embroider, mend, etc sewing would be a given. But sadly no, I am Doom to all sewing machines, just the merest touch from me and the bobbins tangle and the needles break. Not to mention I don't think I need one more hobby at this point.  I haven't heard from Adam lately,but I suppose at the age of 22 I shouldn't expect to hear from him daily.

Living For The Weekend

I'm on call this weekend which stinks a lot, but what are you going to do? I started out yesterday with 2 patients and ended my day with 5 - technically 4 I suppose since one had to go take a little ER trip, NOW. Love that. David and I are now starting to consider the pool since we will have to put the new liner in around May I think. We were thinking of looking on the internet, but the pool places around here don't want to install if you don't buy the liner from them. We've been discussing colors but I'm pretty sure we'll end up with something Blue. Black would make me uncomfortable, I can't see red, purple is just plain tacky and green - well at present it's VERY green and that would give me the heebie jeebies everytime I went in. Not to mention the frogs don't need any advantages,especially one of camaflage. We're probably going to get rid of the hot tub, we've gone back and forth about that one, but will decide later in the season. Pearl is still here, David now refers to her as Pearl the Pirhana and the cats have gone from dislike to outright despising her. Jackson has been busy lately with everything. I have to say taking the video games away from him is not a bad thing - he's been working out, playing with the dog, reading,etc - he does alot more when he's not stuck to the tv.

Yes. Pearl again.

Well, I'm sorry if everyone has heard way too much about the new puppy - like everything else in life this too shall pass.Besides she DOES take a good picture, doesn't she? Pearl has gotten over the howling stage of things and is now happily harrassing everyone to death while simutaniously not listening to a thing we say. She's also biting now with those horrible sharp little puppy teeth. She's doing pretty well with the housebreaking, only an accident here and there, we left her alone for 4 hours today and she didn't have one! The weather is getting warmer, it's hard to believe spring is just around the corner - 12 more days as a matter of fact. David and I will be celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary this year, I think our warrenty is up. Actually, being divorced does have it's good points - I wish I'd had someone to send my kids to every other weekend!! I did consider it at one point but apparently in most states you can legally only send them to people you know, not just people you see at the mall. So I've been stuck with them ever since. We probably aren't doing too much since we blew all of our money on the p-u-p-p-y. The breeder has one left in case anyone is interested. We haven't heard too much from Adam lately, he's been very busy as of late and he is getting older too. Things are fairly good at work - I really did work a half day today and will be half day on Friday, but then back to being on call.

Watching The Grass Grow.....

....is something I doubt I'll be doing today. Everytime I called home yesterday I could hear Pearl having a canary about something. David's gloating this morning because it's my turn with the Howler Monkey. She's gotten better and was finally eating yesterday - David did make an appointment with our vet anyhow just so we can make sure she's ok. Work was better yesterday, I discharged a good amount of patients so I got to sit for once. I was actually sitting and doing paperwork but sitting is sitting!! Jackson ran off to Becky's yesterday, he's allowed two days a week during his incarceration and takes full advantage. I mailed off some stuff yesterday during my travels, I had promised the breeder I would send her a toy pheasant like the one I bought Pearl (one of her dogs was crazy about it and kept stealing it and Kathy couldn't find one) so I am getting things done. I'm still working on my sweater but it's not coming out the same as in the picture.I checked and I'm doing the stitch right but I think what the problem is is that the yarn is very elastic and I tend to keep my tension pretty tight so all the lacework snaps together. It's not a problem, it still looks nice but doesn't resemble the picture in the least. I snuck in 4 more skeins of yarn the other day - yes only 4 - you can only hide so many in your filebox.

The Gild Is Off The Lily

Bringing the puppy home is a fun and exciting event. Then you have to deal with the rest of it's life. Pearl we have discovered over the course of a day, could probably shatter glass with her howling. She could probably make a banshee cry when she really gets going. It's not all the time, but I'm sure she's frantically calling her mother and littermates and I'm sure it's not easy to find yourself in unfamiliar territory. She slept with Jackson last night and didn't get up until 4:30 and I think she'll be easy to housebreak. She's only had a couple of small accidents in the house and when we take her outside she does her business. Charger tries to stay clear, Pearl's been trying to get him to play by attacking his feet and tail, it's not going over well at all. But everyone is getting used to her and we're having a lot of fun with her when she's not shrieking. I'm back to work tomorrow so David will be dealing with her, he's planning on doing some work in the yard since she loves being outside and romping around. Now it's not a problem, but since Vizsla's are hyper and can run for miles we will have to soon address a fence for her. We also have to get her to the vet's in a couple of weeks and will probably be getting her microchipped or tattooed - it would kill us to lose her. Right now she's sleeping in a wicker laundry basket in a blanket and she's so cute!

Finally Home.

I'm trying desparately to stay awake, I had the worst time sleeping last night. Between the stress of work, the anticipation of Pearl and dreaming about Copper everytime I shut my eyes - sleep was an elusive thing. I dont want to fall asleep early though or I'll find myself up at 2 am. We made good time to Latrobe - the woman that sold us Pearl has SEVEN vizslas - all of whom we met. They were a red bouncing thing, it was like being greeted by old friends. Pearl's mother looks like Lady, Red like Copper - another like Yanchi, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. We stayed and talked for about half an hour, Kathy had two Vizslas at Westminster this year ,neither of whom placed but it's like being at the Oscars I suppose - it's an honor just to be invited. Then off we went with Pearl, who as you can imagine was none too happy and made sure everyone in a 2 mile radius was aware of her plight. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts - for some reason we don't have one here and we do miss it! David gave Pearl a little of the egg he had which she loved, and then went back to howling. It was a longer drive back. The zoo does not like her. Charger freaks everytime she comes near him like she's a wanted felon or something - and of course Pearl wants him to be her friend. The cats are not amused. We bought a gate and Jackson has moved his mattress to the floor for now - his room is tile and easily gated off so he wins the puppy at night. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to kick Charger out of our room at this late date. We knew it was going to be a bit of struggle - adding a puppy to the house is fairly similar to adding another child- the big difference is the time frame is shorter and they don't talk back quite as much. But so far she's gone outside to do her business every time, ate well and David is VERY happy as she can already fetch - and enjoys it quite a bit. Right now she's downstairs with Jackson snuggled into bed - we gave up the fight of making the puppies sleep alone long ago. You lose anyway and at least this way everyone gets some sleep.

West Virginia, Puts The "M" in mobile....

David has often wondered aloud at where they're going with these singlewides, they seem to be constantly up and down the highways, often blocking traffic forever in the smaller towns. And a fair amount aren't even new mobile homes - given the fact there's no shortage of Old Junky Singlewides in any place around here, why you would have to transport one is beyond me. Anyhow, I made a return trip to Garard's fort and there's a little historic sign about the Rev. Corbly who seemed to have no end of troubles. After the family got thumped he was  imprisoned years later (1794) on a rather Dreadful Night, well, you can just read the rest for yourself, now can't you? I didn't have enough time to go skipping around the cemetary again since it was a full work day. I like when they call me from work to see what I'm doing and I have to pretend to be working while in reality I'm lying on my stomach on a grave taking pictures.(oh don't get all upset - they know I do stuff like that and as long as I get my work done, no one minds) There are days when I do love my job. Yesterday I didn't love my job - the 12th day and the other nurse who is quitting was supposed to be doing a visit decided not to so I had to do it - my "half day" got extended to 7 hours so I was a VERY unhappy camper. But I'm off for the weekend and no call - we're picking up Pearl this morning and I can' wait! It's not that far a drive either, 62 miles. We're leaving around 9am and will be there by 10:30 and by this afternoon I will have a brand spanking new Vizsla. I've had a few crying jags this week though I have to admit, even though we're getting a new dog, I deeply miss the old one. Life goes on, but it's not without it's bumps in the road.

Fun And Games

I love President Bush, don't you? The latest about the Hurricane Katrina fiasco is priceless. WEEKS of warnings and meetings and he's still claiming he wasn't aware of how bad it was, along with all of his cronies. Apparently the oversight of an entire region being decimated was caused by "a fog of war". Hmm. I like that, perhaps that will be my new thing. ("I'm sorry I didn't clean out the litter box this week, you know, A Fog Of War and all.......) ANYWHOO, I had my half day yesterday and it was a real one so  I finally got a chance to stop in the historic graveyard of Gerard's Fort in Pa and visit the memorial site for Corbly massacure that occured in 1782. I do try and stop at sites when I get a chance and there's no lack of sites around here.  I was reading up on it and  the FAMILY of Pastor Corbly got whacked, not him. He apparently picked up his skirts and ran, the wife and kids(with the exception of one daughter) were the victims. You can read about it here - http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/1pa/1picts/frontierforts/ff34.html  I do enjoy the history around  here, it's odd to see things dated from the 1700's and there's historic signs all over which I love. They describe how towns got thier names, what some of the odd structures are, etc... I still have a busy week but it's gotten better and have negotiated that I'll have next Tuesday off. That's going to be good because I'll be able to spend another day with the PUPPY - I'm getting pretty excited about the whole thing. Yesterday I went to Petco and bought puppy things, I even got bunny ears for Easter for her! We're picking her up at 10:30 on Saturday and Becky will be here bright and early Sunday to visit. We're not the only ones excited!

The Best Seat In The House

We're going to eventually replace all these old registers, scrubbing doesn't make them look any better, does it? They're not a priority though, the only time I see them is when I do things like take pictures of the cat. The cats of course LOVE them, we put Mr. Lee's baby blanket in front of the one in the bedroom and Claw favors the one in our bathroom. That's a pain because she likes to sleep there and if you get up during the night you have to go down to the guest bathroom unless you feel up to battling The Beast Who Will Not Move. It can get ugly. I did not get any days off this week which sucks, yesterday everyone had taken thier crabapple pills at the office (including yours truly)so there was tons of carping and so forth. When I got back to the office things were much calmer - the other nurse has given her 30 days notice so the office was a bit more pleasant. I worked it out and will be taking next Tuesday off which is great puppy-wise and my patients moved themselves around so I only have one job today and will be able to get my paperwork done. I finished teaching Susan how to use the afgan hook just in time for another patient to have an issue and have to go out there at the end of the day. I cannot wait for Saturday.