Ted BSN

Good Morning! Recently woke up. Fed dog. Currently drinking First Coffee. . . Yesterday ended up being a day of rest. It rained on and off through out the day. So, mowing didn't get done. And, the grass grew more. Didn't go anywhere as tentatively planned. Just enjoyed a quiet, restful day at home. Today is the usual Sunday choir rehearsal and church. What is "unusual" for today's Sunday service is that the Candidate for Pastor will be preaching at our church. Afterward, our congregation will vote whether or not to accept her as our new Pastor. Everyone who has met her all seem to like her. It is very likely that she'll be voted "In", by all 8 individual congregations, to be our greater Parish's new Pastor. So, I guess this Sunday is more "unusual" than "usual". L O L! Depending on the weather, I'll be mowing this later afternoon. I'm already whining in my mind! L O L! Tonight is my last of three nights off from work. I work tomorrow night. Then, I'm off for the next three nights. Yes!! Amy enjoyed her first rehearsal, yesterday, for the Agatha Christie play that she's in. It's good to see her doing what she loves to do. Without a doubt, I married a Diva! L O L! BUT, she's a very talented Diva! Actually, she's very modest about her performing talents. She just loves to be on stage, whether or not her role is a big one or small one. She's a Pro. Nothing much else going on. Hope all who travel here today have a pleasant and restful day! Ted

Good Morning! Recently woke up. Fed our lovely but demented canine-family-member, drank the expected 16 oz of water, poured morning's First Coffee, and now sitting up in my modest 2nd floor audio-video studio room, typing on Allnurses' Daily Diary thread. So far, so good! L O L! Yesterday was the 1st of three nights off in a row. Had a much-needed relaxing day, yesterday. It rained, so I couldn't mow. (THAT's relaxing, not mowing! L O L!) Worked on editing those dance videos. Then, spent the later afternoon and evening time with Amy and my (1st) step-mother (and dear friend) with a dinner and a show. The dinner was a summer-time hotdogs, hamburgers and "slaw", which was delicious. The show was a very funny farce called "Baskerville - a Sherlock Holmes Mystery", by Ken Ludwig. Oh my gosh! It was funny!! (I do love a good farce!) As the title suggests, it based on a Sherlock Holmes type mystery, but with a comedic twist! It was performed at our local summer-stock theater, The Theater Barn, which almost always produces great plays and musicals. We had a good time, for sure! Today?!? Need to do some shopping. If the weather allows, I'm going to do some of that dreaded mowing thing. Tonight, our church is having a "meet and great" for our Candidate to be Pastor of our 8-congregation Parish. This should be nice. Today, Amy starts rehearsals for the first of two shows she's doing at the Theater Barn. The 1st show is an Agatha Christie murder-mystery play. I forgot the title of this one, but Amy plays the part of The Witness which is featured during Act Two. The second show Amy's in is a musical-comedy titled, "The Great American Trailer Park Musical". I believe that Amy is playing the part of Bad-Ass Betty. Looking forward so seeing this musical! Amy has been performing at the Theater Barn for decades! Summertime is the usual time when Amy scratches her theater-itch. L O L! She's a great performer, for sure! Tomorrow is Sunday. Tomorrow's service will be a special one as the Candidate for our Pastor will be preaching at our church. Afterwards, we'll be voting on this Candidate as to whether or not she'll be one of our new Pastors for this 8-church Parish. Nothing much else going on. Hope all who travel here today have a pleasant day! Ted

Another video from Randy Rainbow. As always, it's another brilliant political satire production via musical comedy. Enjoy!

Good Morning - Joe - It seems that you started a new job that is still defining itself. At least for me, this would be both interesting and a little unnerving. As for threading a needle, I haven't done that in years! My eye site is such that I'd need a huge magnifier to do the deed! L O L! Good to read that the process of getting your Michigan license is almost completed. Tweety - Seems like you have a nice day planned for yourself, spending time with you bestie. Good to read that he's healing nicely to be out of his cast. Had a nice day off from work, yesterday. Spent the afternoon with someone doing audio recording of some of his music. Both he, and his wife, work where I work. (He works as an ER tech, and she's a CNA on the Med/Surg floor.) Both have degrees outside of healthcare. Both are very creative individuals (which is why they both work in healthcare! L O L!) And, both write songs together! We had a nice time audio-recording two of their songs. As requested, I'll be adding instrumental arrangements (using "virtual instruments" in the computer programs). These are welcomed projects. It is nice to be working with someone on music-related projects, rather than creating music all by my lonesome. I hope that we can be doing collaborative music-making for a long, long time! Last night, we had our church council meeting. The council voted to go ahead with the process of accepting the Candidate who is applying to be the Pastor for the 8-congregation Parish. This was a formal vote. All council members believe that she will be a wonderful Pastor. I also made the formal announcement that I rescinded my notice of retirement as music director for our church. (The announcement has to be "formal" so that it's reflected in the meeting's minutes.) It seems that everyone was very relieved and quite happy that I chose to stay on as music director. That was nice to see, of course. Sunday - Lack of sleep. After working the night shift, Saturday into Sunday, there was the usual choir rehearsal and church. My weary head didn't hit the pillow until 1:00 PM, Sunday afternoon. Interestingly, I didn't mind it so much, now that I made the final decision to stay on as music director. But, going to work to do the usual PM to 7AM shift, Sunday night, was tough. At least work, Sunday night, was relatively "Q" in our teeny-tiny ICU. Today?!? I'm working an extra day as Shift Director for the 3PM to 11PM shift. I do like doing the Shift Director thing. And, the extra $$$$ will come in handy for the bill-paying!! Nothing much else going on. . . Hope all have a pleasant day today! Ted

Steph - Having a young Mom pass away must be tough to witness. It's nice to read that her children will be cared for by their grandparents. Still, they lost their Mom, and that's tough. I'm sure great measures were made to ensure this young woman's comfort during her final days. Steph, regarding being "On Call" for me. It's a choice provided the RNs in our hospital. Because I work in a teeny-tiny 3-bed (sometimes 4-bed) ICU, we often don't have patients and thus are offered the choice to be On Call. It "replaces" a regularly scheduled work day or work night. We could go to work and get paid as part of our regularly scheduled work-day, and work somewhere else in our teeny-tiny hospital (often the E.R.). We can take being On Call, and still get paid using Earned Time, provided there's Earned Time to be used. Or, we could take being On Call but with No Pay. (Regardless of the choice, we always receive a very modest On Call Pay of about $2.50/hr.) These On Call choices have been in our nursing union contract for decades. Taking On Call with No Pay, when it's replacing a regularly scheduled work-day, is very expensive after awhile. I really got to stop doing this! (Ugh!) BCgradnurse - Hope you get out of work on-time on your Dreaded Friday! Congrats to your son for his promotion, and for finding a new place to live with his girlfriend. I wish your daughter well as she continues to find work in her field. Lil Nel - It seems like you take really good care of your equine-family members! (By the way, I had to look up synonyms for "horse" to get "equine"! ) Hope work is kind to you tonight!

Good Morning- Tweety - Seems like you experienced Drama after all, yesterday at work. No fun. Hope the "Dreaded Thursday" doesn't turn out too dreadful. Joe - Sad to read that J wasn't feeling well. Hope he's feeling better soon. Good to read that work was fine, despite all of the "shifting". Recently woke up. Again. Was up at 2:00 AM, this morning working on this happy video project. It's coming along, slowly but surely. Went back to bed around 5:00 AM. Now, I'm up again. Was interrupted, yesterday, while mowing when a small crew came to place an underground fast-internet cable into my yard. It was quite the surprise, and quite the interruption. (During the winter, we accepted to receive fast internet service after having very SLOW internet service for nearly 14 years. FINALLY! The company literally laid the special internet cable on top of the lawn during that time because the lawn was frozen with snow on top of it.) It took these two contractor guys the whole afternoon to do this job. Also, the job isn't finished yet. They ran into problems, unfortunately. My yard ain't easy, nor is it short. Like I've mentioned here before, there's a steep hill that needs to be navigated, in addition to the yard, itself, being very uneven. I actually apologized to them for the difficulty of working in my yard. They were friendly, thankfully. Hopefully they'll come back and finish the work today, or very soon. Currently sipping on First Coffee. It tastes good. . . Gotta go to church today and prepare for an important week-end. This Sunday, the larger 8-congregation Parish will be interviewing a Candidate who wishes to be our Pastor. This is a big deal, especially when someone actually WANTS to be our Pastor for this monster of a Parish (with 8 different churches spread out amongst a LARGE geographical area). I'm going to be setting up the extra microphones so that select individuals can ask questions this Sunday, and everyone can be heard. Unfortunately, I won't be there for this important interview because of work. (I'm working this week-end.) I briefly met this individual. This is a good person and would make a great Pastor for our large Parish. Should this individual be offered the position, and this person accept it, we will "only" need another Pastor to fill that 2-person full-time position. By the way. . . I rescinded my formal Intention of Retirement to my church. There's a long story involved with this decision. But, long-story-short, I'm happily staying on as my church's Music Director. My church is happy, too. Nothing much else going on. . . Just finished First Coffee. Need Second Coffee. A warm "Hello" to all who travel here today! Ted

Good Morning! Well. . . I did NOT get Called In, yesterday. YES!! It was like having an extra day off from work (except that I couldn't go anywhere in case they did call me in). It also extended my vacation by one day (except that I couldn't go anywhere). It was being "On Call" with "No pay", though. I didn't have any $$$$ in my Earned Time bank, after taking that 1 week vacation last week. It just means a (much) lower paycheck next week. (Ouch!) I actually don't return to work until Friday night. Then, I'm working the usual week-end. I might need to open up the "How to Be a Nurse" manual when I go to work Friday! L O L! Today?!? It's Mow the Lawn Day. Again. The grass isn't as high now. So, mowing should not be as painful. (And, to be clear, mowing is PAINFUL, especially for my arthritic hands.) (Whine!) Later today, I'll continue on with editing the dance recital videos. Again, it's a slow process. But, the end results looks and sounds nice. Nothing much else going on. . . . Tweety - Owning a home is EXPENSIVE! We spent about $400 to have our central air-conditioner fixed. We're going to be spending around $2600 to have our driveway repaired and paved. (It's a dirt driveway which has eroded from several years of snow and rain.) We also need to get our back porch repaired, too. It never seems to end. (Whine!) But there's always "Going to Work" which, well, helps pay for it all! Hope work is kind to you today, and that the work-drama is kept to a minimum. Joe - It's nice to read that your new job seems to be going smoothly. Hopefully those smooth days will greatly outnumber the rough days. Enjoy your dinner with J! Well. . . Just finished First Coffee. Gonna get me Second Coffee and eat (a healthy) breakfast. The grass. It grows. It'll be mowed in a couple of hours when the morning dew dries up. In the meanwhile, I hope all who travel here have a pleasant day! Cheers! Ted

Good Afternoon - It's 2:12 PM (EST) in this part of the world, and I'm still On Call. I did not get Called In. Yet. There's still a little less than 5 hours left of the shift. Anything can happen during that time. In the meanwhile, I've been editing this dance recital video. The edited audio and video seems to sound and look great. But the dancing?!? Well, that's another story. (I can't edit poor dancing.) herring_RN - Good to see you. Hope all is well. Hopefully having no appointments today is a good thing. BCgradnurse - Our cars have been "yellowed" from all of the pollen, too. So is our house. It's a yearly "yellow-ation"! L O L! We've been getting rain, too, which helps de-yellow everything. Hope work is kind to you today. Lil Nel - Nice to read that you're getting pleasant weather. Hope all goes well for you at your MD appointment. Good to read that "Knots" is pooping well, and that the poop is normal. Good news, for sure. And yes! Life is all about poop! NSIME - I thought I saw you somewhere?!? I thought I saw a post by you. (I'm confused!) Hope all is well. Well. . . Back to video-editing. Just 4 hours and 39 minutes until the end of this shift. The phone can still ring. . .

Good Morning! It's a rainy, wet morning in this part of the world. . . . Last week was "Vacation Week" (well, actually, "Stay-cation Week"). Today was SUPPOSED to be my first day back at work. Believe it or now, I was scheduled to work the Day Shift! (Oh, the horror!!) BUT. . . and this is a big BUTT. . . I am On Call! Yep! I'm On Call. Still, I could be Called In to come to work. Anything can happen. However, at least I don't have to be concerned about going to work so early in the morning!! L O L! (Due to staffing issues, I was asked to work the 7AM to 7PM shift today. It's a rare thing that I do. I haven't worked the Day Shift in a few years. Although not obligated, I said, "Yes". Gotta be a Team Player, every now and then. L O L! ) Our "Stay-cation Week". It was nice. It actually started on Friday, May 31st. However, that Friday and Saturday (May 31st, and June 1st) was TOTALLY DEVOTED to prepping for, and audio/video recording those two 2-hour long dance recitals. Friday was the "prep day", as I set up the sound equipment (those speakers were heavy!). That took the entire afternoon into the early evening. Saturday was audio/video recording! I was there for a full 12 hours, which included setting up the video-recording equipment, doing the actual recording, waiting-waiting-waiting for the two 2-hour dance recitals to take place, and finally taking down EVERYTHING (audio and video equipment, all!). (Ugh!) It was a 2-camera set-up (Camera-A and Camera-B). I must say that recorded audio, and video, sounds and looks GREAT! I'm still in the editing process. This process is sloooooooow! I probably won't be finished with everything until sometime in July. But I've been working on this video, during most nights last week, while on our stay-cation. What else did we do??? Yard work. LOTS of mowing, of course. One rainy day, we went with my Sister-in-Law and Niece to see the movie, "Rocketman". Thoroughly enjoyed the movie. (We hold the strong opinion that this movie can easily translate itself into a Broadway musical! We sure hope that it will!!) This past Friday (June 7th), Amy, my Sister-in-Law, and I went for a nice hike to "The Bridge of Flowers". This is an old trolly bridge that was converted to a walk-way where many, many, many flowering plants are blooming throughout the spring, summer and early fall months. It's beautiful, and well-maintained. That was our big outing for last week, though. Believe it or not, I feel ready to go back to work. Again. L O L! But, since it was offered, I quickly grabbed the opportunity to be On Call. For the past 5+ weeks, I've been involved with a "Wellness at Work" program called, "Walk It Off". It's a program that involves eating healthy foods and exercising. This is a good program, one that I've done a few times before in past years. Well, yesterday, I was got weighed and measured. Happily, I lost 12+ pounds!! Again!! The woman who organizes this program is a really good "healthy living" coach. (I call her the "Nutrition Nazi". She laughs! L O L!) Gratefully, she said that she'll continue on coaching me with the healthy eating and exercising after the "Walk It Off" program is finished in a month's time. I look at this as a life-style change, not just a diet plan. I feel better, already, which is good. Nothing much else going on. I'll be back later to read your posts. In the meanwhile, I wish to send you a warm "Hello"! Hope you all have a pleasant day! Ted

Good Morning! Yesterday was an unusually beautiful, sunny spring day. Today, it's back to rain with possible thunderstorms. Hope all had a relaxing Memorial Day, yesterday. Our Memorial Day holiday was quiet and peaceful. One Sister-in-Law and one Niece was over for the afternoon. We sat and chatted, reminiscing about our recent trip to Ireland & Scotland. It seems that we're still enjoying the "after-glow" of our travel vacation, appreciative that we took the time (and spent the money) to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip. However, it was Memorial Day. The conversation gravitated to my wife's and Sister-in-Law's Uncle who died on the the Beach of Normandy. They never met him, of course. But my Mother-in-Law spoke of him often. We hope to travel there, someday, and visit his gravesite. Whether or not we make this a group trip, or if Amy and I travel on our own, remains unknown. Anyway, Amy's Uncle is one of too many who lost their lives serving in wars. It seemed important that Amy and her sister remember their Uncle. Today? For me, it's the first of working three nights in a row. So, it'll be the usual "sleep, eat and work" thing. After these three nights of work??!!??!!? VACATION! Yep! Another one! It'll be a "stay-cation" for us, though. We live in a lovely area of the country that lends itself to lots of hiking and canoeing. So, we hope to be doing lots of hiking and canoeing, returning to our cozy home each evening. I read yesterday's postings. . . bcgradnurse - Seems like you had a relaxing week-end with the wine-tasting and beach-going. Much respect and gratitude to your Dad for his service during WW II. Joe - So, your choir ended for the summer season. Our choir plans on singing until the end of June. (Kind of wish it would end earlier, but the choir members wish to sing until then.) Curious. Did you get any photos of any severe storms? If so, could you share them? They'd be interesting to see. Hope your last week at work is uneventful! Tweety - Congrats on the new car! Appreciate the photos that you've shared on Facebook. Enjoy your day off from work. Lil Nel - Interesting that you and your co-workers are thinking about creating a sitcom of your work. I have the audio & video recording equipment (as well as the modest editing suite), should you need such services! L O L! Actually, a show about unsafe, emotionally draining work experiences can make a good horror story, too, unfortunately. It is alarming to read that one co-worker had to work 18 hours to make the work situation somewhat "safe". (Actually, isn't working 18 hours against the law??) Every so often, there are openings where I work. Although my teeny-tiny hospital has its own "issues", it is a relatively nice and safe place to work (as well as be a patient). Just a thought. herring_RN - Appreciate the photo of your Father, and the memories that you share of him and your Mom. Also. . . Happy Birthday to your "baby sister"! nursej22 - Appreciate you sharing about your Dad and Grandfather's service. Glad that your Dad survived two wars! NSIME - Appreciate you sharing about your family's history. Your brother's history in the service was interesting. I wonder if that shipyard in Boston, where you Dad used to work, is still operational. dianah - Yes. It was nice to see all of the photos on Facebook of family members who served in the military. As for your week-end. . . seemed like a lot of fun with all of the blue-grass music-making! It's been a long time since I jammed along playing blue-grass music. (Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I jammed with other musicians playing ANY kind of music!) Steph - Hope you didn't experience flooding from all of the rainfall. Enjoy your day off from work! Well. . . gotta go! Amy is up. Gonna have some breakfast with my loving wife! Peace! Ted

Joe - I'd go with the "stuff that I have to do". There'll always be something that needs to get done. Seems like you had a nice day, yesterday. Enjoy your dinner with J, today.

Good Morning! Tweety - It's "playing with dice" when changing on-line orders. Recently, I had a similar experience when modifying an order with an on-line store that sells professional audio and video equipment. After a few email exchanges, it took a phone-call to their customer service department (and being on Hold for about 10 minutes!) to FINALLY clear things up. It was very frustrating. I hope you get your appliances as expected. NSIME - You were in the Boston/Cambridge area around the time when I was there while attending music college (Berklee College of Music). I LOVE Boston. It remains my favorite city! Without a doubt, though, the skyline has changed. There are a few more skyscrapers there. Curious. Where in the Boston/Cambridge area did you live? Besides living on college campus for two years, I rented apartments in the Back Bay/Fenway Park area. One-room apartments went for $350/month back then. Those same apartments are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE now!! (Wow!!) Regarding goats and my lawn. L O L! We've actually thought about purchase a few goats! While living in our other home (15+ years ago), our neighbors had goats. They were cute! Unfortunately, the mow-able lawns on our current property is split in two, the upper and the lower "lawns" (mow-able grass). There'd be no way to "confine" the goats so that they wouldn't wonder off to heaven-knows-where. Well. . . When Amy got home last night, she asked, "Did you mow the lawns today??" I told her that I did all that I could to avoid doing that! She rolled her eyes! So. . . Today is "Mow the F***ing Lawns - Take Two - Day"! If you hear a grown man moan, groan and cry, that'll be me! L O L! Because the grass is so freakin' high, it's gonna take a couple additional hours to cut through the tall grass and have it look somewhat nice. When the deed is done, though, the "lawns" look good. There is no lawn on any level-flat land. It's all going up and down hills. It's a serious work-out, and this aging body aches afterward! Ugh! It's supposed to be another cool and sunny day today, perfect for outdoor work. Amy will be working in her gardens today. It seems that we'll be getting our property looking nice, again. . . again. This is going on 14 years of doing this yard work. Nothing much else going on. . . Hope all have a pleasant day today! Peace! Ted

Good Morning - A warm "Hello" to all . . . It's sunny outside. I see sun and blue sky (accompanied by white, fluffy clouds)! Second day in a row, no less!! Not to worry. There's more rain forecasted for the next few days. Been getting lots of rain. For this region, the rain isn't much of a problem because of the hills and mountains. Flooding is minimal compared to other parts of the country. But we sure are getting lots of rainy weather. I guess it's better than drought. Hopefully the farms in our area will have a great harvest this year because of all the rain. Nothing much going on. Today is the second day off from work. Yesterday was a day of restful exploring. I took out my video cameras and lenses, and explored their function and capabilities more deeply. In a couple of weeks, I'm video-recording a dance recital, which is pretty much an all-day event. I'm using two new cameras with newer lenses for this particular gig. I want to get an idea WHICH lenses to use, and feel comfortable using them. Besides video-recording this dance recital, I'm also providing the audio equipment. It'll be a lot of work. But, it'll be welcomed work. Today?? Well. . . I'll probably mow. I don't want to. I get kind of whiny just thinking about it. But the grass grows tall from all of this rain. Earlier this morning, I sat my fat butt behind my computer and piano-keyboard, and started banging out some melodies. My goal this year was to compose one composition per month. So far, I've only composed two. This would be a third. So, I'm a little behind (although my behind ain't little). L O L! At least, there's SOMETHING started! Amy just woke up. Gonna leave and have some breakfast with the loving wife. Hope all have a pleasant day. Ted P.S. Speaking of compositions. . . Here's one that I wrote about 5 years ago. Don't remember if I've shared this here before. If so, I guess I'm sharing it again. It's titled, "Spring in Mid-May". Its one of four orchestral art-songs, each dedicated to a season of the year. Hope you enjoy the listen. Just click on the link: Spring in Mid-May

Good Morning! It's another cold, wet and rainy day in this part of the world. Some areas in higher elevations actually got some snow - in the middle of May!! Without a doubt, the grass is green and growing, and growing and growing! Yesterday was a restful one. Didn't really do much at all. For me, the rain was a deterrent to go outside and do anything. I have been fairly faithful in continuing on with this "Walk It Off" program that Amy and I are doing. Been walking between 2 to 3 miles per day. Not yesterday. Couldn't bring myself to walk in cold, rainy weather. However, I've (we've) been faithful to our healthy eating habits which is also part of the "Walk It Off" program. I've been a good boy and haven't eaten any candy, or other foods on the "naughty list". L O L! If it doesn't rain today, I'll do my 2 to 3 mile walk. Working tonight. Hope it's "Q". Then, I'm off the next two nights. Working the entire week-end, though. (Hope it's "Q" then, too!) Nothing much going on. Tweety - Hope the refrigerator doesn't need replacing like your washer & dryer did. We still have all of our original appliances in our home that we purchased 14+ years ago. All seem to be working as intended. (Knock on wood!!!) Paying that extra $$$ to have a scheduled installation of your appliances is a great idea, and worth the extra expense. Joe - Hope you hear about that possible job offer soon. Might it be worth the effort to enquire about the status of the position?? (And, let them know that you're interested??) Anyway, I hope you get the job that you enjoy. Hope all is well with everyone. Cheers! Ted

Tweety - Amy did all of the planning for our Ireland/Scotland adventure. We used the Emerald Elite Group as our travel agency. (They are FANTASTIC!!) Renting a private bus & private bus-driver was a welcomed expensive luxury. There were 6 of us in total and we didn't have to worry about driving on the "wrong" side of the road! L O L! Here are a few of the places we saw between Ireland and Scotland: * Toured Connemara * Toured the Dingle Peninsula * Explored Killarney National Party (which included a boat ride) * Visited Scone Palace & Sterling Castle * Took a boat tour on Lock Ness and visited Eileen Donna Castle * Toured the northern part of the Isle of Skye * Explored Edinburgh including the Edinburgh Castle * Explored Dublin including Trinity College (the Harry Potter Library) BCgradnurse - Yard work! Ugh! I'm totally avoid it, too! L O L! Hope you (continue to) have a relaxing week-end! Joe - Good to read that the interview went well. Hope you get the position, and that it works out for you! (I was lurking here a few days ago and read about your current job situation! Wow!) Hope J's allergies improve. Enjoy your weekend! Well. . . gotta get back to typing the HOA minutes from the last meeting so that they're ready for tomorrow's HOA meeting. (Blech!)