Ted BSN

Good Morning! It's 4:59 AM (EST) in this part of the world. . . As usual, "Old Man Bladder" woke me up. (Ugh!) Otherwise, I had a good night's sleep. Spent the day, yesterday, recording & mixing-down the hymns that will be played for our church's on-line service this Sunday. (There's tentative plans to resume in-house church services on July 12th. But that's not set in stone yet.) It took my longer than usual to mix-down the music. I just got real obsessed with making sure the notes were played correctly, and with getting the "right sound" (with EQing, panning, reverb-levels, etc.). In other words, I had a nice afternoon, yesterday! L O L! Yesterday evening, we experienced a weird brown-out with the electricity. Since then, it seems that our air-conditioning system isn't working correctly. With the next few days promising to be hot and humid, it would be nice to have a functioning air-condition system. There are certainly are far, far worst things happening in the world now. But it would be nice to have this system up and running. Hopefully the repair person is available to at least look into the matter. (I'm totally stupid to when it comes to these things. I did check the circuit-breaker, though. That's OK.) Oh well. . . I'm working tonight and tomorrow night. Off Saturday night. Then, I'm working the day-shift as Shift Director Sunday, 7AM to 7PM. The full-time Shift Director wanted Sunday off. I'm certainly happy to work for him. But! I really, really don't like working the day shift. There's a reason why I've worked the night shift for most of my 28+ year nursing career. The day shift is just a different world, often with more people. (Whine!) At least the extra $$$ will be good. Been obsessing with this whole Covid-19 thing. Seeing it spread like wild fire across a significant portion of the U.S. is very worrisome, to say the least. I had a long phone conversation with my step-mother (my father's 2nd wife), yesterday. It was her birthday. Being in her mid-70s, she's understandably frightened about this pandemic. It is profoundly sad that, as a nation, we're experiencing an increase people of getting this virus. It could have been a much different situation, with proper oversight and planning. But, here we are. At least our area of the country is seeing a slow-down of the spread of this virus. But we have family and friends who live in Florida and Arizona, the current "hot-spots" of Covid-19. Many family members are not in the healthiest condition. Hopefully they'll follow appropriate precautions. I don't mean to be a downer. There're certainly lots of good happening in the world, too. Anyway. . . Be safe, folks! Peace. . . Ted

Good Morning - Got up early this morning. Thought I'd start today's "Good Morning" thread before I forget to post again. Sunday was the last of working 5 nights in a row. (That's something I do NOT want to do often!!) So, during the past 5 nights at work, it's been the usual "sleep, eat, work" thing. Since life has been slowly "opening up" again around this area of the world, our teeny-tiny hospital has been busy. We even had TWO patients in our teeny-tiny ICU! TWO! would you believe that?!? L O L! It's been nice not floating all over kingdom com, these past few nights. Monday was mainly a day of rest. Caught up on some much-needed sleep. Yesterday afternoon, I took some really nice photos & videos of Amy's gardens, which are in full bloom! It's a Flower Explosion!! Once I'm done editing the video, I'll post it here. The weather has been hot and humid. Got some down-pour rain storms, yesterday. I got the video equipment back indoors Just In Time(!) before it royally pissed outside! I was lucky!! As for the grass?!? It grows. . . and will need to be mowed. Again. Today. . . Amy and I will be recording some hymns for the on-line church service this Sunday. I'll also be editing the video of Amy's gardens, too. All fun stuff that I enjoy doing. Tomorrow?!? It's supposed to rain, again, tomorrow. Don't have any real plans. I hope all is well. . . Cheers! Ted

Good Afternoon - Hi Joe - Bummer about not having the equipment for the training. Hope you can get that settled. Hope the rest of your day is kind to you. amoLucia - Hope you're doing well. . . NSIME - Same to you. Hope you're doing well, too. . . Well. . . "Randy Robin" is at it again. We thought we discouraged the bird from banging into our window(s). He's not discouraged. He's a pesky and very determined bird, for sure. He's also really, really stupid. It's gotta hurt, banging into the window again, and again, and again. (He's doing it now. THREE TIMES, so far, I tried to scare it away. He just flies to the nearest tree, and when I'm out of his sight, bangs into the windows again. UGH!) Oh well. The full-time night Shift Director called in sick to tonight. So, I'm playing the role of Mr. Shift Director. I'm also doing the Shift Director thing tomorrow night so that the other full-timer can enjoy a summer vacation. (Presently, there are only about 2 per diem shift directors, which make it difficult for the full-timers to get days/nights off from work. They're not covered by our nursing union.) Dang!! That bird is persistent!! Amy and I finished that video. It's up on Facebook, on my timeline, for anyone wanting to view it. We'll probably re-do it. Lasting about 19 minutes, we need to make it shorter. We're learning. But it's a lot of fun, and a cool creative outlet for the two of us to do together. I'm gonna try to catch a few ZZZZZs. Hopefully Randy Robin will knock himself out, at least for a little while. Peace, folks. . . Ted

Good Afternoon - It's a sunny, but hot and humid day today. It's summertime! Amy and I had a nice day, yesterday, doing the video-recording thing. It came out OK. There's certainly room for growth and improvement. But the process is fun. The video is about a recipe that she modified: a gluten-free pasta dish made with fresh ingredients, and cooked in an Insta-pot pressure cooker thingy. It's yummy, for sure. We had leftovers of this delicious dish for lunch, today. I still have more editing to do, including writing some background music. Will show it on Facebook when finished. I'm scheduled to work tonight. Hopefully it's "Q". It'll be what it'll be, though. I did pick up an extra shift this week as Shift Director. I'll happily take Call tonight if offered. Nothing much going on. Gonna go back to bed for Second Sleep before work tonight. Joe - Our church still has its Sunday Services via Zoom, too. I still have yet to install the Zoom program onto my computer. I'm afraid to do it. Instead, I watch the services on YouTube when they're posted there. I hope your day is a good one, today. Tweety - Sad to read that your friend is still have on-going problems with his foot. It seems to be taking a long time to heal. It's sad to read about the growing cases of Covid-19 in your state (and other states). It's one thing for individuals to be careless. It's a whole different matter when governmental systems are careless too. I hope your state and local government does the right thing for its citizens. Well. . . I better stop here. . . It's time for Second Sleep. Peace, folks. Ted

Good Morning. . . and Happy Father's Day to all of the Dads out there! It looks to be another sunny, but hot and humid day today. Amy and I are getting ready for another video-recording project of hers. It's another "how to" recipe for a gluten-free Italian pasta dish. The cameras are all up and ready to go. All that's needed are the cooking ingredients and the Star of the video. (It usually takes Amy about 2 hours to get herself looking just the way she wants to look for the camera. She's good at it, too. Seriously. Because of her many years performing on stage, she's learned to be a very talented make-up artist and costumer.) Will probably be spending the evening editing the video. Tomorrow night I'm scheduled to work. If the opportunity presents itself, I will accept being "On Call with Pay". I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I hope all have a pleasant day today. Peace, folks! Ted

Good Morning - Joe - Nice to read that J is in less pain. Hope the two of you can get together soon, especially if you haven't already during this pandemic. Hope work is kind to you today. amoLucia - Nice to read that thing seems to be progressing for you. Please know that you're warmly held for continued healing and comfort. dianah - Enjoy your travels. Share some pictures if you can! (You mentioned, yesterday, that your DH was playing banjo and that you were going to join him. I enjoy reading the posts about your music-making. Gosh, I'd love to join you all in the music-making someday.) NSIME - Please know that you're warmly held, too, for comfort and healing. Gosh. . . It looks to be a nice morning with the sun out, again, and the temperature comfortably in the mid-60s. It's supposed to get hotter and more humid as the day marches forward, though. With many options to choose from, I decided to mow the lower part of our property (that's along side the dirt road). This particular mowing was the first of this season. So, of course, the grass was high and needed 2 or 3 passes with the mower to get it looking nice. This particular part of the property normally takes about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to mow. Yesterday, I finally finished mowing this part of the property in a little over FOUR hours. (Whine!) I lost a couple pounds in water weight, though! L O L! Amy cooked a lovely dinner which tasted delicious! Afterwards, we went out for a soft ice-cream dessert. (Yummy!) (And. . . those couple of pounds of weight were quickly added back on! L O L! ) I work tonight and tomorrow night, then I'm off the Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend. Hope all have a nice day today. Peace! Ted

Good Morning! Recently woke up. Already drank First Coffee. Already been outside. . . It looks to be another lovely day, today. The sun is out, and the weather is a refreshing cool with the low-humid temperature in the low-60s. Yesterday was a day of rest. Work, Sunday night into Monday, was a steady-busy. For some reason, I felt wiped out after work. Didn't do anything, yesterday, except rest and relax. Have no real plans for today. If the nice weather holds out, Amy and I might go for a short hike at one of our favorite locations. There's a near-by trail on an open field (which used to be old farm land) that provides nice exercise and scenery. Actually there is one thing I plan on doing today. Many of the flowers in Amy's garden are blooming. Her rose bushes, especially, look really nice this year. If it remains sunny out, I plan on taking some artsy-fartsy photos (and maybe some video) of Amy's lovely gardens. Working Wednesday and Thursday nights. Off from work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to the weekend, of course. Hope all have a nice day today. Peace. . . Ted

Good Morning - Joe - Seems like you have a nice day planned for yourself, today. Enjoy the bike ride with the beautiful weather! BCgradnurse - Sad to read about your Mom. (Ouch!) I hope your Mom continues on with her good health and independence. I also hope she accepts support when offered. We all need some level of support at various times in our lives. NSIME - I hope you feeling better. Hope you're able to see your PCP tomorrow or as soon as possible. Tweety - I read the article that you shared on Facebook. Good for that nurse who resigned. Hopefully that hospital, and other healthcare facilities, take notice and make a strong, focused and sincere effort to protect their employees and patients. (Of course, it would be significantly helpful if PPEs were aggressively manufactured during this pandemic, and made readily available to all. But, that's another topic for another discussion for another time on another forum.) It looks to be another beautiful day today. After I'm done typing here, Amy and I will be going out for another one of our power-walks. Happily, I accepted being On Call, last night. Did not get Called In. (Yes!) I had a good night's sleep, gratefully. Scheduled to work tonight. I doubt being On Call will be offered. It's not my turn now. But if offered, I'll accept it. Again. Nothing much else going on. Gonna get ready to go outside and do some power-walking! Cheers! Ted

Good Afternoon - Someone said the "Q" word at work. My time as Shift Director, yesterday for the 3-11 shift, was hopping! A good portion of that shift was helping out with a Code Blue, both during and after the code. A pulse was regained, a few times, actually. But the wife, after consultation with the ER Physician, didn't want to transfer the patient, and didn't want any more "heroics". This changed to "Comfort Measure Only" (CMO), while still being intubated, with the goal to keep the poor soul "alive" so that family could come and say their good-byes. Longer story short, he was admitted to the ICU (because of being intubated) which required MDs to do their freakin' job and fellow ICU RNs to get the idea that the poor soul had already "gone", that he was being admitted simply to 1) help out a busy ER, and 2) so the family could say good-bye to their loved one. Lots of tactful discussions/negotiations needed to get done for the patient to FINALLY be transferred to the ICU. (In the past, we've even used the ICU as a temporary "Holding ER" during extraordinary busy times.) Then there was the usual helping out with starting IVs, obtaining labs, etc., as well as the usual Shift Director stuff. It was a busy evening shift. It felt good driving home from work. . . until I almost hit a Black Bear that was slowly making its way across the road, in the dark. THAT was a "heart stopper" for sure! (Dang! That bear was BIG!!) Got a good night's sleep. When I woke up this morning, it was a sunny and comfortable 60+ degrees outside. Amy and I went for one of our 2 1/2 mile power-walks, which felt good. I'm scheduled to work tonight. But if being On Call is offered, I will say "yes, with pay"! Our mortgage has been re-financed! This is good news. We start paying on the new mortgage this August. We'll be saving a little over $800/month with the new mortgage! Nothing much else going on. I'm tired. Gonna try to catch a few hours of sleep before going to work tonight. Cheers! Ted

Good Morning - Joe - Seemed like work was good to you, yesterday. Glad that you got your bike back. Looking forward to seeing your newest needlepoint work when it's finished. Recently woke up. Just finished First Coffee. It's raining outside with high winds, so no out-side adventures for us today. I go to work this afternoon to play the role of Mr. Shift Director for the 3PM - 11PM shift. The full-time evening shift director needed today off. I'm happy to help out. But my vacation has officially ended today. Also, starting tomorrow, I'm working the next three nights, as Mr. ICU Nurse, for my regular week-end to work. Amy and I did more video-recording for a cooking video project of hers. It's Amy's 2nd cooking-related project that we did. It took nearly all day to prepare for this "production", about 30 minutes - total - to record the video, and about 15 minutes to eat the delicious meal that she cooked! L O L! Amy's goal is to produce a collection of "how-to" videos (focused on diet and exercise) as she works to create and establish a consulting service on wellness. She's been doing lots of research on all of this. She recently got certified as a Personal Trainer which, apparently, is a step in the right direction towards her goal(s). (Unfortunately, this whole Covid-19 thing, with the social-distancing/stay-at-home thing, was a setback for her.) Anyway, we had fun. The immediate end result of yesterday's "production" was very tasty! So. . . It's back to the "Sleep, Eat, Work" thing for me this weekend. I am feeling the "post-vacation blues", for sure. But, I'm ready. The next vacation isn't scheduled until the end of September into October. As I think I've mentioned here before, we re-scheduled our vacation-trip to Italy then. Hope all have a pleasant day today! Peace! Ted

Good Morning! nursej22 - I'd be mad, too. Hope you can get either a re-imaging, a second opinion or both. Maybe your PCP can explain the use of the term, "normal" to you. It doesn't make sense. Well. . . we went canoeing yesterday. It was a very nice form of outside activity to do on a beautiful day. As planned, we went to Otis Reservoir, and canoed to couple of our favorite spots. We managed to put that heavy canoe on and off the top of our car without too much muscle strain! The ONLY thing I should have done was put sunscreen on my bare knees (I wore shorts), and on my arms. I got sun-burned on the exposed skin, unfortunately. (Ouch!) Today is the last day of my scheduled vacation. Although I'm ready to go back to work, I really don't want to. Oh well. We have nothing planned for today. Maybe go for a power-walk before it gets to hot and humid. Below is a video of our vacation. I finally finished it last night. It showcases my new instrumental composition. I used the flow of the music to edit in the photos and snippets of video. The video is 8 minutes long. At the end of the video, after the music stops, I added Amy's schtick that she does during our vacations when the situation presents itself. We have several videos of Amy doing the same thing but at different locations. We have fun! I hope all have a nice day today. Peace, folks! Ted Here's the video. . .

Good Morning! It looks to be another lovely day, today. With only two more nights left, we're going to make the best of it for the short remainder of our vacation. Yesterday we did more hiking. Gosh. . . we went to a place called Cheshire Cobbles which is in Massachusetts (not too far from where we live, actually). It's part of the Berkshire Mountains and showcases spectacular views at this particular summit. It was only a 1-mile hike up to this place. But that 1-mile hike provided really, really good exercise. (The muscles. They ache this morning.) Once on top, we simply sat on the rocks, ate our lunch and enjoyed the beautiful views. I also took a good number of photos and video, of course. For sure, we don't have to travel too far from home to find good hiking trails. Today??? Well, the plan is to go canoeing! We haven't used the canoe in over a year. It's heavy, and is a challenge to put on top of our car for safe transport. So, after I'm done typing here, I'm going to eat a good breakfast then work to get the canoe on the car. (Oh those aching muscles.) But the effort will be worth it, especially if the good weather holds out. We're going to a place called Otis Reservoir which is located on Massachusetts. It's a relatively large lake and can be tricky for canoeing, especially if there are gusts of winds that can cause waves. But, again, the effort is worth it. Just gotta wear our life-preservers just in case there's a tip-over. (Never had a tip-over, before, using our canoe.) This vacation is giving me a good taste of what we'd be doing during our retirement. In fact, we talked about retirement a lot these past several days. Yes. We have to work, especially as we have debt to pay off. (The newly re-financed mortgage will go a long way to help us pay down our credit card debt!) We even like our jobs! But, there's more to life than work. Must admit that recently turning 60 years old has reinforced that concept. Well. . . gotta eat breakfast. . . and get that darned canoe on top of our car. (Moan!) Peace, folks! Ted

Another musical political satire by Randy Rainbow titled, "The Bunker Boy". It's brilliant and hilarious, as always! Enjoy!

Good Morning - Joe - Migraines are no fun. It's good that the headache didn't last long so that you could enjoy the rest of the day. Enjoy today with the nice weather. Been up since around 4:30 AM (EST) putting the finishing touches to the composition. It's finished. I need to put it aside for a while and come back to it with a fresh ear. The music is good enough to start putting pictures and videos to it, though. It looks like it's going to be a lovely day today. Think I'll mow the lawn on the lower end of our property that's along side the road. Might go for a short hike in the afternoon. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be nice day, too. Amy and I hope to take our canoe out on one of those days, and hike on the other day. I flew the drone out early this morning in hopes to video-record a near full-moon. There's no zoom function to the drone's camera, unfortunately. So, the video didn't come out as expected. (By the way, I haven't named the drone, yet. I'm thinking about calling it "The Precious". Amy rolled her eyes on that one.) Hope all have a nice day today. Cheers! Ted

Good Morning! Been up since around 4:30 AM (EST) this morning, working on a new composition (finally!). Currently drinking First Coffee. Thought I'd start today's Good Morning thread before I forget to post here. Again. (. . . again.) Yesterday, I primarily worked on this composition. It's like exercising atrophied muscles. It's painful, in a way. There are tricks in starting and developing a composition that can be used when one is facing an empty music manuscript paper. But the bottom line is this. I really need to do this music composition thing more often. The more it's done, the easier the process becomes. Anyway, I spent most of the day in front of my computer and keyboard working on this thing. The goal is to use this piece for the photos and videos that I took during our hikes the other day. . . to create a music video of sorts. L O L! Yesterday, I was officially informed that the refinancing of our mortgage has been accepted! So, in-between working on this music, I've been in communication with the loan-mortgage person with regards to the refinancing. "Closing" is set for either Friday or Saturday. The details are being worked out. I STILL don't know how the process will take place. Hopefully, the details on this process will be given to us today. Below are some photos that I took of our hikes that we did earlier this week. When the "music video" is finished, I'll share it with you, complete with footage from the drone. Included in the photos below is one of our drone in mid-air. It's one of the "artsy-fartsy" shots that I took with my camera. L O L! Well. . . gonna continue working on this composition. It's a process. . . Peace, folks! Ted