Nature Photo Challenge, Day 6

#6 - When I first moved to Humboldt County, I spent a lot of my free time exploring the area. One day, I drove up to Patrick's Point near Trinidad, CA. I got there early in the morning, and thought my photo shoot was going to be a bust as it was very foggy. But, then suddenly, light started shining in... and made for some great photos, of which this is one...

#278 - H is for Humboldt County

I thought I would share some of my favorite

photos from where I am currently living:

Humboldt County...

From Centerville Beach

To Ferndale

Past Bull Creek

And the Honeydew Bridge

From Point Mendocino

To Table Bluff near Loleta

I love the Eel River

And the Pacific Ocean

I love seeing Roosevelt Elk!!

And sea-faring boats in the harbor at Eureka

This is where I call HOME...

A place where Scottish Highlander cows

can walk casually down the road...

Come visit us some time...!

#278 - F is for Fleener Creek

We travel to a lot of places,

but sometimes it's just as much fun to 

explore your own back yard.

Fleener Creek sits about 10 miles down the road from us.

It's a short, downhill half-mile walk...

And you come to this... a beautiful secluded beach

at the end of Fleener Creek

Some days it's like you're the only person on the planet...

Mysterious

Amazing

Beautiful

You have to carry a tide chart, though,

because they come very quickly and

the cliffs are very steep

I love capturing my DH unaware...

Then comes the 1/2 mile back UP hill...

But definitely worth the trouble for all this beauty...!

Commuter Blues

As you might remember, I've been doing some traveling to Sacramento once a month to work at several ED's there.  It was part of my company's Ambassador program to help new programs get started.  This was my last month of working with the program.

It's been quite an interesting experience.  I get to see a lot of more complex patients than I do in my small town, rural hospital, and the hospital system is so different in terms of available services and admissions.  Also, I get to work close to a Trader Joe's and what can beat that?

As much as I like working in the city, I always look forward to leaving traffic, people and everything far behind as I head back north.  It's amazing to me how in a few short hours I can have the road to myself.  Where I can drive for almost an hour and not see another car on the road.  Where I can leave the "concrete jungle" and enter the forest of redwoods that is now part of my home.

I cross this bridge and find peace as I make the last 5 mile drive home...

NaBloPoMo Day 2 - Favorite Place

Today's prompt asks "If you could live anywhere where would it be?"

I think I've always said I wanted to live where the redwoods meet the Pacific...

So I guess I am Home.

I always imagined having a house where I could see the ocean, and a place to walk along the beach.

So I guess I am Home.

I wanted a house with some property where I could have lots of animals to enjoy.

So I guess I am Home.

And one day... it will be the home of my dreams...

Messy Monday

Humboldt Bay

I haven't written about my patients for a while, so I thought I would do so today after my shift yesterday...

The morning started off with Geriatric Clinic.  I don't think I had any patients under the age of 70 for the first couple of hours.  Unfortunately, several had to be admitted;  mostly because age was finally catching up and their families could not longer care for them at home.  We have a lot of admissions for "weakness."

Things started to pick up as the morning progressed, and we started to get the chronics who won't go home.  Why do some people want to come to the ED just to sleep?  We have several patients who will come in with some random complaint of "nausea and abdominal pain" who get an IV, some medications and then pretty much establish a home base and milk out the stay for hours.  They'll be complaining of 10/10 pain even though they've been sleeping for hours, demand more pain medication, and are asleep before the RN can even get back in the room with it.  These are the ones who miraculously improve when they are placed in the hallway because a more urgent patient needs the room and, more importantly, the cardiac monitors.

Lunch time arrived and we had a reasonably full house.  Chronics sleeping in a few rooms, seniors waiting to be admitted, then the random "waited all weekend and now can't get into the doctor's office because it's a Monday and their schedule is booked" patients come in.  There's a flurry of activity as they come in and out almost like a revolving door.  Charting takes longer than it actually takes for me to see the patient, do a physical exam and plan for discharge.

The afternoon wears on and I start to dread the "after school" or "after work" rush.  School has started and there are sports injuries galore as kids who have sat around all summer start actually doing some physical activity.  Then there's the "it's bothered me all weekend, but I had to go to work today and I must be seen now" group.  Kinda like the previous group, but employed.  Sort of.  Or wish they weren't.  Like one patient that jammed their finger playing basketball and wanted me to write them for a week off work... really?  Listen up 18 year old... you've got a lifetime of work ahead of you, so you better get used to it because you're not getting off to a good start.

Evening comes.  The RN's are antsy because they're on their last hour.  The flotsam and jetsam of society starts to roll in, and I see the kind of patient I can't stand... the "waste of my time" with the "I demand everything be done" family.  Let me get this straight, the police "kicked the &*^% out of you" for being involved in a fight with your pregnant daughter's baby daddy, dragged you to jail where supposedly you got further assaulted.  You were released before midnight last night at which point you came to the hospital to see your daughter who was injured in the original fight but were not allowed to see her because police said you were threatening her but during which time you refused to be seen for your "injuries."  You then proceeded to "disappear" per your "concerned" family members only to reappear late this afternoon and "collapse on the couch."  Family calls 911 to bring you for evaluation so they can "sue those *&^%( police" who did this to you.  You refuse to speak to EMS, myself, the RN, and only interact with your family members.  When the words "drug screen" are mentioned you suddenly are able to stand and walk and communicate to the extent that you sign out AMA (against medical advice) and storm out of the ED.  Meanwhile the "concerned" family members inform you that "don't worry, if he passes out again we can always call EMS."  Thanks, that will be an excellent use of resources.

It's end of my shift, and I am waiting for a woman to deliver her baby.  This is not a joyous occasion.  She's from out of town and things started to go wrong.  It's too soon, and the baby is too small, but Nature has already started the process.  She keeps asking why it's like labor.  I tell her it's because it is labor;  her body only knows how to do one thing.  After almost an hour it's over.  I have to change my scrubs before finally heading home.  What a way to end the day.

I drive home mentally reviewing my shift.  Did I really help anyone today?  Did I display something close to empathy even though some patients really pushed my level of patience?  Was there something I should have done that I didn't?

Luckily, self-doubt is all but forgotten as I cross the bridge for home.  There's bigger issues to think about... and, lots of distractions to help erase the memories of the day.

 

NaBloPoMo Day 2

I was going to use the NaBloPoMo website prompt for today in my blogpost, but luckily my DH took me for a hike as a bit of study break... and to show me what he's been up to while I have been at work. It was a lovely day, fog rolling in with just a peek of sunshine. He encouraged me to bring my camera, and since the pics (all 95 of them) would take too long to load, I made a little movie which I share with you today... enjoy!

Settling In...

Ok, so about 10 days have passed, and we are still in the process of settling into our new home.  I also had to take several days in between all this to go south and take care of my mom after cataract surgery;  so that also slowed down the moving in process.  However, we have had a chance to start exploring our new environment.


A few thoughts:
 - it's amazing what you find when you start to unpack.  I have found clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. that I forgot I had.  Not to mention the box of kitchen utensils that I didn't unpack for three years while I was in Buffalo because I didn't really need them there...


 - merging two households after 4 separate moves makes for a lot of redundancy... although, we could have a very eclectic dinner party and used different combinations of dishes and silverware.


 - my cats settled down very well and are starting to find their favorite places around the house... most frequently settling down wherever we are.  Funny how they now have about twice the living space, and they still insist on being in the same room.  Cats are weird.


 - no birds have come to my bird feeders.  I was very excited about being able to set them up again, and I thought living in the country I'd see a whole host of birds.  We've been here almost 2 weeks and nary a bird has come to the feeder.  My husband did see one bird that landed for a brief second on the birdbath, but that's been about it.


 - we are in a great location.  Five miles to the west is the ocean.  We can hear the roar at night.  Two miles to the south is a pine forest.  Surrounding us on the other two sides are acres of dairy farms.  And, there's a major river with trout and salmon which I have to cross every day to get to the main highway.  We're very much enjoying being "far from the things of man" in a sense.


 Ok, that's it for now.  Will post pics from the road once I get them all organized, and I will share pics from the surroundings as well.... Cheers!