Growing Gills

Well, time to update you as I notice the previous post was Boxing Day and since I find myself with a few minutes at 4 a.m. courtesy of a night shift here goes.

Managed to survive the shifts I worked in between the holidays but doing six out of the eight shifts as days instead of four days/four nights was not the way I'd have planned it as those 5:25 a.m. alarms are brutal. But do I enjoy the switch to staff nursing - YOU BET!!

I was however, off for New Years Eve and New Years Day and that was a great way to start the new decade. Took the city daughter back to town to catch her ride and then picked up some groceries - memo to self, don't choose New Years Eve day to grocery shop! The shore captain saved some lobsters, we had garlic gouda from that Dutchman, I made herb bread and cranberry pudding for dessert and of course there was wine. We had two couples over for the eats and laughs and they left at 1 and 2 a.m. respectively so well past our bedtime.

A bit of excitement as the evening wrapped up because the front door had come open and I first found Klyde out on the doorsteps in the dusting of snow there before midnight, asked if the other two were accounted for and the life partner said "cats are are all here" because he didn't want to have to search for them. About an hour later one of the guests went to use the washroom and heard a cat scratching at the door and let in a snow covered Gary. So when the guests finally departed and I realized that Stanley was MIA likely for several hours I headed out with the kitty treats to lure him in. There were little kitty prints all around the house where he'd unsuccessfully attempted to gain entry at all back and front doors then the veranda. I noticed what I thought was a black puddle in the snow of the drainage ditch and when the pitiful yowls came to my ears I realized it was himself. He of course made a dash for under the deck and had to be tempted with treats and finally carried into the house. The three felines were quite wound up after their travels so were chasing each other in back of the Christmas tree, the humans however crashed!

New Years Eve day was a snow day so in the morning the shore captain dozed on the couch, I was in the chair and the cats found their spots in the rocking chair, mat in front of the fireplace and window seat respectively and the dog snoozed in the front entryway. The Sirius radio playing softly in the background, snow falling outside over the seaducks in front of the windows and the gang all reading/napping. Ahh, if this is as good as it gets, I'm okay with it.

The weekend was spent working and Saturday was a real challenge to get to and fro work. The life partner got the car to the top of the driveway for me and so I headed out with a bit of snow on the road but no idea that a 'weather bomb' was coming at us. I parked in the lot at the intersection of the main road and we headed off. The snow piled up during the day, it was questionable if staff would be able to get in, I was asked if I wanted to stay in at a local motel and work would pay (I graciously declined) and there were only about three visitors for the whole shift. When it came time to head home, I called the shore captain who had already ploughed the driveway twice and he offered to come to the intersection and shovel me out. He was still shoveling when I was dropped off and it took about 15 minutes to extricate the car from the lot, then the road then another 15 minutes to get home while I drove the 4 wheel drive. When I was leaving for work again the next morning his only instructions were "don't park anywhere, just drive, it's too much work to get you out". It was slushy but not nearly as exciting the second day.

On my drive home (as I was alone and able to listen to CBC radio) there was a piece on C'est La Vie about Nicole Pageau, a lady from Quebec who at the age of 60 gave up everything and moved from Edmonton to Kigali, Rwanda to help the widows of the genocide saying every day she made a difference in somebody's life. It was very moving and sure made me look forward to a mission somewhere.

Today was a winter wonderland and mild so the dog and I enjoyed a romp in the afternoon after I had a little chat with the bride-to-be as she was picking out patterns for flower girls dresses and made a scrapbook wall calendar for my wooden frame - now that is the way to spend a day off.

NOT as I did previous to that where I noticed a huge black growth of mold on all the window sills, in fact the ones in the bedrooms and bathrooms looked like mushroom farms. Certainly not a healthy environment! I spent almost two hours cleaning with tilex, a toothbrush and papertowel after taking off the screens. Now after the cleaning lady mentioned it a month ago, I had the conversation with the man of the house about what could be causing the condensation on the windows and he told me that it happened every year. It does not! But we agreed to disagree as I am older and do not argue with him as much, don't necessarily agree with him, just don't argue. Now there was no black mould when I put around a few Christmas decorations only three weeks ago so obviously something was going on with the air exchanger. It's a wonder we hadn't grown gills. As I talked to him on the phone he advised checking the switch, circuit breaker and panel for the air exchanger (no idea why this didn't occur to him when I started complaining about the situation weeks ago). But you guessed it! It wasn't working and likely hadn't been for some time which is not a good situation in a house as tight as a R2000 one. I reset the circuit breaker and panel and it took off. The (non) maintenance man of the house said he would clean the screens when he got home and instructed that I should "dig the stepladder out of the snow bank where he'd left it after putting up the windvane and then ploughing the driveway". By the time I excavated the ladder and brought it inside then tried to keep the cats off it I was so annoyed I decided to go for the dog walk.

Before I realized it, it was time to get ready for work and as much fun as it was to watch the shore captain cleaning the venmar screens ....here I am. Time to start the morning work so...later.