Happy St. Patrick's Day

It appears that the man and I have both developed another cold at the same time. I am going to make it, but I’m not so sure about mister. And if he wakes me up at 3 a.m. tonight whining as he did last night he definitely won’t! So one of my errands was to stop for a bag full of cold symptom relievers to medicate him tonight at bedtime.

I’d like to thank my prairie buddy for suggesting that I should use Vick’s on the internet cord so that Gary wouldn’t chew on it. Well guess what? I didn’t buy a large jar, figuring the $3.50 investment of a small one was all I wanted to risk and that’s a good thing. When the resident handyman rubbed the menthol on the phone cord not only did Gary continue to sniff the cord…he licked it all over. Mind you, his eyes watered and he squinted and blinked but he just couldn’t help himself. Now, in fairness he didn’t actually chew on it but if the real reason was deterrence, I think it’s only a matter of time before he goes back to teething on it. Sigh. The likely only result will be a phone cord the size of a piece of rope with all the attendant feline fur. He is one incorrigible delinquent for sure.

Today was one of the worst workdays that I’ve put in for quite a while. I was met at the door with the news that we had a major gastroenteritis situation underway; one of the clerks had left a message on my cell phone over the weekend. First I heard of the whole thing, although my boss had been called a couple of times apparently. Staffing was at a beyond condition critical situation with the added pressure. The Nurse Manager was on her first day back from a southern vacation and really having some bad stuff to deal with. I am now covering for the entire district for the next two weeks and there were several serious situations in the other facilities. One of which I have to investigate first thing in the a.m. onsite there.

And in the middle of the confusion two of the maintenance men appeared with carts saying that I needed to move my office back this morning and starting moving equipment and furniture around me. When I followed my stuff down the hall I found that the smell of skunk was still apparent from the newly laid floors, everything was piled in the middle of the floor and the window was partially covered with cardboard and the snow was blowing in around it – talk about cold! With all the excitement I didn’t get hypothermia as I was flying around trying to sort out the various crises and didn’t even get out the door until 5 p.m. Couldn't be further away from retirement than that if I tried.

I am on day 1 of at least 2 for drafting a submission to the Minister of Fisheries but the shore captain was momentarily distracted by a phone call to the Executive Director of the association as they planned their latest skirmish. Then a weather report/state of the fishery with a local fisherman was his next incoming call. In between there were skirmishes with the offspring and guests who need to be transported home, various clerical issues with several others and a conference call with my professional association. My nerves.