Is that pig manure?

Work was a real challenge today, isn’t that the politically correct description? The construction zone continues just outside my door and there is a weird odor of something which smells mildly like pig manure. Shortly there will be a large tarp across the end of the hall necessitating a trip outside down the emergency exit, around the building, in through the doors and upstairs again just to get to the patient wing a few feet away. The good thing is that I’ll be able to disappear through the side door and run for it if things continue as they are.

The gastro bug appears to be slowing which is a good thing as many other issues have jumped up to fill the space. There wasn’t even a space in the parking lot by 9 a.m. and in the middle of everything else during a rotten spring storm a quick ambulance trip to the nearest maternity facility meant we escaped having a delivery. The place was hopping and there was an overflow crowd waiting.

In the ER waiting room I came across a colleague from many years of nursing who had gone home from a night shift and then fallen down with two jars of pickles so was awaiting suturing of her hand. She was filling me in on the details of LPN who had died suddenly at the Manor as they are still trying to ascertain what the cause of her death was. Apparently her daughter had come home for the funeral and delivered locally (likely due to the shock of the situation) and she and her beautiful baby girl were discharged so she could attend her mother’s funeral. How very sad.

I made sure I got to the post office to mail my demo DVD off to the entertainment company. By the time I sent it quickly and insured it the price tag was almost $20 but I just kept thinking of all those perks on the cruise circuit as I hauled out my debit card. You do have to invest in your future. I had some nice photos emailed to me by one of the IT guys who breeds LRDDs (Little River Duck Dogs to the unfamiliar) today so the presentation is coming together nicely for next week.

More festivities tonight as tomorrow is the only son’s girlfriend’s birthday so we had a family supper / early celebration. I stopped on the way from work and picked up a cake and ice cream at Sobeys where I had the bakery lady write happy birthday and her name beautifully on the cake. I left it in the mudroom with the candles for dessert and sent the boy out (what was I thinking?) to put the candles on, light them and bring it in. The first indication anything was wrong started with upset groans from himself and then “no don’t come out here” in response to my query as I thought he was having trouble with the lighter. His sister headed out to find that he had in fact dropped the cake while attempting to take the cover off and it had fallen on his father’s insulated coverall suit, which had been dropped on the floor, good thing it was washed yesterday. Mister was kind of distraught as he said, “you can’t really read her name” while he piled the icing back on top and admitted to breaking four of the candles in half as he jammed them into the cake. That boy is always the entertainment no matter the occasion.

I’m off to the district facility in the a.m. as the weather forecast for tomorrow is much better than today, as I try to wrap up all the ends I can for the returning vacationers on Monday. I have a presentation to do for the local EMO tomorrow evening on pandemic planning so that will keep me out of trouble.