To review....today (or rather tonight) is the shift I scored off - rather a fluke as I have only two other RNs under me on the seniority list but I'll take it. This means I don't have to head back to work until tomorrow evening which is a very good thing after the last two frantic day shifts! And to top it all off, instead of staying at camp for a couple of days after all the kerfuffle to get out of the house on Sunday morning when I came home from work on Monday evening after a very full day I was met by the shore captain, prodigal son and house guest who were in the process of cooking up a man meal - strip loin steaks marinated and ready to BBQ as they trailed the dish across the hall, perogies baking and all of them underfoot. The house guest stayed over to go duck hunting and got caught in a rain squall and left, the others headed off to gainful employment so Tuesday evening was a more routine return to home experience.
There are plans for a trek to the city this weekend however and I discovered that the shore captain had gotten tickets to both the Friday night and Saturday afternoon Moosehead hockey games so that's a good plan. He apparently has some kind of a meeting Friday in the city and I opened the mail today to find that I'd won (courtesy of answering a question on a poll of the WFNS regarding the Giller winner, Gaspereau press and limited publishing run or e-book) a weekend pass to the NSDCC Christmas sale:
http://www.nsdcc.ns.ca/main/Christmas_market.html
So I shall be able to amuse myself while he meets with a government agency and give the pass to the city daughter for the weekend. May be able to pick up some Christmas gift ideas or at least some holiday spirit as it's been too mild to be thinking of Santa yet.
The man incidentally got tickets for February 3rd to see Heart at the Metro Center and I have to say that Nancy and Ann Wilson have always been his other women, the kids grew up listening to tapes/CDs of these chicks - they have sold over 35 million albums over the years so what can we do? As the only son says about What About Love (which I offer you the YouTube link to here in the 1990 live big hair version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ezqy4qQps
"that's another great song to come on the radio when you're out there fishing, gets you pumped right up - we sing to it!" I can't imagine what Crazy on You would do to them. It sure describes my day though.
This morning I was awoken by a phone call from the shore captain who was in full panic mode at the plant as he was attempting to complete the documentation for shipping fish, the tractor trailer was to arrive in about an hour and he couldn't get the forms he'd completed to print. His secretary is in Calgary as her father has had part of his liver removed, has a bad heart etc. but is actually making a slow recovery. I talked him through turning off the printer, shutting down the computer and letting it print. A short lecture on NOT hitting print many, many times when it doesn't print the first time I am sure fell on deaf ears.
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| Turn on that fireplace! |
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| Back problem what problem? |
As I puttered about the house getting breakfast and picking up a bit, thinking this is a good day to spend in the pjs with the animals inside.Well, the animals agreed anyway as you can see here.
I heard the dog bell and found one of the local fishermen standing on my back doorstep. The same one who had called about bait (actually one of many who had) while the bait provider was at camp asking if the shore captain was home. They of the much free time and only thing on their minds. Since it was 9 a.m. and the shore captain is legendary in his work hours ex. 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. many days I said "Is he home? Have you been drinking? When have you ever seen him home at this hour of the day?" He protested that he was sober but needed to know about bait. "Right now?" So I moved to the phone dialed the shore captain said "someone here wants to talk to you" and handed the phone to the visitor. He has his chat, thanks me and leaves. Not 10 minutes later he is in the yard again so this time I head him off in the doorway and he tells me he has been to visit his captain and I must take a message. I wait with pen and paper poised and he says "1000 lbs of mackerel and 1000 lbs of herring" which I promptly record, wait and then realize this is the entire message. I think of my last two days with absolutely insane 12 hr. shifts in the Emergency Department of life threatening illness, great small p political upheaval and general angst and manage not to smile, musing to myself 'I guess I can handle that'. When he is on the fifth admonition of "make sure you give him that message" I point at the door and say "NO PROBLEM" and look pointedly at his truck. Even he gets the message and exits.
The phone rings about another 10 minutes on and it's the shore captain AGAIN with the printer problem returned. He is extremely frustrated, + + stressed and has completely lost his problem solving skills. I offer to head over and do a crisis management plant visit but no....I have to spend 10 minutes trying to talk him through some solutions. Imagine trying to describe to someone in grade primary how to do cardiovascular surgery and you'll have no inkling of how successful THAT was. I finally insist I am heading over and make the 20 minute trip to assist. It was a fairly simple fix, although dealing with the shore captain was another matter. There was complete pandemonium until I said "this is like work but everyone here is breathing and YOU are breathing too fast" so he calmed himself a bit. The truck arrived was packed and left with proper documentation, staff were directed, garbage was picked up, nobody died. I did discover at one point that I was still in my pajamas and fastened my jacket up. I stayed for over an hour - screened calls, took messages, took one phone out of his hand when he was on another one, sorted out some of the paperwork, saved the files to the secretary's computer in case this should ever occur again, wrote the directions out on paper and put them under his desk blotter, picked up some of the mugs, dishes etc and brought them home to wash and exited without looking back!
I arrived home to find the back door open in the mudroom as the wind must've blown it when the early morning visitor didn't latch it when he left. I noticed the dog was lying in the doorway to the mudroom and did a quick feline headcount - no one absent. Whew! The prodigal son told me that when he was attempting to have Gary come inside the other day that Keely flushed him out of a tuft of grass and herded him in to the house. Today she was apparently doing security duty. Earns her keep. No more back spasms but one of the physicians at work told me that she has 'oil which cured her dachie' as she raises dachshunds who are known for having problems with their long backs. Not sure if you use the oil internally or externally but I shall find out if the problem recurs.
Spent the afternoon catching up on stuff about the house, phone messages, making appointments and now I've had a call from the shore captain (yes I was brave enough to answer when his number appeared) who is on his way home for supper.
Am posting two blog links here for you to enjoy should you find yourself looking at running away - it is never far from my thoughts here:
http://www.fromcitytosea.com/category/the-journey/
http://www.novascotiablogs.com/
Tomorrow will be a new day.
