The Joys of Country Living

The internet is down at the house. All attempts so far to fix it have been futile (I turned it off and then on again, Brian tried some fancy tests and actually called tech support) and Brian may be MIA for the next three weeks. So, my few faithful followers, my blog is probably going to be down for the count until I can fix it-or at least the posts will be a lot shorter because they will be made from my phone. A bummer, truly, because I have pictures to add.

Also, I may be following the trend and moving over to wordpress after giving it a trial run. I especially like the "like" options on the comments. But first, I'm considering revamping this whole blog. Although Remus is still an integral part of my life, my posts deal less and less with him and much more about everything else. I'm thinking about putting a creative spin on it since I've really been trying to encourage my often supressed "artsy-crafty" genes. I may keep a page for EMS tidbits, but I am wary of saying anything that may violate HIPPA. Remus will still be a key player-I can't really go anywhere without the fuzzbutt-but I'd like to find a little focus. SO, I will repost what I can when I can, thanks for reading. :)

Wolfhound Chaperone

I'll try to keep this from spilling into the TMI category, but it's too funny not to share. Brian and I spend the majority of our time at home in the kitchen or living room. Remus's domain is the kitchen, but we let him think he is fooling us when he sneaks out to sleep behind the couch everyonce in awhile. Well, Brian is an affectionate person and will kiss me on the neck or shoulder when I'm cooking, doing the dishes or standing around looking dazed because I've forgotten what I was planning to do (happens more frequently then the dishes). Remus has decided this behavior is unacceptable.

Recently, every time Brian has started being affectionate, Remus will start make weird groaning/moaning noises and then jump into his play stance (butt up, chest down, feet splayed) and bark. If I start laughing, his head will raise and his ears will perk up and he'll look at me like, "Are you done?" And then Brian, who takes the Remus interruption as a challenge, just makes things worse and Remus goes back to weird noises and barking. I'm pretty sure it is the doggy equivalant to "Get a ROOM!" and it is hilarious. I laugh helplessly everytime it happens, Remus is just so adamant! And the groaning noises are really weird, REALLY weird.

The joys of pet ownership :)

Link Up Fail

So after last Wednesday's "Wondrous Words" link up by Bermuda Onion, I was all excited to do it again this Wednesday. I picked up King Lear and put it in my bag for work with all sorts of good intentions. Well, I didn't completely flake out on the reading, I DID read...a little...ok maybe like three pages. Unfortunately, there were no new words on those three pages so I have nothing to contribute to the link up. :/ Shame on me. I thought about going to dictionary.com and looking up some  bizzare words to make it look like I was reading something super smarty pants worthy, but I resisted the deception. Instead, I'm falling back on an old standby and providing snippets from the ambulance.

Background info: Pt calls 911, they talk to dispatch, dispatch sends us on the call. First they push this really annoying button that sends out a high pitched call tone and then they give the basic info like "Medic 10, 10Delta2 chest pain, at *address*, Medic 10." We respond in service, they repeat the info, we then respond in route and they give us the trip number (for our charts) and our times (time call was received, time it was dispatched, time we're enroute) and then they give pt descriptors and the chief complaint (cc or c/o for "complaining of") All dispatch radio traffic is public domain, you can go to your local dispatch center and listen to it for kicks and giggles, here are a few of my favorites from the past few days.

Dispatch: "Pt smoked crack today and is sad now."

Dispatch: "Pt complaining of extreme itchiness" (This pt put toothpaste on bug bites with no relief)

Dispatch: "Pt complaining of insomnia"

Dispatch: "Medic 10, cancel the call, pt has removed item from his ear. No further assistance needed." (Item was an, ahem, adult toy...no idea what it was doing near his ear.)

Dispatch: "It's a finger stabbing, stage for SO." (Sherriff's Office) We had two finger stabbings in a row that night.

Dispatch: "Respond to a 29D2 (car crash), pt struck a utility pole...." "...pt is EtOH" (Drunk) ..."Pt ran into the pole on foot..." (wow. Drunk drivers take out utility poles all the time, but without the car? Impressive)

Hope you enjoyed :) Maybe next Wednesday I won't have been such a slacker.

Mini Painting Epiphanies

It's not very reassuring when you are working on a painting and your husband glances over and goes "Ohhhhhhh THATS what that is!" but I guess it is a testament to the fact that eventually whatever I am painting does end up resembling what I want it to resemble. In this case it is a very small canvas where I am informally painting an image stuck in my head from one of the suicides we went to back in February. Not pleasant, I know, and I've actually typed up a brief description of the scene but have refrained from posting it on here because I don't think it's something people will want to read. However, writing and painting are both good stress relieving outlets for me, and this particular call was higher emotional stress than some. The painting is coming on nicely for it being impromptu and hurried, it's done less for any sort of artistic reason and more as a way for me to constructively deal with the mental images. The moment of recognition for my husband came when he realized I had painted a room and a hallway, not a bunch of abstract geometry.

My other painting-the ADD painting- is coming along really nicely if I do say so myself. I had a brief epiphany last night as I was painting that this was MY painting so I could paint whatever I wanted. I get sucked in to the people pleasing attitude so much that I was worried about adding things that people wouldn't like. Silly, really, when you take the time to consider that as a painting reflecting my interpretation of ADD it is entirely my interpretation and what people think about it doesn't matter-they can paint their own. So yes, I did add butterflies, lightening bugs, and a cluster of tiny mushrooms at the foot of the tree dividing the picture. I also touched up the moon and am contemplating adding clouds. Once it dries enough (I'm guessing in about a month) I'll start the last, overarching part of the painting and then it'll be FINISHED!

I don't know if you truly understand how big of a deal it is for me to finish a project, but it's a pretty big deal. I will be posting pictures of at least the ADD painting on here, though it's such a large canvas the pictures I've taken so far really miss out on all the detail work I've done which is a little frustrating.

Time to go find something else creative to do :)