The one where I have to start working again

I guess the party is over, as I had my first day of orientation today.  Time to buckle down and get back to work!

After I have another week and a half of vacation that is!

I have 2 days of orientation this week, and then I don't actually start until the week after the 4th of July!  Yay!

We're going to go out to Michigan to visit Husband's grandparents that week- the first real "vacation" we've had in about 10 years.  At least that I can remember.  Camping for 3 days doesn't count, even though it's fun.

That reminds me, I need to see what the forecast is for that week- anything has to be better than the 100 degree streak we've been having here in Colorado- right?

As it is, there are now 8 wildfires burning in the state, and only one is contained!  Three are down in the southwest corner of the state by Mesa Verde and Durango, and so that means that we have smoke in our area from them.  Not quite like what my dad is having, but in the morning you can barely make out the mountain behind our house.  And it is not making it cooler here, all that smoke blocking the sun!

Apparently a lot of Colorado is looking like this

Oh, & while finding this picture I found out that Michigan had a fire in the Upper Penninsula in May!

Everyone is on fire.  Like I keep telling my dad, craziness...


Remember, it's just a ride.

Mourning

I know it has been a week or so since I've been on, but things have been busy!  Last week I took a trip down to Ft.Collins to visit my dad, daughter, & grandbaby.  Originally it was supposed to be a trip to visit my daughter and the grandbaby, but with the High Park fire moving to my dad's area, I went to see him too.

On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I pretty much spent the days with the tv tuned into news channels, and my phone turned on to a scanner app so I could listen to where they were fighting the fires.  And for the first few days, my dad's home was safe.  Until Tuesday, when the fire crews spent all day and all night fighting to save the houses in my dad's little area.  My dad and I listened to them right in front of his house, and they did a commendable job!

But then, on Thursday, the fire flared back up, and the results were disasterous:

His vineyard in the background on the left- it's still standing!

This is my dad's house.

And unfortunately, the fire was so hot and spread so fast, jumping over some places and burning others, that flare ups keep happening, and the wind keeps changing and sending the fire back through places it left untouched before.  It's like every day the fire looks back and says, "Oops!  Missed a spot!"

Yesterday my dad was interviewed for the Denver Post, you can view the article here.  And that picture?  That's my dad and his girlfriend Georgie.

On Sunday, when my sister visited him for Father's Day, smoke from the fire was so bad in Ft.Collins that they had to leave early, and snapped pictures from the highway of new flare ups:

And the fire is still going.

My dad says that knowing what happened to his home is the only thing that has calmed him down and made it easier to deal with the past week.

But when we talk, it's memories we talk of, remembering visits and horseshoe games, hiking and seeing friends.  My dad has lived up in that area for almost 30 years, and it's now gone.

As my dad says every time one of us brings up some trinket or photo or keepsake,  "Burned".

"Remember that wolf quilt I made?"  "Burned"  " Aw, and the records?"  "Burned"

Now all that stuff is just memories until all of us who remember are gone, then,  burned.


Remember, it's just a ride. (and a wild one at that)

I need prayers for my Dad

Who was evacuated last night from the High Park fire in Larimer county here in Colorado.  He and his neighbors' 30 horses were some of the last people out of Davis Ranch area at 11:30 last night.

This is the latest map.

Today, his valley is ringed by the fire, which keeps whipping back and forth over previously burned areas because of wind.

So far, from all recent maps, it looks like his area has not been burned, but the fire is estimated at over 14,000 acres, and is running wild, there is 0% containment.

View from Horsetooth Reservoir (courtesy of Fox31 Denver)

We're just hoping that my Dad's home, and his neighbors' houses are spared.




Remember, it's just a ride.

Frackin Friday

Yep, it's Friday again, so it's time to frackin' sound off!  Brought to you by Dazee http://dazeedreams.blogspot.com    (sorry, for some reason blogger isn't letting me hook up any links)

Uh, but there's only one problem..............I don't have anything to sound off about!  Instead, I have a big announcement!

I got the job!  I got the job!  I got the job!

Yes I did!  I'll be working back in an ICU being a real nurse again!  With an immediate $5/hour increase in pay!  Yes folks, I'll actually get paid decently for what I do, it's........a miracle!

So, I just don't have anything bad to say today because I'm too busy basking in the glow of an actual hospital wanting me. 

Finally.


Remember, it's just a ride.

The waiting game

I am not a patient person.  Seriously.  When I'm watching a show on Netflix and it keeps loading, I can feel my blood pressure rising.  When I'm driving behind someone who is going 5 miles under the speed limit, I have to stop myself from tailgating.

When I haven't gotten a call yet about the job I applied for a week ago, I start freaking out.  I'm not a good waiter.  Not at all.

So, I have to find things to do to pass the time, right?  Have to find things that will occupy my brain so it doesn't start it's own little dialogue of "why haven't they called me yet?"  Easier said than done, but I've got a few things going for me:

Hiking

Been hiking quite a lot lately, which kills 2 birds with 1 stone- keeps me from getting fat while I sit on the couch, and gets me out of the house.

Sewing

Lets me look forward to the fair every year cuz yes, I enter my sewings.

Reading



This one I'm not doing as much as I usually do, but as an update- I read the entire Hunger Games over the weekend a week ago.  It was pretty good, and a fast read, (a book a day).

Watching TV- or more specifically, Watching Grey's Anatomy Which My Daughter Has Sucked Me Into.

Ahhh trauma drama.

And lastly, Piano practice, which, since I'm not working, I need to do more of.

At least I have a game plan.


Remember, it's just a ride.

Update- better late than never

Just wanted to put up a quick update on the job interview.  I know it was 4 days ago, but I've been trying to wrap my head around what appears to me to be a bad interview on my side of it!

So, first off, it was all I could do not to panic on the way in to the interview!  This is what happens when you've spent months trying to prove you are not a horrible nurse/person to your boss and others around you, but they still treat you like you're some kind of temp or rookie nurse.  Despite your best efforts, you start to question yourself, sooooo, by the time I got to my interview I felt like I was about 2 inches tall.

But, I pulled through it.

First off, the nurse manager interviewing me already knew me from hiring me to the cath lab.  She's awesome, and made me feel at home.  The actual interview was only about 20 minutes, and I have no way to judge how I did- I'm really bad at that!

Second, I shadowed a nurse for 3 hours!  My purse was locked in the managers' office, so I had no money for lunch, and the manager was in a meeting, so, lunch skipped.  Following one of the nurses started bringing back some things, ok, lots of things, and after an hour or so, I stopped feeling like a kid trying to play with the grown-ups!  It did wonders for my confidence.

By the time the manager came back to follow up on my shadowing, I felt much better, (but starving, I could have eaten roadkill!), and the interview was done.  Whew!

By the time I got home, I was freaked out that I blew it.  I talked to 8 people on the phone that night about the interview, and all of them were wonderful and thought I would get the job.

Question:  Why is everyone else so sure I'm a good nurse and will get the job except me?

This is the question that I have been mulling over for the last 4 days.  Why am I the only one who doesn't think highly of me?

Ugh, my brain is shot.  And they told me that I should hear from them this week, so keep your fingers crossed everyone!


Remember, it's just a ride.