This is something my sister sent me in an email. Let's hope this is accurate.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Not Much to Report On
Well, it is hard to believe that one month of 2010 is already gone - and I haven't written one blog post this month. Not much has been going on this month, just getting back to a normal routine after the holidays and traveling to see the family. The first couple of days of the new year were taken up with putting all the Christmas decorations away and getting the house all clean and back to normal. I was really glad when that task was complete. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and all the decorations but I don't like the work of putting it away until the next year.
I have been working more this month - the hospital seems to be a little busier and they are scheduling the staff differently.
I only work per diem so my schedule fluctuates greatly and the hospital sometimes uses travelers so I never know how many hours I will get each month. Back in April 2008 St. Vincent's partnered with Christus and now we are Christus St. Vincent's Regional Medical Center. There have been many changes, most involve Christus bringing in new managers from other areas of their organization. There are good and bad things about this. One, they are a Catholic organization (so was St. Vincent's) and now at each meeting they say prayers. Not too many employees are happy about it. Two, we are also now required to wear uniforms - not too big of a deal. The therapy staff will be wearing polo shirts with khaki or blue pants. I can live with that. They are also making it a priority to build up a full time staff. Now this has been a problem ever since I started working there seven years ago, so I am not sure how they plan to do this. They did mention something about raising the therapy staff's salaries - but it would have to significant to really be competitive here in Santa Fe. We are also going to computerized documentation starting tomorrow which I personally think will be good. Right now it is so hard to get the chart that we end up wasting a lot of time - with the computer we will be able to access any forms at any time, even if someone else is viewing them on another computer. Anyway, I am glad for the hours. Before the holidays I was barely getting two or three days a month so it is nice to be working more now.
The dogs are also keeping me busy. Daisy isn't too bad. She is now about a year and a half old and is pretty settled and trained. But Buddy is another story. We are still working on house training. He does well for a while but every now and then he has an accident - it is getting better but it has been a slow process. Another issue with him is chewing. He has plenty of toys and mostly chews on them but he sometimes likes to grab a shoe to chew on. It is getting better but every now and then I catch him with one of our shoes. We are really loving having the two dogs around. They get along well and spend hours playing together which is nice when we are at work. Buddy is growing fast and before long he will be Daisy's size and it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.
We've had dinners with a few friends throughout the month and that is always enjoyable.
We also visited Thomas' cousin Ruth in Albuquerque. She had surgery last month and is still going through treatments. We are hoping everything heals quickly. On our trips to Albuquerque we took some time to do a little letterboxing. There really aren't a lot of boxes in the area and the weather is also an issue. I also mangaed to take a drive to Stanley to find a box and that was a nice trip. Thomas and I have been meaning to go see Avatar but things just keep popping up and we never make it to the theater. I have heard good things about it and want to see it at the theater to get the full 3D effect - maybe this evening or sometime this week.
I have also been thinking of taking a couple of small trips soon. I am looking in to a trip to Tucson, mostly for letterboxing and a trip to Lafayette for Easter to see my family. And possibly a trip to Georgia to see my brother and his wife. We would probably do some letterboxing there as well because it seems that my brother and his wife have gotten hooked on the hobby. Not sure about any of these trips - they are only thoughts at this point.
Our winter has been pretty mild with little precipitation. That is until these last two weeks. We had small amounts of snow three days in a row last week and then this week we had a major snowfall on Thursday. I love the snow so I was happy that we have been getting some. I took quite a few walks in the snow and took pictures. We still have some snow on the ground but it is melting fast. I am hoping for another storm soon. We really need the moisture for the summer.
Well, I guess that's about it, You see, I told you there wasn't much going on except for the normal day to day. Hopefully February will present more things to blog about.
I have been working more this month - the hospital seems to be a little busier and they are scheduling the staff differently.
I only work per diem so my schedule fluctuates greatly and the hospital sometimes uses travelers so I never know how many hours I will get each month. Back in April 2008 St. Vincent's partnered with Christus and now we are Christus St. Vincent's Regional Medical Center. There have been many changes, most involve Christus bringing in new managers from other areas of their organization. There are good and bad things about this. One, they are a Catholic organization (so was St. Vincent's) and now at each meeting they say prayers. Not too many employees are happy about it. Two, we are also now required to wear uniforms - not too big of a deal. The therapy staff will be wearing polo shirts with khaki or blue pants. I can live with that. They are also making it a priority to build up a full time staff. Now this has been a problem ever since I started working there seven years ago, so I am not sure how they plan to do this. They did mention something about raising the therapy staff's salaries - but it would have to significant to really be competitive here in Santa Fe. We are also going to computerized documentation starting tomorrow which I personally think will be good. Right now it is so hard to get the chart that we end up wasting a lot of time - with the computer we will be able to access any forms at any time, even if someone else is viewing them on another computer. Anyway, I am glad for the hours. Before the holidays I was barely getting two or three days a month so it is nice to be working more now.The dogs are also keeping me busy. Daisy isn't too bad. She is now about a year and a half old and is pretty settled and trained. But Buddy is another story. We are still working on house training. He does well for a while but every now and then he has an accident - it is getting better but it has been a slow process. Another issue with him is chewing. He has plenty of toys and mostly chews on them but he sometimes likes to grab a shoe to chew on. It is getting better but every now and then I catch him with one of our shoes. We are really loving having the two dogs around. They get along well and spend hours playing together which is nice when we are at work. Buddy is growing fast and before long he will be Daisy's size and it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.
We've had dinners with a few friends throughout the month and that is always enjoyable.
We also visited Thomas' cousin Ruth in Albuquerque. She had surgery last month and is still going through treatments. We are hoping everything heals quickly. On our trips to Albuquerque we took some time to do a little letterboxing. There really aren't a lot of boxes in the area and the weather is also an issue. I also mangaed to take a drive to Stanley to find a box and that was a nice trip. Thomas and I have been meaning to go see Avatar but things just keep popping up and we never make it to the theater. I have heard good things about it and want to see it at the theater to get the full 3D effect - maybe this evening or sometime this week.I have also been thinking of taking a couple of small trips soon. I am looking in to a trip to Tucson, mostly for letterboxing and a trip to Lafayette for Easter to see my family. And possibly a trip to Georgia to see my brother and his wife. We would probably do some letterboxing there as well because it seems that my brother and his wife have gotten hooked on the hobby. Not sure about any of these trips - they are only thoughts at this point.
Our winter has been pretty mild with little precipitation. That is until these last two weeks. We had small amounts of snow three days in a row last week and then this week we had a major snowfall on Thursday. I love the snow so I was happy that we have been getting some. I took quite a few walks in the snow and took pictures. We still have some snow on the ground but it is melting fast. I am hoping for another storm soon. We really need the moisture for the summer.
Well, I guess that's about it, You see, I told you there wasn't much going on except for the normal day to day. Hopefully February will present more things to blog about.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
2009 - My Look Back
The year started out pretty good. On the 1st we had a simple meal at home with just a few people. We ate and watched movies. No fuss, no muss - my kind of day. Then I met some friends on January 2 for lunch and some discussion about my hobby - letterboxing. It was a nice way to start the year.
So lets recap 2009.
I continued my picture taking and you can see my progress at As I See It 2009. I have found that I am really enjoying this picture taking project. I will definitely continue this year and you can see those photos at As I See It 2010. For some reason I had a little more difficulty finding things to photograph this year. I think that when I did As I See It 2008 it was easier, maybe because it was new. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed 2009 as much as 2008 it just seemed harder. Anyway I am looking forward to photographing 2010 and continuing to better my skills.
As for my hobby - letterboxing, it has been a bittersweet year. The year started off with an interview. I was contacted by the Albuquerque Journal and they were interested in doing an article about letterboxing.
I had mixed feelings but eventually agreed. The article was titled "You've Got Mail" and you can read it at Astro D's blog in her post 15 Minutes of Fame. The article turned out well but it also exposed the hobby more than I liked. The boxes I have planted received many visitors this year and for the most part I received positive comments but unfortunately there were a few really nasty ones. The most recent was in November. That one really knocked me for a loop. The comment I received literally told me I should have wrote the clues to state exactly where the box was. The jist of the note made it sound like I should put markers along the road leading right to the spot where the box is hidden and then place a flashing red light right over the box. It just took away all the joy of the hobby. I have since pulled back from the hobby - the enjoyment I felt had greatly diminished. I have done some letterboxing since then but not like normal. And I will think long and hard before I place another box and let it be scrutiny for another bitter letterboxer. For now I am pretty much keeping to myself with the hobby and I will wait and see what 2010 brings. As for my letterboxing adventures this year here is what I did. 
Thomas and I took a winter trip to Bosque del Apache and to Las Cruces - this was to see the birds and to do some letterboxing and you can read about it at The Forest and the Crosses. I also made sure to get out to letterbox on February 16 - my anniversary date. That story is at Three Year Letterboxing Anniversary. In March Astro D and I headed to Texas for T.A.L.E. 6 and we were joined by Bell Motel for part of the trip. You can read all about it at Texas Heritage Letterboxing Trip. It was a great time - I always have fun with the Texas letterboxers. Then in April Thomas and I took a long weekend to go to Oklahoma for a letterboxing event at Lake Murray. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some new friends. You can read about it at Oooooooooklahoma! to find out what we did there. In May Thomas and I took the train to Chicago. While there we did a little letterboxing, those stories can be seen here. Then in July we spent the weekend of the 4th in Broomfield, CO visiting Thomas' brother. I did get to do quite a bit of letterboxing in the Centennial State while we were there. By August I was antsy to do some more letterboxing so I jumped in the car for a few days in Arizona. I letterboxed along I40 to Gallup, then continued along I40 to Flagstaff, I made it all the way to Williams before turning around and heading home. In September Astro D, rubberpeace and I hosted a letterboxing event - El Rancho de Los Letterboxes. It was a good event, very relaxing with some great boxes and some really nice people. I think everyone had a great time. Thomas and I usually try and take a couple of vacations a year and in the fall we traveled to the Oregon Coast. We did a lot of letterboxing and a few other things. You can read all about the trip at Letterboxing on the Oregon Coast. This brings us to November and the horrible note that put a damper on my letterboxing enthusiasm. Besides these trips I did quite a bit of letterboxing in New Mexico especially around Santa Fe and Albuquerque. I also got to meet quite a few letterboxers throughout the year and that is always nice.
We took quite a few trips this year and most of them I mentioned when I talked about letterboxing so bare with me as I list all of our trips. We traveled to southern NM to Las Cruces, I took a trip to Texas with Astro D. Thomas and I went to Ardmore, OK for a long weekend at Lake Murray. Our major spring trip was an Amtrak train ride to Chicago where we spent an incredible week. We also spent the Fourth of July weekend in Colorado. I then took a trip by myself to Arizona for a few days. And then we took our big fall trip to the Oregon Coast. Our last trip of the year was a week in Lafayette, LA visiting my family for the Christmas Holidays. Mixed in with all these big trips we also took day trips in and around New Mexico. It was a great year for traveling for us. We had a great time and some wonderful memories.
As for our health we are doing pretty good except for maybe being a little overweight and having high cholesterol. With medicine the cholesterol seems to be under control and both Thomas and I are starting to pay more attention to our diet and exercise. Hopefully in 2010 we can lose some weight and help our health a little more. And as for my detached retina things are going well. The retina is attached and has healed but I still have blurry vision in my left eye. You can read the whole story at Detached Retina.
You may remember at the end of 2008 that we had to say goodbye to our bulldog Boudreaux.
And in December we adopted a blue heeler mix and named her Daisy. Well at the end of 2009 we decided Daisy needed a playmate and we adopted another blue heeler mix and we named him Buddy. The two dogs seem to be becoming good friends very fast. They sure have livened up the house.
2009 was a pretty good year and I am hoping that 2010 will be just as good or even better. Happy New Year everyone - best of luck to all of you.
So lets recap 2009.
I continued my picture taking and you can see my progress at As I See It 2009. I have found that I am really enjoying this picture taking project. I will definitely continue this year and you can see those photos at As I See It 2010. For some reason I had a little more difficulty finding things to photograph this year. I think that when I did As I See It 2008 it was easier, maybe because it was new. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed 2009 as much as 2008 it just seemed harder. Anyway I am looking forward to photographing 2010 and continuing to better my skills.As for my hobby - letterboxing, it has been a bittersweet year. The year started off with an interview. I was contacted by the Albuquerque Journal and they were interested in doing an article about letterboxing.
I had mixed feelings but eventually agreed. The article was titled "You've Got Mail" and you can read it at Astro D's blog in her post 15 Minutes of Fame. The article turned out well but it also exposed the hobby more than I liked. The boxes I have planted received many visitors this year and for the most part I received positive comments but unfortunately there were a few really nasty ones. The most recent was in November. That one really knocked me for a loop. The comment I received literally told me I should have wrote the clues to state exactly where the box was. The jist of the note made it sound like I should put markers along the road leading right to the spot where the box is hidden and then place a flashing red light right over the box. It just took away all the joy of the hobby. I have since pulled back from the hobby - the enjoyment I felt had greatly diminished. I have done some letterboxing since then but not like normal. And I will think long and hard before I place another box and let it be scrutiny for another bitter letterboxer. For now I am pretty much keeping to myself with the hobby and I will wait and see what 2010 brings. As for my letterboxing adventures this year here is what I did. 
Thomas and I took a winter trip to Bosque del Apache and to Las Cruces - this was to see the birds and to do some letterboxing and you can read about it at The Forest and the Crosses. I also made sure to get out to letterbox on February 16 - my anniversary date. That story is at Three Year Letterboxing Anniversary. In March Astro D and I headed to Texas for T.A.L.E. 6 and we were joined by Bell Motel for part of the trip. You can read all about it at Texas Heritage Letterboxing Trip. It was a great time - I always have fun with the Texas letterboxers. Then in April Thomas and I took a long weekend to go to Oklahoma for a letterboxing event at Lake Murray. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed meeting some new friends. You can read about it at Oooooooooklahoma! to find out what we did there. In May Thomas and I took the train to Chicago. While there we did a little letterboxing, those stories can be seen here. Then in July we spent the weekend of the 4th in Broomfield, CO visiting Thomas' brother. I did get to do quite a bit of letterboxing in the Centennial State while we were there. By August I was antsy to do some more letterboxing so I jumped in the car for a few days in Arizona. I letterboxed along I40 to Gallup, then continued along I40 to Flagstaff, I made it all the way to Williams before turning around and heading home. In September Astro D, rubberpeace and I hosted a letterboxing event - El Rancho de Los Letterboxes. It was a good event, very relaxing with some great boxes and some really nice people. I think everyone had a great time. Thomas and I usually try and take a couple of vacations a year and in the fall we traveled to the Oregon Coast. We did a lot of letterboxing and a few other things. You can read all about the trip at Letterboxing on the Oregon Coast. This brings us to November and the horrible note that put a damper on my letterboxing enthusiasm. Besides these trips I did quite a bit of letterboxing in New Mexico especially around Santa Fe and Albuquerque. I also got to meet quite a few letterboxers throughout the year and that is always nice.
We took quite a few trips this year and most of them I mentioned when I talked about letterboxing so bare with me as I list all of our trips. We traveled to southern NM to Las Cruces, I took a trip to Texas with Astro D. Thomas and I went to Ardmore, OK for a long weekend at Lake Murray. Our major spring trip was an Amtrak train ride to Chicago where we spent an incredible week. We also spent the Fourth of July weekend in Colorado. I then took a trip by myself to Arizona for a few days. And then we took our big fall trip to the Oregon Coast. Our last trip of the year was a week in Lafayette, LA visiting my family for the Christmas Holidays. Mixed in with all these big trips we also took day trips in and around New Mexico. It was a great year for traveling for us. We had a great time and some wonderful memories.
As for our health we are doing pretty good except for maybe being a little overweight and having high cholesterol. With medicine the cholesterol seems to be under control and both Thomas and I are starting to pay more attention to our diet and exercise. Hopefully in 2010 we can lose some weight and help our health a little more. And as for my detached retina things are going well. The retina is attached and has healed but I still have blurry vision in my left eye. You can read the whole story at Detached Retina.You may remember at the end of 2008 that we had to say goodbye to our bulldog Boudreaux.
And in December we adopted a blue heeler mix and named her Daisy. Well at the end of 2009 we decided Daisy needed a playmate and we adopted another blue heeler mix and we named him Buddy. The two dogs seem to be becoming good friends very fast. They sure have livened up the house.2009 was a pretty good year and I am hoping that 2010 will be just as good or even better. Happy New Year everyone - best of luck to all of you.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Two Trees Project
In January I decided to start a new picture project. We have two trees growing out behind our house. I have watched these trees for 20 years now and this year I decided to take a picture of these trees each month. I found a spot, set up the tripod and camera and I marked the position. I then took pictures and each month I tried to follow the same guidelines so that the pictures were of the same composition. I am happy with the way it turned out so here are the 12 pictures of my Two Trees.
January February
March April
May June
July August
September October
November December
January February
March April
May June
July August
September October
November December
Monday, December 7, 2009
Our Newest Family Member
For a few months now Thomas has been talking about getting another dog, a playmate for Daisy. 
He has been asking around and looking in the paper for one to adopt. The other day he saw a ad in the Santa Fe Reporter for the Espanola Valley Humane Society. He saw a picture of a dog that he thought would be nice to adopt. So today he just happened by the humane society and the dog he was looking for had already been adopted. Did that slow him down - no way. He asked and found out that there had been a litter of blue heeler mix puppies brought in the night before. He went and saw the puppies and found one he just had to have. So he adopted this great little boy. We have named him Buddy. He is wonderful and fit in immediately. Daisy seems to like him and she is very gentle when playing with him. She lets him jump all over her and bite her. When she has enough she gently pushes him away. The only thing is that he doesn't give up easy. It seems that they may very well become best friends. He is about five or six weeks old and we are hoping he grows to about the size of Daisy. I will keep you posted.
He has been asking around and looking in the paper for one to adopt. The other day he saw a ad in the Santa Fe Reporter for the Espanola Valley Humane Society. He saw a picture of a dog that he thought would be nice to adopt. So today he just happened by the humane society and the dog he was looking for had already been adopted. Did that slow him down - no way. He asked and found out that there had been a litter of blue heeler mix puppies brought in the night before. He went and saw the puppies and found one he just had to have. So he adopted this great little boy. We have named him Buddy. He is wonderful and fit in immediately. Daisy seems to like him and she is very gentle when playing with him. She lets him jump all over her and bite her. When she has enough she gently pushes him away. The only thing is that he doesn't give up easy. It seems that they may very well become best friends. He is about five or six weeks old and we are hoping he grows to about the size of Daisy. I will keep you posted.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Another Hero
This afternoon I was reading a few blogs that I follow and came across a post with a video at Idle Eyes and a Dormy. +Savino-HS-019.jpg)
The video is of a speech by Senator Diane Savino, a New York State Senator. She gave a very moving speech in favor of Gay Marriage. Although the bill was defeated I am very thankful to Senator Savino. I am proud to have someone like her on our side and with people like her working along side the Gay Community I know that we will get the Rights that we deserve. I was so moved by her speech that I sent her an email thanking her for the support. Please check out Senator Savino's speech - I think you will be impressed. And please pass it along to anyone you know. We can always use more help in getting the truth about Gay Marriage out to as many people as we can. Thanks for listening.
The video is of a speech by Senator Diane Savino, a New York State Senator. She gave a very moving speech in favor of Gay Marriage. Although the bill was defeated I am very thankful to Senator Savino. I am proud to have someone like her on our side and with people like her working along side the Gay Community I know that we will get the Rights that we deserve. I was so moved by her speech that I sent her an email thanking her for the support. Please check out Senator Savino's speech - I think you will be impressed. And please pass it along to anyone you know. We can always use more help in getting the truth about Gay Marriage out to as many people as we can. Thanks for listening.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)