Flashback Friday- Cibecue Falls

 Yes, I realize it isn’t Friday. I worked four nights last week, which is absolutely crazy. I really shouldn’t have done that. I still feel like I am catching up.

So, had I written this last week when I planned to, it would have been exactly 1 year since we hiked cibecue falls together as a family.

We had been wanting to hike cibecue for a while, but it’s down at the bottom of Salt River Canyon and it’s on the reservation. So it was going to be a drive, plus it was going to cots a lot for permits. We went thinking it was $30 a person. It turned out to be $45 per person. I was convinced the Sinclair gas station where I wanted to buy the permits was jjjjjjust after the canyon. But it wasn’t. Garren wanted me to buy the permits in Mesa, but I was just convinced it would only add another 20 minutes to our drive. Well, I was wrong and it total probably added an hour to our trip. I was going to leave that part out, but figured I may as well make this an accurate account of the day.

Sure enough, when we pulled into the area at the bottom of the canyon we were pulled over for a permit check. Then we made a. long drive down a scary road that felt like it was only wide enough for one car: steep mountain on one side and steep cliff on the other. Somehow, when a car was coming in the other direction we seemed to both squeeze by just fine without plummeting to our deaths. We made it to the water which is where we had to leave our car and continue on foot. None of us brought water appropriate shoes: #regrets. The hike was about 2-3 hours to the waterfall. It was a zigzag through water and up and down steep hills. Sugar was still new to us. We brought her along. This was when we learned that she is a dramatic cry baby. She had fun and wanted to be with us, but she’s squeal a lot at dumb things. It was silly. The hike down was good, but Miriam wanted to hike in flip flops! Like Garren! So her shoes kept falling off in the water. Garren would sit back and say, “well, guess you’ll have to continue in bare feet.” So I had to go in the water after her shoes every time. Then she was grumpy because her ears kept popping. 

The falls were gorgeous. We had a little picnic there at the bottom. People were jumping off the falls. I wanted to, but the water was too cold for me. I didn’t want to hike back 2 hours in freezing cold clothes and shoes. There were other people there with their dogs. This is when we learned that while Sugar is very sweet, she is also very vocal. And that echoed of the canyon. So everyone loved us and was super glad we were there.

The hike back was great because the sun was setting and all the shadows from the canyon were gorgeous. And it was nice to not have the sun right on us. I think we got back in the early evening. So it definitely took the entire day. Josh really enjoyed that hike and says he’d do it again. I told him it’s a rich person’s hike and we’ll have to save up to do that one again. I would like to do it again sometime. Five stars. 

Grumpy Miriam because her ears were popping.

Happy Joshua :)

Tuesday April 4th, 2023

 A little late this week. I’m working my fourth shift in a row tonight! Our two full time monitor techs both took time off this week! So I’m trying to fill in where I can. Since I took a big test last week and felt like things were light, I decided to pick up.

I spent most of last week obsessing over my electrolytes exam. So I didn’t live much life. But it paid off. I got a 46/50. I was fine with that because I got all the electrolytes questions right. I spent so much time on those I forgot to think about sleep and grief, the other aspects of the test. I don’t feel like I need to need to every detail about stage 3 sleep to be a good nurse. But maybe I’m wrong!

You won’t believe it, but we are going on day 13 of our renovation guy not coming to our house to finish the job. Car broke down, blah blah blah. . . I was like, so you know when my care breaks down, I still have to figure out a way to show up to work!! Weird concept for some people, I guess. . . . Then he called Garren today to ask him for another payment!!!! I laughed so hard I nearly messed myself! I am past feeling about this. I don’t care how long it takes he isn’t getting another dime out of me until the job is done. And then I never want to see him again!

So I picked up shifts Saturday, Sunday, Monday and tonight. I don’t know what is going on with our hospital but they aren’t taking care of the grounds and I think they didn’t pay for trash pick up because the trash is piling up outside by cardiology and it isn’t being picked up. And we are always in crisis mode. I won’t be the least bit surprised if we close down soon or something like that. Our property is overgrown with weeds, trees down in the parking lot, and no one is doing anything about it! So if we can’t pay to have the grounds kept up then I don’t even want to know what other problems are happening. I tried to look at the bright side of it though. We have weeds growing the cracks in the asphalt, even! 

We have much bigger ones that’s this. But this was the one nearest me when I thought to take a picture. They are growing in some places over a foot tall out of the asphalt! When trying to look at the bright side I thought, nature always finds a way. Then I saw the weeds a little differently.

Anyway, that’s all for this week. Unless you want to hear about 2nd degree heart blocks and Vtach, which has been my life for the past few days. Snooze. . . . .

This week’s post is brought to you by Miriam sitting in Sugar’s lap instead. 

Flashback Friday—Solid gold door stopper

 (I know it’s Saturday. My Fridays are occupied by clinicals at the moment).

I opened Facebook this morning and it had a “memory” for me. It was this picture with the caption, “Awww, just like Dad.”

I guess I got this in a fortune cookie 8 years ago today.

So. . . The story behind the caption. . .  Still laugh about this today! I told this story to my brother in law just a few months ago at my mother in law’s funeral.

When I was about 16 years old, possibly 17, I was going to be flying on an airplane for the first ever. I was in a choir at Hamilton High School. We were called “Schola Chantorum,” and *we* were invited to compete in a competition in Atlanta, GA! By this time in my life I had only traveled to the surrounding states—California, Nevada, and Utah. I was thrilled! I needed something to pack my things in. So I asked my dad if I could borrow his duffel bag. He told me he let Neal borrow the week before for a young men’s camp out and that he probably still had it. So I went to brother and asked for the duffel bag. On handing it to me I noticed it had some weight to it. I pulled a brick out of the bag and looked questioningly at my brother. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “It was in there when Dad gave it to me.” Knowing that the door to my bedroom also closed on its own he suggested I used the brick as a door stop to keep the door open. Thinking that was an excellent idea I placed the brick in front of my door. It was heavier than most bricks and did its job nicely. 

I went to Atlanta. It was amazing. Another flashback post for another day. . .  I had been home for about a week when my dad came in my room, red faced and sweating. He calmly and slowly said, “Do you have the duffel bag you got from Neal?” I went to my closet and pulled it out, handed it to him. Disappointed when it felt so light he asked, “There was something in here at one time. . . “ I didn’t even let him finish. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I interrupted him. Pointing at my door stop, I said, “That?!” He exhaled a sigh of relief and picked it up. I said, “I was using it as a door stop because my door closes by itself.” He said, “Well, you were using a brick of gold for a door stop!” 

Now, my next questions was, “How many bricks of gold does one have that one could lose one, or forget one in a duffel bag. Then Dad reminded me that every year for Christmas my mom buys him a new safe. . . So he can store all his bricks of gold, or silver or whatever it is he collects. 

Every time he got paid he’d always turn his money into something else, something not as easily exchangeable. He taught me this lesson when I got married. My grandfather had given us a $100 gift card to Costco. but we didn’t have a Costco in Virginia at the time. So my dad said he would buy it from us, but all he has was silver. So he gave us 15 oz of silver for the Costco card. He told us to just watch: if we used the Costco card the money would be gone and whatever we bought would eventually be used up or thrown away. But with the silver, we technically have money if we absolutely need it. But because it takes more effort to exchange it into spendable form we aren’t likely to spend it. We’re more likely to find some other way to get our hands on cash or just to get by without whatever it is we thought we needed the money for than to change out that silver. And here we are, almost 18 years later, and I still have those 15 oz of silver.

I told this story some time ago and Dad overheard me. He did correct me and say that the bricks were silver, not gold. So that’s the truth of the story. But like Gandalf says in Lord of the Rings, “Good stories deserve a little embellishment.”

Monday, March 27th, 2023

 Today would have been my Mother in law’s 73rd birthday. Every once in a while I catch myself thinking, “Wow. She’s really gone.” I think I’ve processed it, but then I have those moments where I think, “Wait. This is real.” I miss her very much and I hope she knows how much I loved her.

Last week was very busy. Lots going on. Monday we had a fake simulation at school. It was nice because we got to try out all the skills we had learned with no consequences. It was good to do that in a calm, relaxed environment first before going into the real clinical setting. It’s okay to kill a mannequin when you’re trying out new things, but not a real person. ;) Monday night I worked. I worked with a bunch of people I had never met before. I realized eventually that they were probably all from a staffing agency and not core staff which means. . .  our hospital is in rough shape where staff is concerned. What else is new???

Tuesday, I slept most of the day because I worked the night before. When I woke up I was met with this unfortunate display of pure idiocy. 

Like!!! Did you think I wouldn’t notice???? THEN he made US buy new tile to fix it! So I told Garren I can’t communicate with him anymore. Garren has to do all the communicating. He only came once last week and it was to fix his errors. I’m beyond angry at this moment. He is taking so long to do this project. 

Wednesday we had my grandpa’s funeral. It was nice. It was also kind of strange. We didn’t have a great relationship with him. When I was young I remember him calling my dad a few times and saying, “We’ve been in Arizona for a week and are leaving tomorrow. Wanted to see if you wanted to get together for dinner.” I remember even as a little child thinking that was a little strange that he’d been there all week and only just now calling us. Or he’d bring all us girls presents and tell Neal that the store they went to didn’t have anything for boys. So some of his family was there from his second wife. He adopted her kids. And the kids and grandkids of his third wife. So the second wife’s kids came up to me and were telling me how he was more of a father to them than their real father. And one of his third wife’s grandchildren came up to me, Miriam and my two nieces and said, “What’s your relationship to Poppie?” In my head I was thinking, “Who the hell is  Poppie?” My niece said, “I think I met him once at a party last year.” Miriam said, “I made a puzzle with him once.” And I explained that we didn’t really have a relationship. She said, “Oh. They raised me. I lived with them basically my whole life.” I said, “I’m glad you had a good experience with him.” My grandpa wasn’t a bad guy and I don’t think he was abandoning us or my dad. I think he probably just thought we were okay because we had my Grandma Joyce and her husband, Bob. And I think he thought Bob was to us what he was trying to be for this other wive’s children and grandchildren. And that’s okay because Bob really was great to us. I do have a connection to Grandpa Bob. He was great! It’s all okay. It is what it is. 

These pictures didn’t come through in order and I’m not going to organize them. 

Dad spoke at the grave side.

This is my funeral dress. I wore it to Cyndie’s wedding too. It’s very cute. I wish I had more occasions to wear it than death.

These lady’s were amazing. When she gave my dad the flag she spoke with such sincerity and sympathy as if she knew my grandfather. It was just amazing. 

Finally got a picture with my siblings!! 

Me and MirMir in our funeral attire. 

Mark spoke as well. He had a different relationship with his dad than my dad did. It was very sweet. 

The “Grandpa” floral arrangement. This was at the funeral home, Meldrum’s. 

Moving on. . .  Thursday was lecture at school. We started electrolytes. The panic in the room hung heavy. 😂 I felt like I had a good foundation because I had to understand some of it for being a monitor tech. So hopefully I do well on the test! 

Friday I had my first clinical rotation!! We were at a long term care facility. It happens to be owned by the same people that own the first LTC I worked at, Montecito. So I knew what to expect. One girl in particular wanted to paired up with me as I have worked in LTC before. I enjoyed that. She was open and receptive to learning. I am consciously aware that I am annoying at school. I try not to be, but sometimes I don’t realize it until it’s too late. I am over enthusiastic about everything I am learning. I love to learn. And when I know the answer and no one else does I am very eager to offer my knowledge. I know that’s annoying to everyone around me. It was nice on Friday to have someone want to be with me and take advantage of my knowledge instead of being off putting to people. I wish I wasn’t this way, but I don’t really know how to be “enthusiastically cool.” It is what it is. . .  Someday there will be someone that appreciates my enthusiasm toward being right all the time and having all the answers. Basically, this is me every single day at school. Even in the poop lectures!

Saturday was Miriam’s swim meat. She did great!! I love watching her perform. 

The very beginning of the performance. 

Right before performing.

Putting on makeup after I knoxxed her hair.

Adjusting the nose clip.

Again, the video of the performance won’t upload. File too big. I figure it out one day. . . 

Here’s where we stand with our very frustrating bathroom remodel. 

And this week’s post is brought to you this time by Rainbow, the black cat that blends in with all things black.