Roadrunner went in next. First he froze up, unsure of what to do. Then he stood up to his full runner duck height and started peeping at the top of his lungs. Then he realized, "wait... this is FUN!" and starting splashing and dunking and playing too. I put Coyote back in with him to play a bit and they didn't want to get out when their turn was over.
Then Squish and Squash. Both freaked and scrambled out immediately. I gave them a break, then tried again, easing them slowly into the water and stroking their bellies. No good. They wanted nothing to do with it at all! How funny is that? I suppose it's like toddlers learning to walk... some catch on faster than others, but in the end it will become a natural thing for them.
On the homefront... the house is a bit of a mess, and the office isn't yet unpacked and organized. Our work on the two upstairs bedrooms is on hold until the ducklings are living outside... once that is accomplished, we can clear out the "brooder" room, lay down the floor in there, and make it a liveable space. Right now, it's plywood floors and duck poop. Oh well.
One of our little Ameraucana chicks got pecked really badly on her back... a little hole all the way down to the muscle. It looks awful. We've been cleaning it and applying antibiotic ointment, and covering it with a big bandaid... so far she seems okay and it's been three days. Hoping she heals up well.
The asparagus crowns I planted are sending up little stalks, and I filled in the rest of the trenches around them with soil and compost. The strawberries and blueberries look great, and the raspberry canes are leafing out a bit. The apple trees are covered in leaves and looking very happy. We are slowly getting into the ground all of the lovely plants that Honeybunch's mother brought down for us... lilies, dahlias, groundcovers, hops... all kinds of perrenials. The grass is so tall it's absurd... but we don't have a lawnmower yet, so it will wait.
My second week at the new job didn't start off too great. We were in class (policies and procedures, policies and procedures!!!!! Ugh!) in the oldest building on the campus. The hospital also happens to be near a major local river. And I learned, first thing Monday morning, that the building has a pest control problem of a very particular nature.
It was the size of my thumb.
And no, it was not a "waterbug". "Waterbug" is just another word for "cockroach".
I immediately ran down the hall into the bathroom to begin wretching, hyperventilating and sobbing. That process continued for more than an hour before I could calm myself enough to walk back down the hall and take my seat in the classroom, tear-stained and twitching. I have a true phobia, and there is nothing I can do to control my response... luckily the nurse educator running the orientation understood. I got through the rest of the day, though it only got marginally better as I came home to mess after mess.... but I got through.
The next day, same thing, as soon as I walked in the door of the building. Another hour, hour and a half panic attack/freak out. But I recovered, once more, and got a 100% on the 100-question medication test they require of each new nurse. Apparently I am the third person to ever get that score on that test. I felt like hot stuff after that! The rest of the day was better than the former, and I even got more than 6 hours of sleep last night.
Today I was on the floor in the ER (no cockroaches so far. It's a brand new building, and about 4 blocks away from the old one on the campus...hoping for the best). It was my first day actually "doing things" there instead of just following, though I was limited in what I could do because I haven't really been trained in the computer system thoroughly. But I passed some meds, triaged someone, stuck someone for an IV, discharged two people, did some point of care testing, and documented everything correctly in the computer system (even if it did take me a while to find my way around on there). It felt good to be doing actual nursing again.
No comments:
Post a Comment