Sunday, August 08, 2010

Sunday Odds & Ends

Yeah, so. I have a two-inch slice on my ankle now, thanks to the super-duper retraction speed of the cord on the Miele. Don't get near the vacuum when you're retracting the cord, is all I can say. The plug'll whip around and slice the shit out of you.

The house is mostly put back together now after the Painting Party. I'm trying to figure out how to best arrange the typewriters on various walls. I'd planned to put them all on one wall, but the nice man at ACE told me that that wouldn't work, as the wallboard wouldn't hold 'em.

The rug (which was always too big and too rough) is out of the house now, and has gone to the neighbor's. Now I need something to put on the floor before winter comes, so my tootsies don't freeze.

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It struck me today that it's a sign that things are going better than I had expected with the new NCCU that they keep calling me on my days off, asking if I want to work. That means we have patients galore. Given that we're still working with crapped-out equipment and borrowed space, that's pretty impressive.

I just wish we had the wherewithal to handle vents on our unit. There's some obscure hospital policy that says we can't have vented patients, probably because things are, well, cobbled together and borrowed. Eventually, though....maybe in ten years? Or in five, if we can get the space from the surgical CCU?

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Max has finally figured out that it's really too hot to be outdoors during the middle of the afternoon, and has taken to scratching at the back door. The other day, when I didn't let him in (since I was forty miles away), he simply walked through the fence to the neighbors' house and went through their dog door. We're not going to bother to repair the fence; we're just putting in an extra gate that I'd been saving for the occasion.

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Friend Joy revealed on Facebook today that she and her Lovely Husband are now caretakers to two stock guard dogs--Anatolian/Pyr mixes--who are meant to supervise the goats that are to show up in a week. Remembering Strider makes me hope two things: first, that both dogs have plenty to do in the meantime, and also that Joy and Lovely Husband have plenty-plenty food around for the one who's still growing. Strider, according to his forever-home person (who still emails me twice a year or so) topped out at about 170 lbs and eats everything in sight.

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My cuticles are a mess.

6 comments:

messymimi said...

I like your very smart dog.

Tonjia said...

I am glad its not just my hospital that does weird things...

so, how about some pictures of everything "post painting party"?

Cartoon Characters said...

Why wouldn't the wall hold typewriters? If you find the studs in your walls, there should be no problem. You could hang a tank. Well, maybe not so much. Am I missing something?
(I was born into a family of carpenters and do a lot of reno and other carpentry/electrical etc around the house myself, did some carpentry stuff prior to nursing, so know a little bit about it...)
As for ACE workers, my cousin works at one and she knows nothing.

Jo said...

Cartoon Characters:

The way I wanted to hang them, they would've been hung on molly bolts through the wallboard. Apparently, pre-war typewriters in a group weigh too darned much for that. Now I'm trying to figure out where best to display them in a group, on a piece of 1/2" plywood that I can screw into the studs.

My fear is that somehow the whole kit & kaboodle will come crashing down on the floor. Maybe I'll build a special display cabinet for them...?

As for the ACE guys, they're all about a hundred years old, and have been carpenters/plumbers/electricians/whatever for years. Our ACE is fantastic: they even have a series of foster shop-cats who sleep on the window displays and are adopted out.

Speaking of cats, mine just fell off the edge of my chair. Maybe I should be worried less about the typewriters falling on the cats, and more about the cats falling on the typewriters.

Cartoon Characters said...

In the knowlege department - there is a definite exception for the 100 year old ACE guys. And an ACE store that takes care of cats increases it's advice's reliability. Your idea about attaching them to plywood first (typewriters-NOT the cats) sounds doable though. Use lots of wood screws. Sounds like u are very proficient in the carpentry area and have thot it through.
Have you ever tried to take apart one of those old typewriters? They are virtually indestructible. :)Lucky for cats - they have 9 lives. You wouldn't believe what my cats have destroyed in my house.

Chris said...

OMG, I did the same thing with the retractable vacuum cord - slapped me in the ankle so hard I dropped to the floor and rolled around.

By the way, my big girl, my mastiff, is very sick. Please send good thoughts for her.