Lights Out!

Much to my surprise and sheer happiness, the neighbors porch light finally burnt out!! And although it has not started to stick yet, it has been snowing like crazy from what I can see looking out the windows at work the past couple of days. I still need to get the leaves raked and the boat winterized. Sigh....

Back to Work Early

So after spending most of the day raking the leaves, when the phone rang and the there was an opportunity for me to go into work and make some extra cash, I was all over it. It was my own stupid way of negotiating being able to stop raking. Not that it means anything, just that I'll have to do it all another day.

Interesting thing that I've observed about my "weekend" neighbors. They live downstate, and come up on an occasional weekend or holiday, they also rent the place out for weekends. Anyways, I'm not the only one that has noticed this about "down-staters" or "flat-landers" or "trunk slammers", but the first thing that they immediately do is go around and turn on every light in the house and every light outside the house. I'm not sure if it is due to a fear of the dark or if they just want to let everyone know that they are there. But my neighbors are not the only ones who do this. Anyways, this past weekend several people came up, and slowly they have left. I believe they are gone now, as it is 2am and there are no cars in the driveway and the last one left was the old guy. But what did they do, and what do they do quite often? They accidently leave the porch light on. Last time it was the light on the other side of the house. This time, it is the light that shines directly into my windows. Quite annoying. And the light is not dim by any means. So I guess I'll let it burn until it dies, or until they come back up to shut it off. Or I could stand there and pelt it with rocks until it breaks......

Off to bed, as I have to get up early to go back to work.

Too much hiking!

Well, over the past few days, I've hiked about 30 miles. And now, my knee is causing me problems again. Whats up with that? Am I getting old? I got caught in the rain the last mile today with the dog, so we ran back to the car. Which just made the pain worse. I've tried ice, took a hot bath, have been popping tons of tylenol and motrin, and the pain still isn't budging. So I just took 50mg of benadryl, hoping that it will make me sleepy enough to fall asleep and forget about the pain until the morning.

So I've been to the Jordan River Valley, some new places in the Pigeon River, and out to the Pine Baron where I normally ski. I did take pictures, but they are in the camera, still in my backpack on the dining room table. And I'm lying in bed. So, I'll get to those another day. The leaves were definitely past their peak, but it is always nice to just be outside.

Funny story about my trip on Friday. I went to the Pigeon River with a fellow hiker, and I guess Dad was in my neighborhood so he stopped by the house. I leave my garage unlocked, good to know for all you potential burglars, so when he found the car, both bikes, and the kayaks in the garage and the fact that I didn't answer the phone or the door, I guess that made him panic. So he called Mom, who came over with the spare key to my house, and they didn't find me in the house. They called me several times on the cell phone, which we didn't have service where we were hiking, so they got no answer. My brother said they were really panicking, but they won't let me in on all the details. In fact they didn't even tell me they busted into the house, until I asked them about it because all of the bedroom doors in the house were closed. It all makes me laugh, in a few days I'll start making fun of them for freaking out like they did. For now I'll give them some time to recover. I wonder how much longer they would have waited until they called the police......

It is 5am, and I'm wide awake. Been awake for the past 3 hours. I just can't sleep. Granted I probably slept too much yesterday, but last night I was still super tired so I popped a benadryl and went to bed at 1030. I woke up at 130am, and have been awake since. It is so frustrating. So I've been laying around the house watching Season 4 of The Office. God that show is hilarious! I already own the previous 3 seasons, but not being home in the evenings, and not having cable television, I missed every episode last year. So I've been laying here watching a years worth of tv. Kinda sad.

So, I've given up on falling asleep and am patiently waiting for the sun to rise. I've decided that I'm going to go hike the Jordan River Valley today. This is probably the most challenging trail in the area, rated at moderate to difficult. It is an 18 mile loop, and is meant to be a two day trip, and they have a nice rustic campground at the bottom of the valley. I have done it in one day, and it is quite a work out. I'll be headed out solo here in a few hours, since I just decided to take this trip. I've taken a couple people out there before, and it is not surprising at all when I mentioned to them that I was considering going out there that they were not interested in the least. Go figure.

And bad news for me on the hiking front, my hiking partner just found out she was pregnant. Needless to say, she won't be doing any backpacking with me for a few years. Bummer for me, but I'm happy for her. I've already decided that I'm buying her husband a man boob, since she hates interrupted sleep as much as I do. The only time I've ever seen one was off Meet the Fockers, when the grandpa makes his own mammary gland to breastfeed his grandson. The movie is hilarious. So now I'm in the market for a man boob and a new hiking partner.....

I'll give a trip update when I make it back tonight, hopefully before dark.....

Too much work!

Well, I finally survived my stretch of days working. Barely. Sorry to all you people who regularly work 5 days a week, I suffer enough working 6 day stretches every other week. Plus I get 8 days off in between! I'm such a wimp. Please do take into consideration that I am stuck there for 12 hours though....

This stretch was so long and miserable, I kind of started to feel bad for the patients that would get stuck with me as their nurse. I just become more sarcastic. Some get the humor, some don't.... And this one patient in particular, that frequents the ER once, sometimes twice a day, yeah, he got stuck with me as his nurse in the last hour before I got to go home. So what did he get? The largest needle in his arm I could fit. Is that sadistic or what? But, my rationale is, that if he is really as sick as he is telling us, and he if he is so sick to come to the ER as often as he does, he needs that big IV. If he really hasn't peed in two days and has thrown up over 100 times since he went home 10 hours ago like he told me, he needs as much fluid as possible! Amazingly, he went home a hour later. There are so many hidden stories of the life of an ER nurse. Some funny, some not so funny.....

So anyways, I'm excited to get my 8 days off started! I would like to take a road trip of some sort. A friend of mine wants me to come visit him down near Detroit! Eeeks.....Sarah in the city! And of course I need to get out in the woods hiking and maybe do a little bit more mountain biking before the snow starts to fly! The bruises on my legs, from my last crash, are quite impressive. One is the darkest color of black I've seen. It's awesome!!

Well, off to bed now, but more to be updated in the blog as my time off passes by....

A Beautiful Day!

Today was one of those perfect fall days that you just gotta love. Of course I got a late start to the day, since I had great difficulty falling asleep last night. Whats up with that?

Anyways, I opted to go mountain biking on one of my favorite hiking trails out in the Pigeon River today. I thought that the leaves would be much closer to peak than they were, so I was kind of disappointed. Of course that only means one thing, I'm going to have to get back out there again. I believe it is Pheasant Season now, and there were a lot of gunshots surrounding me. The only thing that made me look any different from an animal would have been my red camelpack. Guess it is time to bring out the bright clothing so that I don't become some sort of hunting statistic. So I rode a little over 11 miles, and have added some pictures of my trip. And, I had my first "accident" on a bike since for as long as I can remember. I was on a narrow, winding and twisting boardwalk (coincidentally my favorite part of the trail when I hike it), when I turned too sharp to go around a corner and my rear tire fell off the boardwalk into the muck. And so did I. My left hip landed on a nice hard root, which should leave a kick ass bruise! I twisted my ankle pretty good, although it feels alright right now. So I got up, brushed myself off, had a nice chuckle and finished the trip. I actually didn't even get dirty. I saw many deer while I was out there, but unfortunately the camera was in my pack, so I didn't get any photos. Maybe next time I'm out on foot I'll get some pictures of them!

So after my ride, I stopped by the parents house for a free meal. Gotta love the fact that I'm 28 and still drop by for free food! I also had some extra time to take the puppy out to the woods for some more trail walking. Here is a photo of her. Overall, a good day, even if I am a bit sore right now. My ass hurts to sit, so I've been laying in bed patiently waiting to get sleepy enough to shut the lights off.

Unfortunately, tomorrow there is supposed to be rain. I'm bummed......

Days Off!!

After working a night shift Thursday night, I've been off. I remember what it is I dislike about working midnights.....the drunks. Who starts drinking in the middle of the day than carelessly passes out on someones lawn so that the cops and ambulance have to bring you to the ER? Where you puke and swing at the nurses and doctors and are just obnoxiously drunk. Lots of people. Some nights it is like working in a drunk tank. It was one of those nights. But that is all a distant faded memory now....

After sleeping most of the day away on Friday, Addison and I spent a chilly rainy night in Traverse City and than totally lost track of time in the casino until 3am. Now I am not the gambling type at all, but gosh do I love to people watch! We eventually made it home than proceeded to sleep most of Saturday away also. We did muster up enough energy to go mountain biking. I'm getting a little more braver, and am having a lot more fun with this. He has no fear, lives for speed, and races motorcycles and dirt bikes. I, of course, have seen accidents from mountain biking and the resulting injuries that can incur and that stays in the back of my mind. We did have fun, but it totally emptied our energy tank.

My parents went out and got a new puppy this weekend, a 10 month old golden retriever that they named Bailey. She is the cutest damn thing. Since she was going to be locked up in a cage all day, I went over there today to release her and take her to the trails for some hiking. She did fairly well, considering her size, but was tuckered out after not even two miles. She is a ways away from being in any shape to hike the Appalachian Trail with me! I'll be sure to snap some pictures of her to add to the blog.

A couple more days off before I head back to work to work 6 night shifts. That should be just in time for the full moon! Giddy up!!

Damn it's Cold!

When I left work this morning, there was what seemed to be an inch of frost on my car. Okay, maybe not an inch, but enough where I had to scrape the windows to leave. The temp was 27 freaking degrees! I hate cold mornings! Although it did help keep me awake all the way home....

Work, work, work....

Basically, that's all I've been doing, is working. It has been busy at work too, which just wears me out. Because that is all I've been doing, and the fact that I can't share any of my fabulous stories, I really don't have much to say. The weather up here has been incredibly shitty. Cold and rainy. In the forecast, is a possibility of snow tomorrow night. That is exciting! I guess it is time to shut the bedroom window. That is sad and depressing.

Speaking of sad and depressing, how about the current economy. I don't watch the tv and the news for a reason. I like to go about my business and be all naive' about everything. Unfortunately, with everything going on, it is big enough for even me to find out about.

But, I'll just continue on with my life just like I've been living it the past 28 years. Tomorrow night I will go to work. And than on my stretch of days off I have a friend visiting, and we plan on doing some mountain biking and hiking. I'll be sure to take pictures! More later....