The Smell of Earth

Two weeks ago I started planting some Boxwood shrubs along the south fence of my backyard. I bought some for the north fence, too, but the blizzard last week derailed the plan to plant them for a couple days! Today's 80 degree weather, however, was quite conducive to yard work. Plus, all the moisture in the ground from the melted snow made digging holes in the clay that is my backyard much easier!

Now no laughing, I know they're little. They were actually on sale at Home Depot and will eventually grow to 3 feet high, which will be a nice hedge along both fences. Plus, it'll be cool to watch the house and yard change with time. I know I'm not going anywhere...


And what a great day today was! I got off work this morning - we all got our butts kicked last night. 1 ATV fatality, 3 stabbings and 2 gun shot wounds. And that was just in trauma! The rest of us (I was in peds) spent all night trying to empty the ever-refilling waiting room. Anyway, I got home and slept for a couple hours and then planted all 8 shrubs on the north side. I even got the lawn mowed and the garage cleaned out.

I've decided that my favorite smell of all time is earth. Especially after rain. And I really got to inhale deeply while digging all those holes. There just nothing as natural as nature.

Weather

Monday I slept with the windows open.
Monday night I drove to work in rain and hail.
Tuesday morning it took me 3 hours to drive home in a blizzard.
Tuesday night I called in to work because I-25 was closed all the way down to the Springs due to snow.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be 60 and sunny.
Gotta love Colorado.

Snowy Birthday

My Happy 26th turned into a very Snowy 26th! But it was good nonetheless. The Beeneys and Michelle came over for dinner - we had steak and potatoes and salad and strawberry shortcake. Yummy!
Joshua found the spoon especially tasty.


Although it wasn't the big party I had last year I think I liked this birthday better. Good food, good conversation and good friends are my favorite. And I got the best birthday present ever! Michelle made me a book full of pictures of Colorado wildflowers that she's taken over the years. It's beautiful! And the clothes from the Beeneys will of course come in handy, too!

We've been having weird weather here in Denver. It's nice for a couple days and then it gets nasty and snows again. And it's always different down in the Springs at work than it is at home. I was driving home this morning in rain that turned to snow that turned to bad wind, and ended up at home in Denver to sunny skies. Keeps me on my toes!

And speaking of work, the new job is going well. The ER is the biggest in Colorado - 68 beds! And we're the 7th busiest in the nation by numbers alone. The first night I worked was the night of the tornadoes in southern Colorado. We got 4 choppers in an hour and ended up with 6 trauma alerts. Not to mention the 3 people I sent to the cath lab for heart attacks and the 2 we had to intubate for respiratory problems. Whew! I was told that we daily see anywhere from 3-4 hundred patients! But with that many rooms and lots of nurses it doesn't seem too bad. And these guys are so well-staffed! The nurses complain about being short, but they have no idea how good they've got it! :) So far I kinda like it. I think I might stick around for a while...