Worry is a waste of emotional reserve. - Ayn Rand

Midnight sun from the of Anvil!

I need a little more time to process the last couple of days at work.  One day I will talk about it. Today isn't it.

The approach to Dredge 5

Here we go! 

Ohio ladies! Me and my roomie!

Before this stretch of work we had a few gorgeous days!  So I took full advantage of adventure time.  My roomie and a few of the ER staff went out to dredge #5 that is in the middle of the tundra between the town of Nome and Anvil. We had such an lovely time exploring this piece of gold mining history.  This place was creepy to an extreme!

Having this really nice weather and having more people that have gotten 4-wheelers and wanting to get out more has really improved morale in this little town.  It was the weekend of the Midnight Sun festival and I was stuck working EVERY single day of it. Ugh.  So that kind of sucked. But now it's Monday and everyone everywhere is complaining about how it's Monday... and I am welcoming Monday in by lazing on the couch and writing up a little ditty about my week, all without a bra on.  Have fun at work suckers.  I'm not going and you can't make me! (I am on call, so technically I guess they can make me :( I'll go sit down now).   So anyways the plan today is to go back to the scene of the rollover and not rollover Dirtrude.  I will be headed out with a couple of nurses from the ER.  What an incredible group of folks that we have here.  I feel so lucky and blessed to have all of them in my life.  Even when some of them just use my for my INCREDIBLE Microsoft Excel spreadsheet abilities... thanks engineering degree.. for the win once again!  This week I also started on my epic studying spree for my CEN (Certified Emergency Nurse) course... I will be taking it the first week of October.  Not gonna lie starting at the beginning of my study book and I'm all "Did I even go to nursing school?!" Oof. What a humbling experience.  To say, the more that I learn the more I realize I know nothing at all, has never rang truer.

The crew!

Okay back to Midnight Sun festivities.  Thursday night they had a little air show.  When I say little I think there was 4 airplanes (I'm sorry Jack I have no idea what any of them were!) and a blackhawk helicopter.  It was held at the Air National Guard hangar.  Pretty cool stuff.  Since I had to work Saturday I wasn't able to partake in the Polar Plunge.  So I had my own polar plunge when it was 80 outside! The water  was about 35 degrees.  It was soooooooo cold! But the sun and sand were still so warm on my skin. I had a lovely time! Yes I am that white. I was probably signaling NASA when this happened.  Oops.  I need to find tanning bed or something.  It's kind of ridiculous.  I need to tan up for Mindy's wedding in December... Mexico is going to be brutal on my pale white skin. hahahaha. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Things I'm thankful for: Awesome friends, Ole Caliente! Nail polish, a crazy roommate, the midnight sun, a support system that won't let me fail.

Oh yeeah.. real cold

There is an iceberg in the background!

Awkward Sara in front of a plane pose! 

Okay lovelies it's time to have a beach adventure! Take care lovelies!

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. - Mae West

Beach ride! (T taking action shots!)

Seems Nome heard me talking all kinds of smack about her online and has changed her weather tune a bit! That's actually only like half true, but you know what? I'll take it.  It was 80 Monday and everyone here was basically melting.  It was absolutely OUTSTANDING.

So let's see since we last chatted I have seen a through and through self-inflicted (or the luckiest sneeze gun accident ever) .22 gun shot wound.. this was highly unremarkable. No bones hits, no organs hit, just a little soft tissue damage (I sound like such a sadist... I know.).  I've seen what happens when an ATV hits a front loader and someone is inside the ATV (cooler than the GSW).  We have had new babies born in town (not in the ER.. thankfully... the only time I will be delivering a baby is if it's in an airplane 30000ft in the air, or it's the apocalypse.). Seems there is a solid stomach bug going around town, lots of booze related health problems. Oh and I got to go to the ER myself... as a quasi-patient.  And my boss is expecting me to completely redo out community medical emergency plan... Hey Todd.. you know I'm a new grad with 2 months of experience right?  I know how to stop any more of these big plans from happening.  I will bombard him with questions and exciting new ideas, that in the grand scheme of things are totally ridiculous (glow in the dark triage tags... come on Todd it's dark here 50% of the year!).  I also see a large game of Risk being played where the goal is to save the monkeys from the mass casualty incident.. I shall use Todd's desk for this. It will basically be an epic monkey battle but this time lives are at stake.  Perfect. (Pictures of this will follow when it happens in the next few weeks.)

Side note: One of the best conversations I have ever had in this ER to date:
Me (Loitering in the triage area and approached by a gentleman): How are you doing today?
Guy: I need to see a doctor
Me: What's going on?
Guy: I need antibiotics.
Me: What happened?
Guy: I may have loved a woman that is not clean
Me: You can just write "personal" in the the "reason why you are here box"
(Me in secret talk in my head: Welcome to Nome!)

Animal remains on the beach

So anyways. Lets talk about my days off from work! My friend, we will call him T for now, from Anchorage came out for the weekend and we were lucky enough to borrow an ATV from a buddy of mine at the hospital. The weather sunned up and got nice and warm!  So the two of us set out on an epic beach ride adventure west of town.  We went about 15 miles down the beach and then got the novel idea to see if Sara and Dirtrude could do a doughnut..... When I wear a helmet I find that I am soooooooo  much more likely to do something stupid than when I don't... Because hey! I'm wearing a helmet! So needless to say a wonderful re-teaching moment in physics happened; too much throttle, not enough leaning and too much turn... Dirtrude ended the wrong way up and I was able to make a jump for it, courtesy of all the training on horses and learning to bail on skis.  It sounds far more dramatic than it was. I was up on my feet super fast and the only thing wounded was my ego and my thumb.  It's not broken (this was my quasi-patient status) only pretty bruised. I still can't give a full force high-five though, this saddens me greatly.  Dirtrude just has a little body damage, nothing some zip-ties can't stitch back together.

Crossing Cripple Creek! (Thanks again T!!)

Pretty much half the ER gang!

So Monday after work a whole crew of us took our 4-wheelers to the top of Anvil mountain and watched a herd of musk ox wander around, then we rode down to Dredge #5 on the tundra, and that little extra excursion to the dredge led to an awesome mud ride. Dirtrude lived up to her name for sure! It was so nice spending time with work friends outside of work.  I find that this trip was needed by lots of people in the group.  A nice way to get out of town, without getting on a plane.

We sure are a motley crew.  A gang of ATV riders

Carolyn and I at the base of Dredge #5

 Today I will be hitting the gym, the post office (Christmas!!), painting my toe nails some rad color, and then at 9pm the crew is headed back to do a little mud running and go explore the dredge in more depth since none of us have to work Thursday :)  And we may as well utilize 24 hours of daylight.  The plan is take go up to the top of Anvil at midnight and get a good picture of the midnight sun. Hopefully Nome will cooperate with the weather... it's looking good. Perhaps more pictures to come tomorrow of this adventure!

I am doing okay.  Nome has it's ups and downs. The ups are pretty sweet; while the downs are pretty low.  One day they will hopefully level out a little more.  Until then I'm just livin by the seat of my pants.  My heart smiles when I see my friends having fun and having wonderful surprises like my friend Danielle in Denver.  Never has a girl been more deserving of a surprise bachelorette party.  I've been getting sweet snail mail from Lindy-Loo and Adrienne my whiskey sister.  I love getting all the invitations to baby showers and weddings.  Even though I know I won't be able to make it to all of them, or even most of them, I love knowing that my friends keep me in their minds when happy times and even sad times happen in their lives.. no matter how many miles are between us.  Marissa I love you and keep your head up! At least you don't live in Nome ;) sometimes it's just the silver linings in life that keep us going.  My friend Jesse told me that sometimes her and her boyfriend will take time out of their days, especially the worst of the worst days, and say out loud to one another three things they are grateful for.  Some of the silver linings from the terrible days are along the lines of "I'm eating this bag of M&Ms, and I am thankful that I bought them in Anchorage and not Nome", or "I'm thankful for not having two twisted ankles".  So today I am thankful for sunshine (all 24 hour of it), My incredible co-workers that take adventure trips with me in the night to help my soul laugh as I help theirs laugh too, my wonderful friend T, and my most amazing family that is behind me 100% of the time even when I'm following my most craziest of dreams. I will try to make this a habit in my posts. This could be entertaining...

Lovelies it's time to start this day. I will try to be better at updating more than once every 10 days! Yipes!

So was it Nome good or like Lower 48 good? - Everyone in Nome.

Most days I feel like.. Yeah I can totally do this for two years.  Those are usually the days when there is nothing but sunshine, and dust in the air.  Right now it is currently 34 and freezing fog outside (I'm sorry Wundrground.com is calling it "light drizzle mist" that almost makes it better), and it's on these days that I question why the hell did I come here. Yesterday we saw I think 8 people in the ER all day. And afterward I went to look at a studio apartment that wasn't even Nome Nice.  Spirits are sinking a little.

"light drizzle mist"

Seems our summer was the entire 14 days I worked.  Even if i'm working through those days it's still nice to know that outside the wambulance the sunny tundra is right there and we open up the garage and just look out, or go out and do a few sun salutations before security comes and gives us the talk on why we can't leave the wambulance bay door open... Turns out it's because we heat the tundra. Yeah I guess it's not the best idea, but it's still nice for a sanity break.

I didn't think I would be using brand new, awesome 700-fill waterproof Patagonia jacket until September.  Turns out it's debut day was June 8th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!!!!!!). Today I look outside and I want out. I want a real summer. I want what all my friends have in Denver, Anchorage, Seattle, Columbus.  I want sunshine and warmth. I want my cat back. I know I have an awesome light at the end of this 14 day stretch of work that just will not quit. But geeeeezzzzz can it be Thursday yet?  Can it be 65 again? Can I see the sun for 24 full hours again? Can I please have a work schedule with 2 two days off in a row again?

Perhaps today since I have no really new pictures or any cool new stories I will talk to y'all about Nome Nice.

So. Nome Nice.  Nome Nice is when you would probably think twice about owning something in the lower 48 but in Nome... it's a luxury item and you will take it at any cost that it may come to you.  For instance let's discuss my current apartment.  The set up is nice even for lower 48 standards. However what is inside.... Nome Nice.  The stove is probably form the late 80's (but everything works!). The couch I am typing this up on could very well be the same big blue couch my uncle owned in Ohio about 25 years ago (but it isn't broken!).  My TV is probably older than me..(but it works!). My bed has an awesome 3" memory foam topper that I put on it to hide the 10 years of others sleeping on it (I have a great endorsement for that company!).  I have a working full-size washer and dryer and dishwasher!  No garbage disposal.  When you walk up the stairs to the door the whole house sways.  This is Nome Nice.  The apartment I looked at yesterday was as big as my bedroom is now, it did have a fridge, microwave, stove, oven, sink (also no garbage disposal), the bed was on the floor about 8ft from the stove (I guess I could use it as an extra heating source?), a chair that looked like it had been around since Nome was incorporated (1901), did have a stackable washer and dryer in the unit (This makes it borderline Nome Nice), and a bathroom that makes an airplane bathroom look spacious (sigh.. I have lots of girl products. They include an assortment of awesome shampoos and conditioners, make-up, scrubs, lotions, potions and other such things that have no place to live in that teeny tiny place).   I also knew it was gonna not be awesome when the guy told me "I own 40 rental properties, some are real nice... this isn't one of them"  At least the guy was honest.  I'm gonna check out the unfurnished 1 bedroom underneath this studio and see what I could make of it.  I could probably furnish it for about $500.  May not be the bad way to go (think of all the awesome Nome Nice things that could be ALL mine!). Or maybe I will continue to live in my Nome Nice corporate housing until the rentals open back up (Damn you gold miners, contractors, and the Discovery Channel film people!).  Good news is this guy said he would let me bring Bentley up and not charge me extra rent or deposit.  He's a really nice guy, I have friends that rent from him and he has a really good reputation in town.  Perhaps if these two don't work out, him and his wife will keep me in the back of their minds when something does open up.

love this. hahahaha every bit of this!

Time to paint my toe nails a shade of blue called "Butler Please".  I'd go to the gym, but of the rec center is on summer hours and obviously no one ever goes to the gym on the weekends, ever. Especially in the summer.  It's 1030am.. too early for wine?  It's like 230pm back in Columbus..... just sayin. Maybe I will actually fold the laundry and put it away... instead of just picking out of the clean clothes pile in the center of my bedroom floor (level - Bachelor living).

This was a pretty "Dear Diary" entry.  Hopefully the next one will be more cheery and full of awesome pictures, and better stories.

Work is the curse of the drinking classes. - Oscar Wilde

Just relaxin on my day off!

The ME degree hard at work fixing
 O2 tank placement on crash carts!

I am so sorry for the delay in an update. There surely is no rest for the wicked. As soon as I got back from Anchorage it was 3 days on 1 day off 3 days on. This is my one day off before another 2 days on, then I get Sunday off then it's another three days in a row.... For those of you counting... 3 days off in 14 days.  I'm tired. This is a huge understatement.

Okay so the weather has been incredible here in Nome. Blue sky fever hit the ER HARD! For those of you who don't know what Blue Sky Fever is, there is only one cure for it. And that is... to be outside and enjoy the 60+ degree weather with sunshine that just won't end!  We saw 12 people in 12 hours each day the first 3 days I was back.  Then we got slammed the one very rainy day that we had. It was my first day out on my own, even though I am technically still on orientation and should  have had a mama duck hovering. We did awesome. It was nice to go home completely trashed from running around all day long!

We have had a solid flow of drunks coming through.  We had an individual who had a BAC of 423  (this was a blood draw, not a BRAC which is when they blow into the machine).  Best part about this person who had the BAC of 423?  They were kind enough to let me put a 14 gauge in them.. this is basically me putting a sewer pipe into someone.  What a rush that was. Could have done without them pulling the 14 out 15 minutes later. Oh did I mention this person was walking, talking, knew who they were, where they were, could remember the nurses names, tell us what had happened, why he came in, and assured us numerous times "I'm just fine!".  We did need to hang some fluids so I put in a much smaller bore IV in the other arm and started a slow drip. We knew this person was just fine when I came in to speed up his IV drip and this person looks at me with a big ol smile and says "I've had it wide open for about an hour". Yes doctor, I'm pretty sure this person could go home now.  They still blew a .289 but anyone with the ability to problem solve that the IV is running slow to keep them there, and then open up the clamp.... you may go now.

Me and Carolyn!

The view off the back side of Anvil Mt. 

On my one day off one of the new nurses to Nome, Carolyn, and I hopped on Dirtrude (that's what my ATV has been named) and drove out of town to the base of Anvil Mountain. We walked up the dirt road through some snow fields and found our way to the top and got to see White Alice up close and personal! To think White Alice was the only way for Nome to communicate with either Anchorage or Fairbanks during WWII besides post.  Fun fact! If someone was talking to Fairbanks... no one else could use the line until after that call was done.  It just kind of sits there and watches over Nome. And it has for many decades.  While up on the mountain we got see the tundra springing up! We found flowers that were popping up, and it was amazing to see life coming to a place that seems so desolate and void of any life. It was such an energizing hike and adventure.  Something that is needed in this girls life.  For those of you that don't know me very well; I find mountains and being on top of them to be my energizing force.  It's how I recharge. It is where I go to process thoughts, ideas, and feelings.  It is where I am closest to the spiritual things that I believe and love.  It helps to keep this crunchy soul stay crunchy and full of love!

FLOWERS!!!!

Spring has sprung on the Tundra!

Little yellow flowers too!

White Alice! 

Today is a post office day, gym day, a meeting at work day, and then out to dinner with my loveliest friend in Nome, Jesse day.  Tomorrow it is back to the grind.  At least it's just a 9 hour office day. Honestly I think it's going to be really stupid. It's more orientation to HR (Hi mom!), and other such paperwork oriented things.  I thought we covered all this stuff during that first orientation week... guess not.  sigh.  Oh well. You can pay me time and half and I will be grumpy, but present.   I am very excited about next week though. There is a very bright light at the end of this 14 day stretch! I will be having a very special friend coming to visit for a few days! YAY! The thought of friends and a 4 day break will have me being A-Okay through the next 7 days.  Also this thought helps too: Overtime Overtime Overtime = $$$$

The ice has finally broken away from the shore! I wish it wasn't pea soup foggy out so I could show you all a picture! Summer is here... somewhere ;)  Please keep my sister-in-law in your thoughts and prayers as my brother and her work through some trying times medically.  You are so loved Pepper.

I ate this on Sunday. Halibut Pizza. Two of my most favorite foods smashed together.  Pure heaven!

I thank you for your texts, emails, snail mail, and packages! I love you all so incredibly much!  Until next week lovelies!