Crowe's Back

Now I would not normally waste my time on a super hero movie

But I have just noted that Mr Crowe is playing Superman's Daddy in 

Man of steel

Bless.....he still has a certain something me thinks

And with floppy hair too!

Grrrrrrrr!

Outwards not Inwards

When you get to a certain age, I think that it is a fairly common phenomenon to feel that you want to put something "back" into your community.

I have a friend that wants to train as a magistrate. Another became a school governor. My sister organised a community Flower Show when she approached middle age and my father threw himself  into Prestatyn Town Council life with a gusto when he was in his forties....

Perhaps it is a time when you start to look outwards?

Or it could just be that for many middle age, is a time when kids fly the nest

Whatever the motivation

All I know, is that it happens.

Tonight I go to an " open evening" for volunteers at The Samaritans . I had an interview at our local branch last year, but missed the induction because of work, so I was pleased that the powers that be remembered my application and asked me to attend the workshop tonight.

What is the motivating factor for this seemingly altruistic change of direction , I hear you ask? Well the answer may surprise you.... It's not a throwback to my psychiatric nursing days... It's not ( and I am sure about this) just a " look at me...what a lovely person I am" kind of moment....it is , in fact, just a logical step for me to utilise some established skills and give something back to a society which to my slightly cosseted sensibilities, can look occasionally very bleak indeed.

A couple of hours " work" a week.....is nothing much to ask. ....is it?

Wool.........and making advantage of a turkey's sexual deviancy

Irene and Sylvia have almost shed their dead winter fur and are revealing their summer chocolate brown fair weather coats. After being instructed that the wool is expensive and is much sought after by serious knitters, I have been collecting it for weeks now.
I just need to know what to do with the soddin stuff

 

I have two lots of chicks which are maturing nicely under their respective mothers 

Denzel is the only miniature cockerel survivor of the fox attack from three weeks ago.I suspect he was not big enough to warrant a spare bite. 

Bingley's arse wound is looking mighty fine. I have formalised an interesting way of checking on the puncture wound as I take advantage of his sexual attraction for my crocs. I place them on the grass, give him a little time to to get all worked up about them, and when he is " all hot and bothered" I can sneak around to give the puncture wound a craft squirt with the antibacterial spray

Cooling Towers

Regardless of where you stand regarding the environment, I suspect everyone will enjoy this rather understated and clever advertisement .I love it when ideas like these come out of left field and I wish that I could be as creative and innovative in how I look at things.

Skull Traction Memories

Mr Ravichanrdran was on the phone.He seemed rather worried.

"Can you take a newly injured C2/3 from A&E....she's a fall down the stairs?" he asked carefully

We had the staff, and we had the bed, so the admission of a patient without any paralysis, on the surface seemed pretty routine.

 (For everyone's information a high C2 fracture is what is commonly called the "hangman's fracture because when is occurs the spinal cord can be totally transected causing a paralysis that stops every muscle group below the level of the injury from working  including the patient's ability to breath)

The initial treatment for someone with a severe fracture dislocation of their neck is often the insertion of a somewhat barbaric looking contraption called  gardener wells skull traction. This is screwed directly into the skull and provides a way of applying an opposing traction to the fracture site, It is an effective method of maintaining spinal alignment , reducing pain and can effectively prevent any further neurological damage.)

"Has the patient got traction on?" I asked our consultant.

"Yes," he said, " I have just put it on", he then hesitated for a moment and added " she is also, unfortunately eight and half months pregnant"

An hour later, as senior nurse on the unit, I had taken possession of this unfortunate woman, who was indeed not only massively pregnant, but incredibly confused due to the toxic effect of some medication she had been taking. 

Immediately I felt out of my depth

A confused patient on skull traction is a nightmare, for compliance with strict, calm bedrest is vital for further injury and paralysis not to occur. This woman was pulling at her traction, her hair and the bed in an effort to get up she was incapable of any rational thought and had no idea that. further damage to her neck, could have resulted in her literally dying on the spot.

I did , the only thing I could have done, I climbed onto the bed and held the woman down at the same time as one of the staff nurses ran for medical help.

By the time, a consultant had turned up, the woman had pulled out big lumps of my hair, but was still safely on the bed, and by the time the obstetrician and midwife marched into the room my uniform epaulets had been ripped off and my arms were scratched to buggery.

The patient then kicked the obstetrician hard in the chest, and she flew, shrieking like a chicken through the bedside curtains with her white coat flapping. 

The whole thing was getting  all rather surreal

Then ,I started to get just a little unprofessional at the group of doctors whispering at the foot of the patient's bed.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE CAN ONE OF YOU DOOOOO SOMETHING!" I hissed

It was then that the midwife tapped me on the shoulder and with a slightly worried look she whispered, something that I really didnt want to hear........

"Oh Bollocks......I think she's in labour"

Then...thankfully, I woke up.

It's a long, long time since I have experienced such a vivid  work based dream.

And it is fourteen years since that woman was admitted to my ward

As far as I know, the woman is now still walking , healthy and intact in the community

Her daughter will now be a stroppy teenager

Chill Out

This vintage and and rather naîve embroidered picture sits to the side of our fireplace.

I have always been struck with the simplicity of its message

To me it says, drop the pessimism and the worry

It's a bleeding waste of energy

If anyone knows the origin of the saying

I would be interested in hearing it.

What Do You Hear?

Today's blog is a bit of an experiment.
Don't worry I haven't gone all Avant-garde on you all......
I have only been thinking  that the sense of hearing, is perhaps the one I take the most for granted.
After a some what backbreaking watering of "bosoms" and an equally tiring " wound check" of Bingley's arse, I sat down to record a brief snap shot of today's Trelawnyd sound bite.

Now if you want to join in.....turn up your volume, play the video but DON'T WATCH IT....
It's piss boring anyhow, only having George rolling about in the grass to watch.... But I am interested in what you can hear!
There's the low drone from the traffic  of the A55, the main road into North Wales....and that is four miles inland!....wild bird song, the murmur and chatter from a passing hen, Bingley's gobble, mutterings from the geese, a distant motorbike,crows in the distance...........perhaps a faraway plane on its decent into Manchester........
How many times do we look..... But not listen?
Just a thought....

The Garden at Dusk

We have a tiny cottage back garden, and an even smaller front garden, but in May and June, it does look at its best

The planting is haphazard and in places untidy

It's a pity, the garden is not always like this

But it kind of suits our old lady sense of style

The aubritia I planted on the church wall last year is doing well
It makes me feel that our garden extends way beyond the garden wall