Yes, my sister is going tomorrow for her 4th visit. She arrived back on Sunday January 10, 2010, the earth quake was Tuesday January 12, 2010. Her little 70 bed hospital has now swollen to a 300 bed hospital in Merlot...100 miles north of Port o Prince. I'll see if I can get her to blog on here all her stuff. She LOVES to go. Comes back grinning from ear to ear and leaves absolutely everything she takes down. Thus the reason I go through the house and send little trinkets for her to take, as she is running out of them. She goes so often. She goes with her favorite plastic surgeon and they are saving the little part of the world one case at a time. She photographs the patients and actually gets to see them in follow up on her next visit.
This time all bets are off, her comfort zone will be gone and she will enter a true MASH unit of a mobile 300 bed hospital set up 100 miles from the major earth quake devastation. The patients are not leaving as there are no roads to take them back to the houses that are no there. So the little town is taking people in. So we'll see how it goes. An anesthesiologist from Sibley just got back and says it is life changing for sure. I'll tell his story tomorrow.
Keep her in your prayers to be safe and help all that she can. She is my sister.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday night and time for work already
Where does the time go?
This seems to be a recurring theme on many of our blogs. I say "Our" blogs as I look at my brothers children's blogs daily, save Susan who is only on facebook, which has far too many viruses for my taste, just wait till you get one. Thank heaven for Mr. computer husband o wonder who saved my computer and all my photos. Anyway.
An interesting thing has happened as of late. My nieces got me "into" this blog thing, which is kind of neat and much more fun that the jabber on facebook. So, I go for it, get addicted and every day hope for new posts from everyone. But no. Andrea has not posted since January 11, 2010 and now she is on some adventure to Florida leaving Todd with 6 children, one would think that Gideon is with Mom the main source for food. But who knows as I only gleaned that from facebook, and try to get Todd on the phone....good luck. They treat the phone like the TV, bad juju. Quite understanding about Andrea as she does have 7 children and a small zoo to tend to (other than her children), she was the first one to try to get me hooked. A very long time ago on another blog site that was not so user friendly. So I bit and now everyone else is too busy to post.
Marcy did turn me on to the cool blog back rounds and she is getting better about posting as I think she is like me. "Hey everyone, Where are the daily posts?"
I admit it was Bethany's daily stories that got me interested and then willing to play too. But my life is not so full of so many fun stories. Mindy is at least keeping us up to date on her diet (good for her, the brat! :) ), and an occasional post about the children. And Holly is good in fits and spurts. So, I'll try to be better, but my life is not so full of children, or animals or adventures. Work and snow lately.
I've started a mini cross stitch for a friend who just has a baby boy. Case Elijah Oppenheim. Chase I like, Case? Not so sure he won't be teased about his name, but think it is a family name from someone who survived the Nazis so that is a good honor.
Otherwise the weekend has zoomed by. Tim was in school Sat AM to make up for a missed class from snowmaggeden here in DC. I had the house cleaned and ran car errands; filled the tank, had the car washed and went to jiffy lube. (You can print $5.00 coupons on line anytime you want to go...$5.00 is $5.00). Went to the grocery and came home to veg in front of the Olympics. Today was really a blurr. Only got dressed to dig out the recycle for the trash on Tuesday. All our cans are in 3 feet of drifted snow......hear a recurring theme here. SNOW SNOW SNOW!
Bethany did get our reservations for NYC! YEA! So looking forward to their visit, which will be a total whirl wind, at least I am off from work, so that will be nice, just too short. Ten years of marriage. WOW. And Bethany will be 30! Where does the time go? I remember her in her sneakers as a bride in Utah at the temple. She seemed so young, oh, she was 19!!!!!! She was young, and look at her now, 30 and the mother of 4 sons!
So off to work on Monday. Kate is going back to Haiti on Wednesday so have found a few household things to send with her. When you have nothing, anything is good.
This seems to be a recurring theme on many of our blogs. I say "Our" blogs as I look at my brothers children's blogs daily, save Susan who is only on facebook, which has far too many viruses for my taste, just wait till you get one. Thank heaven for Mr. computer husband o wonder who saved my computer and all my photos. Anyway.
An interesting thing has happened as of late. My nieces got me "into" this blog thing, which is kind of neat and much more fun that the jabber on facebook. So, I go for it, get addicted and every day hope for new posts from everyone. But no. Andrea has not posted since January 11, 2010 and now she is on some adventure to Florida leaving Todd with 6 children, one would think that Gideon is with Mom the main source for food. But who knows as I only gleaned that from facebook, and try to get Todd on the phone....good luck. They treat the phone like the TV, bad juju. Quite understanding about Andrea as she does have 7 children and a small zoo to tend to (other than her children), she was the first one to try to get me hooked. A very long time ago on another blog site that was not so user friendly. So I bit and now everyone else is too busy to post.
Marcy did turn me on to the cool blog back rounds and she is getting better about posting as I think she is like me. "Hey everyone, Where are the daily posts?"
I admit it was Bethany's daily stories that got me interested and then willing to play too. But my life is not so full of so many fun stories. Mindy is at least keeping us up to date on her diet (good for her, the brat! :) ), and an occasional post about the children. And Holly is good in fits and spurts. So, I'll try to be better, but my life is not so full of children, or animals or adventures. Work and snow lately.
I've started a mini cross stitch for a friend who just has a baby boy. Case Elijah Oppenheim. Chase I like, Case? Not so sure he won't be teased about his name, but think it is a family name from someone who survived the Nazis so that is a good honor.
Otherwise the weekend has zoomed by. Tim was in school Sat AM to make up for a missed class from snowmaggeden here in DC. I had the house cleaned and ran car errands; filled the tank, had the car washed and went to jiffy lube. (You can print $5.00 coupons on line anytime you want to go...$5.00 is $5.00). Went to the grocery and came home to veg in front of the Olympics. Today was really a blurr. Only got dressed to dig out the recycle for the trash on Tuesday. All our cans are in 3 feet of drifted snow......hear a recurring theme here. SNOW SNOW SNOW!
Bethany did get our reservations for NYC! YEA! So looking forward to their visit, which will be a total whirl wind, at least I am off from work, so that will be nice, just too short. Ten years of marriage. WOW. And Bethany will be 30! Where does the time go? I remember her in her sneakers as a bride in Utah at the temple. She seemed so young, oh, she was 19!!!!!! She was young, and look at her now, 30 and the mother of 4 sons!
So off to work on Monday. Kate is going back to Haiti on Wednesday so have found a few household things to send with her. When you have nothing, anything is good.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Bulldozers on the street!
Tonight we have more bulldozers and 2 huge dump trucks on the street in an attempt to maneuver the snow around so the children can safely be bussed to school. I have no idea where they are taking this snow....maybe the Potomac river, but it is not close, or a field, or NOT a parking lot, that is a whole other problem. DC is crippled from this 60 inches of snow.
The news tonight had someone doing my commute home up Connecticut Avenue on six o'clock news. I knew it had been bad this week, but I had no idea it was so newsworthy. It has been brutally awful. Lanes disappear in a blink. A tight 3 lane road becomes 2 and the bottleneck behind the loss of a lane is enough to make me.........call someone on the cell phone and get me to a zen place! See I was not exaggerating.
Come on spring. I know I planted daffodils and red tulips (for my Dad). I just know they will come up.
I think that silly Ground Hog said 6 more weeks of winter. That would take us to the Spring Equinox, where the day and night are equal. I'll take it!
Happy Spring next month everyone!
The news tonight had someone doing my commute home up Connecticut Avenue on six o'clock news. I knew it had been bad this week, but I had no idea it was so newsworthy. It has been brutally awful. Lanes disappear in a blink. A tight 3 lane road becomes 2 and the bottleneck behind the loss of a lane is enough to make me.........call someone on the cell phone and get me to a zen place! See I was not exaggerating.
Come on spring. I know I planted daffodils and red tulips (for my Dad). I just know they will come up.
I think that silly Ground Hog said 6 more weeks of winter. That would take us to the Spring Equinox, where the day and night are equal. I'll take it!
Happy Spring next month everyone!
Icicles! Lots of "em
Icicles. I seem to be quite enamored with them this last week.
Here are a few. It is hard to get the grandur of this snow in a photo.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Valentine's day every day around here
Flowers past their glory I bought for my Tim. Love white, red and yellow roses.
Every day is really Valentine's day here. I waited long enough to find a man to spend my life with that he is a gem. He tells me daily how much he loves me and how special I am to him. And I do the same for him.
Love is grand.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
55.9 inches so far
A banner year for snow here in DC. That is the official snow fall for DC, but that is at one of the airports, and I always have more snow than they have so I think it is safe to say we have had over 5 flippin feet of snow this year. We have broken 100+ year old records.
Everyone has a story to tell. Where can I begin with mine? Here is what comes to mind right off the bat.
1. Note to self, husband does not like to shovel, now I know. He would rather walk through the snow than shovel. BUT he has an amazing truck that has gotten me to work in weather that even the snow plows were called off the road!!!!!!!! And he will drive 6 miles to his sisters house to borrow her snow blower (they lived in Fargo North Dakota for a while and HAD to have one. I am sure after this winter the Kuchta's will have one too AND a mini generator) But again I digress.
Our steet sidewalk after the first snow....done with a borrowed snow blower!
2. For about 4 hours, was that yesterday or Tuesday?, we were told to "shelter in place". Translation: you cannot go out on the roads, even the snow plows are getting stuck. They have been called back to the depot. Meanwhile I had just arrived at work and Rambo the Ram 1500 had delivered me in warm safety! We had to come in to do......wait for it.....breast implants. The patient said she had an important event she was going to on Saturday and she HAD to have her breasts done. She and the hospital need a shrink, not surgery. She risked the lives of at least 5 people to MAKE HER BREASTS BIGGER FOR A PARTY. What is wrong with tomorrow (Friday, or today). We did do an appendectomy, a breast cancer case, a sigmoid colon resection and a prostate resection. But give me a break. I breast augmentation. I should stop before I get in trouble. The "shelter in place" ban was lifted and I wanted OUT and to get home to Tim to be sure we still had power and did not need to Rambo out to the Hilton again. (See #3 story below) Wednesday afternoon I took 3 nurses home safe and sound. The worst part of the trip was again my own neighborhood. It has been 2 storms and still no plow has seen our street. The Dodge has made tracks, but that is about it. This morning Tim and I retraced my trip from last night and picked them up 3 nurses this morning. So the 5 of us arrived safe and sound back at Sibley for more surgery. Here is what we dug out to leave in the no electricity afternoon.
3. Tim is an amazing driver in the snow. Saturday morning our power went completely off. It has flickered off and on all night during the storm (at this point I've forgotten which storm that was, but the weekend one). We got up and were cheerful as the sun was rising and it was still snowing, but we had a warm house and were optimistic the power would return. I called PEPCO and they seemed optimistic as well. By noon the house was "cooling to 60" we lit the 5 gas burners and got up to a heat wave of 65! Another call to PEPCO, not so optimistic. "could be days", there are over 100,000 without power. Time for the wind up radio Tim has in our emergency preparedness area. Very helpful (I highly recommend one to everyone, you think you'll never need one until you are without power and WISH YOU HAD ONE), as it had more bad news about the storm not stooping, and the likelihood of those without power not having it anytime soon. By this point we are both back in bed, fully clothed and cold. The snow is about 2 feet deep and not one plow to be seen nor heard in or near the neighborhood. We live on a "tertiary" street, so the hopes of a plow would be Monday at the earliest. We had tucked out cars in off the street as best we could. My Buick was backed in and kissing the wall. Tim's truck was perpendicular across the apron of the driveway to be off the street for "plowing" whenever and IF that ever happened AND to cover more square footage to avoid the dreaded shoveling (remember #1 above). Well, Tim decided it was time to go to a hotel. We started calling on the land line phone we have with a cord, it pays to be old fashioned sometimes. (Also part of Tim's emergency preparedness). We started in Silver Spring (one mile away) and the laughed, all hotels were ALREADY full. They transferred us to the sister hotel in Rockville. Same story. We wound up in Gaithersburg, about 11 miles away at the Hilton.
more to tell, but the new survivor is on...and I have photos.....the hotel was an experience in and of itself..........
AND we are expecting more snow on Monday.
stay tuned, so much more to tell......I need a DVR!
Everyone has a story to tell. Where can I begin with mine? Here is what comes to mind right off the bat.
1. Note to self, husband does not like to shovel, now I know. He would rather walk through the snow than shovel. BUT he has an amazing truck that has gotten me to work in weather that even the snow plows were called off the road!!!!!!!! And he will drive 6 miles to his sisters house to borrow her snow blower (they lived in Fargo North Dakota for a while and HAD to have one. I am sure after this winter the Kuchta's will have one too AND a mini generator) But again I digress.
Our steet sidewalk after the first snow....done with a borrowed snow blower!
2. For about 4 hours, was that yesterday or Tuesday?, we were told to "shelter in place". Translation: you cannot go out on the roads, even the snow plows are getting stuck. They have been called back to the depot. Meanwhile I had just arrived at work and Rambo the Ram 1500 had delivered me in warm safety! We had to come in to do......wait for it.....breast implants. The patient said she had an important event she was going to on Saturday and she HAD to have her breasts done. She and the hospital need a shrink, not surgery. She risked the lives of at least 5 people to MAKE HER BREASTS BIGGER FOR A PARTY. What is wrong with tomorrow (Friday, or today). We did do an appendectomy, a breast cancer case, a sigmoid colon resection and a prostate resection. But give me a break. I breast augmentation. I should stop before I get in trouble. The "shelter in place" ban was lifted and I wanted OUT and to get home to Tim to be sure we still had power and did not need to Rambo out to the Hilton again. (See #3 story below) Wednesday afternoon I took 3 nurses home safe and sound. The worst part of the trip was again my own neighborhood. It has been 2 storms and still no plow has seen our street. The Dodge has made tracks, but that is about it. This morning Tim and I retraced my trip from last night and picked them up 3 nurses this morning. So the 5 of us arrived safe and sound back at Sibley for more surgery. Here is what we dug out to leave in the no electricity afternoon.
3. Tim is an amazing driver in the snow. Saturday morning our power went completely off. It has flickered off and on all night during the storm (at this point I've forgotten which storm that was, but the weekend one). We got up and were cheerful as the sun was rising and it was still snowing, but we had a warm house and were optimistic the power would return. I called PEPCO and they seemed optimistic as well. By noon the house was "cooling to 60" we lit the 5 gas burners and got up to a heat wave of 65! Another call to PEPCO, not so optimistic. "could be days", there are over 100,000 without power. Time for the wind up radio Tim has in our emergency preparedness area. Very helpful (I highly recommend one to everyone, you think you'll never need one until you are without power and WISH YOU HAD ONE), as it had more bad news about the storm not stooping, and the likelihood of those without power not having it anytime soon. By this point we are both back in bed, fully clothed and cold. The snow is about 2 feet deep and not one plow to be seen nor heard in or near the neighborhood. We live on a "tertiary" street, so the hopes of a plow would be Monday at the earliest. We had tucked out cars in off the street as best we could. My Buick was backed in and kissing the wall. Tim's truck was perpendicular across the apron of the driveway to be off the street for "plowing" whenever and IF that ever happened AND to cover more square footage to avoid the dreaded shoveling (remember #1 above). Well, Tim decided it was time to go to a hotel. We started calling on the land line phone we have with a cord, it pays to be old fashioned sometimes. (Also part of Tim's emergency preparedness). We started in Silver Spring (one mile away) and the laughed, all hotels were ALREADY full. They transferred us to the sister hotel in Rockville. Same story. We wound up in Gaithersburg, about 11 miles away at the Hilton.
more to tell, but the new survivor is on...and I have photos.....the hotel was an experience in and of itself..........
AND we are expecting more snow on Monday.
stay tuned, so much more to tell......I need a DVR!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A banner day
My father has been gone for 39 years.
Eileen is 45.
And Monty and Melissa have a new son: Case (no middle name yet) Oppenheim.
Mom and son are well. A joyful bris to follow in 8 days......all planned out by induced labor to be on the best days for birth then celebration.
Two boys for the M&M Oppenheims.
A birthday to share for Eileen.
And a day I'll never forget as changing my life forever.
Eileen is 45.
And Monty and Melissa have a new son: Case (no middle name yet) Oppenheim.
Mom and son are well. A joyful bris to follow in 8 days......all planned out by induced labor to be on the best days for birth then celebration.
Two boys for the M&M Oppenheims.
A birthday to share for Eileen.
And a day I'll never forget as changing my life forever.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A Yankee Clipper
Heading right this way from Texas a swath of rain that when meeting our "Yankee clipper of a cold air mass heading south" will combine to dump yet another 18-24 inches of snow on us. We are breaking all kinds of snow records in this year. We have had more snow ALREADY then the last 5 years put together! The city is over budget for snow removal and we locals are tired of the word snow. If I were rich I'd be on a plane for Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas tonight. But work is a pesky necessity to pay the bills.
I went to the grocery today which was sheer panda-monium (a little pun there as our panda bear left our fair city today, not that I ever got to the zoo to see him, but he made the news a lot and I'll try better if we get a new baby panda this year...the little stick of butter as they start out. They are already on a baby watch at the zoo. He and his Atlanta cousin are bound for China as I type)
The lines in Safeway were down each isle 3/4 of the way. Note to self, wait till it STARTS snowing to go to grocery. My last adventure to the grocery in the snow last Saturday was a sheer delight. No one there, compared to today. The weather man on my favorite channel WUSA9 has a "bread 0 meter" to gage the storms intensity and bother for the city. 0-10 The last 3 storms this winter were about 3-5. This weekend we have hit the top of a whopping 10. Get the bread and milk Lucy, we are in for a biggie. Of course all the schools and every weekend activty are closed, BUT THE HOSPITAL STILL RUNS AND THE PATIENTS ALL GET IN FOR THEIR ELECTIVE SURGERY! Next time I'm going to be a teacher. Pat is at home quilting with my cutie patuttie 1935 singer sewing machine while I save lives all day.
Tim has strep throat. He is better already. I had him to the ENT on Wednesday. Antibiotics are wonderful drugs.
My cough is all but gone, and I'm 98%.
At least we have the superbowl to look forward to on Sunday....now who do I want to win? I think I am on the fence. Like Peyton Manning, but the Saints deserve a win.
I sold my cherry desk tonight on Craig's list. Hello $80.00 and more space. Yea, I'm going to miss it just a bit, but the cute family that came to get it is thrilled.
And I have less clutter. Now Bethany and Andy have a less cluttered guest room for their much anticipated visit that is going to go WAY too fast.
Bye bye desk
Now to sell more stuff out of Mom's basement.
I went to the grocery today which was sheer panda-monium (a little pun there as our panda bear left our fair city today, not that I ever got to the zoo to see him, but he made the news a lot and I'll try better if we get a new baby panda this year...the little stick of butter as they start out. They are already on a baby watch at the zoo. He and his Atlanta cousin are bound for China as I type)
The lines in Safeway were down each isle 3/4 of the way. Note to self, wait till it STARTS snowing to go to grocery. My last adventure to the grocery in the snow last Saturday was a sheer delight. No one there, compared to today. The weather man on my favorite channel WUSA9 has a "bread 0 meter" to gage the storms intensity and bother for the city. 0-10 The last 3 storms this winter were about 3-5. This weekend we have hit the top of a whopping 10. Get the bread and milk Lucy, we are in for a biggie. Of course all the schools and every weekend activty are closed, BUT THE HOSPITAL STILL RUNS AND THE PATIENTS ALL GET IN FOR THEIR ELECTIVE SURGERY! Next time I'm going to be a teacher. Pat is at home quilting with my cutie patuttie 1935 singer sewing machine while I save lives all day.
Tim has strep throat. He is better already. I had him to the ENT on Wednesday. Antibiotics are wonderful drugs.
My cough is all but gone, and I'm 98%.
At least we have the superbowl to look forward to on Sunday....now who do I want to win? I think I am on the fence. Like Peyton Manning, but the Saints deserve a win.
I sold my cherry desk tonight on Craig's list. Hello $80.00 and more space. Yea, I'm going to miss it just a bit, but the cute family that came to get it is thrilled.
And I have less clutter. Now Bethany and Andy have a less cluttered guest room for their much anticipated visit that is going to go WAY too fast.
Bye bye desk
Now to sell more stuff out of Mom's basement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)