fly tying

I have mastered the prince nymph. Youtube is a great way to learn how to tie flies. I also tied a bunch of other flies, especially royal coachmen. This will be a great summer for fishing. I'm really looking forward to it. Gotta run. Soon I will tackle the Muddler Minnow and the Pike Bunny!

An ode to cookies

Last Sunday, my dear mom gave me a five quart pail of oatmeal raisin cookies made in the time-honored tradition. It reminded me of the time in college when I had brought back a pail of cookies (CARE package) and my floormates made off with them in the middle of the night and ate all of them. Times have changed and roomates have changed, but, the cookies still disappear quickly; though I must say that as the pater familias, I do get more of them now.

It is interesting how current events are picked up by the little ones. Ethan was using his cookie as a plane saying "mayday, mayday, mayday" before plunking his cookie into the milk. OK Sully! Very funny. Of course, when you notice it and laugh, you get a whole lot more of the behavior.

Wind is picking up hard out of the NNW. Another cold night. Time to settle in with the seed catalog and order my seeds for the garden. Orion's arc is nearly spent and the earth will soon warm once again.

snow day

Last night was a call night. Kind of a rough night. First, I walked into my day with two OBs who were ruptured and not moving. The one was one of my partners who was off for the day, but, came in to deliver his OB patient. The other was a very young native woman with her first baby and it appeared to be huge. To make a long story short, she simply didn't change all day despite all of the tricks up my sleeve and she had to get a c-section. Everybody is doing OK. I got home about 8:00 to get a bite and fell asleep on Tam's shoulder. I got into bed not 20 minutes and had to come in for two patients who were having problems. One with a PE and the other with suspected MI. I transferred the one and watched the other all night. The nurses called me with questions every 20-30 minutes until 0230. Then, a meeting all morning today.

When I got out, it was snowing hard. The car had very little gas last night and I somehow forgot my wallet, so, I had to make a run for home on fumes. I got all the way to Isle and literally came in to the gas station on battery power!! (I do love my Prius). Chrysta came over with my wallet and we went home together. Then Cody and I shoveled snow and made quick work of it! That kid can really move some snow now.

Pizza rice tonight! Tam made cookies...yum...

fun day

Today was a good day. We got Ethan and Maia off to my mom's yesterday. Today, Tam and I got up early and went in to round on a couple of patients and then we left from the hospital to go to the cities. We stopped off at Cabela's where I bought a nice 8 wt fly rod. This is a rod that I have lusted, yes, lusted after ever since I bought Cody a nice 5 wt fly rod several weeks ago. Naturally, the cost had gone up, but, I got it anyway. It has the strength to handle large bass, northern pike, steelheads, and salmon. It even comes with a "fighting butt"(!) on the end to brace against my rippling abs when in piscatorial combat. OK, maybe the part about rippling abs is a bit over the top, but, face it, how many mere mortals can say they own a "fighting butt".

We then went off to a Taste of India and had a nice lunch and then off to TMORA, The Museum Of Russian Art. It was really nice to actually read the little notes to the side of the paintings and not chase after children who are on their own schedule. I am inspired to take up oil painting. I really like impressionism and landscapes. I should get some brushes, etc and try my hand at it.

Tonight, we took Cody and Chrysta to the IREC for some exercise. We had the whole place to ourselves for most of the time. Chrysta and Cody are really getting really good at raquetball.

Tonight we are watching "Knocked Up"....I can see why this was in the theater for two days before going to video. One can only take male immaturity for so long.....

long day

Last night was a call night. Two admits for the Sr. Care unit. We are now up to eight! This is really good news because the breakeven point is 5.5 patients so we should now be a profit center for the hospital. Small town hospitals are having a really hard time in general and ours seems to have been the victim of some serious mismanagement, perhaps, downright fraud. In any event, we are busy digging our way out of a deep hole. I started rounding this morning at 0700 and didn't finish until 1100. Some day off, but, the income is welcome. Hospital board meets tonight so it will be a late one.

Maia unfortunately seems to have a viral gastroenteritis and Tam feels that she cannot go to her scrapbooking extravaganza while Maia wants her mother.

I got a chance to look up some information about battery technology. It seems that BYD (Build Your Dreams) a Chinese company, is building lithium/iron/phosphate batteries that are quick charging and can last for 2000 recharges or about 10 years. This may revolutionize transportation and the storage of renewable energy as well. The future is very bright; we just need to grasp it.

the day

I just love working with families. I rounded on a patient and just kept getting pounded by family members all wondering what I was going to do about something on a weekend that they could have seen coming a long time ago. Frustrating.

I'm finally home now. I wanted to go for a walk with Tam, but, she has the same GI distress I had yesterday....the one I got from my patients in the hospital. It's funny though how I no longer get as sick as I did when I started here. Apparently, there was a sufficient enough difference in the bugs from what I had been exposed to before that I was ill quite a few times that first year. Now, the little viral factories can cough their viral loads straight into my face AND I LAUGH IN THE FACE OF DANGER!!! The nurses all roll their eyes when I say things like that and pronounce me a complete dork. It's as if they are all singlemindedly trying to diminish my testosterone level to the lowest level still consistent with maintaining beard growth and no more. Well, enough of that, I'm going to try and enjoy a walk over to the park. Maybe Ethan will come along. He's usually good for a walkabout. The wind is out of the west and it will be getting cooler again, but, now it is 32 degrees out and I need to get some exercise.

in search of the perfect bird gun

I have wanted to own a nice double barrel shotgun for many years. Such a gun has not only the versatility of having two different chokes on the same gun ofcourse, but, it just says "bird hunting". The problem is that they are soooooo much more expensive than any other gun. The craftsmanship and complexity of the gun are much more involved than with a perfectly sensible pump action shotgun. I already own a Remington 870 wingmaster which is a great gun except for the fact that it has a 30 inch barrel and a full choke. This makes it very specialized for one type of hunting. Most of the hunting I do however is for grouse and some pheasant. This close to moderate range shooting really "needs" a side by side shotgun....are you listening, Tam?

Then there is the agonizing decision over the gauge of the gun. My 870 is a 12 gauge, but, I think I would rather try a 20 gauge for weight reasons. However, nearly every place I can hunt requires non toxic shot. A sixteen would probably be a good compromise, especially if I were to load my own shells. Oh well, the search for the perfect gun is almost as much fun as the hunt itself.