The End of a Long Weekend

It really was a long weekend.

Normally five days is a little too long, but for once I really needed it. I've been going at 124% since April and while that is an expectation through May, while the hiring is happening in bulk, that's fine but timing and events conspired to make the headaches be much more than just the norm. I was ready for the norm; no one is prepared for what isn't expected or on the radar.

At the same time, my weekend came with a price tag. I suppose there is the you can't have everything factor and this is it. (You can get the details on the 3 July post entitled Geriatrics and Pediatrics.) If there is not too much stress in this or that part of your life, then it will show up somewhere. I don't know if this is Fate's way of reminding us not to become complacent, but that is as good as any theory.

In the world of don't tempt fate, here's a tip: don't carry too many items in your arms while walking on hot sand in Crocs. At least it wasn't flip flops, which you know I hate. Still all shoes have a danger to them when it comes to sand.

One of the dental assistants where I have my dental work done was walking on the hot sand while juggling chairs, various items and a dog (I personally can see the chair and items; the dog would have had a free day at home. I'm not babysitting anything at the shore.) Anyway, the sand began building up in her crocs, so she lost her balance and fell... into cactus!

She now has the nickname Cactass or Porcupine, something that may stick with her forever, like being called Stinky!

And what did she do, upon extricating herself from the sand and cacti? She waited until they came home from the beach that night and went to St.Clares late into the night to get the needles removed from her arm and lower back and ass on the left side! I would have said, "We are going to the hospital right now, whatever is closest!" She's healing, but it can't be easy!

That is beyond tempting Fate; I would say it is is pissing Fate off!

(If anyone writes and says there are no cacti in New Jersey, wrong! There is cacti everywhere. I first encountered it in Montana (a place that gets winters that far exceed anything we get), and I posted an image of the cactus on Facebook with a comment about how odd that seemed and I had a lot of responses from friends about cactus that grows naturally in New Jersey. (This is why I love learning!)

Well, cactus aside, there are other charmers of the day.

The dentist, despite his protests that Novocaine would make it harder to put the crown on, got it on the first shot! See that. Gotta have faith! I think he finds my wussiness amusing.

It is 106F/44C degrees outside. This is too hot even for me. The humidity was down into the mid- to high 20s, but even so, it was disgustingly hot. The desert works for me when the humidity is in the single digits; at 27%, it is too high. However, we are grateful that it wasn't the humidity that is normal for us: 75%! That would have been far worse.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. How delightful.

I'm hoping that the heat will be dispelled by a screamer of a thunderstorm that won't actually cause destruction but will put on a show for me - huge, dramatic peals of thunder, bolt lightning that lights up the sky; and maybe some juicy hailstones. Or high winds. You know, the wrath of Mother Nature!

We'll see.

I did see the fireworks this time, and what a show! We sat by the high school's tennis courts and the experience was completely different from the one I usually have sitting on the back-up rig. Every year I've done this, the ambulance is parked on the other side of the field - by the back entrance diamond field. This time, we were "behind" the fireworks staging area, which is on the opposite side of the track area, way off in hte back. (I understand that the track usually takes a beating from the shells and side effects of being that close to the area where the fireworks are set off. I believe it.)

The percussion when the shells exploded was really amazing and the sound, even though it reverberated through my midsection, was a low enough register that it didn't bother me. When the sound reported off the surrounding hills, however, that drove my tinnitus completely insane and the ringing in my ears was amplified considerably after that. This was the only negative at all.

And now, dear readers, it is time for me to sign off from this fun thing (I'm doing this on the telly again. I find this is a lot of fun!) and head off for a rest in Morpheus' arms before returning to the normalcy of work!