Rhodies and tents

Here is a picture of the LONE rhododendron blossom from CVH's 40 or so bushes. Maintenance trimmed the bushes rather savagely last year for the workman to be able to set up their ladders and such to put on the new siding. I looked closely, there are lots of very tiny buds on the bushes but I don't think they will bloom this year.




This is our disaster tent. We used it today for our disaster drill. The scenario for us at the hospital was that we were in day five of an 9.8 earthquake of the Cascadia subduction zone and tsunami. We have no electricity, no water, no phones, and at this point severely over worked personnel. So whatta ya do? We had volunteer victims, we ran through the work book and discovered we could not get in contact with the Red Cross, we had a terrible time transferring three patients, bridges out, little access to I-5 corridor. My job was to jot down stuff as it happened and what happened to the patients. We debriefed, we ate pizza. Yay!!

Later today just as it neared 4 pm it became apparent that someone (what me!?) was needed to transcribe a 14 minute ER report stat for a transfer. Thank goodness we can fax faster than the ambulances can drive to Roseburg. It took me an hour to type the thing,then the doctor wanted to edit and I made corrections and then faxed the document. Oy! An hour sounds like a long time, the rule of thumb is take the length of time of the document and multiple by ten and that is how long, on average, it will take to transcribe the document....140 minutes!!?! Hmph not bad.

A picture is worth a thousand words

These white flowered bushes always bloom heavily like this, no idea what they are but I would love to have the whole yard fenced in them, they trim up nicely. Wouldn't a maze made of these be wonderful?

The lilac bush is doing very well, it had been trimmed earlier this year and that seems to have encouraged the thing.

I will post a picture of the lone Rhodie bloom at work. Maintenance trimmed the bushes back to stumps and they haven't recovered enough to bloom, the azalea's are in full bloom but they are kind of a faded red color.

Friday was a lovely day for a walk.....

On the advice of my brother, we took the Bravada in Friday morning at 10 a.m. to get the serpentine belt replaced. Husband dropped me off at the hospital where I worked for an hour or so and then my friend,Susan and I went to lunch. She dropped me off at the house where I found two messages; one was on the fridge from husband, "gone to Bandon and then Staples" and the other was a phone message, "The repairs are done on your Bravada". Well, already!?

I didn't feel like waiting for husband to return home so I put on my best walking shoes and walked the six blocks or so to the Car Clinic. It was a lovely spring day, a bit of fresh air. As I walked I passed a house just down the street from us and they have masses of Lily Of The Valley, the bed is so huge it takes up about half of the lawn.





The car repair cost us 76 dollars, parts 56 and labor 20, must have taken him all of 30 minutes to swap out the belt. Hmph.

Got back home , got all comfy, knock knock knock. It was husband, he had gotten locked out of the van in Bandon, a lady at the same meeting brought him home, so we hopped in the Bravada, drove back to Bandon and got him unlocked and we went to the Station to have lunch. Then came home. Oh, yeah, the price of gas , has for some mysterious reason dropped from 2.23 to 2.17 per gallon.

Vacation and good recipes!!

My April vacation started out Friday morning April 10. Husband drove us to Salem where he stayed with his sister and brother-in-law to attend a gathering of former class mates.

I visited for a bit and then drove from there north to Portland. On my way there via I5 I spotted a cute little blue convertible mini Cooper. The driver was white haired. The car sported a personalized plate that read " X QQQ ME"

I laughed and then smirked to myself, "I wonder if that was Steve Martin?"

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!




When I drive I try to stop at most of the State rest stops due to diminished bladder capacity. I snapped this picture of one of the fruit trees that bloomed whilst I tarried.

I drove as far as Pendleton and overnighted at a Best Western and my aren't they proud of THEIR rooms? But breakfast was free. I got to Emmett about noon the next day. Mom and I ran around most of the week, got groceries, visited with friends and relatives and played several games of Scrabble.

While there Mom made Mexi-chicken. I decided to do the same thing when I got home.




Assemble ingredients for Mexi-Chicken as follows: (Original recipe with changes noted):I am told that that this recipe came from the California Berglunds. Yummy!

2 cups chopped chicken or turkey
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped green chilies
1 medium onion chopped
12 corn tortilla's torn into small bite size
2 cans Campbell's creamy chicken soup (make 8 cups)
Make up soup, drop in ingredients, stir until cheese is melted.
Pour into greased into appropriate sized baking dish.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Mom's modification
Obtain 1 package of Bear Creek creamy potato soup (No MSG!)
Boil 4 turkey thighs, 1 to 2 hours, remove from stock, cool, remove meat from bones, discard bones and skin, chop.
Use stock as part of the 8 cups of liquid for the potato soup mix.
Add soup mixture, allow stock to come to a boil, reduce to simmer for 15 minutes
stirring occasionally.
At 15 minutes, drop in chopped turkey, cheese, chilies, chopped tortilla's, stir together.
My modification (Mom will scream when she sees this ingredient)
Add one can whole black olives, drain, slice in half to check for pits.
This makes a whole stock pot FULL of Mexi-Chicken.
I used olive oil on three large casserole dishes and filled them all up.
I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes, turned the oven off and let the dishes cool.
The smell is pure heaven, but you don't have smell-o-vision and you probably will not need salt as it tasted just perfect.




The dish tastes much better than it looks.

Art on Display at work....

Today the maintenance crew and some of the hospital volunteers began hanging new artwork all great big huge photographs by two of our physicians;

The purplish one above is one taken by Dr. G of the Grand Canyon, it is from the South Rim, wonderful color past twilight, last little gasp of daylight before full evening. This print and frame is about 3 by 4 feet in size.



This panoramic view is by Dr. I who went out and about this winter taking pictures of the flooding high tide Coquille river. Gorgeous. This print is 2 foot x 4 foot.

There are other beautiful black and white prints, some botanicals in stunning color and perhaps the best of all a sea turtle swimming along accompanied by many colorful tropical fish. Gorgeous. Nice work,guys!

Made me want to do something artistic....for about five minutes....

A lovely Saturday, more bookcases and.......

My stock of books is growing, these are two new folding bookcases purchased since the previous orgy of bookcases pictured on a previous blog.

These books shelves can hold triple the books easily, so it will be a while before I purchase any further shelves.

Mom is saving up her books for me and I will drag back a car load of them later in April.

Also today was the Saturday that I had decided to try my culinary skills by trying my hand at Gorgonzola sauce with steak.

MENU:

Filet mignon (Two each - seared off in a HOT pan three minutes each side and allowed to rest ten minutes off heat)

Heated mass quantities of salted water to cook tortellini for five minutes, drain, keep warm in oven.

Baked new potatoes tossed in oil and salt, also carrots, cooked 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Tossed lettuce, tomato onion salad with home made Thousand Island dressing, I skipped the hard boiled egg and made a simple mayonnaise, catsup, chopped pickle mixture, at the last minute added a couple drops of apple cider vinegar. Not bad.

Gorgonzola sauce; I found a lovely video and followed the directions.
High simmer 1 pint whipping cream, whisk constantly, cook five minutes, reduce by one third. TURN OFF HEAT. Add fork separated 8 ounces Gorgonzola (I had Dulce) and stir until melted two minutes. Add 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, add 1/4 tsp ground black pepper, 1/4 cup chopped parsley. It was PERFECT.

We dished up, dripped desired amounts of Gorgonzola sauce over the steak and pasta and ate then went into post prandial coma. Delish!

The flavor is slightly different from the taste of Bennetti's New York New York Steak with Gorgonzola sauce, I think they may have used a hint of nutmeg. I would love to chat with the chef over there.

I am left with 8 ounces of Gorgonzola and not too sure what to do with it. I may save it for the next potluck and use it for Mac and Cheese. Oooooooooh!

Today's word is.....

This is a picture of a pink convict ciclid. Isn't it pretty?



This is a picture of people who sure want to be picked next.

CONSURE. I googled this and could not find a definition at on line Websters, so folks I have supplied a couple pictures for inspiration.

Consure: A nutrition drink used for geriatric prisoners who have the "Dwindles"..and that my friends is real doctor speak for failure to thrive.

C'mon I know you folks can do better than that!

MORE DEFINARY DICTION

Today my security word was "purgists"

I have elected to demonstrate the singular. Plural purgists worshiping at the same throne is just toooo disgusting.