From this past weekend at work: you just can't make this stuff up!

It is nearly the end of the weekend warrior's shift: hour 39 of 40, only 1 hour to go. There is a young patient getting a cat scan of his stomach. He looks sick, smells bad - sometimes you just know the result is going to be positive for something when they are pasty white, dry lips, no color.

He is lying on his back on the scanner table, and his feet are already in the big gantry's doughnut hole. Since he is young-ish (already hit puberty and considered adult anatomy in the medical field), I ask him how much he weighs.

He answers, "Twenty-one."

I'm thinking "Um, ok..." Instead I say, after a long pause for the possibilities and a bit of quick math in my head, "You mean kilograms...? Or stones...?" He didn't have any sort of accent, nary British or anything, but you never know working in an area that attracts lots of tourists.

But his reply is even more puzzling,"No, I deny all that."

I hesitatingly answer, "Umm..." Think, pause... pause.... pause. Ok. "Deny what? The metric system?" Cause I m completely lost now.

He says again, "I deny all that stuff."

I am still not catching his drift, so I say 'cause I'm all FOR the metric system," You know, it really is easier, the metric system is, I think anyway."

Now it's his turn to look at me like I have three heads. But I am not alarmed, as I am the recipient of strange looks more often than you'd think. He tries to elucidate by saying, "I deny all that. You know, drugs."

"Huh?!" Nervous laugh, then I think, "Whoa!" This is also not a topic I want to be talking about with a fifteen year old just before I inject his veins with icky toxic stuff!

I laugh again, and try to ease the conversation back on track, and, unfortunately, me being the overly talkative person I am, I just dig the uncomfortable hole deeper.

"Well I need to know how much you weigh, actually if you are over a hundred pounds. Oh! You said one hundred twenty-one pounds! I couldn't figure out how you weighed only twenty one anything... I wasn't sure if you meant kilograms. Or stones 'cause I thought that the English weight measurement was one stone equals 20 or 25 pounds or something... The last thing I would be talking about is drugs..." Ugh. Back around again, I should just let it drop. "Ok, here is the injection..."

So I come around the corner into the scanner control area to push the button and start the scan, shaking my head, laughing, wondering what the heck...?! My wonderful tech aide asks what I was laughing about. I relay the story quickly and she laughs, we both do, and she says, "You just can't make that shit up!"

And I agreed, "No, you can't." What a way to end a very strange weekend at work!

upcoming weekends thru Autumn

That's crazy ridiculously over-planned you say? I might tend to agree :)

So we're busy people, traveling, visiting, sometimes working ;) Nearly every weekend from now till September is filled with rest and relaxation time -- or me working every other one...

Feb 14,15 is free yet ;)
Feb 21,22 work
Feb 28,29 Winter War on Saturday, free to recover from crossbow effort on Sunday
Mar 7,8 working, but I took Sat off for an event the local SCA group is hosting - a fencing event that I am running
Mar 14,15 SCA event Hrim Schola for me only on Sat, nada or recovery planned for Sun
Mar 21,22 work
Mar 28,29 visiting friends on the way and fossil beach on the return trip to visit my sister in ST.Augustine, FL!! We're thinking about renting or borrowing an RV for this trip. Ah, it'd be a trip to remember!
Apr 4,5 work
Apr 11,12 free as yet!
Apr 18,19 work
Apr 24-26 camping event in York Haven, PA also visiting friends in Gettysburgh, PA!! Yes, camping in April. Apparently we're addicted to cold toes and noses...
May 2,3 work
May 9,10 free! (wow, more free weekends already than I though! :)
May 16,17 work
May 22-24 SCA camping event Panteria in northern VT
May 30,31 work
Jun 6,7 free (wow another one!)
Jun 13,14 work
Jun 20,21 an SCA camping event, but undecided which one -- hopefully it'll be Coldwood's most excellent event in Peru, NY!!
Jun 27,28 work
Jul 3-5 our local group hosting another SCA camping event Northern Region War Camp in Warrensburgh, NY. There's heavy combat, fencing, youth combat, siege weapons, thrown weapons, archery, horses, campfires, friends...!
Jul 11,12 work
Jul 18,19 free, but prep for the big two week long camping event in Slippery Rock, PA: Pennsic WAR! (fyi this event actually gets so many attendees that it gets its own zip code for the two weeks!)
Jul 25,26 work (leave to visit friends in Rochester on the way to War- prob will spend my birthday there again as last year's was super relaxing and fun :)
Aug 1,2 Pennsic War!
Aug 8,9 work (and my dad's b-day)
Aug 15,16 free to recover from two weeks worth of camping and ready for Labor Day vacation
Aug 22,23 work
Aug 29,30 leave for Hampton Beach, NH! A ten day trip where we rent a cottage a block from the boardwalk with Dan's entire family! fun fun fun :)
Sept5,6 work
Sept 12,13 another local SCA camping event (that I am in charge of) called Metalsmiths' Symposium in Lake George, NY
Sept 19,20 work
Sept 26,27 and onward is unplanned so far, except for a few annual SCA events that are ones we plan to go to, if I am not working, but these events are not scheduled as yet... I think I am the only person who actually is as weirdly organized/booked so far in advance (don't feel compelled to agree! :)

Well, gee, I have more 'free' or unplanned weekends than I realized... not that I am complaining even the littlest bit, mind you! More time for family down/home time and local trips to the lake with kids and pups in warmer weather.

Our weekdays are usually entirely free other than daytime YMCA classes for me and the boys (gymnastics, swimming, Karate) and Dan's daily work out regiment. I am hoping to actually complete the Glens Falls/Lake George bike trail this year with the kids. I find it entirely ironic that I say this and there's literally two feet of snow on the ground yet!

What would you call it?

So here in this house there are three boys, but you already knew that, eh? Want something new? OK! There are three boys (not counting husband), two dogs and a rabbit (that roams freely and is litter box trained). Yes, in a 900 sq ft house, but I try not to digress...

Gavin, the youngest human resident in the house, and Sammy, the youngest canine resident in the house, have an interesting relationship. At a very young age, barely above knee height, Gavin had (dare I say it?) issues with the "not brown dog" (his words... translation: the other dog, the black dog, Sammy). And easily, Sammy had (and still has some) issues with Gavin. I liken it to sibling rivalry. Gavin, as a human, and with big encouragement from his parents (also human), was able to overcome the problems of growling and pure, absolute canine jealousy of the big, much older, black dog we still affectionately call Samsam... Needless to say, Gavin had to use a bit of force to show "who's boss" at a very young and relatively short age.

Now, it's years later and Gavin has grown oh-so-much, as he weighs nearly half of the big black dog, at the age of almost-of-seven... But, still, I find that Sammy will block my view if I look at the Gavinator across a room, or even Frodo (the brown dog), and especially the bun, no matter where he may be,.. really, it doesn't matter, he'll stand between me and my view of the rabbit. I truly believe that dogs are WAY smarter than people give them credit for!

And, even still today, if I am holding Gavin - as he still loves to sit on my lap often at differnt times throughout the day, Sammy will actually nose his way in, leaning, nudging, poking, licking, pawing, all kinds of cute stuff that wuld get a perfect stranger who was fearful or hated dogs to give him all kinds of loving attention... I have a new nickname for the lover pup. Sam's effort = hand whore. (Oops, did I say that out loud?)

And a book could be written on the Samsam vs the bun...! But I am not too certain that that counts as sibling rivalry, eh?