Be Patient

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
~     Rainer Maria Rilke

Officially an E-M-T! ... almost

I passed the Alaska EMT state exam with 91% on Friday

& the practical exam today!

Practicals consisted of six stations:

Medical Assessment & Exam,

Trauma Assessment & Exam,

AED operations,

supine back board,

bag-valve-mask with Oxygen,

OPA & NPA (oral & nose airway openers). 

Thankfully, I got those in one shot too.  We're allowed a second chance.

Now, I have to wait on my application to go through.  Then, I can start volunteering at the Fire Department.

* Too boot, I met a couple of paramedics on Saturday.  They  said all I have to do is fill out a waiver & I can be on call to go on the Medivac flights.  These flights go out to villages where there is no hospital access.  Exciting!

12 Minutes

I woke up at 8:17 a.m.

- let the dog out

- brushed my teeth & washed my face

- got dressed

- fed Baker

and 

made it to work by 8:29 a.m.

3 Blogs

In case you've forgotten, I have three active blogs. 

Lately,  
Tess (a.k.a. b-e-s-t possible little sister ever) 
& I have been updating our blogs more.

You can see my other blogs
by clicking the profile link on the side bar --->, 

or connecting to these links:

Mission: Run

Artsy-Fartsy... Zam

Listen Up

You may have seen my Tunes & I post.  That took about 10 days to: intermittently import disks, label songs from mixed CDs that weren't in the registered database, download Album Artwork, & back-up iTunes on several devices.

Now that I've finished that task, my next aim is to listen to all of the songs I haven't heard in a very long time.  If I were to listen to all of the 5598 songs in the main Music area it'd take 15.2 days.  Remember there are 420 songs in the Playlists too. 

I've heard all of them before, but they deserve to be listened to again.

This is exciting!  It's like getting a present, just because.

On call !

Every first and third Tuesday the Fire Department has meetings in order to keep EMT skills fresh & everyone updated on Standard Procedures.  Tonight I attended my second meeting since starting the class in September. Burns was our topic.


Once I'm an EMT, part of volunteering includes attending at least one meeting, as well as two 12-hour shifts, a month. (They're optional right now.) Being on call is part of the gig too, but I'm not sure what the protocol is besides being available when they need more people.


Much to my surprise, Captain Howell informed me that I will be issued a pager, which means that when a tone is sent out for more EMTs needed, I can go to the scene.


As I was leaving, Fred informed me that no student has received a pager since he's been there.  He's been teaching since 1989.  So, I blushed & said, "Thank you." Then went out the door & clicked my heels!

I drank the Kool-Aid

It took 9.5 years, but I finally did it.

I bought, and I'm wearing, Carhartts.

Now I feel like I'm back in the North Carolina hills
working on a farm, instead of in Bethel.

And a new, warmer, coat to boot!

Baker's telling me how pretty I look.




Sorry these are so fuzzy; the photos were taken with Photo Booth at night.

 =====================================================

This week's forecast.  Brrrr...

Did I mention it was 47 degrees in my house
when I got back from class at 10:00 p.m. tonight? 
I think the filter in my Toyo needs to be cleaned.

Who's Right?

I need to post these so I can laugh a little bit rather than feeling sorry for myself.

In due time... I'll get you, Mr. Right!

Tunes & I

A new project: Uploading my CDs into iTunes.
After my computer crashed the last time, I didn't re-upload everything. Do you know how long it takes to upload 4000 songs? Days. Then, I got into buying music on iTunes. I love the nostalgia of sliding a CD into a player... It's nowhere close to the touch of a needle on a record, but still. Often I listen to the iTunes DJ & I've been missing out on listening to my greater collection. So, slowly, it will finally be back together again. I'm excited to find out how many songs I have now & to hear the oldies mixed in with the new.


I'm on D.
{Yes, I alphabetize my CDs. Just in general. I'm not like those crazy people who alphabetize to the second & third letters. It's just a hodge podge of the letter D. I swear!}

=================================================

Update:
@ H = 3980 songs
@ Z = 5005 songs
* w/ compilation CDs = 5485 songs
* 26 CDs were rejected (260 songs, at least)
& the 26 Playlist albums add up to 420 songs.
Grand Total (guess) = 6,165 songs

(Who cares?! In rural Alaska, we find anything we can to stay entertained. 
That's my only explanation. It's this, prostitution, or drugs, people.)

New Paint Can Make Everything Feel. New.

Then:






You get the picture. Even though the wall is partially covered, you can see that (below) the end result is so fantastic. Before the wall was tan, dirty & scuffed up, & just not mine.

My theme music? Loud. Blaring. Insane Clown Posse & Lindsey Stirling. Separately, of course.

& Now:

Clearly, Baker is practicing for his career in modeling. 

Is it for the paint? The pictures? The projector screen? Who can tell?

The next project: A contraption to hold my projector, 

& all of it's appendages, on the ceiling. 

It's going to have to be able to pull back, so that I don't hit my head all the time.

EMT-1

Bethel Fire Department










In September, I started taking the EMT-1 (Emergency Medical Technician, basic) course through the Fire Department here in Bethel. 6 credits. Classes Monday / Wednesday from 6:00 to 9 or 10:00 as well as Saturdays 9:00-4:00. Plus, there's additional homework & reading to do. It's challenging. I'm actually remembering a slew, & I love it.

Wednesday, we had our first dramatic "call." We practice scenarios all the time. The topic was trauma: head, neck, and spine. Our instructor, & captain of the F. Dept., said, "We have a patient in the building who might need an occlusive dressing. Go find him!" Our class of eight, found one of the EMTs in the hall with a nice fake raised bloody neck laceration. We worked as a team to go through the skills when assessing a trauma patient from BSI to treatment & transport. It was fun! Hospital photos, videos, & these practice scenarios are a far cry from real ambulance calls, but it's helping to toughen up my stomach & get me mentally ready.

Early December I take the state exam (150 multiple choice questions) & practical exam, like the drill on Wednesday but with 10 stations, a proctor, & a stopwatch. Wish me luck!

I sense a pattern here. --->





... diva. He may be trying to out "show" that fire hydrant.

It makes him happy, okay.

Straightening Out

It's been y-e-a-r-s, Quinhagak probably, since I've straightened my hair.

This is about as "straight" as it gets.

Little sister, how did you do this every day? ;-)

The "lake" is strong enough to walk on. Let's remember, it's really a glorified puddle at 2 feet deep.

The neighborhood kids have been ice skating all week!

Rhubarb pie

I put some of the rhubarb that Jenni let me harvest from her house in Anchorage to use & made rhubarb pie. mmmm...

My Little Prince

Golly, I love this dog!




And... two swans are back.

Swans Quintuple!

Three and a half months ago I saw two swans on the lake behind my house for the first time in three summers. Now they've returned quintuply and with their cygnets (sign-its). They - like many other birds, muskrats, & beavers - favor this lake because it's shallow and food dense. Every time I walk by the window I can't help but become affixed to watching them.

Swan factoids:
Male swan - Cob
Female swan - Pen
Young swan - Cygnet
Group - Flock

Sunrise

Farmer's Market

Deanna took this photo of me on our way back from Meyer's Farmer's Market this morning. Those are carrot tops you see grazing my hair.

Mush!

I'm puppy sitting Kia, the large black dog, for a friend. Baker & I decided to take her for a walk with Deanna's dogs. My part in walking took very little effort, because I had a steady pull. There was no time for me to fall down. :-)

Yes. They're all hooked to my waist.

Puppy Pin

This is my Pops making a gate for the back porch so that Baker can have a puppy pin. I don't have all the wood shop tools he has at home. So this required some hand chiseling for that diagonal support bar. He even measured Baker's head for the vertical slats.

* Stand by for a picture of the final product.

Tesia & Pops visit Bethel

These are a few photos Tess took while they were here. She knows more about the features on my camera than I do! (& isn't she beautiful! ... even though she's trying to look snarky :-)

Swans!

I haven't seen swans on my lake before. They're so majestic!

17:35

That's how much sunlight we had in Bethel today. Sunrise at 6:35 and sunset at 11:30.

This is usually the first question that people ask me about living in Alaska: winter and summer light.

careyrunsalaska.blogspot.com

There have been several times I wanted to add short blurbs about what's been going on, but then I just kept living my real world life. It's been a full spectrum gamut from negative to positive these last few months - & I am so on top of the world now.

I've been cheating. Just a little. I started a new blog: http://careyrunsalaska.blogspot.com/. This came about after deciding to take on training for a half marathon & a 15.75 mile run at Lost Lake, Seward, Alaska. Thanks for the jump start, Deanna. While reading this hilarious & non-threatening running book, I am encouraged to write & track my progress. It'll be fun to look back on how far I've come.

So, check out my new blog &, hey, you might feel like making a running goal too. Or at least you should be happy that you have the choice.

{Top four photos by Maria Gutleben. Bottom photo & map by Nate DeHaan.}

Published

Alaska Women Speak is a quarterly magazine that accepts articles from women all over the state of Alaska. My friends Deanna, Vicki, & Sherry wrote articles for this Spring 2012 20th Anniversary edition too!

Coming soon!

It's been a long while since I've posted. Expect a new post... soon!

Flashback with Joolee

This was around 2009 in Akula (Kasigluk) when Joolee was teaching there. Bill posted this photo on the blog, Joolee's Forty, that he designed to celebrate her 40th birthday with 40 stories from friends & family around the world. Love you, Joolee!!!

Derby Circuit

We've started a Roller Derby league in Bethel! This is all too exciting, as there aren't too many things to do for entertainment or indoor exercise in the winter. There are a good 20-somthing of us kicking this off.

This is Regan & me after our circuit workout of the day.

- 22 F

Alaska Women Speak

Alaska Women Speak is a quarterly magazine published in Anchorage. Subscriptions are available for a nominal fee ($16/year) and they accept donations. Currently, there is a threat of discontinuance because of lack of funds. Please visit their site to read the mission and see if it's something you want to support.

Small is Beautiful

Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
By British economist E. F. Schumacher (p. 12-14)


The most fateful error is production. The captains, the economists, the journalists. They agree that for rich, now is ‘education for leisure’ and, for poor ‘transfer of technology.’ Human wickedness is the fault of ‘the system.’ In an erroneous view the ‘problem’ has been solved. Man’s attitude to nature as an outside force is a battle. If won he’d lose. We overlook rapidly consuming capital. We labour to make capital. Capital by nature is being used up. It is absurd to believe the problem of production has been solved.




This was another "found poem." His words - my editing. I read two pages from Small is Beautiful and underlined the words I wanted for the poem, to be read sequentially. My aim was to summarize and have the sentences be real sentences. It turned out close to my aim. This was kind of a challenging task; it was like I was reading and composing synchronistically. Try it - it definitely takes a mind shift.

My vehicles

Paula Marie Iqv'aq Jung

Welcome to the world lil' Paula!

{Born February 4, 2012}

Daughter of Sara Rearden Jung & Eric Arthur Jung.

Freedom Matters!

It's been a stressful week. I've been handling the cabin fever okay until recently. But this week I was in the pressure cooker... chainsaw troubleshooting, leaky sinks, caulk guns not working, no truck brakes & two incidents (straddling logs & almost running into the street), no snow-go battery (& more steps than I thought to get it going), crazy cabs, the sentencing of the murders from that trial I was on (104 year each - thank goodness), burns from touching frozen metal (my door), frozen sewage (4 days without being able to drain water), exhaust smell from the Toyo, other people stressing around me, work, my room has been a pit (mirroring my life)...

I finally got some freedom today! Freedom from the burden of my stresses and from the confines of feeling trapped inside.

It was +30s (a 50 degree difference from a few days ago). We had a great writing group again. The chainsaw worked well & I could cut five logs without any trouble, or numb fingers. My snow-go started on the first turn. I exercised two hours - pushing my limits. My roommate chopped the wood to get ready for when we need a fire. I socialized (sometimes a feat). Rode my snow-go with Baker pup, who is so d@#n good on there (I'd forgotten). My beer is happy & doing what it's supposed to. And now I'm writing again. What a great day!

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.



I knew putting this photo from Mexico would do something. That balloon has someone's petitions for the new year. My subconscious petitioned warm weather!

Lead

Lead
Expand abilities
Share goals
Train
Shakedown skills
Monitor
Encourage results
Lead and sweep



"Found poem" done during our writing group this a.m. I took a page from Backpacker magazine and underlined the words I wanted for the poem. The idea is to cross out all but those words & read them sequentially. Found it!

Brrrr...

20.6 mph wind + -20 temps. = B-r-r-r-r

Pappy

Pappy always thought it was a dream when he woke up to the sound of machines. The clock ticking, zooms from outside, a hum from the walls and floors. He'd been through nine decades, crossed over the centennial line. When Papp was a boy he worked on a farm. They had cows, chicks, soy beans, and horses. Waking up to the regular noise of this day was something he never wanted to get used to. Why should he? Often as a young fella he'd ride a horse off into the distant fields of the high plain valley and camp. Then, he woke up to silence. Now there are no more horses, no cows, chicks, soy beans, or silence.





What if this was on the jacket of a real book? Would you want to read it? This was a five, maybe ten, minute writing exercise with a small group of people and Deb Vanasse last night. Our assignment was to write this "jacket flap," set as we were publishing a book in 2017, and have a cliff hanger.

It is surprising what happens when we are under constraints to write. As I began to write this, I felt like it was a stretch and didn't really like the idea of moving towards a "Sci Fi" or "1984" style story. (Even though 1984 might be my favorite book. I didn't want to copy.) But, I thought, "I have to finish this. Just go with it" and it turned out okay for a five-minute exercise.

I don't expect to be a profound writer or published more than I do for myself on this blog, but I do strive to learn more and test the waters of different writing. You should too! This exercise helped to reinforce that I just need to write and not be worried about cerebral affairs, but nurture the humble, discovery side of myself.

Just go with it.

Cabin Fever

I've got it.

I'm irritable.
I'm bored.
I'm constantly cold.
I'm insatiate.
I'm lonely.
I'm antsy.
I want to be free!

The Yeast Gods

The "Yeastie Beasties" are having a party! You can't really see it here, but foam had to be cleared off yesterday they were so happy.

Notice the pink spillage on the side. Yes, me beer is p-i-n-k!