Your Smile-Enhancer for the Morning: Especially if you LiveIn San Antone

The Sam's Club at IH-35 and Judson; yesterday.

~~JD~~

Halloween Ghost Stories; Starring Nurses!

Nurses are funny things. Nursing is more than just a job. Nurses deal with life and death of human beings on a daily (and even hourly) basis. So, this tends to make nurses super-dedicated to their profession and their patients.

Nursing is the only profession you can lose your job and your professional liscensure if you call in sick or go home early. Hospitals can legally lock nurses in the hospital if the weather gets too bad for replacements to arrive. Up north, if a blizzard blows in, they send the National Guard out in tracked vehicles to bring in the police and the nurses -- it happens somewhere in the U.S. every single year. It happened in 1999 in Indiana when I lived there.

And the beautiful thing is, most of this is really unnecessary. When the bad weather rolls in, the nurses have already made arrangements for child care and are on their way to the hospitals. When the Hurricane Katrina and Ike and Rita evacuees rolled into town, nurses lined up 7 and 10 deep to volunteer at the shelters.

It's more obsession than profession.

So why are we so surprised when nurses show up at work after they've died themselves?

A good friend of mine, a local author (whose name I won't reveal until he gives me permission to do so) was recently hospitalized at a local county run hospital here in San Antonio. When he woke up after his brief naps, he would have brief moments when, just after opening his eyes, he saw a pretty dark haired nurse dressed all in pink scrubs standing at his bedside tending to him. When he blinked, she was gone.

This happened repeatedly -- even to the point that one time she had several others with her -- and they all disappeared when he blinked. He finally asked one of the nurses about her.

"O, several people have seen her today," she commented dryly, like it happened all the time there. "All hospitals have ghosts."

And it's quite true. The outpatient Dialysis Clinic of the same hospital has a phantom cleaning man who tends the floors night and day. Cleaning staff won't go into the clinic alone after hours. Several of them knew him when he was alive.

The odd part to the story is that this county hospital was built after the old hospital (which still exists as a clinic downtown) began to have so many reports of ghosts and so many frightened housekeepers quitting in terror in the middle of the night that the county supervisors decided to build a new hospital just to keep the peace. So both facilities seem to have their share of eternal staff, it seems.

Another major hospital of a faith-based origin downtown has a medical campus downtown. Originally starting out in a five story building, it has since moved to a larger eight story edifice across the street. The last 24 hour clinical care area at this hospital to leave the original building was the Intensive Care Unit. The ICU moved after several incidents where patients became critically ill or even died when their Intravenous medication lines were all found running wide open, overdosing patients on their medications. When the surveillance tapes were played back, the IV's were clearly seen opening themselves with no staff members present.

That tape is still said to exist somewhere in the hospital security office -- I heard this from an officer who watched it last month.

Since that time frequent noises and voices have been reported from this old 5th floor ICU at all hours of the days and night. It's common to send new officers to investigate these noises without explanation. One officer I spoke with had watched several nurses in old-style white starched uniforms and caps sorting paperwork for 45 minutes from an adjacent floor of the newer building while a rookie searched the old building for these nurses. He even radioed in one time, saying he was in the room indicated, and could see the officers looking at him, but there were no nurses there or lights on -- while the officers could clearly see the nurses.

One of the rookies tells an even stranger story. He was sent to investigate the fifth floor several years ago right after the ICU had moved out. He went up the stairs instead of the elevator and came out to a floor with lights on and a nursing station full of nurses. They looked odd somehow, but he said hello and told them he was just checking the floor, and they smiled at him and told him to go ahead. Each room had patients in the beds, each room was neatly maintained and clean -- each room had the windows open for the clear hot August night.

No air conditioning. Then he noticed there were no televisions either. When he reached the end of the hall at the nurse's lounge he saw an old 1930's Victrola wooden case radio on the desk playing big band music.

He turned and walked straight out of the unit, pausing briefly to say good night to the nurses, who again politely acknowledged him. When he got his supervisor and returned less than 10 minutes later (coming up the elevator this time) the floor was dark, the rooms were locked and stacked with castoff furniture, and the nurses station was piled high with boxes of paperwork.

He was almost fired on the spot. He swears this is true.

My own experience with this type of experience was when I worked at a faith-based nursing home on the near northwest side. As I worked the 3-11 shift and headed home every night at midnight, I frequently saw the nursing supervisor sitting in the nursing station of the adjacent unit reading paperwork. She wore the old-style starched white midi-dress and nursing cap.

A month or two later I heard one of the nurses comment on the "ghost" of the nursing supervisor, and that she was seen on the unit next door where here office used to be. I didn't say anything at the time for fear of ridicule, but made a mental note. Less than a week after that as I drove past those windows I saw her there, stopped the car, and went up to the window to get a better look.

The nurse, when she realized I was there, looked up and waved at me, smiling broadly. Startled, I waved back, then got back in my car.

When I looked again, she was gone.

Never saw her again, either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll give you this one as well, although it's not Nursing related.

When we were looking at cars last year we took a test drive at a Honda dealer at IH-10 and 1604. Behind the Honda dealer is an old stagecoach stop that is probably 150 years old or more that the dealer restored as part of the deal when they bought the property.

The salesman who we were riding with told us that during the restoration process they lost two night watchmen who ran off the property in the middle of the night and refused to come back. Both of these watchmen swore up and down (and independently of each other) that they had seen the stagecoach come in at 3:00am, complete with driver, passengers, and shotgun rider. The passengers disembarked, and the coach just disappeared.

As he said this I looked at the upper windows of the stagecoach stop building (it was about 9:00 pm) and saw a small child looking back at me from the window on the left. I asked him if anyone lived there now. He told me the building had been locked for years, but that faces were sometimes seen at the window.

. . . . Yeah, I figured that part out.



~~JD~~

San Antonio Late Fall Sunset

Signs of the Times, Part V

Heh, and Amen.

~~JD~~

Why I Was Late Posting Monday

One of the things I like to do with my time is volunteering. You meet new people and get to see places you normally wouldn't. Plus I think it's a good idea to shake up one's own status quo from time to time. As Lenin once said, "A little revolution now and then is a good thing."



This is how I ended up . . . on a golf course on a beautiful South Texas afternoon when I don't even play the game. It was the AT&T South Texas Open, which is a stop on the Seniors Tour.


I have no idea who this guy is. I think he's Fuzzy Zoeller, and I'm probably wrong. But I did get to meet him, and get his autograph, which was cool. That's certainly something that wouldn't have happened if I was sitting around the house. You so infrequently see Fuzzy Zoeller bumming a bottled water out of my refrigerator.


Most of what we did was sit around in an air-conditioned tent watching satellite TV (of the Cowboys game) waiting for someone to come in with (a) a headache, or (b) ant-bites, so we could hand out anti-itch cream or ibuprofen or tylenol, such as the case may be.


This being Texas (and part of the South, y'all) The signs that they hold up when the player is putting say "HUSH, Y'all!"


The bad news was when I volunteered to work the Open, I didn't think I was scheduled to work that night at the hospital. Through a miracle of sudden scheduling, it turned out i was after all. That meant no afternoon nap before work, and when I got home this morning, I was beat. (I'd say "bushed", but I don't want to get angry comments from the Obama-istas in the Comments section. Some of them aren't too bright . . . )

So I apologize for the delay.

More tomorrow.

~~JD~~

Saturday Afternoon Mission of Mercy

San Antonio AirLife comes in for a landing at a downtown hospital.



~~JD~~

Your Smile-Enhancer for the Morning: Apparently Fall Is Here

Courtesy of the San Antonio Express News.

~~JD~~

Diabetes Tip of the Day

Something I've noticed recently (being that time of year again) that I probably wouldn't have noticed had I not been testing my blood sugar daily:

Sweet potatoes are starches.

Pumpkins are vegetables.

Sweet potatoes cook out starches to become sugars.

Pumpkins cook out sugars to become (relatively) sugar-free.

In diabetes, this translates out to this: I can eat all the pumpkin pie I want and not raise my blood sugar. Sweet potatoe pie is out of the question, though.

It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, though.

(Heh.)

~~JD~~

The One God Loves

An appropriate 1100th post. We could all use some blessings.

I Am the One God Loves

Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would your life change if you truly believed the Bible's astounding words about Gods love for you, if you looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?

The Apostle John is known in scripture as "John, the beloved". Brennan Manning says that if John were asked, "What is your primary identity in life?" He would not reply, I am a disciple, an apostle, an evangelist, an author of one of the four Gospels, but rather, "I am the one Jesus loves."

Brennan Manning also tells the story of an Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant kneeling by the side of the road, praying. Impressed, the priest says to the man, "You must be very close to God." The peasant looks up from his prayers, thinks a moment, and then smiles, "Yes, he's very fond of me."

You are loved.

(From "What's So Amazing About Grace" by Philip Yancey)

Mark Spain, Chaplain
Director Pastoral Care
Baptist Health System

San Antonio Fall Sunset

~~JD~~

More Obama Vote Fraud (Part II): Handicapped Man Forcd to Vote For Obama

Gateway Pundit is on top of this one:

Mentally Handicapped Man Forced to Vote For Obama!!!

More Hope and Change for America...
A mentally handicapped man says that he was forced to vote for Obama when he was taken to the polls for early voting:

Via Breitbart

HotAir reported earlier on how an Obama supporter stole this handicapped man's vote.

San Antonio Fall Sunrise

To Him Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear . . .

Those who know what I'm talking about . . . will know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, submitted without comment:

An Old, Sad Story

DEAR MARGO: I am 27 years old and have a son who's almost 5. When I was 5 years old, I was molested by my stepfather who is still, to this day, married to my mother. I have told my mother what happened to me when I was younger and no matter how many times I tell her, it seems that she doesn't believe me. She becomes irate and rude. I just can't get through to her that I don't want anything to do with this man.

My mother will make me feel bad if I don't want to go to a dinner or family gathering. In the end, I go and am very uncomfortable. I don't like being in the same room with a man who molested me for 10 years. This whole situation ruined my first marriage. To sum it all up, I don't want my 5-year-old son to be anywhere near this man. How can I get it through to my mother that I don't want anything to do with this man, or her, when he is around?

--- WOUNDED

DEAR WOUND: Forget about getting through to your mother. Chances are that, deep down, she knows what went on, but her denial is necessary so she can keep her marriage together -- which is what she clearly wants to do. This is actually quite common. You would not believe the number of young women who are in your shoes wondering why their mothers cannot face the truth. I hope you will sever communication with your mother, which will solve some of your problems. It will also say a great deal in a way she cannot ignore. Your mental health requires that you be free of this pair. I think you will feel empowered. Finally.

--- MARGO, CONSOLINGLY

Dear Margo is written by Margo Howard, Ann Landers' daughter.

"Maturity" and "Love" make Homecoming Queen "A Double Blessing"

Okay -- Enough negativity about Obama for today. Let's talk about another reason I love Texas:

Aledo High seniors pick classmate with Down syndrome as homecoming queen

10:09 PM CDT on Saturday, October 11, 2008
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News

Never has the selection of a homecoming queen sent so many tears falling so freely.

Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman.

Her grandfather, Dr. David Campbell of Corsicana, escorted her onto the field and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as Kristin joined eight other young women in the Homecoming Court to await the results of the vote, cast by the 360-plus members of Aledo High's senior class.

Then came the announcement ... and pandemonium.

"Oh my gosh! I was sitting in the student section and everyone stood up, crying and cheering for Kristin," said longtime friend and fellow senior Meaghan Geary, 17, who first met Kristin in the third grade. "It was great!"

Carolyn Pass stood at the edge of the football field, taking pictures of her daughter and friends' daughters in the court, when the stadium erupted. "It's just something you can't even imagine," she said. "And afterward, everyone was just running down to her, congratulating her. And the other girls in the court, they're all just beautiful girls, inside and out."

Ms. Pass said she spoke later with a friend. "She said the only mistake anyone made was not handing out crying towels."

The vote may have been a surprise, but no one who knows Kristin doubts her popularity, her mother said.

"Kristin has a lot of friends – she likes everyone. It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, pretty, not pretty, smart, not smart – she likes everybody. She has great friends. And Aledo is a great community." "She's just the neatest kid in the whole wide world," added her aunt, Chari Hust of Houston, "and everybody sees that."

Clay Gilmer, who works in the stadium press box, running the scoreboard and clock, said people pushed toward the windows as the young women were introduced. "They were all pulling for Kristin," Mr. Gilmer said.

When she won, he was thrilled. "This has been such a special time, a special week for Kristin," he said. "And I was really taken by the maturity and the love shown by her friends, her peers, her classmates.

"That makes this a double blessing."

Kristin pronounced the evening "exciting" and "awesome." She was so thrilled, her mother said, that she took her crown to bed with her. "She's real proud of it," her friend Meaghan added.

Kristin and her family, including sister Kendall, now a freshman, moved to Aledo when Kristin was in the third grade. She was embraced by the people in town through good times and bad, including the death of her dad, J.T., two years ago.

"We've always had great experiences here," her mom said. "We've been blessed, and I think Kristin brings a lot of blessings to the people she knows."

Her selection as homecoming queen was a wonderful surprise. But Meaghan seemed to have an inkling that it could happen.

"Everyone loves Kristin," she said, "and I didn't know for sure, but in class everyone was like, 'Who are you voting for?' and everybody was like, 'Vote for Kristin, she's so good.' "

Kristin doesn't care what's on the outside, Meaghan said. She's friends with everyone, and everyone admires that.

"She's the person we all want to be," Meaghan said.

~~JD~~

Another Reason I Desperately miss Charles Schulz; Your Peanuts Fix for Today

A genius that man. Such a shame. Click the strip for a clearer image.



~~JD~~

Gateway Pundit: Woah! New Sarah Palin Ad Shows Obama in True Light

Gateway Pundit has this on a new Sarah Palin Ad making the rounds on the Internet:

Woah! New Sarah Palin Ad Shows Obama in True Light

The New Sarah Palin ad by Our Country Deserves Better is a viral hit on the internet.
It's not so much what it says about America's most popular governor...
It's what it says about Barack Obama.

"Sarah Palin Better Than Barack Obama"

Please forgive me Obamatron brownshirts but that video was too funny!

Heh-heh-heh. Indeed!

~~JD~~

What I've Been Doing the Last Two-and-a-Half Weeks

Just for the record, I'm not a Baptist. I'm working with them beause they run the Special Needs Shelters:

Texas Baptists mobilize to meet Hurricane Ike
Contributed by John Hall, BGCT Communications; Published: September 11, 2008

As Hurricane Ike took aim at the Texas coast, Texas Baptists began mobilizing to meet the needs of people who might evacuate South Texas. At the request of the state, Baptist Child & Family Services opened shelters in the San Antonio area that can serve several thousand evacuees with special needs, such as basic medical care, support or attention. After sheltering about 300 medical special-needs evacuees from Hurricane Gustav, Baptist Child & Family Services personnel had little down time. Staff moved to a 24-hour operation mode to prepare for Hurricane Ike.

Twenty churches prepared to shelter evacuees at the request of BCFS. Corpus Christi officials called for the evacuation of all special-needs individuals from the area. Officials ordered the
mandatory evacuation of one ZIP code in Galveston-area Brazoria County. Some parts of Houston also were being evacuated.

Texas Baptist Men activated five teams. The East Texas-Smith Baptist Association Unit will serve in Bryan; the Bluebonnet Baptist Association Unit is serving in San Antonio and will be joined by the State Unit; the East Texas-Gregg Baptist Association Unit will serve in Longview; and another team of volunteers from around the state will serve in Laredo. In all, TBM was asked to prepare about 46,000 meals a day. Eight TBM shower units also are serving.

"Right now, things are going really well," Joe Detterman, who is helping coordinate TBM disaster
relief work, said. "We've had good response from our teams.

Baptist Child & Family Services and Texas Baptist Men both were active when Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana recently. BCFS housed nearly 300 people with special needs. "BCFS was given the role of caring for medical special needs evacuees in Texas because of our experience in caring for society's most vulnerable," BCFS spokesperson Haley Smith said. "We view this as just another opportunity to impact the world the world for Christ. We are so thankful for our partner churches who serve as shelters and make it possible for us to take on this role."

TBM provided nearly 25,000 meals for evacuees in Bryan, Lufkin, Marshall and Longview. An East Texas Baptist University gym was transformed into an 80-bed mobile hospital by the federal government. "Our university was pleased to host this operation,"; ETBU President Bob Riley said. "It gave our staff and students an opportunity to be a servant to our fellowman. Our staff rose to the occasion to assist these people in need. As a Christian university, we are pleased to help out."

To support Texas Baptist disaster relief, visit www.bgct.org or www.texasbaptistmen.org . Checks marked "Disaster relief" also can be sent to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227 or BGCT, P.O. Box 159007, Dallas 75315-9007.

As of Friday morning the BCFS is operating 15 Special Needs Shelters in San Antonio. "Special Needs" means anyone who needs more than a regualar shelter can proide -- medical, psychological, or otherwise. Evacuees are bussed into the former kelly Air Force Base (now called kelly City-Base) and sorted according to their needs. Pets are sent to a kennel, an families are kept toether as much as possible. Common-law families are the only instances I've seen so far where family members are separated; so it seems to pay to be married, and be able to prove it.


Compared to my regular job in the hospital, it's astonishingly easy work, but the time factor is what wears you down. I've worked 15 of the last 16 days before I took Friday off for sheer exhaustion. That's 12+ hour days; some of which were 16+ hour days.

"Volunteer Burn-Out" seems to be a common problem. The first week we saw a many as twenty volunteers a da signed up for shifts at the shelter, just in the Nursing Department. Friday morning when i left there were only five -- barely enough to cover the evacuees.

This weekend looks slightly bleaker. I'd be there if Ii wasn't already scheduled at the hospital. I'll be back Tuesday.

Right now they're talking about consolidating some of the shelters and closing the rest, but ours will probably stay open because of the range of services we provide. Very likely we'll be open through October.

Even if we don't get another hurricane.

~~JD~~

Living In The Cone Part XI: "Playing Flinch"

When I was in High School, some of the guys used to play a game called "Flinch." The idea was to punch your friend/victim on the arm as hard as you could; then do it agin, but pull your punch short so that you didn't actually hit them. If your friend/victim flinched when you struck, you got to hit them harder. If they didn't they got to hit you.

Adolescence and hormones breed idiocy; I know, I know . . .

Hurricne Ike is a Classic case of "Playing Flinch." Ike was aimed at the Corpus Christi to Victoria Texas areas, but 24 hours before landfall (when the shelters were crammed with Corpus Christi evacuees) the storm turned away and headed for the Houston/Galveston area instead. Consequently the shelters, still jammed with Corpus Christi evacuees, are still accepting Houston/Galveston evacuees because there's not enough vehicles to send the Corpus Christi people home.

This is not a FEMA problem. It's just that nobody has every imagined trying to evacuate three major urban areas at the same time. FEMA has done yeoman's work anticipating evauating for a single major hurricane. The ambulances that evacuated some of our guests came from Stockton California and Eureka Oregon.

So I'm working my butt off here. This is my seventh shift in a row; my tenth in eleven days. I' working 16 hours tonight because we're starting to run out of volunteers.

Loving it, too, by the way.

~~JD~~

Living In The Cone Part X: Ike's Slam

Ike decided to turn slightly north last night, which is not a good thing. While San Antonio is now out of the path of the storm, Houston is now in the crosshairs. Since the Corpus Christi coast (several hundred miles to the south) has alrady been evacuated, this presents a problem. Wher DO you send the Houston refugees now that the shelters are filling, and that you have less than 24 hours to do it in?


Actually, it now appears my old stomping grounds of Northwest Indiana may get more rain than I will. Heh.



Worked in a shelter last night with Corpus Christi refugees. While there was pitifully little to do, I did get to do some really good interviews with unsettled peaople, and solve a few sticky problems. Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) an Angel Staffing did their usual fantastic job, and FEMA continues to really impress me with their organization and initiative.

Really!


Nurses; Doing the paperwork that sends normal human beings into a death-like coma from sheer boredom.

Meanwhile, the countdown continues. More as it happens (or doesn't.) Im scheduled to work the shelter again Sunday, but that may be academic.

~~JD~~

~~JD~~

Living In The Cone Part IX: Ike's Shadow Looms Larger

Went out yesterday to get a few cases of water, just in case (pardon the pun.) I needn't have bothered. I go the last three cases of water in San Antonio, and had to go to three separate Wal-Marts to do it. People were stocking up on everything, and i do mean everything.





This is a typical San Antonio Sunrise; clear, bright, and gorgeous.





This is this morning's sunrise. It looks a lot like tornado weather in the Great Plains. The depression west of us in the Sonorra desert is meeting the feeder bands of Ike, with turbulent, ugly atmospheric consequences.





The Texas DOT activated the Evacuation plan along I-37 this morning at 7:00am. That means that all lanes from the coast at Corpus Christi to almost San Antonio (Pleasanton, to be exact) are running northward. While this helps ease the evacuation of the coast, this comes with small problem.





Current projection now have Ike veering northward away from Corpus Christi (which has a mandatory evacuation order in place) towards Houston (which has not begun to evacuate yet.) Add to this that Houston is a much larger Metro area with many more people than Corus Christi, and you now have the gargantuan task to stopping the Corpus evacuation in mid-flight, reversing that, and evacuating a much larger metro area -- all at the same time.

This could get really ugly really fast -- especially considering the northward turn of Ike is by no means certain. What if this turn is just a feint -- ad the storm re-turns to Corpus. Imgine the possibility for sheer chaos.

I'm really glad I'm not Governor Perry right now.




I have to say the state has respond magnificently to these one-after-another crises. Eacuation centers have been set up and, rather than simply shunting people willy-nilly into any available shelter, they are sorted by their needs into appropriate shelters. Care is taken to record each evacuee and attend to their medical o personal needs. FEMAis paying the volunteers this time, in order to guarantee they will show up, as well as to instill some continuity of care with staffing. Angel Staffing of San Antonio is managing the schedules of evacuees, and Baptist Child and Family Services is ensuring every evacuee gets what they need to make the time away from home bearable, if not completely comfortable.

We'll all live through this. We may not be comfortable, but we'll survive.

I'm working at a shelter tonight.

~~JD~~