Friday, February 6, 2009, Nashville, TN., 2:20 a.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Can't sleep; just fed/changed the twins, so I decided to write in my journal while all is peaceful and quiet. 

Louisiana here.  Hope you don't mind my writing; I don't have anything better to do, except, perhaps, to check on the kiddies (which I just did; all are aleep in their beds, dead to the world!), take care of the twins, and listen to my husband snoring.  Also to let "Cajun Gold" out, so she doesn't piddle on my rug.  Not good if that happens!  LOL

I have been busy working.  Nothing new there.  Work again in a few hours; hopefully it won't be as crazy as it's been as of late.  Yesterday, I worked in the cardiac Intensive Care ward; my patient is a fifty-year-old woman visiting from Canada who was stabbed in the back and ended up needing heart surgery; the knife nicked her heart, causing lots of problems.  She's doing a little better, but she's in a lot of pain, discomfort.

The woman is Inuit; she lives in Nunavut, in the northern part of Canada, where it's cold most of the year.  Her name is (let's see if I can remember how to spell it!) Arnarqaaq Kiiniiliiq (whew!).  Her name's bigger than she is; she's tiny!  She's fifty, but looks closer to twenty.  Not a grey hair on her head, hardly a wrinkle on her face until she smiles or laughs (that's hard for her to do; she's in a great deal of pain).

The woman was visiting Nashville; she was taking a walk when she was attacked (the assailant is still on the loose as of this writing; police are telling people to be on their guard; this isn't the first time someone's been attacked). 

Whenever I go out, I have one of my kids with me at all times; that, or my husband or elderly parents, if he's at work.  I daresn't go out by myself, not with this nut on the loose!  It's only by the grace of God we haven't been accosted by this creep; I pray they find him and throw him in jail, where he belongs!

It seems hard to believe that it's already February.  Next week will be Valentine's Day, a week from tomorrow, in fact.  Don't know what the kids (or hubby) have cookin' up in terms of plans, but I'm sure they'll think of something:  they always do!  :)

I have to go on jury duty next week:  I've been summoned.  Great.  Just what I don't want to do, but I have to do it.  Hopefully they'll cancel to where I don't have to go, but just in case I do, they have to let me know in advance. 

Excuse me; be back:  Cajun Gold, my little Pom, is scratching at the door to be let back in; think she's through.  Maybe she was checking her "Pee-mail".  LOL

Okay, now that the dog is back inside (looking very proud of herself, I might add!), I can continue in here.  Silly dog!  Hopefully she won't have to go out again for a while!

The weather has been pretty nice here.  We did have some rain/snow last week, but for the past day, day and a half, we've had sunshine and pristine blue skies, with temperatures in the forties.  We may get colder again next week, as yet another Arctic air mass blasts through the Tennessee valley, bringing with it, snow and possible ice.  Hope not; we just had a bad ice storm a week ago; it caused some damage to our oak trees in our yard (limbs, branches down), and it made for some mighty treacherous driving around here.  Numerous accidents reported, some serious.

One person was even killed when he ran into a tree that was lying in the middle of the road during the middle of the night; it snarled traffic for several hours until the mess could be cleared.

Hopefully we won't have a repeat performance of the ice storm!

Ice is treacherous for anyone; it's even more so for my disabled husband and children, who rely on canes, crutches, or wheelchairs to get by.  When it's icy like this, they might as well be grounded until it's safe to travel again; however, I can't keep them inside; they have things to do, too, just like us who don't live with physical problems!

Well, gang, I am going to go back to be, try to get at least an hour or two of sleep before I have to get up at four-thirty, five a.m.  I will write in here again soon; until later, this is your friend, Louie May Sandusky, signing off!  Take care, and may God bless you mightily!

~Love, your friend in Tennessee, Louie May. :D