In the past month I have been in contact with measles, rsv, covid, influenza, and TB. All while being protected with ppe. All these pathogens can be found at your local grocery store. Do not take clean air for granted.

Regarding the measles situation down here. Our infection control person chatted with me a couple of days ago. They had been meaning to doublecheck that my antibodies were good because my name kept showing up on the list of contacts for measles exposures at the hospital. Lucky me.

After being at work in some form or other for the past 15 days in a row with a lot of that work being really heavy, mentally, I’m having a nice Sunday morning. Cat on lap, dogs snoring on couch beside me, and coffee in hand. I hope everyone else is having a good morning too.

If you think this is cool. You should see me ride a bike with no hands.

With all the terrible stuff happening today, is it wrong to want to buy a new guitar right now?

A beauty hopefully last fatbike ride to the season. Get outside today while the getting is good!

In just over an hour I am going to ride my Fatbike on a ski trail that is on its last legs. I do this every year at the end of the season to usher in spring. With permission of course.Too icy for skiing but perfect for biking. Winter moustache is shaved off. I have done my part to bring spring here.

I’m getting tired of getting called into work again. 8 times in the last 10 days. Middle of the night, evenings, and weekends. It’s not stopping. A lot of preventable illness. Misinformation is making people so sick and healthcare workers so tired. Please trust your healthcare providers over TikTok

Shit.

Winkler is hosting this years pride event. One look at comments in the the local facebook groups today, shows how unwelcoming many of our local residents are. Sadly, no surprise. Throw in their very public anti-science views and it’s no wonder we have difficulty recruiting HCWs to the area. Sigh

After a rough work week and 3 hr nap post night shift, I shouldn’t have opened up social media. So much hate having so much power right now. Ugh

8 km of running later. #dogsky #fogsofbluesky #blizzard

50km/h winds with a -31 windchill and my dogs won’t stop bugging me to take them out for play time. Great

Those Epstein files must really be something you need to illegally invade another country to distract from them.

After a long night shift and a 3 hr sleep, I am really procrastinating on the couch knowing I need to shovel the driveway. Wind sucks.

Someone won’t let me get out of bed to make Christmas coffee. Merry Christmas! #mainecoon

I am about an hour from coming home to an empty house because the rest of the Doell crew had to go gather without me. Going to watch Christmas Vacation while waiting for them to get home. Should go straight to bed because I’m gassed but damnit, it’s Christmas Eve!

Another Christmas Eve with an unplanned work interruption where I miss the evening’s festivities. This has happened too much these past 5 years. Time is precious. Any time you are given to spend with family and friends this holiday season, enjoy it for those who can’t. Happy holidays!

One thing about working in a hospital located in the middle of a corn field, between 2 cities, that kinda sucks is when the highways close after you get to work, you’re stuck at work. #mbstorm

Feeling a little tired lately and then did some math and figured out why. 1 day away from work in the last 26 days. Ugh. It’s tiring being the only RT around sometimes.

Going to be working tonight at Childrens. They have been scheduling extra staff for increased workload. That means that the hospital is very full of very sick kids right now. Seeing lots of influenza and more measles than I should ever have to see locally. Please vaccinate your kids.

Good news on the vaccine front.

Spent a crisp night in the woods last night. Lots of wood burned to keep the drafty cabin warm. It was so worth it to the escape from the grind.

RIP little finch. It passed away during the night. At least it was safe and warm.

Found female finch under our feeder acting strange. She has a little blood on her beak so she must have hit our window sometime today. To keep her from being killed by the local outdoor cats, she is now in our cat carrier with seed and water. Hopefully she bounces back and can be released tomorrow

Pierre PoiLIEvre is a D!€k: Part 143 Pierre you are a temporary foreign worker thanks to Battle River-Crowfoot for giving you someone else’s job. That sounds very DEI to me 😂😅🤣 ❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️ ❤️🍁🇨🇦VIVE LE CANADA 🇨🇦🍁❤️

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand: What is that alarm?

One nice benefit of having my workplace located in the middle of a field. When riding my bike in the dark, occasionally you get treated to something cool like the northern lights. Not sure too many car commuters would have noticed this morning. It made for a nice start to the week. Happy Monday!

I know some people are disappointed about the women’s rugby team loss (they shouldn’t be because they were awesome during the whole tournament), but a Canadian woman named Magdeleine Vallieres, won the women’s road cycling world championship this weekend and I think that’s pretty amazing.

If there is one thing to be concerned about Tylenol, it’s not Autism. It’s accidental overdose and liver failure. I’ve seen it. Please follow the directions on the bottle.

For a guy who isn’t officially “on call”, getting called in once every 3 days this month makes me very concerned for the upcoming “busy” season. Another 13hr day starting at 2 am is making it hard to get to the 9 pm bedtime today.

I ran a 5 hour trail race today and now my legs are rejecting me. I really should properly train for this kind of stuff.

So many preventable deaths in the future will happen because of the willful ignorance of few people in power today.

8 degrees and raining for the bicycle ride home today. Is it weird that I’m looking forward to it?

Pretty nice view out of the window at work this morning. I had to get outside to capture this one.

It is crazy what decades of a terrible education system can do to a country.

Took the cat for a walk and it started to rain. Walk cut short #catsky

12-13 hr shifts are normal in healthcare and I do them often. Starting at 2 am for a 13 hr stretch is not normal and has kicked my ass today.

Well I stuck to my guns and left my phone on do not disturb for all of July. Didn’t go to work once and they mostly left me alone. Returning to work on Tues so decided to turn on phone but leave in silent. My bad. At work twice today because our health system is a gong show right now. Ugh

This is 50. Sitting on the deck in another province at the home of great friends. I’ve been through some stuff in my time. I am grateful to still be be here. I am thankful for great friends and family. Cheers to everyone!

We are in the east coast for 10 days and my 50th birthday. I am taking 4 weeks off in a row for the first time since grade 11. Phone is on do not disturb. This is very new territory for me.

I’m guessing everyone at the G7 is feeling relieved right now.

When I feel sad about cancelling our bike racing trips to South Dakota, I keep getting an almost daily reminder, that it was the right thing to do. It is bonkers south of the border right now.

We did our first trail run of the year and the girls enjoyed all the creek crossings. #dogsky

While the world dumpster fire burns, I’m going to take joy in the little things. Like basting chicken boobs with BBQ sauce, while grilling with a charcoal grill. #bbq

Just made the mistake of googling the population of my regional health authority. 232000 people with measles starting to surge with low vaccination rates. That can’t be good, right? Oh, for anyone that’s wondering, I am the only Respiratory Therapist currently employed in this health authority. Ugh

So are these section results for something or are we rejecting something? Legit question. Because if we’re rejecting something, we still need to hold the winning party accountable. No free passes on policy just because rejected the other party.

Having a okanagan spirits whisky while watching cbc election coverage with a red sweatshirt on is Canadian enough for me this eve.

Hopefully, today is the day that Canada flushes PP down the toilet.

Efforts are being made to slow the spread of measles in a region with Manitoba’s lowest vaccination rate, as cases of the highly contagious virus climb locally and across the country.