New Book Coming in 2018

It's finally in the hands of the publisher!  The revised Dusty Angels and Old Diaries with the long-awaited epilogue is complete! We hope it will be out in time for Christmas, 2018.

In the meantime, I've been busy post-retirement still working full time as a hospice nurse near Denver, CO.  I'm also working on my Master of Science in Nursing online through Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ.  I don't physically go to school there.  They offer the online program.

Maybe I still feel like I have unfinished business in life. Or, maybe I'm afraid if I slow down, something bad will happen. For sure, it keeps me young at heart!

We've had some changes at our house!  Back on September 19, 2017, I had a stroke that landed me in the hospital!  (Something bad?)  But through prayer and the clot-buster medicine given within three hours of my stroke, I had a complete recovery.

In October, we got a new puppy. Paris is a purebred Finnish Lapphund we named Paris!   She is a handful, but the idea was for me to exercise more and 'walk the dog'.  We love her dearly!

Most of my online updates have been through Facebook, but we're back with you at Linda's Notebook and will keep posting here as well.

I'll try to add a photo of Paris when she was 4-months old. She was born October 28, 2017.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Jim Meets Jim

What restaurant lets two people with the same name sign up in a row?

That's what The Egg Place did today, so when they called for "Jim", here came two Vietnam Vets (Jim & Jim) with their wives, expecting to be seated.

And while the restaurant had made a mistake in signing two Jim's in a row on their wait list, and while both couples were willing to share (one wait and one be seated), low and behold there were two tables side by side available in a place where everyone was waiting about 20 minutes for a seat.

I said, "Jim meet Jim" and the two who had chatted briefly while waiting to be served, shook hands.

My Jim said, "Thank-you for your service".

Then they started comparing notes about what each had done in the war. Something my hubby rarely does!

The "other Jim" said he was a medic to which I asked, "Why were you a medic?"  Another way of asking, "Were you a Seventh-day Adventist?"

Yes he was. And yes he is. And, yes, my Jim and I are going to meet this warm and friendly couple again.

Maybe on a Saturday!!!!

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda





Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Colorado Snow by Linda Meikle

Here are a few "Colorado Snow" photos

 taken since we moved to Denver in 2010.

(Photos by Linda Meikle)



Our back porch - after the first snow!

DeeDee gets lost on the back porch snowdrift.



I think this looks like a dog (top) and two birds. 
It's actually the rose bushes in the front yard. 



Daddy Jim knocking snow from the branches
so they don't break from the weight of the snow.



We drove into the Rocky Mountains from Estes Park.
Best snow pictures ever! But we forgot our coats!

Serenity in the Rockies!

Summer of 2011 we drove across the Rocky Mountains from Estes Park, CO!
Yep, the snow was still this high beside the road!

It's hard to imagine living where there is never any snow.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Fall Colors and Diamonds in Colorado

For those of you who follow me on Facebook (as DustyAngel), you may have already glimpsed these photos taken as we travel through this area of the country.  I'm adding a combination of fall colors, a trip to collect diamonds from a creek near the nation's largest diamond mine here in Colorado (Kelsey Lake Mine), and some photos from a two-day jaunt to Yellowstone in August.
For some up-to-date news, I'm finally working at a nursing job that I love. I'm employed by Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) which means that three days a week I make home visits in the Denver area. This is just my kind of nursing, and it's such a great feeling to be APPRECIATED by those I work for. 
My next two books are a bit slow in being completed so that I can get them published, although it looks like life is going to allow me the time and space to keep up with my love of writing.
Oh yes I am!  I'm taking one class at a time to finish my Bachelor's in Nursing. Graduation date is now set for March 23, 2013.  Not that far off. Then I plan to continue for my Masters so I can teach nursing.
All this could not have been undertaken or accomplished without the loving support of Hubby Jim!
In the spirit of "the more the merrier", we have opened our hearts and arms and home to youngest son and wife. They hope to 'settle" in the Denver area, and Philip is hard at work looking for work!  Jim fixed up a bedroom and a computer room (two rooms) for them to have some privacy downstairs. We love it when they put their chief  hats and cook up some delicious new meals for us.

Finally, here of some of my favorite photos from the last few months...

Lilly pond at Yellowstone

Add caption

Jim enjoys the scenery

This is not Old Faithful but another one close by that blew for over 1/2 hour.

Old Faithful on August 18, 2012 at 2:35 p.m.

Old Faithful continues. I had three cameras and one video going!

On the way home, we took the long way through Medicine Bow Mountains

Turn around from looking at the lake, and you have this land of beauty!

My sister wants a cabin and a fishing pole here.

Miles and miles from nowhere but here!

A month later nearer home. Fall Aspen colors high in the Rocky Mountains.

The road continues. I don't think the road was even marked.

The area around Central City, CO September 16, 2012

Now off to the north looking for diamonds in Palmer Canyon on Highway 14.

This was our first time on Highway 14. It was awesome and georgous!

100 miles from home for this pan of dirt!!!!
We got as close to Kelsey Lake (Diamond mine) as we could get
and then got this pan of dirt we hope will contain gold or diamonds.
I told Jim maybe my tombstone will say
"She Found Diamonds"
(I don't plan to have a tombstone, but that's another story.)

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

The Secret

An 'unusual event' happened to hubby and I while Geocaching today. 
You decide what happened... 

     This afternoon, hubby and I decided to do some local Geocaching. I wanted to put some of my polished Colorado stones in the local Geocaches. We also found a couple new Geocaches, and then decided NOT to find one that was too far in rush-hour traffic.
     At the last minute, I suggested that we go to our Geocache that is named, "Two Sisters Kiddie Cache". It's the only Geocache belonging to my sister, Sandy, but I check on it and keep it filled with kiddie swag since she lives in Florida.
     As we pulled into the small parking lot of about six spaces where the Two Sisters Kiddie Cache is hiding in a rock wall beside the parking lot that overlooks a large lake, there was one car pulling in ahead of us. I told Jim to be careful that the lady in the car didn't notice him remove the cache from the wall. I stayed in the car watching the lady and her car. The lady stood in front of her car looking at the lake. (Good Geocachers are always on the lookout for people who would find and remove Geocaches.)
      I saw him walk to the spot and get the cache. When he got in the car, I asked him if he saw the lady. He said, "She asked if I had seen a book." Then he announced, "There it is!" There was a book lying on the ground exactly where he had walked to the cache! He swears he would have seen the book if it had been there when he walked to the cache. He jumped out of the car and picked up the book not 10 feet from where we were parked and right where he had walked twice!
     As he turned to find the lady to give it to her, she and the car were gone. Now if she had backed out one way, she would have backed out right next to my side of the car - within a few feet! If she had backed out the other way, she would have been within two feet of where Jim was standing. But neither of us saw her leave!
     We're still in a mystery as to this whole event. Jim says maybe she put the book there while he was focused on getting the Geocache from the rocks. But, I was actually watching to see that the lady wasn't looking. (She was standing in front of her car looking at the lake!) And, neither of us can figure out how she backed out of her parking spot next to us and disappeared when both of us were keeping an eye on her!
     I told Jim that strange things like this have happened in my life before, so I have faith that it could happen again without explanation. (Read my book.) With it happening to BOTH of us, we just shake our heads and believe that we need to read this book.
     This is where really gets strange. The book is about believing, visualizing and asking for anything you want and the universe will send it to you!
     Even MORE exciting is something Jim knew nothing about. Today, I wrote a note to our long-time friends Floyd & Tania Phillips. In my note, I asked if they would find me a good book that wouldn't tell me I was a bad person, but would be positive and uplifting. (They are always reading good books.) 
     This book titled, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne has just what I asked for in my note to Floyd and Tania! It was waiting for me before I asked! Just as the book says will happen if you believe!
     A mystery? A miracle? I'm simply thankful and grateful that it happened to me.

Thank-you to the Universe!
Linda J. Meikle

amazon.com photo

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Donations For Star (My sister's little dog.)

Sweet little Star Baby - as my sister and her husband call their precious little rescue dog - just got out of the dogie hospital, and the vet bills are overwhelming for Sandy and Craig. 

Star was in the hosp. from Thursday to Sunday, August 9-12, 2012 and is slowing improving from something called Immune-mediated homiletic anemia (IMHA)

Her body is killing off her red blood cells just before being released from the bone marrow, the doctors don't know why. She still must get a blood test every day to check her anemia. She is still on several medications, but is starting to eat her food and bark at the neighbor dogs again!

On Thursday, August 9, when Sandy rushed Star to the vet, her red blood count was 10. She was so near death they wasn't sure she'd make it to the hospital that's 40 minutes. away from Tampa to Largo, FL.

If any one can donate toward Star's expenses that are already over $2,500 please click the Pay Pal donate button. Any amounts will be appreciated so much.

I'm placing my Pay Pal Donation button on this site and will double check that it works. All donations will go to my Pay Pal and straight on to my sister for Star's vet expenses.


Thank-you in advance.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

What Motivates You?

Mountain Village Camp Building
(Linda Meikle photo)

You know this summer (2012) I'm a camp nurse (RN) at the Easter Seal Camp near Idaho Springs, Colorado. (Frequent postings on Facebook and my camp blog.)  There are two of us, and sometimes we wish there were ten. And, sometimes we share taking a long break from camp. My posting today is related to a day in the life of a nurse at camp. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for everyone here. 


When my husband comes to visit me (no, it's not a jail), he says that being here is a different world than at home 40 miles away near Denver. Well, there's no time for TV and never enough sleep. It's chilly at night and slightly cold in the early mornings. There are two horses and two donkeys down at the barn. There's a pool that I've been in only once and that was for a group photo shoot. (Don't ask... Besides having to get into the pool for a photo shoot, they forget to get a photographer with a camera. But, like I said, Don't ask.)


The whole camp changes every week. On Friday at noon every camper checks out, and I make a mad dash down the mountain for home!  On Sunday at 1 p.m, they literally open the gates and the new week of campers pour in. Medication check-in is a tedious, precise, time-consuming process that backs up the wait line for hours. We are on a speed course to get it all checked in and recorded by 6 p.m. when first meds have to be given at mealtime.


During the night when I'm on call, I get a knock on my bedroom door for a sick camper, or someone who has a bug bite that's itching, or someone asking if they can sleep in our sick bay because their cabin is too noisy. This morning I got a radio call for help because a camper had been "throwing up all night". I asked why they waited all night to call me and they said he wasn't that sick - just throwing up. When I found him, he was sitting on the floor in front of the commode asking if he could have some chocolate milk. ( I said yes...)


Communication up here is a constant chatter on walkie talkie radios even if the person who wants to talk to you is standing outside the door. Everybody has one. Everybody enjoys talking on them. The nurses must have an ear to the radio 100% of the time. I 'sleep' with the walkie talkie, a cell phone, and a cordless phone on my pillow. It's the squelching that keeps waking me up. All I need is my ham radio, and I'd be a happy electronic camper/nurse!
The meals aren't bad. Dave is the cook except on Fridays. He sets a plate for me on the back of the stove because I can't eat until the other nurse and I have finished passing all the medications to the campers. I assure you there is not a morsel left by the time we're done with med pass. So, the salad is limp and hot. The over cooked vegetables are shriveled and dry. The entree is unidentifiable. Dessert has disappeared. Juice is gone to the last drop.  I didn't want bread and butter anyway. And, I've lost about 10 pounds. So, it's not all bad. LOL


We're working on ways to speed up the med pass (start earlier), so the meals can be hot and juicy. But, Dave is really nice to save a  plate on the back of the stove.


The directorship has changed since I got here. The nice lady director moved back to Pittsburgh to help take care of her mother. The current director is all about hugs and sharing the love. He so dearly wants to be the full time director, but I don't think a decision has been made. I'll be long gone before that is worked out.
I've been interrupted four times since I started writing this, and my computer has gone to sleep while I checked the foot of a camper whose braces had been applied backward this morning. A few red spots that I think will be gone by morning. I switched out a dry oxygen tank. (Always a slight hebe jebe for me.) A feeding pump wouldn't 'prime', and the last camper showed up for bedtime meds.


It's time for my 10 p.m. date call to loving hubby who waits patiently for me at home, so I'll get to the point of this  letter.


"What motivates you?"  is a question that the assistant director here said he asks during interviews for camp staff. It's a question that is haunting me a little because this can be taken many ways. 


I ask if this means what motivates me to get out of bed in the morning? Or, write a second book? Or, head out to Geocache when there's work to be done? Get a college degree when I already have a good one? Keep the house clean and laundry done? Or, what motivates me to quit a job that is unsatisfactory, and how do I find a new one?


Someone said it's the fact that the business of life insists that you get going. 


I'll venture to suggest that what motivates me is feeling appreciated.

I often remind myself that when we need others to make us feel good about ourselves, we are really missing the point. I believe that we should get our 'strength', 'motivation', or fulfillment from helping others, but it really originates from that innate within part that connects with the universe.


Try it and see if you feel better next time you feel unmotivated and listless. You are a part of the enormous universe of life and you are here for a purpose. That  is not writing a book, building a house, or getting a degree. Our purpose is to make our world a little better because we were there.


Now there's a knock on the door. Someone is here asking for Pepto Bismol, and someone else wants to borrow the golf cart. I don't think they ever sleep around here! Although, this morning at 0730 when I radioed for assistance with 16 crates of new meds, I got no answer.
Just now, I set the Pepto Bismol on the desk and told the counselor to spread the word that it's there and not to wake me up for a dose of Pepto Bismol.

Time to call hubby and then I'm turning out the cabin lights. Maybe they will get the hint.  ha ha


Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda




Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Wildfires in Colorado

The news is accurate this time. Colorado is burning. Pray for rain and safety for all.

CNN photo taken near the Ft. Collin's fire.
There are two major fires near Colorado Springs and in other parts of the state.  
The one pictured has burned almost 300 homes as of June 26, 2012.


Take Care on the Journey,
Your friend in life
~Linda

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Camp Nurse For The Summer 2012

I seem to have no restraints in flying the kite of life! Here I am at a 13-week summer camp for those with disabilities high in the Rocky Mountains! (About 40-miles from home.)  I'm homesick. I miss my hubby and all the comforts of home, but I realize that it's also important to "...withdraw for awhile from the turmoil of the world, that I may gather strength that I have lost...." (Paraphrased from my devotional prayer by George Dawson.)  


The opportunity came along. They accepted my application and offered me the position, so here I am gaining a whole, new view, once-in-a-lifetime, experience of another kind of world.


Hubby is more than supportive, and has already visited me at camp and plans to come at least once a week. I'm also home every Saturday. My on-line school work can continue uninterrupted.


I have no plans or ideas of what I will do in September because I did give notice from my job (more reasons than this one).  But, I'm assured I will be right where I'm suppose to be in September!


So, having said all that, I'm keeping an on-going story of my camp experience on another blog. HERE


Like a personal diary, it's also for me to remember and treasure a high altitude, low stress (I hope), time in my life that will help me grow stronger in many ways.  


Take Care on the Journey,
Your friend in life,
~Linda






Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com

Wyoming Jade and A New Book

It snowed on the Front Range in Denver the other night, but the snow was gone by noon!  I stopped by the road on the way to work and stole this shot as the sun came up. 

(Linda Meikle photo)

Never one to sit still, and I've been neglecting  my favorite blog!  For any of my cyber friends who have stopped by to find me out and about, please know I've not forgotten anyone.

I'm taking some time this summer to not only work harder on my BSN in Nursing (online), but also planning to finish at least one book, and maybe two!  I've made all A's in my coursework, and only have about seven classes to complete my degree. Oh, I'm working seven days a week.

The most recent goal is to write a book called, "Code Welcome" is a guidebook for becoming a Director of Nursing (DON). Even if I'm the only one to use the guidebook. And even if I never get the job! The outline is complete!
Finding a DON position is a life goal, and my book will remind me of everything it takes to be the best!

"Code Welcome" is something I suggested at my current job when a new patient comes in.  If used, new patients would be greeted at the front door, welcomed by every staff person on the unit and provided with basic needs before they have a moment to feel alone and afraid - which most patients feel.  But, no one really puts Code Welcome into full effect except when I'm on duty, so it's a little discouraging.  At best, the front desk receptionist calls me and says, "You have a Code Welcome, Linda."

So, if by slight chance someone near Denver, Colorado has connections for a DON job, please email me at bestnurse@usa.com I won't let you down!
In the meantime, hubby and I took few days last week to follow a trail to Wyoming on a hunt for Wyoming gems stones. I believe we were successful in that we found a road not cut off by a fence, and were able to pick up something...

Here are a few photos of our 'rocks'.  

If you know a geologist or are familiar with geology, please feel free to let us know if we are rich and can sit around and write books for the rest of our life.  LOL

About that jade ... We can dream, can't we?

What do YOU think?

Hummm. Is it? Or isn't it?

Take Care on the Journey,

~Linda

Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com