It's Jim Cantore Time!!!

It's a rainy day in Paradise.

So much for the weekend. Hurricane season is in full swing and our first taste of it is coming down in buckets in the form of Tropical Storm Ana. It's gray, overcast and pouring rain. So much for jaunting over to Key West, sitting by the pool and generally having a merry old time this weekend. I knew the boating situation was shot, since we have a small craft advisory all weekend. But hell, I don't want to be stuck INDOORS all weekend! Even if HB is home! I've got a killer work week coming up and I need RAYS!

We finally caught some lobsters the other day. And some great fish. We've been feeding our friends tasty ceviche, fish chowder and other concoctions. I even turned down fish last night.....for the first time in my life. No thanks, I think I'll have french toast for dinner. I'm all fished out!

The ER has been slow but steady. Lots of lacerations and pustulent abscesses lately. No more middle of the night bowel resections either, thank goodness. That's getting old real quick. The cool thing about my job is that I can pretty much do anything ANYWHERE in the clinical areas, so people pull me for emergencies, and that breaks up the monotony of the day. Yesterday I got pulled to the OR because one of the nurses was running a little late coming in for a call-back. So I got the patient into the surgical area, prepped him, did his paperwork, got him into the OR and was back in the ED in time to give report and get OUT! I like doing that sometimes. Key West keeps calling for shifts too, and I can't afford to turn them down at this time. Money is getting a little tight in Paradise, and we still have at least 3 months of slow season before we pick up again.

On a cool note, had a pretty gruesome propeller accident the other day. Almost total degloving of a leg, It looked like something out of a Terminator movie, when Arnold takes his skin off and you can see the titanium endoskeleton underneath. Lots of bare tendons, tib-fib and a pulsating pedal pulse like a little water balloon. Patient was driven from the boat to the dock to the ED, so TraumaStar wasn't called until he got to us, but we still managed to get the patient choppered out in 45 minutes. Very cool! It was an impressive wound, and I heard from the chopper crew that even the staff at the trauma center were impressed with the wound when they saw it. Patient did OK, too. So glad!

I've had a really good offer from HB, my knight in shining armor. He owns a beautiful home in Miami, two hours away. He's offered to move me up there, no expenses, just work and make money. I have lots of agency work up there, probably more work than here. The TeenQUeen's schooling wouldn't be an issue, since she's now homeschooling via computer. There's just one sticking point: I HATE MIAMI!! I would have to leave my beloved Keys. Not be near the ocean. I'm not starving yet. I appreciate the fact that he wants us together and that he spends lots of time here, but he also needs a home base. His house is empty most of the time when he's here. And eventually the travel is going to get to him, even though he LOVES it here. He practically grew up here and has fished and dived most of the upper Keys.

Dilemma. I have a cushy job. It's expensive to live here. I love the Keys. I hate traffic. I HATE MIAMI.

I'll keep working reaallll hard!! I am ocean. I'd be miserable in Miami. This is where I want to be. Even with the prospect of a beautiful home and being a kept woman, I still balk. I guess anyone else would be jumping at the opportunity. But I'd rather be poor (or semi-poor!) and independent in a place where I love than be well-kept and happy (?) in a place I hate.

Oh, well. It's raining outside. Time for some indoor sports!