Still Raining

Wow, it's still raining here in Napa. Everyone says,"It's never like this!" I have heard that almost everywhere we go. In Providence, in Oklahoma, in Florida, in Phoenix...makes me wonder if this wonderful weather is following me and pushing me forward to the perfect place. I thought I had found it here in Napa. Last year when I was here it was almost paradise, aside from the one patient I had to care for that was so difficult rain has to stop sometime doesn't it?
My new contract started last week and I had to float back to my old floor the first day of my contract. I laughed all day. My boss asked me last week if I had signed my new contract. Apparently the person that does the schedule went ahead and planned out the next schedule when all the travelers are gone and the numbers are not so pretty. It seems he jumped the gun and now is scrambling to try to keep the travelers that he wants. I wish he had thought of doing that when I originally asked to stay. It's ok, I'm only a little bitter, I think I made a good choice to move to another floor. The floor I am going to is a med-surg telemetry floor that specializes in dialysis patients. Their nurse-patient ratio was 3:1 with no nursing assistants. It now seems they are going to get back their nursing assistants and I'm sure their ratios will go up. The floor had mostly 8 hour shifts and the nurses were leaving in droves, 12 hours gives you such a better week. 3 days to work compared to 5. Yes 12 hours is a long day but the 5 day a week thing really can burn you out quickly.

My husband is here with me now and we have made some changes. We left the condo with my roommates and found a one bedroom which is a steal in Napa at $820/month. Sad huh? We were paying $350/month in Norman Oklahoma. The prices out here are just incredible. We did stay a few days at the condo and we stayed a few days at my friends apartment who has gone back to Florida for a month. I originally was going to stay there while she was gone until my husband came out here. That particular apartment doesn't have cable and it would be very difficult for my husband to sell on eBay without cable internet.
We spent the past weekend in Reno. There was sunshine there! It was great. Of course we didn't see much of it since we were in the casinos. It still amazes me how many people take their children to the casinos. They can't go on the casino floor and there's not a lot else for them to do. While we were there we tried a few new things. We played a few hands of Pai gow poker...not very fun...difficult to understand. We played keno as well...it's basically the lottery every 5-10 minutes. My husband and I hit side by side jackpots on slot machines. He won 375 and I won 750. That was fun...it would have been great if it had happened just before we left. The drive to Reno takes about 3 hours from Napa and the mountains are beautiful...there's still so much snow up at the summit, pretty incredible.
This week we are hoping to do a little wine tasting. Although it won't be near as fun without my sister and her husband. Maybe we can find some new places to go and find some new wine for them to try when they come back to Napa. There are so many wineries to try it's amazing how the wines can all taste different when the grapes are all from one part of the country. It is a science though, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I have to encourage all of you to come to Napa or Sonoma once. It can be so beautiful...especially when the rain stops.The summers are just beautiful.