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IV saline without infusion pump; childhood fevers

I'm hoping these are straightforward questions, but I couldn't find a way to word the first to get any relevant results in web searches, and the second got weird on me.

The context is a civilian with extensive field-medic-style training providing off-the-books, in-home medical/supportive care to a preteen who is ill with a viral* fever-inducing illness. (* Viral seems easier; but bacterial is possible if necessary.) The setting is the modern-day (or at least vaguely post-2010) United States.

1. Is it feasible to administer intravenous (IV) saline without an infusion pump? (I've been assuming it is but want to double-check.)

( cut for IV details )

2. Is there a point at which a childhood (viral) fever is dangerous?

( Read more... )

Many thanks!

yawn

Yuletide very pleasant; usually I get a comment on an old fic or two in a fandom someone has rediscovered through Yuletide and gone on a deep dive for, but not this year!

About three or four inches of snow (7-10cm) fell overnight and I shoveled my front sidewalk and steps, because the snow removal guys had done next door but not us (?), and then tromped down to my assigned house in the neighborhood, where I shoveled the longest driveway in Rhode Island and enough sidewalk for two houses and what felt like two flights of front steps. Thank goodness it was light and powdery, and almost all of the above was in good repair so I didn't have to fight the asphalt like last year, but I earned every bite of the steak and eggs and homefries (not nearly as good as last time) at the diner.

And then C. and her kid and I went to the ZOO and saw CREATURES. Macaws! Ibis! Elephants! A two-year-old giraffe who is already trying to fuck the other giraffes in the enclosure (this is a good thing, they want genetically-diverse babies from him) but he's not tall enough yet! An anaconda 99.8% percent in the water in its tank, I wanted to boop its snout SO MUCH. Red pandas that were so fluffy they looked fake. The river otters were having so much fun in the snow and splashing in their pool. The docents were super friendly and the French fries were delicious. Would 100% zoo again.

Then a hot bath and a nap. Bliss.

Dear Candy Hearts creator,

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Elisapie - Taimangalimaaq (Time After Time)

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Current Mood: chipper

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Riding the rails again

Public

330/365: Hagley Hall, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
It was off to the Severn Valley Railway today for a few hours on the trains. The rain just about held off, although it became very murky and gloomy by mid-afternoon. The trains were pretty busy, and I had to stand for half my first journey. Bridgnorth town centre was also packed, but fortunately the station refreshment room had space for me to have a coffee and a beef and veg pasty. Quite a relaxed day overall, certainly compared to the big gala events I'm more used to attending, but that was part of its appeal. Here's my first train of the day, 4930 Hagley Hall (which turns 97 in May) arriving at Bewdley station.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Golden - Huntr/x

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but now that's how i'm getting paid

Christmas was lovely! On Christmas Eve, it was just me, my sister, and my brother-in-law, so we ordered in and watched a godawful Hallmark Christmas movie with Teri Hatcher in it. Then they went to bed and I did a Die Hard rewatch - I hadn't seen it in some number of years and for all its flaws, it is still a good time.

Christmas morning, my niece and her husband came over so Baby Miss L could unwrap the first set of presents - she still gets bored with it and wants to play with whatever she's opened instead of opening the next gift, so it's a process - and she LOVED the 30 second dance party button, as I knew she would. I am SO HAPPY I saw it somewhere (Wirecutter, maybe?) and ordered it, and that it arrived in time for me to see her play with it. (The adults got a kick out of it too, but it was hilarious watching her run up and press it each time it ended.) She liked the dinosaur cape and the books (especially "The Little Book of Cheese," which is in the same series as "The Little Book of Pasta," which I got for her last year and which she LOVES - apparently she will just bust out with "FARFALLE!" at any given moment), but did not care about the wings at all. Also when Alyssa told her I would be there, she said, "books!" so she knows I am the books and clothes aunt. *g*

The while elephant swap was pretty hilarious too, and my niece Nicki ended up with the cat-shaped measuring cups and spoons that were my contribution. I got a waterproof bluetooth speaker I'm going to have to set up in the bathroom to have tunes in the shower.

The funfetti cupcakes were a big hit. (I made sure to put cream cheese frosting on the ones for my sister; she tried one with the American buttercream and made the same face I made when I tasted it - it's disgustingly sweet.) There's picture of this year's selection here.

As for gifts, I received a handful of gift cards, a KRYPTO squishmallow from Baby Miss L, a pair of earrings made from chips of vintage pyrex, a stand mixer tree ornament, a copy of Dorrie's Anytime Cakes, some candles, and a pair of super warm and fuzzy grippy socks. I also bought myself a new winter coat, a new 9 x 13" pyrex baking dish, a new vibrator, some new bras, and a new pair of black ankle boots, so I'm doing all right in the gift department. *g*

Yesterday, I got home early and vegged out for most of the day. And then it snowed, just like they said it would!

Today, I made a new batch of dough and tomorrow I'll finish baking off the fig cookies for this year. I also want to try those orange cranberry rolls now that I have room in the fridge to let them rise overnight. I still have so many eggs left over, though, so I see at least one frittata in my future, plus at least one batch of Nadiya's egg wraps, which are delicious and I recommend them highly!

Now I should look into having dinner and maybe watching the Rangers game.

*

Complete pickleball fail

They have this really cool ball machine at Tejas Pickleball. It runs on a rechargable battery and has an app that does all kinds of amazing things. You can tell the ball machine where it has been placed on the court, tell it what kind of shots you want including a shot series that you particularly want to practice. How to rush the net and then get back quickly for a lob then back to a deep shot. You can collect a bunch of different routines and link them together and practically play a game against the machine. It is really amazing to do. But it requires focus and effort and a lot of brainwork and time. I have the app and know how to use it and, give that time and focus, can run it through its places.

So I requested some ball machine time. The guy running things set me up with a block of time but opened it to anyone else up to a total of four people. Three others signed up. I got there and was in the process of setting up the machine and linking the app when two them showed up and said 'hey, I think this M button will run the maching just fine' and proceeded to take over and use the machine in its lowest possible usage. Just same ball at same place over and over. They were extatic that it worked and were running around like elementary school kids (they are likely a few years younger than me). Didn't ask my opinion, didn't acknowlege that I had any place on the court or operating the machine.

I left.

Next time I need to figure out a way to lock everyone out and use the machine the way it is supposed to be used.

It was really not a happy event for me at all. Monday I'll talk to the big guy and see if we can figure it out.

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rewrite-a-fic 2026

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Current Mood: inspired
Current Music: In the name of love

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Happy liminal spacemas, couches!

I am going through my traditional "How many fests and challenges can I imagine in a week?"

I don't think I'm doing Psychic Wolves this year.

On the other hand, Té suggested a fest of blorbos touching the Rockstar Lestat and now I want it.

hannah points out that, if we want to know what Tom Cruise's Rockstar Lestat would have looked like, we have but to consult this video of Cruise in a jukebox musical singing "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

...it's been a really long time since I was sexually attracted to Tom Cruise, but apparently

hannah has the secret sauce.

Also, I now want vampires:

+ the New Burbage Festival (OMG DARREN NICHOLS) (Slings & Arrows)

+ on G-ERTI (they can only fly at night) (Cabin Pressure)

+ working for Oracle (Birds of Prey and a half)

+ visiting Chicago in the era of the Mountie (experimental hair for all who will) (due South)

+ what-ho'ing Bertram Wilberforce Wooster

+ in the world of the Five Gods (hello, is this The Bastard, I have your king shit devoté on hold) (Chalion)

+ dealing with the Light and the Dark, and falling somewhere between (Dark is Rising)

~~+ eating hockey players~~

+ being in the future and baffling Aral Vorkosigan with being a) not soldiers and b) hot AT THE SAME TIME (Vorkosigan Saga)

+ and Muppets (Lestat as lone "human"?)

+ in Narnia (Aslan would shit a lit. brick)

+ becoming Black Ribboners (time for a sing-song around the harmonium! NOT LIKE THAT, LESTAT) (Discworld)

+ in Night Vale (it's Tuesday)

+ mad, in a coma, AND back in time -- the Life on Mars trifecta -- let's see Lestat trying to eat Gene Hunt

+ calling Car Talk

+ hiring Neal Caffrey to do a spot of forgery (White Collar)

+ with war horses who correspond with Copenhagen and Marengo, gaily (Warhorses of Letters)

+ fit as a fiddle and ready for love (would they love or loathe Lockwood and Lamont?) (Singin' in the Rain)

+ come on Darth Vader gold glitter looks Great on you

+ choosing the lesser of two weevils (Aubreyad)

+ ...okay i just died a little over quentin coldwater fanboying the vampire lestat (The Magicians)

+ side-eyeing and being side-eyed by Magneto (X-Men)

+ and I had a good belly laugh at Lestat meeting Felix Harrowgate: battle of the asshole first-person narrators who think they are special

+ Zaphod! Beeblebrox! would so get it on with Lestat! (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

+ How do you reckon vampires get on with thalergy? Let's Find Out (The Locked Tomb)

+ How do you reckon vampires get on with constructs? Send Lestat to Preservation! (Murderbot)

+ okay hear me out Grantaire is weak for opinionated blonds but what if he met The Wrong One (Les Misérables)

+ it's already a doctor who episode innit but let's get some harkness up in this joint

+ Awful Sykes has a crush and so does Torquil (Archer's Goon)

+ RIVERS OF LONDON which body of water can we blame everyone on

+ Last Week Tonight: Our main story concerns The "Vampire" Lestat (of course John does quote fingers)

+ Jacky Faber met our hero at some point in her meanderings. I bet they shared a stage.

+ James Flint. BWAHAHAHA. WOULD HIT THAT. (Black Sails)

+ Falsettos: writes. itself. Louis IS the gay plague.

+ did you ever want to see Lestat fuck a muppet wearing leather? I DO I DO (Farscape)

+ truly Julian Bashir needs his not-boyfriend to run interference or he's gonna get eaten (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

+ and then I hit Battlestar Galactica (reboot) which seems like a Terrible place to be a vampire but they'd have fun eating Gaius

+ Pern! is in the future! it can have Vampires if it wants 'em! Weirdest Harper Ever.

+ What happens with MCU? I couldn't begin to tell you. But there must be a clever answer.

+ Community: the study group goes to a concert and they all crush, each in their own way. Annie gets... scary.

+ I very much want Ray Person singing The Vampire Lestat across Iraq, but given the givens it makes me want to cry right now. (Generation: Kill, RIP James Ransone)

+ Scott & Bailey -- the teenage girls and Aunt Rachel bond over their crushes

+ Pamela Dean's Tam Lin has immortals. I want to see them emoting at Rice's.

+ And our wailing wonder, Lestat de Lioncourt. // Why, thank you, Sandi. (QI, the other guests are Phill Jupitus and Sue Perkins, because it's a Musical Episode)

+ ST: TOS -- Chekov and Sulu both have posters.

+ Does Venom want one? And how!

Finally saw Zootopia 2!

Before I say anything, A would like you to know how extremely annoying it is that they played those "Arabian Nights" riffs every time the snake (Barry) appeared, and it would be annoying even if the plot ( Read more... )

They wouldn't shut up about it, so there we go. They're not wrong.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: traumatized
Current Music: Which eliminates B and which leaves us with A

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tv: heated rivalry

Today in Stories I Wish I Could Read

The reason I got a tumblr in 2013 was hockey RPF.

I have been watching my entire dashboard lose its collective mind over Heated Rivalry.

I tried to read this fic, which has in-universe fandom, one of my favorite tropes, and has a retrospective slant on what the development of hockey RPF in-universe would be like. Petra-nip.

I got as far as an in-universe primer for one of the characters, and was swamped with the combined nostalgia/trauma.

They're fictional! They can't possibly be sekrit racists or abetting rapists or not-so-sekritly shaking hands with Putin! They're not real!

And I can't do it.

I hope you are all having a wonderful time with your sinless imaginary hockey bros. I just keep thinking, "But if they were Real, they'd have Secrets that would make me Hate them."

I guess I will continue not engaging, because if I can't read an imaginary primer about an imaginary hockey player, I would be completely pants at watching the show. Primers are how I learned about real hockey players! It's a great starting place!

But not for me.

Current Mood: alright
Current Music: Jaco Pastorius - Word of Mouth

Last Fifth

After work, Mary Beth and I went on a walk around the neighborhood. In the evening I finished reading Midnight Baby by Dory Previn. This was a book that Mary Beth had read most of to me earlier in the year, so I picked it back up to finish the rest of it. It's an extremely excellent book and having read it makes me surprised it seems to be as little well-known as it is. We ended the night with some STTNG and that's about it.

A hundred channels and...

I bought a month of YouTube TV yesterday. Actually a month plus five days for free. Buyer's remorse set in almost immediately. I got it so we could watch some of the football playoff games. At $90 it is an expensive ticket. We did watch the news yesterday for the first time in a long while. It is much easier to speed read than speed watch. The older I get the less I'm able to tolerate the news.

Today is going to be hot. Monday will be cold. That time of year.

I set up a couple of hours of pickleball ball machine today. There are others that decided they wanted to join me so we'll see how it goes. I need some reps without thinking about just winning the point. Hopetully it will be a good session. I need to increase my accuracy to reduce my annoyance when I am playing.

Toby continues to get better. He's coughing less and less. Beaux is over his respiratory but it seems he has contracted hook worms likely left over from when he was in his previous situation. I asked the doc if the parasite could be dormant for a couple of months and apparently that is frequently the case. Fortunately it is a one pill now, one pill in three weeks and all done kind of thing so no big deal.

I actually think that the respiratory bug they both got was also from when Beaux was in his hoarding situation.

He is actually well and we have some anti-diarrhea med that is already fixing the problem along with the anti-parasite. So it is an easy fix.

Beaux's personality continues to come out. He jumps up on the bed and plays around and is increasingly affectionate. He still hasn't discovered toys but has pretty much figured everything else out. Toby is happy that Beaux doesn't understand playing with toys.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting. One of my three networking friends is LDS and his son just came back from a year as a missionary. Son is going to give a presentation about it and apparently they officially welcome him back. I'm about the last person to latch onto this kind of stuff being a follower of Christopher Hitchens as much as anything but Tyson is a good person and has been one of my longest lasting friendships and it means a lot to him. So we're going to the ceremony at the church. First time in an LDS church.

Otherwise just glad to have the two weeks of Christmas be over.

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Songs to sing

I've been getting together with a friend to sing for a couple of years now. We met in the Balkan choir and both have aspirations to sing in a trio again someday. She generally sings low and I generally sing high, although it's fun to swap sometimes. We haven't been successful at finding a third person to sing middle with us, but we've enjoyed practicing choir songs and learning other songs together.

I tend to like song with strong rhythms and melodies, and she tends to like the slow wandering songs with lots of ornamentation, so it's been broadening both of our repertoires. Here are a couple of songs I've been working on at her suggestion.

Zora Zazorila "Dawn is breaking". Here is Eva Quartet sounding fantastic. I listen to them and despair, because I will never ever sound like that, but I can sing my own version, with my own slower and simpler ornaments. Zora Zazorila sheet music

Watch on YouTube

Bozha Zvezda "Lord's star". Here is Kitka singing it on their Wintersongs album, Leslie Bonnett gorgeously singing melody with Janet Kutulas. Bozha Zvezda sheet music

Watch on YouTube

They learned it from Daniel Spassov, and here's his recording. Bozha Zvezda

Those songs are both Bulgarian, but in case anyone is interested in learning more about Balkan singing, Dragi Spasovski is a kind and knowledgeable teacher of Macedonian songs, and he's teaching online for EEFC four Wednesdays in January, 5-6:15pm PT. I just signed up! More info and registration.

Current Mood: as me as it gets
Current Music: But you can't be free, 'cause I'm selfish, I'm obscene

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A little bit: Genghis Khan - DCU drabble sequence, Bruce Wayne/Everyone's Mother

A little bit: Genghis Khan (1438 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU (Comics)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Sex
Relationships: Bruce Wayne/Everyone's Mother
Characters: Bruce Wayne, John Grayson, Mary Grayson, Barbara Eileen Gordon, Jim Gordon (DCU), Sheila Haywood, Catherine Todd, Willis Todd, Crystal Brown, David Cain, Sandra Wu-San, Oliver Queen, Bonnie King-Jones, Sandra Moonday Hawke, Diana (Wonder Woman), Clark Kent, Talia al Ghul, Isis (DC Comics), Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, Janet Drake
Additional Tags: Pairing Tags in End Notes, Bruce Wayne Has a Superpower, Bruce Wayne's A+ Parenting, Drabble Sequence, familial duty, Extremely Dubious Consent, Sex Pollen, Catbaby - Freeform
Series: Part 18 of Fandom Bicycle (One Character/Everybody Else)
Summary:

In which the parentage of various heroes is elucidated and the answer to "Who's your daddy?" is definitively: "Batman."

Ancient Music by Ezra Pound

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

***

Link

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Cruise Day -1: San Diego

Woke up at 4:30 AM. Went back to sleep, and woke up at 6 AM. Jet lag strikes! The place that I want to go for breakfast is open, so I'll throw myself together and go there.

Went to the Corner Bakery Cafe. Their pancakes were recommended online, so I had some, and they were very good. I had Bananas Foster pancakes.

The downtown area seems to have a lot of foot traffic. Buses run late. That got me wondering about housing costs, but it’s California, so they’re probably high. Yep.

Had a nice nap. Checked where the cruise port is for tomorrow. It's a 10-minute drive from here, so I can check out a little before 11 and get there in time for boarding. (I'm in the first boarding group, and I want lunch on the ship!)

There's a Chipotle across the street. I looked at their menu though, and it doesn't excite me. I guess that I'll DoorDash. Oh, Cava (Mediterranean restaurant) is open until 10:30.

Yay, I DoorDashed clean socks (and soda). I had been wearing dirty socks. Ugh. Note to self: bring lots of socks next time for the beginning and end of the cruise. (I'm planning to wear sandals through most of it). I'll do laundry once I get on the ship.

I'm trying to get the energy to work on my Medical Journal. I just want to read though. I don't think that ChatGPT will do what I want. I'll try Word.

I got confused as to what time it was. My computer said that it was 4 PM, so I thought that I would have an early dinner. But my computer is on Chicago time. So I had a late lunch. I went to Cava and ordered the Chicken Shawarma Pita. The thing was enormous and messy. I wound up wearing part of it despite strategically placed napkins. It was good though. I had cinnamon pita chips dipped in honey for dessert.

I want to read and maybe nap. The food is knocking me out.

Yikes. My dad and his wife have COVID, and they haven’t had any of the shots. I’m worried.

Overslept my nap. It’s raining out. I’m not sure what to do now. I should get to sleep early because I need to get up early and pack, such as it is. I want to be ready to go at 10:30 AM.

It feels later than it is, not surprisingly. I think that I'll read for a while and get to bed early.

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Doug

Back in 1990, I discovered storytelling more or less by accident. I lived in Los Angeles and I got the regular course / event catalogues from the University of Judaism. One catalog listed a full day Jewish storytelling event, a mixture of workshops and performances. I decided to go, largely because I’d had a conversation several months before (at a wedding, if I recall correctly) in which somebody had mentioned storytelling to me.

Aside from the official learning activities, I heard stories from all of the people leading the event. One of those people was Doug Lipman, who told a Jewish story called “The Sword of Wood,” which made a big impression on me. I also met a lot of people and learned that there were storytelling groups throughout the L.A. area, including one that met quite near where I lived. I took flyers about those groups. I also took a flyer about a weekend workshop Doug and Jay O’Callahan were doing a few months later somewhere in the Inland Empire and decided to sign up for it.

Not long after, I gathered my courage and went to Community Storytellers. I don’t remember if I told a story that first time there, but I know I did fairly soon and before long Community Storytellers was on my monthly calendar of things to do. I met great people there and I remember feeling relieved when I went to Doug and Jay's workshop and one of those people was also there.

The stories I had been telling up to then were largely original fairy tales and my takes on folklore. But the workshop emphasis was on personal stories. At any rate, there was one exercise that had to do with a memory about a place. And a place that I had not thought about in 20 some odd years immediately popped into my head, in amazing detail. It’s the basis for the story I’m telling in the upcoming New Year’s Eve event.

I ended up signing up for another workshop (and another and another) with Doug. His coaching style, which started out with appreciation for the teller, was very effective. And his reactions were full of unrestrained joy. His spontaneity was also a delight. When he led workshops at Wanna’s house in Pasadena, we’d all go out to lunch at Souplantation (a soup and salad bar restaurant) and he wrote a song that included lyrics about “working hard at the soup plantation.” I also remember driving home from his workshops so full of what I'd learned that I missed my exit on the freeway two nights in a row.

Overall, Doug was someone who had a huge influence on my storytelling - and my life. And I can’t count how many other storytellers I’ve met who have said the same thing. He was a special person and I will always be grateful to have known him. He died today but he will always be a part of so many of us.

hello!

I'm thinking that moving over to DW might be the smart thing to do, even if it will be a learning curve because

it

doesn't

look

the

same.

And THIS is an indicator that I am, indeed, getting older because I don't want to spend the brain cells on figuring things out. *sigh* Guess I need to suck it up and just do it. :)

Since last I've posted here, things have been going very well. New horse Misty (we got her in Feb of 2025) is the most amazing beast on the planet. She takes excellent care of me and puts up with my nonsense even though she's a) a mare and b) a CHESTNUT mare. =D

As of today, I've lost a total of 140 lbs. That is a whole other human and it makes me sad to realize how overweight I was and how I just resisted and resisted and resisted the fixes that needed to be implemented to do what I've done for myself.

We're closing out the old year with some sadness: at some point in the next month, we're going to have to let our beloved Onslow Bickerstaff (dog) and Buddha (cat) go to cross that bridge. While I'm sure Onslow will go to a place of peace and light, I fear the cat will reincarnate as a world eater or something.

She really is full of the void.

So. If you're reading this....please let me know? I want to try to migrate here, but.....you know. It'd be nice to know some of my buddies from LJ are here.

xo