Maureen’s Blog

…onto Baltimore:

Statue of Orpheus at Fort McHenry:

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~Maureen

I have been helping in getting a super monster sized agency here in CT up and running and absolutely Loved this guy sitting by the front door greeting folks!

~Maureen

It’s a fantastic place to visit and an awesome place to reconnect with mother nature! Below is an image of an old lava flow which you can see is the black streak in the middle of the pink granite rock which is so prevalent in this region:

This is an art piece which was silently gracing a little cove:

One of the hundreds of walks in the park:

Clouds:

more clouds:

Summit of St. Sauveur:

Lichen gardens were prevalent and the first time I have ever seen them….really amazing! It’s actually a plant made up of two different plant, alga and fungus:

Cairns which typically guide hikers along trails above the treeline but in Acadia you will see them frequently in higher elevations:

Now…back to work!

~Maureen

Nope, you have not mistaken my blog for Allison’s as she is the one who is the Maine guru but I am off for a nice long weekend to explore Acadia National Park. In the meantime I’ll post some pics from Alaska that captures some of the day to day things you may happen upon if you were to visit Fairbanks:

Perhaps you may run into an igloo or two:

Or pass a gathering of teddy bears watching the sun set on the side of the highway:

the Knotty wood animals outside the Knotty Wood store:

see trucks that we may think house chickens but in this neck of the woods house the dog sled dogs:

the delicate responsibility of moving ice sculptures:

you may see the little electrical cords sticking out of cars to keep them alive in the 60 below winters:

and the stations in which people plug in their cars while at work:

(just as a side note, Vicki informed me that everyone has an emergency stash of snow pants, hats, mittens, and cell phones in case they have a spin off while driving and end up with a car in a snow bank in 30 below weather.)

Lots and Lots of birch trees:

Snowmobiles everywhere…not just in the snow!

Huskies are also very abundant in these parts:

and of course ice just in case your in the mood to make an ice sculptur or two:

Stay tooned for the pics from Acadia! :)  Happy Memorial Day!

~Maureen

this is a Techy blog!!

So obviously my blogs don’t delve into the techy stuff like some of my smarty pants colleagues do but I did happen to come across something that may peak the interest of those of you who are using the MAR’s….and the best part is it’s all about BM tracking!! I was working with an agency a few days ago and they, like Many agencies out there, are tracking BM’s on their current paper MAR’s as it’s easily detectable if someone is suffering from constipation and so forth. So we actually entered in the “BM Tracking” as a medication, left all of the fields blank except the Scheduled vs PRN as this is a mandated field. We chose PRN. Then in the Comments section we entered in the orders for the individual as is typically written on the MAR, as this section will populate the MAR and staff will easily be able to reference orders for constipation and so forth. Here’s the screen shot, the BM tracking is the second row:

Staff will be able to enter in details if they switch to “Detail Mode” and there they can document the type, size, and so forth.  Also, if you do decide to use this format be aware that the BM Tracking will be included in certain documents such as the Consultation Form (it is however removable for the printable form) and the Health Care Report. Also the list on the MAR is currently listed alphabetically but we are working on a different display format for the future. All in all I think it’s a nifty solution and works rather well!

~Maureen

Well I did manage to return safe and sound with All of my luggage which included the 20 mini dells and my Alaskan mementos, my favorite being my 5 Birch tree bowls. I have been looking a Very long time for the perfect sized bowl and lo and behold I found it in good ole Anchorage at the amazing Bowl Factory! These bowls are all made from Birch trees which are very prevalent in Alaska and they also happen to be one of my favorite trees!!….how lucky am I?? Now these bowls are “Neat” bowls as apposed to the “Knotty” bowls. The knotty bowls have knots in them and therefore can not hold things like soup cause, well, their knotty! The Neat bowls are knot free and can be used for liquids and so forth (perfect for my soups and salads).  I am in the process of curing my bowls which involves oiling them with block oil once per day for 5-6 days. I’ll probably do 7 days just because I’m anal

My bowls:

And the trees which made this all possible:

Photographs taken at the Wedgewood Wildlife Sanctuary in Fairbanks.

~Maureen

Well it was a hoot training at MSSCA in Wasilla…I could have swarn Melissa and Ginger must have been handing our shots of espresso before class as these folks were raring to go…or maybe they’re just psyched about Therap

Ginger is sure to be the latest Therap Queen as she’s already got this system in her back pocket and she does not play at all…maybe this will be just the thing to keep her around for the next couple of years!

See you in the Summer

~Maureen

It was great visiting Fairbanks and introducing Therap to Fairbanks Resource Agency…they are a great group of people who politly told me the rout I took from Anchorage was actually the Parks Hwy and Not the Denali Hwy….but that actually is not my fault because Alaska for some reason insists on changing names of freeways so I never really know where I am!

~Maureen

I spent the weekend an hour and a half north of Fairbanks at the Chena Hot Springs for some fun and to also give my butt a break from the car seat (I believe I’m getting callouses). I spent the days hiking, soaking, running, photographing, walking, reading, sitting, reflecting, lots more hiking, soaking, soaking, dog sledding, and eating.

~Maureen

I decided to drive up from Anchorage to Fairbanks via the Denali Highway which would enable me to skirt the eastern side of the Denali National Park, unfortunately the interior park is closed this time of year. The drive was about 7 hours and I really didn’t stop much…the first three to four hours I could have been in any alpine forest as either side of the highway was one very long treeline. Once I finally did enter the park the views were spectacular but then I was so paranoid I was going to run out of gas that I didn’t stop much. The fact that I didn’t stop prior to entering really wasn’t my fault as someone had told me there were Plenty of gas stations along the route (not)…but despite my gut instinct to stop (and I did try…but the last station was closed due to the winter season…sigh at recurring theme!!) I entered with less than half a tank. Once in and too far to turn back, I started fantasizing about the reaction of the lucky person who would answer the phone at AAA and would then have to drive 300 miles to rescue me :)…hee hee, I bet that would turn out to be a “remember when” story for the AAA people. I was also debating if I would have to tell Richard or not…technically, it’s really not That important. Anyway…I did finally crawl out of the park riding on fumes and lesson learned…as always…follow your gut!

This photograph gives me the impression of an old oil painting:

~Maureen