fireworks

I saw it coming early this morning because holiday weekends are hell in a hospital.  Throughout the day I did my job and then came home to spend another hour or so on the phone finishing up.  That was after my meeting and a hot and sweaty tour of The Mill Workspace downtown across the street from my crack store, Pennington Seed and Supply.  The annuals are already pitiful and I missed that by about two months.  At about this point every summer I say to hell with it and let things go the course.

Ryan has been absent for a couple of weeks so it's kind of snakey around the edges of the corn fields.  Nobody much cares especially me.  As long as there are no reptiles when I open the door, I'm good.  Kevin came by with a sensor switch that proved to be, while necessary, not something that will fix the motor.  He's got his own trials like heading to Louisiana for the sweltering 4th of July weekend.  Me?  I'll be at the sawmill on Independence Day.

I can never remember having group prayer for anyone in the workplace because that's kind of a touchy thing.  This morning was different as we prayed for strength and wisdom and good outcomes for our friend Martha Sue.  She is without a doubt the most generous loving person I've ever known and never passes judgement on folks.  That's a biggie with me.  I left work a little early for a meeting before the other meeting and we prayed there too.  It works if you work it.  

I've heard that Mozella's bunch is gathering for good food tomorrow and I just happen to be off so there you go.  These are my family now, the ones who remember my parents and know me.  The Staffords and Johnsons and Laniers grew up together and will grow older together.  There's your sense of community y'all.  

I'm not much on fireworks but I do enjoy sparklers.  Our community fireworks display is named after a loyal rocket shooter named Gerald Ketchum who always helped with setup. I'm wondering if there was some kind of memorial to me what would it be?  A blood donation maybe.  Lifeline Blood Services supplies 100% of the products that we use locally.  There will be a drive from 12-4 week after next at Tennova Healthcare Dyersburg.  If I were more organized I'd know the exact date but...umm.  Just check the State Gazette.

One of the greatest things ever invented in transfusion medicine is the production of pheresis products.  These are multiple donations of a single component through a process where the whole blood is removed from the donor and red cells are returned to the donor's other arm.  Like platelets. Or FFP.  All of our red cell products are leuko-reduced because Joe Schifano put that practice into place years ago during the time when we were discovering that HIV and HepC could be transmitted through blood.  Thorough testing removes that worry now.  

I've seen fire and I've seen rain ~