Sleepless in St. Helena

“That which today calls itself science gives us more and more information, and indigestible glut of information, and less and less understanding.” Edward Abbey

I've been at work the last three days and haven't done much of anything but show up for work. I've been reading "The Hunger Games" which has kept me up much too late at night. The hospital maintenance staff, for some reason, has decided to use those leaf blowers on the parking lot, early in the morning, even though it is spring and there is not a leaf to be seen anywheres. I don't know why they have decided that 6:00 am is a good time to turn on these jet engines. Loud! Probably because there isn't anybody parked in the parking lot at that time. But who can sleep through such racket?

Part of me suspects that the maintenance staff enjoys the early morning solitude. The early start to the day. It is a most delightful time of the day in the Napa Valley, as the fog sallies up the valley and the air is moist, smells of the ocean and cool.

The building I stay in comes to life about 6 am. That's when doors start banging, showers are taken in the communal shower and the day shift takes the short cut through this building, past my room, taking the elevator which was invented when soft shutting elevator doors weren't invented. All of this to spare themselves a 100 yard walk around the building. The room I stay in is next to these elevator doors that sound like the drums of Mordor when they shut.

If I'm not sleeping, I know the patients aren't. It's hard enough to get sleep in a hospital, what with the poking and the prodding (lab draws start at 5:00 am) so that the doctors can get the information by their 7 am rounds. Healthcare is often more important to the practitioners than it is to the patients.

And so I'm quite exhausted. Feeling droopy. Ready to get home so that I can get some sleep. Back to Concow tonight---where Joni tells me we've had a chicken apocalypse. The coyotes ate 7 of our 11 chickens the other night.