Summer is almost gone

I can't believe that the summer months are almost gone and that the kids are going back to school. The only good news about this time of year is that Football season is just beginning and boy am I excited about that, go UTES. It continues to be a fast paced race in good old happy valley USA with all of the babies being born in Provo Utah. My NICU is still over max capacity with an average census of about 52 patients. Even though the unit was built for 39 we have not seen that few patients for almost 2 years. It is a good thing that we are in the process of expanding our unit to 60 patients but I just afraid that if we built it they will come.
I learned a very important lesson last night with regards to me being a bee keeper and that is "DO NOT CHECK ON YOUR BEES AT NIGHT OR AFTER DARK" Bees have a natural instinct to protect their hive at night due to all of the predators that attack the hives at night like raccoons, skunks, bears, unsuspecting bee keepers. I lifted off the top of the hive to see how they were doing and they immediately attacked me and swarmed me. After I escaped and ran away into my garage where about 10 to 20 of them follow me in and continued to attack me. After being stung about 9 times and my dog getting stung once we were able to get away and let them calm down. I grabbed my smoker and was able to put the hive back together and left them alone for another day. My hives are getting pretty full of wonderful honey that is going to taste pretty good after being stung. Next time I will make sure that I wear a little more protection and keep them calm during the harvesting process.
Take a look at my little grandson who is also a UTES fan, I a trying to bring in up the right way.

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE

Well I think that summer has arrived to Utah with the temperature going from the 60's to the 80's overnight. It is a time to get the BBQ cleaned and ready for our new patio so that we can enjoy the evenings after work outside. We bought two big tables and umbrellas along with 16 chairs so all of our friends can have a place to sit. Now I am not saying that I only have 16 friends but at least 16 of them can come over at the same time. This week is a very busy one for me due to all of the training will be coming to a head in 36 hours with the race RAGNAR or Wasatch back relay race. Our team "McDreamy and the preemie's" (I'm McDreamy) because I am the only guy on the team. The team is coming over to dinner before our race tomorrow for some pasta and then we head up to Logan because our start time is 5:00AM. Hope my legs don't fall off from this old body of mine. My bees are doing great and flying around the yard pollinating the neighbors flowers and gardens. They are really fun to watch as they go in and out of the hive with their tiny bodies covered with pollen. Let's just hope that they make me tons of honey to share with anyone who loves fresh honey.
Work is STILL busy, and I can't believe it. Where are these babies coming from down in Utah County? I am in the process of hiring 14 to 17 nurses just to keep up with the demand and to prevent my staff from burning out from being over worked. You would think that their is something in the water in Provo that makes Utah County the birthing capitol of the world. Let's just hope that after I get them hired our census doesn't drop.
The grandson (Mason)is doing great and is growing up very fast. Having cared for babies my entire life at the hospital I never usually get to see them grow up after they leave so this is a great experience to watch him grow up.

Life is just way to busy sometimes

Well I can't believe that it has been over a year since I last wrote on this blog thing so I thought that I would give it a go. Life in our household has been kind of crazy with work, family, yard work and life in general. Over the past 22 months my NICU has had some really severe growing pains and I do not see it changing anytime soon. The unit has built to hold a 39 bed capacity and our average these past months has been 55. Double bunking the twins and triplets has helped reduce space as well as putting babies between bed spaces. We are getting a pediatric surgeon this fall and that will increase our admissions a bit more. I am told that we are growing into the largest NICU's for the corporation with the amount of babies we are having. It has been quite the challenge to staff the unit and manage that many women. Trust me when I say that it is not an easy task to do.
I am hoping that summer will finally show up so I can work in my yard and garden and enjoy the warmer weather. I just became a beekeeper this spring and they are tired of hanging out in their hive and want to fly the neighborhood and make me some honey. I have two hives with about 15,000 bees per hive and they are as gentle as can be. I also became a grandpa this past Winter and that is the best feeling to see the rewards of your children. His name is Mason and he is the son of my daughter Sarah along with her husband Kerry Croff, the proud parents. He smile a lot and spits up a lot but I love holding him and making him smile.

Keeping busy

Well it has been a very busy past couple of months down in happy valley USA. I think that BYU and the phrase "Multiply and replenish the earth" go hand and hand down in Provo. During the middle of March my unit hit 68 babies in a unit that was built for 38 babies. Since then my average census has been between 50 to 56 babies everyday, using about 24 to 25 nurses a shift. Now as the manager when I could be making some serious cash by working 60 hours a week I get to be salaried and work 60 hours a week any way. Some of my staff that are picking up extra shifts are making a ton more than me without all the worry of trying to find staff to work in the unit. I still love my job though and I am learning just what it takes to be successful and productive. Learning how to budget a 30 plus million dollar unit is very interesting and spending money that does not belong to me personally is kind of different. I'm mister tight wad and very conservative when it comes to spending money, especially when it is my companies money.
Life at the Wilcox household is slowly starting to settle down, Kathryn is slowing recovering from her hysterectomy and her ruptured appendix. She is feeling much better now that her staples are out since they forgot to get them all before she left the hospital. She said that I was fired for not making sure they got them all out. It was tucked inside her belly button and she made me take her back to the hospital at midnight when she noticed it after her first shower in 10 days.
The wind is blowing so hard right now that I believe that our house might blow away. Our neighbor just call and told us that our cover over our boat just blew over the fence so I guess I need to go. See ya soon. Jerold

It has been a really long time since I have updated this blog, so here we go. Life in the Wilcox family household has been really busy these past few months. Since I last wrote on this blog I have retired from Delta Airlines, graduated with my BSNA, quit a job that I have loved for 24 years, and started as the new nurse manager of the NICU at UVRMC in Provo. I have had a daughter get married, we became "Empty Nester's", got released from my long time church calling, and have been to Maui for a vacation. Other than that life is just fantastic and I am keeping busy doing the things that I love. My job as the nurse manager in Provo has been a great challenge and a wonderful learning experience. I manage a level 3 NICU with about 144 staff members and a totally awesome unit. Learning to be a manager for Intermountain Healthcare is a very difficult undertaking if you had no previous experience. These past few months I feel that I have grown personally in my knowledge and understanding of a manager. I do have to say that I do miss being at the bedside of these tiny and sick infants. But, on the other hand I love what I am doing to help this unit grow and become an even better place to care for the newborn.

Since I no longer work 1000 hours a week, home life has changed as well. My wife Kathryn gets to have me home every night and my "Honey Do" list keeps growing. We are in the process of redoing our master bathroom with a new tile floor, sinks and vanity, fixtures, toilet, and possibly a new jetted tub if I can talk my wife into it.
We just got back from a quick annual trip to the beautiful island of Maui. We like to go every January and see the whales and get out of the cold and take a break from the winter blues. It makes the spring come faster and helps us to endure the rest of the cold weather. I also started to train for the upcoming Ragnar relay race held on June 18-19, 2010 where my team will be running from Logan to Park City in a 188 miles race.

Well that is a small taste of what we are up to and let's you know that we are still alive in the Wilcox household. Looking forward to the warmer temperatures and getting outside to enjoy the spring flowers.

I'M DONE WORKING FOR DELTA

Well everything good must come to an end every now and then. I officially retired from Delta airlines as of April 1, 2009 and finished school on March 27, 2009. So that means that I am going to have lots of free time to work on my house, yard, family activities, and of course travel around the world because I still get to have my travel benefits for the rest of my life. My "honey do" list is a few years long and I am going to start a few hobbies to keep me busy. Since I love to fly in airplanes I have decided to get my private pilots license so if you see a small plane buzz your house don't worry it is only me. I am also getting back into photography and have a brand new professional digital SLR camera so I will be wanting to take your pictures so I can learn how to use it and you can post them on your blogs.

Here are a few pictures of me out on the ramp at the airport on my last day getting to do a few of the things that I am going to miss a lot. One of my favorite things that I got to do out at Delta was driving the planes that were parked away from the gates and driving them back to the gates. The picture of me in the Boeing 757 was the last time I will get to drive one of these babies. Talk about a rush I wish that I could have taken one of them for a little spin around the Salt Lake valley and if I would have buzzed your house then you would have lost your roof. But all good things must come to an end and so I will have to close the book and now open another.

Hanging in Hawaii

Well it has been a while since I last updated my blog so I thought that I would say a few words about our last trip to the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii. Maui No ka oi which means Maui is the best. Our trip was to get away from the winter blues and enjoy the beautiful environment and warm sun of Maui. If you have never been then you need to plan a trip and go to Maui and taste the sweet pineapple and fabulous sunsets in a wonderful tropical location. Both Kathryn and I along with some really great friends "the Saunders" spent a week on the island of Maui basking in the warm sun and enjoying the weather of about 74 degrees average. It rained only one day and the rest of the week was absolutly beautiful. We went scuba diving during the day and at night and saw all kinds of interesting sea creatures. We went on a whale watching/snorkleing trip for about 5 hours and saw all kinds of whales and other kinds of wildlife and even swam about 20 feet above a reef shark.

One of the highlights of the trip was swimming in the 7 pools by Hana at the state park. the waterfalls were fantastic and the ocean is so pretty in the background.