Sunday Hymn

As I sit here this Sunday morning, listening to the storm rage outside my window, knowing this is the same system that dropped a huge tornado in Canton, Texas yesterday, I wanted to find a hymn that reflected what I was feeling right now.

This is the first one that came to mind.  It is the only one that came to mind.  And it is the one that seemed the most appropriate.

Though Satan should buffet
Though trials should come
Let this blessed assurance control





If you are unfamiliar with the origins of this hymn, and why Horatio Spafford came to write it, look it up. Seriously, you'll be glad you did.

In three short minutes, this song sums up exactly what it means to be a Christian.

It is well with my soul

That's it.  That's the assurance I have in Jesus, that no matter what happens on this earth, or to my physical body, it is well with my soul. 

When peace like a river

It is well with my soul.   

When sorrows like sea billows roll

It is well with my soul.   

Whatever my lot

It is well with my soul.   

It is well, it is well with my soul.   

I Survived The Storms

I went to bed pretty early last night, knowing I had to get up at an hour that is simply insane.  Lucky me, about the time I was drifting off to sleep, the expected storms rolled through.

And rolled through. 

And rolled through. 

It was loud.  It was so loud that Rylea left her bed in the closet -- she likes sleeping in my closet, I guess because it reminds her of a cave-- and slept beside my bed.  I discovered this when I got up to use the bathroom and stepped on her. 

It was so loud that it actually made me jump a couple of times.  Needless to say, I didn't get very much sleep. 

Man, I need a nap.

Blogging will likely be scarce while I'm keeping these hours, so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, don't worry.  I'll be either at work, or trying to sleep. 

Just one more thing.  Two weeks from today, I'm getting my crowns.  Yes, I'm already counting down!  With all those crowns, and as much as I'm paying for them, you can call me Her Majesty The Queen. 

I Need A Nap

It would seem that the phrase which comes out of my mouth most often these days is as follows, and I quote

Man, I need a nap.  

It ranks right up there in frequency with:

I just let you in/out!

and

 It's too early in the morning for you to be nagging me already!

Since I am not married, and have no significant other in my life, I'll just let you guess at whom that last one is directed.

Man, I need a nap.

Anyway, I get to work bright and early this morning, and start working away.   Before too long, but after uttering the third phrase above at least once, I noticed my group leader and the third shift supervisor with their heads together.

After a moment, they both turned and looked at me.  Then gestured me over.  Third Shift Supervisor Josh asked me, "Can you come in early?"

I'm already coming in early.  Do you mean earlier?  Yes, you do.  You mean earlier. 

To make a long story short, they are opening another line on third shift Monday, and the sub brazer from my line is moving over there.  Her replacement has only trained for two days, so he doesn't really know what he's doing yet.  So, starting tomorrow, I'm back to going in at 4:00 AM.

Sigh, I guess I didn't really need to sleep anyway.


Maybe I need to break down and buy some of that there Death Wish coffee.

Nah, with my luck, my heart would probably explode.

 Man, I need a nap.

Well, That Didn't Happen

Sometimes, my greatest accomplishment is just keeping my mouth shut.

And it didn't happen today. 

We have a fairly new parts stager out at the plant.  For those of you who may be wondering, a parts stager is the one who brings the copper tubing components from the tubing department to the brazing stands for us to braze up. 

She's been there about a month.  Here lately, tubing's group leader, Johnny, has been teasing her -- calling her on the radio, "Hey, hey Hayden such and such line needs work" and so forth.  He doesn't mean any harm.  He's just joking around, but it makes her so mad.  I keep telling her, "He's just trying to wind you up. He thinks it's funny to make people mad. The best thing to do is just laugh at him." 

He's not just picking on her.  He picks on all of us.  One time, years ago, the safety person had come out onto the floor.  What she was doing is beside the point, but Johnny and I got into a...shall we say, vigorous discussion over it.  Yeah, that's a good word.  I looked around and Safety Person had a somewhat shell shocked look on her face. 

"I didn't mean to cause a problem," she said. 

"Oh, you didn't.  He likes it when you yell at him," I replied.  "Watch this." 

I walked back over to Johnny and and just started shouting at him.  I don't even know what I was saying, but I was saying it loudly and forcefully.  He was laughing and had this look on his face like he'd just taken a bite of the best cheesecake ever made. I turned back to Safety Person and said, "See, he likes it." 

Back to today.  Johnny was over by my brazing stand, and he started in on Parts Stager Girl. I got him back for her.  I turned around and said, "Boy, I wish you'd put that much enthusiasm into getting my partials down the line." 

He started sputtering and muttering something about not knowing what we needed, and I said, "Hmmm, I thought those bright orange tubs would be your first clue."

For those of you who don't work there, regular orders are in blue or brown tubs.  Partials are in bright orange tubs, because they are supposed to be a priority.    If you don't know what a partial is, that's not really relevant.  The only thing you need to know is that they are supposed to be a priority.

I brought him a list of partials I needed, and he said, "I don't have time to worry about that right now, you just go on back to your stand."  Unlike Parts Stager Girl, I laughed at him, and said, "OK, I'll just go tell Supervisor Calvin why he doesn't have his parts yet."  Long story short, I got those parts real quick.  

Well, I guess it was one of those you had to be there moments.

As promised, here are pictures of my new plants.  Three Angelonias

and three salvias.

Butterflies are supposed to like them both, and I still have room for some other things.  Maybe the weekend, I'll go get some more stuff. 

Puttering In The Garden

I've mentioned before that I'm moving some of my spider lily bulbs.  Well, all the ones that are out in the middle of the yard and such.  Thing about those is, they are so prolific, they multiply like rabbits.  I've got way more bulbs that I can replant, so I put an ad in the local freebees group on Facebook.  Several people responded right away.  Two of them came by the house this evening to pick up some bulbs.  However, the people I didn't know, or didn't have mutual friends with, I told them I'd meet them tomorrow at Wal-mart.  But that's beside the point.

The first lady came and got some bulbs.  She looked very familiar to me, but I can't place her.  She said she'd recently moved back to this area and was living in her childhood home.  She was just starting to work on getting the yard the way she wanted it.  Suddenly, she stopped and looked around and asked, "Didn't the [Previous Owners] live here?"  Yep, she knew them.  She was the same age as two of the Previous Owners' kids.  I told her that after Mr. Previous Owner passed away, Mrs. Previous Owner didn't want to live here by herself, and moved to Next Town Over to be near her sons.  We had a nice little chat.

She left, and a few minutes later, the second lady came by.  I had recognized her name from way back when she used to work out at the plant.  We were talking, and she abruptly looked at me and said, "Do I know you from somewhere?"  Yep, we'd worked together out at ADP.  She said, "Oh, I worked there a looong time ago."  I replied that I remembered her from there, and recounted something that had happened to her while she was working there.  She brightened up and said, "You DO remember me!"  The whole thing was kind of funny to me.  Usually it's people who remember me that I don't have a clue as to who they are.  This time, the shoe was on the other foot.  Still, it was good seeing her again.  

While I was waiting for the ladies to show up, I did a little puttering in my front flower bed. I turned the soil a couple more times, then mixed in my garden soil -- you know, that stuff I drove all the way up to Lowe's to get -- in with my dirt and smoothed it out.  After the last few days I've had at work, it was so good to get my hands into dirt again.

Speaking of dirt, one of my friends clued me in to a website that makes perfume, one of which is called dirt.  I went to the site and ordered a few samples:  dirt, salt air, ocean, and a few more.  I'll post more about that when they get here.

Back to my flower bed...the only thing I've planted in the new part so far is the two daisies I bought when I went to Lowe's.  I really needed to get them into the ground.

They were doing OK in the pots, but I'm sure they'll be much happier where their roots can stretch and grow. 

My roses are really coming on. 

The first lady who came for spider lily bulbs was admiring them.  I asked her if she wanted a cutting, and she said, "Oh, yes, please!"  She asked me how to root them, and I had to tell her I didn't know.  I've never really dealt with roses before.  I told her she could probably find out online somehow.  I gave her two, just in case one didn't work. 

Finally, one of my dahlias is about ready to bloom.

Tomorrow, I'm taking the rest of my bulbs to Wal-mart.  I'm going to wait for half an hour, and after that I'm going inside shopping.  I'll probably buy a few things to put into this flower bed, and I'll be sure to show you what I got. 

But now, it's way past my bed time, so I'd better hit the hay. 

Good night.

Sunday Hymn

Since yesterday was Earth Day, I thought I'd continue our observance of that with this hymn for our Sunday worship.




The rocks and trees, the skies and seas
His hand the wonders wrought. 

Earth Day 2017

Genesis 1 

 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

²  Now the earth was formless
and empty, darkness was over the surface of  the deep, and the Spirit of
 God was hovering over the waters.

 ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
 
 ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

 ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

    ¹¹  Then God said, “Let
the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants  and trees on the land
that bear fruit with seed in it, according to  their various kinds.” And
 it was so. ¹²  The land
produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their  kinds and
trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God
saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

 ¹⁴  And God said, “Let there
 be lights in the vault of the sky to separate  the day from the night,
and let them serve as signs to mark sacred  times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶
  God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the
 lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹
  So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing
with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to
their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good. ²² God
blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the
 water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

 ²⁴  And God said, “Let the
land produce living creatures according to their  kinds: the livestock,
the creatures that move along the ground, and the  wild animals, each
according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵
  God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock
according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the
ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
    ²⁶  Then God said, “Let
us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so  that they may rule
over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky,  over the livestock
and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”


 ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.

 ²⁸  God blessed them and
said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number;  fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the  birds in the sky and
over every living creature that moves on the  ground.”

    ²⁹ Then God  said, “I
give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole  earth and
every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours  for food.
 ³⁰ And to all the  beasts of
 the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures  that move
 along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in  it—I give
every green plant for food.” And it was so.

    ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

San Jacinto Day

I got to work bright and early yesterday morning at my usual 5:00 AM, when I was greeted by my group leader who stormed up to me frothing at the mouth.

"Why didn't you come in at 4?" she demanded to know.

"I didn't know I was supposed to come in at 4," was my reply.

"We were all going to come in at 4, but me and [other coworker] were the only ones who showed up," she groused.

"Well, you have to tell me these things.  I can't read your mind, you know,"  I said.

So, today, I went in at 4:00 AM.  Before I left for the day, I asked her if I was supposed to come in at 4:00 AM tomorrow.  She said yes, but I said no.  Tomorrow, I'm going in at 5:00.  I appreciate the overtime, but that 4 is just too early.  Once a week, I'll give it to you, but not every day. 

All that to say that I was going to post something this morning about it being San Jacinto Day, but getting up in an hour that begins with the numeral 2 pretty much nixed that right away.  So you get your brief Texas History lesson now.

After the fall of the Alamo, on March 6, 1836, the Texas Army, let by General Sam Houston, spent 6 weeks running from the relentless pursuit of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.  On April 21, on the banks of the San Jacinto River, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution was fought.

It lasted just 18 minutes, and culminated with the capture -- and surrender -- of Santa Ana.  Against all odds, the Texas Revolution was won, and Texas became an independent republic, until they joined the United States by treaty in 1845.

And this is the song those soldiers played as they marched into battle:

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Today was the day I was going to get The Thing done.  I woke up bright and early and headed to the dentist.  To get The Thing done.  I thought it'd take a couple of hours.  He'd prep my teeth, make impressions, and give me a temporary crown, then in a couple of weeks, I'd go back and get my permanent crowns.  It didn't turn out that way. 

As soon as he saw my X-rays, he said, "Nope.  Not going to happen."  He said that because most of those two teeth were actually filling material, if he did put crowns on them, they'd just break off within a year or two.  He said what he'd have to do is to tie the crowns to the teeth on either side of the two, thus a minimum of four crowns. 

Then he started showing me my X-rays.  I've always had soft teeth.  I brush and floss religiously, but still have cavities in nearly every one of my teeth...well, not nearly.  I've got cavities in every one of my teeth.  He showed me my teeth, saying things like, "This one has a huge filling.  This one is nearly half filling material" and so on.  He said it would be the better option in the long run to just go ahead and put crowns on all my top front teeth. 

The third option would be to pull the broken tooth and get a partial.  That would have been my choice, but as I said, dentists really, really don't like pulling teeth.  He nixed that option pretty quickly.  After some discussion, the option to crown 8 of my front teeth was the one we settled on.  He had his finance lady figure out how much it would cost, depending on how much my insurance company pays out, and it was a lot.  I mean a lot. 

That's what I said when she showed me, "That's a lot."  She piped up and said, "We have care credit."  Oh, goody! 

I filled out the application, and she went and submitted it to whoever they have their financing with.  Just a minute or two, she came back and said, "You must have really good credit.  I've never seen them approve someone for that much that fast."  That taken care of, we set about prepping my teeth for said crowns.  This involved removing some of each tooth so that the crowns would fit, making molds and impressions so that the crown maker would know how to make said crowns, and the final step was giving me temp crowns so I don't walk around looking like some sort of vampirical monster for the next three weeks. 

He showed me what he makes the temporary crowns out of.  It's some sort of soft plastic that looks a lot like playdoh.  He puts it on my teeth, shapes it so that it looks like teeth, the puts some sort of UV light on it to harden it.  The bad part about this is that it is plastic, so he had to make those crowns a bit thicker than normal crowns would be, so that they're less likely to break.  I don't like that.  It feels like I have a wad of stuff in my mouth.  I keep telling myself it's only for a few weeks.  It's not helping. 

What is helping is the thought that for the first time in my life, I'll have straight, white teeth.  For the first time, I'll think that people will see my smile, and not those crooked teeth sticking out at them.  I might even smile more!  On the other hand, I'm still an INTJ, so I might not smile at all. 


It was noonish by the time I got home from the dentist.  I'd planned on getting my front flower bed ready for planting.  I got the rest of the border installed, and the sod turned.

That's all I did.  It was hot -- too hot for it not even being summer yet!

I was a bit bummed that my border didn't quite reach to the house.  There wasn't enough room for another section of the stuff I had.  I'll have to figure something out later.

Before I came back into the house, I stepped around the corner and took a picture of my roses. 

They are starting to open up. 

I Owe My Cat An Apology

I woke up bright and early yesterday morning, and as I was letting the dogs out, I noticed a puddle in the hall floor.  I thought the cat had had an accident.  But as I looked at the puddle, it seemed like an awful lot of pee for such a small cat.  I went on about my business after wiping up said puddle.

Somewhat later in the day, I had to go into the computer/craft/snake room for something, and noticed more puddles in the floor.  Big puddles. Puddles that told me she'd been using my computer/craft/snake room floor as a litter pan for quite some time.  It didn't occur to me that I'd just been in that room the day before and there weren't any puddles on the floor then.  I was just mad.  I was fussing, but worried at the same time.  She is very old, you know, and I began to wonder if it was time to let her go.  Should I take her to the vet to get checked out?  Would I have to get her euthanized?  Mad as I was, I'm still not quite ready for that...but then, you never are.

I mopped up all the puddles, fussing all the while, and the cat just turned her back on me.

Afterwards, I was sitting in my recliner and I heard a dripping sound.  What was that?  I followed the sound to my air conditioner unit.  I opened up the closet, removed the filter, and there it was on the floor.  At least an inch of water.  It looked like my drain was clogged up and the water was overflowing onto the floor.

Dang, I guess I owe the cat an apology.

I mopped up that water, putting the mop bucket under where it was dripping.  I was thinking I needed to call the man who fixed my A/C last summer, and disappointed that it would be another big expense I'd have to deal with.  But as I was looking at the drain pipe, suddenly I knew.  I knew what had happened and it was my fault.

Last fall, while I was plugging up the wasp holes around my house, I noticed this strange pipe hanging out of the front of my house.  I didn't know what it was for, but I was sure it was how the giant spiders were getting into the house.  I shot a bit of that foam stuff into the end of it, never realizing it might be important.

As soon as I figured that out, I went and dug a hole in the foam with my finger, and sure enough, water came pouring out.  There was an elbow right at the end of the pipe, and I wasn't sure how far the foam had expanded, so I got my mini hacksaw and cut the end of it off.  I tied an old piece of panty hose over the end, to keep the bugs from using it as an ingress into the house, and so far, problem solved.

But the cat is still not speaking to me.

In other news, I got my gardenia into the ground.  I noticed the leaves were beginning to turn yellow.  I worked some garden soil and old coffee grounds into the dirt before planting it, and I hope it perks back up.

If it doesn't, I'm just giving up on gardenias.  I don't want to keep killing them.   Oh, and guess what I found when I was digging the hole.  If you said rocks, you win!  Beats the heck out of me -- these people and their rocks. 

I finished my red, white, and blue hat, except for weaving in the ends. 

I think in my next iteration, I'm going to start the blue section a little earlier.  Maybe just have 6 stripes, then start the blue.


Well, I broke down and bought a second hand VCR.  I had to order it online, with some trepidation.  The shop had 99% positive reviews, but still, you never know.  My favorite UPS driver brought it to me, and good news, it works! 

The bad news is, I can't find the two tapes I most wanted to watch. One was the Easter musical my church did when I was in college, and the other was a family tape my aunt made for me when I was overseas.  They're around here somewhere, I just need to find them.  When Cody and Dejuan get back from Texas, they're going to come up and we'll watch the original, un-remastered, unedited, un-RUINED episodes of Star Wars in which HAN SHOT FIRST!! 

Oh, they took a few days off work and went to Texas for Easter.  Dejuan is getting to know a whole different world than what he is used to.  They've been canoeing on the bayou, eaten Cajun food, and today, Cody learned Dejuan how to shoot.

I told Cody to make him drive over this bridge, 

but it is closed for repairs.  Bummer...Well, at least they got to drive over that long swamp bridge in Louisiana. 

Finally, after work, I ran into the store because I needed a few things I'd forgotten to get last week.  I was going to buy some of that spot repair grass seed, but as I was reading the package, it said, "Keep pets and children off of grass until it is two inches high."  Oh, well, that's not going to happen.  I put that grass seed back, and bought milk instead.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have bought an inordinate amount of half price Easter candy. 

And that's all I have to say about that.

Sunday Hymn

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, for he is risen just as he said."  Luke 24: 5 - 6

Lives again our glorious King!

Where, o death, is now thy sting?

And for those of you who prefer the more traditional sound:

Finally!

April the giraffe has finally had her baby, and I have finally gotten rid of that giant pile of concrete in my back yard. 

I guess it's true what they say.  The fifth time is the charm. 

Yep, I've been trying to get rid of that mess for a year and a half, and I've had four other people previously say they'd haul it off for me.  Let's see...I advertised it in the local freebees group and one lady said she wanted it for her dog kennels.  She did come get some of the smaller pieces, but never came back for the rest.  Another lady said she wanted what the first lady didn't get, but she never showed up at all.  Then the tree guy said he'd haul it off, but he didn't.   Then another guy said he was doing some construction in this area, and he'd haul it off with his construction scrap, but he never came back and got it. 

I was beginning to despair of ever having a yard again, when a couple of weeks ago, someone posted on one of the local Facebook pages asking for rocks or dirt to fill in what she called "a failed attempt at a storm shelter."  Immediately, I replied that I had some scrap concrete that she could have for free.  All she had to do was get someone to come get it.  She said, "Free is good!"

Today at work, as I was sneaking up to check on April the giraffe, I got a message from her saying they were coming to get it today.  I replied that I was at work, but they could come get it anyway.  It's a giant pile of concrete in the back yard.  You can't miss it.

All the rest of the day, I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up, having been disappointed so many times before.   I was on my way out the door, when the second shift supervisor stopped me and asked me could I stay a couple of hours.  "We've got 40 ADP people out today, and that's not even counting the EMI (temps)."  So, I stayed until 5:00 PM.  For some reason, they won't let me stay longer than a 12 hour shift. 

The first time they told me that, my reaction was, "Um, you do remember that I used to be in the NAVY, right?" 

After quite a long day at work, I came home to find that April had had her baby -- a boy -- and the people had indeed come and gotten all that concrete.

Rylea doesn't quite know what to make of that big, empty space.

I still need to get out and rake up all the rocks and tiny chunks of concrete left, but to quote Madea, "hallelujer praise da lort"  it's finally gone.

Now, I just need to take care of that giant honking pile of wood and I'll have a back yard again.

Finally.  

Getting There

The plan was when I got through with the dentist Tuesday, I'd go by the store and get things for my flower beds.  However, after getting the disappointing news, instead of cheering me up, the garden center just made me want to go straight home.  So, I bought some milk and Easter candy and that's what I did.

After making my appointment with the other dentist, I feel much better about things.  I drove down there after work to fill out the information paper.  All the way to the other side of town.  When I got to the office, there was a sign on the door.  Apparently, they have had computer troubles and will be closed until Monday.  Then I thought, "Since I'm in town already, might as well go do my shopping, since Wal-mart will likely be a mad house tomorrow."  Holiday weekend coming up and all.

Naturally, first place I headed was the garden center.  In my feeling-betterness, I think I went a little overboard.

I bought another box of fake stone border to extend my flower bed.

While I was getting that, I found this edging.

I'm thinking about pulling up the rest of the landscape timbers in my back yard and using this to make a raised bed to put my gardenia in.  I haven't decided for sure, yet.

 I was going to tell you what I have planned to do with these, but then I realized it just wasn't that interesting. 

I mean, do you really want to hear that I'm going to put them under my water faucet creating a path in the midst of what will eventually be a flower bed extending the entire length of my house?  Nah, I didn't think so. 

The good news is, a couple of my little freesias are finally poking their heads up. 

I've decided that all this other stuff coming up in my front flower bed is just grass.

Unfortunately, I can't pull it up just yet because there are actual, real things growing in the same bed. 

I'll just have to do some weeding once everything gets a bit bigger. 

I'm going to start the rest of my piddling as soon as I get home from work tomorrow, since I don't have to go to the store. 

Finally, they are trying to get my coworker's baby admitted to St. Jude.  If the little guy is going to have any chance at all, that's is the place to get it. 

It Could Have Been Worse

Every so often, I'm reminded how good I have things.  You see, while I was crying over my broken tooth, and my broken window, and my broken glasses, my coworker was receiving some devastating news.

Remember back a couple of weeks ago, when I mentioned that my coworker had to rush her five month old baby to the hospital?  They have found out the baby has stage 4 cancer, and it has spread.  It's in his bones, and causing bleeding, and things just aren't looking good for the little guy.

Suddenly, my problem seemed trivial by comparison.

My friend Vanessa said, "I cried like a baby when they told me that."  Yeah, and even stone hearted, cold as ice Becky managed to shed a few tears at that news.

Now for some good news.  I think I have figured out how to make phone calls.  Seriously.  The trick is to make the call, sitting in my car, in the plant parking lot, right after work.  I can do that.  But if I wait until I get home, well, that's all she wrote.

I called the other dentist and made my appointment.  When I gave the receptionist my name, she said, "Oh, yeah, Dr. Moody called us about you."  When I called today, I thought I'd be scheduling a consultation, then at the consultation, we'd schedule The Thing.  But no, she wanted to schedule The Thing.  As luck would have it, I had a previously scheduled vacation day for next Wednesday.  I'd planned on going to the zoo, as I still haven't seen the new Hippo exhibit that's been open for a year now.  Those plans have now changed, and I will be having The Thing done that day.  I still have to go in one day before the day we do The Thing to fill out the paperwork and give my insurance information, but that's all.

The bad news is, Dr Moody had glued my broken piece of tooth back into place, but it came off sometime during the night last night.  I woke myself up trying to spit it out.  I took it out of my mouth and set it on my nightstand, after briefly wondering if I could put it under my pillow for the Tooth Ferry.  I decided not to get him to glue it back on, since he said it was for cosmetic purposes only, and it'd most likely come off again.

I'll just be a snaggle tooth for a week.

The hope is, getting The Thing done will only take a couple of hours, and I'll at least be able to plant my flower beds.  I went into my back yard yesterday and found a little egg in my Christmas cactus.

I looked up into the tree and saw what appears to be a nest, but it's pretty high up.  I'm wondering how this little egg could have fallen so far without breaking.

I wonder if there is a way to preserve it without it rotting and stinking.  Let me google it...

Broken

Last Thursday, I believe it was, I felt a little piece of a filling break off of one of my teeth.  My dentist isn't in the office on Friday, so around 9:00 yesterday morning, I told Group Leader Theresa I needed to make a phone call, and headed out to the break area to make an appointment.  The first time I dialed, I got a busy signal.  I waited a few minutes to call back, and thought, "While I'm waiting, I might as well call the vet and make Rylea an appointment to get her heartworm shot."  I did that, and the receptionist said, "Jesse's is coming up, too.  Do you just want to bring them both at the same time?''

I don't know whether it was because I hadn't slept well the night before, or if my coffee hadn't kicked in, or what, but my addled brain thought, "Yeah!  That's a great idea!  Bring them both at the same time!"

Sigh...I don't know what I was thinking.  But I got it done and both dogs now are heartworm protected for the next six months.

After I talked to the vet receptionist, I called the dentist office back, and they were able to make me an appointment for this afternoon after work.  Great.  I hadn't even gotten back to my work area when the dentist receptionist called me back and said the hygienist had had a cancellation, and did I want to reschedule my cleaning and do them both at the same time?  Yep, that sounds like a great idea! 

Again, I don't know what I was thinking, but now that it's all over, I'm glad I did them both at the same time.

Turns out it was good they could get me in today, because sometime during the night, another huge -- or should I say YUUUUGE -- chunk of my filling fell out.   The bad news is, when the dentist started cleaning out the rest of the filling material, the entire front half of my tooth fell off.  My tooth had broken in half, longways. 

Now, that particular tooth has given me more trouble than all my other teeth put together, and I was all for pulling the stupid thing and getting an implant, but I knew the dentist wouldn't go for that.  Dentists tend not to like pulling teeth.  I was wondering what he was thinking about doing when he started talking about root canal and post and core buildup and stuff. 

I said, "Wait a minute.  I think I've already had a root canal on that tooth.  I don't remember if that was the one, but I think it was."  He said, "I can find out real quick", so he went and checked my records, and sure enough, I'd had a root canal on it several years ago, and it already had the post and core material in it.  That is good news, because half the work and half the expense has already been taken care of.

My dentist doesn't do fully porcelain crowns, but he referred me to another local dentist who does do them.  That would be Dr. Philley for you locals reading this.  The bad news is, I'm going to have to make a phone call and make an appointment.  You know how I feel about phone calls. 

I'd rather get another root canal. 

As if that weren't enough, Sunday afternoon I was mowing my back yard.  The mower kicked up a rock or something and it hit one of my French Doors.

The entire door is shattered. 

It's safety glass, so it's not like there are shards of glass flying everywhere, but I still taped each panel up just to add a little more stability until I can get it fixed.  

The good news is, apparently my door is double paned, and the inside pane isn't affected.  The bad news is, it's just another expense I don't need at the moment. 

As if to add insult to injury, my safety glasses broke while I was at work.  It was just the nose piece, which I was able to replace as soon as I got home, but it was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel's proverbial back. 

It was enough to make me sit down and proverbially cry. 

I didn't cry.  But boy did I feel like it.

Maybe I should save those tears for tomorrow, when I go beg the bosses for some more overtime.

Sunday Hymn

I thought this week, we'd make a little departure from the norm of posting Christian Hymns on Sunday.  Tomorrow at sunset, Passover begins.  Therefore, let me introduce you to The Maccabeats, and their new Passover song.




BTW, if you've read my blog for a while, you may already be familiar with this group, as I've posted their Hanukkah video before.

Now, some of you more stuffed shirt types may be asking, why on earth would you post a Jewish holiday when you aren't Jewish?  Simple, because Christianity has its roots in Judaism.  Remember, Jesus was a Jew.  He would have celebrated these holidays when he was on Earth. 

That's why I observe them, too. 

Part Two

I didn't sleep well last night.  I kept having strange dreams and waking up.  The only one I remember is that I was playing on someone's phone and they had an Uber app.  Now, I don't know anything about Uber, but this app had a map.  If you needed a ride, you just touched an icon on the location to which you wanted to go, and the app would dispatch the closest driver.  I was trying to figure out how it worked, and accidentally sent three drivers to different locations in the city.  The drivers started messaging me, telling me they were there, so I hurried up and gave the phone back and pretended it wasn't me.  

OK, moving right along...

Remember how yesterday, I spent the day waiting for my paycheck?  Well, today felt like Saturday all day.  I told Group Leader Theresa that I might get up and go to church in the morning instead of coming to work. 

When I got home from work, there was a package in my mailbox.  It was the other thing I'd ordered.  I know you're anxious to see what it is.  Here you go:

I've been working on improving my handwriting, and this might be a good way.  It's got the theory book and practice pages all in a single volume.  Now, when I use my wax seals, I might have a letter in nice handwriting to put inside it.  The only thing left is to find some nice stationery upon which to write said letter in nice handwriting.  You might be surprised at how hard it's become to find stationery sets these days.  There is some on Amazon, but it's expensive, and you don't know exactly what you're getting. 

It got pretty chilly last night.  I got a brief moment of panic when I was going to get into my car and saw the grass sparkling.  I thought that it might be frost, but when I felt the grass, it was just dew.  Whew, that was a relief.  My little seedlings are safe.

I've got lots of things coming up in my flower bed.  Things I didn't plant. 

I have no idea what all these are going to turn out to be.  Last year, I had angelonias, marigolds, zinnias, and vincas in that bed. 

It'll be interesting to see what they are.  I'll keep you informed.

More Sealing Wax

I spent the entire day in anticipation.  I was waiting for my supervisor to bring me my paycheck all day long.  Oh, boy!  It was going to be a big check, with a lot of overtime on it, and I couldn't wait to get it.  Then it hit me.  It's not payday.

Sigh.

Along about 2:00, I remembered what it was I was looking forward to.  I was expecting a package!  Yep, I did it.  I ordered more sealing wax.

It's the same colors I got before, but without wicks.  The set included a little melting spoon and a couple of tea light candles. 

I looked up a couple of how to videos on YouTube.  It would seem sealing wax is more popular than I thought it would be.

Apparently, I'm not the only anachronism out there. 

I got some good information from the videos, but it's still going to take a bit of practicing to figure out how much wax to put into the spoon.  Out of sheer luck, on the second try, I hit it just right, and came out with the best stamp I've done so far. 

Too bad it's on the back of a piece of junk mail. 

I also found out that there are two types of wax.  There is traditional wax, which is very brittle, and the newer supple wax, which works better in our modern postal systems.  Fortunately, I got the supple kind without realizing what I was doing.  So, that's good.   I'll actually be able to mail the stuff I seal with my sealing wax. 

Tomorrow, I'm expecting part two...no, not more sealing was.  Something entirely different...

Now you'll just have to wait to see what it is....just like I have to wait until it gets here. 

Don't get mad.  I'm just sharing the love. 

He he he

And The Fun Doesn't Stop

Just like that, I'm back to going in at 5:00 AM, at least for tomorrow.  See, we've been so short handed lately that we've had to double up on jobs.  Today, I was sub-brazing by myself, and even though I brazed 370 header assemblies -- 55 of them with 10 adapter tubes-- the second shift group leader still complained that I didn't leave them enough.  Just for perspective, sub-brazers are supposed to average 250 per day, and most header assemblies have 4 or 6 adapter tubes.  Even though I worked my hiney off, I got a bit behind.  Now, I still left them about 30, but they didn't think that was enough. 

Second shift supervisor asked me what happened, and I said, "They won't let me come in early any more, so I can't build up the line.  Then, if something goes wrong, I don't have that hour between first and second shift that I used to, so I can't get ahead there either."  Second shift supervisor talked to my supervisor, and he said to go ahead and come in early tomorrow.  We'll see from there. 

Yesterday, after Her Majesty The Queen pulled her little stunt, Group Leader Theresa said to me, "I don't know what to do with her.  When I was moving her to the line, she complained that I moved her all the time.  So, I started moving you, and now she's complaining about that."  I didn't know what to tell her.  Some people are just going to complain, no matter what. 

Today, GLT moved HMTQ to the line as soon as the shift started.  No, she wasn't happy, but the rest of us got a bit of entertainment out of it.  For some reason, she picked up a bunch of header assemblies and put them on top of a box of florators -- a box which another coworker -- hereafter known as HotHead -- was trying to open. 

HotHead moved the header assemblies off the box,  and HMTQ said something smart to him.  I wasn't close enough to hear, but it sounded like she told him not to move her parts, or something like that.  She put them back on the box, and HotHead picked them up and threw them, saying, "They go in that bin right there!"

Things just escalated from there.   There was a lot of yelling and hollering, and this skinny little girl who doesn't even work in our department tried to push HotHead out into the aisle.  That made him even madder, and he just shoved her aside like a blade of grass and he and HMTQ kept yelling at each other.  Another coworker went over there and managed to calm HotHead down, and sent him outside to cool off.

By that time, someone had already gone and told Supervisor Patrick, so they had to do an investigation.  I suspect it was that skinny girl.  Anyway, they hadn't even finished taking people's statements when HMTQ's daddy came charging into the fray, demanding to know what had happened to his precious little darling. 

It was all very thrilling.  We haven't had this much excitement in the plant since...well...last week, when they arrested someone for a double murder. 

Well, it seems winter is not quite done with us yet.  When I got off work, boy was that wind kicking.  It blew one of my new daisies right out of the pot!  The daisy was on the porch, and the pot was all the way around the side of the car port.  I put it back and brought all my plants inside.  Tomorrow night, they're predicting upper 30s.  It shouldn't frost, but I think I'm going to cover my outside plants just in case.

I was letting the dogs out, and managed to snap a photo of this gorgeous sky. 

By the time I let them back in, it was gone.

Like Dealing With Children

I know I said I didn't want my blog to be just griping about work, but sometimes things happen and you have to just let loose and complain a bit.  We've got this person who recently came to day shift, and is sub-brazing with me.  I've posted about her before.   She calls herself Queen, but I snidely refer to her as Her Majesty The Queen, because she thinks she's better than the rest of us.  I hate to break it to her, but while she may be a queen in mommy's basement, here in the real world, she's just a peon like the rest of us. 

I got to work this morning, and found out one of my coworkers had to rush her five month old baby to the hospital.  I'm not sure what's up with the little guy, but they had to do emergency surgery on him.  I'll let you know when I find out more.  In the meantime, keep the baby in your prayers, would you?

Group Leader Theresa asked me to go fill in for her, which is no problem for me.  I don't mind helping out where I'm needed.  However, Her Majesty The Queen decided she wasn't going to braze by herself all day.  So she didn't.  She crossed her arms, poked out her bottom lip, and pouted and sulked like a two year old all morning long. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  She is perfectly capable of brazing by herself.  She did it the whole time I was subbing for the coworker who was on maternity leave.  She just didn't want to.  She just stood there and stared at me until Group Leader Theresa and Supervisor Calvin talked to her.  Heh, Theresa asked me what was wrong, and I said, "Oh, she's just spoiled and selfish."  I wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but she finally started brazing.  For about 30 minutes, she worked pretty well, then her Daddy came over and she cried to him, then started sulking again.  And exactly what you think would happen happened.  The line ran out of headers. 

Group Leader Theresa sent me back over to my brazing stand to get some headers on the line.  Well, Daddy came back over and I heard him say, "Good for you!  You got them to send someone back over here."  That really made me mad.  It also told me he'd been encouraging her to be a sulky, pouty brat.  But you would have been proud of me, I kept my mouth shut.  What I really wanted to do was turn around and tell him he needed to pull that belt off his waist and give her the whipping he should have given her as a child. 

After I'd built up a few headers on the line, I pulled Group Leader Theresa aside and said, "We need to have a conversation."  I told her she needed to put me back on the line, or Her Majesty The Queen would pout and sulk every time she doesn't get her way.  I pointed out that she had already proven she could keep up with the line by herself, so she was doing this on purpose.  Then I told her what Her Majesty The Queen's daddy had said.  That made her mad, too, so she put The Queen on the line for the rest of the day -- where she sulked and pouted for the rest of the day, but at least she worked while she was doing it.  Theresa was easier on her than I would have been.  I'd have written her up, then moved her to the floater pool. 

The good news is, I came up with a really good character introduction for a story:  She was as spoiled, and as selfish, and as arrogant as you would imagine someone who named herself Queen to be.

How's that?  Anybody want to take that intro and run with it?

After work, I had to run into town, so I stopped by Walmart and bought Rogue One. 

 
Then I came home and watched Rogue One.  I probably need to watch it again when I'm not so tired.  I thought the first part seemed really disjointed and jumped around a bit, but the last part was really, really good. 

I texted Cody that picture, and the first thing he asked was "Are you putting it on your VUDU?"  Yep, as soon as I got home.  I watched the Blu-Ray, though, because on my player, I'm still logged into Cody's VUDU account, and I don't want to log out until I finish watching The Dark Knight Rises. 

I probably ought to do that this weekend. 

Lowe's

I hadn't planned on going to Lowe's yesterday.  I'd planned on staying home and watching movies, knitting, and generally just resting.  But when I got up, the morning was just chilly enough to make the coffee taste extra good, the skies were clear and blue, and the road was calling my name.

It was a call I couldn't resist.

After a brief stop for gas, I hit the road. .  I found a church service on the radio, set the cruise control,  and headed to Batesville.   First stop once I got there was the Batesville Walmart.  I checked out their garden center, but they have less than the local Walmart does.  I also took a moment to look for some curtains for Cody's room, but they didn't have the right color.

Leaving the store without buying anything, I headed across the road to Lowe's.  I didn't rush.  I wasn't in a hurry.  I browsed their selection of curtains -- still no luck.  I looked at bathtubs, and bathroom vanities.  Planning for the future, since I want to replace all my fixtures within the next few years.  I looked at flooring, and found some that would look great in my bedroom -- but it was expensive.  I looked for paneling like what is in Cody's room, but didn't see any.

Finally, I headed on over to the garden center to get what I came for.   Naturally, I had to look around and see what plants they had.  It's still very early in the season, but they had a few things out.  I picked up two Margarita Daisies.  They'll go in my front flower bed.

I picked up a new gardenia, too. 

The ones I'd bought last year are deader'n hammers.  I think they got too much sun where I had them.  The tag says morning sun only, but I don't really have a place that gets morning sun only.  The place I'd put them only got sun until around 1:00 PM, but apparently that was still too much.  I'm going to put this new one outside my back door, and see how it does there.  It will be in shade all day, and the soil is in better condition, too.  If this one dies, too, I'm just going to give up on gardenias.  I love they way they smell, but if I keep killing them, it just isn't worth it.

I paid for my purchases, got the man to load up my mulch and garden soil, and drove across the highway to the outlet mall.  Let me tell you, it's sad.  It was once such a bustling place.  There aren't but four or five stores left.  I didn't go into any of them.  I just came on home. 

Before the storms hit last night, I got out and mulched around my marigolds.  That bag says guaranteed color for 12 months.  This stuff didn't last 12 hours. 

After the drenching rain we had all last night and most of this morning, almost all of the color has washed out of that mulch.

Well, they started up a third shift on my line, so that will cut out a lot of my overtime.  I'm going to talk to the second shift supervisor and tell him that if he needs me to stay over, I'll be more than happy to. 

If I play my cards right, I might end up with more overtime than ever. 

In The Garden

It's kind of become a tradition during the spring and summer.  On Sunday mornings, I make myself a cup of coffee and walk out early in the morning, and just spend time in my flower beds.  Invariably, this hymn comes to mind.  This is something I posted a few years ago. 

I thought it was time to share it again.




I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.