A Good Finish To A Bad Beginning

My day didn't start off so well.  It would seem yesterday I ate something that didn't agree with me.  I don't know what it was, but it had me dashing to the bathroom all night long.  As a result, I didn't get much sleep.  When the alarm went off, I briefly considered calling in, given how bad I felt.  I didn't, though.  First of all, I didn't want to lose a day's pay and blow my perfect attendance, and secondly, I didn't want anyone thinking I have coronavirus.  Which I don't.  As far as I know.

I did feel a little feverish, but since they take our temperature before they let us into the plant, I didn't take it at home.  Turns out I wasn't feverish at all.  It was just cold -- to the tune of 48'.  Along about 8:00 AM, my stomach settled down a bit, and I was able to make it to the end of the day.  I still didn't feel great, but I toughed it out. 

Going to work was worth it in the end, because we got some wonderful, wonderful news.  And what is this wonderful, wonderful news?  We are going back to 8 hour shifts!!!!  

Yep, starting Monday, the entire plant will be on 8 hour shifts.  Day shift will work from 6-2, and second shift will work from 4-12.  That will leave a few hours between shifts for overtime, as well.  I know some people aren't happy about going back to working on Fridays, but heck, we were working most of them anyway. 

The only thing I'm a bit annoyed about is that they didn't do it at the beginning of the year, because now I'm going to have to go in and reschedule all my vacation days.  But that's a minor thing compared to being drug out all the time.  I might even have time to blog more regularly now. 

Speaking of the blog, I've been struggling a bit these last couple of weeks.  See, whenever I would write, if I got stuck or couldn't think of what to talk about, I'd imagine myself writing to Suzie.  I'd think, "What would I say if I were talking to Sue?"  I've actually got three friends I imagine myself in a conversation with, but mostly Suzie.  I've been a bit lost without her.  I never met her in person, but we had such a connection.  She was truly the sister of my heart.

Here's something only a very few people know.  Suzie needed a kidney transplant, and several years ago, I had begun the testing process to see if we were a match.  Preliminary testing revealed we were.  We matched 2 out of 6 antigens, and were about to begin the next step when she was taken off the transplant list due to other issues.  She would never get put back onto it. 

I'd never told anyone outside of our little circle and Cody.  I was going to wait until we found out for sure if I could give her a kidney before making it publicly known, but that's how special she was to me. 

When I moved into this house back in 2015, she drew me this picture.

I'd hung it in several different places, but it never seemed right.  Then yesterday, it hit me.  Suddenly, I knew where the perfect place for it is.

Right over my piano.

So now, when I'm practicing, it's almost as if she's looking down on me. 

I hope you enjoy the music, Sue. 

I'm playing it for you.

I Can't Think Of A Title

Yes, I know.  Blogging has been slow lately.  There just hasn't been much going on.

Well, besides killer tornadoes and a global pandemic, that is.


I'd bought some material to make myself a few masks, but since my sewing skills are suspect at best, I thought I'd better make some practice masks before using my good material.  This is the first one I made.

It probably would have been better if I'd used matching thread, but other than that, it didn't turn out too bad.  I forgot to trim my seams and corners before turning it right side out, so it's a little bulky around the edges.   It's got pockets to put ties in.  The designer suggest an old shoelace or bit of cord, if you don't have elastic, which is worth its weight in gold these days.  And yes, I still have to trim the thread. 

The next one I tried was this pleated mask.  I found a bit of 1" elastic that I cut in half to make the ear straps. 

I know my pleats are uneven.  That's why it's a practice mask.  I may rip them out and do them over.  What I like about this one is it is made out of a single piece of fabric, and once you get the hang of it, it goes really fast.  The person in the tutorial made an entire mask in about 2 minutes.  Mine took much longer than that.  I also like that, even though it's very simple, it has a pocket for a filter.  What I don't like about it is it feels way too big for my face.  I used 6" strips of elastic, but it still falls off.  I'll have to do some adjusting if I stick with this one.

I've got one more pattern I'm considering.  I've got a few more old work shirts I can cut up before I use my good material.  In the meantime, my friend Jennifer sent me these. 

Hmmm, maybe I should leave the masks to the professionals and stick with knitting.  Which, by the way, I have been doing.  I finished another charity hat.

This one is also Red Heart.  I can't remember the colorway.  Garnet, or Cranberry, or some such nonsense like that. 

Finally, some good news.  My little bluebonnets are hanging in there.

I just hope they seed the bed for next year.

Earth Day 2020

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 hemale 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.

Masks

Hmmm, now I'm suspicious. 

Suddenly, at work, they are making us get our temperature taken before they'll let us into the building.  After all this time, why now? 

Suddenly, after telling us for weeks they weren't going to pass out masks, they're giving them out.  After all this time, why now? 

Makes me wonder...if someone in the plant tested positive. 

Speaking of masks, I ordered some material to make me some. 

I guess she was really backlogged or something, because I'd ordered it April 5, and it just got here Saturday.  I was going to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon sewing up masks, but alas, we had more thunderstorms roll through.  Guess what happened...go on, guess...betcha can't guess what happened...

If you said I lost my electricity, give yourself a cookie. 

Yep, it went out at 4:45, came back on briefly around 12:30, and went back out until around 5:30.  Thus, no masks got made, and I began to question where I need to go to give up on life.  But all is not lost because we have -- yes!  More storms coming through tomorrow!  Yippee.

Speaking of, the Easter Tornado left a scar on the land that is visible in satellite imagery.  Here you go:

I don't know about you, but I'm about stormed out for this year.

Patriot's Day

Concord Hymn

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare

   To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

   The shaft we raise to them and thee.

What A Week

It always amazes me how skies that were so full of death and destruction one day can be absolutely gorgeous the next.

They'd been telling us for days this storm system was serious, but I don't think even they knew just how bad it would end up being.   There being a global pandemic going on concurrently only complicated things. 

Safe rooms around the area were going to be opened, but how do you maintain your social distancing in one?  Someone asked the question on Weatherman Matt's Facebook page, and his response was perfect. 

"Your main goal is to live through Sunday."  He then offered some advice for immune compromised people, and anyone else who was concerned, but reiterated that the #1 goal was to make it to Monday.  Unfortunately,  when all was said and done 14 people didn't.  Make it to Monday. 

My church had been planning one of those drive in services, but wisely decided to cancel it due to the threat of severe weather.  We had service streaming on Facebook Live.   About halfway through, the rain started.  Though the worst of it passed to the south of where I live, we did get some pretty serious thunder. 

FYI, if your radar image looks like a Tide Pod, you've got a tornado on the ground.

This one ended up being a high end EF-4, long track tornado.  It set a state record for being 2 1/4 miles wide, and was on the ground for 68 miles.   Incredible destruction.  Devastating loss of life.  It was well to the South of me, along with the other tornadoes that touched down. 

After a few hairy hours, things eventually settled down, and I went on to bed.  Along about 10:00, the electricity went out.  Shortly after, I heard wind.  Strong, powerful, noisy wind.  Somewhere in the wind, I heard a tree falling. 

Do you have any idea what a terrifying sound that is?  To hear a tree falling in the darkness, and not know where it is, or if it's going to hit your house or not?  If it's going to hit you? 

I ran to the window and tried to see what was going on, but it was pitch black outside.  I'd grabbed the flashlight I keep beside the bed, but all I could see was the reflection of the light in the glass.  I didn't dare open the door.  The wind was still blowing way too hard.  I got back into bed, and checked my phone, wondering why I hadn't gotten an alert. 

Thirty two weather apps on my phone and not one sent me an alert.  (By the way, I keep intending to weed them out and only keep my favorites, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.)

I got onto Facebook to see if any of my storm chaser pages had posted, and this is what I found.

The second squall line had come through, bringing with it 75 MPH straight line winds.  After about half an hour, the wind subsided, and I went back to sleep, hoping my lights would be back on by morning. 

Alas, it was not to be.  When my alarm went off, I was still in the dark.  I debated on whether to go to work or not, because I didn't know if the plant would have electricity or not.  I decided to get dressed and go, just in case.  The plant is pretty close to the house, and if they didn't have lights, I'd just come on home and go back to bed. 

I arrived at work to discover they did in fact, have lights.  What they didn't have was employees.  Out of 12 sub-brazers, only 4 of us showed up.  Back in the back, they only had enough to run three lines, and they eventually sent them all home shortly after lunch.  I found out later lots of people couldn't even get out of their neighborhoods for all the downed trees. 

Across Mississippi, more than 40,000 people were without power Monday morning.  My county was particularly hard hit.  We have a population of 21,000, and 9,000 had lost electricity.

Monday evening, I still had enough warm water to wash with.  I couldn't take a full on shower, but I ran some water in the bottom of the tub and bathed.  By Tuesday, it was cold.  Cold water spit baths and baby wipes just don't quite cut it. 

To make matters worse, the weather turned off cold.

Thank goodness I have a wood stove.  I had plenty enough twigs and stuff down to start a fire, and my next door neighbors gave me some wood, so I was warm enough, at least.  However, by Tuesday, I began to worry about the stuff in my refrigerator.  When I hadn't gotten a message saying my power had been restored by the end of work, I filled my lunch box with ice from the machine at work.  I put it into bowls and set my milk, mayonnaise, and cottage cheese into them. 

Once that was taken care of, the rest of the week was just a waiting game.  What can I do to keep myself occupied with no electricity?  No TV.  No Internet.  I couldn't even play my piano, because it's electronic. 

I wrote letters, I read books, I cleaned things that hadn't been cleaned it way too long...It's strange the things you notice, when you have nothing to do...like, what caused this dust free rectangle on my TV stand?   

I don't know.  I don't even remember anything ever being there. 

Finally, the day came...Thursday afternoon, driving home from work, I saw the linesmen and their trucks at The Ol' Corner Store, just about a mile from my house.  Soon, I said to myself...soon.  Still, I went to bed at my normal time, with no electricity, yet. 

I'd left the light switch on in my bathroom, so I'd know when the power came back on, having  unplugged everything in case of a surge.  It was 10:00 PM when they came on.  Instantly, I was awake.  I threw off the covers, shouting to no one in particular, "I've got lights!" 

While I was waiting for the water to heat up, I checked my freezers.  My deep freeze was OK.  The only things that had thawed were the snakes' rats and mice, and my boudain.  Everything underneath was still frozen solid.  In my small freezer, everything was thawed, but still cold.  I threw a few things out, including a 4 year old pork chop I'd forgotten I had, and some tilapia that was so old I don't even remember buying it. 

Most of my meat, I moved to the refrigerator.  It should be good still for a while.  The good news is, because of the pandemic, I didn't have a whole lot left in that freezer anyway, so there wasn't much to ruin. 

What gets to me is all the people on the local groups on FB talking about throwing all their food out, and they got lights back in a day.  People!  Your food isn't going to ruin in just one day!  How wasteful can you be? 

Finally, the water was warm, and I put my stinking self into a hot shower.  I didn't even care that it was the middle of the night.  Clean never felt so good! 

So, how was your week? 

Still Numb

I can't believe my dear Suzie is gone. 

I still halfway expect to see one of her clever and witty posts every time I get on Facebook, then it hits me like a ton of bricks.   She never wanted the accolades, but she was truly one of my heroes.  If I had to go through all the crap she did, I think I'd have given up and hidden in the closet long ago.  But she endured it all with strength, humor, and a deep, unshakable faith in God.   And she was the best enabler that ever enabled. 

She left a big, big hole in my heart. 

I know she wouldn't want any of us to wallow in pity for her, though, so the best tribute we can give is to keep on living our lives to the fullest.  She'd love that.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous, if somewhat chilly day.   Since I didn't have to work, and didn't have to go to the store, I got out and worked in my front flower bed a bit. 

Well, I really got out to take a picture of my little bluebonnet,

but found I couldn't stay in the house. 

I check on my bluebonnets every day, and every day, I notice how many weeds there are.  And every day I say to myself, "Self, you really need to get out here and weed this bed before they get out of hand."  This afternoon, I did just that.

I had some leftover plastic garden edging in the shed.  It wasn't really leftover.  I'd bought it to make a raised bed, which I never got around to doing.  I got it out and made a separate bed for my bluebonnets -- so I don't forget they're there and pull them up, thinking they're weeds.

This little guy got somewhat disturbed when I pulled up the Creeping Charlie growing around his roots.  I didn't totally uproot him, so hopefully, he'll be OK.

These other ones are starting to open up as well. 

I hope they don't drown in all this rain we're getting.

While I was out there, I transplanted this garden mum from its pot into the --well, into the garden.

I'd thought it was dead, but I see some signs of life at the bottom.  Maybe it'll bloom this fall.  We shall see.  This other one I planted last fall. 

I'm not sure why I put it into the flower bed instead of a pot, but there it is...

As soon as all this quarantine mess is over, I'm going to buy a whole mess of flowers and plant them.  OK, really, just a few.  Probably just Vincas this time.  I don't know.  I'll decide later.


By the way, if you're stuck at home and bored, my online piano teacher Tim is doing live streaming lessons on his YouTube page:  Piano Lessons On The Web.  They're totally free, and he does them every weekday.  I don't get to watch them, due to being essential (that means I have to go to work), so I'm watching after the face. 

I've thought about live streaming a piano practice myself.  Would you be interested in something like that?

Goodbye, Sue

My heart is breaking, but I am so thankful you are finally whole again.  

Goodbye, Sue, dear sister of my heart.

I will always love you. 

Susan E. Dobiesz

June 24, 1964 - April 8, 2020

* She's the one with the white ukulele

Dear Coworker

If you're wearing the same pair of gloves all day long,

If you're touching contaminated surfaces with the same pair of gloves you are wearing all day long,

If you're then walking around rubbing, petting, and patting everyone in the department with the same gloves you are wearing all day long,

If you pull those same gloves off-- you know, the ones you've been wearing all day long -- put them into your pocket, go into the bathroom and wash your hands, then put the same pair of gloves back on, you might as well not even be wearing any.

Because you aren't doing one bit of good, by wearing dirty gloves all day long, so why even bother?

Please, just take them off.  Oh, and while you're at it, wash that filthy mask you've been wearing every single day. 

Thank you. 


That is all. 

Lungs Of Steel

Day three of the lock down, and it was back to work for me.  In other words, business as usual.  I had to laugh at my place of employment, though.  Over the weekend, they put these lines on the floor.  I guess they're to mark out a 6 ft distance -- though that was the shortest looking 6 feet I ever did see.

They put them up by the time clock and the exit.  You know, so we could keep our social distance from each other.   I nearly peed on myself laughing, though.  What good is that going to do when they got us jammed shoulder to shoulder in our work areas?  Seriously.  We're crammed together like sardines in a can.  The brazer to my left, her striker is literally ONE INCH from my table.  Not that they care about our safety, but still...

I saw a few more people wearing masks, and even a few improvised masks.  None of the brazers had masks on, though.  As I remarked to a coworker,  "Twenty plus years of breathing this crap has weeded out the weaklings."  "This crap" being toxic fumes, aerosolized oil, flux particles, etc.  Those of us who are left have lungs of steel.

Question Of The Day:  If I have food in the house, but it has to be cooked, does it even count as food?

And now for some good news, when I got home, I walked out and checked my little bluebonnets.  My second plant has two buds on it!

I know that's not the best picture, but they're there!  I'm so stoked!

Lockdown Day 2

I stayed home.

Eh, I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway.  The thing about it is, I did all my Saturday chores yesterday, so I had no chores to do today.  I thought, "Oh, goody!  I can be lazy all day."  The problem with that, though, was I couldn't find a movie I wanted to watch.  Or the ones I wanted to watch weren't available.  With not much to do, I got a bit bored.

I've used my third bedroom for storage ever since I moved into this house.

I keep saying, "When I get time, I'm going to clean it out," but I never do.

Several times, I've walked in there to clean it up, then get overwhelmed and walk right back out.  Today, I was sitting there, bored and restless, and I said, "At least I'll get all those empty boxes broken down and thrown away." 

I did that, then said, "Might as well throw out the rest of the garbage that's in here, too."  Old newspapers I'd saved for painting, dirty gloves, packing material, etc.  I got all that cleaned up, and next thing was to gather up all the yarn and put it into the closet. 

I've still got one more pile of stuff to go through, which I'll probably do next weekend, 

but for the most part, the room looks so much better already.

And look what I found while I was cleaning. 

It's not a surgical mask.  It's one I bought years ago when I was doing a bunch of belt sanding, and wasn't sure I even still had it. Heh, after months of telling us masks don't prevent the spread of COVID -19, the CDC is now recommending that we wear them.  Why the sudden change? 

As if that weren't enough, they're telling us not to wear surgical or medical masks, but to wear plain cloth.  But if plain cloth masks are useless against a virus, why even bother wearing one?  I guess if it makes people feel better... Heck, I saw people in Walmart yesterday wearing bandannas and dust masks. 

In the midst of all that cleaning, I finished another hat.

After putting it into the gift drawer, I went into the snake/craft/computer/storage room to get some more yarn.  You know, the room I'd just cleaned up. 

I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have become momentarily confused as to where I was.

No, I didn't get lost!  I did not get lost in my own house! 

I don't want to talk about it. 

Officially On Lockdown

As of today, the state of Mississippi is officially under a stay at home order. 

Now, first of all, let me explain, since some of my coworkers haven't seemed to figure this out.  We are not under house arrest!  Come on, people!  Stop being stupid!  I know that's a tall order for some of you, but still...

I had one coworker post that everyone had better get a gun and keep it close, because when people run out of food, they'll be breaking in and stealing yours.  Why would they do that when they could just go to the ---um, what's that thing called?---oh, yeah the grocery store and buy more?   Seriously, they are not closing down the grocery stores.  You can still go get what you need.  You can even go out to eat.  You just have to go through the drive through, or order curb-side service. 

Nor do you have to stay indoors.  In fact, the governor in his executive order encouraged people to get outside and take walks or go for drives.  You can go fishing, or walking on the trails out at the lake, or bike rides.  Just so long as you maintain your 6 foot distance. 

Anyway, the plant let everyone off for the weekend.  That's their nod to the quarantine, I guess.  We aren't shutting down, as we have been deemed an essential business.  Yesterday, they passed out these little papers we can put into our car windows, because apparently some people were worried that the cops would harass us going to and from work.

Some of them were even asking, "How are we supposed to get to work?"  Um, same way you were getting to work before.  You drive, or hitch a ride with someone, or call a taxi.

I heard the city is on a curfew as well, but since I don't live in the city, I wasn't paying too much attention to it.  Besides, it starts at 11:00 PM, I'm usually in bed long before then anyway. 

So, what did I do on my day off?  Well, I saw this and nearly cried.

We're supposed to be no touching our faces, and I get this.  My poor eyes!

Be that as it may, I had stuff to do.  First thing was to air up my driver's side rear tire.  It's had a slow leak for a while, but I've been putting off getting it repaired.  Yesterday on the way home, I got the low pressure alert again, so I had to get out the old air pump before embarking on my errands.  When I hooked it up, the tire was so low, it didn't even read on the meter. 

I debated and hemmed and hawed for a bit, because I knew Walmart had closed their auto center, but eventually decided I needed to get it done today before the quarantine went into full effect.  First thing I did was to go to the bank and pay my mortgage.  I usually go inside, but they had the lobby closed, and were directing everyone to go through the drive through.  Now, that's done, I've got all my bills I pay locally taken care of until next month.   Coming out of the bank, I was going to go on down to the dealership, after running by the post office and mailing my car note -- having missed the mail carrier this morning --  but as I turned onto the road where said post office is located, I saw Gateway Tire And Service Center right across the street. 

"I'll bet they can do it, and cheaper than the dealership, too!"  After dropping my letter into the box, i drove over there and got my tire repaired.  In and out in less than half an hour!  I have a feeling, I'll be patronizing them next time I have a tire that needs fixed.

My final stop of the day was the dreaded Walmart.  It would seem another round of panic buying has commenced.  Last week, the shelves were nearly full.  Today, they were mostly empty again.  I was able to get a gallon of milk, but there were no eggs, no ramen, very little pasta, and almost no frozen dinners.  Bummer.  Worst of all---no ice cream!  Sigh....I'm trying to tell myself I don't need it anyway, but dang! 

Still, I have enough supplies to last a couple of weeks, and I can hunker down until it's all over. 

Finally, a bit of good news to brighten up your day.  Last spring, my friend Cyndye sent me some bluebonnet seeds from the flowers in her yard.  I'd planted them last fall, but only a couple of plants came up.  I check on them almost every day. 

Today, when I got home from town, I checked on them as per usual, and found this:

Squeal!  I got a bloom!  It's small, and kind of pathetic, but it's a bluebonnet! 

It's a little piece of home...

An April Fool

There I was at work, just a working away, when I heard a commotion in the plant. 

This isn't unusual, as there are often commotions in the plant, but there was something different about this one.  Soon, the shouts began, "Corona virus!  Corona virus in the plant!  There's corona virus in the plant!  They need to tell us who it is!  How are we going to know if we've been exposed if they don't tell us who it is!"

One coworker jumped on the bike, determined to find out what was going on.  Before too long, the story came out.  We do not have corona virus in the plant.  At least not that we know of.  If we did, I doubt they'd tell us anyway.  What had happened is as follows:

Seems one of my coworkers decided it would be a really funny April fool prank to post that she had corona virus on her Facebook status.  Of course, once she got to work, and people started freaking out over it, it turned out not to be so funny after all.  The powers that be didn't think it was funny, either.  They promptly relieved her of her position. 

As a coworker said, "She thought she'd play a prank, but now she's the April fool, because she doesn't have a job any more." 

Another coworker said, "Why wouldn't she even do that?  They ain't playing with this stuff!"  She's not the first person, either.  A couple of weeks ago a boy went around telling people he had tested positive, and they fired him, too.  Seriously, they are not playing around with this! 

After a while, things settled down and we all got back to work.  Wheeeeen, I saw my Supervisor running up the aisle.  "What has happened now?" I asked. 

Except I spoke in the vernacular, but if I printed it here, that kind of grammar would give me the hives.  Kind of like some of the posts in the local Facebook group...

Back to my story...where was I?  Supervisor running up the aisle.  Me asking what happened...oh, yes. 

"The autobrazer is on fire,"  my coworker answered.  Which is really funny, because I'd been standing there watching the flames.  "Those are some really big flames," I'd just been saying to myself.  Why I didn't make the connection between the flaming autobrazer and the supervisor running is beyond me.

I blame sleep deprivation.

He emptied three, yes three, count 'em three fire extinguishers before he got the fire out.  By that time, the entire front of the plant was filled with a dense cloud of whatever was in them.  Our eyes were stinging, our lungs were burning, and all of us were coughing our heads off.  I could even feel it coating my skin.  I sure hope the stuff wasn't toxic.

The person who works beside me said, "If only [The Boss Who Must Not Be Named] were up here.  He'd fix everything."  About 10 ish minutes later, TBWMNBN came, and she said, "[TBWMNBM] is here.  I feel so much better now.  He makes everything all right." 

Me, I was perfectly confident in Supervisor's ability to handle things.  He was a Navy chief, after all. 

After all that excitement, I was thinking, "Ooo da lolly!  How are we supposed to work now?"  But once more, things settled down, and the rest of the day passed without incident....until the rumors started.  And what was that rumor?  It was that the entire country is going on a 72 hour lockdown -- but that's just what people were hearing, and didn't know if it was true, but thought they'd spread it anyway, just in case.   I said, "Probably not!  That doesn't even make sense!"  Once the work day ended and I could check on things, I found the reality is our state governor has issued an official Shelter In Place order.

It really won't be any different that what we've been doing.  We can still go to work, or to buy groceries, or to the bank, or even to eat out -- we just have to go through the drive through, or get curbside service.  We've been doing that for the last two weeks.  He just wrote it down and made it official.  It takes effect at 5:00 PM Friday. 

My friend said, "Make sure you have enough dog food!"  Funny thing...Rylea has always had a bit of a weight problem.  I kept her on Pedigree weight management dog food for ages.  About a year ago, Walmart stopped carrying it.  I checked some of the other local stores, and they didn't have it either. 

Over the last year, I've seen Ry getting fatter and fatter.  Finally, it occurred to me to check Amazon.  Yes!  They have it!  And they have it on Subscribe & Save.  I set up a subscription for two bags to be delivered on the first of every month.  And here they are. 

By the way, I set it up before all the COVID panic started.  I was concerned that my other bag of dog food wouldn't last until it got here, but it did.  I had even bought a spare bag, just as a precaution, but I didn't even have to open it.  So, except for milk and bananas, I should be set to stay home for a while. 

And finally, there has been knitting.

Plain stockinette hat in Cascade 220.  I have a feeling when this is all over, charities will need all the help they can get.