Here We Go Again

Hello?  Yes, I'd like to cancel my subscription to the storm of the week club, thank you.

I know, I know, but that's just the way it is during springtime in the South.  

You know what else it is during springtime in the South?  It's polleny.  So polleny.  Seriously, I was sitting in the chair in the back yard when the cat jumped up into my lap...and she was yellow.  The cat was yellow!  

There were even streaks of yellow in the parking lot at work.  I started to take a picture of it to show you, but I didn't.  Maybe tomorrow I will.  

Speaking of work, today started the new PPE policies, and there is always a silver lining.  This one is that the front office people are not coming out onto the shop floor nearly as much as they usually do.  Let's just hope that lasts.

In a strange twist of irony, the very first order I got this morning had one of the adapter tubes bent wrong.  Normally, I would just beat it into place with a hammer, but I was mad and after discussing it with the brazer who had the other half of the order, I just said, "We shouldn't have to struggle with this mess every day.  Just get the whole thing re-cut."  

So we did.  

Just last week, I was telling Uncle Supervisor that at some point, there has got to be accountability over in the tubing department.  They can't keep depending on their sub-brazers to sort out and re-order bad parts.  We'll never get ahead that way, especially if they lines start running like they should.  As it is, the only way we're keeping up now is because the lines are running so slowly.  If they were running full speed, there's no way we'd be able to keep up because all of the non-brazing stuff we have to do.  

It just blows my mind that they're not even required to check their parts to make sure they're correct before they bend an entire order wrong.  But they're not.  They just make whatever and say if it's wrong, the brazers will re-order it.  That's no way to run a successful business. 

But that's their main problem.  They've got too many bosses out there who care more about being right than being successful.  Case in point:  about 6 years ago, a representative from the company we buy our brazing rod from came to the plant and the first thing he said was that we are using the wrong rod.  We don't need to be using a 5HP.   We should be using a 5%.  

Now, I know that doesn't mean anything to most of you, but just roll with it. 

However, the powers that be, because they don't want to listen to anyone and can't abide anyone telling them that they're wrong, said they didn't feel the need to switch.  So, six  years on, we're still using the wrong brazing rod.  Go figure...

OK, moving right along, my seed starting pods arrived.

I found some seeds I'd saved from one of the sunflowers I grew last year, so I think I'm going to plant those.  I'm not completely sure, but I think they came from one of the ones that doesn't grow super tall.  I really need to get better at labeling things.   Oh, well.  They'll be a surprise. 

And finally,  I cast on a new charity hat and it has started pooling in a really weird way. 

 I'd had a couple of small balls of this yarn, so I cast on with the smallest one for the ribbing, then when I joined the second one, it started pooling this way.  I was concerned about joining the third ball, but as you can see, the strange pooling pattern has continued.  

I wish I knew how I did that, because when I want it to pool, it doesn't.  Oh well, I like it, and I'm sure whichever sailor gets it will, too. 

At least, I hope so.