Not From Here

The plant had its annual book bag drive this morning. They do it every year, fill up book bags with school supplies and hand them out for free -- part of their community outreach program.  Earlier this week at the morning meeting, Group Leader Shark was announcing it, but she didn't know where it was going to be held.  I told her it's at the Kirk Truck Center, and she replied, "Which one is that?"  

The Kirk family owns several car dealerships here in town, so you have to be specific.  

I said, “It’s the one over there near where the old bread store used to be.”  Then I had to laugh at myself, because I'm not even from here, but I'm giving directions like one of the old timers.  And that bread store hasn't been there in years.  On the other hand, I have lived here longer than I lived in my hometown.  I moved here in '94, when I was 30, and I've lived here for 32 years.  

On a similar note, school starts next week.  Yes, in July!  I overheard a couple of my coworkers talking about it, and was looking at them like

They saw me and both of them started laughing.  I just couldn't believe school starts so early these days!

We always used to start at the end of August, but then, they get a lot more days off than we did back then.  One of the others told me they are getting a Fall Break starting this year, in addition to Thanksgiving week, and two weeks at Christmas, and Spring Break, and Good Friday and Easter Monday.  Sheesh, no wonder they have to start so early!

By the way, we got chewed out once again by Uncle Supervisor because we aren't brazing enough for them.  He said, "Explain to me why I'm not getting my 2000 headers per day!"  I replied, "I would, but you don't listen." 

Before I explain anything to him, maybe he should explain to me why upper management doesn't consider my department a priority, or why the only time we see our supervisor is when he's yelling at us.  Or why when we need him, we have to watch and see when he goes to the bathroom, then wait outside the door so we can catch him before he dashes back to his beloved sheet metal department. 

Inspector Gadget may have been annoying as heck, but I'll have to hand one thing to him.  He was always there when we needed him.  And he eventually realized where the problem was -- and it's not that we're all standing around doing nothing all day.  But he's on the lines now, and we're with someone who acts like he'd rather forget we exist at all. 

Maybe he should explain to me why I had a 8 piece order that only had 7 headers in it, or why I'm have to beat my adapter tubes into place with a hammer because they don't fit into the jig, or why I spent 10 minutes hunting for a jig that we don't even have.  And why are they having us braze assemblies that they won't buy us jigs for in the first place?  Or why one day last week I got an order of 16 adapter tubes and 7 of them had been smashed flat in the machine but the operator sent them on down the line anyway instead of scrapping and replacing them.  Or why I'm having to re-round the ends of adapter tubes because they're sending then over oval shaped.  Or why I'm having to open up the holes in the ends of the headers when you have people paid to do that.  And why did I have three orders last week that had FOUR milestones ...each?  

Then explain to me why you're doing absolutely nothing to resolve those issues, and we'll talk. 

That last one is rhetorical.  I know why.  It's because if they acknowledge the problem, they'd have to solve the problem and it's so much easier just to make your brazers into scapegoats.  

On to more pleasant topics, like my garden.  This week's harvest is a bit smaller, but that's OK.  I figure it's because I harvested so heavily last week and the week before. 

The heat might have something to do with it, too.  Maybe when it cools off a bit - like in mid-September -- they'll pick up again.  I'm not worried, though.   I've already got more peppers than I can eat anyway.  Between these and what I have left from last week, I should have enough for two or three jars of pickled peppers, especially since I got the half pint instead of the pint jars.  

A bit of good news, my zinnias are putting out new growth lower down on the stems. 

That's exactly what I was hoping would happen, and maybe now that I've thinned them out, they won't get so leggy.  I've put the stuff I cut off into the newest raised bed.  I'll let it compost over winter, then it should be ready to finish filling by spring. 

In some not so good news, something has been chomping the heck out of this little tomato plant.  

None of the others in that bed have been affected, but this one is nearly stripped bare.  I think it's because it's the only one that isn't next to either a basil or marigold plant.  

I keep running out there to see if I can catch the critter in the act so I can kill it, but so far, no luck.  Instead, I gave it a good spray with Neem oil, and moved another of the spare basil plants into the bed next to it.  

Hopefully, that will repel whatever it is that's eating it.  Funny thing, I bought some more Neem oil at Walmart yesterday because I'm running low, and the cashier said, "I didn't know we had Neem oil back there!"  I said, "Yes, ma'am, this is concentrate, and they also have it ready to use."  She also gardens, and seemed really excited to find that out. 

The last thing I did before the day's heat set in was to sift some more red clay and get back to filling in those ruts the landscammer left in my front yard.  

I'd really like to find someone who can completely re-do my front yard and find out why it stays so spongy all the time.  Even without the ruts, it's so hard to mow because of that.  But at this point, I don't trust anyone any more, so I'm kind of stuck in a rut.  

HA HA HA HA HA!  

OK, I'll stop now. 

And finally, I finished reading that book A Single Captive Spark.  I'd actually finished it last week, but it was so awful I forgot to tell you about it.  I was right.  It definitely won't become a classic. On the other hand, as someone who grew up in Middle Earth, in Narnia, and on Pern, I realize I wasn't the target audience for a book like this. 

Simple, shallow, and the "big twist" was pretty obvious from the beginning.  

The funny thing is, I kept imagining the antagonist Helio as some sort of Krampus like creature, because the author kept describing his appearance as terrifying, and I couldn't figure out what was so terrifying about him as a man. 

He was tall...not frightening.  He had red hair.  Again, not frightening.  He had heterochromia.  Unusual, but again, hardly terrifying.  Oh, he had a battle scar on his face.  Maybe a bit unsettling, but you would think in a country that has been at war for hundreds of years, that shouldn't be all that ...terrifying.  

There is a sequel, but I won't be buying it.  In fact, I'm glad I got this one for free, because I would have hated to waste my money on such a book. 

I guess that's it for today as far as news goes.  I found Knight Rider on the ROKU channel, so I'm going to settle in for an afternoon of knitting and Knighting.  

Laters.