Finally Made It

Yes, folks, you would be proud of me.  I finally made it to the Farmer's Market this morning.  Once I got out of my own head and got over the idea that I needed to be there right when it opened, it wasn't too much trouble to get myself dressed and down to the square.  I still got there pretty early, though.  Just not right at the crack of dawn early.  

Since I knew I was going to go walk the Bottomland Trail when I left, I decided to treat myself to some cookies.  I got a red velvet and a chocolate chip cookie from Diamond's Sweet Treats. 

And of course, I had to get some of Mrs. Terry's old fashioned tea cakes.  

The last thing I picked up was a jar of Mrs. Terry's salsa for Brennan.  

She told me that was the best salsa she'd ever had, so I get her at least one jar every year.   I might even research salsa recipes over the winter and try to make some of my own next year.  

Once I'd finished my shopping, I drove down to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve and walked the Bottomland Trail -- realizing shortly into my walk that I had forgotten to put on bug spray.  I guess I'm going to have to start keeping an emergency can of bug spray in my car -- right next to my emergency deodorant. 

It's such a nice walk, and I'll enjoy it more once the weather cools off a bit.  This morning, it wasn't that hot, but the humidity was so high my glasses kept fogging up.  And the deer flies!  Oh, the deer flies were thick out there and followed me all the way down to the Chronolog stand. 

I took my photo and uploaded it to the timelapse, which you can see below.  The last two photos are mine. 

Then, I hightailed it out of there and back into my air conditioning.  Which I didn't stay in long, because my other main project for the day was to get the yard mowed.  

It looks much better now, and on the bright side, I'll have lots of lovely grass clippings to mulch my garden beds with.  On the not so bright side, I found a ground hornet's nest...the hard way.   For what it's worth, Raid Ant & Roach killer works on those little devils, too.  

Just to be on the safe side, as soon as I realized I was being stung, I came inside and slathered Ivarest all over the sting sites.  Then I changed from shorts into jeans to continue mowing...and the buggers started stinging my arms!  Persistent little cusses they are.  Fortunately, I have this habit of tossing my old protective arm sleeves that we're required to wear at work into the back seat of my car.  And even more fortunately, I have this habit of saying I'm going to clean out the back seat of my car, but not actually doing it.  I put on a pair of those, and finished mowing in peace, after I'd absolutely soaked the bed with that Raid spray.  

Oh, and for those of you wondering what Ivarest is, it's Benadryl ointment and calamine lotion mixed together in one handy tube.  I get it at Walmart, but I imagine any place with those types of things would carry it.  After giving it a few hours to clear my system, I took a Claritin just in case.  I've never had an anaphylactic reaction to anything, but why take chances?  

By the time I was done mowing, I was absolutely soaking wet with sweat, even after taking copious breaks to cool off, but this thing had to jump up into my lap anyway.

 Then she had the nerve to get mad because she couldn't find a dry spot on me to snuggle in to.   And on that note, I was done with being outside for the day.  I spent the rest of my Saturday watching TV and finishing up this hat.

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Day Dreamery

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

I guess that's about it for today.  I think I'll find some more yarn and cast on a new hat.  

Laters.

It's Been A Minute

Let's see, what's been going on since I last wrote?  Not much.  Work, sleep, knit, more work.   Monday, we walked in and there was once again a pile of poop in the floor.  I saw it this time, and it was definitely animal -- most likely a cat.  This morning, when I drove into the parking lot, I saw the likely poopitrator.  

Get it?  Poop -itrator...OK, I'll stop now.  It was one of the stray cats that hangs out around the plant.  This one was a gray tabby which looked an awful lot like the kitten I caught back in June.  Enough to make me wonder if it was the kitten's father.  I mean...probably so.  

By the way, we are working tomorrow.  Someone told me that they only let us off last Friday because it was the first day of school.  Maybe, but if they did, that would be the first time in the 32 summers I've worked there that this has happened.  Work is really slow right now, so I think it's day by day thing.  They've been letting lines go home early every day this week.  Yesterday, they even let some of the brazers go.  Not me.  She didn't even ask me.  I guess she knew I wouldn't go, especially if I have work to do.  

Want to hear something funny? Monday, I think it was, I came home and kicked my shoes off.  I promise you they landed just like this. 

Even funnier, I didn't notice until I was getting ready for bed and went to move them out of the middle of the floor.    

Speaking of bed, I haven't been sleeping well lately.  Part of it is that I'm still trying to go to bed at 7:00m forgetting that can now sleep two hours later in the morning.  Yeah, 4:30 is still early, but not as bad as 2:30.  

In other news, I was watching a gardening video on YouTube and the guy, Kevin from Epic Gardening,  said something to the effect of this is the time of year he gets a little burned out from gardening.  Granted, he's got a much bigger garden than I have, but I do feel him.  I wouldn't say I'm burned out really, but there really isn't a lot to do this time of year.   I know there are things you can plant in August -- that was the whole point of his video -- but I don't have room for them right now.  Maybe by next year, when I have all of my beds situated and ready -- well, all of the ones I have, that is -- I can plan better.  I'm just kind of winging it for now.  

On a similar note, our brief brush with coolness has moved on and we are back into the mid 90s.  But then, it is August after all.  All that heat is good for one thing, sitting inside and knitting while watching TV. 

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Day Dreamery

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

The knitting goes so much faster when you have nice yarn to work with and a good show to watch.  

On that note, football is back!  OK, it's just pre-season, but it's still football!!

A Teaser

We got a little teaser this morning of what’s coming up in a few weeks. I mean, it's still early August, but it's something to look forward to.  What am I talking about, you ask?  It was 68° when I got up this morning!  And it felt so good. 

It was even cold in the plant, believe it or not.  For once, I was glad I'm such a procrastinator because I'd never taken my flannel shirt out of my bag.  I needed it today.  Oh, it warmed up pretty quickly once the sun came up, but those first few hours were nice. 

Speaking of chilly weather, I finished my most recent sailor hat yesterday evening.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway: Rainbow Galaxy

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5mm

I really love the way this one turned out.  I might have to do a few more from this color.  

As soon as I was done, I cast on a new one.

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Day Dreamery

Pattern: Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

So anyway, I've had this storage box sitting in my spare room for about as long as I've lived in this house. 

I've often joked that if someone snuck into my house and threw away everything that was inside it, I'd never miss any of it.  But if I sort through it, I find too much I want to keep, thus, it still sits there. 

Today, I decided I was going to be the sneak and toss it all -- no matter what.  That's pretty much what I did.  By the time I was done, this was all that was left. 

Some money, a few mementos and a Styrofoam head.  I also kept this messenger style book bag that I bought probably 30 years ago.  I used to use it all the time, but now it just sits there. 

I put it into the top of the closet, thinking maybe I can use it as an overnight bag or something.  But then, I'd have to actually go somewhere.  Or maybe I'll find a homeschooling family locally that wants it.  

I don't know.  I'll figure something out.  

Trying Again

Apparently, when I filmed my garden journal yesterday, I didn't get my microphone connected or something, so the video had no sound.  Sorry about that, and thanks to Marcy for pointing it out to me.  Yeah, yeah, I should have checked before I posted, but I didn't.  No matter.  I've deleted the old video, and after a couple of test videos, I figured out the problem and re-filmed the whole thing.   As always, it's not edited in any way, just my ramblings.  

If you want to watch it, you can find it here:  Garden Journal

On a similar note, after I blogged yesterday, I cut and rigged up my first soaker hose. 

The hose is still a little stiff, but I'm hoping a few days in the August heat will soften it up a bit.   I may re-position it in the fall, after the first frost kills off everything in that bed, but for now it is where it is.   

Once it was in place, I put all the cardboard mulch back, 

leaving the connection exposed, naturally.  I've got some more boxes that I'm going to cut up and add to this, but probably not until later today, or maybe even tomorrow.  

This morning, I hooked up my hose and ran it for about half an hour.   I have to be careful not to put the water pressure up to high so it'll ooze and not spray.

I'd bought a quick connect system at Walmart last week.  It had two sets of connectors, but for some reason, they are not interchangeable.   What's even the point, then?  I had hoped to be able to quickly swap my hose between my soakers and my nozzle, but that's not going to happen with these connections.  

Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I hopped onto Amazon and found a set with multiple connectors of the same type.  I've added it to my cart, but probably won't order it for a few weeks yet.  I'm not going to rig up any more of the beds until after the current growing season, when the plants in them have died back and the beds are empty.  I figure it'll be easier that way. 

My bill is going to be sky high this month anyway, because seven of my subscribe and save orders all hit on the same day.  I usually don't get but one or two, and I think this is the first time I've ever had so many at once.  Ah, well...two of them were the cat's food and flea stuff, two were supplements my doc recommended that I can't find locally, two were my protein powder -- which I subscribe to to get a discount since it's gotten so expensive -- and my protein bars, and one was my mouth guard because I grind my teeth when I sleep. 

Not that you needed to know all of that, but there you go. 

But I digress...

As promised, I got up this morning and harvested the cayenne peppers that were ready, then strung them to dry.  

Most of them were short and stubby, and I think it might be the heat.  Peppers are in the nightshade family, which loves heat up to a point.  July and August are past that point.   But since the goal is to grind them into powder anyway, I don't suppose it very much matters.  

And finally, someone is going to be very disappointed when I finally get around to cutting this grass. 

I should probably do that today, since it's not supposed to get out of the 80s, but I'm not.  It's the day of rest, and that's what I'm going to do.  

Rest and knit. 

An FO

For you knitting muggles, an FO means a finished object, and I have one.  

Yarn:  Red Heart Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5mm

Yes, I finished last night while I was watching the rest of that documentary on Pompeii -- the one hosted by Tom Hiddleston.  It was really good, and I can attest from personal experience that alarm fatigue is real.  Last year when we kept getting all of those tornado warnings...Yeah, by the time the season was over, I was like, "If it gets me, it just gets me.  I'm staying in bed."  

Anyway, if you're into ancient history like me, I highly recommend it. 

While I was doing that, I cast on another hat with my new yarn.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Rainbow Galaxy

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

*  I found out the video didn't upload properly, so I've deleted it.  I'll try again.  

Basically I was talking about the storm that came through here last night and did an absolute number on my plants.  I didn't even know it had gotten that bad until I saw the state of things this morning.  My little shade cloth rig was completely torn down, and I had to rebuilt it first thing.  

Luckily, none of the plants under it seemed harmed, other than being a little droopy, but I expect they'll perk up in a few days. 

And look at this!  This is the little tomato that was being eaten, and was down to two leaves before I moved the spare basil into the bed next to it.  Can you see, right in the middle?  It's putting out new growth!  

Yes, I realize how pathetic it sounds to get so excited over that, but what can I say?  I am who I am.

One of my basil plants had also been knocked over, so I just cut the whole thing off.  

It was already putting out new growth from the base, so it'll be OK.  I'm not so sure about the tomato next to it, though.  Those first tomato cages I bought were pretty flimsy, and not quite tall enough, which is why the second ones I bought  I sprang for the high dollar cages.  They can be built up much taller, so next year, I'll know.  I'll probably use the shorter ones for my peppers -- whichever type of peppers I grow.  

I'm thinking maybe jalapenos or tabascos.  Maybe I'll grow more banana peppers -- just not six plants.  

Speaking of, I pulled that dead one up and put it into my hot compost.  Earlier this week, I put my candy thermometer into my tumbler and it got up to around 145, so that ought to be hot enough to kill any diseases over time.  And seeds.  And roots in viny weeds. 

While we're on the subject of tomatoes, here is today's harvest. 

I got a good many tomatoes, but only a few peppers.  I didn't even harvest any cayenne peppers.  Maybe I'll get some in the morning.  I plan on hanging them to dry and grinding them up in my spice grinder.  

The last thing I did before coming into the air conditioning for the day was to measure out and mark where this last bed is going to go. 

My supervisor approves.  

I'll still need to shave some of that red clay down so that it sits level, but that can wait until it cools off some.  At least it's lined up and in place, plus the corners are staked so I can move it if I need to.  

That's about all I did today.  I didn't mow, and I didn't get that last batch of pepper jelly made.  I will eventually.  Maybe tomorrow.  

Maybe not.  

I Made It

I did it, y'all!  

Yes, my friends, I finally made it up to Batesville, and more importantly to Hobby Lobby!  

I was good.  I resisted temptation and only bought four skeins of yarn for my sailor hats.  That's pretty much the whole reason I went up there anyway.  They are from left to right:  Day Dreamery, Songbird Stripe, Rainbow Galaxy, and Dakota.  

Now I need to finish the hat I already have OTN so I can cast on with one of these.  That's pretty much what I spent the rest of the day doing, catching up on my TV shows and knitting.  

I'm almost to the point I can start the crown decreases, so it won't be much longer now. 

By the way, they had...this!  

Sit down and be quiet, Scrooge!  This makes me happy.  It means that the end of the relentless summer heat is on the horizon.  We still have to make it through August, but there is hope... Besides, people who make handcrafts to sell at Christmas need to start now, or they won't have any in November.  Nobody seems to understand this.  

Funny story, I was wearing a t-shirt with the company logo on it, and the cashier at HL asked me if I worked there now.  I said yes, and she told me she'd worked there a long time ago, but had to quit because the fiberglass insulation was tearing her skin up and they wouldn't move her. 

This is the weird part, I remembered her!  I didn't say so out loud, because I didn't want to get drawn into a long conversation, but I did remember her.  Even her name.  I don't remember half the people that work out there now, but I remember someone from 20 years ago.  Go figure.

Of course, before I went to Hobby Lobby, I had to stop by Lowe's first.  I browsed new stoves, and dishwashers, and vinyl flooring, and circuit breakers, and bathroom vanities.  No, I don't need a new stove, but I want one.  All the appliances in this house are black, and to me, it makes the kitchen look so gloomy -- not to mention that every teeny tiny speck of dust glows like a light in the pitch black night.  I want to switch everything to white, but the tightwad in me doesn't want to spend money on new appliances when the old ones still work. 

I would love to completely remodel this house, but money is an issue and so is finding an honest contractor.  Or maybe it's just me.  I don't seem to have any better luck choosing contractors than I do choosing husbands.  Even when the red flags are there, I convince myself everything will work out in the end, but it never does.  

After daydreaming a while, I wandered into the garden center and look what I found!  

A customizable soaker hose system!  I've been wanting a soaker system for my raised beds, but Walmart only had pre-cut hoses.  This way, I can customize one, and if I need more connectors, they are available on Amazon.  I already checked.

I also picked up a new pack of landscape pins, because the ones I bought last year rust so quickly.  

I'm going to give these a try and hope they work better.  

Alas, it's all going to have to wait.  By the time I got home, the heat index was already up into the triple digits.  That's also why I didn't go to the Mounds.  I'll wait until it's cooler -- like October -- to do that.  Oh, and then it started storming, so I had to run outside and bring the clothes horse back inside.  Fortunately, I'd already gotten most of the clothes off and folded before, so no harm done.  That's also when I remembered I'd forgotten to look for clothesline poles while up at Lowe's.  

I'm thinking I could build some out of PVC pipe, then just pay someone to dig the holes and set the poles into quickcrete.  It should work, and won't rust like a metal pole will.  

And finally, here is your bit of humor for the day. 

 Heh, just look at that smirk!

Full disclosure, I didn't research to see if this was legit or satire, but it's still funny.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a hat to finish.  

It Feels Weird

It feels weird not to be rushing off to bed at 7:00...but here I sit, nearly two hours later, still up.  Knowing I don't have to get up before the sun tomorrow morning.  I was thinking I'd get up and go to Batesville, to the Lowe's and to Hobby Lobby.  I've been saying that for ages, I know, but maybe this time, I'll actually make it. 

I was wanting to look for a harvest basket so I don't have to use Cody's old Easter basket.  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I wanted one I could fold the handles down out of the way.  My friend Marcy had suggested one from Fiskar's but apparently it's no longer being made.  

I looked on Amazon and the cheapest I found it was $72.  Nope, not going to happen.  

So, I found a similar basket and ordered it, but it never arrived.  It was shipped by a carrier I'd never heard of -- Jcex-- and had no tracking number or any other information.  I got a notification that it had been delivered July 22, but it hadn't, and there was no delivery confirmation photo.  I went to Amazon customer service and got the message that sometimes packages are marked delivered before they are delivered and I should give it a few more days.  

Um...what?  Why would you mark it delivered when it hadn't been delivered?  I went to leave the seller feedback and saw that I wasn't alone in this.  

Funny how Amazon left the little note that the fulfillment issues were not due to the seller.  Well, then, just what exactly are they due to?  When you have five total ratings and every single one says the same thing, then yes, the problem is with the seller.  Even if the shipper was unreliable, then the seller should find another shipper.  At least I managed to get my money back...

Anyway, I found the Fiskar's basket online in several places, but they were pretty expensive.  I saw some on Ebay going for $100.  Even the ones that were less expensive, they wanted like $25 for shipping.  Heck, I found one on the Ace Hardware website, but they wanted $45 to ship it!  Again, not happening.  

I finally found one on a site called Zoro, and they were only asking $5.99 shipping.  The basket was $33, so I went ahead and ordered it.  So much for cutting back on spending, huh?  But if I'm going to garden, I need a proper gardening basket.  Don't I?

In other news, I did a little research on why my dryer keeps tripping the circuit breaker.  I went to an appliance parts website and they had a diagnostic guide thing.  The first thing they suggested was to get the breaker itself checked, because it may be weak or old.  Now I guess I have to find an electrician to come out to check --and maybe replace -- my circuit breaker.  

Great, another phone call I'll likely never make...

And finally, I had a visitor in the house this evening. 

 I tried to shoo it back out the door, but it went under my cabinet.  I hope it found its way outside.  

At least now I know what the cat has been chasing.

And We're There

We knew it was coming, but I didn't really expect it until sometime next month.  But we're there already.  Yep, they put the notice up this morning. We’re going to be off on Friday.  

I don't know if it's a one off, or if we're on four day weeks from here on out, but still...I guess we'll find out.  

I had to laugh at the newbs freaking out about it.  They were saying, "I ain’t never seen it like this before!" Us old school folks were just smiling and saying:

Because we have seen it this bad before.  Our work is heavily dependent on the housing market, which has always been a bit up and down.  Here lately, it's down.  Really down.  But those of us who've been out there for a while have been though this a time or two -- which is why I got into the habit of saving my vacation days for the end of the year.  I reckon I'm going to have to wait a bit on that dump cart.  

Now, I'm wondering if there is also going to be a layoff. I don't think there are even any temps out there right now, though.  I haven't heard anything about a layoff, but I see the signs.    

In other news, if you haven't seen the documentary on Pompeii hosted by Tom Hiddleston, it's really good.  And of course, I've been watching Shark Week.  Not much else going on, so here is some hat progress, just so this post won't be a total waste of your time. 

Called It!

I just said yesterday that I need to slow down my spending, and sure enough, this afternoon Group Leader Shark came around and told us all to start coming in at 6:00.  No more overtime.  This is why I work so much when it's available, because you never know when they're going to yank it away.  

As much as I hated waking up at 2:30, there were advantages to coming in at 4:00.  Not having to walk through that ridiculous metal detector for one.  Knowing there will be ice in the ice machines for another.  Oh well, it probably won't last long before they have us coming back in early.  We're barely keeping up with the lines as it is. 

Now for some bad news, I came home yesterday and found one of my pepper plants all wilted. 

 I don't know what happened.  It was fine Sunday.  Now it's dead or dying.  My first thought was that it needed watering, but all of the other plants in that bed are fine and they all get watered the same. My next thought was the heat, but again, wouldn't that affect all of the plants, not just this one?  

I'm not going to pull it up just yet, though.  Maybe by some miracle I'll find out what's wrong and save the plant. 

Out The Wazoo

Man alive, I've got peppers out the wazoo!  

And that's not even counting the four pints I put into the refrigerator because I didn't trust the seal on them.  Well, three of them.  One I didn't have enough brine, so I made refrigerator pickles out of them.  This evening, I took some time to label and date them before I forget what they are and when I made them. 

I still plan on making at least one more batch of pepper jelly next weekend, but the rest of the year's harvest will most likely be frozen for cooking with, or eaten fresh in salad or on sandwiches or something.    

In other news, I'm not sure what's going on out at work.  Usually this is our busiest time of year, but today they shut down some of the lines and started sending people home at 9:00.  They even let some of the brazers go home at lunch.  Not me.  She didn't even ask me.  I guess she knew I wouldn't go unless they made me.  I'm saving money for a dump cart for my garden needs. 

I've got to slow down on my spending a bit, but on the bright side, I'm almost completely done with Christmas shopping for Brennan.  I might get her a few more stocking stuffers, but the majority of her stuff is done.  She's pretty easy to shop for.  Cody is the difficult one.  I have no idea what to get him, other than some new clothes.  I'll have to nag him pretty hard to get some idea of what he wants. 

And finally, the new season 6 teaser dropped last night.   

I'm Sure You're Tired

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about my poor little garden, so here is some knitting for you...to be tired of hearing about.  Yes, last night while I was going back and forth between Knight Rider and Emergency!, I cast on a new sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Supersaver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  U.S. 8 / 5 mm

Then, on a friend's recommendation, I switched over to Prime and watched The Sheep Detectives.  That's one of those I'd seen the previews for, but was kind of reluctant to watch it because I thought it would be stupid or childish.  You know, typical Disney-esque slop.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

I also switched over and worked on this hat for a bit. 

Yarn:  Forbidden Fiber Co. Fortitude Sock

Colorway:  Starfall

Pattern:  Sockhead

Needles:  U.S. 2.5 / 3.00 mm

I'm really liking the way this yarn is knitting up, but then, everything Leann dyes is absolutely gorgeous.  

I also forgot to mention yesterday the new book I've started reading -- In The Hall Of The Dragon King, by Stephen R. Lawhead.  This is another one I bought a couple of years ago and forgot I had.  I'm pretty sure I've read this one before, especially now that I'm a few chapters in.  I keep getting flashbacks to the book store on the Navy base in Naples, so I must have read it when I was there.  If I did, it's been so long ago that I don't remember anything that happened, so it's almost like I'm reading it for the first time.  

This morning, I got up and made 8 more half-pints of pickled peppers. 

I had to laugh at myself, because I worried that I wouldn't have enough peppers for even 4 half-pints, which is what the recipe I use makes.  I ended up making twice that many, plus I had this whole bowl of peppers left over. 

I put those into a Ziploc and put them into the freezer.  I'm done with pickled peppers, but I think I might make some more pepper jelly next time.  When I do, I'm going to chop the peppers in the food processor.  It will probably work out better that way. 

By the way, I ate the little bit of the jelly that I made last time -- the small amount that didn't fit into my jars and I put into the fridge. I'd softened about half a block of cream cheese and put the jelly on top of that.  I don't know if I was doing something wrong, because my jelly kept sliding off and on to the plate.  Oh well, I just scooped it all up and ate it on the Great Value version of Wheat Thin crackers.  It still tasted good. 

I'm thinking next year, I need to plant fewer peppers and more actual food. Maybe some yellow squash and pattypan, if I can find it. Zucchini, and okra...too bad I don't really like corn.  Oh, I could do sweet potatoes.  I loves me some sweet potatoes.   Well, I'll have all winter to plan, and of course, I'm going to drag you all along with me.  

I haven't done much else this weekend, other than the necessary stuff like laundry, I mean.  I've been feeling really run down here lately, and felt I needed a weekend to rest.  I didn't even go to the farmer's market.  I had time, I just didn't want to.  I keep saying I'm going to go up to Batesville, too, but I haven't.  It's that whole "need to do my yard work before it gets too hot" thing.  

Then I have some sort of mental block about going anywhere after noon.  If I'm not on the road by 9:00 AM or so, there's no point in going so late in the day.  At least that's how my brain works.  But then, when you get up at 2:30, 9:00 feels a lot like mid day.  

One bright spot is that Shark Week starts today!  Woo Hoo!  The down side is that when you get up ridiculously early, you also have to go to bed ridiculously early, so I have to DVR everything and watch it the next day. 

On that note, I reckon I'd better get off of here and start getting ready for bed. 

Goodnight...

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.