Two Main Projects

So, yeah, I had a day off work today.  If you'll recall, I had to use some of my ETO hours because I was about to max out.  However, for those of you who have memories like mine, my plant has a policy that if you get perfect attendance for the month, you can earn two hours of earned time off -- or ETO.  It's pretty much the only bonus -- if you can even call it that -- we have left. 

We used to get much better bonuses.  Even our perfect attendance bonus was better.  Back in the day, it was the equivalent of a day's pay every month.  I told Demi-god that once, and he said, "If they brought that back, I'd never miss another day of work!"  This thing they have now isn't really much of an incentive, though.  As one of my coworkers pointed out, you have to get perfect attendance for four months just to get one day off.  And of course, they cap at 24 hours, or three days.   Mine would max out at the end of this month, so I had to use some so I could keep earning more.  I picked today just at random.  

By the way, Demi-god was late Tuesday morning.  Oh, his truck was in the parking lot, but he wasn't in the work area.  We were all like, "Where is Demi-god?" Only we used his real name, not his blog nickname.  I said, "Maybe he fell asleep in his truck."  Someone else said, "No, he's probably in the bathroom."  

About 4:15, he came wandering in...he'd fallen asleep in his truck.  Then Wednesday he wasn't there at all.  We were all saying, "Did he oversleep?"  We were hoping that was all, and nothing had happened to his kids.  

He came in Thursday morning and told us, "You don't want to know where I fell asleep this time." The story is, he'd gotten up at 2:00 AM to get ready for work.  He went into the bathroom and sat down to make a deposit into the porcelain bank, and the next thing he knew, it was 4:30 and his wife was waking him up.   He started to come to work anyway,  but she said, "I don't want to get that phone call telling me you were in a wreck because you fell asleep driving to work!" and made him go back to bed.  

I can't really say as I blame him.  He's got two small kids, ages 6 and almost 1, and his wife works the 2-10 shift at her job.  He's home with the kids all evening, so he doesn't get much sleep.  I feel for him, because I remember those days from when Cody was little.  There would be weeks on end that I would only get 2 to 3 hours of sleep per night.  I was working second shift then, and I had one babysitter who would put him to bed at 7:00 every night.  I begged her to keep him up later, but she wouldn't.  He'd be up bright and early at 5:00 AM, and was too young to understand that I needed my sleep, too.    

All that to say, I took today off for the sole purpose of using up some of my ETO because it was about to max out.  I didn't really have any big plans for the day, other than to get my new mortgage account set up at the new bank.   They bought out my old bank, the one I have my mortgage with.  It was pretty easy.  All I had to do was enroll on the website, and they already had all my information.  

My main project for the day was to find this little guy a home, which failed miserably. 

When I first got him, I posted in some of the local groups, and had three people say they wanted him.  Not a single one showed up to get him.  This morning, I packed him up and took him up to Walmart and sat in the parking lot for like three hours, but no takers.  Then I took him to the vet, because every time I go they have a cage full of kittens up for adoption.  But no, they said they don't do adoptions, and they wouldn't euthanize a healthy animal.  

By that time, I was hungry and needed to pee, so I came on home and put the kitten back into the dog kennel.  After taking care of the two previously mentioned issues, I went back to Walmart sans kitten and did my weekly shopping.  I didn't really need that much this week, but had to wander through the garden center anyway.  There I saw a bumble bee on a flower, and snapped a photo for you. 

While there, I bought some plant supports for my zinnias.  Once the frost kills them off this November, I'm going to empty that bed and remove the liner from the bottom.  Then I'll dig out the red clay underneath and re-fill it with good soil.  That way, the zinnia roots will be able to go deep and may provide more stability to the plants.  

I keep saying I'm going to film a garden journal for you, but whenever I get ready to do one, it starts raining.  Eh, one day I'll get it done.  Hopefully before first frost, but no promises, OK? 

Speaking of rain, I'm glad I went ahead and bought that larger clothes horse.  I have it set up in the spare bedroom, and even with it raining, I've been able to get most of my laundry done today.  I have the afghan that the cat puked on drying on it right now.  It's probably already dry, but I'm done with laundry for the day.  I'll get the rest tomorrow.  And maybe one day, we'll have enough sun I can move the clothes horse out into the sunshine and fresh air. 

My second project for the day was to start cleaning out and organizing my shed.  Alas, that was also a failure because of the rain.  Maybe tomorrow, since I'm not going anywhere, I can get out there for a few moments.  I'd been debating for years on whether to rebuild the existing shed or tear it down and put up a pre-fab in the back corner.  Here lately, I've been leaning toward rebuilding the existing shed.  It definitely needs a new roof, but the slab and frame seems solid.  If I can get a new roof and external walls up, that would be a start.  

Instead, I decided it was time to up-pot my tomatoes, since the roots were starting to come out of the bottom of their seed cells.  I put them into some old Bonnie pots that I saved from plants I bought at Walmart, which ought to hold them until it's time to put them into the regular bed.   This time, I used an idea I got from Ben at Grow Veg, and put a coffee filter in the bottom to stop the dirt from washing out the drain holes.  I don't see why it wouldn't work.  

Once they were in their new homes, I brought them inside and put them under the grow light to recover from transplant shock a bit before putting them back into full sun. 

I don't know when we'll get more full sun, though.  They're predicting rain all week.  On the bright side, maybe we'll get out of drought conditions finally. 

The not so bright side is, by the time it's dry enough to mow again, the grass in my back yard will probably be waist high.  Good thing I did the front when I did, or it would be in the same state. 

I reckon that's all I have for today.  I think I'll go make some popcorn and watch a nice documentary.

Laters. 

Well, Now

This post was going to be all about my new winter hat, which I got on a deal for only $10.

It gets so cold in my work area, and with a fan blowing on me all day, I need to wear a hat -- and scarf and jacket -- to keep from freezing.  I've been wearing my knit hats, but they tend to ride up and not keep my ears warm.  Last winter, a couple of the other brazers had these types of hats, and I thought, "Hmmm..."  So when this one came up in a deal, plus a $5 off coupon, I couldn't pass it up. 

And I've been wanting a Navy garden flag, so I tossed this one into my cart as well.  

But, as I was leaving the plant, I saw crouched in the exit lane a tiny little kitten, and people were just driving over it like it wasn't even there.  How the little thing hadn't gotten run over is beyond me, since I typically wait until most of the traffic has cleared out to even leave.  And I mean it was right smack dab in the middle of the driving lane.  

As soon as I saw it, I shouted, "Hey!  That's a kitten!"  I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of my car, and with the help of a couple of other employees, I finally caught the thing and hoisted it above my head like Simba in The Lion King. 

Then, since I didn't have a way to safely drive home with it, I put it into my lunch box until I got to the house.  Basically, I went full redneck, but the situation demanded it. 

It's such a teeny little thing, but I can't keep it. 

I don't even want the cat I have.  I certainly don't want another one.  I've advertised it in a couple of local groups, but so far no takers.  In the meantime, I dragged out the old dog kennel and set it up a place to stay.  

Hopefully, someone will want it and I won't have to take it to the pound.  

It looks like it's about 4-6 weeks old, and is already eating solid food.  It's shy and scared, but I think it will tame down pretty quickly.  

Anybody want a kitten?  

Oh, Me

You know, I had a blog post all planned out for you this evening, but it looks like it's not going to happen.  I'm tired and the words just aren't coming.  I had a long day at work, during which every single order I got had something wrong with it.  From orders not having enough parts, to entire orders of adapter tubes being bent wrong, I told Group Leader Shark I was getting really flustrated.  

Yes, I did say it just like that.  

But at long last, the work day ended...and I came home and mowed.  Just the front and the side yards, though.  The back is going to have to wait until another day, because I'm all in.  I was going to mow yesterday, but I didn't feel like it.  I didn't really feel like it today, but we're supposed to be getting some heavy rains this weekend from that tropical system that's wandering around in the Gulf, so I needed to get it done. 

Then I came inside to change clothes only to discover that the cat had puked right in the middle of my bed.  Not a great thing to happen when I am without a dryer!  One nice thing about piling fifteen blankets on the bed is that at least it didn't soak all the way down to the sheets.  OK, it's only five.  Blankets, I mean.  Hey, that window unit in the bedroom does a bang up job.  I need all those blankets!  

Speaking of, did you hear about the earthquake that hit Japan this morning -- or late last night, I'm not sure which.  I found out this morning when I was getting ready for work.  Funny thing is, one of my old college buddies is in Japan right now and she was right in the middle of that quake.  She's ok, just a bit shaken up. 

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

OK, I'll stop now.  

Not only that, One of my lifelong friends' son is in Japan with his church on a mission trip.  He is OK, too.  He said it was weird.  

We didn't have an earthquake here, but the hanger at the municipal airport fell in this morning.

  It has been falling down for several years, and if I'm remembering right, it had been damaged in a storm.  I thought the city had gotten a grant to fix it up, but somehow that money ...um...got put to other uses... Yeah, let's say it like that...

I wish people in this town understood that you can't expect anything to change if you keep on voting for the same old same old. 

But let's end this on a positive note.  I've got tomatoes!

Which I need to go water before I get ready for bed.  

Laters...

No Market Again

I did it.  This morning, I actually got dressed and drove down to the farmer's market on the square.  Alas, I had forgotten about the BBQ cookoff they have during Thunder On Water weekend.  Oh, they still had the farmer's market, but their booths tend to get pushed off to the side.  Not only that, they had the entire street leading to the square blocked off, so I couldn't even drive down there.  

Yes, I could have driven around and parked on the South side, but I didn't want to.  I turned around and drove right back to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve and walked the Bottomland trail.  I'd made it almost to the .8 mile marker when I saw stretched across the trail the most perfect little spider web I ever did see, with a teensy little spider sitting right in the middle.   

The web was so perfect, and the spider was so tiny I just couldn't blow through it.  And with that, my walk came to a screeching halt.   Except I still had to turn around and walk back to the car, so I didn't quite screech.  

But there is one cool thing on that trail.  You can put your phone into a bracket thing and take a photo, 

then email that photo to the address on the sign, 

and it will add it to their photo stream of that location.  Maybe if I start walking that trail more often, I can record the change of seasons.  

It wasn't that hot out yet, but it was so humid that by the time I got back to the car, I was still drenched in sweat, so I didn't do much else the rest of the day.  I had done most of the laundry yesterday, and had to set up my clothes horse in the kids' room because it was raining. 

I'd said I was going to tear into that dryer and see if I could see what the problem was, but truth is I didn't really feel like it, so I left that for another day.  Instead, I told the cat we were going to take it easy today.  I did the rest of the laundry.  I piddled in the garden a bit.  I mended the garden hose -- telling it that this was the last time and if it broke again, it was going into the trash.  I tore up some more cardboard boxes and added them to my black compost bag.  I separated the little tomato seedlings and put each one into its own cell in the tray. 

After I took the photo, I brought them inside and put them under the grow light just to give them a minute to recover from the transplant shock.  I'll put them back outside in the morning. 

In other news, I watched the episode of House Hunters last night, and they actually did show the town.  There were a couple of drone shots of the downtown area, and I could clearly see the gazebo on the square.  Somehow, they miraculously managed to hide that falling down building.  Maybe because they were so high in the air, it wasn't that noticeable.  They showed a couple of shots of the lake, and the husband was very excited about the fishing prospects here. 

The realtors showed them three houses, one of which was in the nearby town of Carrollton.  As you can imagine, I was shouting at the TV, "Oh, come on!  Don't put them in Carrollton!"  Local folks will understand.  

They chose a house in Grenada, and it's funny because I'd been looking at that very house on Zillow.  No, I'm not looking to buy another house.  I can't even afford the one I have, much less a new one.  I just like looking at houses and dreaming.  

Now for something I have done in a while -- a meme debunkeration.  This one is so stupid, I can't even believe I'm having to debunk it. 

It's common sense, really.  Ticks are everywhere, just like fleas and mosquitoes.  They don't need to be "delivered" anywhere, because they're already here.  True they crawl slower than a snail, so how do they get around?  I'll give you a hint:  They bark.  They meow.   They moo.  They neigh.  They cheep, cluck, or screech.  Yes, ticks hitch rides on animals and birds.  I can't believe I even have to say that.  

The reason we're seeing "outbreaks" is because the weather is warming up and the ticks beginning to move.  Or if you're in the south, they're already moving.   It happens every spring.   Seriously, people.  Not everything is some deep dark plot to get you.  Sometimes nature is just nature being nature.  

And finally, your humor for the day. 

I feel this to the depths of my soul.  I miss the days when you turned something on and it worked.  No app.  No account.  No signing in.  You turned it on and it just did what it was supposed to do. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sign in to my TV so I can sign in to my Pluto account, so I can watch reruns of Digging For The Truth. 

Laters...

I Knew

I knew right away what kind of day it was going to be when I got to work, got my bag out of the back of my car, then tromped all the way across the parking lot to the employee entrance.  I reached for my badge holder that I wear on a lanyard around my neck to scan in, only to discover my badge wasn't in it.  

Oh no!  It must have fallen out in my car.  I turned around and tromped all the way back across the parking lot, opened the car door and....no badge. I looked in the seat, between the seats, under the seat, even in the back seat.  No badge.  I couldn't believe it.  I've worked there for 31 years and have never lost my badge before!

Not a big deal, though.  Demi-god was still in the smoking area.  I'd just tell him to get Uncle Supervisor to let me in and clock me in.  Then I'd have to go up to HR and get a new badge, but as I walked back around the car to go into the plant, I saw it.  There on the ground behind my car was my badge!  Yay!  

As soon as I got home, I got a new badge holder thing from my junk drawer, and my badge is now safely tucked away in the holder and back on the lanyard, ready for tomorrow.  And that is the most exciting thing that has happened to me lately. 

Don't envy me my exciting life. 

In better news,  Group Leader Shark told us at the morning meeting that the plant had gotten some more orders, so we can postpone going to 4 days a week for a little while longer.  I don't quite know when that will happen, but we're all expecting it before the year is out. 

I debated on whether to go to the store today because it's supposed to be raining tomorrow, but the siren song of home was too loud to be overcome.  Alas, with a heat index of 96, there wasn't much to be done but to stay inside in the air conditioning.  

Before I did that, though, I took a few snapshots of my garden.  The zinnias are absolutely exploding. 

This little marigold was down to about two leaves before I put the slug baits out.  Now it's bouncing back nicely. 

I'm going to have a bumper crop of banana peppers this year.  All six of my plants look just like this. 

The last thing I did before retreating to the air conditioning was to move my bingo tumbler over to the garden spot.  

It'll be in full sun for most of the day, and the compost will heat up really well.  By the way, I got that bag composter from Amazon and apparently, they've redesigned it a bit.  The new ones have stiff rings that you insert to make the bag stand up better.  I'm debating on getting another one since they're only $18.  

And now for the big news:  a local realtor is going to be on House Hunters on HGTV Friday night at 9:00 PM.  We were talking about it at work, and I said, "I hope they do a better job representing Grenada than Robert Irvine did!" 

For those of you not from here, he did an episode of Restaurant Impossible here a few years ago, and everyone was mad about how he portrayed the town -- or didn't rather.  He opened the episode by driving down a road out in the middle of nowhere, saying, "I see a field.  There's a house, and another field...some trees, where are the people going to come from to eat at this restaurant?"  

I was shouting at the TV, "From the town that you're not showing!" Seriously, he never showed any of the town.  He just made it look like someone had plunked down a restaurant out in the middle of a cotton field, then couldn't figure out why no one was coming to eat there. 

Anyway, I hope HGTV does a better job.  Heh, I had to set my DVR, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall asleep.  When one gets up ridiculously early, one also goes to bed ridiculously early. 

Which is what I'm about to do, as soon as I get the Incarnation of Evil back into the house. 

Goodnight. 

Sigh…Again

My new lunch box isn't waterproof.  

To be fair, the tag never said it was.  I just assumed since it was a cooler -- as in, meant to hold ice -- that it would be.  But it isn't, and the way I found out is that when I picked it up to go to the break area at lunch, I discovered that it was sitting in a literal puddle of ice melt inside my brazing table.  

That's a bummer, because I liked it otherwise.  Oh well, on to plan B.  

I do have a hard sided cooler that I think once belonged to Cody, but it doesn't have all of the little pockets and things my old lunch box had.  And yes, I do need ice out there, especially in the summer.  Today, for example, it got up to 87° in my work area, and it isn't even full on summer yet.  I'll keep the new bag, though, and maybe use it for road trips.  

Like I ever take road trips...but hey, you never know.  I could get a wild hair one of these days and just take off somewhere.

Speaking of plan B, I talked myself off of the ledge in regards to my garden hose.  I'm still going to get another mender thing and mend it, but in the meantime, I dragged my front yard hose around to the back and got my spare hose from the shed -- which had nothing wrong with it, it was just too short for my back yard -- and connected the two together. It's plenty long enough to reach my garden spot, so I'm going to use it for now.  

As for the gray hose, I rolled it up, and it will now be the spare until it breaks again.  Three strikes and it's out.    

On a similar note, my new clothes horse arrived Monday, but I didn't even take it out of the box until today.  Once I got it set up in the back yard, 

I washed my sheets and hung them up to dry in the fresh air and sunshine. 

I had to use the small clothes horse to get both sheets hung up, but that's OK.  For regular loads of laundry, it'll do just fine.  By the way, it does come with clips to hang clothes hangers on, so a lot of shirts will fit.  

In other news, the baby tomatoes are getting their first sets of true leaves.  I finally bit the bullet and started putting them outside before I leave for work so they can get a full day of sun.  

It was hard to do, but I've got to let them grow up sometime.  I'm still a bit nervous about leaving them out overnight, but that may change soon, since I have to go in at 4:00 tomorrow morning.   If I'm putting them out at 3:30 ish before I leave, I might as well leave them out all night, right? 

Oh, and this time, I used a potting mix instead of the hydroponic sponges, so when I thin them here in another week or so, I'm going to try to tease the seedlings out and re-plant them into their own cells instead of just chopping them off.   I don't know what I'm going to do with them if they all survive, but I'll figure out something.  I mean, I don't know where I'm going to plant them.  My bed has room for four right now.  If these all survive, I'll have seven --  provided no more seeds germinate.  I could end up with 12!  

The last thing I did before I ran inside into the air conditioning was to move this compost bag into the garden spot so that it would be in full sun most of the day.  

That ought to get that compost cooking.   I think I'll move my bingo tumbler composter over there too...

For your laugh of the day, it looks like Louisiana man might be giving Florida man a run for his money. 

 Seriously, who didn't see that coming? 

And finally, I finished watching Lark Rise To Candleford yesterday, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself at the moment.   Is it weird to go through something like mourning when finishing a beloved series?

Because that's exactly what this feels like...

Sigh…

Where do I go to give up on life?  

As if I didn't have trouble enough, when I went to make my oatmeal this morning, my milk was sour.  It was a brand new jug that I'd only opened on Saturday, so I was pretty upset about that.  Fortunately, I had some evaporated milk in the pantry, which worked in a pinch.  Unfortunately, I put too much into my oatmeal and made oat soup.  I ended up pouring most of it down the sink, which meant I went to work pretty hungry.  

I was planning on running in to Walmart after work anyway, because yesterday the zipper on my lunch bag broke.  I tried to fix it, but was unable to, so I figured I'd just get a new jug of milk while I was getting a new lunch bag.  Apparently, they no longer make the kind of lunch bag I've been carrying for the last 25 years.  I found one, but it's different and you know me.  I don't like different.  

I found one I think I can get used to, then ran home --OK, I drove home -- and went outside to piddle in my garden a bit, when what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Yep, my garden hose split in another spot.  At this point, I'm wondering what else in my life can fall apart.  

I'm pretty upset about this.  I've only had that hose for two years and this is the second time it has ruptured.  It was an expensive hose, too, supposed to be heavy duty.  All it is is heavy.  Heavy and stiff and hard to manipulate.  I've never really liked it anyway.  

Oh well...I'll have a few days to decide whether to keep on mending it or to buy a new one.  But I'll tell you one thing, the next one I buy will definitely be more flexible than this one. 

That's for sure. 

Every Saturday

Every Saturday, I say I'm going to get up and go to the farmer's market, and every Saturday I don't get up and go to the farmer's market...Maybe if they carried it over into the afternoon I'd go, but it ends at 11:00.  

Take yesterday morning, for example.  I wanted to get the weedeating done before it go too hot, so I did the weedeating.  I couldn't move my arms for the rest of the day, but the weedeating is done.  

Then I wanted to start a new compost pile in the black bag I emptied last week, so I tore up some cardboard for the browns, and pulled up some weeds for the greens, and got that done.  And I harvested a bunch of herbs, washed them, and hung them up to dry.  

While all of this was going on, I did a load of laundry and hung it on my clothes horse to dry.  

By the time I was finished, it was nearly 11:00 and the farmer's market was over for the week, so I just piddled around the house for the rest of the day.  And of course, you may be wondering why I'm telling you about yesterday today instead of yesterday.  Simple,  yesterday was D-Day.  It's important we remember those important dates, so I'll keep on posting about them, even though most of you skip those. 

OK, on to today.  I'm mostly rested my hands since weedeating seems to have seriously irritated my trigger finger, so much so I can't even comfortably knit.   Instead, I just watched TV.  I found a new to me show on Prime called Royal Autopsy.  A professor and forensic pathologist do an autopsy on a prosthetic body from an old English king or queen and try to determine the cause of death with the knowledge we have today.  It's pretty interesting if you're into those sorts of shows.  Unfortunately, there are only six episodes, so I've already finished bingeing it.   Now I'm re-watching Time Team, Digging For The Truth, and Lark Rise to Candleford on Prime, Pluto, and Roku Channel respectively.  

Anyway, just so this post isn't a complete waste of your time, here are some garden photos. 

My zinnia bed.

A bachelor's button.

My pepper bed.

My tomato and basil bed.

It looks like I'm going to have plenty of peppers to harvest.   Every one of my plants looks like this. 

While I was cleaning out the shed, I found this old thing.  

I'd bought it from a thrift shop ages ago, thinking I could use it as a planter.  Alas, as it has absolutely no drainage whatsoever, that didn't work out too well.  I think it was some sort of candle, since it's got what looks like wax in the bottom.  I'm going to clean it out, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with it after that.   I don't want to get rid of it, because I still like it.  I guess I'll use it for decoration or something. 

And finally, your bit of humor for the day. 

Florida never fails...

June 6, 1944

 Courage

The word courage has been bandied about a lot lately, most often in regards to things that don't require courage at all. A man proclaims himself as a member of a protected class,  and we call it courage.  A woman whines that the tax payer should cover the expense of her birth control, and we call it courage.  A man mutilates his body because he is uncomfortable with who he is, and we call it courage.  A boy can't win against other boys, so he declares himself a girl, and we call it courage.  

None of this is courageous.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  We have become a nation who calls a cowardly act courageous, and viciously shouts down anyone who disagrees.  That's not courage. 

It would seem we have forgotten what courage truly is.  Let me refresh your memory...

June 6, 1944, in the misty gray light of early morning, landing craft approached the beaches of Normandy. Boats filled with frightened young men, many of them barely more than boys. 

Boys wishing they were still at home in bed. Shaking with fear. Praying. Maybe crying. Knowing that many of them would not survive the day.

 And yet, when those landing craft hit the beach, 

 when those ramps opened, 

 without hesitation, they stood and charged into the hail of bullets that would claim nearly 10,000 of them before the sun set. 

Seeing their friends, their brothers in arms, cut down beside them. 

Still they ran. Still they fought. 

In spite of their fear, and knowing that the fate of the entire world rested on their shoulders, they claimed that beach and began the long, slow slog across Europe that would eventually lead to Hitler's demise.

Now, that is courage. 

 And that is why they truly were The Greatest Generation.

When It Rains

When it rains, it pours.  

I finished a long, tiring day of work, then ran into town to drop off the piano book in the Little Free Library and see if there was anything in there that I wanted to read.  There wasn't, so I got back into my little car and drove down to Walmart. 

My shopping done, I came home and as is my custom, started a load of laundry.  The trouble started when I put them into the dryer.  Only a short time later, the breaker tripped.  What?  

I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  About ten minutes later, it tripped again.  Once more, I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  Same thing...By that time, though, the first load of jeans was dry.  I folded them and put them away, but since I didn't know what was causing the dryer to trip, I dragged out the old clothes horse and put the second load of jeans and shorts onto it, and set it out into the sunlight.  

I started a load of shirts, then did a little Googling.  Basically, what I came up with is that my dryer is old.  The most likely culprits are either that the drum rollers and bearings are worn out, or the wiring is worn out.  I can try to replace the drum bearings and rollers and see if that helps, but I don't feel confident enough to fool with the wiring.  In the mean time, I hopped onto Amazon and ordered a larger clothes horse to use for now.   

I'm considering getting a set of full sized clothesline poles as well.  Truth is, I've wanted one for a long time, even after I do fix or replace my dryer.  I love the freshness of line dried clothes. 

By the time I did all of that, the shirts were done, so I gave the dryer one more chance.  Sure enough, about ten minutes in, the breaker tripped one last time.  I gave up, put the shirts on clothes hangers, and hung them on the shower curtain rack.   I'll save the rest of the laundry for tomorrow.  Hopefully, the shorts and jeans will be dry by then, and I can use the clothes horse for the next load.  

If all else fails, I can haul it into town and dry it at a laundry mat.  Or a laundromat, if you want to use the correct spelling.  Or washateria, if you're from Texas.  

By the way, I glanced quickly through some old blog posts to try and see when I bought that dryer, but didn't see anything.  It's probably at least 20 years old, if not more.  I honestly don't remember if I've ever had to replace my dryer.  My washer, I know I've replaced twice, but not my dryer.  If that's the case, it's 30 years old.  And if that's the case, it's time to treat myself to a new one.  Alas, that will mean that my garden expansion might have to wait a bit longer.  

Speaking of my garden, while all of this was going on, my little baby 'maters were just chillin' in the sun. 

I wish I had some way of protecting them so I could leave them outside all the time.  Once they get big enough to up-pot, I can put the little cloches over them, but for now, I'm bringing them back inside every night. 

And finally, what this day needs is a little funky music...

White boy. 

Guess Who

Guess who decided to mow after work today.  Yep, this girl. 

Why?  Well, because the grass in the front yard was getting close to knee high.  I'd done the back yard Saturday, but the front was still too mushy from the recent rains.  You know, that's what I hired the landscammer to do.  To fill in the low spots and improve the drainage so it wouldn't be like that.  We all know how that went.  

Anyway, I was looking at the forecast and saw that we were supposed to be getting more rain on Saturday, so I figured it would be best to get that chore out of the way before the yard got mushy again.   Wouldn't you know it, I checked again after I'd finished, and they've pushed the rain back to Sunday.  Oh well, at least it's done and I won't have to worry about it.  

The only problem is that now I can't see.  Because I'm allergic to grass and all...

Fortunately, it wasn't that hot out, so I got it done with only a little bit of sweating.  The weedeating will have to wait until tomorrow or Saturday, though, because I'm plumb tuckered. 

In fact, I'm so tuckered I'm going to bed.  After I practice my piano that is.  Which ought to be fun, seeing as I can't see...

Goodnight.

It’s A Start

Today is one of those days, I just don't know where to start, so I'm just going to jump right in there.  

As you all know, I've been getting this herb garden going so I'll have something to do when I'm retired.   Since I don't really cook, I'm thinking I might start selling stuff at the Farmer's Market.  This isn't news to anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time.  

If I'm going to sell the stuff, I figured I'd need some fancy jars to put it into.  I've been looking at some on Amazon, and finally broke down and bought a set.  That is what arrived on my doorstep today.  They're really nice.  Heavyweight glass, square shape, with fancy wood -look lids.  

And they've got sprinkle lids inside.  They also come with pre-printed labels, and the little green thing is a collapsable funnel. 

The other thing I ordered was some desiccant packs.  

I won't put those into the bottles to sell, but I'll put on into each jar just to make sure there's no errant moisture that would cause the herbs to mold.  Eh, it's a start. 

In other news, I've been meaning to clean out my shed for ages now, but I haven't.  I walk in, look around, get overwhelmed, then walk right back out. Today, I decided I'd do just one thing, and that one thing was to move this blue shelf from the shed to the back near my potting bench. 

I got it cleaned off and moved, and now I need to get the stuff that was on it organized and put back on to it.  It was all gardening stuff anyway.  I've still got a long way to go before that shed is clean, but it's a start.  

Speaking of starts, look at this!  All four of my cells have a tomato seedling germinating.   

I put them straight out into the sun as soon as I got home from work, and will bring it back inside before I go to bed.  I think that putting them outside as soon as the break ground, they'll be hardened from the get go.  It worked with the zinnias, so I'm hoping it'll work with tomatoes.  

Also, I'm finally getting some bachelor's button blooms!  

And finally, I managed to get a picture of another toad.  

 I bought that little pond to put into my toad garden when I finally get it going.   It's not very deep, plus it has a ramp so even tiny frogs should have no problem getting out. 

I guess that's about all I have for today.  Oh, I should probably mention that I started my Alfred's All-In-One Piano level 3 book yesterday.  I've only just started learning the first song, so there's really not much to report. 

When I do have something to report, I'll be sure to let you know. 

The Rumors

Turns out, the rumors were true.  I found out this morning that they did indeed shut down second shift Friday afternoon.  They didn't even work their shift that night.  I'm sure they laid some of them off, but a lot came back to day shift.  And suddenly, we have two more sub brazers competing for what little work we do have. 

I have no idea what's going on out there, if it's just a few slow weeks or what.  They never tell us anything anymore.  At one point today, seven of the twelve brazers were down waiting on work from tubing.   Heh, I had walked over to get a broom from where we keep them under the stairs to the production office, and I just stood there for a moment, heaving a great sigh. 

One of the other brazers saw me and asked, "You hiding under the stairs, Becky?"  I replied, "Yep.  I was hiding in the jig racks, but I got bored, so now I'm hiding under the stairs."  I needed a change of scenery.

We finally got some work, and the day finally ended.  Alas, I came home to a heat index of  103°.  Happy first day of Meteorological Summer.  By the time I'd scattered some corn for the wild critters that eat corn and deadheaded the marigolds, I was fair dripping with sweat. 

I kind of want to water them when the sun gets a little lower, but we are expecting storms tonight.  Therein lies the conundrum.  If I water, we'll get buckets of rain, but if I don't, we'll barely get a drop.  Oh well, I filled the drip waterers by my tomatoes, and the rest will survive one more day until I see what the weather is going to do.  

My poor zinnias are so droopy from the heat, I found an old trellis to prop them up with. 

Next year, I'll know to put trellises up when I plant them, and put my fairy garden in another bed.  One where the plants don't grow quite so thick and tall.   Then again, as I said, I've never had zinnias grow this big before.  

The good news is, this next round of storms is supposed to cool things off just a bit.  The bad news is, it's just a bit.  I'm talking down into the upper 80s instead of the low 90s.  I'm already ready for fall.  

By the way, I was chatting with one of the supervisors while we were waiting -- he for an order, and I to use the computer. Now, this supervisor, his dad, and his son all grow huge gardens every year.  You may remember the son.  I called him Supervisor Greenjeans, because of the way he was always talking about his garden, before he took a job at another facility here in town. 

All that to say, the supervisor I was chatting with told me his wife had made squash pickles.  He didn't think they'd been any good, but they were.  Now I have to look up a recipe for squash pickles and next year plant squash.  If I can perfect the recipe, that'll be something else I can make and sell at the farmer's market when I've retired. 

Well, I stayed up way too late last night watching gardening videos, so I'm going to head for bed soon.  Before I go, I wanted to show you scarf progress.  I've passed the halfway point, and I know this because I've joined the second ball of yarn.  

Yarn:  Life DK by Stylecraft

Colorway:  Teal

Pattern:  Trekking Is For Necking

Needles:  US 6 / 4mm

I think I'll go work on it a bit before bed.

Goodnight, all.