Random Thoughts Of A Tuesday Evening

1.  It was with some trepidation I opened the bedroom door this morning, but much to my relief, there was no cat gack on the floor...anywhere.  I fed the cat her breakfast, and by the time I left for work, she still hadn't thrown it up, so I was hopeful she is feeling better.  

2.  I thought briefly about cutting some branches up, but after tossing some corn for the crows and squirrels, I was drenched in sweat that fast.  So, I picked out some pebbles to fill my bee watering bowl. 

It will eventually go into my fairy garden, but for now, it's in the planter with my basil. 

3.  I poured my milk into my oatmeal, then stuck it into the microwave to cook.  When I got it out, the milk had curdled.  I got the jug out of the fridge, opened the cap, and whew!  Yep, it was sour.  Giving up on oatmeal, I poured myself some Cheerios with almond milk and ate that instead.  The very last bite, I promise you I didn't do this on purpose, it just happened.  It smiled at me.  

I smiled back, snapped a photo, then ate it. 

4.  For you local folks, here is the QR code to Matt Laubhan's new weather app. 

5.  By the way, the snakes have all had birthdays recently.  OK, I don't have any of their hatch dates except for Onyx's, which is July 24, 2004, so I've give them all an official unofficial birthday of July 1.  Even Onyx.  So, Slider, Sunset, and Onyx are all 21 years old, and Blaze is 20.  

6. I got home from work, and walked into the house with some trepidation, only to find...no cat gack!  Anywhere.  I'd shut her out of the bedrooms and bathroom, just in case, but turns out there was no need.  She's still not quite herself, but now that she's stopped vomiting, she should pick up soon.  

7.  I had a moment of panic Sunday morning when I checked on my tomato plant, and it was all slumped over.  It would seem I'd forgotten to water it over the holiday weekend.  I gave it a good watering, then tied it back up to the stakes.  Then, I cut some of the tomatoes that were starting to ripen, thinking that would take some of the stress off of the plant-- all except for that green one.  It had apparently fallen off on its own in the melee. 

The one on the far right ended up in a tomato sandwich this afternoon. 

8.  I wish more people understood this. 

People don't always need you badgering them about what's wrong.  They don't necessarily need to talk about it.  Sometimes, they just need you to be there.  

10.  I may be wrong for this, but I think it's absolutely hysterical to watch conspiracy theorists tie themselves in knots insisting that their theories are still true, even when they've been proven most decidedly to be false. 

11.  I'm heading over to Amazon to see if I can pick up any Prime Day deals.  Catch you later. 

Found ‘Em!

 I found the buttons!  

Guess where they were...in a place I'd already checked twice.  They'd fallen between the arm and seat of my recliner, and I'd checked there.  I just didn't shove my hand far enough down the first few times.  

Once I'd gotten them out, I went deep diving for my needle.  It was where...I'd checked a couple of times already.  In the jar I keep my stitch markers in. 

As with the buttons, I didn't dive deeply enough the first time.  Or second...

I was going to come home and sew those buttons on this afternoon -- triple digit heat indices keeping me inside -- but alas, when I got home, I saw that the cat had been sick.  All over the house.  In my recliner.  On my bed -- TWICE.  On the floor in every single room of the house.  

I don't know what's up with her.  If she ate something she shouldn't have, or picked up some sort of kitty stomach flu, or if she's simply got a stubborn hairball.  Hopefully, she'll perk up in a day or two.  If not, it's off to the vet we go. 

Needless to say, instead of sewing buttons, I spent my afternoon scrubbing up cat gack and washing bedding.  Now that that's done, I think I'll have some popcorn and watch an episode of Bonekickers.  Maybe something more blog worthy will happen tomorrow. 

Frustrated

I'm so frustrated right now, I don't even know what to do.  I was going to get my great-nephew's sweater finished up today, so I can get it packed up and mailed off this week...only I can't find the buttons I bought for it.  

The last time I remember seeing them, I was sitting in my recliner -- the same recliner I'm sitting in right this very moment -- picking out which colors I wanted to use.  I'd bought some that had various shades of brown and green, and I thought they'd go well with the camo yarn.  I set the bag down on the side table, or so I thought.  When I went to get it this morning, I couldn't find it.  

I've looked everywhere I could think of, and a few places I really didn't expect them to be, but I looked anyway.  I even  pulled the chair and side tables away from the wall and checked underneath.  No dice.  

Somewhat defeated, I got out my button box and picked out three that I thought I could use...and I couldn't find my needle.  Oh, I found my tapestry needles, but they wouldn't fit through the buttons' eyes.  I looked for the one I'd used to sew the buttons onto all of those Calorimetries I'd done a while back, but couldn't find it anywhere, either. 

Frustrated, I stuffed the button box and sweater into the drawer, and now I'm sitting here pouting and watching a documentary on the War of 1812.  Because, hey, even when I'm frustrated, I gotta be me. 

If even half of what they're saying in this documentary is true, it's a wonder we didn't lose this war.  But then, I haven't gotten to the part where they fight in New Orleans, and we all know how that ended.  Right?  

To end on a brighter note, my little water bowl I ordered arrived. 

I'm going to fill it with pebbles and put it into my fairy garden, oh, and water, of course, so the bees and butterflies can drink without drowning. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish this documentary, and try to think of where I could have put those buttons. 

Laters.

There Has Been

knitting!  Yes, my friends, there has been knitting on this Independence Day weekend.  First up, I need to show you the progress I'm making on these two hats.  

They're a couple of the sockhead hats I've been working on, off and on.  Yes, it's a bit slow going, but I pick these up when I need a bit of no-pressure, mindless knitting.  The one on the left is being made with some of the yarn I bought at the thing in Oxford in January.  I can't remember what it is right off the top of my head, and I've lost the ball band.   

The one on the right is Forbidden Fiber Co in the now-discontinued Toasted Marshmallow colorway. 

I'm also making progress on the second Baby Surprise Jacket, and I'm liking the way these colors are knitting up. 

I think next time I go to the store, I'm going to get the Bitty Stripes in the red and pink colors, just in case someone has a girl some day.  

Funny thing, when I knit the first one, I said I wasn't enjoying it, but as soon as I saw how it went together, I suddenly wanted to do more.  Well, people are always having babies.  Someone will need them sooner or later. 

But before all of that knitting took place, I got up early this morning and ran the tiller over the garden spot a couple of times. 

The whole time I was doing it, I kept waiting for a neighbor to come complain about the noise waking them up.  If they did, I was going to say, "Like you kept me up until midnight shooting off fireworks?"  But my clever comeback went unused as no one complained.  People around here are pretty much all early risers anyway.  

I made a couple of passes over the whole thing, but mostly worked on getting that dirt away from the fence.  I'm making progress, but it's hard work, so I decided not to do any more until after the landscaper comes and finishes his thing.  With that in mind, I put my tiller and all my garden tools away, then got the last of the pieces of my raised bed out and put the water seal stuff on them.  

The last outside chore I took care of was to start cutting up some of these branches.  

I was making good progress, too, until the chain came off of my mini-chainsaw.  I took it as a sign.  

I put away my chainsaw, took a shower -- because I forgot to yesterday, but I suppose I shouldn't have told you that -- and settled in to watch TV and knit.  And with that, I was able to mark off almost everything on my list. 

 Face it, it was highly unlikely I'd have gotten the fence painted anyway, and cutting up those branches is an ongoing project, so I'm calling it done.   

And finally, we in the Fine Martial household are absolutely heartbroken by the horrific flooding in Texas.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those whose loved ones are lost, or still missing. It is for them that we sing:

Oh Christ whose voice the waters heard 

And hushed their raging at thy word

Oh hear us when we cry to thee

For those in peril from the sea.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  And just how did I celebrate my Independence Day?  By working independently! 

By myself, for myself, and of myself.  OK, I'll stop now. 

But I did get a few more things knocked off my to do list. 

I started with the weedeating, getting that done first thing this morning, though I'm not sure how happy my neighbors were with that!  Seriously, I don't think it bothered them too much, because it's pretty quiet.  Not like the old gas powered one that would wake the dead.  And I avoided the part right beside their bedroom window, so there is that. 

I got my weed killer out and sprayed along the fence lines, just to make sure nothing's growing up through the fence that I'll have to cut out later.  That's where that tree came from.  I didn't cut it when it was little, and it got out of hand.  There was also a lot of privet that had grown up through the fence from before I bought the house, which I spent a lot of time cutting down.  I do not want to go through that again! 

While I had that weed killer out, I also sprayed the front ditch...well the part next to the road, I mean.  The county had come around and sprayed the ditches a few days ago, but had apparently missed mine.  You can see where they stopped down there.   

Then they started again on the other side of my drive way.  I don't know why.  They just did it.  Oh, well, I'd rather do it myself anyway.  When they spray, they tend to kill about half of my yard, not just the ditch. 

I finished up the outside work by picking up the last of the limbs and debris from the spring storms, most of which will be used to start fires in either the fire pit or wood stove.  Yeah, maybe it's not the best fire starter, but it is free and I've got plenty of it. 

Oh, and I almost forgot...I cleaned out the water trough and refilled it.  It had gotten pretty manky, but now it's nice and clean. 

Yes, that stick is in there on purpose, in case any bees or butterflies want to get a drink.  And for the birds, I put a couple of inches of water into an old dog bowl and put it out near the bird feeder.  

I'll do until I can get a proper birdbath.  

The last outside chore I did was to water everything, since we haven't gotten much rain these last few weeks.  Strange to say, I know, after the absolute drenching we got in the spring. We're still 8" above normal for this time of the year -- just not this month.  Anyway, while I was watering the stuff on the front porch, I noticed that it really needed to be swept. 

And that is exactly what I did.  

Such a small thing, but it makes such a difference.

I thought about dragging the ol' roto tiller out and going over the garden spot again, but decided it was already too hot, so I planned on waiting until later this evening, but I forgot about the Capitol Fourth concert -- which I'm watching even as I type this. 

I took a brief departure from my usual Independence Day movie lineup to watch The Sons Of Liberty on Prime.  It's pretty good, though throughout the whole thing, I kept getting the feeling I was watching a parody of U.S. History.  I don't think it was intended to be, but it sure felt like a comedy production.  I don't know why, because there really wasn't anything funny happening in the show, but I definitely kept expect a Groucho Marx type of joke in every scene. 

Well, since the landscaper is supposed to be coming out and finishing up next week, I finally opened up one of my raised beds and put water seal on the pieces.  

No, that's not all of them, but I'm not going to show you every single piece of wood that came with it.  It is fir wood, so it won't rot, but the water seal will supposedly keep them from turning gray and weathered.  

My two raised planters are also fir, and I didn't seal them.  They're are starting to weather up nicely, but as it happens, I don't like that look as much as I thought I would.  So my raised bed garden will get sealed to slow the weathering.  

Speaking of, while I was cutting some fresh basil for my newest batch of pesto, I found a little friend.

I left him and his leaf alone. 

And now I'm going to leave you alone and watch the rest of this concert on PBS.  But before I go, I would be remis if I didn't share what this holiday is all about: 

Good News And Bad News

Well, I've got good news and bad news.  The good news is I remembered what it was that I was going to tell you yesterday.  The bad news is, I forgot again before I could write it down.  I kept thinking it would come back to me, but it never did, so you don't get to hear what it was.  

It must not have been that important.  Not that anything I'm telling you is all that important, but still...

As the day went on, I began thinking of things I needed to get done this weekend, since we have a long weekend, and knowing how short my mind is, I got a piece of scrap paper and made myself a list. 

The good news is, the heat index never broke triple digits today, so I was able to get out after work andn get the biggest chore knocked off said list. 

The bad news is, I thought of two more things to add to the list while I was mowing. Those are going to have to wait until morning, though, because it was still hot out there, and I've already taken a shower. 

The good news is, I've done so well with my blood sugar lately, I decided to treat myself to some ice cream.  I haven't had ice cream in two years.  TWO years, folks.  That's a long time.  I had some after I'd finished the mowing, as I figured that was enough exercise to work off the sugar.  

The bad news is, they've taken JAG off of Prime, and Paramount + only has a few episodes of seasons 9 & 10.  I'm hoping Prime gets it back eventually so I can watch the last of it. 

The good news is, I found a new to me show on Prime called Bonekickers.  It's about a team of archeologists finding ancient stuff.  It's fiction, not like Time Team or anything.  Still, it's pretty good.  The bad news is, there were only 6 episodes made. 

That's about all I have for today, so I'll catch you later. 

One Day More!

One more day of work, then I'll be off for the long weekend!  I just wish the weekend would go by as slowly as the work week has, but I know it'll fly by.  I had the brilliant idea of going to Walmart today instead of tomorrow to avoid the pre-holiday crowds, but it would seem everyone else in town had the same idea.  It was as much of a madhouse as it is on Fridays.  Even so, I got my business tended to and got out of there.  

So, tomorrow I can come home and try to mow.  It'll be hot, but I'll take it in short bursts with lots of cooling breaks.  I want to get it done so I don't have that chore hanging over my head all weekend.  

On a similar note, I reached out to the landscaper and asked him if his truck was out of the shop yet.  He replied that he just got it back, and will be able to come finish my yard next week.  Well, he said he'd try to get one of his guys to come over the weekend, but I told him next week is fine.  No need to make someone work on the holiday.   He thanked me for my patience, and said he understood how frustrating it has been.  I'll just be glad when he's finally done and I can move forward with my projects. 

In other news, it was a relatively stress free day at work compared to the first two days of this week.  Most of my orders were ....fairly complete and mostly right, which for out there is a good day.  One of my coworkers had gone on vacation and brought back little souvenirs for all of us.  That was so sweet of her, because she didn't have to do that. 

Oh, and I overheard the following conversation between two brazers:

Brazer #1:  Where is {Stalker}?  I haven't seen him all day

Brazer #2:  He's on vacation for the rest of this week.

Brazer #1:  Thank God!

Brazer #2:  We all said that!

Hmmm, maybe that's why the day seemed so much better.

And finally, I decided if I'm going to get into extract making, I needed some extract bottles.  Alas, I think I bought pepper sauce bottles instead, though these are what came up when I searched for vanilla extract bottles. 

 Ah, well, no matter.  Once I get my beds all set up, maybe next year I can grow some peppers and make my own hot sauce.  Except that I don't like hot sauce, but maybe Cody'll want some.  In the mean time, I'll look for some recipes and we'll see what I can come up with. 

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, they say you should use brown or amber bottles for extract so the light doesn't degrade your product.  

Well, there was something else I wanted to tell you about, but right now I can't remember what it was, so I'll close this for today and go get myself something to eat. 

Laters. 

Hello July

This week hasn't started off in the best way, at work, I mean.  It seems like every order I've gotten these last two days has had something wrong with it.  I swan I've spent more time re-ordering parts and writing scrap tickets than I have doing my actual job -- which is brazing.  

But, only two more days this week, then we have a four day weekend!  Hopefully.  I don't think they'll make us come in Saturday, but it's not out of the question.  They've done it before.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

I had intended to run by Walmart after work and pick up some bags of top soil to start filling in the huge ruts that landscaper left in my front yard, but by the time I got off, I just wanted to come home.   I also wanted to run by Tractor Supply to see if they had a dethatching tool, but that didn't happen, either.  Maybe tomorrow.  

I briefly thought about getting the roto tiller out, but didn't.  It's too hot for that.  I did get out and cut some more of that tree up, and I got almost all of it on my side of the fence.  

I need to move those two last pieces of the trunk, and at least it'll all be on my property. I want to try to mow back there behind the fence this weekend, because the ground ivy is taking over.  I know it's not my land, but I still try to get back there and keep it fairly neat during the summer.  

I had a bit of a sad moment when I was watering my basil and discovered that one of the plants had died suddenly. 

I'm not sure what happened.  It was fine just a couple of days ago.  Bummer, but it's not like I don't have plenty more.  In fact, I was thinking about making some more pesto this weekend, and maybe, when I get another ripe tomato, I'll make something like an ensalada caprese.  

That's a Caprese salad.  I didn't even know what one was until I was stationed in Italy, so the Italian phrase is the one that automatically comes to mind when I think of it.   

Oh, and I found a wine and spirits store across from the post office, so when I go to mail my great - nephew's sweater, I'll try to stop in and pick up some vodka for my extracts.  I've got plenty of mint, and I'm thinking about trying it with my lemon balm.  I watched a YouTube video a while back where a lady was talking about making bunches of different stuff with lemon balm, and I think extract was one of them.  I'll have to go find it again to be sure, and I'll be sure to let you know.  

And finally, it was announced last night that local meteorologist Matt Laubhan has left the TV station to start his own weather media company.  Page.  Whatever it is, he's doing it.  

I'm wondering if nearly getting laid off a few months ago had something to do with that. 

Yeah, the Allen Media Group owns the WTVA station, and they were going to lay off all local meteorologists and broadcast a feed from The Weather Channel in Atlanta instead.  Local outcry was so great that they backed off, but still.  Maybe it shook him up, or maybe he just wants to do his own thing without being restricted to the ...what is it, four minutes they get during a news broadcast.  

It's still in development, but he has a web page up (linked above) and a new app:  Mississippi Live Weather, which I've already downloaded.  Independent meteorologists are becoming much more of a thing lately.  Think Ryan Hall, Max Velocity, and the like.  

Well, just add Matt to this list now, too.  If I'm not mistaken, Gabe Mahner is going to join him, so yay.  We can look forward to more great moments like this.

Whoever said weather was dull has never been around weather people. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's past my bedtime and I don't even have the coffee pot fixed for in the morning, so I've got to run. 

Good night. 

Goodbye June

I'm sore.  From using my new tiller over the weekend.  Oh, I knew I'd be sore in my arms and shoulders, and maybe across my back, but I never expected my stomach and ribs to be sore, too.    It's good exercise, I tell ya. 

That being said, I did not come home this afternoon and run the tiller.  It's too hot.  Instead, I spent about 15 minutes working on cutting up that tree I'd had cut down. It's slow going, but I'm making progress.  Not as quickly as I'd like, again because of the heat.  I just can't stay out in it like I used to.  

After that, I picked my next ripe tomato and had a tomato and pesto sammich.  It was a smaller tomato, so I was only able to get one sandwich out of it, but it was so good.  Then I finished the charity hat I'd started...Saturday, I think.  I don't remember. 

 Knitting is something I've also had to slow down at, because my hands get sore if I do too much at a time.  I think that's one reason I like knitting hats so much.  They're quick and easy -- and very forgiving.  Even if your gauge is off, or you cast on the wrong number of stitches, it's still going to fit someone's head.  

In work news, rumor going around the plant now is that The Warden is leaving to go to another company here in town.  They're expanding their operations and adding some 400 jobs.  I guess he's going to be one of them.  

You know your plant has problems when the employee turnover rate is high, but when you've been through five different plant managers in the last seven years...well, something is definitely rotten in Denmark. We've gone through just as many Human Resources directors.  

What with all these new factories opening up here in the next few years, somebody needs to figure out something, or that place will go out of business.  I just hope they last until I can retire.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I found one of my favorite old TV shows on the Roku channel, and I'm going to go watch a few episodes.  

Simon & Simon, just in case you were wondering. 

Laters. 

About Yesterday

About yesterday, I actually got a lot done and had stuff to post, but as it was the anniversary of operation Red Wings, I felt it was important that we remember.  I know those types of post don't typically get a lot of views, but I'm going to keep on posting them as long as I'm able. 

So, anyway, the first thing I wanted to tell you about is that I finally got that second sleeve seamed up and my ends woven in on my great- nephew's sweater. 

All I have left to do is to sew the buttons on...as soon as I find them.  He's going to look so cute in this.  

Once I'd finished that, I cast on a hat for the Seaman's Church Institute.  

It's almost July, and I need to get a move on with these hats.  I already won't have as many as I normally send, but at least I'll have some.  

And I know I said I wouldn't, but I did anyway.  I cast on another Baby Surprise Jacket. 

Truthfully, I wanted to see how the Bitty Stripes yarn knitted up.  This is the rainbow colorway.  BTW, if you are one who knits a lot of these, that yarn seems to be great for these.  At least the first one I did turned out very nice.  

In garden news, I got out before it got too hot and ran the tiller over my garden spot a few more times. 

I made two passes over the whole area, and I think I'm getting the high spot in the middle cut down a bit.  As I said yesterday, it'll take quite a bit of work before it's the way I want it.  I'm telling you, though, if I had some advice for that landscaper, it would be not to quit his day job, but I haven't seen nor heard from him in weeks, so at this point, I'm pretty sure I've been cheated yet again.  

I'll give him a few more days, then I'll look around and see if I can hire someone else to fix the wreck he made of my yard.  This is what I'm working on right now -- getting some of the dirt away from my fence so I can get it painted. 

It's hard work breaking up that red clay.  The stuff is like cement once it dries out.  I don't know what he was thinking piling it up so high, but he had the dirt all the way up to the bottom rail -- about 6".  In fact, you can see in the upper photo up there how high he had piled it.  Aesthetically, it's not going to make that much of a difference, because it'll have raised beds in front of it anyway, but I need get the fence painted, for protection against moisture mostly, and to keep it looking nice.

I'd started working outside around 8:00 AM, and shut 'er down at 9:30, but by then I was absolutely drenched in sweat, so I sat outside in my chair for a little while before coming back inside.  It was kind of nice sitting in the shade, but it soon got too hot even for that.  

Before I came in, I made a little pond for the poor toad I kept disturbing with my dirt rake.

I put some rocks in there so he'd be able to get out easier, and maybe so the bees and butterflies could land on them to drink.  When I get the fairy garden in place, I want to have something that looks like a little creek with rocks in it, so insects and small animals like toads and salamanders can come and drink when it's hot.  

What I'll probably do is find one of those reptile water bowls, the ones that look all natural and stuff, and just put some rocks in it.  

So, that was my day yesterday.  This morning I got up and cut some spearmint and started a non-alcoholic mint extract.  I know you're supposed to use vodka for these types of things, but there isn't a liquor store between here and Walmart, and I haven't made it to the ones on the other side of town.  I'll try it with distilled water and see how it turns out.  It might not be as strong, but I'm sure it'll work.  

If it doesn't, I can always try again.  I mean, mint is something I have plenty of.   Maybe next time, I'll use peppermint.   

Red Wings

The blog will be observing a day of silence for those brave men who lost their lives twenty years ago during Operation Red Wings.

Never forget them.

LT Michael P. Murphy

ST2 Matthew Axelson

GM2 Danny Dietz

FTC Jacques J. Fontan

RMCS Daniel R. Healy

LCDR Erik S. Kristensen

ET1 Jeffery A. Lucas

LT Michael M. McGreevy, Jr.

QM2 James E. Suh

HM1 Jeffrey S. Taylor

MM2 Shane E. Patton

SSG Shamus O. Goare

CWO3 Corey J. Goodnature

SGT Kip A. Jacoby

SFC Marcus V. Muralles

MSG James W. Ponder III

MAJ Stephen C. Reich

SFC Michael L. Russell

CWO4 Chris J. Scherkenbach

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to the next generation, and their children to the next generation.  --Joel 1 : 3

So that we may never forget.