Sucess

I'm very sure you will all be so pleased to know the yard has been successfully mowed.  I was totally exhausted and drenched in sweat by the time I was done, but this will probably be the last time the back yard gets mowed for the year.  I'll keep the front and side yards mowed, at least until the grass stops growing, but the back...well, it might get mowed once more, but likely the heavy work is done.  

Here we have the Incarnation of Evil inspecting my handiwork.  And disapproving.  Because she's a cat.  Being a cat. 

All righty, then...

The next step will be to find someone who can knock the high spots down and fill in the ruts left by the landscammer.  But as I've said many a time, I can't multi task, so I'll have to wait to see if the plumber and tree guy show up before I do anything else.  

It's a good thing I got it done yesterday, because look what I woke up to this morning. 

Yes, that is the promised cold front, and let me tell you, that wind was stout.  Not quite as stout as a spring storm, but enough that I brought the flag in, and had to pick up the plants on my back porch, which had been tumped over.  

We got a little bit of rain out if it, but not enough to relieve drought conditions.  I collected what I could for Marty Mac, but bought another bottle of distilled water anyway, since I'm pretty much out of rain water, at least until rainy season starts.  I bought a five gallon bucket a few weeks ago, so I'll be able to collect much more this year.  But that's neither here nor there...  

So, finished mowing, drenched with sweat, blah blah blah...I came inside and took a nice hot shower, then settled down and finished knitting the first hat for next year's SCI shipment. 

As soon as I finished, I started looking for some more yarn to cast on with, and I found this little ball of orange.  I thought it went with the green very well, so I'm going to make a striped hat.  

It'll be mostly the green, but with a wide stripe of orange in the middle.  Those colors aren't completely true, by the way, at least they aren't on my monitor.  

Would you believe this is all of the worsted weight yarn I have left? 

OK, that's not completely true.  I have some mystery yarn in the closet, but I don't want to use it for these hats, because they get washed and dried in regular washers on the ships.  I don't know exactly how it works, not on a civilian vessel, but the hats have to stand up to normal laundering.  I'd hate to knit a hat out of mystery yarn, then it get ruined in the wash.  

And those pink and yellow yarns probably won't get used for hats, either.  They do have women working on ships, but the SCI says not to use pastels, because the hats tend to get dirty, and pastels might stain.  Maybe I can make striped hats with them.  Mostly a dark color, but with thin stripe of pink or yellow...I'll figure something out. 

As I was digging all of this yarn out, I found a project bag...with a project in it that I couldn't remember what it was. 

I pulled it out, looked inside, and lo and behold it's the missing Garden Party shawl that I've been looking for for literally years!  

I can finally finish it!  I's been a long time since I've knit lace, and I kind of miss it, though not while watching football.  I need something much more mindless for that.  

And finally, a little humor for your Saturday afternoon.  

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

Laters. 

Finally Fall

OK, maybe not just yet.  It's still hot today but it's not supposed to get out of the 70s tomorrow.  I might just make a bit of soup, and it looks like I'm going to have some late season banana peppers to spice it up with. 

On a similar note, I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that my little coffee filters worked just fine this morning.  I made my coffee, then all I had to do was to turn the basket over the trash and the filter, with all of the grounds in it, fell right out into the trash.  

I think it'll be really great for hot tea, as well.  I mean, loose leaf tea which is an even bigger pain to clean out of the basket than coffee grounds.  In fact, I might just make me some tomorrow.  Or tonight, even though it's still up in the 90s.  

OK, moving right along, I enjoyed my leisurely cup of coffee...but wait, I should probably tell you the Cowboys lost last night, but I fell asleep sometime during halftime.  I woke up briefly when they announced the rain delay -- anyone else remember the pre-Goodell days when football was played by men?-- then again sometime during the third quarter.  The last thing I remember is seeing .34 seconds left in the third.  

Sometime later, I woke up and the nightly news was on.  I checked the score, and was surprised that they only lost by 4 points.  I was expecting a blowout.  Yes, you can be a fan and still be a realist, you know.  

By that time, the cat realized I was awake and came yowling outside my bedroom door.  I decided to give her a chance and let her in.  Alas, the snuggling until we fell back to sleep was not to be.  She jumped onto the bed and yowled.  She jumped off of the bed, clawed the carpet, and yowled.  She knocked my phone off of the charger and yowled.  She went back into the living room, then came back into the bedroom and yowled...eventually, I gave up and shut her out of the bedroom again.  

I finally went back to sleep and slept until nearly 7:00.  Then, and only then, did I make and enjoy my leisurely cup of coffee.  Once I was done with that, I got dressed and mailed the hats off to the Seaman's Church Institute.  Since I was already in town, I went ahead and did my shopping.  

I didn't, however, go do my walk.  I figured I was going to mow today, and that would be walking enough.  I might mow later this evening, once it cools off a bit more.  Or I might not.  I might just wait until tomorrow.  

You will still be proud of me, though, because after enjoying a bite of lunch, I made two -- yes, two -- phone calls.  One was to the plumber, and the other to a tree company.  I decided to try a different tree person, because I figured after I stood there and watched the other guy write my name down in his appointment book, then still forget about me...well, that's just not very professional.  

Neither they nor the plumber will be able to come out until next week, and at first I was like ... Gaaaaasp!.  But then I remembered today is Friday and next week is only two days away.  Anyway, let's just hope these people are both professional and actually show up and do the job.  They're relatively small jobs, so I wouldn't think it would be a problem.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

I still haven't heard back from the scrap metal person, by the way.  Oh well, if I don't hear from her soon, there's a guy at work who used to collect scrap metal.  I'll try to track him down Monday and see if he wants it.  

Once I got off the phone -- Oh, while I'm thinking about it, I did explain to both of them that I'm not allowed to have a phone where I work, so they'll have to leave a message or send a text, and they both said that was fine.  Believe it or not, I've had people get mad when I say that.  Oh well, I guess those ones didn't want my money. 

But as I was saying, once I got off the phone, I was so pleased with myself, I was finally feeling Fall-ish and started putting out my decorations.  I wasn't feeling it last weekend; this week I am. 

I've still got more to put out, but I'm not in a rush.  I'll get to it tomorrow and Sunday.  

And finally, I checked my little spot of dirt that put for my birdbath, and it's still pretty level.  Now I just need to wait until it dries out a bit more, and I can move the birdbath over there. 

Kind of sad the things I get excited about these days...

Well, the heat index has dropped down to 99°, so I think I'll go mow this evening, so I don't have to rush to get it done before the ball games start tomorrow.  

Laters...

Short Week

I had a very short work week this week, and can you believe it's already over?  

I'd thought I'd come home and mow this evening, but alas, we are done with our false fall and are back to the "Just kidding, here's some more summer" season of the year.  The heat index was 97° when I got home, so yeah, that's a no from me.  

Plan B was to mow later this evening when it cooled off a bit, but then I remembered football starts tonight!  Yes, the NFL season opens and who should be playing but the Micah Parson-less Dallas Cowboys.  We'll see how that goes.  

Personally, I have mixed feelings about that trade.  I mean, he was an outstanding edge rusher, but he could be a bit childish at times.  Besides, if this new guy can stop the run, that's something they desperately need.  

But I digress...

Plan C is to mow tomorrow, but the temps are supposed to hit the upper 90s -- and those are actual temps not heat indices, so mowing might just have to wait until another day...like Saturday, when the temps aren't supposed to get out of the 70s.

Speaking of the yard, imagine my surprise when I opened the back door to let the cat out and saw this little feller.  

I'd seen him in the woods from time to time, but this was the first time I've seen him out in the open like this.  The poor thing flew into a blind panic as soon as it saw me and kept crashing into the fence trying to run back into the safety of the trees.  He eventually found his way out through the hole left when I had that little tree cut out.  The whole time, I kept wondering where his mother was.  

In other news, a few days ago I had the oddest thing happen when I was making coffee.  The whole pod exploded and sprayed coffee and grounds all over my kitchen.  I've never had that happen before.  I've had them not drain right and the water squirts out of the top, but I've never had the whole top of my coffee maker blow open.  

I've got a can of regular coffee grounds that I've been using, and though my maker has the little basket thing, it's such a pain to clean the old grounds out of it.  I thought to myself, "Somebody ought to make disposable filters to fit these things."  Then I realized..."This is America.  Somebody probably already has." 

Naturally, I hopped onto Amazon and found them right away.  

They're made for Keurig, and are a little small for my Mainstays coffee maker, but I think they'll work.  

Since I was ordering anyway, I tossed this little guy into the basket with them.  

The plan is to hang him on the fence in my garden spot, and the little lamp lights up.  It's solar powered, so there's no batteries involved.  I can't wait to see him all lit up...I've got to find a spot to hang him in the meantime until I get the garden all set up.  

 And finally, we have a couple of new supervisor trainees out at work, and one of them just seemed so familiar to me.  I was sure I'd seen him before.  I thought maybe he worked out there before, but I wasn't sure.  

Then it hit me.  He's Mr. Morton!  

Who is Mr. Morton?  He's the subject of the sentence, and what the predicate says, he does.  

He he he...

Pink Eye

I had the most wonderful post all mentally composed for you yesterday.  Oh, it was a beautiful post.  It would have made you laugh.  It would have made you cry.  It would have moved you, Bob.  

Kudos to anyone who gets that reference. 

Alas, by the time I got home, I just wasn't feeling much of anything to be honest, because I woke up yesterday morning with a full blown case of conjunctivitis, also known as the dreaded Pink Eye.  All I wanted to do was to come home and sit.  I didn't even go mail my hats off to the SCI.  

I didn't do that today, either.  I figured they could ride around with me until Friday.  Now that I've got these long weekends, I want to start taking my morning walks again, either out at the lake or down at the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve.  And since I'll already be out of the house, I might as well do my out of the house business while I'm...you know, out of the house. 

Oh, and about that list I showed you the other day, the one of people I need to contact while I'm off on these long weekends, I've already contacted many of the ones on the list -- landscapers, tree people, scrap metal person, and I don't remember who else.  But they don't get taken off the list until they actually show up and do the job.  That's the problem around here.  People come give you a quote, then ghost you. 

Or maybe it really is just me. I know I don't have people skills, and don't really know how to talk to people.  I know what I want to say, but it always seems to come out wrong and I end up inadvertently running people off.  I need lessons in how to talk to people.  Are there such things?  

By the way, I finally heard from the scrap metal person.  She messaged me at 8:40 Monday night, after I'd gone to bed.  She said she had a family emergency so she'd contact me today to let me know when she can come get the stuff.  So far, though, not a peep.  I get the feeling she doesn't really want the stuff anyway.  It's funny, because she's always going into the local groups on FB and begging for scrap metal, but when I told her I had some, she was like, "What is it?"  

It's scrap metal.  Do you want it or not?  

In other news, since I didn't go to the post office yesterday, I came home and sifted some dirt to fill my little spot for my bird bath. 

I decided to move it back a bit from where it sits right now, thinking if it were farther away from the feeders, the birds might use it more. 

I have yet to see a bird in it, but I'm hoping I'm just missing them.  So, I filled up the spot with dirt, patted it down, then came inside to get my level.. and couldn't find nary a one.  I've got three levels, but when I need one, I can't find one.  Go figure.

Sometime after I'd given up looking, I remembered I'd put them into the shed, but by that time I was settled in watching Major Dad and didn't want to go get it.  I'll do it tomorrow, I told myself.  Yesterday. 

So, when I got home today, I got one of my levels, checked to see the dirt was level, then patted it all down again and gave it a good soaking to make sure it's good and settled.  Once it dries, I'll check again with the level and make any necessary adjustments before I put the bird bath into it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to leave that edging in place, or put something else around it.  Or just leave it off.

I don't know.  I'll figure it out later. 

One thing is for sure, I'm going to have to get me one of those gardening bench things...you know, the ones you can sit on to work in your yard.  Hang on, let me see if I can find a picture...

OK, I'm back.  I'm talking about one of these.  

You can sit on it, or turn it over and kneel on it.   

My back is getting too old for all of this bending over stuff.  

Heh, I remember seeing these things back in the day and thinking, "Boy, that's a great idea for old people."  Well, now I'm old people and I still think it's a great idea.  

Maybe I'll add one to my Christmas list.  Nah, who am I kidding?  I won't be able to wait that long.  I'll end up buying my own. 

Well, I'm off to knit and watch a few episodes of Major Dad.  You have a great evening, y'hear?

I Labored

I labored today, which is appropriate what with it being Labor Day and all.  

But first, let me just say I hate waiting on people.  Today was the day the scrap metal people were supposed to show up, but as of this writing there has been no sign of them.  Basically, I've been waiting all day, but I decided -- knowing how people can be -- that I was going to carry on with my plans as normal, and if they catch me with frizzy hair and no bra, then so be it.  However, I didn't drag out the roto-tiller, because I didn't want to be covered in mud if they should happen to come. 

And what exactly did I carry on with?  I've been making a start on cleaning out my shed.  That's why I have all this scrap metal in the first place, because the shed tends to be where I stuff junk to deal with later.  There really isn't all that much in it, but it's so unorganized and haphazard, I can hardly get into the aforementioned shed. There is a guy here who does that type of cleanup, and he's on the list of people I need to contact, but as I said yesterday, I can't multitask.  

I also made a start in putting out my Fall decorations, which means I hung one wreath.   

I'll get it all done eventually, right now I'm just not feeling it.  By the way, I only put this photo first because many of you won't click on a link if the thumbnail is ....a box of dirt. 

Women's size 9 croc knockoff included for scale.  

And where did all of that dirt come from?  Well, I'll tell you.  In cleaning out the shed, I found so many pots -- plant pots I mean -- that were cracked or otherwise unusable.  I rounded up all of those pots, plus several that were still in good shape, and dumped all of the potting soil into this box.  This is where my sifter things came in handy, because most of them had rocks in the bottom for drainage.  

I don't know if putting rocks in pots is strictly necessary, but my mother always did it, so I did it, too.  But then, my mother had such a black thumb she couldn't grow mold on month old spaghetti, so I might not do it in the future.   On the other hand, once I get my raised bed garden set up, I probably won't have too many plants in pots anyway.  I may give the other ones away, provided people actually show up to get them.  

Speaking of, I got the side pieces of one of my raised beds and laid them out beside the fence, just to see how it would fit.  

It looks like I'll be able to get three beds across that length of fence, once I get them all in place.  Well, bought first, then put into place.  I still need to level that spot out a bit more before I start putting beds together and all, which I would have done this morning, but....  

Did I mention I hate waiting for people?  Oh, and I have two stadium seats that have been waiting for ten days for someone to come pick them up, and I know by this time she's not coming, but I don't want to advertise them again because of the constant no-shows.  

But I digress....

Look what else I found when I was cleaning?  It's an old water bowl from one of the snake tanks.  

I filled it and put it beside the house for now, but it will eventually go into one of my raised beds, as will these:

One is an aquarium ornament cave, and the other came out of a snake tank.  I'm hoping they will attract toads to my garden, which will help keep the slugs down.  Eh, now that I look at it, I might not leave the aquarium ornament in my bed, though.  It's not quite the right look.  I'll figure it out when I start getting stuff in place. 

Another thing I found was some old garden edging, which I need for another project.  I noticed that the ground my birdbath is sitting on isn't quite level, so the birdbath leans a bit.  I'm going to take some of my red clay and level a spot for it.  I wanted to make a ring out of something, to contain the dirt.  

This old plastic edging proved to be just the trick.  Probably one afternoon this week, I'll move the birdbath, sift some rocks out of the dirt and fill the ring up.  

Speaking of sifting dirt, I finally finished filling in the first of the tire tracks the landscammer left,  

and started on the second.  

And I filled in the giant ruts left by the dump truck.  

Those will probably need some topping off before it's all said and done, but at least the lawnmower won't fall into giant holes next time I mow -- which I thought about doing today, but just didn't want to.  I'll have to mow at least one more time before it's all over, but the grass has already slowed down growing.  

By the time I was done with all of that, I was hot and sweaty, so I sat outside in the shade for a while, but had to come inside because of the unwanted attention of a very persistent fly.  I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Lost In Austen on Prime Video and knitting on the hat.  

And finally, just in case you're interested, here are all the people I need to contact.  

Is it any wonder I'm overwhelmed?  

Well, all good things must come to an end, and that includes my extra long weekend.  Yes, it's back to work tomorrow, and moreover, we're back to going in at 5:00 AM, so I guess this is good night for now.  

Except I'm not going to bed right now.  I'm just finishing up this blog post.  I'm going to finish watching this show and knit some more on the hat.  

Later, taters.

Ten Years

I just realized this morning when I was scrolling through my TimeHop app, it's been ten years to the day since I closed on this house.  It's kind of hard to believe I've been here for a whole decade, but it's true.  I'd hoped to be a lot further along in getting it fixed up, but I guess I was a bit naive about how long it would take to save up that amount of money. 

But, Becky, you may say, why didn't you just get that money when you took out your mortgage?  Because at the time, all I could think about was getting my monthly payments as low as possible.  We'd just come out of the recession of '09, in which the housing market had been hit especially hard -- and still hadn't fully recovered.  And my job is closely tied to the housing market. There were several years when were only working 32 hour weeks for about half of the year.  So that was still weighing heavily on my mind. 

That's part of it.  The other part is, now that I do have money and can pay for it, I just can't seem to get my act together.  I can't multi-task because I get overwhelmed if I have too much going on at once.  For example, I have someone supposedly coming tomorrow to pick up some scrap metal, and I don't feel like I can do anything else until that is marked off the list. I keep saying I'm going to hire a project manager, but I can't even get my act together to do that.  

OK, let's talk about something a bit more pleasant -- knitting.

Yes, like I said yesterday, I cast on a new hat last night while watching LSU beat Clemson and prove where the real Death Valley is. 

This is some old school Red Heart in the colorway Green Sage, and it is not so much of a joy to knit with.  But it's what I had on hand, and I'm trying to use up the stuff I have before buying more.  I think I might make a scrappy hat with the leftovers.  Maybe I'll try helix knitting again.  

I'd done a hat in that technique before, and did OK, but had some tension issues with my color changes.  That will improve with practice, but to be honest, I didn't really enjoy it.  The helix technique, I mean. Maybe I'll just do stripes.  I don't know.  We'll see.  At this point, I'm just winging it. 

In other news, I dragged my boxes of Fall decorations in from the shed, but haven't started putting any of them out yet.  I'm just not feeling it.  Maybe I'll do it tomorrow while I'm waiting to see if those scrap metal people show up.

On the other hand, look who did show up! 

Spider lilies!  

I've got spider lilies in the yard, football on the TV, and leaves starting to turn.  It's almost Autumn for sure. 

Hats Galore

So remember yesterday when I said I needed to mop the bathroom?  Yeah, after I posted, I did indeed mop the bathroom.  But wait, there's more.  

After I'd finished, I said to myself, "Self, you got a bucket of mop water.  Might as well mop the whole house."  And that's just what I did.  I'm telling ya, having a clean house...it may seem like an inconsequential thing, but it makes such a difference.  

Maybe it's just me, because I can't stand clutter and dirtiness, but my spirits were so lifted this morning when I got up.  Of course, that may have come from looking forward to an entire day of college football as well.  

One of the first things I did with my lifted spirits was to finish the last charity hat. 

No, not the last one ever, but the last one I was waiting on to wash and ship off this year's batch.  

It's not as many as in years past, but that's because I've spent time knitting hats for Christmas gifts for my family.  Which reminds me, I need to get those out and see how many more I need to finish before I give them.  I'm pretty sure it won't be this year, unless I decided to split them up.  I could send some to my brothers and their families, then do enough to send my sister's family some next year.  

Anyway, while I was watching three games -- Mississippi State, Texas, and Navy--

I washed the hats and printed out the labels.  And here they are.  All tagged up and ready to be stuffed into the giant envelope.  

As for the football, at least Navy won.  In fact, Navy hung half a hundred on VMI, but Arch Manning found out it takes more than a famous name to win ball games.  That being said, it was a defensive slug fest and Ohio State's defense was just a little bit better.

Oh, and Army lost.  To Tarleton State.  

Heh...

Now, I reckon I'd better go cast on a new charity hat.  For next year's batch.  

Laters.  

Twenty Years

I woke up disoriented this morning, not being able to remember if it was Saturday or Sunday.  Then it hit me.  It's only Friday, and my long weekend had just begun.  I know it'll fly by, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.  

I wish I had a more exciting post for you, but truth is, I didn't do much at all today.  I finished watching Band Of Brothers, then watched the Netflix documentary on hurricane Katrina.  It mostly focused on New Orleans, as usual.  People always forget the storm hit Mississippi as well.  

Oh, you can find documentaries on Mississippi, but they're mostly locally produced.  All the major media ones -- Netflix, National Geographic, and the like -- focus on New Orleans.  

I remember that day well.  They had us working all day at the plant, but my coworker's boyfriend was in the shipping department.  They had a radio on, and he came out and give us regular updates.  We knew when the roof blew off of the Superdome, and when the levees failed.  But they kept us there until 3:00 -- which was quitting time back in those days.  We worked a 7-3 shift.

The shift finally ended and I came home to find that the schools had let out at 1:00, so Cody was already home.  That little stinker was outside playing in the yard,  yes, during a hurricane.  He came bopping up to the car and announced, "Mama!  A branch fell out of a tree and nearly hit me in the head!"

"What-choo doing out in the yard during a hurricane, boy??  Get your but in that house right now!"  

Just to be on the safe side, we spent the night at Beverly and James' house, because the storm was still packing quite the punch even this far inland.  I don't remember if the kids had to go back to school the next day, but I do remember we had to go back to work.  They let us go home after only half a shift, though.  Someone said it was because the roads were so damaged that many of our purchased parts and supplies -- like steel and aluminum -- couldn't get through.   I don't know for sure, though.  

In other news, my back feels much, much better, but I didn't really work all that much out in the yard, mostly because we got quite a bit of rain yesterday and the red clay needs to dry out some.  It was a nice, sunny day and didn't get out of the 80s once again.    It felt so Fall-ish that I put my wreath up on the front door. 

I usually put my Fall decorations out over Labor Day weekend anyway, and I'll probably start with the rest tomorrow.  While watching the football games. 

Now for a bit of serendipity, several weeks ago, I was in the check out line at Walmart, and someone had changed his mind and put this up onto the candy rack.  

I saw it sitting there, and on impulse, I picked it up and added it to my  stuff.  Well, today I made a hamburger with this stuff to season the meat, and I do have to say, that's one of the best impulse purchases I've ever made.  Boy howdy that burger was good!  

And finally, I got another pleasant surprise this morning when I checked my fasting glucose.  I expected it to be high because I'd eaten two of those Little Debbie cakes yesterday -- one of each flavor.  Much to my surprise, it was only 99.  

That's all I have for now, because I'm sure you don't want to hear about my laundry and other housework.  Which reminds me, I still need to mop my bathroom.  I guess I'd better get to it, then. 

Laters.

P. S. I really need to come up with a clever and witty sign off for blog posts.  I'm open to suggestions.  

It’s Fall!!

Well, no, not officially.  But Meteorological Fall starts Monday, and my weekend starts today, so it's close enough for me!  Not only that, it's a chilly, rainy day and it actually feels like Fall. It didn't even get out of the 60s.  

I'd originally thought I'd come home this evening and mow, but since it has rained all day long, those plans changed.  Instead, I went to the store after work to get that chore out of the way, and I can neither confirm nor deny that a bag of Autumn Mix followed me home. 

OK, I suppose I can't deny it, because that's obviously my chair they're sitting on.  Which means, I guess, that I'll have to confess to splurging on these as well. 

You know they say that the less sugar you eat, the less you want, and it's definitely true.  I've eaten one of each, and they are way to sweet for my current tastes.  Right now, I don't even want to eat any more, where two years ago, I'd have eaten half of the box of the Oatmeal Creme Pies by now. 

And what better way to usher in Fall than with some new wax melts.  

Oh, and another sure sign of fall, I've bought the first Christmas gift.  Fuzzy slipper socks.  

I've had them in my shopping cart for ages, then Amazon put them on sale, so I picked up two -- one for me, and one for Brennan.  Since I was already shopping, I tried again with my fairy house, and this time, I got the right item.

Look!  Isn't it cute?

And look at this!  It lights up!  

It's got a little solar panel in the roof, so you never have to worry about batteries or anything.  I'm getting anxious to get started on my fairy garden now, but I think I'll probably take it easy for a few more days.  My back is much better than it was yesterday, but it's still pretty sore.  In fact, I thought about buying another gallon of stain today, but decided against it.  I'll give it another week before I do any more painting, but even so, I won't be doing so much at once, because I won't feel like there's a time crunch. 

Not that there is, other than me being eager to get my raised beds into place.  

And finally, nice try Mr. Philippine scammer, but I don't even have a Coinbase account. 

In fact, I don't even know what Coinbase is!  So there!  

Ha!

Overdid It

I think I overdid things these last few days.  My back hurts so bad -- so bad I couldn't sleep last night.  I think I got about 2 hours, and even when sleeping I could still feel the muscle spasms so it wasn't a good, deep sleep.  Yes, I tried everything I could think of to relive my pain.  I took Tylenol, I used muscle cream, I tried stretching and massaging, I put on one of those lidocaine patches.  Nothing worked.  I was in agony all night long. 

Then, all day at work, every time I moved my arm wrong, another spasm.  They were so bad at one point, I seriously thought about clocking out and coming home.  I didn't, though.  I toughed it out and finished the work day.

After I got home, I didn't do anything.  Well, I did my few little outside chores -- watering the plants, checking the feeders, scattering corn for the deer and whatever else eats corn.  Then I came inside and sat with a heating pad on my back for the rest of the day.  Except for the hot shower I took. 

I have to remember that I'm not 20 any more.  That's the thing about getting older.  I still feel 20 on the inside, until I try to act 20 and my 60 year old body says, "Not so fast."  

While I was cuddling the heating pad, I knocked another item off of my agenda.  I enrolled my 401(k) into a managed account.  You know, the one where you pay the company to manage your money for a fee which is a percentage of the money they make for you.   I'd been wanting to do it for a while, because I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm getting too close to retirement to cover my eyes and hope for the best.

I probably should have done it from the beginning, but I wanted to be a cheapskate.  What prompted this sudden change?  I got my social security statement yesterday, and realized I would not have enough money to live the way I want to in my retirement.  I've never been a real big spender, but I do want to travel.  

My dream vacation is to take an American history tour and visit places like Lexington and Concord, Independence Hall, Mount Vernon and Monticello, Boston, the Plymouth Colony, and all of the important sites in our nation's history.  I want to see the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Yosemite, and Yellowstone.  I want to go back to The Alamo, and to go visit my sister in Alaska.  

I would love to take one of those train tours.  I think that would be so fun!  Anyone want to come with? 

Besides that, I want to get this house fixed up, and my ultimate dream is to move back home to Texas.  That may end up being a pipe dream, though, because I don't want to be so far away from Cody.  On the other hand, I only see him two or three times a year anyway, even though he's two hours down the road from me...

In other news,  Stalker is getting himself in trouble out at work.  Not with management, mind you, just with everyone else.  I swan the management has blinders on when it comes to him and to Inspector Gadget as well, for that matter.  

Seriously, if you don't want them in the front office and prototype shop, what on earth makes you think we want them out there with us?  

Anyway, we have a brand new brazing trainee in the department.  I mean, like he's been brazing for less than two weeks.  Yesterday, Stalker went over to his stand and started getting in trainee's face telling him his headers were no good, and that he was burning them.  I didn't hear him personally, but the brazer who works right beside the trainee told what Stalker had said, saying "There is no reason to talk to someone like that!"  

Today, Stalker was over there again, and the brazing trainer was standing over near me. I told her, "Stalker yelled at him yesterday." 

"I know," the trainer replied, "That's why I'm over here.  I was so mad, if I go over there, I'm going to say something."  

She wasn't wrong.  I mean, the guy had made a rookie mistake, but he's doing really well for someone brand new to brazing.  I think Stalker was just trying to flex on the guy, but all he did was make himself look like...well, himself.  

And finally, here is hat progress, because photos always get more attention than just links.   

Now, I think I'll go get something to eat.  Don't know what yet, but it'll be something. 

Laters.

New Name

Supervisor Maxwell has a new nickname, and the way that happened is as follows.  

Ever since he took over the department, he's been called many things -- most of them not so nice.    Now, one of the things we sometimes call him is Michael Myers, after the guy from those horror films, because of the way he just stands there and stares.  It's downright creepy.  But today he got a new one that I can share with you.

There I was at work, just a working away, when I saw Supervisor Maxwell over in the area where we put our finished work.  He often goes over there and picks through the headers, looking for something he can write somebody up for.  Off in the distance, that is, right next to me, I hear a brazer say, "There goes Inspector Gadget at it again!"  

And I spent the day with the theme from Inspector Gadget stuck in my head. 

At least until it was replaced by The Scotsman Song.  

I suppose it could have been worse....

Speaking of work, they have us coming in at 6:00 now, and I hate going in at 6:00.  The parking lot is full and the ice machines are empty.  Moreover, you have to deal with the indignity of having the security guard inspect your lunch -- you know, just in case you are trying to sneak a weapon into the plant hidden inside your cottage cheese.  

On the other hand, I do enjoy sleeping that extra hour -- and I needed it this morning.  I did not sleep well at all Sunday night.  I lay there in bed thinking about that landscammer and what he'd done to my yard...and I know, I know, you're thinking, "Just get over it already!"  But I can't.  Every time I look out in my back yard and see the wreck he made of it, I get heartbroken all over.  

Maybe if I didn't have to see it every single day...But I was thinking, doing this myself with my roto tiller and wheelbarrow will take forever.  I may have to try to hire someone to come fix it -- and that brings its own set of risks, mainly that of being ripped off yet again.  

I don't know what it is about me, but I seem to invite scammers and con artists.  I feel like being a single woman has a great deal to do with it, but surely there is someone honest left in this world. 

In other news, the cold front came through this morning and we are now in False Fall.  It never got out of the 70s and it felt wonderful to spend an entire work day not sweating to death.   It won't last long, though.  We're supposed to be back up into the 90s by the end of next week.  Ah, well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts. 

And while it last, it'll be good knitting weather.  I'm loving how this latest hat is working up. 

And finally, while I was watering the baby grass, I managed to aggravate a very annoyed cicada. 

 And he let me know in no uncertain terms how upset he was.  Them buggers are loud.  

Yes, Another One

I'll tell you one thing, working hard makes you sleep good.  

That was probably the best night's sleep I've had in a long time.  That's what a good day's honest work gets you, and I'm talking about honest work -- not that stress filled frustrating mess we do out in that toxic plant I work in. 

So, other than watering my baby grass and filling the hummingbird feeders, and piddling just a bit in the yard, I pretty much took it easy today, other than finishing the hat I was working on, 

and casting on another one. 

This is the third and last skein of I Love This Yarn, and it goes by the rather unimaginative name of Green/Turquoise/Red.  

By the way, I've been watching Call The Midwife on Netflix, and I had completely forgotten about Jane.  Now I'm wondering what else I've forgotten from the first few seasons.  I've also been watching Band Of Brothers, and was pleasantly surprised to find the guy who plays Peter -- Chummy's husband -- is also in that.  As is Damien Lewis, and I'll watch anything with Damien Lewis in it.  

In other news, as you know, my twentieth blogiversary is coming up in November, and I've been thinking about it quite a bit.  About how much things have changed since I started -- and I'm not just talking about the blogging community.  

I'm talking about the world in general, and myself in particular.  I've never been particularly political on this blog, but back when I started, I felt we could have honest discussions about different world topics.  Nowadays, people have gotten so nasty and vicious, I don't even want to bring up current events.  I just don't have it in me to deal with the drama.  

Meaning, I don't want to deal with the drama.  Even from the so-called conservative side.   If you don't toe their line, you get called all kinds of names and told you're a mindless sheep.  But those people who mindlessly believe the memes and Rumble videos without verifying anything whatsoever are the real sheep.    

Oh, have you heard the latest kookoo bird conspiracy theory that's going around?  That Bill Gates was on Epstein island cloning thousands of human babies, and the whole pedophilia thing was just the cover story.  Indeed humans have been being cloned since 1854.  Yep, I saw those from two different people on social media just today, but don't you dare ask them for evidence!  We don't need no stinking evidence!  They're right just because they say so! 

Anyway, all of that is compounded by my own increasing reluctance to share my thoughts and feelings the way I used to.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.  Maybe it's because I no longer have family around and am feeling more and more isolated.  Maybe I've just decided that no one really cares any more. 

It's not just politics or serious topics.  It's the happy thoughts and good times, it's getting more and more difficult for me to share them on the blog.  Oh, I can mentally compose wonderfully thought provoking posts in my head, but when I sit down to type them out, I don't know.  It's just so hard.  Even typing this much out has been difficult for me.   

Well, I don't know where I'm going with this, but I do know it's almost time for me to go to bed.  It's back to work in the morning. 

Goodnight, Gentle Reader -- those of you who have made it this far.