It Is Finished!

 It is finally finished!

We had our annual inventory at the plant yesterday.  My favorite day of the year.  Oh, you should have heard the whining and grumbling and complaining... but enough about me. 

Seriously, though, it always blows my mind how they refuse to let people inventory the areas they work in.  I work in sub brazing, and they had me working in sheet metal.  I don't know anything about sheet metal -- neither did anyone else who was doing inventory in sheet metal, because they all came from different places in the plant.  And I mean, places that aren't sheet metal.  Even the "chieftain"  didn't work in that area.  You would think they'd at least get someone from the area to be the one responsible for the area, but nooooo.  He was as lost as the rest of us.  I don't blame him.  I blame the people who just throw us out there with a bare minimum of training, but then get so nit picky about the way they want things done. 

Then there is how unorganized the whole mess is.  Back in the day, they'd spend several days doing inventory prep -- you know, things like organizing all the parts, making sure the same parts are all together, making sure each area had a working scale and someone who knew how to use it -- that sort of thing.  Not any more. 

Heck, they don't even teach the people filling out the cards how to do it apparently.  This one girl from second shift wasn't even filling out half the required fields -- one of which was the unit of measure.  There are six options, such as pounds, each, gallons, etc.  We have to circle the one unit each part or component is measured with.  The vast majority of what we count out there is counted as an "each".  So, someone pointed out to this second shift person that she wasn't circling the unit of measure, so she just started circling all of them -- on the same form.  She had a lot of corrections to make.  

It's all very frustrating, but nothing lasts forever and at long last, the day finally ended. 

What?  Did you think I was talking about something else? 

Something like....Square #2

and square #1

of the blanket?  Yes!  It is finished!  After all these years, the blanket is finally finished.

Oh, I've still got to weave in the rest of the ends and decide if I want to put some sort of border on it, but the knitting part is done. 

I'm not quite sure what to do with my life now....

I've got two more of these kinds of blankets on the needles, but they won't take nearly as long to finish, since I won't stubbornly insist on never re-using the same yarn.  

In other news, I'd thought about running up to Lowe's in Batesville tomorrow and picking up some top soil to fill in the spot where the plumber fixed my sewer line, but while I was in Walmart this morning, on a whim, I decided to check their garden center to see if they had any.  Lo and behold they did!  

I picked up a couple of bags and went ahead and spread it, since it's supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow.  

Now that I don't have a two inch gap in my sewer line, it won't be washing away, and I'll finally be able to get that hole filled in. 

 It's the little things.

Now that I've gotten my plumbing fixed and right this time, I'm thinking about finally getting my patio re-done.  The first plumber had torn it up to replace the sewer line, and I've procrastinated getting a new one poured ever since.  A while back, I'd even bought a mold you can use with Quick-crete, but even so, I just never got around to it.  

 Now that I've got some bills paid off and a little bit put by in my savings, maybe I can finally get around to it. 

Wish me luck. 

Insomnia

 Last night was one of those nights when I simply could not sleep.  I don't know what was going on, but no matter how long I lay there, not matter how much I tossed and turned, sleep would not come. I'm pretty sure it was after midnight before I finally dropped off. 

Considering I get up at 4:30 -- yes, that is ante meridian -- as you can imagine, I'm a might tuckered today.  

Anyway, while I was laying there in the throes of insomnia, I thought about my telescope.  And fretted.  I was so excited to get it, and it's pretty much been a disappointment so far.  Oh, the scope itself is OK, but ... well, it's got issues.  

You know about the broken battery pack that they wanted $40 to replace, but the other problem with it is the app.  That is the only way to control the scope, as attempting to move it by hand could damage the motor.  But the app is nearly impossible to align to the scope.  In the year I've had it, I've only been successful one time, and you have to re-align the stupid thing every time you move the telescope.  Even worse, if you get frustrated and give up and try again later, you can't just exit the app and start over.  The app stays stuck where you left off.  The only way I've found to start over is to completely delete the ap and re-install it on your device.  

So, I was thinking, my telescope has a couple of auxiliary ports on it. 

I thought if I could find a manual controller that could be plugged into one of those ports, I could dispense with the app altogether. Grabbing my phone, I opened my Amazon app and began looking for one.  I was intending to find one that just moved the motor, with nothing more than up/down/left/right buttons, but the only thing I found was a computerized controller that cost like $250.  I'll have to look into it more and see what it's all about, but for now, we're going to have to pass on that, at least until the overtime starts back up.  I'm going to keep looking around, though.  I might have better luck, not in the middle of the night...

In my search, however, I found a lithium battery for Celestron telescopes.  I added it to my shopping cart, but haven't ordered it yet, as it's a bit pricy itself.  I know I just ordered the ac adapter, but with a battery of some sort, I won't be tied to the length of my extension cord, you know, if I ever managed to leave the house and go somewhere with less light pollution.  Still, between the price of replacing the battery holder, and constantly replacing the batteries, I think that lithium one might eventually pay for itself over time.  

In other news, tomorrow is inventory day at work, so I'm going to bed a bit early tonight.  OK, I say that, but by the time I actually get to bed, it'll be the usual time.  But before I go, I wanted to show you the next blanket square.

Square #3

Only two more to go!  

Well, Poop!

It would seem there was quite the kerfuffle in the plant Saturday, and wouldn't you know it, I missed the whole thing because I was off on a vacation day I'd scheduled months in advance. 

Before I get into all that, let me give you the back story.  As most of you know, I work in a facility that manufactures evaporator coils for home air conditioning units.  My job is to braze the header/manifold assemblies together. 

Here is an example of the type of coils we make.  Note:  This is not one of our units, but a photo I found on the internet of a similar product.   

That copper tube up at the top with all the smaller tubes sticking out if it is the header/manifold assembly.  Also note:  Header = manifold = two different names for the same part.  Also also note:  There is no way on God's green earth I would send something with brazing as bad as that to the assembly areas.  I take pride in my work, and for what it's worth, I enjoy the actual work that I do.  It's the toxic environment I have to work in that I hate. But that's a different story for a different day.

Our plant is divided into two big rooms -- the assembly area and the component area.  I work in the component area.  We make all the different parts for the coils -- each department being responsible for a particular part -- then send them back to the assembly area for...well, for assembly.  

Now that I've set the stage, on to my story. 

There is this one supervisor back in the assembly area who seems to think the sub brazing department is her own personal convenience store.  Any time she is short handed, she comes up and says, "I'll take her, and her, and her, and her," pointing to the brazers she wants.  It isn't always for brazing positions, either.  She'll come move a sub brazer to put on panels, or screw in drain pans, or whatever else she needs.  She's done it for years, and we've always had to give her what she wants.  

"We've got to get these units down the line," they'll say.  "You aren't sending any units down the line without a header on it," is my reply -- a plea which goes unheeded.  So any time she whimpers, we have to move, then they'll turn around and complain that they don't have any headers.  Sorry, you ain't getting any sympathy from me.  I mean, what did you think would happen?  

Lately, the powers that be have been complaining that the sub brazers aren't getting our numbers, so Supervisor got us all together and told us we haven't been getting our numbers and we need to work harder. Apparently, my face forgot to use its inside voice, because he looked at me and said, "Did you hear what I said?  You're looking like..."

I said, "How are we supposed to get our numbers when you keep moving us out of the department? We can't braze if we aren't here!"  I then pointed out another problem, which is bad parts and incomplete orders.  The first three orders I set up on this morning, two of them had something wrong with them. One of them had a part made incorrectly, and the other one -- a four piece order, only had three headers in it.  Seriously?  My dog can count to four!  I told supervisor that when I'm over in tubing reordering parts that were made incorrectly, or that I didn't have enough of to complete my order, I'm not here brazing.  

I won't go into all the ins and outs of that conversation, but basically I explained to him that the more of tubing's job I have to do, the less time I have to do my own.  

After he walked off, my brazing neighbor told me what had happened Saturday.  She said our supervisor and the assembly line supervisor got into a literal shouting match, going at it over her constantly wanting to come get brazers and move them to the line.  She said they were standing right over there (pointing) screaming at each other.  Then she told me the assembly line supervisor went and got the production manager over the assembly area and he said that yes, we have to give them whoever they want any time they ask for someone.  Then our supervisor went and got the production manager over the component areas and he said that no we did NOT have to give them whoever they want and that was that. 

According to my friend, the assembly line supervisor was livid.  She is so used to getting her way all the time, and this is the first time anyone has ever stood up to her.  The production manager was angry, too, but he wasn't as furious as the supervisor.  My friend said she started to video the whole thing and send it to me.  I told her, "Oh, I wish you had!  I would have loved to see that!"  

But no, I miss all the good stuff.  Hey, I'm just glad we finally have someone who will stand up for us. 

In other, less exciting news, my lawnmower part arrived.  I ran straight out to my shed to see if it fit, and glory be, it did, like a glove. 

I didn't even change clothes, but immediately mowed my yard.  OK, I fed the dog first, then mowed.  As you can see, my grass desperately needed cutting, and I wanted to get it done before the next round of storms hits tomorrow. 

Speaking of storms, I have one coworker who is terrified of them, so I gave her a heads up.  I said, "They're supposed to hit during the work day, so we'll take care of you."  

When she's at home and a storm hits, she gets so scared, she goes to the Emergency Room and waits it out there.   I told her to check with her county EMA office to see if they have a safe room where she lives.  

Heh, she told me one time she'd hurt her hand and went to the ER to get it checked out, and they were surprised to see her, since it wasn't raining.   

And finally, what with all that went on today, I only have one blanket square to show you, and here it is.

Square #4

Only three more to go!  

More Squares

There isn't really much to talk about, since I didn't do anything else but watch football and knit blanket squares.  I got these done since lase we spoke.

Square #9

Square #8

Square #7

Square #6

I think I must be getting just a bit burned out, because I only knit this one today. 

Square #5

But I'm so close to being done, I don't want to stop now. 

Earlier this year, I cut off one of my streaming services, Frndly TV.  It's got lots of family friendly channels, including like five Hallmark channels, UPtv, INSP, and Great American Family channel, among others.  The main reason I'd gotten it in the first place was so I could watch my cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies, since none of the Hallmark channels are in my Hulu package.

Frendly is a pretty good deal.  I mean, it's not extremely expensive, but when things started getting tight budget wise, I decided to cut it off.  I couldn't see paying for a service I only watch for 3 months out of the year.  I'd said I was just going to stick with watching Lifetime cheesy Christmas movies this year, since I already get Lifetime with my Hulu plan.  However, when Countdown To Christmas started this weekend, I just couldn't help myself.  I signed back up.  

This time around, though, I'm paying monthly, so I'll cut it off after the New Year movies come out.  

All that to say, cheesy Christmas movies are great to knit to, so I'm off to cast on another square.  

Laters

Squares!

Here we go!  

Blanket square #12

Square #11

And square #10

Nine more to go.  I have so much stuff I need to be doing, but not going to do any of it.  I'm just going to sit here and knit squares and watch TV. 

In other news, I think I found the part I need to fix my lawnmower.  It's from a newer model, but it looks exactly like the one that goes to my mower.  Same brand.  Same 21" mower deck.  Just a different year. It was only $30 instead of $97, so I took a chance and ordered it.  Hopefully it will fit.  I really need to get my grass knocked down one last time before winter. 

Speaking of winter, it is supposed to warm back up for the next couple of weeks, but it was chilly enough this morning for a nice little fire -- the first one of the year.  I didn't actually use any real firewood, just a bunch of the smaller stuff the storms last week knocked down, but it was enough to knock the chill out of the house.  

Once it had warmed up a bit, I dragged out the old pressure washer and knocked the moss off of my back steps, then moved my houseplants back outside until the next freeze.  One of my friends suggested I spray my bricks down really well with salt water to prevent the moss from coming back, so I did that, too.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Other than that, not much else went on today.  I just piddled around a bit.  Moved some more stuff from the craft room to the cabinet.  Tidied up my shed a bit. You know, just everyday household chores.  

Oh, and I plugged in my telescope using the AC adapted I bought to replace the broken battery pack they wanted $40 to replace.  And it was just a holder.  I still had to buy batteries myself.  But that's not the point.  The point is, the telescope came on and I might just take it out for a run later tonight.  

But for now, I'm going to cast on another blanket square.  

A Good Intrigue

As the old saying goes, I do so love a good intrigue.

I got to work bright and early this morning and the plant was all abuzz with the latest gossip.  Word is, they'd walked The Big Man Up Front out yesterday evening.  Now for those of you unfamiliar with the plant vernacular, to walk someone out means the person was fired. The one who told me said, "I don't know for sure.  That's just a rumor, and you know how the rumor mill is out here."  

A few minutes later, I saw one of the supervisors walking by, so I called out to him, "Hey Jeramy!  Is it true?"  He replied, "Yes, it's true!"  They didn't say why, but I always knew he wouldn't be out there very long.  Apparently, he didn't realize there is more to running a plant than complaining that the parts are stacked in the wrong place, and checking the garbage cans for candy wrappers and Coke bottles.  Word also is, they let our supervisor go, too.  I don't know about that one, because someone else said he's just on vacation and will be back Monday.  I guess we'll find out next week. 

After that, the work day proceeded as usual...until Group Leader Shark came around and told us all to go home at 8:00.  She didn't say why, but someone told me the air compressors are messed up, and since everything out there runs on pneumatic pressure, none of the machines would run.  We couldn't do anything productive, so the powers that be decided to send everyone home for the day.  At least, I hope that's what it is.  I remember the last recession, during which we worked 32 hour weeks for at least part of the year for nine years.  I don't think I can go through that again.  

So, what did I do on my unexpected day off?  Well, the first thing I did was to get my plumbing fixed!  Yep, about an hour after I got home, the plumber showed up and replaced about a four foot long section of PVC that had collapsed. 

For reference, here is the before photo.  If you look carefully, you can see about an inch wide gap between the two pipes. 

It would seem the first plumber -- the one who'd replaced that sewer line back in 2015 -- hadn't replaced all the sewer line.  He'd left a little bit of the old thin wall, which had collapsed cracked.  That's how the mud was getting in and causing everything to back up/overflow.  It has now been replaced with quality stuff, and I shouldn't have any more trouble out of it.  Best of all, I have a yard without a giant hole in it!

Oh, I'm sure that dirt will compress some the next time it rains, but I will eventually be able to build it up and level it out.  

I think once my savings account has recovered from all the spending I've been doing lately, I'll get a load of fill dirt delivered and take care of these low spots all over the yard.  

Once that was taken care of and the plumber had gone to his next job, I spent the rest of the day watching TV, adding squares to my blanket, and thinking of all the stuff I should be doing instead of sitting there watching TV and adding squares to my blanket, but wasn't doing because I was sitting there watching TV and adding squares to my blanket. 

Speaking of the blanket, I'm so close to being finished, I can almost taste it. I'd decided to make it about the same size as this throw. 

I'm thinking probably just two more full rows, and I can call this one complete.  

Last night, I was so tired, I went to bed at 7:00.  I'm thinking I might just do to bed that early tonight, too.  But first, I'm going to take a nice, long, long hot shower and not worry one whit about overflowing my sewer.  

Laters.  

Surprise Parcel #1

 It all began a few days ago, when I somewhat in jest posted the following on Facebook.

I didn't really think anyone would take me seriously, but when I got home from work this afternoon, what was waiting for me in my carport but a surprise parcel!  

Oooh!  I got a surprise parcel.  Oh, wait....now I have to film myself opening it.  I'm going to have to re-think this whole YouTube channel thing...

Well, dang.  I guess since I said it, I'm going to have to go through it.  So, I set up my phone and got to it.

As you can see, it wasn't a surprise after all.  It was the yarn I'd ordered for my sock yarn blanket. I'd mentioned a few days ago that I needed just a bit more striping yarn to finish it off, and lo and behold, Knit Picks had a bundle of Felici on sale.  I ordered it, then in all the hoopla about my plumbing and the company picnic, and the kids visiting, I'd completely forgotten about it.  

So it was sort of a surprise in a way.  But anyway, here is the yarn that was in the box. 

As a bonus, they threw in a project bag with instructions on how to Kitchener.  

That'll come in handy, because even though I know the Kitchener stitch, I can't ever remember how to set it up and get started.  I have to look it up every time.  

And as promised, here is the photo of the almost completed blanket. 

I also have two more blankets in the works, so that yarn will definitely come in handy.  No, I'm not a glutton for punishment.  These little mitered squares are so fun to make, and work up fairly quickly, so I get that sense of instant gratification.  Plus, they're a good way to use up leftover yarn, and can be made in any weight.  OK, I don't think I'd try to make one in lace weight, but you get the idea. 

Now, if anyone wants to send me a real surprise parcel for real...

P.S. Now that I've broken the ice, maybe I'll finally get that recording of me practicing the piano done.  

I'll Add A Real Title Later

I don't know about you, but it seems to get harder and harder coming up with original and engaging titles for my posts.  And judging by my post counts, the ones I do come up with aren't that engaging anyway.  But I am thankful for the ones of you who do come here and read. 

Let me begin by saying, I'm feeling much much better today.  My nose is still a bit stuffy, but the sinus pressure is gone.  I'm also still coughing, but that is usually the last thing to clear up.  My heart is racing, but that might be more because of the Cowboys game than any illness I may have picked up.  

Anyone been around long enough to remember when I was a sports writer?  Man, I could write the best posts about football games...until I couldn't.  It was so weird.  Usually even before the game ended, the post was writing itself in my head, then one day, it just stopped.  The words didn't come any more.  If you're interested, you can click on the labels in the right side bar and read them.  

I got aggravated, too, because I used to use a service called PicApp, where you could hotlink photos for blogs and news articles, etc.  It was completely free...until it wasn't.  One day they announced that they would be charging a membership fee to use the app, but don't worry, any photos you had already linked would stay on your site....until they didn't.  Yep, suddenly and without warning, all the photos I'd hotlinked were gone.  

The same thing happened with another photo storage site I'd used called Webshots.  That was a really cool site...until it wasn't.  They offered an app where you could download photos for your screensaver and background, and you could also use it to upload and store your own photos.  I liked the site so much, I even got the paid for version.  Then suddenly and without warning, they announced they were shutting down the site.  They offered to send you all the photos you'd uploaded in a zip file, but all the hotlinks I'd used in the blog were suddenly dead.  And I'd used a lot, since back then, Blogger limited how many photos you could upload to their site.  

Sometime later, they put the site back up, but my photos were all still gone.   They suggested trying The Wayback Machine, but I can't remember my username.  Anyway, I had over 10,000 photos stored on that site, and now they're gone.  I have the downloads on an external hard drive somewhere, but for some reason, I can't get the files to open.  It was all very aggravating.  

OK, that was not at all what I'd intended to talk about today, so let's move on.

My knitting mojo seems to have taken a bit of a vacation here lately.  I have that one blue scarf that I've been working on for it seems like forever, but I'm kind of tired of it.  I'm taking a bit of a break, so I went into my yarn closet and dug this skein out.   

This is some that had belonged to my dear friend Suzy, and I wanted to make something special with it.  Something for me to keep.  I didn't know what to make, though.  I decided to go ahead and wind it into a cake, but I was a bit dismayed to discover two breaks in the hank. I ended up with three small cakes instead.

Now, I don't know if Suzy had already divided it up for something she had planned, or if it came that way.  Madelinetosh is supposed to be pretty high end yarn, so that would be really upsetting if they'd sold it this way.  I've already knit a square into my blanket, 

and now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of it.  

While I was recovering from my epizoodies and watching football, I added a few more squares with some of the new yarn I bought at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  

I laid it out and compared it to some of the store bought throws I have, and I think only two more full rows -- after I complete the row I'm working on now -- and this one will be done!  At long last it'll be finished.  The conundrum is, I probably have enough yarn to finish, but it's all variegated.  I'd like a few more striped blocks in there, too, for variety.  

It'll almost feel weird to be finished with this blanket.  I started it in late January 2009, and have the blog post to prove it.  But not to worry, I still have two more I'm working on!  

Have I lost my mind or what? 

Friendship Blanket

As all y'all know, I'm making a blankie out of leftover bits of sock yarn. It's going to be a great blankie. But the drawback is that to make a blankie of any decent size will take a tremendous amount of sock yarn. Buying individual skeins of yarn just to make a blankie square is cost prohibitive, and I don't knit socks fast enough to use just my own leftovers. Good thing I've got friends.

The good thing about having friends is that sometimes they will up and send you sock yarn leftovers totally out of the blue.

One day last week, when the side effects of my steroids were really kicking my tail, and I was feeling at my worst, these little gems arrived from my dear friend Sus .

She apologized that it wasn't much, but that doesn't matter. It's not the amount, it's the thought. She cared enough to send me a little bit of yarn for my blankie. Now, it's like I will have a little bit of her in there.

This truly is becoming a friendship blanket. So many people have offered to send me yarn, and each bit of yarn I knit into the blanket will remind me of the person who sent it to me. Every time I wrap myself in it, it'll be like wrapping myself in the hugs of those who care about me.

All this yarn arrived today from a swap I participated in. I'm glad to get it. It will make a valuable addition to my blanket.

But you know what? The four little bits of yarn that arrived unsolicited --from a friend who sent them just because she cares--they mean a whole lot more to me.

Thank you, Sus.

.