Worried Over Nothing

Well, this was the big weekend.  My son finally brought home a girlfriend for me to meet.  I was surprisingly nervous about this -- imagining the worse scenarios possible.  What if she didn't like me?  Or worse, what if I didn't like her?  It's obvious Cody is very much in love with her, so what would I do then?  

Turns out all my worrying was -- as it so often is -- much ado about nothing, because she is absolutely precious.  She was pretty quiet at first, but Cody told me that was because she was nervous.  "She normally talks more than this, but she's nervous," he said.  I assured her that we're just ordinary people here, and she soon relaxed a bit.

They got here right about lunch time, so we took Brennan on a little tour around down, starting with a trip across the levee.  We thought about going to the visitor's center, but it was closed due to COVID, so we didn't.  We pulled into the little picnic area right beside it, got out and looked at the water.  I mentioned if it hadn't been rainy, we could have gotten our food and had on a picnic. 

But we still showed her around -- the boat landing, and the little beach I used to take Cody to when he was young.  Somewhere in the conversation, I asked if she was an outdoorsy person.  She said, "I'm from Memphis, so no."  Naturally, all that did was make me want to take her home to Texas and show her the swamps, and bayous, and woods I grew up in.  

After we'd gotten our lunch, we went home and started watching cheesy Hallmark romance movies, but ended up switching to Firefly when Cody told me she'd never watched it.  I asked him if he wanted to start at the beginning, but he said skip straight to the cunning hat episode, so we did.  And of course, I told her she couldn't be one of us unless she had a Jayne hat.  

I don't think she really liked it, but she was a good sport and put it on.  At least long enough for me to get a picture.  

After that, Cody wanted to watch It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  Can you believe she'd never seen it?  That blew my mind!  How on earth do you grow up in the United States Of America without ever seeing Great Pumpkin?  Now, I'm wondering if she'd ever seen A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I get the feeling she's been pretty sheltered, but I didn't ask her too many questions.  She was already nervous about meeting me.  I didn't want her to feel like I was giving her the third degree.  

But I feel like we've got a whole new world we can show her.  

All in all, it was a nice visit.  But the weirdest part of the whole day was this...when I first woke up, this song was running through my head. 

I have no idea what they're saying, though, because it's in Irish.  If you couldn't tell...

And finally, I lost another acquaintance to COVID.  He'd worked out at the plant several years ago --  I think he was in IT, but I don't remember for sure.  I do remember he was a really nice man.  I hadn't seen him in years, but I'm still very sad to hear of his passing.  

Someone told me his wife, who still works out there with us, also tested positive, but I don't know for sure.  

Just keep the family in your prayers, if you would.  I know they'd appreciate it. 

'Murica Week

God bless The Boss Who Must Not Be Named!  They announced today that we will have all weekend off!  It's so nice to have a boss who will fight for his employees!  We haven't had that in a long, long time.  And see, when you know your boss has your back, you'll do anything in the world for him.

Let me tell you a story of the last good boss we had.

His name was Scott Reid, and he was the Boss Hoss of the plant some years ago.  Now, back in those days, we had a truck that came around every so often selling shoes.  We called it the Shoe-mobile.  The plant covered a certain percentage of the cost, and they deducted the rest out of your paycheck.  Very simple.  Very easy.

As it happened, that morning the shoe-mobile was at the plant, I went out to get me some new work shoes.  I browsed the selections, picked out a pair, and gave them to the Shoe-mobile man.  He started filling out the form that he turns in, when I noticed he'd put the name of the temp agency they used at time, Ablest, instead of the company name.

I said, "Oh, I'm not Ablest.  I'm ADP."

He replied, "I went to ADP yesterday."

"No, this is ADP,"  I told him.

He said, "I went to ADP yesterday!  Where is your supervisor?"

"He's in the plant, getting ready to start the shift,"  I said.

Well, he just went bat guano crazy, yelling and hollering that he'd gone to ADP yesterday, not even trying to listen when I told him he was at ADP.  Finally, he said -- screamed, rather, "I want to talk to your supervisor!"

"FINE!"  I said.  "I'll go get him."

I went back inside the plant, intending to get the shift supervisor.  About halfway up the aisle, I thought better of it, and said, "No, I'm going to the front office."  I intended to get the person in charge of health and safety, but she wasn't in her office.  I found her talking to another man right outside of Scott Reid's office. 

That was back when employees were allowed in the front office space.  We aren't these days.  I guess they think they might get cooties from us.

I said, "I need to talk to you," and told them both the story.  As I was talking, I noticed Scott had gotten up from behind his desk and approached us, listening to what I was telling them.  When I'd finished, the other man said, "OK, I'll take care of it later."

Scott said, "No, I'M going to take care of this right now."  He put his coffee down, and headed into the parking lot.  Now, if you know anything about Scott Reid, you will grasp the significance of that phrase:  he put his coffee down.

I went on back to my work area and began doing my job for the day.  (This was before I became a brazer, and I worked in the tubing department.)  A few minutes later, Scott came and got me.  He said, "I went out to the truck and I said, 'Let me introduce myself.  My name is Scott Reid, and I'm the Director of Operations here at ADP.  I'm here to tell you, if you ever speak to one of my employees like that again, you can take your little shoe mobile, and get it off my plant property, and you will never, ever come back."  Then he took me out to the truck and made the man apologize to me.

Poor fellow was shaking like a leaf, Scott scared him so badly.  I took pity on him and explained that I wasn't trying to cause trouble.  I just wanted to make sure he put the right company down so he would get his money.  Scott and I went through his slips and found several he'd written the wrong company name on, and helped him correct them.  The man and I shook hands, and he gave me my shoes, and a free package of socks, and that was that.

It seems such a small thing, but I would have run through brick walls for Scott Reid after that, because I knew he cared.   We haven't had anyone like that since he left.  Not in one of the higher up positions, I mean.

Now, to start off 'Murica Week, I present the Star Spangled Banner, Madison Rising version:





Normally, I'm like, just sing it the way it's supposed to be sung, the way it was written, but this version rocks.

Music Monday

I haven't done one of these in a while, but I just had to do a Music Monday today, because I have not one, but two, yes two new favorite songs.  And here they are:

First up, King Of My Soul, by Matt Redman





Next, Flawless, by Mercy Me:




I'm still working on my spinning, and am starting to accumulate quite a bit of this practice yarn.  Yesterday, I decided I was going to do something with it.  But what? 

Hmmm, here's an idea!  Knit a gigantic scarf and felt it!  Yeah! 

I'm not going to completely felt it, just full it a bit.  I don't want it to be thick and stiff, but I do want it pretty fuzzy. 

Fuzzy enough to hide the inconsistencies, at least.

Not Yet

No new fish just yet.

Saturday, I just didn't really feel like going.  I did go down to the corner gas station to air up my passenger side rear tire, but even after I'd finished, I heard the telltale hissing of air escaping.  So, no trip to Southaven.  I felt it was too risky even to go to Batesville.

It held enough air to get me to church yesterday and to work today, but tomorrow I'm going to have to go get it fixed.  One of the rare few times I wish I were married.  Then I could say, "Honey, go get that tire fixed while I sit here and heat up a frozen pizza for your supper."

Back to Saturday....I was relaxing at home after I'd talked myself out of going fish hunting, when I heard a strange noise.  Sounded like someone knocking on my door.  When I went to see who was there, I found it wasn't a person, but a branch.  

I have this gigantic oak tree in my front yard.  It has got to be somewhere between 200 and 300 years old.  Every once in a while, it drops a limb.  Several years ago, it dropped a huge limb on my front porch.  It sounded like a cannon shot, and scared the patooties out of me.  James and Beverly got quite a haul of firewood out of it.  And that was after I took several pieces out to a cub scout campout.

Tonight is the last Supermoon of the year, and it also coincides with the Harvest Moon. 

When I was a kid, it was always one of my dad's annual rituals to go out and watch the Harvest Moon rise.  I always forget now, mainly because where I live now has too many trees.  I can't even see it until it gets well up into the sky.  When Cody was little, we did it for a few years.  We'd watch until it rose over the trees, then we'd go inside and eat Harvest Moon* cookies and drink hot chocolate.

And somebody would sing Shine On...



*Harvest Moon cookies were just large, round sugar cookies. 

In The Garden

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;

And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

Ark Building

It has rained so much, I'm taking bids on Gopher wood, to start building my ark.  Friday, I barely made it home from work before the bottom dropped out.  In just about two hours, my back yard went from dry, to my own private pond.

Remember back in the day when I called it Lake Riverdale? 

Yeah, you would have to be a long time blog reader to remember that. 

And it rained Saturday, and it rained Sunday, and it started raining at 3:00 AM this morning.  Ask me how I know...Needless to say, I've been up since then, and I'm just a bit tuckered. 

It rained again this evening, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow.  And Wednesday, and Friday, and Saturday....It's raining right now.  I can hear it hitting my roof.   I'm really getting tired of rain. 

The irony of it is, I'm watching the news about the drought in Texas.  I wish I could send them some of our rain.  My flower bed is drowning.  Theirs are desiccating. 

The bright side is, rainy days make for good knitting weather.  And I got some new blankie yarns from my friend Ann. 

I haven't knit any of them into the blankies yet.  It's just too hot to even want to think about knitting a blanket.  So what did I knit?  I finally finished up this hat, which has been languishing for almost a week OTN. 

It's knit with DK weight on size 5 needles.  A 104 stitch cast on, and it's sized to fit a toddler or preschool child.  I've got enough yarn to make one or two more.

In other news, I tossed the rest of that Mendapause stuff.  All it was doing was making me hungry.  Seriously.  I got so hungry one day at work that I got two packages of moon pies out of the machine, ate them, and was still ravenous.  I can't have that.  So, it's back to the drawing board.

The SAM-e and 5-HTP I'm taking seems to be helping stabilize my moods some.  Now, if we can just get a handle on the night sweats, we'll be good to go.

Speaking of-- mood swings, not night sweats-- yesterday morning, this song turned me into a blubbering mess. 




Today, I've listened to it 47 times, and didn't cry once. I'd say that's progress. 

For now, I'm going to progress right on to bed. 

Goodnight.

The Whelming Flood

This has been another of those whelming flood days.

It started off normal enough.  Then the weather hit.  It was bad out there.

Really bad.

We had to go into the tornado shelter at work twice.  One coworker said, "If a tornado is coming, they need to let us go home."  No, hun, the last place you want to be in a tornado outbreak is on the road.  You're better off here.

Then I came home and turned on The Weather Channel.  Seems like every time I looked up, they were reporting another tornado on the ground.  Tupelo.  Vicksburg.  Brandon.  Columbus.  Yazoo City...

 I was starting to freak out just a bit and had to change the channel.

So far, all my friends who were in the path have reported in safe.  The watch has expired for Grenada County, so I'm about to head for bed and get rested up.  Because you know what?

We get to do this again tomorrow.






*The photos are of storm damage in Tupelo. 

Old Hymns

I was looking for my Baptist Hymnal the other day.

After frantically tearing up the entire house, I finally found it on the end table by the sofa.  Right where I'd left it.  Fancy that.

I found my hymnal and looked up the words to the hymn I'd been trying to remember.  As I was thumbing through, I started singing some of the great old hymns I'd grown up with.  The ones we seldom sing in church any more.

I decided to make a YouTube playlist of some of my favorites.  This has been a very frustrating endeavor.

So many of the professional singers feel the need to jazz up the hymns, which I don't want.  And I don't want videos that sound like congregational singing. I've had to make some compromises.  I've tried to pick the ones that sound professional, but aren't too terribly contemporized. 

I like this version of one of my favorite hymns,



but I'm open to suggestions.

Music Monday

I stayed up late last night watching Downton Abbey, followed by Sherlock Unlocked, so I'm a bit weary today.

My brain isn't wanting to work right.  I have a good post planned, and hopefully, I'll get it up later in the week.

But for now, I'm going to cop out and post a song.

Before I get to that, though, a Facebook friend posted a link to all the crazy holidays that exist in America.   So, what holiday falls on your birthday?  Mine is Air Day.  Cody's is Be Bald And Free Day.  My sister's is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day.  My younger brother's day is World Sauntering Day, and my older brother's day is Dictionary Day.

Just for kicks, I looked up Group Leader Fernando's day.  His is National Ding-A-Ling Day.  If you knew him, you'd understand how appropriate that is.

It also segues nicely into the song:



*Snicker*

Mittens and Beethoven

Another pair of fingerless mitts finished!

These are for my older brother.  I cast on a pair for my nephew, but after a bit of introspection, I decided not to make them.  One reason being that the wool is not superwash.

That was the main one.  It'll be OK for Rus, but for a little boy who is more likely to get them dirty and stuff so that they need washing more often...no.  That means I'm done with Christmas knitting.  For this year.  But I've already started on next year's knitting.  That's the good news.

The bad news is, knowing me, I'll still be frantically knitting at the last minute this time next year.

And in honor of a very special birthday today -- Ludwig Von Beethoven's 243rd-- I'm posting this once again.  Because you can't ever get enough Beethoven.

Music Monday

When Cody was about 5 or 6, we were driving down the road one and The Little Drummer Boy came on the radio.

"SHHH!" Cody hollered, "It's the Pum Pum Song!"

That's one of those childhood stories he'd rather I forgot, but alas, the name has stuck.  The Little Drummer Boy will forever be The Pum Pum Song.

Today, for your Music Monday, I bring you the most awesomest version of The Pum Pum Song ever:

Music Monday

It's been a while since I've done a Music Monday, and the truth is, I hadn't planned on doing one today.

I had a nice, long, significant, meaningful post all planned out in my head.  You would have loved it.  However, when I sat down at the computer to type it out, it completely left me.

Whoosh.

Gone in an instant.

Try as I may, I could not get it back.  But, I was thinking about one of my favorite songs, and I wanted to share it with you.  It kind of saddens me to think how many of the people who appear in this video have passed on.



But then, that's what the song is all about. The circle will be unbroken.

By and by, Lord, by and by.

My New Favorite Song

I'd heard references to it. I'd read quotes from it. I'd even heard a bit of the melody.  But it wasn't until I saw someone singing it on an episode of The Cafe Saturday night that I realized, "Hey, that's  a real song!"

Off to YouTube I went, and found it pretty quickly.  I think now it is my new favorite song.  



I sang it all day long.  And I do mean all day long.  By lunch time, I was really wishing I could remember more of the words, if you know what I mean.


The big news is, I got a huge chunk of my Christmas shopping done, and I've started knitting the other half.  I'm going to go ahead and post photos, since none of the recipients read my blog.  Except Beverly checks in from time to time, but she's not really an I've-got-to-be-surprised kind of person, so it's OK.

What I usually do is to buy bath gel, lotion, etc. from the Avon clearance book, then knit a washcloth to go with them.  This year, it's going to be a Christmas theme.   All the bath stuff I ordered has holiday scents and Christmas packaging, so I'm knitting Christmassy cloths to go with them.  I got the first one done last night.

I've got several more patterns, too.  They won't be all this one.

I decided to do them all in natural cotton instead of dyed.  They will all fade eventually, so I think it would look better if they just start off plain.

The small news is, I have no idea what to get the guys on my list.  I'll get to that when I get to it. 

I'm open to suggestions, though.

September Thirty Day Movie Challenge

I had planned on getting up and going fishing this morning.  Instead, I woke up to the sound of thunder driving rain.  So, I spent the day catching up on season 9 of Grey's Anatomy, which is finally on Netflix.  I'll be all ready for season 10 to start in a couple of weeks. 

Day 02 - The last movie you watched

The last movie I watched is an old one, but still a good one.  You've Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  Free to stream with your Amazon Prime subscription.  It's not one of my favorites, but it is a cute movie and I enjoy watching it from time to time.

Guess what?  Today is your lucky day.  You get a two for one post.  I was reading some other blogs and found this meme.  I've seen it a couple of weeks now, but haven't really been interested in doing it.  Too many memes, you know.  However, I like the questions this week, so I think I'll answer them.

1. September is National Library Card month - when was the last time you checked a book out of the library?

Well, my library card expired in 2009, so I'd say it's been a while.  I have checked out books from the church library from time to time, but usually I just read what's already on my Kindle.  

2. What are you most looking forward to about autumn?

Everything.  I love autumn.  I love the cooler weather, the first frost, warm days and crisp nights.  I love the colors, the smells, the holidays, and football.  Oh, by the way, Glade has a new candle out this year --Fall Hayride-- that smells so good.  I've got to go get another one.  

3. Has the word Christmas entered your vocabulary yet?

Oh, yes.  I started thinking about Christmas months ago.  I even cast on an afghan that doesn't look like it's going to get finished in time now.  Well, maybe it can be for next year.  

4. Do you care that Football season is starting?  Who is your team?

Do I care?  Do I care?  I've been counting down the days since Super Bowl Sunday.  I spent all day long Saturday watching college football.  My teams are the LSU Tigers, the Texas Longhorns, Dallas Cowboys, and whoever Jacob Hester plays for.  

I'm going to opt out of adding a 5th question.  Instead I'll share with you one of my favorite songs honoring the working American.  

 

Music Monday

I haven't done a Music Monday in a while, but since this song was going through my head all day, I'm going to share it with you. 



And it all started when our production superintendent asked, "Does everybody know where they are going?"

Our new parts stager is named Darius.  Every time I see him, I think of Darius Rucker, which makes me think of this song:



Uncle Si and Lady A are just a bonus, which segues nicely into this:



My favorite Lady Antebellum song.  And of course, there is this:



Just because. 

Monday Music and Stuff

Sorry, guys, but this is just one of those days when absolutely nothing blogworthy has happened. So you get a photo of sock progress:

And a photo of my latest bow shooting:

And my current favorite song:



And a Quote Of The Day:

I don't believe in violence.  That's why I spent 20 years in the Army. -- Group Leader Fernando. 

And that's about it...

A Lovely Little Ditty

The plan was to show you a finished sock today, but...well... stuff happened and the sock didn't get finished.  So I'll have to show it to you another time.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely little ditty that's been running through my head all day.



I want someone to call my own, I want a dream lover, so I don't have to dream alone.

It would seem I've moved on from my 1970s rock jag and am going through a 1950s rock and roll jag. Most of which beats what they are putting out these days by a bunch of miles.

I'm also watching the pilot of this new show called Under The Dome.  I doubt I stick with it.  I'm not impressed so far.

Well, I'm off to go dream...alone.  

Just A Few Things

I've gotten my poetry blog started, and am busy copying some of my older works into it.  I've noticed I go through spurts.  I'll write a whole bunch of poems for a while, then stop writing for sometimes years.  Then I'll write a bunch more. 

My first poetry is very strict in regards to rhyme and meter, but here lately, I've gotten more into free form stuff. 

Well, whatever... it's a private blog, but all my friends are welcome.  Just PM or e-mail me your gmail addy and I'll send you an invitation.  If you don't have gmail, I can still send you an invite, but they'll want you to create a Google account to have permanent access to the blog.  If you don't want to create a Google account, I'll have to resend your invitation every 30 days. 


I've got my doctor's appointment set for tomorrow morning.  When they called this afternoon to confirm, I asked for directions to the office.  She went into great detail, even directing me which deck of the parking garage to park on, but if I don't, that's OK, I just need to take the elevator to the right floor.  Yeah, thanks, I can figure that part out myself. 

Cody is going to ride with me, because he needs to go to the college campus for something.  After that, we're going to Redneck Heaven, also known as Bass Pro Shops.  Then Lowe's, and wherever else he wants to go.  I think I'll make him drive so I can knit on the way.

Yes, I had ulterior motives. 

Finally, in honor of Father's Day yesterday, here is one of my favorite Daddy songs:

A Couple Of PSAs

Lesson for the day #1:  When resetting your alarm because you have to be at work an hour earlier than usual, make sure said alarm is turned ON before going to bed.

Lesson for the day #2:  Heed the warning in this video BEFORE getting Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever because you didn't check yourself for ticks.




You're welcome.

Music Monday

Marveling at the absolute genius of Ludwig Von Beethoven.