That Was Weird

So there I was yesterday evening, watching TV, when I got one of those text reminders from MyChart about a doctor's appointment on April 30th.  

"April 30th!"  I exclaimed.  "I thought my appointment was May 5th."  

I went and checked the appointment card I had on my refrigerator, and sure enough, it said May 5th.  I decided to ignore the text and told myself I'd call Monday (as in today as I type this) and verify the correct date.  

A few moments later, I opened my computer to check e-mail and saw one from, you guessed it, MyChart again asking me to confirm my appointment for April 30th.  And again, I ignored it since I was intending to call and confirm.  But shortly after that, the phone rang.  

It was one of those robocall things from the doctor's office asking me yet again to confirm my appointment.  This time, I went through the process of cancelling it, and told myself I must have gotten the dates mixed up, and I'd call and reschedule it as soon as I got home from work.  

After a long day in the factory -- more about that in a moment-- I came home and called the clinic. "I need to reschedule my appointment," I told the receptionist.  "You mean the one you have on May 5th?" she replied. 

"Oh?  It is May 5th?" I exclaimed.  Then I told her about the e-mail and text I'd gotten, then said, "If the appointment is May 5th, then that's perfect.  I don't need to reschedule."  She confirmed that it was, I thanked her, and hung up, thinking that was so weird.  

Now I wonder whose appointment was April 30th and if that person will show up and discover it had been cancelled. 

You want to hear something else that's weird?  

I ordered something on Amazon the other day, and the confirmation email...well, see for yourself. 

 Um, what exactly do you think I ordered that needs to be hidden for privacy?  I'll let you stew on that, then I'll show you when it gets here Wednesday. 

And finally, there is a new policy out at work that started today.  The supervisors have to dress up now.  No more blue jeans and t-shirts, and no more ball caps.  I think that's the first time I've ever seen Uncle Supervisor without a cap on his head.  I almost didn't recognize him.  

Demi-god said the policy came down from HRH -- which does not stand for her royal highness, but rather Human Resources director from Hell -- and Supervisor Apollo (because he thinks the sun rises and sets in himself) didn't even come to work today.  Demi-god said he had to go out and buy some new clothes, but I said maybe he's got a bald spot and is going out getting hair plugs.  

I don't actually know if he's got a bald spot, because I can't even remember the last time I saw him without a cap.  

But you know who they didn't tell about the new policy?  The ones who aren't really supervisors no matter how badly they want to be.  Yep, I'm talking about Stalker.  He showed up in faded jeans and a t-shirt.  I said to a coworker he's probably going to run out and buy some slacks and polo shirts this evening and wear them tomorrow.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go take a shower, then knit a bit while watching some TV.  

Laters.

P.S.  Does anyone really read my posts, or are you all just liking the links on FB and moving on?  

A What?

I swan...

If you're from the South, you know what that means.  You will also know what "I swanee" means, too.  If you're not, I don't know if I can explain it to you. 

Nevertheless, I swan...I take these weekends off to get stuff done, and so far it's rained every one of them.  Two weeks ago, it was Hurricane Francine.  This week, it's Hurricane Helene.  

Next week, it just might be Joyce.  

I'd originally thought I might drive up to Batesville and walk the trails at the Mounds, but when I saw the forecast, that plan went out the window.  Then I thought I'd go walk the trails out at the lake, but by the time I finished my coffee, it had already started raining, so I just stayed home and piddled around the house, but more about that later. 

A funny thing happened yesterday that I have to tell you about.  I left work early to go to the dentist, but that's not the funny part.  I had a good check-up for once.  No cavities or anything to be concerned about.  After my appointment, I thought to myself, "I'm already in town.  Might as well go to Walmart and get my shopping done."  But that's not the funny part, either. 

So, I get my shopping done and come on home, only to find the electricity was out -- but only on my road.  I got the message from Entergy that it had already been reported, so I sat down to wait until it came back on.  Figuratively speaking of course.  I didn't really just sit.  I piddled in the yard a bit, deadheading some of my spider lilies, adding stuff to my compost bin -- that sort of thing.  I thought I might paint a little on my fence, but remembered my paint sprayer runs on electricity.  Then I thought, "Hey, I'll go ahead and power wash my back porch...oh, wait..."  so I came inside and knit until it was too dark to see, after which I read a few chapters in my book on my Kindle -- Stormy, Misty's Foal, if you're wondering.  

About two hours after the outage began, I got the message that a lineman had arrived.  I guess most of them are down in Florida, so they only have a skeleton crew still here, and had to wait for someone to get here.  Once he'd arrived, he got the power back on relatively quickly, just in time for the ball game.  

Cowboys won, by the way, even though it was a very sloppy win. 

I finished the hat I'd been working on, 

 and cast on another. 

Sometime during the third quarter, I got an update on the power outage.  It had been caused by an animal.  

That's a new one on me. They didn't specify, but my guess would be a squirrel.  Those things aren't good for anything but eating.  Me eating them, I mean.  They do make for good eating.  I just hope I can get some this season. 

By the way, the refs threw so many flags in the football game, that even Al Michaels quipped that they had to get onto Amazon and order more.  

So, back to today...It started raining about 9:00 AM and hasn't stopped yet.  Yes, this is from Helene as she drags her skirts behind her.  We're fortunate, though, that we're only getting some wind and rain.  The images I'm seeing out of Florida and the Carolinas are absolutely devastating.  Our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to them. 

Since I couldn't really do anything, I got onto Facebook and found out Dame Maggie Smith had died, so I've been re-watching Downton Abbey from the beginning in her honor.  I don't normally get all upset over celebrities, but she was so talented and I loved her as The Dowager Countess.  

After getting this far into the post, it suddenly occurred to me that you don't really want to hear about me washing my shower curtain, so I'm going to end this and go get something to eat.  I bought some Everything Bagel seasoning, and that stuff is so good, I'm absolutely going to make some pasta and put it on it.  

Laters. 

Don't Ask

A few nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night frantic with worry, fretting myself into a frenzy because I had somehow gotten the idea that I'd mistakenly added transmission fluid to my car’s coolant reservoir.

Don't ask. Even I don't know.

How do these things get into my head?  Especially while I'm sleeping? 

The backstory is that when I went to Missouri last August for my nephew's wedding, I noticed my car was running a little hot.  It wasn't in the danger zone, but was a little hotter than normal.  I pulled in to the welcome center just over the Missouri border and let it cool off a bit, then went on my merry way.  It did fine the rest of the way there and back, so I think it was from all the going up and down and braking and speeding up through the hills of Arkansas -- not to mention the triple digit heat.  

After I got back home, I checked my coolant reservoir, and it was a bit low so the next time I was in town, I bought some antifreeze and topped it up. That was in late August or early September.  Six months (ish) ago.  Why I suddenly started worrying about it Monday night is quite beyond me.  

Eventually, I fell back asleep, but when I woke up to get ready for work Tuesday morning, that worry was still with me.  I don't know why.  I tried to reassure myself that I would never do anything so foolish, and if I had, surely by now it would have caused problems with my engine.  It is now Wednesday night, and I still can't shake the idea that I've put transmission fluid into my antifreeze reservoir. 

This is what it's like to live inside my head. 

OK, moving right along.  I was going to tell you something yesterday, but when the news of Toby Keith's death broke, pretty much my whole blog post went out the window.  I'm still bummed about that, by the way.  I actually had a Toby Keith playlist on YouTube.  He's the only non-Christian, non sea chanty singer that I did that for. Anyway...

Yesterday, one of the brazers had brought something to give to another coworker, and she had it in a bag.  She told me that as she walked past Greedy Bess's table, Greedy Bess nearly broke her neck trying to see what Brazer had in her hand.  Even after she walked over to her stand and set the item down on her table, Greedy Bess turned around, STOOD UP, and was craning her neck to try to see what that thing was.  (I don't know, by the way.  Brazer didn't tell me and it's none of my business anyway.)

Brazer and I have been talking lately about her wanting to learn to knit and crochet.  She was going to buy one of those learn-to-knit kits, but today I told her that I would look and see if I still had the book I'd learned from some 25 years ago.  

When I got home, I dug through my cabinet and found the book.  I got an old pair of Boye needles and a skein of yarn, then put it all into a project bag from FFITS.  

I'm going to take it to her tomorrow.  Is it wrong to hope Greedy Bess gets nosy so I can tell her off? 

Speaking of knitting, Walmart finally got some of that sparkly pink yarn in again, so I can work on my sister-in-law's gift.  Now, I just need to find some patterns. 

And finally, the song that started it all:

Pokémon Don’t Go

Back a couple of months ago when I cut off my internet, I moved all the games I played on my Kindle to my phone -- all but one, that is, because I don't like the way that game is formatted on my phone.  For some reason, when I did that, I also re-installed both Pokémon Go and Jurassic World Alive.  

Do you know when you don't play Pokémon Go for like 4 years, they delete your game and you have to start all over?  Apparently, they do, or else I was doing something wrong.  My Jurassic World Alive game was just as I had left it, but I never did find my old Pokémon Go game.  

No matter.  The whole point was to try to encourage me to get out and walk more.  However, I very quickly remembered why I had quit playing to begin with.  Here, let me show you. 

This is my street on Pokémon Go.

 

By contrast, here is my street on Jurassic World Alive.

To find any Pokestops, or really, any Pokémon at all, I have to get into my car and drive all the way into town.   There are lots of Pokestops down on or near the square, but not many anywhere else, and certainly not any outside city limits-- at least, not that I've found. That kind of puts a damper on things. 

Since I had to go into town this afternoon anyway to run my payday errands, I thought I'd just swing by the town square and hit a few Poke stops along the way.  I got two or three down by the square, then went to turn west onto South street (for you local folks) to head to the post office to hit the Pokestop there.   That's when the trouble started.

There was someone in the eastbound lane at that 4-way stop where I needed to turn, and I'm always just a bit paranoid about swinging too wide and hitting someone when I do that, so I frequently overcompensate and cut the corner a bit too narrow.  Sometimes, I hit the curb when I do this.  It usually isn't a big deal. 

Today, it was. 

I could tell by the noise I heard as soon as I hit that curb that I had really messed up.  I kept going, thinking that if I could make it to that little gas station (on the corner of South and MLK, for you local folks), I could maybe air up my tire enough to make it to Walmart for a repair.  I hadn't even gone maybe 50 yards, and I knew by the sound my wheel was making I wasn't going to make it even that far.  

Not wanting to mess my rims up, I pulled off onto a side street (right by the Methodist church, for you local folks) and got out my can of Fix-A-Flat.  I hooked it up, pushed the button, and...nothing.  Oh, the stuff was going into the tire, but the tire wasn't inflating at all.  Man, I must have really messed that tire up. 

I do have an air pump that I keep in my car, but it requires an outlet to work.  Fat lot of good that did me sitting there on the side of the road.  I was standing there thinking maybe I could pull into the Methodist church and ask if I could use one of their outlets, when I heard someone call my name:  "Becky?"

It was one of the other brazers from work.  She'd seen me and stopped to see what was wrong.  I'm so glad she did, because she had an air pump that you can plug into your cigarette lighter.  We got that out and hooked it up to my tire, turned it on....and nothing.  Man, I must have really messed that tire up. 

I told my coworker, "It's no good.  I'm going to have to put the spare on."  

I got the spare out, and the jack, and the little lug wrenchy thing out and got to work.  As I was jacking up the car, I told her, "This is the first time in my life I've ever had to change a tire since I was 15 and my dad was teaching me how.  He said I'd have to know how to change a tire before I could get my driver's license, but every other time I've had a flat, someone has stopped and changed it for me."  Not this time.  This time, I did it myself.  Yes, I'm kind of proud of that. 

It didn't take long for me to get the spare on, and my coworker stayed with me the whole time.  Then we had to get her pump back out and air up my spare, because it was flat, too.  I thanked her profusely for stopping, because I'm not sure what I would have done if she hadn't.  She picked up my flat tire to put it into the trunk and said, "Here's where it's damaged.  I can see that stuff you put into it bubbling out."  I looked and there was about a 3 inch long split in the sidewall.  I'd really messed that tire up.   

"I don't think they'll even be able to fix that," I said.  "I'll just have to buy a new tire." And that's exactly what I did.   

I now have a two brand new tires -- having just bought one about 3 months ago.  Heh, as I was checking in at the automotive counter, I noticed I was leaving big puddles of sweat there on the counter, and had to apologize to the clerk. "I'm sorry.  I'm sweating all over your counter.  Yeah, I would pick the hottest day of the year to blow out my tire!"  She got a good chuckle out of that. 

The good news is, they gave me such a huge discount because of the tread depth on my old tire, I practically got the new tire for half price.  And I bought one of the same kind of pumps my coworker has, the kind you can plug into a cigarette lighter.  I won't be caught out like that again, sitting on the side of the road with an air pump I can't even use. 

Then I consoled myself with some new buttons. 

That was my adventure for today.  I was going to mow this evening, but I think I'll save that for tomorrow.  Tonight, I'll just rehydrate, because I'm all in. 

Oh, and thanks, Dad, for making sure I knew how to change a tire.  

First Day Back

Man, when that alarm went off at 4:30 this morning, I did not want to get out of bed.  It had been so nice to be able to go to bed when I was tired and get up when I woke up naturally, but that's all over now. Sigh...

OK, so yesterday when I was listening to those mix tapes, I ran across one that was -- less old than the others.  I mean, like 25 years old as opposed to 40.  Yeah, now that we've established that I'm old, let me get to the point.  I was popping those tapes into the player, just to see what they were since most of them weren't labeled, and I found one that was a recording of a CD I'd bought. 

Back before they had CD players in cars, this is how we had to listen to music, kids.  Well, I put the tape in and hit play, and the song started playing.  As soon as I heard it, I knew what it was.  I only listened for a few seconds, just long enough to identify the tape, then went on to the next one.

When I got into my car to go to work this morning, guess which song was playing -- on my MP3 player.  Yep, the same song that played on the tape for those few seconds.  Honest and for true.  Just in case you're wondering, it was this song.

But wait, there's more. 

Yes, that's not the only freaky coincidence that happened today.  Remember when I commented about the pen pal who said she was looking forward to many years of correspondence but never wrote back?  Guess what was in my mailbox when I got home from work?  Yep, a letter from her, and the first line was an apology for taking so long to write back.  Cool!  Now I have two letters to answer. 

I've got to get back to cleaning, but not today.  Today, I'm tahrd.  By the way, I ended up taking about 60 pencils to my coworker for her grandson to use in school.  I had no idea I had that many left from when Cody was in school.  What was I doing with so many pencils????  Her grandbaby is in second grade, so he ought to be set for a while.  

I guess that's it for today.  My brain is so tired I can't even thing of anything else to talk about.  Mainly because I stayed up and watched Sanditon on PBS last night.  Remember before streaming when we all used to watch the same thing at the same time?  Even though we weren't physically together, we still felt a sense of comradery from the shared experience.  

I miss those days.  

Today Was Not A Good Day

 I killed a rabbit on the way to work. 

Wait, back up a minute.  First off, I had to go back to work -- which is always a bummer --and on the way, I killed a rabbit.  I certainly didn't mean to, but he darted out right in front of my car.  I slammed on the brakes, but I heard the thump and felt the bump that told me I wasn't quick enough.  It just put a damper on my whole day.  

The redneck in me thought briefly that I needed to go back get him, so I could put him in the freezer and eat him later, but I thought better of that.  I didn't have a way to store him while I was at work, and I was afraid the meat would go bad before I got off. 

Then I get to work, only to discover they'd changed our working hours again, and nobody told me, so I was late.  (My friend apologized, saying she'd meant to text me and let me know, but got distracted and forgot.  I can't fault her for that.  I do it all the time.)

Just before lunch, they told us we had to start wearing our masks again until further notice.

Then second shift did an order wrong and we had to re-so it.

And I dropped a hot piece of copper and burned a hole in my jacket.

And I bent over to pick up a piece of trash off the bathroom floor and clonked my head on the tissue holder

By this time, I was feeling pretty much like Alexander -- only unlike Alexander, I had gumbo at home to look forward to.  

Aaaand, I get home and the gumbo was still frozen.  I could have thawed it, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait that long. 

I ate boudin instead.  At least something in my day went right. 

How was your day? 

Thursday Miscellany

 1.  I'd planned on going out to the lake this evening and watching the moon rise over the water, but I didn't make it.  I was letting the cat out, and thought, "Hmmm, I wonder what time moon rise is..."  Then I glanced over and saw it peeking out from behind a tree.  Um, oops.  But I did get out and take a photo anyway.  

Then I took a picture of Jupiter and a few of its moons. 

2.  This is my friend Peggy. 

I took that picture when I went to Missouri in 2017 to watch the solar eclipse with Peggy and her husband Ed.  

By the way, if you ever get a chance to see a total eclipse, you need to take that chance.  There is one coming up in 2024.  Do whatever it takes to get yourself into the path of totality.  Not the path of 99%-ity.  The path of  To. Tal. It. y.  Trust me on this one.   

But this story isn't about that.

This morning Peggy told me a funny story.  See, she's recently had knee surgery and can't really put any weight on that leg, so she uses a wheelchair to get around her house.  It's just easier that way.   Last night, she was wheeling herself down the hall ...well, I'll just let her tell it: 

I was rolling down the hall in my wheelchair a little before 9 last night. Ed was sitting in the living room and said, "You made the house shake just now". I said, "Nope, must have been an earthquake".

Lo and behold, when we turned on the local news, their lead story was about the earthquake just before 9. I didn't feel it, since I was rolling in my wheelchair, but Ed did.

• 
  

Yep, there was an earthquake about 60 miles from where they live, and word is, you could feel it as far South as north Mississippi.  I asked Cody if he felt it, but he said no.  A lot of people up there were talking about it, but he didn't feel anything himself.  

Now, you may think this is an odd location for an earth quake, but it is right along the New Madrid Fault line -- which they say is even more volatile than the San Andreas fault. 

3.  Early Monday morning, I got to work and noticed that the guy who brazes our tap fittings wasn't there.  "Hmmm," I thought to myself.  "Roger"  -that's his name, Roger --"isn't here.  I guess I'll fill the flux pots."  Not that that's any big deal, but Roger usually does it.  I filled the flux pots and went on about my day.  Most of the day passed uneventfully, except for the line sending back an entire order that had been messed up by someone on a different shift.  

Along about 45 minutes before quitting time, Roger came around to pick up the scrap copper to take to the scrap dock for recycling.  That's another thing he takes care of.  I got my box of scrap and poured it into his box.  "There you go, Rog."  I said.  "All right," he said.      It's the same conversation we have every single day when he picks up the scrap.  No big deal.  He finished collecting the scrap and wheeled the buggy towards the scrap dock. 

About five minutes later, it hits me.  "Wait," I said, turning to my coworker, "When did Roger get here?"  

She looked as confused as I felt, and replied, "When did Roger get here?"  And we both dissolved into paroxysms of hysterical laughter.  I guess you had to be there. 

As it happens, Roger had jury duty that morning, and came to work shortly after 12:00.  I guess he didn't know they'd changed the company policy.  Back in the day, you had to report to work when they released you, now matter what time it was.  A few years ago, they changed the policy so that if they kept you past 4 hours into the normal shift, you didn't have to come in

4,  One day, I'd like to have a really nice telescope, strong enough to see the rings of Saturn and the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.  Oh, and one of those smart tripods where you just program in what you want to see, and it finds it for you.  But those are some high dollar telescopes, and I could never afford one. 

5.  I cast on a new hat last night, from a pattern I'd printed out several weeks ago and had forgotten about.  I don't have a picture, because two rounds in, I found a pretty serious mistake and had to rip it all out.  As soon as I'm done here, I'm going to cast it on again.  Maybe by tomorrow, you'll have a picture.  

6.  I finished my first Michael Aaron piano book this week.  I'm still practicing up those last few songs, but I'm at the end of the book.  I want to spend the next month just playing Christmas songs for fun, but if you're going to get a Christmas concert this year, I'll need to get serious about learning at least a few of them.  

7.  My computer mouse is messing up.  I think I've dropped it a few too many times. 

8.  That's about it for tonight.  Have a great Thursday, everyone. 

Pleased

 I'm sure you all will be pleased to know that, even though I had to stay up until nearly midnight last night, the last of the yarn barf has been untangled, and the yarn has been wound into a nice, neat, center pull cake. 

You will further be pleased to know some of it has been knit into a blanket square. 

Some of you will be also be pleased to know I've figured out how to move my 401(k) out of the stock market and into bonds, in anticipation of the coming economic crash.  I still need to figure out how to switch future contributions, but I'll work on that later.  Too much financial planning strains my brain.  All I know is, I've seen some of the incoming administration's proposals, and times are about to get tough.  Very tough.  

We are definitely in the Weak Men Make Hard Times arc of the cycle.   

Still others of you will be pleased to know that I did more than just sit around watching movies and knitting today.  Well, I did laundry and washed the dishes, but there's nothing exciting about that.   And I cleaned a couple of snake tanks, which is only marginally more exciting.  

But something exciting did happen today.  Something exciting and more than just a bit creepy.  And that exciting, but creepy thing that happened is as follows.    

When I was a child, my Mammaw had this music box that she put out at Christmas.  It was shaped like a church, complete with stained glass windows -- which were really plastic.  It had a light inside, and when you wound it up, it played Silent Night.  

I loved that music box.  Every time we went over to her house, the first thing I did was to run over and wind it up.  (The second thing I did was to rearrange her Nativity scene so that all the wise men could see the baby Jesus, but that's a different story for a different day. )  One year, when I was about 5 or 6, she bought me my own little music box, shaped like a pipe organ, that played Silent Night.  I still have it.

Admittedly, it is a little worse for the wear, as several of the bits have broken off.  One of the cherubs is completely gone, and the other has lost his wings.  The angel playing the organ is missing one wing, and the little candles are also missing.  But it still plays.  

I keep it stored away in a drawer in Cody's room.  

Well, this morning, as I was getting up to let Jesse out, I heard something.  Something that sounded an awful lot like a music box playing Silent Night.  Curious, I followed the sound.  To Cody's room.  To the drawer.  And the music box stored there...

It had, completely of its own volition, suddenly started playing. 

Nothing at all spooky about that....but I think I may need to start looking for a new house.  

Not Much Going On

I haven't blogged much, because there really hasn't been much going on, but I did have a brief moment of excitement leaving work today, and I wanted to share it with you.

We have a National Guard training center here just South of town.  They frequently use the airport across from the plant for their -- whatever it is they're training for.  It's different stuff every time.  Back when I lived on the other road, before I moved here, helicopters and airplanes frequently flew right over my house, because it was a lot closer to the airport. 

One time, Air Force One flew over.  That was exciting.  

Anyway, today as I was leaving work, I was still in the parking lot when a whole bunch of paratroopers jumped.  I quickly grabbed my camera and started shooting blind.  This is probably the best shot I got:

Oh, the things we see out at ADP.  

Hey, it's better than the view I got yesterday morning...

Dogs have no shame.

In other news, I'm still practicing my piano.  I'd stopped going through my course book to concentrate on Christmas music, but after about 2 weeks, I realized that wasn't working out.  Over the weekend, I started back on my lessons.  You may not get quite as long of a Christmas concert, but hey, them's the breaks.  

But, the songs I picked, I'm pretty sure you'll like, if I can ever get them down.  My biggest problem is I tend to play too fast.  I'm working on trying to slow things down, but it's hard.  The metronome has been a big help with that.  I watched a video on YouTube where the guy talked about the 50% Rule.  You figure out the normal speed of the song, then cut that in half and practice that way.  

It's like playing in slow motion, and I hope it helps.  

What A Week

It always amazes me how skies that were so full of death and destruction one day can be absolutely gorgeous the next.

They'd been telling us for days this storm system was serious, but I don't think even they knew just how bad it would end up being.   There being a global pandemic going on concurrently only complicated things. 

Safe rooms around the area were going to be opened, but how do you maintain your social distancing in one?  Someone asked the question on Weatherman Matt's Facebook page, and his response was perfect. 

"Your main goal is to live through Sunday."  He then offered some advice for immune compromised people, and anyone else who was concerned, but reiterated that the #1 goal was to make it to Monday.  Unfortunately,  when all was said and done 14 people didn't.  Make it to Monday. 

My church had been planning one of those drive in services, but wisely decided to cancel it due to the threat of severe weather.  We had service streaming on Facebook Live.   About halfway through, the rain started.  Though the worst of it passed to the south of where I live, we did get some pretty serious thunder. 

FYI, if your radar image looks like a Tide Pod, you've got a tornado on the ground.

This one ended up being a high end EF-4, long track tornado.  It set a state record for being 2 1/4 miles wide, and was on the ground for 68 miles.   Incredible destruction.  Devastating loss of life.  It was well to the South of me, along with the other tornadoes that touched down. 

After a few hairy hours, things eventually settled down, and I went on to bed.  Along about 10:00, the electricity went out.  Shortly after, I heard wind.  Strong, powerful, noisy wind.  Somewhere in the wind, I heard a tree falling. 

Do you have any idea what a terrifying sound that is?  To hear a tree falling in the darkness, and not know where it is, or if it's going to hit your house or not?  If it's going to hit you? 

I ran to the window and tried to see what was going on, but it was pitch black outside.  I'd grabbed the flashlight I keep beside the bed, but all I could see was the reflection of the light in the glass.  I didn't dare open the door.  The wind was still blowing way too hard.  I got back into bed, and checked my phone, wondering why I hadn't gotten an alert. 

Thirty two weather apps on my phone and not one sent me an alert.  (By the way, I keep intending to weed them out and only keep my favorites, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.)

I got onto Facebook to see if any of my storm chaser pages had posted, and this is what I found.

The second squall line had come through, bringing with it 75 MPH straight line winds.  After about half an hour, the wind subsided, and I went back to sleep, hoping my lights would be back on by morning. 

Alas, it was not to be.  When my alarm went off, I was still in the dark.  I debated on whether to go to work or not, because I didn't know if the plant would have electricity or not.  I decided to get dressed and go, just in case.  The plant is pretty close to the house, and if they didn't have lights, I'd just come on home and go back to bed. 

I arrived at work to discover they did in fact, have lights.  What they didn't have was employees.  Out of 12 sub-brazers, only 4 of us showed up.  Back in the back, they only had enough to run three lines, and they eventually sent them all home shortly after lunch.  I found out later lots of people couldn't even get out of their neighborhoods for all the downed trees. 

Across Mississippi, more than 40,000 people were without power Monday morning.  My county was particularly hard hit.  We have a population of 21,000, and 9,000 had lost electricity.

Monday evening, I still had enough warm water to wash with.  I couldn't take a full on shower, but I ran some water in the bottom of the tub and bathed.  By Tuesday, it was cold.  Cold water spit baths and baby wipes just don't quite cut it. 

To make matters worse, the weather turned off cold.

Thank goodness I have a wood stove.  I had plenty enough twigs and stuff down to start a fire, and my next door neighbors gave me some wood, so I was warm enough, at least.  However, by Tuesday, I began to worry about the stuff in my refrigerator.  When I hadn't gotten a message saying my power had been restored by the end of work, I filled my lunch box with ice from the machine at work.  I put it into bowls and set my milk, mayonnaise, and cottage cheese into them. 

Once that was taken care of, the rest of the week was just a waiting game.  What can I do to keep myself occupied with no electricity?  No TV.  No Internet.  I couldn't even play my piano, because it's electronic. 

I wrote letters, I read books, I cleaned things that hadn't been cleaned it way too long...It's strange the things you notice, when you have nothing to do...like, what caused this dust free rectangle on my TV stand?   

I don't know.  I don't even remember anything ever being there. 

Finally, the day came...Thursday afternoon, driving home from work, I saw the linesmen and their trucks at The Ol' Corner Store, just about a mile from my house.  Soon, I said to myself...soon.  Still, I went to bed at my normal time, with no electricity, yet. 

I'd left the light switch on in my bathroom, so I'd know when the power came back on, having  unplugged everything in case of a surge.  It was 10:00 PM when they came on.  Instantly, I was awake.  I threw off the covers, shouting to no one in particular, "I've got lights!" 

While I was waiting for the water to heat up, I checked my freezers.  My deep freeze was OK.  The only things that had thawed were the snakes' rats and mice, and my boudain.  Everything underneath was still frozen solid.  In my small freezer, everything was thawed, but still cold.  I threw a few things out, including a 4 year old pork chop I'd forgotten I had, and some tilapia that was so old I don't even remember buying it. 

Most of my meat, I moved to the refrigerator.  It should be good still for a while.  The good news is, because of the pandemic, I didn't have a whole lot left in that freezer anyway, so there wasn't much to ruin. 

What gets to me is all the people on the local groups on FB talking about throwing all their food out, and they got lights back in a day.  People!  Your food isn't going to ruin in just one day!  How wasteful can you be? 

Finally, the water was warm, and I put my stinking self into a hot shower.  I didn't even care that it was the middle of the night.  Clean never felt so good! 

So, how was your week? 

My Day Off

I'd originally taken the whole week off this week, but when my plans changed, I cancelled all my days but today.  My car has been nagging me for a while to get it's oil changed, so I kept a day to get that done.  I woke up at my normal 3:30, so I wouldn't mess up my sleep cycles, and after spending a lazy morning watching Jamestown on Prime, I got dressed and drove said car into Wally World.

I figured I'd go ahead and do my shopping while I was there.  It was a Thursday morning.  I didn't think the place would be too crowded on a Thursday morning.

It wasn't the first time I've been wrong.

Oh, it wasn't Friday evening crowded, but it was more crowded than I expected it to be.  I got my car checked in, then went to find the items on my shopping list, which wasn't very long.  On a whim, I went down the toilet paper aisle, and found ... a run.

Everyone was grabbing that toilet paper like it was going out of style.  Some of them were getting three and four packs of it.  Of course, you know me.  My first thought was to walk up behind them and start coughing.  He he he...I'll bet that would have made them scatter.  But seriously, people?  The symptoms are a dry cough and fever.  Why are you hoarding toilet paper?

Me, I'm hoarding Vienna sausages.

Which reminds me, next time I go, I might ought to pick up a case or two of bottled water.  It is almost hurricane season, you know.

After I finished my business, I came home and filled up my squirrel feeder.

I need to keep them fat, because if things keep going the way they are, I might have to eat them.

While I was waiting for my car to be done, I ran into the restroom.  A lady came in talking on her phone.  She was in an absolute blind panic because someone told her that Trump had just announced he was shutting down all the stores all across the U.S.  She was calling all her friends telling them to get into Walmart and buy all the food and stuff they can get.

Oh, my lord!  People have absolutely lost their friggin minds!  He never said he was going to shut down all the stores!  What he said is he was shutting down travel to and from Europe -- having shut down travel to and from Asia a while back -- except for the U.K.  This kind of crap is how panic spreads even faster than the virus.

Just by happenstance, before I went into town, I watched a video put out by That Awesome Hunk Of Pure Awesomeness Who Used To Be My Imaginary Boyfriend Before He Got Married To Someone Who Is Not Me Bill Whittle (I think he needs to legally change his name to that, don't you?) and ...ummm...Steve and Scott.  It's a bit longer than what they normally do, but I think it needs to be watched and shared.



On a completely unrelated note, I picked up another item for my bug out bag.

I took it out back and tried it out on some of that privet I'm trying to cut out of my back fence.  It cuts, but it's a lot of work.  It'll do in an emergency, though, and that's what I got it for.

Oh, and I was lucky to find these:

They're for when I'm cutting grass. In case you didn't know, I'm very allergic to grass.  Last week when I was mowing, I was absolutely gasping for breath because all y'all panicky people done bought up all the pollen masks.

Which won't protect against the corona virus, but will help me live through mowing!

Now, I've got to get to bed.  Since the lines are off tomorrow, and we're working a short shift, I figured I'd go in and get a little bit of overtime.    I told Group Leader Shark, "I'm coming back Friday, so don't give my stand away!"

What A Way To Wake Up

There I was in my kitchen, having a bit of an existential crisis.

I struggle with this every Sunday.  See, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but there is always so much work that needs to be done.  Mowing, cleaning the house, laundry, etc, etc.

I try to rest, but there is always that nagging voice in the back of my mind.  "You need to finish the mowing.  You need to clean the bathroom.  You still haven't even hung your map in the bedroom.  And what about all those pictures you were going to hang in the hall?  Are you ever going to get that done?  You know, Sue's picture is still on top of the bookshelf, and all those things Cyndye sent you still aren't hung..."  And on and on it goes.

Which brings us to my existential crisis.  In my kitchen.  I was trying to dig all the hair out of my Swiffer Sweeper so I could start using it again, telling myself I need to sit down and relax, but I've got so much to do, listening to my neighbor mowing his yard.  The sound of his mower seemed to mock me, reminding me I still need to mow behind the fence.

Suddenly, I heard a sharp crack.  I turned around, thinking my blinds had somehow fallen off the door.  It wasn't my blinds.

Did you know that shattered glass sounds an awful lot like running water?

Seems the neighbor's lawn mower had kicked up -- guess what? -- a rock and hit my storm door.  He came over and cleaned all the broken glass up, and said he'd replace it.  I didn't ask him to, but he said he would anyway.  I thanked him for wanting to make things right.  We were both just glad it didn't hit my car -- although he said he could fix that, since he is an auto mechanic.

While we were out there cleaning up the glass, he turned to me and said, "What a way to wake up."

Later, the neighbor's wife came by and said the guy would come in the morning to fix the glass.  I thanked her again, and remarked that I couldn't believe the rock flew that far.  He was in his own yard, after all!

After that, I pretty much took it as a sign that I was not supposed to mow today.  So, I came inside, cleaned up the kitchen and binge watched ER.  I'm up to season 8.  BTW, I found Kung Fu on Prime.  That'll be my next series to binge.

So, yesterday, my friend Cyndye commented that I'm on a moss rose kick lately.

 She's right.  I'd had some last year, but they kind of got overwhelmed by the larger flowers in my main bed.  They are doing so much better in a bed by themselves.  I feel like I'm finally getting to really appreciate them for the gorgeous flowers that they are.  I mean,

what's

not

to

love?

Story Of My Life

It all started when I was 3 or so years old.  I don't remember exactly, but I was young enough my mother still had baby gates in the kitchen doors.

Back in those days, there was a banana commercial in which a lady dressed up as a banana did a little dance and sang a little song.

I'm Chiquita banana and I'm here to say,
Eat a banana every day!

At the end of the jingle she'd take a big bite out of the banana and hold the rest up triumphantly facing the viewer.

That day, when I was 3-ish years old, my mother had given me a banana for an afternoon snack.  I peeled my banana, sang the banana song and did the banana dance.  At the end of my song, I started to take the big bite of my banana, when the whole thing broke off and fell onto the floor.

That should have been my first clue.

Some 50 years later, I've pretty much figured out that this is just how my life is going to be.

Last week, I bought a new iPhone.  The next day, I drove eagerly to the store and bought a protective case -- American flag, of course--

and a really cool glass screen protector.

I rushed home and excitedly opened the package of my screen protector.  Carefully, I placed my phone into the phone shaped tray in the bottom of the tin.

Carefully, I unwrapped the included cleaning wipe and cleaned the phone screen.

Carefully, I dried the screen with the included lint-free cloth, and polished it until it gleamed.

Carefully, I peeled the included blue sticky tape from it's backing and stuck it to the screen several times to remove any remaining dust and fingerprints.

Carefully, I removed the backing from the glass screen protector using the included tab, and carefully placed the phone shaped alignment tray over my phone.

Carefully, I pressed the glass to the phone screen through the grove in the phone shaped alignment tray.

After waiting a few seconds for the glass screen protector to adhere to the phone's screen, I carefully removed the phone shaped alignment tray from my phone, and began pressing out the remaining air bubbles from behind the glass screen protector using the included lint-free cloth. 

And that's when I saw it. 

There at the lower right side, of the screen.  Just under the glass screen protector.  A single, tiny speck of dust.

This is the story of my life. 

The banana on the floor should have been my first clue.

My mother picked it up, washed it off, and made me eat it anyway. 

Whoa!

I woke up bright and early this morning, got dressed, and headed to work as is my custom.  I'm almost to the plant -- turning from Riverdale Rd onto Air Industrial Park for you local folks--  when there crossing the road, I see a huge white dog. 

A big, old beautiful white dog.  It was walking slowly, with its head down, as if it were very tired.  I felt sorry for it.  My first thought was that it was a Borzoi,

however, given that I've never seen a Borzoi in real life, I couldn't be too sure.

OK, I confess, my first thought was, "I'm going to stop and get that dog and take him home with me."  But I didn't.  Thinking about, I realized it wasn't a Borzoi.  The head was the wrong shape, and its legs weren't quite long enough.

I drove on a few more moments when it hit me.  "DANG!  That was a wolf!!!!!"  A big, beautiful white wolf! 

 This is not my picture.  It's one I found by googling, but this is exactly what that animal looked like.  Mine was dirtier, skinnier, and a bit more scraggly, but it looked just like this.  In retrospect, I wish I had taken a picture of it, but at the time, I didn't want to stop. 

After I got to work, I called Supervisor Ronny over and told him what I'd seen.  He said it's possible because there are wolves in this area.  He'd never seen a white one, but that didn't mean they aren't around. 

Probably a good thing I didn't put him in my car, then, huh?