I Lied

I lied to you the other day. I didn’t mean to, but I did.

Remember the other day when I showed you this photo, 

and told you the larger, blue headband was knit on size 9 needles and the smaller one was knit on size 8?  Yeah, that was a lie.  I'd said that because the needles I used for the larger one were in my size 9 bag, so I just assumed I'd put them back into the right bag.  Turns out, I should have double checked, because they weren't.  

I'd bought a new, longer size 8 needle and cast on a new headband with it, thinking it would be the smaller one.  When I finished it -- finally -- 

it was the same size as the larger headbands.  What?  

I dug out my needle gauge and ...yep, the ones I thought were size 9 were actually size 8.  Sigh....

I switched out the tips with some I knew for a fact were size 7s and cast on another headband. 

By that time, I was so fed up, I tossed it aside and cast on a hat. 

A comforting, familiar hat...

I was asked by a friend to model the headbands I'd made, but first, I want you to go over to the Knitty website, and look at the person modeling the Calorimetry headband on the original pattern.  Now, keep in mind that the ones I knit are slightly smaller than the gauge she came up with, but look, they are still gigantic on my head. This is the larger size, which is about 2" shorter than what she said the finished product should be. 

Even the smaller one is huge on my head.  

After even the smaller one came out huge, I poked around a few knitting websites to see what other people had to say, and they were having the same problems as I was. Most agreed that a 92 stitch cast on was best, so I'm going to rip the most recent one that I cast on and start over with that.  If it works out, I'll rip and re-do them all.  Of course, I'll keep you updated. 

BTW, I didn't have the buttons sewn on yet, so I'm having to hold it in place with my hand. 

In other news, what with all the rain we've had lately, I noticed that the pole I have my bird feeder hung on was leaning.  I got to looking, and this is a 7.5' pole, but it was quite a ways over my head.  This afternoon, I went ahead and pulled it up out of the ground.  Sure enough, they only had it 18" deep. 

I'm debating on whether to dig the hole deeper and re-set it, or just find somewhere else to hang my bird feeder.  After seeing how sore I got when digging up my sewer line, I'm thinking the latter. 

Eve has a boo boo leg.  I don't know what she did to it, but it's swollen and she's not putting any weight on it.  I didn't see any sign of injury, or anything like she'd been bitten by something, so I don't know what's going on with her. I set her steps beside this chair to make it easier for her to get up into it, but this is as far as she got. 

Fortunately, she does have a bed on the floor, so she doesn't have to  jump if she doesn't want to. I'll keep an eye on her, and if it doesn't get better in a few days, I'll take her to the vet. 

And finally, for those of you longing for spring, it's here.  

Oh, I'm sure we'll still have a cold spell or two, but spring is definitely on the way. 

 

Hold On To Your Butts

 It's about to get rough out there, and for once, I'm not talking about the weather. So, what am I talking about?  Well, I'll tell you. 

When the economy enters a recession, one of the first places you feel it is in the housing market, to which my job is closely tied.  During the last recession, we were already cut back to 32 hour work weeks before most people even noticed things had slowed down.  It would be nine full years before we were able to work a full year without having to cut back to 4 day work weeks for at least part of the year.   That is where I got into the habit of saving my vacation days for the Fall slowdown -- in case it slows too far down.  But what does that have to do with us, here and now?  

We had a layoff at work yesterday. 

A layoff.  In the Spring.  When we're normally ramping up for our busy season, this year, we're laying off.  We've been through some rough times before, but in 28 years, I've never seen them lay off in the spring.  One of my coworkers has already said she's going to have to cut off her DirecTV so she can afford her rent.  I'm not quite to that point yet, but if it comes to it, Hulu is going first, followed by Prime.  I can even cut my internet completely off if I have to, and just use the data from my phone.  I've been considering doing that anyway, because it seems kind of redundant to have both. 

Stock up on the beans and rice, is all I've got to say.  Get your hunting and fishing licenses and plant a vegetable garden. 

Speaking of planting...

You know what they say the definition of insanity is -- doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  I must be insane, because yes, I bought more bluebonnet seeds. 

I don't know why.  I can't seem to get them to grow for anything.  I've planted them in the fall, in the spring, I've boiled the seeds, I've scuffed them with a file, I've even frozen them, and still...I'll get a few every once in a while, but as for establishing a stand, I've never had any luck. 

However, on the advice of a friend, I decided to try freezing them in ice cubes.  Again.  I've done this before with no luck, but apparently, I'm insane.  

I got out my spare trays --  maybe them being stars will put some good mojo onto my seeds-- and froze two to three seeds in each one.  

He said to leave them in the freezer two to three weeks, then toss them out where I want to establish my stand.  I'm thinking that maybe my problem is that the ground is too soggy where I've been trying to plant them, so I'm going to put these in a couple of different spots.  One tray's worth, I'm going to  put on the East side of the house, and the rest, I'm going to put in the back corner of my back yard near where I had that big tree cut down.  We'll see, and I'll be sure to keep you updated. 

I'm actually thinking about putting in some tomato plants this year as well.  I'd love to grow a whole vegetable garden, but I just don't have that much garden mojo.  I might be able to keep up with a couple of tomatoes, though.   And I love me a good ol' 'mater sammich. 

Now, for a bit of good news.  I finally finished this hat!

It is now safely tucked away in the drawer, waiting to be sent to the Seaman's Church Ministry.  I haven't cast on another hat yet, because I'm going to work on more headbands first.  Speaking of, just quick note on the Red Heart Fall...I'd bought some years ago when it first came out, and I'm telling you, this latest skein is so much softer than it used to be.  

And finally, it was 28 this morning when I got up, so I splurged and lit a fire.  The firewood guy was supposed to come today or tomorrow, but he may be delayed by how much rain we've had this week  which is understandable.    

Still, I'll feel much better when I've got a full load of firewood in my back pocket -- so to speak.  

UPDATE:  I just heard from the firewood guy, and I was right.  The rain and mud has slowed him down, but he is still working on my wood.  

Random Thoughts Of St. Valentine's Day

 1.  Look!  I got a Valentine!

It's from my friend Belinda, who didn't get around to sending Christmas cards, so sent these instead.  Thank you!  It made my day!

2.  Guess what it's doing again...go on guess!  Here's a hint: 

3.  Well, they took away our overtime, but I suspect it won't be for long.  When we get behind again, they'll start hooting and hollering that they don't have any headers and we'll be coming in at 4:00 again.  Of course, their precious second shift is still working 10 hours, because you know we have to let them do whatever they want.  

4.  I got a bit of a scare this afternoon, when I got a call from my water company telling me I hadn't paid my bill.  I know I had, and found the receipt still laying on my kitchen cabinet.  Where I'd left it....a week ago....OK, moving right along...I tried calling, but apparently everyone else was trying to all, too, because I kept getting a busy signal.  Off to their Facebook page I went, where I saw the announcement.  It was a glitch in the automated system.  Instead of calling just those who were past due, it was calling everyone in the system. Whew!  I've lived here 28 years, and that's the first time that's ever happened. 

5.  Just FYI

6.  Speaking of St. Valentine's day, it was originally observed as a Christian holiday remembering St. Valentine, who was martyred on this day in 269 A.D., for refusing to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. He is also the patron saint of love, marriage, affianced couples, and plague. That being said, Happy Valentine’s Day to all those afflicted by the plague.

7. I got called out on FB the other day. Or at least, someone made a pretty pathetic attempt to call me out. Observe:

I had to laugh.  Seriously?  Evil?  Sister, this is trash talk.  It's an essential part of sports culture, and moreover, this is actually baby talk compared to some of the stuff out there.  If this poor fragile person is that triggered by my saying Cry, Eagles, Cry, she'd never even survive seeing some of the real trash talk out there. The bright spot is, I mean, other than it being absolutely hysterical, she blocked me.  No big loss.  All she did was lay in bed all day posting selfies.  Of herself laying in bed.  All day.  About 20 selfies per day.  Of herself laying in bed.  I'm actually glad I don't have to see that any more.  

8.  Where have all my readers gone?  I mean, I've never been that popular, but still..

9.  I don't know if I'm even going to fool with a flower bed this year.  I might just leave it and see if any of my wildflowers from last year seeded.  All of my little bluebonnets I had planted got whacked by the hard freeze we had just before Christmas.  Maybe others will come up.  I don't know.  I hope so, but it's not looking good.  

10.  Group Leader Shark brought us lunch today.  The plant is feeding us tomorrow for having the highest efficiency since 2106 for the month of January.   Free food two days in a row.  Thank you!  

11.  I think I'll go knit a while now.  Laters. 

Headbands and Hats

I did it.  

Since I've got a new load of firewood being delivered this Saturday --  I hope-- I went ahead and built me a fire in my little wood stove yesterday morning.  Oooh, it made my house so nice and toasty warm!  I'd missed that coziness.  

I hope this guy comes through and doesn't blow me off like so many others around here have done.  I think this one might actually show up, since he made notes and stuff.  If so, I might have a reliable source.  He seems like a good sort, even if he did tell me about every single person he'd ever delivered firewood to in his whole entire life. 

Ok, maybe not, but it sure seemed like it at the time. 

While I was enjoying all that toasty warmth and waiting for the Super Bowl to start, I picked this hat back up.

I'm about 1/2" away from starting the crown decreases.  I'm not sure why I had such a block about knitting this hat, but it's taken forever to finish this one.  Probably because I keep casting on these headbands.  

Speaking of, I wanted to show you the difference changing needle sizes -- even just one size up or down.  

 The one on top, I knit with a size 8, and the one on bottom was knit with a size 9.  You can clearly see how much bigger the one on bottom is.   I think I'm going to make a few of each size and let my coworkers choose which size they want.  But even the bigger size is smaller than the pattern calls for.  

Pattern writers must have gigantic heads.  

Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so this morning -- as a lighthearted jest -- Group Leader Shark posted this up on the board.  Which isn't actually a board.  It's a stanchion, but it's what we stick notices and stuff to.  With magnets and all. 

Anyway, Group Leader Shark posted this for tomorrow. 

Well, darn!  I was planning on wearing red, but I guess I'm going to have to find a purple or gray shirt instead.  I for sure ain't wearing blue, I can tell you that much!  

Sometime later, another coworker added a tenth code. 

I was ugly.  I had to repent.  For what?  

Because I leaned over to my friend and said, "I guess her heart is broken because that married man she's been fooling around with for years still hasn't left his wife for her.  Which he won't, because they never do."  Even if he did, why would you want someone you already know would be willing to cheat on you?  You know what they say, if he'll do it with you, he'll do it to you. 

And finally, I finished reading The Phantom Tollbooth.  It wasn't as good as I remembered it being as a child.  I mean, it was good, but usually I devour kids books.  This one took me a long time to read, for all it was a relatively short novel.   

Next up, The Scourge. 

At first glance, I thought this was inspired by COVID, but no.  It was published in 2016.  Apparently, it's a stand alone novel, which is rare these days.  

I'll let you know how it goes. 

Worthy

You know how it is when you have an idea wandering around in your head, just on the edge of your consciousness, but you can't quite grasp it?  Ideas you know you know, but they're just out of reach, and you can't quite put them into words?  

There I was, laying there in bed in a fit of insomnia, not really thinking about anything in particular, when suddenly I shouted, "I get it!"  

I get why Jesus didn't heal Little James!  

For those of you scratching your head and saying, "Huh?" right about now, it's a reference to the TV show The Chosen.  If you haven't seen it, not only do I highly recommend it, but this is your spoiler warning.  There will not be another. 

OK, where was I?  

Now, I know there are some of you out there who are way holier than I am, and will no doubt look down your nose at me and sneeringly ask, "Are you just now figuring this out?".  The short answer to that is, no.  I'm not "just now" figuring this out.  In fact, I wrote a whole blog post about this topic 12 years ago.  If you are so inclined, you can read it here:

Let Your Light So Shine

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here is the money quote.

What a platform God had given to his son to make an impact for Christ.  Yes, he was still hurt by the loss, but his son had gotten to proclaim his faith in front of hundreds of thousands --perhaps millions-- of viewers on national TV.  He has been asked, "Well, wouldn't it have been an even bigger platform if he'd won?"  No, it wouldn't have been.  Everybody loves God when they win.  Everybody gives God the glory when they win.  It's expected.  But to love God when you lose, to give him glory in the face of crushing disappointment--that will truly make an impact.  

Brad McCoy is right. It's easy to give God glory when you win. It's a whole lot harder to say "I'm standing on the Rock" when you've just lost the biggest game of your career. It's a whole lot harder to say, "I don't question the will of God" when not only have you lost the biggest game of your career, but you didn't even get to play. It's a lot harder to say "I know God has a plan for my life" when your own plans were just completely and irrevocably shattered in an instant.

So, no.  I figured this out a while back, but the thing is, it's always felt....well...incomplete to me.  Like something was missing.  Like there should be more to it.   I didn't quite know what, but I knew there was more to the story than this.  

Then, laying there in bed, in a fit of insomnia, it all slid into place. 

I was thinking about Jesus' conversation with Little James, which occurred during episode 2 of season three.  You know, when Little James approaches Jesus and asks why he hasn't received healing, and Jesus says,  ...well, I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it.  But I do recommend you go watch it if you haven't. 

Suddenly, my mind shifted to the scene in season 2 episode three, where all the people are lined up outside the tent clamoring for Jesus to heal them, and he does.  They run away all excited, and I'll guarantee you that, just like the nine lepers on the road, 90% of them never think about Jesus again.  He gave them what they wanted, and they never once thought about him again. Ever. 

It was all give me give me give me, and that's all they wanted.  What can God do for me?  Even today, people treat God like he's some kind of cosmic vending machine.  Drop an occasional reference to The Good Lord or The Man Upstairs and he's supposed to ...cha-ching...give you every little thing your heart desires.   And when they don't want something from him, they never think about him.  Never live for him.  Don't follow him.  

This is also why it irks me so when people say, "just give it to Jesus" or "Just turn it over to the Lord."  It implies that by just giving it to Jesus, he'll wave his magic want and suddenly your life is all peaches and roses.  But it doesn't work that way.  Sometimes he doesn't heal us.  Sometimes he doesn't miraculously solve all our financial problems, or work problems, or relationship woes.  

This begs the question, what if he doesn't give you everything you want?  Is he still God?  Is he only worthy of worship for what he gives us or does for us?  

And that, my friends, is why he didn't heal Little James.  That is why he didn't remove the thorn from the Apostle Paul's side. That is why he doesn't always heal people even today.  Because he is worthy. 

Even if he doesn't cure your cancer, he is still worthy.

Even if he doesn't solve all your financial problems, he is still worthy. 

Even if he doesn't resolve your birth defects, he is still worthy.

Even if he doesn't make you rich, or give you your dream job, or give you the perfect Norman Rockwell family...

We follow him, not for what he does for us, but simply for who he is. 

And who he is, is 

worthy.  

Knitting Like Mad

 Guess what it did today.  Go on, guess!  I'll bet you can't...

If you said rain, give yourself a cookie, because yes it did rain yet again.  It was a good day to sit inside and finish another headband. 

Even though it came out smaller than the pattern said it's supposed to be, it still looks huge.  I think I might have to adjust the pattern a bit.  In the meantime, I bought size 8 needle yesterday and cast on one with that. This yarn is Red Heart Autumn.

I've always liked this colorway.  One of these days, I'm going to make something for myself with it. 

While I'm thinking about it, I also bought an new food dish for the cat.  

I'd bought her an automatic feeder when I first got her, but it never worked right.  The opening between the container and the bowl was too small and the food wouldn't drop down into the bowl.  I wish I'd kept the old one I had, but I hadn't planned on getting another cat after we lost the Squeaker.  Anyway, I figured if I was going to have to keep filling the bowl up anyway, might as well get just a regular dish.  I thought this one was cute.  A bit expensive, but cute nonetheless.  

I'm sure you will all be pleased to know I found someone to buy firewood from.  I'd contacted one of the local tree service people and asked if they had any wood for sale.  I could have sworn I'd seen them post on FB about having firewood for sale, but it must have been someone else, because they told me they didn't, but gave me the number of a guy who does. 

I called him and let me tell you, that man likes to talk!  As we say here in the South, he talked my ear off.  Heh, several times in the conversation, he said, "To make a long story short", and I'd think, "yeah, it's too late for that..."  

So, to make a long story short...sorry, I couldn't resist...he's going to get me some ready and bring it late next week.    I should be all set for a while.  I might even splurge and light a fire in the morning. 

Doldrums

Hey there!  I'm back.  Did you miss me?  

I've been stuck in the doldrums a bit here lately.  I don't know why.  I've had stuff to talk about, but no desire to actually....talk about it.  All I was going to do was gripe about work anyway.  Like how our new production manager doesn't understand why I'd need a safety barrier between my brazing neighbor's 1600° flame and my head.  

Seriously.  Do you see how close her striker is to my table?  

Not only that, do you see the white spot on the aforementioned safety barrier?  Here, let me show you close up.  This one:

Do you know what that is?  I do.  

It's where her flame burns the safety barrier -- the one my production manager doesn't think I need.  But as I started to type it all out, I realized I didn't really want to talk about all that.   I didn't really want to talk about anything.  Or do anything.  Or even knit...

All I've wanted to do lately is to sit and watch TV.  And drink smoothies.  

I'm telling you, I'm kicking myself for not having bought a Magic Bullet sooner.  I'd looked at them years ago, but decided against getting one because I already had a blender.  What a doofus I was!  I've had it two weeks now, and I'm using the heck out of it.  No recipes...I just toss stuff in there and blend it up.  One of my favorites to date has been half a banana, a hand full of salad greens, and almond milk.  In fact, I'm drinking it right now.   It's delicious.  

One thing I like about it is that it's so convenient.  It's small enough to leave on my counter all the time, and the blending container is also the drinking container means there's less to clean up.  Best of all, it's helping to reduce my sugar cravings.  So yay for that.  

I haven't even had the desire to practice my piano.  Oh, I've been playing through my songs, but I haven't been doing my Hanons or my sight reading exercises.   But here's something funny.  If you've been following my blog for a while, you know I'm working through two piano courses, Alfred's and Michael Aaron's.  In my Alfred's book, I've been working on learning this song:

It's a fun song to play, and I might even record it for you this weekend.  Just be aware it won't be note perfect, since I am still learning it.  About a week into learning it, I suddenly went "HEY!"  Why did I go "HEY!" you ask?  Well, I'll tell you. 

It's because in this song is this line:

"And if you care to hear the Swanee River played in ragtime."  And?  By sheer happenstance, the song I'm learning in my Aaron's course is.....drumroll please...

The Swanee River! 

I kid you not, I did not do this on purpose.  It just fell that way.  

Really.  It did.  But it's still pretty cool, don't you think? 

Lots To Talk About

I've got lots to talk about today, so bear with me, OK?  

First of all, let me catch you up on my knitting progress.  I didn't really do much over the weekend but knit, mainly because I'm in the middle of a plantar fasciitis flare up.  It started Friday at work, and though I looked all over the house when I got home, I could not find my arch supports anywhere.  By yesterday afternoon, I was in so much pain, I was seriously wondering how I'd even make it through work today. 

Finally, right as I was crawling into bed last night, I remembered that I had some of that sticky, stretchy bandage stuff I'd bought years ago.  This morning, I wrapped my foot with it, and oh, my.  Even that little bit of support made such a difference.  Within just a few hours, my foot felt so much better.  Oh, it's still a bit sore...OK, a lot sore... but the inflammation type pain is much less.  Now it just feels like a bad bruise.  

After work, I had to run into town to pay the bills I forgot to pay Friday, because I forgot to bring them with me Friday, because apparently I forgot it was Friday.  While I was in town, I ran by the store and bought some new arch supports.  And a rotisserie chicken.  Which has absolutely nothing to do with my plantar fasciitis.  I just wanted one. 

All that to say, I didn't do much this weekend other than knit.  And what did I knit?  I finally finished this hat.

This one is a watch cap, usually worn with the brim turned up.  

I like the way this one turned out.  I think next time I'll knit the beanie pattern with this yarn.  

Once I'd finished, I knit a couple of rounds on the orange hat, then cast on another Calorimetry. 

This is some of the Red Heart I bought Friday.  The colorway is Wildflower.   I used a size 9 needle, and the finished product still ended up being much shorter than the pattern calls for.  Even so, it felt huge on my head.  

This morning, another one of my coworkers slipped me a few dollars and told me to buy myself some more yarn.  I told her it wasn't necessary, but I thanked her anyway.  I'm going to have to wait, though, because our local Walmart hardly has any yarn in stock right now.  I might order me some size 8 interchangeable tips from Knit Picks. I thought I had some, but can't find them anywhere.  They're probably in a WIP somewhere...

The other thing I wanted to talk about today is this.  Back in 2018, my small town in Mississippi voted to raise taxes on themselves to build a fourth sports complex here.  Because apparently, three wasn't enough.  I even blogged about it:  

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Grenada!

You just voted to raise taxes on yourself to build a new sports complex.  Because I guess the one...

Sports Complex on Jackson Ave. Extension

two...

Sports Complex on Jasper Neely Dr.

three...

Sports Complex at Grenada Lake (This one has tennis and basketball courts as well)

sports complexes in this town with a population of only 13,000 just aren't enough for you.  So, go ahead!  Play ball!

After the game, you can drive home

dodging the potholes in our crumbling infrastructure,

skirting the garbage piled at the end of your driveway, which may or may not get picked up on time -- or at all,

and bathe your kid in the brown water that comes out of your tap,

(Actual photo of city water, taken from a Facebook page)

so you can put him to bed, because he needs a good night's sleep before you get him up in the morning to send him to a below average school,

from which he will eventually graduate and spend the rest of his life working at a low paying factory job, whereupon he will have a heart attack at age 50,

and die in the waiting room of our underfunded and understaffed hospital, which was recently given the only failing grade of all the hospitals in the state.

As the breath leaves his body, and the light fades from his eyes, I'm sure his last thoughts will be, "Boy, I'm glad my parents voted for that fourth sports complex, instead of caring about the things that really mattered."

Because, you know, I'd hate to live in a town that only has three.


*Images courtesy of Google Earth.

Now, back before this was even voted on, there was a lot of discussion about it in some of the Facebook groups, and I was one of the few who argued vehemently against this, even though I would not be allowed to vote on it because I live outside city limits.  The whole argument the pro sports complex side was making was that we needed to do away with having segregated little leagues and begin the healing process.  

OK, by way of explanation, the Little League isn't technically segregated.  It's just that there's a public league run by the city parks and rec department.  Anyone is welcome to join that league.  There is also a private league which is also open to anyone who wants to join, but it's much much more expensive.  Though it's not legally segregated, it's long held tradition -- from long before I moved here -- that black kids play in the public league and white kids play in the private league.  I didn't make these rules, nor do I agree with them.  Honestly, I'd never even heard of segregated little league until I moved here.   

So, yesterday I ran across a poll on the local paper's website which read:

Should local baseball/softball teams be allowed to use the new sports complex?  

What?  Isn't that what it was built for?  Apparently not, because now they're saying it's only intended for travel ball tournaments.  Fancy that.  We're being taxed for a sports complex our own kids won't even be able to use.  That's not the story they told us when we were pushing this thing on us.  We were led to believe it would be for our kids to use.  For our little league games.  That whole desegregating the leagues so we can heal the past thing, you know.  I'd even argued that we could desegregate the league and use the existing facilities, but was quickly shot down.  

"No!"  They said.  "We need a fresh start.  A new beginning, and for that we need a fresh, new sports complex."  And had I seen the old complexes?  The parking is terrible!  We need this to attract new industries to the area!  Which begs the question now, what will these new industries think when they realize their kids won't be able to even use the sports complex?  

Now the one guy who was pushing this -- to attract tourism dollars, he now says-- is claiming he never said any of that.  Even if he didn't actually say it, he was reading the posts and the comments and never, ever contradicted any of it.  He knew people were thinking this would be for our kids, and never disabused anyone of that notion.  He deliberately let people go on thinking this would be for us, for our kids.  

Now that it's all but built, he's saying that eventually, they hope the public Little League will be able to use it, but Grenada Youth will never have access to it.  The great irony in all of that is, back when we were still discussing it, the ones most passionate about getting it built were....the Grenada Youth League.  Now they're not even going to have access to the sports complex they fought so hard for and their tax dollars are doing the bulk of the financing of.  

I wish now I could go back into the group and find all those old messages and reply with just one phrase.  And that phrase would be....

Gotcha sucker!  

Heh, maybe I will....

Not Joking

 Y'all thought I was joking, didn't you?  About it being cold at my work station.  You thought I was joking, but nope.  This is what my thermometer at my work station read when I got to work yesterday morning. 

Now, I know what you're thinking.  That's not that cold!  You're crazy!  But don't forget, we have to have a fan blowing on us to blow the fumes away.  Even though the temps aren't that low, it feels so much colder.  That's why we stay bundled up all day.  Heh, they had someone come up from the back to braze because we were so far behind, and shorthanded at that, and ... well, I can't repeat what she said or I'd lose my PG rating.  Let's just say, she was emphatic in expressing how cold she was. 

Speaking of, I really do think I made a mistake bringing all those hats and scarves to work Thursday.  All I wanted to do was to do something nice for my fellow brazers, but now I've got people from other departments coming up to me and requesting to "put in an order" for a free hat. 

My conundrum is that now I can't really say no, I'm not going to knit you a hat since I already gave so many away for free.  This isn't what I intended.  I mean, hat knitting is how I minister.  It's my cup of cool water.  I don't want it to become a drudgery.  At the same time, I don't want anyone to be left out, but we have to be realistic here.  I won't be able to knit a hat for everyone in the entire plant.  

As I was struggling with this, I opened my Bible app and the verse of the day seemed to have been chosen just for me. 

It reminded me that this is my gift to God, not my coworkers.  It's my way of showing HIS love to my fellow man.  What I've decided to do is, to to make sure everyone in the tubing department who wants a hat gets one, but that's where I have to draw the line.  After that, I'm going to be a bit more clandestine when I give things to the brazers.  I'm thinking I might knit up a bunch of cowls for us, too.  

They're going to have to wait, though, because I really need to finish these hats for my Seaman's Church Ministry.  I'm almost done with this one. 

I've got about an inch left in the body before I start the crown decreases, and then I'll have to finish this other hat.

Finally, about that box...there was one lonely little Calorimetry head band in the box.  It was the first thing that got claimed.  The thing is, the coworker who got it kept complaining that it felt too loose.  I asked her, "Can I see it back for a moment?"  

She gave it to me and I stretched it out flat.  Now, according to the pattern, the finished product should measure 24" from tip to tip.  The one I'd made was 22 1/2", and my friend still felt like it was too lose.  The way the headband is knit, the short row turns create natural button holes in the band.  We had to go to the sixth button hole before my friend felt the head band was snug enough.  

I wonder about people who write these kinds of things.  They must have gigantic heads.  Once I tried to knit a child sized watch cap, and the pattern called for a 120 stitch cast on in worsted weight.  One hundred and twenty stitches!  For a child sized hat!  That pattern writer must either have super tight gauge, or be knitting for elephants.  I don't even cast on that many for adult hats.  For a beanie, I cast on 80 or 88 stitches, and for a watch cap, it's either 92 or 96 stitches.  

Anyway, some other of my friend saw the Calorimetry and requested one.  One of them even tried to offer me money, to cover the cost of the yarn.  I tried to refuse, but she opened my hand and put the money into it.  A couple more of my friends gave me donations, which I also tried to refuse, unsuccessfully.  

It's only $5!  Take it!  

So, I somewhat reluctantly accepted their money, and somewhat less reluctantly, bought more yarn!

The jumbo stripes in the middle is for hats, and the rest I'm going to use for the Calorimetries.  While I was watching TV last night and today, I whipped out this one from yarn I already had in my stash.  

I don't know what the colorway is, because I lost the ball band long ago.  

One last thing, I've been studying French on my Duolingo app.  Well, a few weeks ago, I decided to start watching French movies on Prime.  Today's selection was a movie called Delicious.  It was really, really good.  It's about a chef who works for a nobleman.  At a party, he comes up with a new appetizer he calls The Delicious.  It's made with truffles and potatoes.  Well, he gets fired, because the nobility considers potatoes as only fit for pigs. 

That's all I'm going to tell you....

It has English subtitles available, so you can watch it even if you don't speak French. And I highly recommend that you do.  

I Stepped In It

I don't know about you, but I'm about sick of this rain.  My yard is flooded. 

My neighbors' yards are flooded. 

All the yards on the way home from work are flooded.  

 The whole dadgum world is flooded.  On the bright side, at least it's not ice.  On the brighter side, the rain is supposed to move out tonight, and we'll have a couple of dry days ...before it starts raining again.  Oh yay. 

I think I really stepped in it at work today.  If you'll recall, yesterday a couple of the other brazers and I were talking about how we're always cold standing in front of our fans.  When I got home, I bagged up all the hats and scarves in my gift drawer and this morning, I took them to work.  Honestly, I didn't expect them to be so popular.  I'd already expected to have to bring at least half of it back home and try to find someplace to donate it to.  

It didn't happen that way.  I emptied everything into a box and within ten minutes, they'd cleaned me out. 

I sure didn't expect that!  

Everyone was gushing over the hats and scarves, and I was feeling over the moon seeing my coworkers walking around sporting their hand knit/woven gear.  My mood was quickly spoiled when one particular coworker from all the way across the plant -- as in, not a sub brazer -- walked up behind me. 

Now, let me step aside for a moment to tell you that if you know this particular coworker, none of what I'm about to say will come as any surprise to you.  She is what the young people would call "very extra."   

If they still say that.  I don't even know any more.  Whether they do or not, she is.  Extra.  Very extra. 

So Miss Extra walks up behind me and barks into my ear, "Becky!  Why didn't save a hat for me?  All of these people who don't care nothing for you were getting hats out of that box!"  

It was at this point, my face must have looked something like this:

because Miss Extra has never given two squats about me -- or anyone else for that matter.   Miss Extra cares about Miss Extra and no one else. 

Long story short, I told her I'd make sure she got a hat next time I brought some in, and finally placated her enough that she walked off.  And went complaining to someone else.  She told one of the brazers, "She told you to get a hat, and you got a whole bag!"  Only I never said such a thing.  I'd told them -- meaning the brazers-- to get as many as they wanted. 

After lunch, someone else came up and told me I'd better get to knitting because some people were mad that they didn't get a hat!  I asked, "Miss Extra?"  Yep, it was her.  Another one said, "I can't believe she would say that!"  I replied, "I can!  It is Miss Extra after all!" 

I was talking to some of the brazers and said, "I just wanted to do something nice for my coworkers, and now I'm thinking I made a mistake even bringing the stuff up here."  They told me, "It wasn't a mistake!  Miss Extra is just a Sour Patch Kid."  Another one chimed in and said, "I'm going to pray for the evil spirits floating around here that are getting jealous over a hat!"  Even Group Leader Shark came over and told me not to worry about what Miss Extra said.   

I tried not to, but still, she's the kind of person who can suck all the joy and light out of a room the moment she enters.  

Be that as it may, my gift drawer is empty now, and I can work on filling it back up.  

February 1

 Whee doggies, we've had some rain over these last few days.  I don't know how much, because I never replaced my rain gauge after it cracked a couple of years ago.  I do know this, when I went to fill my bird feeder after work yesterday, I sank into mud up to my boot tops.  The ground was so soft, the pole I had my feeder on was tilting over.  

I straightened it back up and braced it with a few pieces of concrete from my now pulled up fire ring, then just scattered some seed on the ground for the birds, since the rains had made the bottom of the feeder all gunky.  I'll have to clean it out really well before I re-fill it.  That's going to have to wait until after all this rain stops, which should be sometime late tomorrow evening. 

The good news is, it never got below freezing -- and isn't expected to until after the rain moves off -- so we didn't get any ice accumulation, and aren't expected to.  Even so, I highly doubt Big Al will eat tomorrow, which means six more weeks of winter. 

The bad news is, if I want firewood, it looks like I'm going to have to shell out $300 per cord.  I mean, that's about what I was paying before, since the guy bringing my wood -- you know, the one who kept wanting to cut holes in my fence -- was never actually bringing me a full face cord.   It was more like 3/4 of a face cord.  Anyway, there's only one other person selling wood locally, so I don't have much option.  There's lots for sale up by Tupelo and Memphis, but I doubt they'd deliver down to Grenada, and if they did, the fee would be outrageous.  

Speaking of cold weather, winter seems to be the only time in the whole course of the year that the air conditioner works out at the plant.  It's not really that cold -- upper 60s to low 70s-- but since we have to have fans blowing on us all the time, it feels so much colder.  We're all standing there in hats and coats like we're outside in the snow.  Even so, my neck is still cold, so last week, I dug out an old scarf from the closet and started wearing it to work.  This morning, one of my coworkers said she had a scarf she was going to start wearing, but she couldn't find it.   We got to talking about knitting, crocheting, sewing...all those life skills.  I mentioned that I had a drawer full of hats and scarves that I'd made over the years.  When I got home, I got out some Walmart sacks and started putting said hats and scarves into them.  It didn't take long before I was running out of room, so I got out a trash bag and absolutely filled it up.  

I'm going to take them into work in the morning and let my coworkers dig through and take whatever they want.  

Speaking of work, there I was at work, just a working away, when a man I'd never seen before walked up right behind me.  He introduced himself and said he was from Lennox's quality department and thanked me for using the nitrogen purge.  It really makes a difference in our quality and it's very important that we use it and he just wanted to let me know how much he appreciated it. 

It was all I could do not to laugh right in his face, because it doesn't even work.  Me putting the nozzle in into my part is just for show.  There's nothing coming out of it.  Besides, it's not that important, because if it were, they'd make both shifts use the purge.  Not just day shift. They don't even care.  My supervisor has asked maintenance to come out and fix it several times, and they've said they weren't going to.  "That's all the gas you're going to get," said the maintenance man.  So much for it being very important. 

And finally, because many of you won't click on a link without a photo, here is the sunrise from Saturday morning. 

It looked a whole lot better in person, believe me.