A Sure Sign

 One sure sign the nights are getting colder is when the cat starts sleeping in her bed.  

She doesn't sleep in it during the warmer months, but when it starts getting chilly, she likes the snuggly feel of it. 

In other news, I has a sad.  I was driving to work and there on the side of the road was a dead deer.  "Aww," I said.  "One of my deer got hit!"  About 50 yards up the road was another one.  "Dang!  What's going on with the deer?" I asked.   I don't think I've ever seen two of them killed so close to one another.  I know they're on the move this time of year, but dad gum I hate to see them getting hit like that.

Speaking of deer, the wildlife department is urging hunters to make sure to fill all their deer tags this season.  The reason being is because of the drought, they're worried there won't be enough acorns to sustain the population, and food shortages will lead to starvation.  Yes, it has been that bad here this year. 

And finally, the much ballyhooed tailgate party out at work was typical ADP.  Oh, I suppose some people had fun, but most of us were just watching our clocks, waiting until we could go home.   In their usual unorganized fashion, the line for the food was long and moved slowly -- so slowly I read an entire act of the Shakespeare play I'm currently on.  They should have had more than one line, and they should have made up the plates ahead of time, but they didn't.  They should have had professional caterers do it instead of the front office people, who seemed to be moving in slow motion.  

It was 1:30 before I finally got my plate, and it wasn't that great.  Just a somewhat dry hamburger, and a hot dog that I've put into the refrigerator, but looks so bad I'm actually scared to eat it.  It's one of those cheap things that's dyed bright red, not a good brand that actually tastes good.  I wish they would have gotten Small Time Hot Dogs to cater.  Their food is food.  

That was actually a typo.  I meant to type their food is good, but it's appropriate the way it is, so I'm leaving it. 

I suppose I should give them credit for trying.   But really, I now understand why they had to make attendance mandatory.

One Way

 Well, that's one way to get employees to come to your party.  Make it mandatory.  

I guess I'm going to a tailgate tomorrow.   A mandatory tailgate.  But at least they're going to feed us, so there is that... an hour after our regular lunch break...

In other news, I got out this afternoon and started cleaning this section of the old chicken coops out.  I got this far and got overwhelmed.

Mainly because I just don't know what I'm going to do with all that wood.  It's mostly landscape timbers and 4 x 4s, but I have no use for them.  I've been trying to give them away for years, but nobody wants them -- which ought to tell you something.  I didn't even want them when they were given to me by the next door neighbor who somehow got the idea that I was going to make my back yard "so bea-yoo-tee-full".  No matter how many times I told her "No, I'm noooot," she still insisted that it was going to be "so bea-yoo-tee-full!"  

 But wait, there's more!

She gave me all of this, too, except that sheet of rubber stuff.  That was left by the previous owners, as were these things, and the little ride on toy in the top photo. 

I don't know why people seem to think I'm their own personal garbage dump, but they're always giving me junk they don't want.  I've got old computer monitors I never had a need for, and old ceiling fan that I can't use...heck one of my cousins even brought me an alternator -- for a car I don't even have!  

I'd love to give it all away, but people say they want something, then never show up to get it. 

I'm starting to understand why the previous owners threw so much garbage into the woods behind the house.  Not that I'm going to do that, but I'm starting to understand it...

Fun Fun

Today was the day  for our annual fire drill out at the factory, and let's just say, it did not go well.  What went wrong?

Well, first of all, any time the fire alarms go off, the turnstiles at the employee entrance are supposed to unlock and become free wheeling.  They did not.   I tried to go out one and it did not move.  Safety Man was out there and said, "It didn't work?"  I replied, "It didn't work!  It's supposed to be loose!"  He said, "That's why we have drills."  

All that aside, what it meant was that everyone had to go out the emergency exit on the side -- which would be a problem if the plant were operating fully staffed.  As it was, everyone made it out pretty quickly.  

We finally get out into the parking lot and head to our evacuation area, only to find our sign been moved and nobody knew where it was.  We went to where it was last year, and it wasn't there.  We went to where it had been two years ago, and it wasn't there, either.  We wandered around the parking lot a bit asking "Where are we supposed to go?" until we finally found our sign...only to discover there was huge pile of broken glass in front of it which we had to carefully pick our way through to get to it.  

Nevertheless, we persevered and made it to our evacuation area, and our supervisor was supposed to make sure everyone in the department had made it out of the building.  Only he didn't.  Someone asked him if he'd counted us, and he replied, "I see everyone!" Only he hadn't seen everyone, because Mrs. G hadn't made it out there yet.  She has a bad knee and can't walk very fast.  If it had been a real fire, we'd put her on a buggy and wheel her out, but for just a drill we were concerned we'd get in trouble if we did that. 

Then the fire department came and said we'd passed, and we wondered how in the world we did passed with so much going wrong, but they said with flying colors, and the fire drill ended, and back to work we all went.  

We hadn't even made it back to the department yet when one of the lines was calling for parts -- which we didn't have because one of the machines was down and we were way behind on work all day long.  Line 2 was on our backs all day long, and what was tubing sending us?  Parts for the RAH line.  Which was wayyyy ahead.  So far ahead, in fact, that we ran out of space to put our completed work.  

Throw way too big of a dose of my Stalker into the mix, and that makes for a fun filled day at the factory.  Kind of apropos that I'm currently reading Shakespeare's A Comedy Of Errors...

How was your day?

In a bit of better news, Cody and Brennan got a new kitten yesterday, or as Cody calls him, a little claw monster.  He's six months old and they've named him Finley. 

Finley likes to watch TV.  

Finley is going to be fun, I can tell already.

Senior Moments

I'm too young for these senior moments. 

About now, you're probably wondering what doofusy thing I did this time.  And I'm here to tell you. 

Last week, one of my coworkers -- whose daughter has a t-shirt business-- came around and mentioned that she was selling T-shirts for breast cancer awareness month.  I was in the middle of doing something, so I said, "OK!  I'll be right over there."  

As soon as I said that, it completely went out of my mind and I didn't think about it again until today...when I saw her passing out those shirts to the ones who weren't complete doofuses.  

"Awww, man!"  I lamented.

Sometime later, I went and asked her, "Do you have any extra t-shirts?  Because I totally meant to get one, but it completely slipped my mind."  She called her daughter, and good news!  She did have some extras.  

She told me the price, and I said, "Now, I'll just have to remember to put a $20 in my pocket or I'll be paying you with 14 one [dollar bills]."  To insure that I did indeed remember to bring a solid $20, I put a reminder in my phone. 

I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.  Other than I am way too young for these types of senior moments.  But also glad I can now avoid them by putting reminders to myself in my phone. 

And the shirts are really cute. 

Apropos of nothing, I was looking for a specific photo and ran across this one from the last Super Bowl.  It's too good not to share -- mainly because my supposedly die hard 49er fan didn't wear her tricked out 49er gear to work today.   

And finally, the teaser trailer for season 4 of The Chosen has dropped. 

I got me the major frissons now!  I can't wait until it comes out next year.  

Eclipse

Did you get to see the eclipse today?  I sort of did. 

See, since it was only going to be 60% totality here, I decided not to buy any eclipse glasses -- a decision I would come to regret.  Once it started, I realized I wanted to see it after all.  Alas, that was not to be, since I couldn't find the glasses I'd bought for the one in 2017.  I tore up my house, but I'm pretty sure I tossed them shortly after that eclipse. 

So, I did the next best thing.  I made a pinhole viewer with a paper plate and a piece of cardboard.  It worked pretty well. 

Holding the paper plate, the cardboard, and my phone at the same time in order to take the photo worked less well, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.  Since I didn't have glasses, I didn't stay outside to watch the whole thing.  I just walked out and checked on it periodically, but I did notice the light got a bit softer.  

I'll be sure to have some glasses for next year's total eclipse.  I was hoping I could drive up to Missouri and be in the path of totality again, but I'm not sure that's going to work out.  I'd planned on driving up to Memphis and staying with Cody and Brennan, then it's only about a 2 hour drive from there to Jackson, MO where my friend Peggy lives.  I'd watch the eclipse, then drive on home afterwards.  

When Cody and Brennan moved to Jackson, MS, that kind of threw a monkey wrench in those plans.  I'll have to keep an eye out and see if I can get a hotel room, though I'm hearing they're all pretty much booked up already.  Heck, it's only 4 hours...

OK, in other news, I finally got out and moved my little flag pole to the front post on my car port.  

The previous owners had put it on the second post -- not sure why.  I've been saying for a while now I was going to move it and I finally did.  Now  it's much more visible from the street, and I can get flags for all seasons top put out there.  Heh, the one I have now I found out in the woods after a pretty strong windstorm three or four years ago.  Nobody on the street claimed it, so there's no telling where it came from. 

While I was piddling around outside, I found a second little spider lily bravely blooming.  

I found this, too, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.  It's a daisy fleabane, which is a surprise because  I thought those only bloomed in the spring. 

The only other thing I did was to try to start digging a hole to re-set the pole I hang my bird feeder on, but I didn't get very far.  As I suspected, the ground was hard as a rock.  I'll have to find somewhere else to hang the feeder for the time being, or just scatter the seed on the ground.  

And finally, I've cast on a bright orange hat this time. 

The yarn is Red Heart and the colorway is Pumpkin.  Knitting is going pretty slowly, as my right wrist and thumb are very sore.  I'm not sure what I did to them, but I'm taking it a bit easy until they start feeling better. 

Oh, and one more thing, happy 30th birthday to this little man!

Overboard

I only had two things on my shopping list, and I almost didn't even go, but I was out of ice cream, so off to the store I went.  Where I went a little overboard.  

My reasoning was that since I didn't have any bills to pay this week, I could splurge a little.  Alas, that little turned into quite a bit.  Let me show you some of what I treated myself to.

First up, I found some flannel pants in the women's department.  

  

And look at this, pockets!  Functional pockets!  Don't believe me?  Look at here.  Do you see my phone in this pocket?  

No?  Because it fits all the way in it!  Usually in women's clothing, the pockets only go so deep that the phone has to stick out like this.

I don't understand why clothing designers think women don't want pockets.  Here's a hint:  WE DO!  Give us pockets please!

OK, moving right along.  What with it getting a bit cooler at night, I wanted to create myself a little hot chocolate bar in my kitchen.  I already had some plain and some peppermint marshmallows, so I put them into little jars, then I got some sprinkles to add to it. 

The peppermint sprinkles were left over from last year, but as soon as they switch from fall baking to winter baking supplies, I'll pick up another jar of those.   The other two I got this morning.  Plus, there is whipped cream in the fridge, so I am all set.

Now I just need the cold weather to get here. Except that I still need to find some firewood.  Except also, we are under a burn bad due to the drought.  I don't think it includes fireplaces, but it's been so very dry why take chances?  I mean, hypothetically it's possible a spark could go up the chimney and catch something on fire, right?  

Any excuse not to have to make a phone call...

Speaking of drought, here is the latest map, released just a few days ago.

My county is half severe and half extreme drought.  Even though it's been gloomy and overcast the last two days, we haven't gotten a single drop of rain, and there isn't any in the forecast for at least 10 days.  

Yesterday at work, I over heard two of the other brazers talking.  I mean, they talk all the time, but something they said caught my attention.  

"I don't mean to be getting all up into your conversation," I said, "But I heard you say chicken and dumplings, and now I want some."  Then we got to talking about chicken and dumplings.  One of the other ladies was telling us she always makes her dumplings from scratch.  I mentioned that I used to, and we mentioned the frozen kind you can get from Walmart.  Dumplings, that is.  You still have to cook a chicken and make the broth and stuff.  Honestly, I was going to get them because I still have half a chicken in the freezer, but then I said, "Nah" and got the next best thing.

Despite the fact that I got some chicken noodle soup out of the freezer, I might just eat some chickens and dumplins for supper tonight. 

The last impulse purchase I made was this.

I'd seen people posting on Facebook about getting it, but I hadn't found any until today.  Now I have some!  Then I checked out, got all the way out to my car, and realized I hadn't even gotten the ice cream.  Oh well, I've been eating too much sugar here lately anyway. 

I got home and put my cold stuff up, and oh, by the way finally got the live vole this thing brought into the house

back out of the house.  Then I put on some gloves and picked up quite a bit of deer poop to add to my compost tumbler.  The instructions say to tumble it every three to five days, and I guess I'll do that once the newness wears off, but right now, I'm tumbling it three to five times a day.  Since yesterday, I mean.  And I keep peeking inside to see if my stuff is composting -- even though I know it takes more than one day.  While I was out there, I got my compost fork out and stirred up my big pile of compost.  I really need to sift the dirt out and use it to fill in some of my low spots in the yard.  Maybe in the morning I'll do that.  Or maybe not.  

And finally, remember the protective cage I made for Marty Mac?  And remember how just two days later, something dragged the whole cage across the porch?  Well, yesterday, it occurred to me I still have some concrete chunks from when I dug up that old fire pit that was behind the fence.  Yeah, I don't think anything is going to be dragging this around.  

If it does, I'm selling the house and moving, because I sure don't want to run up on anything that strong.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to get a few more hats knit for my charity box before I mail it off. 

Laters.

My New Toy

Those of you who've been reading my blog know that I've been wanting a compost tumbler for a while now.  I've really wanted one for quite a while before I even posted about it the first time. 

Well, during Prime days, I found one on sale and I finally got me one.  It arrived today, and let me tell you, it was a bear to put together.  Mostly because everything was black and I couldn't see it.  But also because none of the parts were labeled, and my hair kept getting in the way.  

And because the cat brought a live vole into the house, so I had to take a break and chase that thing back out.  Oh, and she brought another one in and I'm yelling at her to catch it and kill it even as I type this.  

That's the one downside of leaving the doors open.  And the bugs of course.  

By the way, I bought one of those light traps, and it seems to work pretty well.  It actually puts out more light than the night light I'd had in the kitchen.  

But I digress...

After about an hour's worth of frustration -- but not so much frustration I uttered any unwholesome words for which I would have to repent -- I got the composter put together and carried it outside. 

I raked up some leaves and filled up both chambers -- one all the way and the other only about half.  I wanted to save room for banana peels and veg scraps and stuff.  I have had to resist running out there and spinning it every five minutes.  

They said not to use pet droppings in it, but I think I want to put some deer poop in it anyway.   There's plenty of it out there, and it makes good fertilizer.  The sky was overcast and gloomy all day, and it felt like night even though it was only 5:00 PM, so I think I'll wait until tomorrow to pick up the deer poop.  Yes, I'll wear gloves!  It's still poop after all.  

One last thing before I go.  Remember the guy I used to call Gung Ho?  He was the engineer who took Dude's place when he left to go to Viking a few months ago.   A couple of us noticed we hadn't seen him in a while, so yesterday I asked Group Leader Shark.  Turns out he quit.  We had quit the laugh over that, because of how arrogant he was.  He was going to whip things into shape, and how he said things would be a lot different if he were in charge.  

In the end, all he did was mess up our jigs and run out on us.  

And none of that was a surprise to any of us.  

Short Posts

I knew right away what kind of day it was going to be when first thing this morning, the cat threw up her breakfast all over the kitchen floor. 

"You ate too much," I said as I cleaned it all up.  

Then I went out to top up Marty Mac's water, only to discover something had turned the whole cage over and dragged it across the porch.  Not only that, the hummingbird feeder had been taken off its hook and was tossed into the yard.  

I have no idea what went on there.  Maybe a raccoon.  The good news is at least Marty Mac wasn't uprooted.  All I had to do was turn him right side up and re-fill his water tray.  

Thennn, after a workday that seemed it would never end, I get home and it's cool enough to leave the back door open.  What does my beloved cat do?  She brings a live chipmunk into my house.  Sigh...I can't win for losing today.  I finally managed to shoo the thing back outside with a broom, then shut the door, much to the cat's dismay.  

Just to finish on a high note, I got the incorrectly crossed cable fixed, and put in a lifeline just in case I do it again. 

That's about it for today.   Yes, I know my posts have been short lately.  Somewhere along the way, we seem to have gotten the idea that we have to write a novel to write a blog post, but I disagree with that.  Back in the day when most folks kept a journal, sometimes they'd only write one or two lines.  My posts won't be quite that short, but I won't wait until I have a novel to post, either. 

It'll all depend on how much I have to say.  Or how good/bad I feel that day.  Today, I don't feel good.  I'm going to close for now, and sit and knit a bit. 

And make a few rhymes along the way. 

There's Hope

After I posted yesterday, and yes, I'll admit I felt like crying, I went back out to look at my bluebonnet patch.  Wonder of wonders, I found two seedlings that had survived.  Not wanting them to suffer the same fate as their companions, I quickly ran -- figuratively speaking, of course -- and cut a piece of chicken wire, gathered up some extra bricks, and put up a makeshift cover for them.  

Which I then had to shoo the cat off of...Brat. 

I've got more chicken wire and some extra 4 x 4s, so I might try to make something a bit more stable for them over the next few days.  Hopefully, it'll work, and maybe...just maybe, I'll have some bluebonnets after all. 

I'd planted three packs of seeds, so maybe more of them will sprout.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

Then I came inside and started working on my Irish Hiking scarf, and discovered I'd crossed one of the cables the wrong way.  Sigh...

Fortunately, it's only one repeat back, so I don't have that much to tink.  

That's about all I have for tonight, so let me get to work on that knitting...

Laters.

I Did A Thing

So I did a thing yesterday.

No, I didn’t leave the house. Let’s not get crazy here.

Well, then, what is this thing I did yesterday?  I got out this scarf -- you know the one I've been working on for literally years and this is as far as I've gotten --

and I realized it just wasn't speaking to me.  I didn't like it.  I didn't like the scarf.  I didn't like the pattern. I didn't want to knit on it any more.  So I ripped it.  The whole thing.  I hanked the yarn up and soaked it a bit to try to get some of the kink out, and when it's good and dry, I'll wind it into a cake and set it aside until I can find the perfect pattern for it.  

The yarn is a DK weight wool/acrylic blend that my ex MIL sent me when she was destashing.  Life DK by Stylecraft is the brand.  

Instead, I got this scarf out and worked on it a bit more. 

It's an Irish Hiking Scarf that I widened a bit, and the yarn is Knit Picks Brava, which is amazingly soft for acrylic.  I'm hoping if I can get it done in time, I can give it to my daughter in law for Christmas.  Or her birthday, which is also in December.   

In work news, I got to work bright and early this morning and found out there's going to be another shutdown this month.  It'll be during inventory week, which would have only been a three day work week for those who don't work inventory anyway.  This year, they'll only be working Monday, while inventory itself will be moved to Tuesday instead of Thursday.  We'll have the rest of the week off.   

Funny how there never seems to be a need to shut down the front office...

What I wonder, though, is why our supervisor is constantly harping on our production numbers when we're plenty far ahead of the lines, and work is so slow we have to keep having these shutdowns.  The only bright spot is that he wasn't there today.  

In other, miscellaneous news, since I turned my Hulu Live back on, I've discovered that they added the Magnolia Network.  I've been totally bingeing on Maine Cabin Masters.  I also started watching old episodes of Kitchen Nightmares, which I'm really enjoying, even though the show seems pretty scripted.  I don't know why I didn't watch it when it came on.  Maybe it came on after my bedtime.  I'm still trying to get into Yellowstone, though.  I'm struggling with that one.  My friends tell me it gets better, but I'm through episode 5 and I'm still not really liking it. 

And finally, there comes a time in everyone's life when you just have to throw in the towel and admit defeat.  I went out to put a little water on my bluebonnet seedlings this afternoon, and they were all gone.  All of them.  Completely gone.   I'm heartbroken.

I can only guess that the deer ate them, which I didn't think deer would eat bluebonnets, but I guess they do.  But that's it for me.  I'm done.  I give up.  

I'm just not meant to have bluebonnets.  

Is That You, Fall?

At long last, look who finally decided to show up.  

Yep, I woke up to an absolutely glorious fall day -- just perfect for football and knitting. 

And that's just what I did.  Here is the proof:

Except that it looks exactly like the last five hats I knit.  I bought a lot of that yarn when it was on clearance!  I've knit so many of these, but I still have enough yarn to do maybe 15 or 16 more.  Good thing they're so popular.  

Anyway, it was cool enough I was able to open the French doors and all the windows, and leave them open all day.  Getting fresh air into the house was so nice, but I think the open windows confused the cat.  Even though the door was wide open, she kept jumping up onto the window sills and meowing because she couldn't get inside. Silly girl. 

Oh, and I had a couple of visitors in my back yard, and because the door was already open, I was able to sneak up and get a pretty good photo of them. 

I also got out there and cleaned the trough and squirrel feeder.  You know, it's a week into squirrel season and I haven't even tried to hunt.  I guess because it's been so warm, I haven't really been in the squirrel hunting mood.  Not that I ever kill any...but still.  Maybe once it gets a little colder I'll go hunt some. 

Speaking of, it's supposed to get down into the 40s tonight.  I already got the gumbo thawed out.  I just need to cook some rice to put into it, and I'm all ready.  

The only other thing I did was to cut back my pineapple sage, the parts that don't have blooms on them, that is.  

I left all the stems that had blooms and buds on them for the bees and butterflies.  By the way, I know it's a perennial and will come back next year, but I'd read somewhere that letting them bloom could affect the flavor when you use it as an herb.   From everything I've read, it's a hardy plant, so it may not die back after first frost, and I can keep cutting it all winter long.  I guess we'll see. 

I also cut my lemon balm and rosemary, then I ground up and bottled the mint I'd cut a few weeks ago.  I really need to start labeling the stuff when I hang it, because I couldn't remember which was the sweet mint and which was the peppermint.  I'd bought some of those tags with the string on them years ago to tag knitted gifts with, and I thought they'd be great to hang on the herbs when I dry them.  Except that I can't find them.  I know they're around here somewhere, but where is anyone's guess.   

I'll find them eventually.  Probably five minutes after I buy new ones.

The Trouble

Last weekend while I was at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip, a vendor had several of those faux fur pom poms sitting on her table.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  They look kind of like this:  

Well, there was this one person who was there at the FFITS, walking around shopping and spied the pom poms sitting on the table, and this one person walked up to the table, picked one up,  and exclaimed, "Oh, look!  Tribbles!"

I can neither confirm nor deny that that person might have been me. 

In other less dorky news, I finally got the hole in my sock repaired.  

Only now, I'm almost scared to wear it.  What if I punch another hole in it?  How did the hole get there in the first place anyway?  

I still  haven't done anything with the new sock I've cast on, other than knitting a cuff. I've been browsing my knitting books and the internet, but nothing appeals.  I think I might just do another ribbed socks like the ones pictured above. 

Other than that, there really hasn't been anything going on lately.  My big project for today -- other than paying bills and shopping -- was to make a protective cage for Marty Mac.  Something has been pulling him up, so I've been kind of afraid to leave him outside, especially at night.  I bring him in when it gets dark then put him out before I go to work, but I still worry that something will get him.

The other day, I noticed there was a lot of loose wire back in those old chicken coops, so when I got back in from town, I went out there and cut a big chunk of it off. 

By the way, that's not dirt.  It's old chicken poop.  I want to eventually compost it, once I finally get my tumbling composter thing.  

Also by the way, the deer seem to have gotten fairly comfortable with me being in the back yard and didn't seem at all bothered by me being out there. 

The big doe let me get quite close before retreating into the woods, and even then, she didn't go very far. I guess it didn't help that I had a full bucket of corn in my hand.  To fill the squirrel feeder, you know. 

Anyway, after a few moments with a wire cutter and some zip ties, I had a nifty little cage to protect Marty Mac from whatever was pulling him up. 

The only problem was that it's too big to fit on that baker's rack I have on the front porch, so he's sitting on the floor until I can come up with something better.  

I guess that's it for today.  If you'll excuse me, I'm off to browse more sock patterns. 

Laters.

Bad Idea

Just when I think my place of employment can't come up with a more stupid idea, they manage to outdo themselves.  

Today, Supervisor came around and told all the brazers that he was going to start a new thing.  Whoever ends up being the "lead brazer" -- the one who brazes the most headers that day -- gets an extra 10 minutes for lunch the next day.  Sigh...It's meant to motivate us to work harder, but it's actually going to have the opposite effect. 

As soon as he walked off, we all kind of looked at each other and said, "Yeah, we know who is going to get that every day!"  For those of you who aren't brazers, it's that one particular brazer who never seems to run out of work, and somehow always ends up with the big orders of easy parts.  And every brazer knows exactly who it is. 

A few minutes later, I went up to his desk and told him, "This isn't a good idea.  All it's going to do is build resentment among the brazers, I mean more than there already is."  He said, "Life is full of resentments, though."

I said, "Yeah, but in sub brazing, all things are not created equal."  It would be different if everyone braze the same headers all day, but some headers are harder to braze than others.    Not only that, the one brazer who has to do the Kit orders will never even have a shot at getting that extra 10 minutes.  Those are usually one or two unit orders, so she'll spend more time setting up, confirming, and filling out paperwork than actually brazing.  Or the ones who get sent to the back every day...and the one who has to braze and part stage.  They won't have a shot.

He said he understands it's not going to be fair, but he's going to do it anyway.  He also said he's just trying to encourage us to choose different orders.  Um, what?  Not one person over there wants to do the crappy orders.  We all want to choose the easy work, but we can't pick and choose what we want to do.  We have to go by the schedule.  Well, most of us do, anyway.  His little pet doesn't.  If the schedule dictates I have to do 27 four piece orders in a row, then that's what I have to do.  

This morning, for instance, I had a whole bunch of small orders and every single one of them had something wrong with it.  I kid you not, it took me two hours to braze 30 headers, because I had to fix all the problems with them before I could even start brazing them.  That means I don't have a shot at the long lunch break, so why should I bust my hiney the rest of the day? 

If you really want to motivate us, how about you solve some of the problems we complain about day after day after day after day?  Like for example, when we complain that the holes in the headers aren't re-rounded, don't just grunt and walk off.  GO TO TUBING and tell them to start re-rounding the holes. Or when we complain that the adapter tubes are flattened.  GO TO TUBING and make them adjust their machines so they aren't squishing the tubes.  

 And how about taking some of those extra, non-brazing tasks off of our shoulders?

We were just reminiscing not too long ago about the good old days when all the brazers had to do was braze.  ALL we had to do was braze.  We didn't have to confirm orders in the computer.  That was done before the work was even brought to us.  We didn't have to clear milestones (which is what happens when someone didn't confirm a component part.)  We didn't have to fill out stacks of useless paperwork, we didn't have to go hunt down our partials, or walk them down the line in tubing, and we certainly didn't have to go over to tubing and help the machine operator set up because she doesn't know how to check a part.  

All we had to do was braze.  Let's get back to that, and you'll be amazed how much our production increases.   

In knitting news, I finally decided to tink my sock toe back to before the hole and just re-knit it all. This is as far as I got. 

I'm past the frayed and broken yarn, only now I don't feel like knitting it back up tonight.  I'll do that tomorrow.  

And finally, that big, scary test of the emergency alert system that had so many people wrapping their phones in tin foil happened.  I didn't even hear it. 

None of us heard it.  I thought it was supposed to be loud.  It wasn't.  Weatherman Matt yelling about the weather is a lot louder than that thing was.  Oh well, it's over now and none of you got a microchip secretly inserted into your butts, or turned into zombies,  or whatever else nonsense was supposed to happen.  You can take the tin foil off now.  

P. S.  Weatherman Matt doesn't really yell, but somehow hearing his alerts always manages to startle me.  Especially when they come across in the middle of the night. It's a bit disconcerting hearing a man's voice right in your ear -- when you live alone...

I Messed Up

 I think I messed up.  I let my pineapple sage bloom.  

I've read you're not supposed to do that, but I don't know what I can do about it now.  Any herb people out there?  Will it be OK if I just cut the blooms off?   All I have been able to find out is that it signals to the plant its life cycle is over.  What I don't know is if I can fix it at this point, or if it's even worth it this late in the year, and I should let them go until spring.  Maybe I'll let it bloom, then cut the plant back pretty hard and start over.  

If all else fails, I can just buy another one next year.  Well, this has been a learning experience for me, and it has been fun, but I'm not sure I want to fool with the different varieties of mint again.  My spearmint is already established, and I couldn't really taste that much of a difference in that and the peppermint and sweet mint.  

I definitely want to keep the lemon balm and rosemary, though.  I didn't realize how much I'd like the rosemary.  

OK, moving right along, now that it's October, I can light my All Hallow's Eve candle from my friend Kristine's shop.  

It's supposed to get cold this weekend with lows in the upper 40s, and I can't wait!  I reckon I ought to call the firewood guy back and see if he's ever going to show up with my wood, or if I need to find a new supplier.  I don't know what it is with people in this town.  Nobody wants to work -- and it isn't just the young ones, either.  

Still no rain in sight, though.  I want to get a bird bath so the birds can actually bathe in it.  They've been drinking from the trough, but I feel there is a better option.  I know Lowe's has some birdbaths, but I don't want to drive all the way up there again.  I don't want to go anywhere this weekend.  I've gone out of town the last three weekends in a row, and I just want to stay home.  

Eh, maybe I can find a shallow bowl at Walmart I can use at least temporarily.  Until I can get a proper bird bath at least. 

Done!

 The deed is done.  It wasn't pleasant, but we persevered and got through it.  

You got it.  I took the cat to the vet and got her shots.  She was not happy about it and let me know all the way there.  Then she let everyone in the waiting room know.  Then she let me know all the way home....

But it's done for a year.  She's up to date on her vaccines -- yes, I know.  I'm such a mindless sheep to get my cat a rabies shot!  Oh the horror!  On the bright side, the vet positively exclaimed over how good she looks.  She's the picture of health, he said.   They also got her old records transferred to my account, and he told me they have her listed as four years old.  So, that's good.  I didn't even know how old she was.  Now, I do. 

In work news, I'm trying to figure out how Second Shift Slob managed to "electrocute" himself on something that doesn't even have electricity hooked up to it.   Even the maintenance men looked confused about that one... But that's what he told the first aid lady.  

By the way, you know I've been saying how they're bringing all of second shift to day shift?  They're converting a second line to be able to run air handler parts, and then they're going to completely shut down second shift, except for a few component areas.  For the last 4 or 5 weeks, we've been told "Monday is the day", only it never has been.  

Today, I asked Cuz about it, and he said the line is all ready to go.  They'd run some test units down it Friday, so now they're just waiting on final approval from The Big Man Up Front, which I'm sure they'll get.  After all, he had to approve the expenses of converting that line in the first place.  I guess maybe next time they say Monday is the day, it really will be. 

By the way, how do you know it's Fall in Mississippi?  ADP gets the air conditioners fixed.  It was so cold in there this morning, several of us had jackets on, and I was wishing I'd brought a hat.  

Speaking of hats, I got another one finished. 

I'd brought that one to work on at FFITS, but so many people were dissing Red Heart yarn that I started feeling a bit like white trash.  I eventually put it away and worked on a scarf that was stuffed in the bottom of my bag.

I met the most pathetic person there, at FFITS, I mean.  Seriously, how low does your self esteem have to be when you feel the need to one-up someone on how long it takes your hair to dry?  I'd never really paid attention, so when she asked, I said, "I don't know.  Five or six hours."  Then she told me it takes hers eight hours to dry.  Not only that, she said, "You have to braid yours.  I just put mine up in a messy bun and I'm done."   And that was all after she rather sneeringly told me that lots of people in Mississippi still use cash.  Because we're all just a bunch of uneducated, inbred, toothless hicks you know.  I started to pull out my card and make her pay the transaction fees, but I didn't.  

I'll tell you one thing, though, I won't buy from her ever again.  I walked away from her booth really feeling sorry for her.  Not sorry enough to let her keep abusing me that way, but sorry nonetheless. 

After I finished my hat, I cast on a sock with my new yarn.  I only got as far as the cuff when I set it aside.

I haven't decided yet if I want to do a patterned sock, or just a plain vanilla or ribbed sock.  IN the meantime, I'm going to be working on yes, another hat.  Yes, out of Red Heart. 

And yes, I'm sure the recipient will be glad to have it.  

Last, but certainly not least, I had the strangest dream last night.  I dreamt that someone was making me get a massage.  I didn't want to, because the last thing I'd want is some stranger putting his hands all over me.  Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.  But whoever that lady in my dream was had told me it was mandatory.  

Thankfully, I woke up before it started, so I didn't have to go through with it.