Havoc

Before I get into today's post, I wanted to give you an update on the brazer who fell out yesterday.  She'd gotten overheated, which triggered an asthma attack, but once they got her cooled off and her asthma calmed down, she was fine.   She didn't come back to work today, and honestly, I don't think she'll last much longer out there because it's going to get much, much hotter before it's all over with.  

Now, on to the topic at hand, my flower beds. Those storms yesterday evening really wreaked havoc on my poor Cosmos.   They were nearly pulverized, but have managed to survive. 

This afternoon, I got my now obsolete sunflower stakes and made a sort of makeshift trellis system for them so at least they're not laying out in the yard or onto the porch. 

 I think next year, I won't put such tall plants right in front of the house because of the rain runoff.  I'd love to get gutters someday, but I can't even get my act together enough to get the yard surveyed and the fence replaced, so it's not likely that will happen either. 

Speaking of tall flowers, these three sunflowers came through the storms just fine, and as you can see, they're taller than the house. 

They're the ones I had tied to the Christmas light hooks, but alas, this little one wasn't quite tall enough for that.  

I had it staked, but the stalk snapped off right above that so I cut it and brought it inside. 

In other news, something is going on with this sweet banana pepper, so I cut it and put it into my refrigerator.  

Maybe I can cut that wonky spot off and use it for something, though I have no idea what to do with a banana pepper.  I'll have to look up some recipes.  

In the back left corner, you can also see my cilantro.  It's pretty much toast at this point.  It grew too fast and I couldn't keep up with it, so it's gone completely to seed.   I know you can also use the seeds as a seasoning, and I was going to try to collect them as well, but at this rate, I don't know if that's going to happen, either.  I may just pull the whole thing up and plant some Stevia.  

Anyway, that's about all I have for today.  I think I'll go get me something to eat and watch a little of the boob tube.  Am I showing my age there?  Yep...

Laters. 

Never Dull

As some of my readers have mentioned, things are never dull out at the factory, and today was no exception.  It all started...well, during the night last night when I couldn't sleep.  I had a bad case of the sweats, and simply could not get cool, even with the ceiling fan on full blast and the window unit running -- not to mention the central air unit.

I found out why this morning when I got up to begin getting ready for work and discovered...I'd had the window unit set to fan instead of cool.  Sigh...I guarantee that won't happen tonight. 

I get to work only to find out that I'd been so focused on getting my ice machine yesterday that I'd totally missed two -- yes two-- fights in the plant.  

OK, I didn't totally miss them.  I had an inkling that something was going on when I saw two of the supervisors taking some people up to the front office, but I'd written it off as someone falling out again.  That happens a lot this time of year.  I'd also heard whispers of the other one.  I knew something had gone on but didn't know all the details, and today I found out.   And what happened is as follows. 

It would seem that the Scrap Witch had gotten a group leader (in another department) written up because one of her employees was messing up some parts, only the group leader said it wasn't his fault.  She even called maintenance out and they looked at the machine and confirmed it was "jumping off" -- whatever that means.  What it boils down to is that it was the machine's fault, not the employee's, but even so, Scrap Witch refused to remove the write up from that group leader, so the group leader went off on Scrap Witch and walked out. She didn't come back today, and we were all wondering if she'd quit.  I guess we'll find out. 

You know who did quit, though?  The brazer I call Mouth.  She supposedly got another job and had put her notice in last week.  Can't say I'm going to miss her and her attitude.  I can say the department was a whole lot quieter today without her, but it wasn't without excitement. 

Yes, it was hot in the plant -- up to 94° before the storms rolled through.  I can neither confirm nor deny that someone who may or may not have been me snuck something that gives every appearance of being an insulated tumbler into the plant. 

The person who may or may not have been me figured if Not Cuz -- whose new blog nickname will from here on out be Junior --can walk around drinking from an insulated mug, so can ...other people.  

Why Junior?  If you know Not Cuz, and have ever seen Hee Haw, you'll get it.  

It was so hot, my crazy coworker made her t-shirt into a halter top, 

about which Group Leader Shark said, "Not even Demi-god wants to see that!"  

It was so hot, one of the brazers fell out, and we rushed her up to First Aid and Group Leader Shark knocked on the door, only nobody was there.  So she rang the emergency bell outside HR, and nobody was there, either.  I was already headed back to tubing -- having returned the wheelchair to its proper place and put the cover back onto it -- when I heard them page Uncle Supervisor, because all the supervisors have a key to the first aid room which they had to start locking because too many people were stealing the first aid supplies.  

Shortly after that, the word came back that they'd had to call the ambulance.  I quipped that those ambulance drivers have got to be getting frequent flyer miles for all the times that they've had to come out to the plant these last couple of weeks.  

And as if all that weren't enough, just as the shift ended, a massive thunderstorm rolled through and we were all running -- and I'm using that term very loosely -- through the parking lot in a driving rainstorm.  I got thoroughly soaked, so I came home and took a hot shower straight away. 

Now I'm ready to settle in with some knitting and a bit of TV watching.  

Laters. 

New Toys

I got me a new toy this afternoon.  

Truth is, I'd always wanted an ice maker ever since they first began to be available, but couldn't justify the expense of buying one.  However, it's been so hot in the plant these last few days, and it being ADP the first two things they cut off when it gets hot are the air conditioners and the ice makers.  OK, not really, but it sure feels like it.

Seriously, when it's the same temperature at your work station as it is outside, how can you say the plant is air conditioned?  And I don't know what's going on with the ice machines.  They're supposedly working, but are always empty.  My guess is that they simply don't have nearly enough capacity for a place that size with that many employees, and since they won't let us have our insulated mugs anymore, everyone is constantly needing ice. 

Especially this time of year, when we're nearly always under a heat advisory. 

And it's only going to get worse from here on out, well until about mid September at least. 

After spending the last few days walking my legs off going from break room, to break room, to break room trying to keep my cup filled -- not to mention my lunchbox-- I decided I had justification enough and went straight to Walmart after work and got me my own ice machine. 

I had to rearrange a few things on my counter, but it now has a home and is happily purring away,

 and look!  Ice!

I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly it's filling up.  I'm transferring the ice from her into my bin in the freezer, so maybe that way I'll have enough built up to fill my cup and cooler in the morning. 

My other new toy isn't really a toy.  I finally broke down and bought a glucose meter to better keep track of my sugar.  So far, I'm not doing so well.  It would seem all the things I'd been doing to try to be healthy and lower my cholesterol was actually raising my blood sugar -- like drinking my fruit smoothies.  I mean, fruit is good for you, but I'd been picking the high sugar fruits like bananas, mangoes, and peaches.  

Oatmeal is another one I'm confused about.   I've been looking into it, because I'd started eating my morning bowl for breakfast again in order to help lower my cholesterol, but some websites say it can raise blood sugar, while others say oats are a low glycemic, high fiber food that can help stabilize blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics.  I'll try to remember to ask about it when I go back to the doctor next month.  In the meantime, the consensus is that plain oatmeal or oatmeal with healthy additives like nuts or berries is OK.  I think I'll keep eating it, then. 

And finally, there has been knitting.  I've been working on the scarf for the Seaman's Church Institute, and have gotten to the ribbing part.  

I've got to knit 4 x 4 ribbing for 18", then do another section of garter stitch.  The cat is not impressed. 

Brat. 

Mystery Solved

The mystery has finally been solved!

"And what mystery is that?" you may ask.  

Well, I'll tell you.  As many of you already know, I have a squirrel feeder out behind my back fence.  I typically fill it with deer corn, because it's cheaper than squirrel food.  Usually, when I fill it completely up, it takes the squirrels about a week to empty it.  Or if I only fill it halfway, it takes them 3-4 days.  

Here lately, however, after I fill it up, and it's been completely empty the next day.  At first, I thought the deer had figured out where all that corn was coming from and were eating out of the squirrel feeder, but no.  I watched them for a few days and they weren't touching the corn still in the feeder-- just the stuff the squirrels threw on the ground.  

Last night, I finally discovered where all the corn was going when I opened the back door to let the cat out...and there was a flipping trash panda out there!  

(Not my Photo).  

It would seem I've progressed to feeding raccoons.  Oh well, all are welcome at this dinner table.  Even trash pandas. 

(Not my photo, either.)  

Speaking of dinner tables, my tabasco peppers are coming along nicely.  

I'm hoping enough will ripen at the same time that I can make fresh tabasco sauce, but if not, I'll string and dry them.  I was planning on doing that to the cayenne peppers anyway, unless Cody and Brennan can make it up here in time to get them some fresh ones.  I don't know.  It's been a lot of fun growing them, but I'm not really a pepper person.  I don't think I'll plant any next year. 

Oh, and look at this!  I got some sunflower seeds!

They were harder to get out of the flower than I expected them to be, so with that in mind, I went ahead and took all the cheesecloth off of the other flowers. If I lose a few seeds in the process, oh well.  I'll still have plenty.  I'll most likely plant these instead of eating them, and the rest I'll save for the birds.  In fact, it's still pretty early in the year -- relatively speaking.  I might just go ahead and plant some of these now.  Well, not now now, but maybe this weekend.  Or tomorrow. 

So, yesterday we had a bit of a breeze blowing all afternoon, and my tall sunflowers were all laid over.  They weren't completely flattened, but were leaning pretty far  -- so much so that even the stakes were bent.   I didn't have any taller stakes, so I got my garden twine, my ladder, and a bit of good old American ingenuity and tethered them to the hooks I hang my Christmas lights on. 

I figured if those hooks can continuously snag my flag, they can support a sunflower.  It seems to be working so far.  

If I ever grow any more of these really tall ones, I won't put them so close to the house next time.  I think it was the wind shearing off of the roof that affected them so.  

Well, I have more to talk about, but this is already turning into a novel, so I'll just leave you with this:  At 12:25 PM today, it was hotter at my work station than it was outside. 

 Fortunately, the heat is supposed to break by Wednesday -- if you can call dropping from 99 to 94 "breaking".  I just hope my air conditioner holds out. 

Is there a patron saint of air conditioners?  Does anyone know?  

Summertime

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime!  

Yep, summertime is officially here -- both meteorological and astronomical summers -- though it's been summer in the South for a month now.  To be fair, it's been kind of a mild late spring/early summer.  We're just now getting temps into the 90s.  Alas, they're also in the 90s in my work area.

To put that into perspective, it was 94° outside, and 93° inside.  I'd prefer the outside, though, because at least there is a cool breeze from time to time, and fresh, clean air.  The air inside is foul and stale and clings to you like a filthy scum.  

In better news, my tall sunflowers are blooming.  I had to get my selfie stick and extend it to its full length to take these photos, which was an adventure because I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of.  It took several tries, but eventually I got some decent shots.  

As always, I'm not sure which varieties these are, but they sure are pretty. 

This one isn't quite opened all the way, and you can tell how tall this plant is by the flagpole in the lower left corner of the photo. 

Not only that, I'm finally getting some other colors of my Cosmos blooming. 

The peppers are coming along nicely, too.  This sweeet banana pepper is coming along nicely, and so far is the largest one. 

I've got a pretty good crop of Jalapeños, too. 

Unfortunately, my herbs are being completely devoured by...I don't really know what, but they're munching away, especially on my lemon balm.  I've been using the diluted dish soap, but it isn't working all that well.  In desperation, I ordered some Neem oil to see if that helps. 

Speaking of, I found a very large garden spider in my kitchen this morning, and we had a long talk about her job performance.  I told her she needed to get her spidery butt out into my herb garden and eat whatever is out there.  "Imma let it slide this time, but if you don't start paying your rent, you're out of here!"  

 In book news, I finished the second book of the Matched trilogy, Crossed.  It was pretty good, but dragged a bit more than the first one.  I must have thought so the first time I read it, too, because I left it a three star review on Goodreads.  It was a pretty long book, and she could have probably trimmed 20-30 pages and it would have been better for it.  Next up is the third one, Reached.  

This is the one I haven't read yet, so I'm looking forward to it. 

I'll let you know how it goes. 

What A Week

It really started last week, but ooo-dah-lolly what a week!  

I don't know what's going on out there at the plant, but there have been a steady stream of people being taken up to first - aid in the wheelchair, including one of the brazers last Friday.  Now, don't get me wrong-- I don't want to make light of her fainting, but this particular brazer falls out all the time.  So much so that we've lost count.  That's how we all knew exactly what to do for her.  

The newbs, however, were pretty shook up over it.  Once we'd gotten the fainted brazer up to first aid, and she'd been tended to, they came back to the department shaking and crying and all.  I wanted so badly to look at them and say, 

But I was good and kept that to myself.

In other news, tropical storm Alberto has formed in the Gulf, but except for some coastal flooding, isn't expected to be any danger to the U.S.  It is predicted to make landfall in Mexico.  We won't even get any rain out of it here.    What we will get is heat and humidity.  Not from the storm.  From the fact that it is Mississippi and June.  

I had to put a fan in my piano corner, because even with the air on, it gets uncomfortably warm in that corner. 

I'm still practicing, just not as much.  I play for a few minutes in the mornings before work, because by the time I get home, I'm so worn out, I don't always feel like it. I don't really feel like doing much of anything, for what it's worth, but here's something I did over the weekend.  I started cleaning and organizing these shelves.  

I know it doesn't look like it, but hey, it's a start.  Eventually, the plan is to move the whole thing out to the shed.  I'm also considering buying another one of those Rubbermaid cabinets like I got last year.  I don't know, though.  We'll see. 

In other news, I have a pink Cosmos!

I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get any other colors but white, but this one surprised me when I got home from work this afternoon. 

And finally, some of my tabasco peppers are turning brown/gray. 

I'm not sure if it's from sunburn, or overwatering or what. I've cut back on watering them to see if that helps, but I'm open to ideas.  

Well, I know this is a bit short, but there really hasn't been that much to talk about.  I'm just working and sleeping, and not much else.  That's how it's going to be for a while. 

Until busy season is over, at least. 

Well, That Was A Bust

I got up bright and early this morning, on my day off, but not as early as I do when I have to go to work, and eagerly went down to the farmer's market on the square. Turns out, it was a bust. 

Being as this is Thunder On Water weekend, they were having the BBQ contest, so a lot of the vendors that usually come to the farmer's market didn't even show up, and the ones that did didn't have any tomatoes.  I guess it's still too early in the season for them.  

Bost Farms did have some pattypan squash and I was tempted to buy some, but in the end, I left with only a book from the Little Free Library. 

Other than mowing, and cleaning out Blaze's tank, I didn't do much of anything besides make my pesto.  I only had just over a cup of fresh basil, and most of the recipes I'd found called for three to four cups.  One site said you can substitute baby spinach, so I did that to make up two cup, then I adjusted the recipe accordingly.  It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Now I just need to find some simple recipes I can use pesto in.  

I ran into a little snag when I realized that I no longer had a working food processor -- mine having kicked the proverbial bucket years ago, but I dug out the ol' blender and we made do.  

In knitting news, I'm now back to the point I was when I ripped this scarf and started over. 

 For some reason, it's going much faster this time around.  I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining. 

Also, my friend Marcy sent me some safety eyes so I can finish my emotional support chicken that's been in the drawer for several weeks now.  I need to get her out and finish her.  Her name will be HenBit -- after one of my favorite springtime edible weeds.  

Maybe she'll join Suzette on our adventures.  But I've got to get her done first. 

I Called It

Did I call that or what?

Yesterday they'd put up a notice out at work saying all production areas were going to be off Saturday.  This morning, they put up a new notice that said all assembly areas would be off Saturday.  Component areas, see your supervisor.

Oh, you should have heard the wailing and hollering -- from the newbs.  Us old school folks just looked at each other and said, "We knew that was going to happen."   But before the day was out, Group Leader Shark came around and told us that none of the brazers would be working, so it's all good.

Heh, Demi-god said he wasn't going to come in anyway, no matter what they'd told him to do.  And the rest of us just looked at each other and said, "It must be nice to have Uncle Supervisor to disappear your points like that."  

But wait, there's more!

While all that was going on, we had a medical emergency out at the plant -- so concerning, the first aid lady called the ambulance-- and two fights broke out at the same time.  They got the fights sorted out, and the ambulance finally arrived and things went back to normal...or so we thought. 

Not two hours later, we had another medical emergency and they had to call the ambulance again.  Them ambulance folks must have been wondering what the heck is going on out there.  And all this happened before 10:00.

I haven't heard how the people are doing, but I'll let you know if I do. 

The rest of the day passed without incident, other than being hot and miserable.  In other words, normal for out there. 

In other news, I finished re-reading Matched, by Ally Condie.  If you're a fan of Young Adult Dystopian fiction, this is one of the better ones out there.  I'd first read it some 12 years ago, and upon re-reading it, I was surprised at how much I remembered.  It must have made quite an impression. 

Yes, the protagonist is a 17 year old girl, and yes, there is a love triangle, but unlike most dystopian heroines, she's not spoiled, whiny, stubborn, or a know it all, and doesn't go rushing headlong into situations that would have gotten her killed in real life.  No, this one wants to be obedient, and wants to be a good citizen, but due to a glitch in the matching system, she's slowly awakened to the idea that there is a better way to live. 

Now, I'm reading the second book, Crossed. 

I've read it before, too, but also wanted to re-read it before finally finishing the series. 

Once I'm done, it'll be back to Shakespeare for a while. 

Ghosts

Guess who is off Saturday?  Go on, guess!  

They posted it today, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much.  Knowing that place, they'll come around at 2:45 Friday afternoon and say, "OH, we meant everyone BUT tubing."  

But just in case, I'm going to run up to the Farmer's Market on the square and see if the lady has any salsa made.  It's still kind of early in the season, but I don't know when I'll get another Saturday off.  Also, everything I'd planned on doing this afternoon has been procrastinated, except for I did get my cheesecloth out and make little makeshift bags around my sunflowers. 

 Heh, they kind of look like ghosts floating in my front yard.  

In other news, I think I'm going to try to make pesto with my basil.  I've never had pesto and in truth, if I hadn't started watching cooking competitions like Masterchef, I probably would have never even heard of it.  But, I looked up some recipes online and it looks pretty easy.  It's just basil, parmesan, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and salt.  I'm not sure I'll have enough basil, since something seems to be chowing down on it, but some of the recipes say you can substitute baby spinach to make up the difference.  

Speaking of, I bought some mixed salad greens last week, because I was going to start eating healthy and all, and they're slowly wilting in my crisper drawer.  I think I'll go eat some of them here in a bit. 

After my shower.  

Knitting And A Vlog

Guess what?  They handed out water bottles at work today.  Can't turn on the air conditioning, but they handed out water bottles.  

Thin, flimsy, cheap plastic, uninsulated water bottles...I brought mine home and added it to the rest of the ones that I've never used...

The new one is the one in the middle.  I wish they'd let us have our insulated cups back, but nooooo.  We have to drink out of an ADP approved cup.  So they can tell what kind of sugary drinks we're spilling into the machines, or so says Cuz.  

In other news, I finally finished that hat I've been working on for about two weeks now.  

 

Then I ripped out this scarf and started it over for the third time. 

I didn't like the way the edges were laying, so I'm doing them a bit differently.  Before, I was slipping the first and last stitches.  This time, I'm just slipping the first.  So far, I'm liking it better.  

And finally, because I was too tired to type it all out, you get a vlog.   Yay!

By the way, this was the second take.  I recorded the entire video without turning on my microphone, so I had to do it again.  Oh well, it gave me a chance to rehearse.  

I hope you enjoy it. 

It's Fixed!

It's fixed!  My lawnmower is finally fixed. I know, I know, finally.   It's only been a month, right?  

Well, you see when the neighbor's nephew cut it, that bought me a bit of time.  Then when he came and cut it again, he bought me some more time, even though he broke my heart by cutting down all my clover in the back.  

Tuesday when I got back from Jackson, I'd intended to fix it then, but as it turns out, I couldn't find the tools I needed....so naturally I did what any red blooded American would do.  I bought a new set.

This thing has got everything in it.  Not just sockets, but combination wrenches, allen wrenches, both metric and standard stuff, and screwdriver tips.  The only complaint I have about it is that some of the smaller sockets don't fit into their spaces very well, so I have to make sure to open the case a certain way so they don't all fall out. 

Anyway, I got out after work, determined to fix my lawnmower.  I had searched some YouTube videos and was trying to follow them, but they were more confusing than helpful.  In the end, I just winged it and got 'er done.  Then came the big test:  did it work? 

I pulled the rope once...nothing.  Twice....nothing.  A third time....and it caught!  My lawnmower started!  I fixed it myself!  

I hadn't planned on actually mowing today, but I got so excited I started cutting my grass, and I'm telling you, God must really be tired of hearing me complain about mowing, because he sent my across-the-street neighbor to cut it for me. 

Well, the front and side yards at least.  I told the man I had stuff growing in the back that I didn't want cut, so maybe he won't take it upon himself to cut it anyway.  And you're never going to guess who that man was.

It's Edna-Who-Loves-To-See-Her-Name-In-My-Blog's soon to be great nephew in law.   Edna, I take back every bad thing I ever said about you!  

So, I let him cut the grass while I came inside and folded laundry.  I'll probably get out in the morning and cut the parts of my back yard that don't have clover or plantain growing in them, and maybe weedeat, but I'm going to watch TV and try to finish this hat I've been knitting on for what seems like forever.

Laters.

Peppers!

I have peppers!  Baby peppers!  Well, some of them are getting pretty big, and they're growing so fast.  I took these photos yesterday, but all of the peppers are so much bigger today. 

These are Jalapeños.

These are tabascos. 

Here is a teeny baby sweet banana pepper. 

And last, but certainly not least, hot cayenne. 

I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do with them  - I mean all of them, not just the cayenne.  I was talking to Cody Monday evening and said, "I'd planted those peppers for you, but didn't think through the logistics of how I was going to get them to you."  He said they'd try to come up on a Sunday afternoon here in a few weeks and get some. 

But he did tell me that I could pickle the sweet banana peppers, so I'm going to look in to doing that -- and by "look in to"  I mean, I'm going to google it. He was saying something about letting the Jalapeños fully ripen and doing something with them then, but I forgot what he had said.  I'm going to have to ask him.  And of course, I can dry and grind the cayenne and make homemade tabasco sauce.  

By the way, he'd planted a few peppers and tomatoes in his back yard, but only a couple of his seeds have germinated.  I told him that I can't get seeds to germinate for anything, which is why I buy plants that are already started.  He said maybe he'd try that next year.  I hope by next year they're in a better house.  The one they're in now is a dump, and I'm not talking about their housecleaning skills.  The floors are so rotten in spots, I thought I'd fall through, and even though they have air conditioning, it was so damp I could feel my hair curling just sitting in their living room.  I didn't want to say anything to them, but however much they're paying in rent, it's too much.  

In other garden news, I've got a new sunflower open in the back yard. 

I think the deer have found this one, because it's got like, two leaves left.  I spread some more of the Repells All around these in hopes that the deer will leave them alone. 

I did cut one of the flowers from the front bed and got some seeds from it.

In retrospect, I think I should have left it a bit longer, because only a few of the seeds were ripe.  Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience.  There are still two blooms on that particular plant, so I'll leave them longer.  I bought some cheese cloth to make little baggies, just in case they start dropping their seeds without me noticing.  I'd tried to use Ziplocs, but they held too much humidity in and I was afraid the seeds would get all manky.  Cheesecloth will allow the air to circulate while still catching whatever seeds that fall.  

Will you look at this crazy thing?  

It thinks it's fall.  I wonder if bringing it inside last winter has confused it.  

I wish it were fall.  I'm so not looking forward to July and August.  By the way, do you know how you can tell it's almost summer?  ADP turns off the air conditioners and the ice machines.  It's already getting up into the low 90s at my work station, and it's only going to get worse. 

Speaking of work, as of Monday the assembly lines will be working 5:00 AM - 3:00 PM, and oh, you should have heard the wailing.  And I'm sitting there thinking, "Stop acting like you've never worked here before."

That being said, if the lines are on 10 hour shifts, we component areas will be on 12 hour shifts before it's all over.   I guess I really do need to get that personal organizer to oversee all my projects I want done on this house. 

I reckon that's it for today.  I stayed up late last night watching the livestream of The Chosen season 4 episode 2.  I was going to turn it off after the actual episode and watch the rest of the stream today, but I didn't.  I put it onto my Kindle and watched it in bed.  So, I'm a bit tuckered right now.

I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight.   G'nite, all. 

Eighty Years

June 6, 1944

Eighty years ago today. 

In the misty gray light of early morning, landing craft approached the beaches of Normandy. Boats filled with frightened young men, many of them barely more than boys. 

Boys wishing they were still at home in bed. Shaking with fear. Praying. Maybe crying. Knowing that many of them would not survive the day.

 And yet, when those landing craft hit the beach, 

 when those ramps opened, 

without hesitation, they stood and charged into the hail of bullets that would claim nearly 10,000 of them before the sun set. 

Seeing their friends, their brothers in arms, cut down beside them. 

Still they ran. Still they fought. 

In spite of their fear, and knowing that the fate of the entire world rested on their shoulders, they claimed that beach and began the long, slow slog across Europe that would eventually lead to Hitler's demise.

That is why they truly were The Greatest Generation.

Most of those who stormed the beaches at Normandy that day are gone, and those who remain are well into their 90s and early 100s.  Soon, they'll all be gone. Soon there will be no one left who remembers that great and terrible day. 

That is why it is up to us.  It is up to us to remember them.  To guard their legacy.   To teach our children what they did for us -- for the world -- that day in 1944. It's our responsibility.  

Not the school's. Not the History Channel's. Ours. 

We must tell the story.  So that we may never forget. So that they will never be forgotten. 

 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, 
and their children to the next generation. Joel 1:3  

Almost A Week

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a week since I've posted.  Lots has happened since my supervisor stood in the department yelling at us, the main thing being that he got overridden by some higher up somewhere.  We were supposed to have started our 4AM to "Until I say you can leave" shifts Monday, but Group Leader Shark came around Saturday and told us all to come in at 5:00 instead.  

I swan, I wish they'd just pick a time and stick with it!  The buttons on my alarm clock are going to get worn out at this rate. 

Another big thing that happened Saturday was that sometime after lunch, I heard Not Cuz over in tubing chewing out Group Leader Shark.  I didn't hear the entire conversation, but what I did hear went something like, "What is this?  There are no headers!  There are no legs! What's up with that?"  Could it be that someone finally has the backbone to actually solve the problem -- which is tubing -- instead of just making the brazers their scapegoats?  We've been saying that for years.  We can't braze if we don't have any parts to braze.

There's more to it than that, too, in that tubing is constantly gaffing off what they should be doing on to the brazers.  I'll give you a real- life example from a couple of weeks ago.  

I had a 16 piece order I needed to braze.  The first thing wrong with it was that there were only 15 headers in the bin.  This should never, ever happen.  Each order of headers goes through nine processes before it even gets to the brazers.  They are

1.  Cut
2.  Bent
3.  Punched
4.  End Formed
5.  Spin Closed
6.  Re-rounded
7.  Flo-drilled
8.  Tap Fittings Brazed
9.  Parts Staged

Every order should be getting counted at every single one of those processes.  Everyone makes mistakes, or so our supervisors keep telling us, but that's why EVERYONE who handles those headers should be counting.  That way, if the cutter makes a mistake, it'll be caught by the bender, not the brazer.  If the puncher makes a mistake, it should be caught by the end former, not the brazer. 

They all should be counting, but they don't, because they don't want to, and if there are any mistakes, the brazer will catch it anyway. 

All that to say, I got an order that was one header short.  So, I walked away from my brazing stand and over to the dispatcher's desk in tubing to order another header.  I went back to my stand and continued working.  Sometime later, a person from the end of the header line in tubing came to me and said, "I messed this header up.  You need to go turn it in again."

Why me?  Why the brazer?  Couldn't she have turned it in?  After all, she is the one who messed it up.  Anyway, I walked away from my stand again and went back to the dispatcher's desk and ordered the header again. I went back to my stand and set up on another order while I waited for the part I needed.

That order had two adapter tubes that hadn't been bent.  So, I walked away from my stand -- again -- and went all the way to the other side of the tubing department where the machine that bends those particular parts is located and asked the lady that works there to bend the parts for me.  

While I was over there, the guy who runs the header cutter gestured to me, then handed me a straight tube of raw copper.  What am I supposed to do with a straight tube of raw copper?  I took the part and began walking towards the header line, when I noticed something wasn't quite right.  I checked the part, and sure enough, he'd cut it the wrong length.  I took it back to him and got him to cut me a tube of the correct length.  Then I had to go over to the header line and argue with them -- which I don't know why they're going to argue and give me attitude.  They're going to have to do the part anyway.   I left it with them, then finally went back to my stand and began working on my next order.

All of that took about 15-20 minutes to straighten out, and all of it -- ALL of it -- should never have fallen upon the brazer to do.   All we are supposed to do is stand there and braze.  How many headers could I have gotten brazed in the time it took me to get one header cut?  But now you understand why the powers that be don't want to fix tubing.  It's so much easier to just blame the brazers for our production being low.  

And now you understand why I'm so tired all the time. 

In other news, I finally got that dreaded colonoscopy done.  OK, it wasn't really that bad, or that dreaded.  Once we got the transportation issue resolved, everything went pretty smoothly.  Even the fasting part wasn't too bad.  Let me tell you something, though.  If you ever need to go on an all liquid diet, broth is your best friend, and jello runs a close second.  I'd boiled the turkey carcass down after Thanksgiving, so I had a lot of broth in my freezer.  The prep was pretty miserable, though.  I had to do the traditional prep where you drink the gallon of stuff and it makes you poop.  It didn't taste too bad, but by the time I was done, I was sick of chugging it all down.  

I'd gone down Sunday and stayed with Cody and Brennan, which was the most convenient for all involved, but in a way, I wished I was home for all that...pooping.  Then Monday, Brennan drove me to the GI place since it was her regular day off.   Once we got there, everything went off without a hitch, and after it was over, Brennan took me to her favorite coffee place and bought me a S'mores frappe.  It was delicious.  

I'd planned on coming back Monday evening,  but both of the kids urged me to stay one more night, because they'd told me not to drive until the next day.  I'd thought I would be clear headed enough but realized I was still slurring my words pretty badly, so I took the better part of valor and did as they asked.

Anyway, we went back to their house and hung around watching TV until Cody got off work, then we went out to eat.  I know I'm going to lose my Texan card over this, but the last few times I've gone to Whataburger, I've been pretty disappointed.  The patty is thin and overcooked, and pretty dry.  After we ate, we went to Academy, then to Dick's.  Brennan had seen a jumpsuit she really liked and wanted to get it, but after seeing the price, she decided to order it off Amazon.  

Then we went to Hobby Lobby and spent about an hour in there, just looking at stuff.  I was pretty tired by then, so we just went by Kroger then back to their house. 

Tuesday morning I got up, called in to work and used an emergency vacation day, and came on home.  The plan was to fix my lawnmower, but when I got out and got my ratchet set out, I discovered the tools I needed were missing.  In fact, most of the set is missing, which is to be expected after having had it for some 32 years.  I'll just buy a new one when I go into town Friday.  

Instead, I ground and began drying some more herbs, and took it easy for the rest of the day, watching TV and knitting yet another hat. 

This morning, I was back to work, where my coworker told me that if I hadn't shown up today, she was going to put out an APB on me.  But when I told her where I'd been, she totally didn't blame me for taking the extra day. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I greatly overestimated the amount of Jello I would need while on my liquid died, so I think I'll go have some now. 

Laters.