Facebook Jail

I forgot to tell you yesterday, I got put in Facebook jail last week.  Yeah, I did, and it was for a totally stupid reason.  See, my friend had knit a Jayne hat, and posted a photo of her husband modeling it. Naturally, we all started throwing out Firefly quotes in the comments.

Me, I posted this one (skip to 15 seconds in):

The bots on FB flagged it as threatening behavior, despite the fact that before they yanked the comment, it got two heart and one laughy face emojis.  I disagreed with the decision, and they claimed they reviewed it, but I doubt they did.  If you viewed it in context, anyone with half a brain could see it wasn't a threat.  Heck, the people whose status I commented on loved it.  Still, I got tossed into FB jail for 24 hours. I tried to file an appeal with the Oversight Board, but they won't even let me log in.  What good is having an Oversight Board if you can't even bring a case before them, then?  

Meanwhile, the post of Kathy Griffith holding a severed Trump head is perfectly fine.  Go figure. 

I'm getting pretty sick of FB, and have already greatly reduced my presence there.  I wish we'd go back to blogging communities, the way we had before social media took over everyone's lives. Or good, old fashioned letter writing.  I'm still up for pen-pals if anyone is interested. 

In the meantime, I strongly suggest you bookmark my blog if you enjoy reading it.  I know some of you don't even come here unless you see the link in your FB feed...but there is a good chance it might not be there sometime in the future. 

OK, moving right along...

What else is going on in my life?  I'll tell you...I was re-reading yesterday's post, and I totally realized I didn't include a single segue between topics.  It was a bit jarring to jump straight into a new topic, and I'll try to do better connecting things in the future.  

That being said, let's jump straight into a new topic without a segue...

There I was at work, just a working away, when I had to answer nature's call.  The bathroom closest to my work area was closed for cleaning, so I went up to the one by the front breakroom.  Now, those of you with Sheldon Cooper-like memories may recall that a few years ago, someone sat in one of the sinks and broke it.   When I came out of the stall yesterday, I noticed they'd finally fixed it.  By TAPING the pedestal back together.   Don't believe me?  I have proof:

See it?  That's tape.  Someone repaired the porcelain sink with tape.  Eh, at least they tried to fix it.  That's better than they usually do. 

Speaking of doing better, the deacons of my mother's church sent me a letter of condolence, signed by all of them. 

That's more than I got from the church I'm supposedly a member of.  Didn't get a card, or a flower, or a single casserole -- or even my name on the Wednesday night prayer list.  Seriously, if people don't believe the church cares, why would they bother to attend?  

On the other hand, one silver lining of this pandemic is that a lot of churches have ended that horrible greet one another time.  Let's just hope it's a permanent change. 

As for the pandemic, it's hitting Mississippi pretty hard right now.  We have more people hospitalized now than we did at this time last year.  The Health Dept does a good job of getting the numbers out there, and Dr. Dobbs does a video periodically explaining what's going on.  

The politicization of the pandemic may be over, but the pandemic itself is still out there.  The good thing about the Delta variant -- if there can be such a thing -- is that while it's more transmissible, it appears to be less deadly than the original.  This thing may eventually do what SARS and MERS did, and mutate itself out of existence.  Let's hope so.  

And finally, it looks like the Atlantic is starting to wake up again,  

which means Sahara Dust season is almost over!  Woo hoo!  I'll be able to breathe again soon!  I mean, other than my normal allergy breathing troubles, that is.  

One of the meteorologists I follow said it looks like someone spilled Cheetos in the Atlantic.  It's way too early to tell, but it looks like both of them might be headed towards the Gulf.  

I might finally get to light that Jim Cantore candle I bought...

Relaxing Saturday

Well, it's been relaxing since I got home from work, that is.  I'm telling you, you have no idea how freeing it is to come home from a 9 hour shift and not have to worry about mowing.  It's wonderful having just that one burden lifted from my shoulders.  I still need to get out and mow the bit behind the back fence, as it's looking a bit jungle-ish, but that won't take long.  Otherwise, laundry, dishes, sweeping, dusting, and boom!  I'm done!

I've decided since I won't be having to mow, I'm going to try to get things shaped up out in the yard.  I've got a lot of weeds and junk growing up through my roses that need to be cut out and cleaned up. I cut something out of my crepe myrtle this evening, but I'm not sure what it is.  Whatever, it didn't need to be there, so now it's not. That's all I got done, because it's still so humid outside.  And I'm tired.  And lazy.  But mostly tired.

I'm getting too old for all these long, long hours. 

Thank you to those of you who have asked.  Jesse is back to his old self today, with no sign of a hurting foot.  I don't think it's arthritis, because it came on so suddenly.  Just the way he was acting leads me to believe it was an injury or wasp sting, or something similar.  

My house has these built in shelves in my laundry room.  

Since I moved in some 6 years ago, I've just been using them for storage...shoving miscellaneous stuff here and there just to get it out of the way. Here lately, though, I've been seriously considering cleaning them off and using them as pantry space.  Therein lies the rub.  I have mice.  

I've got a lot fewer mice now that I have a cat, but I still have mice.  This means everything I store on these shelves needs to be in either a can or a plastic container.  While I was at Wally World yesterday, I picked up a storage box and filled it up with pasta. 

I'm not sure if I should be proud or a little scared of how much pasta I have.  That's not all of it, by the way.  I still have more in the cabinet.  What can I say?  Ibotta has had some good deals on it lately.  I'm stocking up while I can.  

I also decided I needed to stock up on beans and rice, just to be on the safe side.  

I'm not a really big fan of beans, but we are in the weak men make hard times arc of the cycle.  Can't be too careful.  

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to run claim my piano bench while the cat is napping in my chair.  

Laters. 

I Also Have A Dog

 What with all the attention the new cat has been getting here lately, some of you may have forgotten I also have a dog. His name is Jesse, and he's 12ish years old. I don't rightly know, because I adopted him from the local animal shelter on August 13, 2011.  They estimated him to be between a year and a half and two years old, so I count that as his birthday.  

I'm not sure what he went through before Animal Control picked him up, but it's very difficult to get a good picture of him, because he's a bit camera shy.  I have no idea what could cause a dog to be camera shy.  I mean, it's not like I show him the photos or anything.  Still, every time I get the camera out, he runs and hides.  Thus, a great many of the photos I have of him look something like this:  

Sometime yesterday afternoon, Jesse started acting very strange.  He was acting as if he were frightened of something...all hunched over with his head down.  Jittery and nervous.  I noticed he was carrying his front foot also.  I went over and checked his foot out, but I didn't see anything wrong with it.  He didn't have any cuts, or anything that looked like a sting or bite.  Still he was holding it as if it was hurting, so I told him to go lay down and let it rest.  

A few minutes later, I followed him down to the bedroom and went to bed myself.  Along about 11:00 ish, I was awakened by the cat jumping on my bed and laying down next to my leg. 

 "Huh", I said to myself.  "I thought the cat was outside."  

I guess not.  Still half asleep, I reached down and stroked her a bit...and realized something was just not quite right.  

The cat's fur.  It didn't feel right.  It wasn't soft and silky like it normally was.  It felt much coarser.  

Turning on the lamp, I saw why the cat's fur didn't feel right.  Because it wasn't the cat.  It was Jesse.  That was very unusual for him to jump on the bed, because he knows he's not allowed on it while I'm in it.  He can get on the bed when I'm not using it, but he hasn't even tried to jump on it since I very first got him, ten years ago.  

I shooed him off the bed, and lay back down.  I was just about to drop off to sleep again, when I felt him jump back onto the bed.  "He must really be distressed if he got onto the bed twice," I said to myself, and decided to take pity on him and let him stay.  

At least until he started panting.  Now, keep in mind, this isn't a chihuahua or Yorkie.  This is a 60 lb dog.  His panting shook the entire bed.  That's where my pity ended.  Telling him I have to get some sleep, I shooed him back off the bed.  

Since I was awake, I got up and answered nature's call.  By the time I got back to bed, Jesse had settled down on his bed and slept for the rest of the night.  I soon dropped off to sleep myself, where I dreamed my sister and her family had come for a visit.  The most interesting thing was my middle nephew Andrew, who is 16, had grown his hair long.  He was very impressed with it, and kept showing it off. 

 Heh, I need to remember to tell my sister that.  

By morning, Jesse was very much perked up, but acting as if his foot were still a bit sore.  This afternoon, he seems almost back to normal, but I'm going to keep an eye on him over the next few days.  I doubt a vet trip will be necessary, but given his age, we can't be too careful.  

Whiskers On Wednesday

 I guess since I keep kicking her off the piano bench, she's decided to steal my chair. 

Eh, fair's fair.      

There I was at work, just a working away, when one of the other brazers started yelling and pointing.  She grabbed the third shift guy working next to her, and ran over to another area of the department. 

Curious, I walked around the corner to see what the excitement was, and there was my coworker laying on the floor, not moving.  I said, "Someone page Group Leader Shark!" She's one of the first responders.  Nobody moved, so I turned around to go to the dispatcher's desk and use his phone to page -- even though I don't know how.  Luckily, she was right behind me.  

"Go get the cart from first aid," she said, so another brazer and I ran --and I use that term very loosely-- to the first aid office to get the gurney.  We passed the third shift supervisor and a couple of group leaders, who looked at us with confusion.  

"Coworker fell out!"  I yelled to them, and the supervisor went hurriedly over to tubing department. The other brazer and I grabbed the gurney and started running -- and again, I use that term very loosely -- back towards our department when the dispatcher met us halfway.  I let him take the gurney on, while we stopped and huffed and puffed a bit.  I turned to my coworker and said, "One thing I've learned from this -- if I ever have to run for my life, I'm toast!" 

To make a long story slightly less long, the coworker had not passed out as we'd thought.  She'd recently had surgery on her knee, and somehow, it gave out on her.  She collapsed onto the floor, and instead of calling for help, or even waving her hand, she just laid there.  Because she wasn't moving, I'd thought she had lost consciousness.  After I found out what really happened, I told the girl who'd run --and again, I use that term very loosely -- across the plant with me, "I feel like we've been played." 

But no matter.  The coworker is OK, but didn't come back to work today.  I don't know if she'll have to take some more time off or not.  I guess we'll see. 

In other news, the girl I hired to cut my grass showed up yesterday after being delayed by rain Monday.  She did a very good job on my yard.  Much better than the guy I hired a couple of years ago.  I'd started to caution her not to cut down my wildflower bed, but I didn't.  I figured she'd have sense enough to know that since it's in a bed, it's something she shouldn't cut.  

I figured wrong.

All my little batchelor's buttons...gone, just like that.  Even my few little bluebonnets that I fretted over so much -- and planted four packs of seeds to get.  Whacked to the ground.  I give up.  I just give up.  

I could cry...

And finally, Sahara dust season is almost over!  The bad news is, hurricane season is about to crank up again.  Or, good news if you're a weather geek like me. Also, what sorcery is this?

Random Thoughts Of A Monday Evening

1.  Let's start with the good news.  I found someone to cut my grass!  The girl I told you about Saturday came out, looked around and quoted me a price.  I thanked her for her time, but told her I just couldn't afford to pay that much.  That's the conundrum.  The ones who show up and do a good job are out of my budget, and the ones I can afford are unreliable.  

Anyway, I told her I appreciated that she needed to make it worth her while, but it was just a bit out of my budget.  So, she cut me a deal.  She said since mowing season is almost over, she'd do it for a whole lot less.  Yay!  I don't have to mow any more...well, this year at least.  

2.  I've made progress on the lace shawl. 

Then I made regress.  I was trying to watch equestrian events at the Olympics and messed something up.  Try as I might, I couldn't figure out where my mistake was, so I ended up having to rip back to the previous lifeline to get things straightened out. Once I'd done that, I set the complicated lace aside and picked up this mindless scarf to work on. 

3.  Next May, my son will be attending his 10 year high school reunion.  OK, I don't know exactly when the reunion will be, but next May, it will be 10 years since he graduated high school.  Hard to believe, isn't it?  Even harder to believe, I'm still buying notebooks.

I have an ibotta rebate.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. 

4.  We had another COVID case out at the plant today.  I don't know who it is, because they don't tell us any more.  The only reason I know about this one is because it is someone who works over with Group Leader Shark's boyfriend, and I heard her telling someone he had to go get tested.  

5.  It's also one year ago today that I found out one of my close friends from college had died of COVID.  

6.  There is something else I wanted to tell you, but I can't remember what it was.  I'll probably remember as soon as I hit publish. 

7.   In the meantime, I got a new shirt.

I've wanted one ever since I saw that guy on that sports network wearing one. I finally decided it was time to get it.  The only thing I don't like about it is that it's an iron on transfer, not a screen print.  I'll have to be very careful washing it.  Good thing it gives washing instructions:  

8.  I guess that's it for today.  I'm going to go practice my piano, then go to bed.  

9.  Laters.  

Fair Bubba Keg,

 Fair Bubba Keg.  I hardly knew ye...

This is my Bubba Keg.

For some 15 odd years or so, I've carried Bubba Keg to work, and filled it with nice, cold ice water.  It's never been a problem...until now.  Yes, they had the meeting with us Thursday.  As of Monday, we are not allowed to eat or drink anything -- anything -- at work except water.  

Not only that, our water containers must -- must -- be a clear ADP approved sippy cup.  

It can't be insulated.  It can't be tinted.  It must be something they can check at a glance to make sure we are only drinking tepid water... because God forbid we drink a Coke, or some tea, or coffee...

Ohhhh, my coffee....

Seriously!  I don't understand what's so wrong with me drinking a cup of coffee in the morning, or a vegetable smoothie, or protein shake or whatever.  It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.  

Furthermore, no snacking.  No chips, no peanut butter crackers, no protein bars, no fruit...no anything.  Nothing at all, but plain water.  Here's the thing, some people go in at 3:00 and 4:00 AM.  Lunch break isn't until 10:40 or 11:05, depending on if you have first or second break.  So, if you go in at 3:00 and you have second break, you're having to go 8+ hours with absolutely nothing to eat.  Nothing.  That's a long time to be hungry out there, especially since we're doing physical labor.  Oh, and check out this gem from our new employee policy:  

Any employee choosing to take their break in the work area forfeits the right to eat/drink, other than water. 

We've always just sat down in our work area to eat, rather than walking half a mile to the nearest break area, then hoping there is a table available.  Sigh...  After 25 years, why is this suddenly a problem?  

Shall I also mention that we have a new HR director?  She's a peach, I'm telling you.  In our meeting, she was very rude and smart mouthed.  I don't see her lasting long out there.  But anyway, on the way out of the meeting, as she was handing my official ADP approved sippy cup, I asked her, "Have you figured out why the turnover rate is so high?"

"That's something we're still looking in to," she replied.  

Seriously?  Are you people seriously that obtuse?  You lock us into a cage, and a hot cage at that, then put us on water rations, all for only $13.50 per hour (for most employees), and you can't figure out why nobody wants to work there?  SERIOUSLY???????

In a moment of irony too rich to go unsavored, as that awesome hunk of pure awesomeness who used to be my imaginary boyfriend before he got married to someone who is not me Bill Whittle says, before the day was over, so many people had quit, they had to completely shut down one assembly line.  It wasn't just the temps, either.  It was full time ADP employees, coming out of their meetings, getting their belongings, and walking out.  By yesterday, so many had quit, they had to shut down two lines, and I suspect even more will quit before Monday, when the new policy takes effect.  

And they will still be totally clueless as to why they can't find employees....

Then, yesterday, just to add salt to the wound, they announced that they would be giving a $2 per hour raise, but only to second and third shift employees.  Talk about a slap in the face!  Day shift carried that plant, and oh, well, sucks to be you, I guess.  

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate, hate, hate my job?  I swannie, it's like they stay up late at night trying to figure out how to make our jobs as miserable as possible.  But look, a new toilet seat!

See how much we care?  Yes, it's only on one toilet, and yes the bathroom is still filthy, and there's usually no soap or paper towels, but here's a crumb to shut you people up.  Take it or leave it. 

In more pleasant news, my new Knit Picks cables have arrived, 

and knitting on the shawl has resumed.  Since I can't just order from KP without ordering yarn, I wanted to try their premium acrylic brand, so I threw these four in the bag as well. 

It's pretty nice, and very soft, unlike Red Heart, which can vary by color.  The softness, I mean.  Some colors are softer than others.  In Red Heart, I mean...Anyway, I suspect these will eventually become hats. 

And lastly, I'm not quite sure if I should be comforted or frightened.

Oh, I almost forgot, it looks like that live stream thing isn't going to happen just yet.  I'd planned on doing it this afternoon, but it's a bit more complicated to set up than I'd anticipated.  Back in the day, I used to turn it on accidentally, but apparently they've changed things since there.  In the meantime, here is a recording on my crappy camera of me playing the first song from the Schaum Red Book.

I'd started playing the next song, too, but my battery ran down.  I'd thought there was a way I could trim the video, but I guess I can't do that to uploads.  Or maybe that was just videos from my phone.  

Now, I have to run get dressed.  I've got someone coming over to give me a quote on cutting my grass.  If she's affordable and dependable, I might be able to get out of mowing for the rest of this summer.  

Wish me luck. 

Riding For Clarence

They ride these things every day.

It's part of their job.  But today...

Today they ride to honor the memory of our friend and coworker Clarence Hurd who left this life July 24, 2021.

The blog will be observing a day of silence to honor him.  

I'm Back!

 I apologize for the prolonged absence.  I needed a little break.  

What with these 10 hour shifts we're on this time of year, I just don't have the time to devote to all the things I want to do in the evenings -- between piano practice, my French lessons, and blogging, not to mention housework and all the necessary things that have to be done.  Something had to give, and since writing a thoughtful, coherent blog post is the most time consuming, it's what got put on hold.  

I'd even started setting up to live stream the piano practice that I've been threatening you with, but didn't want it to feel rushed, so I put that on hold as well.  The good news is, we got this Saturday off, so maybe I can do it then.  How well it is received will determine if it continues or not.  

The sad news is, we have Saturday off for the funeral of a long time coworker who passed away unexpectedly last week.  Oh, I don't know if that's the official reason, but I do know a lot of people have said they won't be there.  Clarence was a forklift driver, and they are a tight bunch, kind of like us brazers.  All of the forklift drivers have already said they're not coming to work so they can attend the funeral, so I'm guessing the plant decided to cut their losses and let everyone off.  I mean, it's not like you can just put anyone on a forklift.  You have to have a license and everything.

Either way, I'm glad to have a break. 

BTW, if you catch a piece of paper on fire at work, take your mask off before you try to blow it out or you'll end up hyperventilating and nearly pass out.  Ummmm, happened to a friend -- who took way too long to figure out why she couldn't blow that fire out.  She blames sleep deprivation, this friend does.  

Hmmm, what else has been going on since last I blogged?  

I had a bit of unexpected fun with my bugs...and the way that happened is as follows:  

There I was at work, just a working away, when on a whim, I got one of my plastic spiders out and put him on my work table.  I was having imaginary conversations with Fred, scooting him around on the table.  Just minding my own business...playing with my spider...I'd noticed the bugs all have a little mold mark on the bottom, so in a moment of boredom, I picked Fred -- as I named my plastic spider -- up and tried to stick him to my face by creating a suction in that mold mark.  You remember sticking drinking glasses to your face like that?  It's what I was trying to do with Fred.  Just minding my own business...playing with my spider....

My coworker, who is a self admitted fraidy cat, just happened to look up at the wrong moment and saw that spider on my face. I'm telling you, the whole plant heard that scream.  I'm getting a lot of mileage out of those little bugs...

I finally splurged and bought some Irish butter. 

Eh, it's OK, but quite frankly, it's not that much better than the Great Value butter I've been buying for years.  Certainly not worth spending $8 per pound for it.  I won't be buying it ...I can't say ever again, but it won't be a regular habit. 

In knitting news, I made some progress on my lace shawl.

Then I made some more progress.

It was at this point, all progress ground to a halt.  I'd knit this pattern before, so I knew how it would go.  First, you knit the center panel, then the left side of the shawl.  You put the stitches on a holder, break the yarn, and knit the right side.  I'd deliberately used my Knit Picks interchangeable needles so when I reached this point, all I had to do was put the caps onto the cables and voila, a built in holder.  

Do you know, as many of those cables as I've bought over the years, I couldn't find a single one when I needed it.  I quickly got online and ordered some more...and now we wait. 

In the meantime, I've got piano to practice and French to learn...and laundry to ignore.

Laters. 

Once Upon A Time

 Once upon a time, a certain ADP employee who may or may not have been ...um...me... got herself some plastic bugs.  And that certain ADP employee who may or may not have been um...me...just might have taken the aforementioned plastic bugs to work and may or may not have possibly scattered them strategically around her work place. 

Then that aforementioned ADP employee who may or may not have been ...um...me may or may not have peed her pants laughing at the hilarity that ensued -- especially when that one co-worker screamed so loud, everyone thought the fire alarm had gone off and evacuated the building.

OK, maybe that last part didn't actually happen, but it was the loudest scream I'd ever heard.  She said, "Don't you know you shouldn't be scaring old people???"  I said, "Who?  Me?  Would I do that?"

In other news, the last of the piano books I'd ordered arrived.  Well, the last of the books I ordered this time, that is. 

Just thumbing through it, I definitely remember some of those songs.  I was thinking, "I used to be able to play that?"  But I did.  I was about halfway through the grade two book when my mother made me quit.  Unfortunately, I can't quite play just yet, as the cat is napping on my keyboard. 

Speaking of the cat, the little cat house I made for her worked.  She got caught out in the rain last night, and when I opened the door this morning, she was inside it.  Nice and dry.  I'd love to get her something like this eventually, but they're a little pricey.

For now, the old cooler will have to do.  I need to get her some sort of weather-proof mat to put inside, so she won't be laying directly on the bricks.  I'm thinking I might just knit something out of my massive Red Heart stash, 

because it's durable and washable.   I can knit two or three, and switch them out when they get dirty.  The other option is to get a carpet style door mat.  I think it will be better for outdoors.  I'll look next time I go to the store and see what they have there.  

Oh, the cat's awake now.  I guess I'll go practice a bit. 

Laters. 

I Found It!

I'm sooo tired.  

Back in the day, my most often used phrase was "Man, I need a nap."  It's been supplanted by the phrase above. And it's not just me, either.  We're all pretty much worn out at this point.  My friend told me one day last week, "Becky, I just sat on my couch and cried.  I don't even know why I was crying!"  

Because you're exhausted and overwhelmed.  I know, because I'm exhausted and overwhelmed, and I don't even have a small child at home!  I can't imagine trying to raise a child in that environment these days.  I remember what it was like when Cody was little, and it was tough enough 25 years ago.  

When he was two-ish, I was trying to explain to a production manager how difficult it was finding child care -- especially on second shift.  He just shrugged and said, "That's not my problem," and walked away. It has gotten so much worse since then.  

Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't expect corporate America to be your Sugar Daddy, or your mommy and daddy, but you need to recognize that the majority of your work force -- especially in these low paying jobs -- is going to be women, most of whom will have children, and many of whom will be single moms. If you don't want to keep running off your employees, try to be a little less callous about their family concerns, will ya? 

In the meantime, I need to give you a piano update.  I'm still working my way back through the Level 1 book with those videos I found.  In one of the videos, Mr. Let's Play Piano said to watch the other videos he's done on the same songs.  See, the Alfred books have three versions -- Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course, Alfred's Self Teaching Adult Piano Course, and Alfred's All-In-One Piano course.  The only difference is that the All-In-One has theory lessons included.  With the other two, you'd have to buy a separate theory book, but based on Amazon reviews, the music in all three is exactly identical.  

He's done playlists for all three of those books, and said his videos are unscripted.  He says whatever comes to mind at the moment, so he might say something in one that he doesn't say in another.  He recommended watching all the videos he does for each song, so, I went back and started over...again...I didn't get very far before I said, "Forget this!"  I'm not working my way through that book again.  This is my third time as it is.  What I'm going to do is just start where I am, and watch all the videos for each song from here on out.  I figure at this point, if there's something I haven't learned yet, I'm just not going to.  

Another thing he suggested was to go through more than one method book concurrently.  Different courses teach things in different ways, and since people learn in different ways, one course might be more conducive to learning a concept than another.  

I looked through his list of method books he'd done playlists for, and chose this series. 

I'd thought these were the ones I'd learned from as a kid, when I took that one year of lessons, but it turns out they weren't.   I thought briefly about sending them back, but decided to keep them anyway.   

I did a bit more research, still trying to find the books I'd used in my childhood, and came up with this one:

That giant note looked familiar, so on a whim, I ordered it, too.  It arrived today, and immediately I turned to the first song, and that's when I knew!  

Yes!  I remember this song vividly!  It's the series!  The ones Mrs. Duchamp used with us!  It's like a little piece of my childhood found me again. 

The plan is to go through these books together, and if I can work up the nerve, film myself and share the journey with you.  

And finally, yes, this crazy cat was sleeping like this:

Her feet in my lap, her body draped over the arm of the chair, and her head on the side table.  

That Didn't Take Long

 Well, Shark Week is over for another year.  It always feels kind of like the day after Christmas when Shark Week ends.  So, what has been going on while I've been watching sharks?  Not a whole lot, really. 

I wore my new socks to work.

I went shopping, and got all of this stuff absolutely free with my ibotta app. 

I bought and hung a new American flag, right beside my new Texas flag, so my house is patriotic once again.

And for good measure, I took updated photos of my flower beds.

Unfortunately, it looks like these few Bachelor's buttons are all I'm going to get out of my wildflowers. 

The grass and weeds have already completely taken over that little bed. Oh, well.  Maybe this year, I'll finally learn not to try to start anything from seed.  

I made progress on my Garden Party shawl, despite being distracted by sharks.  

I had to rip back one pattern repeat, but the chart I'm working now is only 8 rows long, so it wasn't that bad.  Thank goodness for lifelines, is all I have to say.  

And finally, that didn't take long.  My next door neighbors finished moving out Friday, and by the time I got home from work Saturday, the owner had put this in the yard. 

Apparently, he's not going through a realtor.  Whatever.  I just hope my new neighbors are as nice as the ones he ran off.  And no, I'm not going to pay a surveyor to come out so he'll know where the property line is.  

If he wants to know where the property line is, he can get a surveyor out himself.  

 

Just Popping In

 to let you know I'm still alive and breathing.  And watching Shark Week.  It's now day 4 of Shark Week and I haven't seen Andy Casagrande yet.  Who do I sue?  I've seen Paul, Dickie, Kina, and Craig, but not Andy.  It would be a shame to go through a whole Shark Week without Andy.  He's a living legend. 

There are still a few episodes I haven't watched, because when one gets up ridiculously early, one must also go to bed ridiculously early, so I DVR the shows that come on after my bedtime and watch them later.  

In the meantime, I finally found a temporary solution to leaving the cat out while I'm at work.  My biggest concern is her getting caught out in storms, and me not being there to let her in.  She's finding shelter somewhere, I'm sure, but I still worry.  So, this afternoon, I got this old Styrofoam cooler out of storage and cut a door in it for her.

FYI, Styrofoam makes a shockingly loud screech when you cut it with a knife.    

I used the cooler lid to make a bit of an overhang to help keep any rain out of it.  The bricks are on top because it is Styrofoam, after all, and very lightweight.  But, you can kind of see how thick it is, so it should be well insulated, even in winter.  Once she gets a bit more used to it, I'm going to try to fix some sort of flap over the door... maybe with an old tea towel or flannel pillowcase or something...to keep the heat in a bit more.  

When I showed it to her, she went right inside and explored.  However, by the time I got my camera out and turned on, she'd come back out, so you don't get a picture of her in her new house. 

If she uses it consistently, I may spring for one of the fancy ones at a later date.  They're pretty high dollar, though, so it'll have to wait.  

Finally, in knitting news, I finally cast on a new lace shawl.  

The pattern is Garden Party, and the yarn is Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Dandelion.  I'd knit one of these years ago, and gave it to my Aunt Martha -- for no reason other than I loved her and wanted her to have something pretty.  I'd always said I was going to make another one, but never did...until now.  

I even have a recipient in mind for it already.  I'm not saying anything other than...if I have your mailing address, it might just be you.  

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Shark Week.  

Shark Week

 

Blogging will be a bit sporadic this week while the candle and I watch Shark Week.  

Which is a fancy, cop-out excuse for I have a headache and don't feel like posting.  We are right in the middle of Sahara Dust season, and we're expecting a big wad of it by midweek.  I was hoping the rain would settle it, but apparently, it hasn't.

On the bright side, the dust has settled the tropics...for a bit.  

Hey, you take the good where you can find it.