Quiet Sunday

 After the hustle and bustle of the previous two days, today has been a quiet Sunday.  It's nice to have some down time every once in a while.  The good news is, my friend texted me yesterday and said we're back to coming in at 6:00 AM starting tomorrow.  I'm hoping we'll also be getting off at 2:00 PM instead, of 3:00, but I don't know.  It would be nice to have that extra hour in the evenings.  Not to mention an extra hour of sleep every night.   Which I probably won't get, because I'll just stay up later.  

So, what did I do while enjoying a quiet day at home?  I finished my friend's hat.

I like the way it turned out, and I think my friend will, too.  Even better, I washed and dried it, which made it soften up considerably.   I was kind of concerned, because the yarn was a bit stiff, but it turned out all right.  

Me, I'm such a doofus.  Why am I such a doofus?  Well, I'll tell you. 

I'd wanted to knit the ribbing on size 7 needles, and do the body on size 9s.  I was sure I had some size 9 circular needles around here somewhere.  I spent two days looking for them, but didn't find them.  I finally just did the body of the hat on a size 8 circular.  

I've got a considerable bit of yarn left over, and I wanted to cast on a matching scarf.  Once again, I tore up my house looking for my size 9 circs, which I was sure I had around here somewhere.  Unable to find them, I cast on a scarf on size 10.  I didn't like the way that was turning out, so I looked again for the size 9.  

That's when it hit me.  I've got some size 9 tips for my interchangeable needles.  I'd even had them in my hand while I was looking for the circs.  More than once.  

Sigh, I can't even blame sleep deprivation this time, because I slept in until nearly 6 this morning.  And got an extra hour to boot.  Be that as it may, I now have some size 9 circulars -- just the kind with interchangeable tips.  

That problem solved, I cast on the scarf, intending to make just a simple garter stitch, but I'm not liking the way it's looking. 

I know the wider scarves are back in style now, but I'm thinking about starting over and making a very long, narrow scarf.  I like those better anyway, and think the yarn will stripe better with a narrower cast on.  I just need to find a pattern...or decide whether to stick with garter stitch or not.  I'm thinking not.  

Somebody really needs to teach Red Heart how to dye self striping yarn.  

In the midst of all that, I got out my sealing wax and began making some seals for my Christmas cards. 

I make them on one of those silicone baking mats, then use glue dots to stick them to the envelopes.  I know that's technically cheating, but this way, if I mess up one, I can just melt it down and do it over.  Like that little white one on the lower left.  It'll get re-done because I don't like the way it turned out. 

I used the little wax melter Cody got me for Christmas a few years ago do to the red ones. Kindly ignore the dust on the base.  It got wiped off after the picture was taken. 

It's a handy little thing when you have a bunch of seals to do at once, and want them all in the same color, but if you're only going to do one or two, it's easier just to use the melting spoons.  I'm going to do some more seals later on, after I order some more green wax and maybe I'll even get some holiday Washi tapes, too. 

By the way, if you want a Christmas card, please send me your address.  If you got one last year, you're good, but if you're new to this blog, I'll be happy to add you to my list.  And don't feel obligated to reciprocate.  I'll still send you a card.  

I'll be happy to.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go figure out what I'm going to do with this scarf.  

Laters...

Yarns With Friends

 I have yarn!  

It's from a friend, which makes it all the better.  She'd contacted me on Instagram and asked if I was still working on my sock yarn blanket.  If so, she had some leftovers she wanted to send me.  Of course, I said yes!  

And let me just step out of my blog here to say that if anyone else has any leftover washable sock yarn you would like to donate to the blanket, I certainly won't turn you down, either.

OK, back to my story.  She asked if I wanted it, I said yes, and it arrived today!

The brand is Emma's Yarn, which is an indy dyer out of Florida.  I haven't looked her up, yet...hold on...

I'm back.  Here is her website:   Emma's  Yarn.  If the rest of her stuff is as gorgeous as what my friend sent me, it's worth looking in to.  These bits will be knit into the blanket soon.  

In the meantime, I have another project I've started.  See, a couple of years ago, I knit a hat for an old friend I've known since Junior High.  When she got it out the other day to start wearing it, moths had gotten to it.  She was totally bummed out about that.  She's not a knitter, so I offered her three options. 

1)  Try to find someone in the area to fix it.  I asked around and found a yarn shop not too far away from here, and passed that information on.  She may take it up there, she may not.  It's up to her. 

2) Mail the hat back to me, and I'll try to fix it.  Not my preferred option, but if that's what she wanted, it's what we'd do.

3) Toss that hat, and I'd knit her a new one.

She chose option three, so I dug out some yarn and posted pictures on her FB page.  

I told her if she didn't like any of these, I'd get some more out and see what she thought about them, but right away, she chose one of these-- and she chose the one I knew she'd choose.  When she told me which one she'd picked, I replied, "Funny thing about that Jumbo Stripes, when I saw it in the store, I thought, 'That has [her name] written all over it!'"

So, that's what I've been working on today.  

She spends a lot of time outside due to her job -- delivering groceries -- so I want to get it to her as soon as I can.  And because it's acrylic, she won't have to worry about moths getting to it.  I like the way it's knitting up, but I do wish the stripes had been a little bit wider.  I'll have plenty left over, so I think I might start a garter stitch scarf to see how that looks.  

Oooh, I wonder how it would look woven on my loom...but that would require warping it.  Hmmm, I'm not sure it's worth all that.  

Speaking of groceries, good thing I didn't want pudding this week.  

Thank you, Brandon!  

And finally, I'm sorely tempted to buy myself a new Christmas dress. 

What do you think?  

The Best Laid Plans

 You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men, right?  Yeah, I take these weekends off, and have all these plans... I'm going to get this done, and I'm going to get that done.  I'm going to be so industrious.  In the end, I get very little of it done.  

However, all is not lost, as I do get stuff done.  Just not the stuff I intended to get done.  For instance, I'd intended to call the plumber today.  Instead, I got another good bit of this privet cleaned out of my back fence. 

It really opens up my view back there, and of course, the ultimate goal is to get that fence replaced, so the whole fence line will need to be cleared.  I've got some weed killer I'm going to keep spraying on the stumps to keep that privet from growing back -- hopefully.  Privet is some resilient stuff. 

After working up a good sweat doing that, I came back inside and finished this hat.

I have some yarn left, and I'm debating putting a pompom on it. I'm not a big fan of pompoms, but some people like them.  Eh, maybe I will, maybe I won't.  I'll decide later. 

Well, it's that time again.  Ibotta is offering a free Thanksgiving dinner for those who have the app.  I got all this stuff absolutely free after collecting the rebate. 

FYI, you don't have to get the zero sugar Coke, and I highly recommend you don't get the zero sugar Coke.  Get one of the other varieties offered.  Seriously, that stuff is disgusting.  I'm having to doctor it up pretty good with Torani syrup to even get it down, and it still leaves an aftertaste.  The ads say you have to try it first.  Well, I did, and as far as I'm concerned, the first will be the last.  

Anyway, you can also get a bag of frozen vegetables, but I forgot them.  I'll get one next time I go into town.  I'll probably get broccoli, so I can make Cody's broccoli casserole.  Oh, that reminds me!  I have to give the recipe to my friend!  Don't let me forget, after I post this. 

Also, if someone signs up and uses your referral code (Mine is LYPNOLP), you get a whole turkey!

Even better, when I was cleaning out a space in my deep freeze for the turkey, I found a bag of sweet potato pie filling, already mixed up and ready to use.  All I have to do is thaw it, put it into a crust, bake it, and dessert is done.  Well, I'm going to make a pumpkin pie, too. And maybe even a cream cheese pie.  

I'm pretty much all set for Thanksgiving now, food wise that is. 

And lastly, I picked up another fall decoration off of the clearance shelf.  

I'll probably hang it up next year, instead of that one I accidentally bought two of. 

Random Thoughts Of A Thursday Evening

1. I'm sure you will all be pleased to know my mailbox was still firmly attached to its post when I got home this afternoon.  I'm going to count yesterday as a one-off, and hopefully, it won't happen again.  I'm sure someone must have hit it by accident.  

2.  This is my coworker.  She said she was practicing for her funeral. 

Yes, she is that crazy, but we love her.

3.  I walked around all day with a bug in my hair and nobody told me. 

OK, it was plastic, and I put it there, but nobody noticed.  Dadgum it!

4.  One of my Thanksgiving cactus has buds!  

This one is from a cutting I took from one of James' Thanksgiving cacti.  Except that it was an accident.  That I took a cutting, I mean.  I accidentally broke it off, then felt bad and rooted it.  A couple of years ago, some little rodent dug the whole thing up, and I was devastated.  I replanted it, and fortunately, it took once again, and has thrived to the point where it's almost as big as it was before.  

5.  It's going to be cold tonight.  

It might even frost, but it probably won't.  It seldom gets as cold as they say it will.  I still brought a load of firewood up to the house, and am sitting here sipping some hot chocolate with pumpkin spice marshmallows in it.  I've also got peppermint marshmallows, for when the Era of Pumpkin Spice ends, an Minter begins. 

6.  I had a whole passel of deer out behind the fence.  It's a bummer that all my little bucks seem to be spikes, though.  

7.  Speaking of deer, I've almost hit two on the way to work on two different days this week.  One was a good sized buck with a nice rack.  The other was a yearling.  

8.   I'm going to make the cat stay inside tonight.  She's not happy, but it's too cold out there for her to stay out all night. 

9.  Inventory at work is next week, and they released the list of who is working where this morning.  Well, Group Leader Shark brought it to me this morning.  Sometimes I wonder what they're thinking out there.  All the usual tubing crew will be doing inventory in sheet metal department.  We were talking about it, and every one of us was saying, "I don't know anything about sheet metal."  I guess we'll figure it out as we go. 

10.  Not only that, they're bringing people over from the hair pin building to inventory tubing.  Why not just let the people who work in tubing inventory tubing?  Because that would make to much sense.  And if anything out there makes sense, they're going to do the exact opposite. 

11.  By the way, that person way up there -- the one who was practicing for her funeral -- she's the one who started calling our group leader Group Leader Shark.  Now it's her official blog nickname. 

12.  I guess that's it for this edition.  See you next time. 

Winter Is Coming

 Before I begin tonight's post, I feel it is incumbent upon me to tell you that I was somewhat forcefully informed this morning by A Front Office Guy Formerly Known As The Boss Who Must Not Be Named that he is not lost.  He knows exactly where he is going...which is to get the heck off the shop floor as soon as he can.  

Frankly, I don't blame him.  He can go back up to his office...with air conditioning, and eat and drink whatever he wants, when ever he wants...while sitting down...

Oh, and he told me he works in PB&J...no, that's not right...PBR...no...PR&D...yeah, that's it...Product research and development.  All righty, then. Moving right along.

I don't normally light fires during the week.  I figure by the time the house warms up, it'll be about time to go to bed.  However, this was our high for today.

So, I decided to make an exception.  It sure did make the house feel all snug and comfy.  I'll have to lug some more wood up to the house because it's supposed to be getting down into the 30s over the next few nights.  I also took the precaution of bringing in the last of my potted plants, just in case. 

I'm not having good luck with mailboxes at all.  If you'll recall, the county broke mine off when they were working on the road, so they replaced with one of those Rubbermaid boxes.  Well, today when I got home, the box part had been taken completely off the post and thrown into my front yard.  I can't even imagine how that happened.  I mean, the box part just slides on to the post, but you would have to deliberately pull with purpose to get it off, so it couldn't have been some sort of accident.  

If it happens again, I might just have to set up a game cam to catch what is going on out there. 

I guess that's about it for tonight.  One of the piano instructors I follow on YouTube posted a video on how to learn a piece really quickly, and I want to try it.  I have an arrangement of O Holy Night, which was my dad's favorite Christmas carol, I want to try to learn.

Probably won't be in time for this year, though.  But I'll have to get you something recorded and posted, since I skipped out on last year's concert. 

I Think It's Tuesday

I think it's Tuesday.  I'm not entirely sure.

Whatever day it is, I was very relieved the cat decided to stay inside last night.  I was able to sleep soundly, knowing she was safe and warm.  I was even more relieved that she didn't yowl all night.  Of course, she's back outside now, and I'm hoping she comes up before I go to bed tonight.  It's getting to be too cold for her to stay out all night.  

There have been some big changes out at work, and not necessarily for the better -- at least as far as the brazers go.  Back at the beginning of the year, our production manager, also known as The Boss Who Must Not Be Named, moved back up into the front office.  I'm not sure what he's doing up there, but every once in a while, we see him wandering around the shop floor, looking lost...

After he left, the guy who was the production manager over the assembly area moved to the component area , and guess who they made the production manager over assembly?  Go on, guess...

If you said Brazing Boss, give yourself a cookie.  

The production manager over components quit a couple of weeks ago, so the only one left out there right now is Brazing Boss.  But that's neither here nor there...

But here's the thing, for the last 5 years, ever since he got that job, Brazing Boss has been telling us to slow down when brazing.  Don't rush.  Take our time, and braze carefully.  We'd have brazing meetings every week and he'd tell us things like

"I know it's tempting when the lines are right on you to crank that fire up and braze real fast, but you can't do that.  You have to keep brazing slowly."

He'd say, "Even if the lines are pressuring you, take your time, braze slowly.  The lines will just have to wait."

We'd try to argue with him, saying we can't do that.  We have to do whatever it takes to keep those lines moving, but he wouldn't listen.  He even told us one time, "I don't care what [Production Manager] says!  You don't listen to him, you listen to me, and I'M telling you to braze slowly!"  

Well...

Now that he's the production manager, he's singing a completely different tune.  Suddenly, he's up there trying to rush us.  Telling us we have to work harder, braze faster, do more...keep those lines running no matter what!  

As you might suppose, it's not going over well with us.  I mean, nobody liked him to begin with, and this just makes him all the more detestable to us. I was talking to Group Leader Shark, and told her, "It's the hypocrisy that gets to me.  For five years, he told us not to rush, and now all the sudden, he wants us to rush.  I ain't playing that game. "  

Honestly, I don't think he's going to last long in that position.  He's one of those spoiled little twats that only got the job because daddy pulled some strings.  He's not built to handle a high pressure job.  He won't be able to deal with the stress.  

In knitting news, after I'd finished the cowl, I picked this hat back up.  

It's a plain vanilla hat knit in Knit Picks Brava, in Just Peachy Speckle colorway.  I'm liking the way it's knitting up.  It might end up being a Christmas present, too.  

I wonder if Cody's girlfriend likes hats.  

This Cat

 

This cat, I swan.  No, I suwanee.  Which is like I swan, but only ... more.

I let her go outside before bed last night.  No biggie.  I do it all the time.  Only this morning, she didn't come up to the house like she usually does.  I called and called, but she didn't come.  A bit concerning, but she's done it before.  

I really began to get worried when I got home from work this afternoon, and she still wasn't home.  I called her a few times as I filled the bird and squirrel feeders, but she didn't come.  One hour passed, and no kitty.  Two hours --  I walked out into the woods, calling and calling.  Still no kitty. 

I came inside and posted my concern on Facebook. 

My kitty didn't come up to the house this morning, and she wasn't here when I got home from work. I've been out looking and calling, and can't find her. I'm starting to get a bit worried.

One of my friends responded, "Praying your kitty comes home." 

Not two minutes later, there she was at the back door, yowling to come inside. I let her inside, shouting, "Where have you been????", but in typical cat fashion, she ignored me and went straight to her room and began eating.

Now she is snuggled down at my feet in the recliner, napping, and I can breathe again.

Oh, by the way, after I posted last night, I went ahead and moved that plant shelf to the back door, where it usually sits.  See that cat bed on the bottom shelf?  I put that there, but she hasn't gotten into it yet. 

Then I moved the step to the front door, where she can still look out the window.  I think she'll be OK with that.  

Well, now that my heart is beating again, I need to go practice my piano.  

Laters. 

First Fire

It would seem winter has finally decided to pay us a little visit.

It was 45' when I got up this morning, and since I'd gotten a load of firewood delivered yesterday, I decided to splurge and light a fire in my wood box.  

It didn't last long, as it warmed up pretty quickly once the sun came up.  However, it's supposed to get down into the 30s later this week, so there will likely be more fires in the near future.  No, not likely -- definitely.  

By the way, I'm not really pleased with the guy who brought the wood.  Oh, the price was right, and it was good wood -- red oak and hickory, but the dude wanted to cut a hole in my fence so he wouldn't have to walk all the way around to where I store it.  No, you're not cutting a hole in the fence, dude!  If that's going to be a problem, I can always buy wood from someone else. 

In anticipation of the coming cold weather, I took this opportunity to go ahead and bring my outside plants inside.  Well, some of them, at least.  I still need to bring in my hanging plants from the front porch.  

I wasn't quite sure what to do with my Christmas Cacti, though.  I normally put their shelf right there where that step is, but that is where the cat likes to lay and look out the window.  For now, I put them by the front door, 

although I may move them later on.  I'm going to have to when I get the Christmas stuff out, because my living room is pretty small.  I'll probably put them back into their usual spot by the back door, and the cat will just have to live with it.  Squeaky liked to sit on that bottom shelf and look out the window.  Maybe Cutie will like that as well.  Oh, and I'm considering changing her name to Bellatrix.  Not that it matters.  I mostly call her "cat" anyway.  

In knitting news, I'm sure you will all be pleased to know I finished the cowl I've been working on for what seems like forever.  

I haven't washed and blocked it yet, but once I have, I think it will be long enough for the recipient to pull up over her head, in the instance she needs just a bit of warmth on her ears.  Here we see Charlotte modeling the as yet unblocked cowl/wimple.  

I guess that's all I have to talk about today, so I'll leave you with my traditional Halloween prayer: 

Happy Halloween!

I Haz Firewood!

 I have firewood!

The way I acquired this firewood is as follows.  I was laying in bed last night, and decided to check FB Marketplace one more time before I drifted off to sleep, and lo and behold, there it was!  A new listing, and reasonably priced, at that.  This morning, I got up and contacted the guy, and after a couple of rounds of phone tag,  we had a deal worked out.  He did ask for a $10 delivery fee, but even with that, the price was still within what I am willing to pay.  Quite frankly, I don't blame him for asking a delivery fee, what with the price of gas nearly doubling in the last year.  It was still cheaper than that one guy who wanted $50 to deliver.  

Whatever, I have firewood, and just in time it appears.  Look at the temps for next week!

The cat says, "I think I'll just stay right here..."

That's my lap, just in case you can't tell.  By the way, it's surprisingly difficult to take a photo of a cat on your own lap.  

I've got me one crazy cat, I'm telling you.  Yesterday I bought her some seafood flavor cat food.  Canned cat food, I mean.  The kind with the actual chopped up fish.  Today, she turned her nose up at it.  I should have known better, as she's never eaten any seafood flavored food before, but I thought this being the actual cuts, and not mush, it would be different.  Nope.  She won't eat it.  

Don't that beat all?  I've never in my life seen a cat that doesn't like fish.  Well, now I have.  

Looks like the dog will be getting some treats for the next few days.  

Almost Winter

 It's not quite winter just yet -- as in, it didn't get quite as cold last night as I thought it would.  Even so, it was chilly enough in the house for the heater to come on, but I didn't really think it was chilly enough to start a fire.  I'm almost out of wood, and until I can get some more, I'm going to have to be pretty stingy with what I have. There are some people advertising, but they're a bit too proud of their wood for my budget.  I can't afford $300 per cord, even if it is red oak. 

Still, it was drizzly and cold all day long, with the high temp only getting up to around 55'.  It was the perfect day to stay in and knit -- after grocery shopping, that is.   You know, they say it's going to be the most expensive Thanksgiving ever, due to the rampant inflation, so I wanted to start buying up my ingredients.  I'll have to get them a little at a time so I can afford it all.  

Cody and I discussed dinner on the way down to Texas.  I told him I was going to fix all the usual stuff, and he'd need to bring an alternate source of protein, since they're still vegetarians.  He said, they've added seafood back into their diets -- and by "they", I mean him and Brennan -- so he's going to make a seafood gumbo.  He's not super strict about it, either, because he ate some jalapeno poppers with sausage in them.  He said something about bringing Brennan with him for Thanksgiving, so that'll be good.  

He was really excited, because she got into the teaching program she wanted to.   She wants to teach kindergarten, so they're both pretty happy about that.  

But I digress.  Ok, so what have I been knitting on?  This.

Yes, I'm still working on the cowl.  I had been making good progress, but it has slowed a bit this week.  I hope to have it finished in time to give it to someone for Christmas.  I haven't decided who yet, but someone will get it. 

In other news, my poor kitty has been stuck inside for two days because of the weather.  She was going a bit stir crazy, and finally ventured out sometime this afternoon, rain or no rain.  In the meantime, I had to trick her in to using the self warming nap pad I got her.  She'd taken a shine to a blanket I'd knit many many winters ago, so I tucked the warming pad in between a couple of folds of said blanket. 

Now she's all nice and warm, snuggled down into her blanket. 

She's been staying in the house more at night here lately.  I imagine it's because of it getting cooler.  I'm kind of glad, because even though she's still waking me up, I worry less about something getting her.  At least she's safe inside.  I don't think at this point I can convert her into being a completely indoor cat,  but I'm working on it. 

Let's see, what else have I done today?  Oh, yeah, this.  When I was in Texas, Beverly was going through some boxes of old photographs, and she found one of Cody's senior pictures.  For some reason, I didn't have one of those, so she gave me that one. 

After nearly 10 years, I finally got his senior portrait in this frame.

BTW, yes, I did notice it was a little off center.  I fixed that, but didn't take another picture. 

One more thing she found in her box was this treasure.

That is my great aunt Annie McDonald -- my paternal grandmother's sister -- sitting in front of the fireplace in her house, which was built by my great grandfather Joseph Winfree.  That fireplace was the only heat source in that house, although they eventually got electricity hooked up, and indoor plumbing.  She died when I was 11.

I guess that's it for tonight.  I'm off to look for some reasonably priced firewood.  

Laters

Well, That Was Exciting

 What was exciting, you ask?  This:

OK, it's a tornado.  What of it?

What of it?  IT'S IN MY HOMETOWN!  

Here are a few more views of it:

I'd heard about it, but it wasn't until I watched these videos that I realized how close it was to Beverly and James' house.  It's only about 2 miles from them -- and Judy and Bill, of course.  They're all OK, though, and even had a calf born during the middle of the storm.  Appropriately, they named him Tornado. 

There was another tornado in Lake Charles, LA.  Lots of damage, but my friends who live there are both safe.  Mississippi got a tornado as well, but the worst of the severe weather passed to well the south of where I live.  What I got was rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  

I emptied my rain gauge this morning, and it was completely full.  It only goes to 5", so I have no idea how much rain we really got.  Oh yeah, and it's raining again. It is supposed to get down into the upper 40s, but then I told you that yesterday.  

When I get started talking about the weather, I get all geeked out and sometimes can't stop. 

OK, I'll stop now...

Straight To Winter

It looks like I'm going to be cranking the ol' wood stove up this weekend after all.

I got out after work and brought up some wood, but I still need to get more.  I've been checking the FB yard sales groups, but right now, all the wood I see is a bit too rich for my blood.  One of them wants $250 per cord, PLUS a $50 delivery fee.  I can't do that.  I'm going to keep looking, though.  Sooner or later, I'll find something.  

Good thing is, I managed to get my vacation day straightened out.  I don't know what the issue was, but I had to go up to HR and get them to enter it manually, after getting my supervisor to approve it, that is.  I knew he would, because I'd already discussed it with him, so I'm good to go for both this weekend and inventory weekend.  

Now, if you know anything about our HR department, you'll know how difficult it is to deal with them.  When I told my friend I was going to run up to HR, she said, "Blessings be up on you!"  She knows...I was lucky, thought.  The least unpleasant one was the only one up there, and she took care of my problem with barely and attitude.   

So, one of my coworkers stopped our Director of Operations, and asked him why she couldn't have her cup of coffee in the mornings, and do you know what he told her?  No, of course you don't, so I'm going to tell you.  He told her that wasn't his decision.  That it had come down from corporate.  

In the famous words of Colonel Sherman T. Potter. 

I don't know how stupid he thinks we are, but I've got news for him.  Ain't nobody buying that lie.  I'm wondering how in the world he even got that job, if he can't even own up to the decisions he made.  I don't think he's going to last very long out there.

And finally, I leave you with one very comfortable kitty. 

 

Bosses Be Like

Bosses:  I can't seem to figure out why employee morale is so low, and turnover rate is so high.  I just don't understand... 

Also Bosses: 

Really?  You seriously can't figure out why nobody wants to work there?  Do you really think people are going to joyfully jump out of bed every morning and say, "Yay!  I get to go work myself to death for 10-12 hours, and STARVE while I do it!"  Not likely, buddy.  You'd think they would have figured it out when so many people walked off the job the day they first announced it, but no....

Me, I've got five years left until I can retire, and I'm trying so hard to stick it out, but they're making it mighty hard to do that.  

Oh, and by the way, one of the production managers quit recently.  Nobody is surprised.  He and his wife both had COVID last year, and he was very sick.  There was a point there when they didn't think he'd even survive, but he pulled through.  His wife had been battling a brain tumor, and she ...well...didn't pull through.  Nobody expected Boss to come back to work after that, but he did.  Even so, he just hasn't been the same since.  He'd been talking about moving closer to where his kids live, so I guess that's what he did.  He was a nice guy, and we'll miss him.  But I wonder who will be our production manager now.  

Also work related, this week was supposed to be inventory, and since I always work inventory, I didn't put in a vacation day for Friday.  Well, guess what.  They  postponed inventory for two weeks and didn't tell anyone.  That is so typical out there.  Nobody tells you anything.

I was standing there at my stand grumbling and fussing about having to work this weekend, when it occurred to me, hmmm, maybe I can move my vacation day.  I went and talked to my supervisor, and explained that I'd just found out about them changing inventory day, and wanted to move the vacation day that I'd already had scheduled for the new date to this Friday, so I can still work inventory.  He said he'd approve it, but naturally my  place of employment has to make even the simplest thing complicated. 

Back in the day, all I'd have had to do was to get two vacation forms, fill one out as a cancellation and the other out as a request, hand them to my supervisor to sign, and bada bing, bada boom, it's all taken care of. 

Nowadays, I had to go to the little box, request to cancel the day I wanted cancelled, wait for supervisor to approve it through the computer, then wait for HR to approve it through their computer so I can get my hours back. All this before I can put in the request for the new vacation day.  Sigh...

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my job?

Let's talk about something a little more pleasant, shall we?

As promised, here is the progress photo I was talking about yesterday.  

I was going to get out there after work and cut a little bit more down, but then, I just didn't.  I was tired and didn't really want to.  So, I came inside and watched....something, I'm not sure what.  Still, it looks a lot better than it did.  

My drywall patch has finally dried, as well.  

I had to put another thin layer of spackle over it, because there was a pretty significant crack down towards the bottom.   Once it had dried, I smoothed it a bit with my sandpaper, but not too much, because none of the walls in that laundry room are very smooth as it is.  I think I'll dig through my leftover paint and see what I have that I can use on those walls.  Whatever color I choose will certainly be better than that hideous green.  

Well, I guess I've bored you enough for one day.  Oh, one more thing, I started to set up my Kindle and record myself playing, but I've got to find a stand or something to put it a little higher.  I'm pretty sure you don't want to be looking up my nose while I'm playing.  And I've got to find a better way to light that corner.  I looked so white!

I'm not talking about pinky-beige Caucasian white, either.  I'm talking glow in the dark, death warmed over white.  That's not going to work at all. 

Eh, I'll figure something out.

Eventually. 

Sore

 First of all, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post.  I think just having all of you comment made my post more visible, because that one got twice as many hits as I've been getting lately.  Not that I'm all that concerned about being popular, but still, it helps to feel like I'm not just talking to thin air.  

Now that that little bit of housekeeping has been taken care of, on to today's post. 

Boy, am I sore.  I'm pretty sure it's from two days of hacking away at the privet I've been cutting out of my back fence.  I'd intended to get out and take a progress photo when I got home from work, but that didn't happen.  I got caught up in watching the cheesy Hallmark move I'd DVRed last night, and by the time it was over, it was already dark.  I was like, "Wait, how did it get to be so late?  Oh, yeah...you watched a whole movie."  

OK, it was 6:30, but when one gets up ridiculously early, one also goes to bed ridiculously early, so yeah, it was late.  

However, I am making progress cutting all that mess down, and I have felt it in my lower back all day.  

And I'd just gotten over being sore from my trip to Texas and back.  It's always tough riding with Cody because he does not like to stop.  At all. I think if he had a big enough gas tank, he'd drive all the way from Memphis to Texas without stopping once.  I've already told him I'm getting too old for that, and I need to get out and walk around every couple of hours, so my back doesn't hurt so badly.  He will stop if I ask him to, but I can tell he doesn't really like it.

Not to mention, he drives in the left lane the whole way, which drives me nuts...

On the way back home Monday, we got caught behind a wreck on I-55 just north of Canton.  It was pretty bad, and we were stuck just sitting there what ended up being right at an hour.  Cody was fussing, "Are they even trying to clear the road???"  I said, "It depends on if there were any injuries."  You can't just drag a car off the road if there is an injured person inside, you know.  You have to get the people out before you can move the vehicles.  

Anyway, traffic finally started moving again, and when we got up to where the wreck had happened, I saw a truck off in the left hand median with a pretty significant dent in its tailgate.  He'd apparently been hit so hard, his toolbox had been knocked completely out of the bed and was laying on the ground behind the truck.  On the other side, loaded up onto the wrecker was the car which had hit him, and suddenly, I understood why it took so long.  The whole front end of it was a mangled up mess.  I can't find any news articles about it, so I hope that means the driver is OK.  Up about 100 yards further up the road was a semi cab that looked like it had rolled several times.  There wasn't much left of it but an engine block.  I don't know what went on there, if they were all involved in the same incident or what.  

But, us having to sit there an hour meant I needed to make an extra pit stop.  Cody was not happy.  I mean, he stopped at a rest stop, but he didn't like it.  He says when he goes somewhere, he just wants to get there.  Me, I'm at the age where I want to stop and see all the things I've always said I'm going to stop and see, but haven't yet.  

I'll have to find me a travelling companion who isn't always in such a hurry, I guess.  

Don't Envy Me

Before I begin, if you are seeing this post in your FB feed, could you please make a brief comment on it?  Even if it's only to say hi.  My daily hits have dropped significantly in the last couple of weeks, and I'm wondering if you're not seeing it, or you're all just really busy.  Not that there's anything wrong with being busy...I'd prefer that to you all suddenly finding my blog posts boring...

And now, on to today's post.

You know you live a sad life when you get inordinately excited about getting a new sweeper. 

I've had my old corn broom for probably 25 years now, and it was getting pretty raggedy looking.  I saw a Swiffer commercial, and decided to splurge and buy myself one.  But it wasn't too much of a splurge, because I bought the store brand knock off.  Still, it does pretty good getting the dog hair up, and I may be inspired to sweep more.  It even has the wet mop pads, for like when one of the animals has an accident.  Or I do...I mean spilling something, not peeing on the floor.  

But look!  A new sweeper!  

Don't envy me my exciting life. 

Because I also bought a new card reader.

For some reason, my computer won't recognize my camera if I plug it in directly.  Probably because it's so ancient.  I really want a new DSLR, but not only am I getting more curmudgeonly in my dotage, I'm also getting to be more of a tightwad.  Ten years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to buy another camera, even though I couldn't afford one.  Now, I have a little bit saved up, but don't want to spend it...so no new camera for me.  Not yet anyway.  

But I digress...I had an old card reader, which had gotten pretty worn out -- as in the cable/wire/whatever was loose.  Sometimes it would read, sometimes it wouldn't.  Even if it did, I had to hold the reader just right, and half the time, it would disconnect halfway through the download.  It was very frustrating.

The first thing I did after buying a new reader was go out and take a few photos of my flower beds to try it out.  It worked pretty well, once I got it all set up and everything.  Which mostly involved plugging it in and choosing a storage folder on my laptop. Very simple, very easy. 

Oh, you want to see the flowers?  OK, here you go:

My Petunias.  I moved them to the East side of my carport and they're doing much better.  I guess the harsh, afternoon sun was just too much for them. 

I'm down to one sad, lonely Marigold, and it doesn't look so sporty itself.  I guess I ought to give up on them, because I've never had much luck with them.    

My calibrachoa has no problem with the sun.  Their biggest issue is me forgetting to water them. 

My lantanas are really taking off, but for some reason, the orange ones are doing better than the pink ones. 

My zinnias.  Not much to say about them, because they always do well. 

And look!  One little bluebonnet is coming up!  

OK, moving right along.  My big project for today was to patch the hole in my laundry room wall. 

I got this repair kit, but I wish I'd read the package, because the little plastic patch wasn't quite big enough for my hole.  I made it work, but had to put a pretty thick layer of spackle on it to fill in all the gaps. 

The spackle turns white as it dries, so don't worry, I won't have a giant pink patch on my wall.  I'll have a giant white patch instead.  

I'm still considering painting the whole laundry room, but that's a big job and I'm not sure I want to get into that right now.  But still, a giant white patch is better than a giant hole in the wall. 

My next project is to start cutting all this mess out of my fence line:

I'll let you know how that goes.   

But for now, it's almost time for a new cheesy Hallmark movie.  Christmas is calling, and I must go.  

I only wish it were cold enough for some hot chocolate.  I guess nog will have to do.