Ten hours of my life a day is enough.
I’m not giving you any more.
Thank you.
That is all.
Ten hours of my life a day is enough.
I’m not giving you any more.
Thank you.
That is all.
So, there I was laying in bed last night, wondering where I needed to go to give up on life and spend the rest of my days huddled in a corner frantically knitting and occasionally muttering hysterically about lawnmowers and weedeaters, when suddenly I remembered I had a roll of paracord in my bug out bag.
That ought to work to replace the pull cord, right?
I was intending to come home and try to replace said pull cord with the help of some YouTube videos, but instead I got a surprise in my car port.
According to the care tips I looked up, I may be overwatering it, so I moved it into a pot by itself and I'm going to cut back on the water and see if it perks up. I moved it to the front porch so it can get plenty of sunlight but still be protected from the rain.
All that to say, I now have three spots in my raised beds, so that works out well.
Except that I want another raised bed...
In other news, we are almost to go on this sunflower.
I never would have thought I'd enjoy these flowers as much as I do. I'm so glad my nephew -- or more likely his bride-- thought to give seeds out at their wedding.
As I was out there in the front yard tying them up, because they've grown so fast they've outgrown the ties I already have, a man just happened to drive by with a lawnmower on a trailer. I thought he was going to keep on going, but he stopped, backed up and asked, "Do you have someone to cut your grass?"
I told him that normally I do it myself, but my lawnmower is broken, so yes, you can cut my grass for me. We negotiated a price and within 15 minutes, my front and side yards were cut! Turns out, his aunt lives up the road, and he cuts her grass. He'd just finished doing her yard, when he decided to stop and see if he could do mine.
And here I'd had a post all ready to write up griping that prayers don't get my grass cut, and how overwhelmed I'd been feeling lately, and "I could really use some of that rest you said you'd give" and what does He do?
He sends someone to do exactly the thing I needed most at the moment, and here I am with egg on my face once again.
You'd think I'd have learned by now, but nooooo. I have to learn the hard way. Over and over and over, apparently.
And finally, I took a break from Shakespeare to re-read an old childhood favorite, King Of The Wind, by Marguerite Henry.
I loved all of her books as a child, so this was a pleasant trip down memory lane. Now, I'm right back on Shakespeare. The Merry Wives Of Windsor, specifically.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get myself some supper and a hot shower.
Laters.
Very soon, we will have sunflowers!
Not just one,
I'm sure there will be more eventually, but for now, these are all there is.
I had every intention of coming home and fixing my weedeater, then weedeating, but by the time I got off work, I was so exhausted I didn't do much of anything.
Speaking of not doing much of anything, the two brazers who pitched such a fit about their pay were back today, and yep, you guessed it. They didn't do much of anything all day. One of them leaned on her table, and the other sat on her buggy most of the day. And they seriously think they don't get paid enough. I think they get paid too much as it is.
Let's just say, if we got paid by the header, they'd owe the company.
Oh, and we had another bit of excitement in the plant. It just never ends, does it? Shortly after lunch, I saw a couple of the brazers and parts stagers looking at the floor, then up to the ceiling. At first, I though the roof was leaking again, but it wasn't even raining. Turns out, it was one of the overhead lines leaking. I'm not sure what it was, but it sure wasn't water.
Someone from safety came out and called maintenance, who eventually showed up and taped up the line with --guess what? Something that appeared very much like duct tape. It didn't work, though. By the end of the day, another puddle was forming on the floor. I guess second shift will report it, or else we'll do it when we get there in the morning.
And finally, I knit half a hat yesterday
while I was watching this really weird movie on Prime called The Young Messiah. It's the speculated story of the Holy Family traveling back from Egypt to Nazareth when Jesus was 7 years old. The idea was interesting, but they way they handled it was not good. Don't waste your time on that one.
Don't waste your time on one called The Inquiry, or the Final Inquiry either. It's the same film but goes by both titles depending on which market you're in. It's an Italian production, but has both English and Italian actors in it. The weird part is, the English actors are speaking English, and the Italian actors are speaking Italian, but they dubbed the Italian into English for English speaking markets and the English into Italian for Italian speaking markets.
Anyway, the plot was interesting. The Roman emperor sends a trusted soldier to Jerusalem to investigate these claims of a crucified man having risen from the dead. It could have been so good, but it wasn't handled well at all. It would have been better had they left out the sub-plot of the romance between the Roman soldier and a Jewish girl, but that seemed to be what the whole film was about. Whatever. Watch it at your own risk.
All was not lost, movie-wise, though. I watch a really good one called Sisters Of War. Set during WWII, it's about some nurses and some nuns who become close friends when the Japanese turn their convent into a prisoner of war camp.
That one is worth your while. In fact, I highly recommend it. On Prime.
I know, I know. You're all tired -- he he-- of hearing me complain about how tired I am, but it seems to be the theme of my life these days. I didn't have to go in until 5:00 yesterday, so I started the day off full of pep and vinegar. By the end of the day, I was absolutely dragging. I'd thought I'd get up and mow this morning, but my legs were so sore and achy, those plans went right out the window.
It didn't help that I planted most of my cosmos seedlings in the front bed, either. I'm getting too old to be doing all that squatting and bending over. That's why I bought raised bed for my herb and pepper gardens.
Nevertheless, almost all of the seedlings got nestled into their new homes and surrounded by egg shells.
Until I ran out of egg shells, that is. Then I spread some diatomaceous earth around the rest.
The smaller, weaker seedlings got left in the tray for now.
I've got a couple of window box style planters I'm going to put them into when they get a bit bigger.
That's pretty much it for today, at least as far as gardening goes. Oh, I almost forgot. I got on the Burpee website and ordered some Lemon Verbena, Orange Mint, and French Tarragon. Then I cut and started drying some of the mint that grows outside my back door. I don't know what variety it is other than mint. And I started cutting the Italian Parsley. I need to cut some of the rosemary and lemon balm, too. I just haven't done it yet.
By the way, remember how I said my cilantro smelled like stink bug? Well, the dryer it gets, the part I cut, I mean, the less stink buggy it smells. I'm hoping Cody thinks it smells OK.
Really, the only other thing I did was run into town to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve where they were having their Spring Wings thing. It was pretty cool. There were a lot of activities for the kids to do, with lots of animals for them to pet and such.
And guided tours, and canoe rides. I wanted to go in the canoe, but they said I couldn't because I had to have a second person with me. That was a bummer. I have more photos, which I will post in my Facebook album sometime soon. It was all very nice, but I didn't stay long.
I came home and finished another hat
it was safe to go back into the factory, the drama just keeps on coming.
I don't even know what started it all, but it was a doozy. See, two of the new hire brazers got mad over the amount they are getting paid. I don't know all the details, but the way it works is when you get hired, you're put on probation for the first several months. You get paid a probationary wage, then every so often, you get what they call step-up raises. Once you've made it through the probation period, you start earning the standard wage for your position.
Well, apparently these two decided that they shouldn't have to go through the probation and should be able to skip to the end and start earning the regular starting wage. When they found out they couldn't, they both grabbed their stuff and left. Maybe they'll be back on Monday. Maybe they won't. I guess we'll see.
The one I call The Mouth kept saying she made such and such amount at her old job, but only makes such and such here. So, why didn't she stay at her old job? I said, "Well, if she worked there like she works where -- which is not at all-- she probably got fired."
Seriously, before she left today, she brazed six headers in two hours. Six. And that is typical of her. I've often said if she ran her stand as much as she runs her mouth, she'd actually get something done. The department got mighty quiet after they left, but we still got just as much done without them.
They weren't the only ones who left early today. A lot of the people who had come to day shift last year when they shut down second shift had gotten comfortable, and didn't want to go back. There was a constant stream of people going to Cuz and the HR director all day long, and a bunch of them left. I guess we shall see.
I hadn't planned on going into town today, because I have plenty of food at home, but I remembered I needed to pay my house note, so I went anyway. Since I was there anyway, I ran by Walmart and bought a sweet banana pepper plant and a tabasco pepper plant.
To be honest, the strawberries don't have much flavor, but the plantain is dee-lish-us. You have to make sure you get the tender new leaves from the center of the plant, because the larger leaves can be tough and they get those stringy veins in them. They're better for eating cooked, but I haven't tried that yet.
In other news, the gastroenterology clinic finally called and I got my colonoscopy scheduled. I was trying to text Cody to let him know the details, and I kept messing up. I mean, really messing up. I was getting so frustrated, and exclaimed, "Why is this so hard?"
That's when I realized my phone's keyboard was set to French.
That explains a lot.
The bad thing about taking a day off in the middle of the week is that the next day feels like Monday all over again, and that's exactly what today felt like to me -- but apparently I missed all the fun yesterday.
They're opening second shift back up Monday -- but only one line and some component areas right now-- and yesterday they went around telling the ones who are going to have to go to second shift that they were going. Well, some people weren't happy about it.
Some are mad that they are going to second shift and they don't want to. Others are mad that they want to go to second shift and they won't let them. Ain't that just the way it is out there?
But here is the kicker. Demi-god is over there saying, "I can't go back to second shift! I'd miss seeing my daughter in the evenings!"
When I heard that, I promise you I was looking just like this:
Every parent who works on second shift has to go through this. I know I did. I was very lucky that I came to day shift just before Cody started kindergarten, or I'd have never seen him, other than those few moments in the morning when I got him up and ready for school.And he was saying things like, "If I have to go back, day shift is going to lose 400-500 headers a day!" We all just laughed and said, "Bless his heart." He really is full of himself. And no, he doesn't braze nearly that many headers. Then I pointed out the bright side will be that he can once again pick and choose which orders he wants to do instead of having to do what the line needs.
From what I hear, he went on and on about it all day long. I'm just glad I don't have to work next to him and listen to his whining.
But wait, there's more! In all the excitement over my doctor appointment, I forgot to tell you about what happened Monday. Sometime around 4:15 AM, flux started leaking out of the pipes that carry our brazing gas to our stands. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but somehow, the connection between two of the pipes had come loose. They got the gas shut off at the valve, but maintenance doesn't come in until 5:00, so we had to wait until they got there to fix the problem.
It only took him about 15 minutes to get the connection tightened back up, then back to work we went. I was thinking about that this afternoon, and I wondered where our emergency shut off button is. I didn't know, so I went looking for it. I couldn't find it, so I asked. That's when I found out.
We don't have an emergency shut off button. We're supposed to have an emergency shut off button. But we don't. Why don't we have an emergency shut off button? Answer me that!
And just to put the icing on the cake, someone was smoking weed in the men's bathroom. They do that a lot, but nobody has been able to catch whoever it is in the act. Maybe they need to bring back the random drug testing.
I'd planned on coming home and planting a few of those daffodil bulbs, and maybe some of my cosmos seedlings, but after all that, I just came home and sat. Well, I did cut and start drying a bit of cilantro. Is it supposed to smell like stink bugs?
Wait, I just googled it and yes it does! Cilantro can sometimes smell like stink bugs! It's still OK to eat, so they say, but since it's for Brennan's bearded dragon anyway, I don't think it'll matter. Although Cody did mention wanting to cook with it, so I'll just have to see what it smells like to him.
In other news, look what I found growing behind my back fence!
Lest you think all I did this weekend was piddle in the flower beds, here is proof that there has indeed been knitting.
I finished this hat.
Then I cast on another with the same yarn.
Now, I'm not all that familiar with sunflowers, this being the first time I've tried growing them and all, but those look like buds to me!
Kindly ignore all the ground ivy in the background. I've been meaning to pull it all up now that it's finished flowering. I just haven't gotten around to it.
And finally, I've found a really good BBC series on Prime called The Royal. It's a medical drama set back in 1960s Yorkshire. I'm really enjoying it so far. In fact, I think I'll go take a quick shower and watch a few more episodes while knitting...something.
Laters.