Peaked

I think my head cold, or whatever it was I was battling, peaked sometime during the night last night.  Man, I was miserable all night and only got about two or three hours sleep -- including the times I dozed off during the Cowboys game.  

But I felt much better when I woke up.  I mean, I'm still pretty miserable from lack of sleep, but my throat is much less sore and my sinuses are not as inflamed.  Even so, I was tempted to call in and stay in bed, but I didn't.  Up I got and to work I went...and the day seemed to last for...ev...er.  

At long last, the day finally ended, and I came home to a stack of mysterious packages outside my carport door.  I didn't order anything, so they must be presents!  I'll get Cody and Brennan to wrap them when they come Friday. I've got a few I need to wrap as well.  

My main project this afternoon was to get my plants all settled into their winter homes, and that's exactly what I did. 

I still need to bring in the ones on the front porch, which I will probably do tomorrow.  

Other than that, there really isn't that much to talk about tonight.  Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.  

When It Rains

It pours. 

So there I was at work, just before shift started getting my tools out and my order set up to start my day, when Demi-god came over and said, "Did y'all hear what happened to Cuz?"  

Cuz had been out all last week, but I didn't really think that much about it.  We all figured he took a week of vacation.  But no, Demi-god told us his cattle had gotten out and Cuz was trying to round them up on his 4-wheeler, when it flipped over and broke his leg. 

This hasn't been a good year for legs out at the plant, because one of the brazers fell at her home a few weeks ago and broke her ankle.  She is supposed to be back sometime this month.  

In other news, when I got off this afternoon, there was a message waiting for me on my phone from the Ford place.  They'd found another open recall on my car.  This one is just a software update, though, and they will be able to do it at the same time that they replace my clutch, so that's good.  By the way, about that clutch, we're still waiting on the parts to arrive.  If it's anything like the shock I had replaced last spring, it'll take three weeks for it to get here. 

That blows my mind that it takes so long to get a part I could probably get from Auto Zone or O'Reilly's in ten minutes.  But because it's a recall, I have to go through the Ford place and they won't charge me anything for parts or labor. 

And as if all that weren't enough, I feel like I'm trying to come down with a cold.  No fever yet, just a sore, scratchy throat and sinus pressure.  That being said, I think I'm going to go lay down a bit early tonight, but just to show you that I'm not completely unproductive, here is hat progress. 

And here is Whatever cactus progress. 

 It's supposed to dip down into the 30s after this next front comes through, so I'll probably go on ahead and get them into their winter home tomorrow afternoon.  

The Cowboys play tonight, but I doubt I'll be awake long enough to finish that game.  Not the way I feel right now. 

One Of These Days

One of these days, she's going to catch her one of them squirrels. 

Funny thing, I got up this morning around 5-ish, and let her outside.  Then I built a fire and started making a cup of coffee.  After a few minutes, she came running back inside, looking towards the door and hissing.  I stepped out onto the back porch -- like I thought I'd be able to see anything in the dark -- and heard something much heavier than a squirrel jump off of the bird feeder and begin running across the roof of the shed.  

Like I said, it was too dark to see, so I don't know exactly what it was, but my guess would be either a possum or a trash panda.  Judging by how spooked the cat was, I'm guessing raccoon.  Once it had been run off, the cat went back outside and that was my excitement for the day. 

The rest of the news is a bit more mundane, as my tasks for the day were to begin winterizing things in my yard.  First thing on the list was to pull up that makeshift trellis I had put out here last summer. 

Then I pulled up the dead cosmos and put them into the compost.  I'll need to get the weedeater out and cut down that mess, but that didn't happen today.  I don't think I'll plant more cosmos in this bed next year.  I think I'll go with something a little tamer like Vincas.  I always did like them. 

The next thing on the list was to move that old sewing machine back into the junk room and get this space cleaned up.  

They're predicting temperatures down into the upper 30s by next weekend, so I needed to clear a space to bring my outside plants inside.  

By the way, my fire pit has shipped, and it supposed to arrive Thursday -- just in time for those cooler temps.  I spent some time today looking at Adirondack chairs to put around it.  I still have to decide where to put it, too.  I'm really wanting to build a patio right outside my back door.  I'd had one there for about a month after I moved in, but the plumber had to break it up to replace the sewer line.  That one was just a solid slab of concrete, but I'm wanting something a little more fancy than that.  I'd bought one of those molds that you use with Quickcrete, but never got around to doing anything with it.  

Oh well, I'll figure something out.  

In piano news, yes, I'm still playing.  I finished unit four in my Faber book this afternoon, then put it and my Alfred's book away until after Christmas.  I'm going to spend the rest of the year playing Christmas songs, and hymns, and songs I play just for fun.  

Speaking of, I ordered a bunch of Christmas stamps yesterday.  It's almost time to get my Christmas cards ready!  

I guess that's about it for today.  I'm going to go get something to eat, then finish watching the ball game.  

Conversate More

A few years ago, back when the brazers were still working on the lines, one of the temps came over to my brazing stand and said, "I've been watching you, and all you do is work, work, work.  You need to step around the line and conversate more!" 

I replied, "I don't get paid to conversate.  I get paid to make parts."  What I didn't say -- at least out loud-- was, "What could you and I possibly have to conversate about?  We likely don't know the same people.  We certainly don't have the same interests, so what do you want to talk about?  

Do you want to discuss the episode of Secrets Of The Dead I watched the other day in which Phillipa Langley -- you know, she's the one who found Richard III in that car park in Leicester back in 2012, and we can conversate about that one, too --uncovered evidence that solved the mystery of the princes in the tower?  

Or would you rather discuss how many times the movie Air Force One defies the laws of physics, and and exactly how it does so?  Or hypothesize about how different history would be if just one of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon's sons had lived?  Or how it would be literally impossible to explore new worlds without violating the Prime Directive?  

Oh, I know!  We can discuss wind shear and it's negative effect on hurricane formation, or how El Niño and La Niña influence weather patterns!

No?  Then we have nothing to talk about, because I couldn't care less who is sleeping with who or what celebrities are up to, so if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my work, work, work now. "

In other news, lookit!  The birds are starting to find the new feeder!

That's good, because it won't be long before they'll be needing that extra feed.  It was chilly enough this morning that I was able to light the first fire in my little fire box. 

It warmed up pretty quickly, but that fire sure was cozy there for a minute. 

On a similar note, someone posted this on Facebook today and boy, I felt it to the depths of my soul.  

I do this all the time.  I can't seem to relax, because I know I have soooo much stuff I need to get done, and I can't seem to get my act together enough to get any of it done.  I don't have any family in the area to help me out, and I certainly don't have any friends who'd even show up to offer moral support, so everything falls on me. 

Then I look at my list -- which is getting longer by the day -- and see how much is on it, and get overwhelmed and can't do anything.  So I sit around and knit, and berate myself for being such a numpty.  

And believe me when I tell you that numpty is actually much kinder than what I really call myself. 

But, as is my custom, in the middle of all my bouts of self-denigration, I managed to get most of the bricks behind my wood stove painted. 

I still have to do the ones in the back corner, but I didn't quite feel up to getting down on my hands and knees and crawling back there.  I also noticed that the ones in the upper right are whiter than the rest.  I'm not sure why, because I didn't go over them or anything.  I wonder if it's because I sponged them instead of brushing them.  That's how I started out, but decided it was taking too much time.  Maybe tomorrow I'll start sponging a second coat on the rest of the bricks, but even as they are, it makes that corner so much less dark and gloomy than it was before. 

As far as Thanksgiving prep goes,  I got my turkey out of the deep freeze and put it into the fridge to start thawing.  Then I made two pies and put them into the freezer.  One was a banana cream pie, made with sugar free pudding mix.  I was going to make Cody his cream cheese pie, but decided he didn't need all that sugar, either, so I made the second pie with sugar free cheesecake pudding mix.  

I'm debating on whether to go ahead and make the pumpkin pie tomorrow, or to wait until Thursday to do it.  I think I'll wait on that one.  

I had bought the canned cranberry jelly to serve, but when I was in the store yesterday, I saw bags of fresh cranberries and bought one on impulse, so I guess we're getting both.  Ah, well, Cody and Bren will have lots of leftovers to take home, then. 

And finally, today is my bloggiversary.  Can you believe it was 19 years ago that I wrote my very first blog post?   So much has changed.  I've lost readers, and gained new ones, and I'm grateful for every one of you who've stuck with me through the years.  

So, while I was looking for something else, I found and old draft of a post that had never gotten published.  I'd written this back in 2019, and don't know why I never posted it.  Anyway, here it is for your enjoyment.

The plant has this notice up, asking for people who want to train to braze. I don't know why. Even the ones they do train they don't let them braze. Eh, who knows. 

 A few weeks ago, Stalker was training one guy on an empty sub-brazing stand. He hasn't brazed since. He now works on line 1 putting on flo-rators. But that's beside the point. 

He was over there training, and one of my coworkers said, "He looks like Buh-Lak-Ay from the Substitute Teacher." 

Now, if you don't know what that is, it's a comedy sketch by Key and Peele which you can look up on YouTube if you're interested. I'm not going to share it here, because it does have some language and I want to maintain my G rating for my blog. 

We have no idea what that guy's real name is, but ever since then, we've called him Buh-Lak-Ay. 

Now, we're over there treating him like he's some sort of celebrity. "Hey! I saw Buh-Lak-Ay in the break room!" "I saw Buh-Lak-Ay coming out of the restroom!" "I saw Buh-Lak-Ay over on line 1!" He's just an ordinary guy, but here we are, totally fan-girling over him. 

And he has no idea.

We Are Go

"Did you see the moon?"  exclaimed my coworker as she came into the plant this morning.  Yes, I had.  It was big and orange and almost full, and breathtakingly beautiful.  I'd thought about driving out to the lake this evening to watch it rise, but I forgot....again.  

Instead, I stepped outside and took this long exposure photo from my back yard. 

Not as good as seeing it in person, but still.

So, why did I forget such a simple thing? Well, I'll tell you.  I went to Walmart after work, thinking it would be less crowded than going on a Friday.  I thought wrong.  

I don't know what the deal was, but it seemed like everyone in town was in that store.  Still, I persevered and I think I got everything I'll need for our early Thanksgiving next Friday.   What I didn't already have, that is.  Tomorrow, I'll go ahead and take the turkey out of the freezer, and I think I might go ahead and make my pies and put them into the freezer.  The rest is pretty easy, and I can do them after work, or the morning of. 

This year, I bought some disposable aluminum pans for my casseroles.  I know Cody will want to take the broccoli home with him, and they might want some sweet potatoes, too.  I have enough sweet potatoes to make two casseroles, so they can have one, and I can have one.  I thought about making a pie, but I'm already going to make pumpkin, banana cream, and cream cheese pies, so I don't really need another one.  

All that to say, we are go for Thanksgiving. 

Then I did something naughty.  I bought a bag of Hershey's cherry cordial kisses and a bag of Hershey's mint truffle kisses.  I'll just have to eat them slowly, like one per day instead of half a bag per day, and keep close track of my sugar.  Funny, though, egg nog -- which I also bought another quart of -- doesn't seem to affect my glucose that much.  Maybe the protein in the eggs helps cancel out the carbs in the sugar.  I don't know, but I'm glad of it, whatever it is. 

And finally, I know some of my friends on Facebook would somewhat snootily tell me they never buy things from Facebook ads.  Well, goody goody for you, but I've gotten some nice things from FB ads.  This is one of them. 

 This is not my photo.  It's the preview they showed me when I placed my order, but mine did arrive today and they look really nice.  I've ordered one for each of my siblings as well, and of course, these are the three states we live in.  

I guess that's it for today.  I've started watching the new show called High Potential.  So far, I'm really enjoying it.  I'm also watching NCIS: Origins, but I'm not quite sold on that one.  Either one is good for knitting to, so I guess that makes it OK. 

Foolish And Impulsive

I did something impulsive today, and quite possibly a bit foolish.   And what was this impulsive thing I did?  I ordered a fire pit.  

I've been wanting one for a while now, and when I saw one clearanced down from $200 to $65, and well...I'm getting a fire pit.  A bit sooner than I'd planned, but I was going to get it anyway.  Might as well save a few dollars while I'm at it. 

I guess now I need to get some sort of patio going to put it on, or I could just put it on the ground -- at least for the time being.  

You know, I have a bit of a no-brainer job, which gives me a lot of time to think about stuff.  Today, I was thinking about how I need to replace my French Doors.  It's not urgent, but it is on the list.  I can't decide, though, whether to get new French Doors or to get a sliding glass door.  There are pros and cons to both, but one thing I know I want is to have the blinds between the panes of glass so whatever critters I have can't tear them up.  

On my lunch break, I got onto the Lowe's app just to check prices, and wow!  The ones I want are pretty high dollar. And therein lies the rub.  It's not that I don't have the money for the doors-- and the labor to install them -- because I do.  But my money had been so tight for so long, I have a serious mental block against spending it.  I'm trying to convince myself it's OK because it will increase the re-sale value of the house, but it's not quite working.   Not yet, at least.  I've got some  more convincing to do. 

OK, moving right along,  I got a nice surprise in the mail today.  It was a birthday card from my sister with these two necklaces in it.

She wants me to update my Christmas list on Amazon, too, but I can tell already that I'm getting to the age where I officially qualify as hard to buy for.  Hmmm, maybe I'll ask for a gift card to Lowe's so I can get my patio stones.  Say, there's an idea!  She can get me my patio stones for Christmas!  OK...

I'm back.  One Lowe's gift card successfully added to my list.  

In the midst of all that, there has been knitting going on as well.  

The yarn is from Whimsical Ewe, and the colorway is As A Mist Creeps In.  It is available on her website, but I bought mine from the last Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  I love the way it's knitting up, even though the colors in the photo aren't true. 

And finally, I've got buds beginning to open on my Whatever Cacti.  

 It won't be long before I have to bring them inside for the winter.  They're saying by next weekend, we could be down into the 30s.  That fire pit will feel mighty good, then.  

I should probably get some chairs to put around it, huh?  

My New Toy

Before we get into today’s post, I’m sure you will all be pleased to know I found my legal pad. Thanksgiving prep has now begun.  I've gotten my menu written out, checked my pantry, and added what I still need to my shopping list.

It was in a knitting bag, by the way. My legal pad, not my shopping list.  

Speaking of , the plant is going to feed us Thanksgiving dinner next week.  Yeah, they're serving us fried catfish and chicken strips.  

OK, moving right along…I got me a new toy.  

It's an exercise board.  I'd been doing the deep squats at work, but those are tough on my knees, so I've been looking for something else to do that doesn't require leaving the house.  Several years ago, I'd bought one of those Simply Fit boards, like this.

The only problem is that it was so hard to balance on, and it just wasn't as fun as I'd thought it'd be.  I ended up giving it to a coworker, who tried it and said, "I see what you mean."  Shortly after that, I went searching on Amazon and found the one above.  The only thing is, I wish I'd gotten the larger size, because I have to keep my feet too close together and it just feels awkward.  I supposed I'll get the hang of it eventually, but the important part is, I'll be able to work some of my glucose down.   And I can do it while I watch TV.  

In other news, I have a new project as well.  If you've been reading the blog for a while, you'll remember I had a whole series of posts on "bricking".  It was all about me stripping the thick, gloppy paint from the bricks behind my wood stove so I could re-paint them.  

It took a minute, but I finally got it done, then painted the bricks what I had hoped would be a light gray.  I wanted it to look like stones.  Not sure how I thought that was going to work, but it's what I did.  And I do like the color and how it turned out.  The only problem was it made that corner so dark and gloomy.  I didn't really realized how dark and gloomy until I was putting out my fall decorations this year, and found an old photo of the way it looked when the bricks were white and the mantle was green. 

So I decided to try to lighten it up a bit.  I bought some acrylic white and started lightly brushing it over the bricks.   I don't want to go too heavy with the white, because I want the gray undertones to show through.  I've only got this much done, but I'm liking it so far. 

I'm not sure I'm going to do the base, too, or leave it solid gray.  We'll see.   It's all temporary, anyway.  When I am finally able to get my house fixed up, all of this is going to go.  Even the stove.  I want to replace it with something that looks nicer, like one of these:

Not necessarily this exact one, but something like it.  Whichever one I choose will be much more aesthetically pleasing than what I have. 

And finally, when this thing blooms, it's going to be stunning.  

I'll be sure to post a photo, of course. 

Recognizing Wickedness

You remember a few days ago when I posted the meme about how we're waiting on God to heal the land, but he's waiting on us to turn from our wicked ways?  I'm not going to call anyone out specifically, but some of the responses I got on that post really made me wonder.  Those responses are what prompted me to say that people in this country don't even recognize evil any more.  

Then, a couple of days ago, I saw a meme on Facebook where someone was implying Donald Trump is the anti-Christ and a MAGA hat is the mark of the beast.  

Seriously?  When did we get so spiritually stupid in this country?  And fair is fair, I saw the far right making the same claim about Obama when he was president, which just goes to show, it's not political problem, but rather a heart problem.  But still, it raises the question, how can we turn from our wicked ways when so many of us don't even recognize wickedness any more?  

In the light of that, I thought for today's post, we'd have a little fun trying to discern between what is good and what is evil.  I'm going to present some scenarios with two possible responses, and you'll guess which response is the good one, and which is the evil one. 

Ready?  OK..

Scenario 1:  

A political candidate is holding a rally prior to election day.  The candidate is giving an inspiring speech, and the crowd is really getting into it.  Suddenly, from the audience, someone shouts, "Jesus is lord!  Jesus is king!"

Response A:  The candidate replies, "Yes!  Jesus is king!" and the crowd erupts in cheers, which lasts for several minutes before the speech can continue.  

Response B:  The candidate replies, "Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally!" with a laugh, and the crowd erupts in cheers which last for several minutes before the speech can continue.

Scenario 2:  It's almost time to vote for the president, so you decide to attend some political rallies.  You put on a t-shirt supporting your chosen candidate, then go to the rally of the candidate from the opposing party. 

Response A:  Despite your obvious support for the opposition, you are greeted warmly with hand shakes, back slaps, and are made to feel welcome.  The other attendees listen to your viewpoints, then respond with their own.  Most people are friendly, and all are courteous and respectful.  

Response B:  The minute you walk in, the other attendees start screaming insults at you, calling you names and cursing at you.  They tell you to go {bleep} yourself, or to shoot yourself in the head.  You are spit upon, have urine thrown on you, and are told to get out, that you aren't welcome there.  Someone tells you that she hopes your daughters are raped, and someone else says you need to die in a fire.  

Now, in each of the above scenarios, which response do you thing would be the godly one, and which the evil one?  It should be pretty obvious, right?  Yet, you might be surprised to know that half of America thinks those who would reply with Response A would be the evil ones -- even some who attend church regularly.  Because we have become so comfortable with evil, we no longer recognize it.  

But before you get all high and mighty and self-righteous, and start pointing fingers, let's try one last scenario:

A family is visiting the zoo when their young son manages to slip away from his parents and somehow enter the gorilla enclosure, attracting the attention of the big silverback.  Upon whose life do you place the greater value?

A:  The boy

B:  Harambe

Another one that should be quite obvious.

But somehow isn't. 

Starry Night

Yes, folks, the Starry Night hat is finished. 

 The pattern is Sockhead Hat, and the yarn is from Forbidden Fiber.  It was her colorway Horn Section, specially dyed for the 2019 Fiber Fun In The 'Sip . 

By the way, the next FFITS will be February 21 & 22 in Vicksburg, MS.  You know, just in case you think you might want to come.   

Other than that, there really isn't much to talk about.  I mostly sat and watched TV, catching up on NCIS: Origins and some of the cheesy Hallmark movies I'd DVRed.  Oh, I suppose I could tell you that I've gotten moving on my piano lessons again.  I'd kind of gotten stuck for a while.  You know those instructional videos I've been watching on YouTube?  Yeah, the one for the song I was learning was 22 minutes long.  

Twenty two minutes!  I put it off for a long time because what on earth could that man be yapping about for 22 minutes?  This morning, I bit the bullet and watched the thing.  It was as dull and repetitive as I'd feared.  About halfway through, I quipped, "I should have brought my knitting."  But he finally stopped talking and we played the song, then the duet, and it's all behind me now and I can move on.  

And I guess I can mention that I finished reading The Paradise War, by Stephen Lawhead, and have started the second book in the series, The Silver Hand.  If you're into Celtic lore and mythology, this would be a good series to read.  

The only other thing I did today was to find little mousey turds in my silverware drawer.  Naturally, I took everything out and washed it and disinfected the drawer.  That was fun.   Then I cut and hung some lemon balm and orange mint to dry. 

I want to get as much done as I can before the first frost -- which it looks like it won't be happening for a while.  Still, the cold front is coming through even as I type this, and it's supposed to cool off some, though not quite down to freezing.  Not just yet. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go cast on another hat so I'll have something to knit on during the LSU - Alabama game.  

Laters.

Another One Of Those Mornings

Whelp, it was another one of those mornings.  I woke up at 2:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.  I lay there for an hour, but finally gave up and got up shortly after 3:00.  I moved to my recliner, enjoyed a cup of coffee, and caught up on some of my DVRed shows before heading into town to run errands and do my weekly shopping.   

I think my one accomplishment was to get this year's box of hats for the Seaman's Church Institute shipped off.  What had been the hold up?  Well, it's because I had a few more hats that needed to be washed before I could tag and box them up, and I usually remembered right as I was taking the laundry out of the washing machine. 

Yesterday, I remembered before I did the laundry, and the last few hats finally got washed.  Once that was done, the rest was easy.  I dropped them off at the UPS store, paid a bill, got my license plate renewed, and left my diabetic cookbook in the Little Free Library, then it was on to Walmart. 

I'd intended to start buying stuff for Thanksgiving dinner since the kids are going to be able to come, but alas, I can't find my legal pad, and I can't make a menu without my legal pad.  I bought pie crusts, because I know I'll need those, plus banana creme pudding mix, but other than that, I need to make out my menu, then see what ingredients I already have so I'll know what I still need. 

In the meantime, I bought fancy paper plates for us to eat off of. 

 

The only other thing I accomplished today was to put my new shelf together out in the shed, and start moving some stuff onto the bottom shelf.  

I started to move some of the boxes from the craft room out there, but I want to sort and decide what I need to leave in the house for easy access -- such as all the extension cords I keep finding.  So, I left them for the time being. 

Now, I'm back inside catching up on NCIS: Origins, and am about to get off of here and knit some more.  

And look for my legal pad.  

Because I can't do anything if I don't know where my legal pad is. 

Good News

 It's almost that time again -- time for our tree lighting on the town square.   I'd let Cody and Brennan know when it was going to be, and they said they wanted to come.  They'd come one year, and really enjoyed it.  Brennan even said my town reminded her of Stars Hollow. 

From the Gilmore Girls TV show, for those of you who don't get the reference. 

Alas, Cody texted me this afternoon and said that Brennan's PTO was not approved. 

Major bummer.

About five minutes later, he messaged me again and said that Bren had spoken to her manager, and he told her that he was going to shift her regular work schedule so she could have that day off without having to use her PTO.  

Then I had to repent of all the bad things I'd muttered about him. 

So it looks like they're going to get to come after all.  The plan is to have our Thanksgiving dinner that day, and put up my Christmas tree before going to the tree lighting on the square.  I just need to get the menu figured out -- not that that will be hard.  It's the same every year.  

I really like tradition. 

So, we're going to have turkey, of course, and Stove Top stuffing, and gravy -- all of which I already have.  By the way, one silver lining of the Biden-Harris administration is that my deep freeze is almost completely cleaned out. I won't have to do too much digging to get to the turkey.  

Anyway, also on the menu will be sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, and  strawberry jello salad, rolls....and I think that's all.  I do have a little bit of the squash casserole I'd made a few weeks ago put up in the freezer.  I might get that out.  Or I might not.  Cody has never liked squash.  

For dessert, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and maybe a cream cheese pie for Cody.  That'll be more than enough for the three of us.  By the way, they are feeding us Thanksgiving dinner at work on the 21st -- only they're feeding us catfish and chicken tenders instead of turkey and dressing.  Word is, someone complained that we're going to have turkey and dressing at our own dinners, and we want something different.  Well, that's the rumor anyway.   

In not such nice news, I think I tweaked my knee wrestling with my air conditioner last weekend.  It's not feeling damaged, just sore. `Even so, I've been taking it a bit easy this week to give it time to heal.  Other than that, nothing has been happening, so I think I'll get off her and watch some football. 

Laters. 

Mercy

I woke up this morning after a too short night of sleep, and the first thing I did was check the election results.  And God has extended his hand of mercy once again over these United States, and has given us a few more years of grace.  

Alas, if we don't turn from our wicked ways, one day his patience will run out and he will say, "Enough is enough" and that grace will be no more.  Listening to chatter, reading comments on social media...it would seem we have become so steeped in evil we no longer recognize wickedness even when it up and slaps us in the face.  We've become a nation that calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20), and surround ourselves with teacher who say what our itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3)

God has a lot of patience, but even his runs out eventually. 

OK, in lighter news, the Starry Night hat is making progress. 

I mean, it's 13" of hat in sock weight yarn, then the crown decreases, but it's still so fun to knit.  I've already picked out the next yarn I'm going to cast on. 

I bought this at last year's Fiber Fun In The 'Sip, just for the name of this colorway alone. 

 Isn't that the best?  I'd actually cast on a sock with it, but after the incident with the errant toenail, I frogged it and re-caked the yarn for a hat.  

I guess that's it for today.  I'm still adjusting to the time change, and woke up this morning at 2:00, and couldn't for the life of me go back to sleep, so I'm about to go hit the hay. 

Catch ya on the flip side.  

And Now We Wait

I went and voted after work, but I'm not entirely sure my vote will count, since I didn't post a photo of my "I Voted" sticker to social media.  

Relax.  It's a joke.  

So, now we wait for the election results.  I won't be glued to the TV, because no matter who wins, I still have to get up at 3:30 AM for work.  

And while we wait, God waits for us to repent and turn from our wicked ways. 

You know, I think this is probably one of the most misinterpreted verses in the Bible.  

Far too many people seem to think it means if those heatherns will suddenly start acting right...If lost people will come to Christ...if they...if those people...if, if, if....But, no.  Read the verse again...

It says, "if MY people, who are called by MY name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways."  

If MY people...MY people.

God isn't talking to the lost here.  He's talking to his church.  He's talking to US.  

The church has become lukewarm.  

The church has lost its saltiness.  

The church has become virtually indistinguishable from the world it's supposed to be in but not of.  

A few years ago, I actually heard a pastor's wife say that you can't say you truly love the sinner if you don't embrace and affirm the sin.  No wonder people are leaving the church in such great numbers.  They look at us and wonder, what is even the point. 

Even our church services have become little more than a praise band concert followed by a motivational speech to pump us up to get through the week.  We need to get back to preaching the Bible.  We need to get back to living like sons and daughters of God.  We need to become the salt and light of the world again. 

Then, and only then, will He hear, forgive, and heal our land.  And then we will be a blessed nation once more. 

A New List

I'm sure you'll all be thrilled to know that my window air conditioner worked just fine all night last night.  The compressor cycled on and off like it was supposed to and I woke up with icicles hanging off my nose.  

OK, it didn't quite get that cold, but it was so much nicer than it had been before, and more importantly it kept the humidity down.  It no longer felt like I was sleeping on wet sheets.  And that, Gentle Reader, is the real reason for running the AC in November.  Well, that an the white noise that helps me sleep.   The only downside is that today, I'm sore -- which is a perfect excuse for me to take it easy -- it being a day of rest and all.  

And with that, my to do list is down to one item, which is to finally at long last get my car radio fixed.  

 It's been a year, but it's also been a pretty low priority since I can listen to music on my phone while I drive.  I've even figured out how to listen while using the GPS.   Pretty impressive for a Boom-A-Ludd such as myself.   The only downside is that I can't plug it in to charge, or the music tries to go through my car speakers, and I can't figure out how to turn that aspect off.  

Even so, it shouldn't be too much to just replace the thing, and I've already gotten recommendations for people who can do it.   It's just a matter of getting my butt in gear and taking the car to him.  I actually had one guy who said he'd do it on a certain day, but when I called him, he never returned my call.  Then he messaged me two days later while I was at work to tell me he could look at it then.  Um, nope.  If you can't be there when you say you're going to, then you blew your chance.

These people seem to think we have nothing to do but to sit around and wait for them.  They don't seem to realize we have lives, too, and obligations and jobs.  If he'd have just returned my call or messaged and said something came up, then I'd give him another chance.  But don't ever take a potential client for granted like that -- at least not me.  

All that to say, I need to make a new to do list.  The problem is, everything I have left that I need to do will involve hiring someone else, and I guess I just don't know how to talk to contractors because they always make me feel like I'm being a bother asking them to do a job for which I am willing to pay them generously. 

In knitting news, I'm moving right along on the next hat.  

I'm telling ya, I'm loving this hat pattern. It's so simple, yet fun to knit.  I've got a lot of sock yarn to use up, so I'll be making plenty more of these.  But why don't I just make socks?  Well, I'll tell you.  Back in the spring, I stubbed my toe on something -- I don't even remember what-- and it broke my toenail down to the quick.  Now that little section of the nail simply doesn't grow any more.  It's the weirdest thing.  However, the nail on either side of it still grows, and if I don't stay on top of it, it turns into a miniature bat'leth on my foot.  

Almost all of my socks now have a hole right over my left big toe.  It just isn't worth it to spend that much money on sock yarn, that much time knitting socks, only to have them wear through the second or third time I've worn them.  Thus, I buy store bought socks now.  

And finally, in a strange twist of irony, the birds are eating out of the squirrel feeder.  Only not right now because the Incarnation of Evil is out there stalking them. 

They still haven't found the new feeder, but now that they're coming back to the old one, hopefully they'll discover it soon. 

Subscribe

Thanks to my friend Marcy at Amnicon Studios, there is now a gadget in my right sidebar where you can subscribe to get my blog posts directly in your email.  This might benefit those of you who used to get my posts from Facebook, before they started their war against day lilies.

I'm not sure what they have against day lilies, but that seems to be the common thread.   Every time I vlogged about them, Facebook took the post down.  

Anyway, Marcy had recently added the gadget to her blog, and I thought, "Hey!  That's a great idea!", so now you, too, have the option to subscribe to my posts.  Or if you prefer a feed reader, Feedly is the one I use, and I've been very happy with it. 

Now, on to today's post.  

We actually got a little bit of sunshine this afternoon, even though the morning was still chilly and damp.  All of my Whatever Cacti are totally enjoying this weather if the number of buds on them are any indication.  

Today's major project was to pull the air conditioner out of my bedroom window and give it a good cleaning  It hadn't been cooling well here lately, and a quick search of YouTube revealed that being dirty could be the reason why, so I put that task on my to do list.  

Truth is, I was kind of dreading it, because I didn't want to have to wrestle that thing out of the window, and indeed that was the most difficult part.  Once it was out, it was pretty easy to pull the casing off and wash it down, and boy did it need it.  This front coil was so clogged up with dust, it's a wonder any air could flow at all.  

I think I jumped the gun a bit putting the thing back together and back into the window.  I'd intended to let it dry for several hours, but at the time it looked like it was about to rain, and I wanted to get it back inside.  If I'd known the sun would come out just a few minutes later, I'd have left it in the back yard a bit longer.   No matter.

I got a bit concerned that I'd gotten water into the electronic parts even though I was very careful not to, but when I plugged it in to test it, it came right on.  Then it tripped the little breaker on the plug.  Really, it had tripped it three or four times as soon as I'd plugged it in, so after checking that it still worked, I unplugged it and let it dry out for a good long while. 

I plugged it back in just a few minutes ago, and the breaker didn't trip, but I'm kind of scared to turn the unit on just in case it won't stay on.  Oh well, if it doesn't, Lowes still has plenty of window units in stock and they aren't that expensive these days.  If I have to, I can drive up tomorrow and get a new one, though I really don't want to do much driving until my car is fixed.  Just to work and back, unless there is somewhere I absolutely have to go. 

The only other thing I did today -- besides watch football and knit, that is -- was to download the Google Photos app and back up the photos on my phone so I can delete them.  It still made me cringe to delete photos from my phone, even though I've got them backed up to multiple places.  I think the reason it bothers me so much is because years ago, I had a photo storage service called Webshots.  I even paid money to get the extra storage, then one day they said, "Oh, we're closing the site down.  Your photos are toast." 

Not really.  They sent them to me in a zip file, which I never could get to open.  I still have it stored on my external hard drive.  I may see if Cody can get it open next time he's here.   Even so, I've been leery of backup services ever since.  Even the ones like Prime, Google, and Flickr.  

Speaking of football, Texas and LSU both have byes this week; Navy is in a weather delay, and I will need my computer to watch Mississippi State, so I'd better close for now. 

Laters.