Success!

There I was at work, just a working away about ten minutes after two, when one of the parts stagers walked by, then kind of did a double take at me.  "I forgot you were staying until 3:00!" she said. 

"So did I!"  I replied, laughing.  Seriously, I did.  I was getting all excited around a quarter to, thinking it was almost time to leave when I overheard someone else say the word overtime.   

"Dang!"  I exclaimed.  "We've got to stay until 3:00!"  And so we did.  Well, the sub brazing department did.  The lines went home.  Most of them, at least.  I told my coworker that if we're going to be the only ones staying over, I'd rather come in early.  

Anyway, work has been kind of interesting this week because the construction crew is taking everything down out of the ceilings. And I do mean everything.  All of the electrical conduit, the phone lines, the pneumatic system, the old air conditioners and duct work -- everything except the sprinkler system.  It looks like they're going to start over completely from scratch. 

The interesting part is that they've been cutting off the electricity to the lighting system from time to time, and we've been working in the dark.  I was over at the computer trying to confirm some work and I couldn't even see my paper to type the numbers in.   It's been fun, to say the least. 

After work, I had planned on running by Another Man's Treasure thrift shop to see if they wanted this stuff I'd boxed up to donate.  Alas, when I turned down the road to go into town, I saw the sign "Road Closed".  It would have been nice if they'd put that sign somewhere you could see it before you turned onto that road, because once you're on it, there is no place to turn around until you get to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve. 

Turn around I did, and then I drove down through the lake and went to Huckleberry Finds thrift shop instead.  She was very happy to take the stuff, and thanked me for supporting her small business.  I thanked her for taking the stuff, because I hated to throw it into the garbage.  "These teddy bears need to be loved by a little girl," I told her.  She said any time I had stuff to donate, she'd be happy to take it.  So, now I have a place to donate stuff, and there will definitely be more coming as I get more cleaning done.  

This guy never made it into the donation box, though.  

I don't even know where he came from, or who gave him to me, but he's staying. 

This one, on the other hand, I had to dive back into the box and get him out.  

I'd scooped up all of the Beanie Babies without looking and put them into the donate box.  Sometime today at work, I remembered this bison was in there, and said, "Oh no!"  I'd gotten him because my dad loved bison.  He and a Canada goose are the only ones I wanted to keep.  The rest, I'd completely forgotten I even had, so they all could go. 

Oh, and I called the clean up man back.  He said he didn't forget about me, then asked if I'd changed my mind about Monday.  After a bit of clarification, turns out it was just a misunderstanding.  I'd thought we'd agreed he'd come at 2:30, and he thought I was going to call him back when I was ready for him to come.  The long and the short of it is, he's going to come in the morning after he puts his kids on the school bus.  Cool beans. 

Funny thing is, I kind of did change my mind.  When he didn't come, I had decided to wait until today to call and see if he could come early in the morning either tomorrow or Saturday.  It's been so hot, I haven't even wanted to be outside long enough to show him what to get. So it all worked out for the best. 

But this whole thing illustrates why -- at least one of the reasons -- I don't like making phone calls.  I don't feel like I communicate well over the phone.  I'm much better texting or messaging. 

OK, moving right along.   Some of the basil I'd cut down from the planter last week are coming back. 

I totally did not expect that, since I'd cut them down at ground level.  There are two of them showing new growth, so now I'll have tender young basil going in to the Fall.   That's good, because I'd let all of the rest go to flower, and the leaves can turn bitter once that happens. 

And finally, if you have a mind to, keep my friend Edna Who Loves To See Her Name In My Blog in your prayers.  I know she'd appreciate it. 

She's had a rough week.  

Make It Make Sense

If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you'll know that work out at the plant has been very slow this year.  We haven't worked a single Saturday so far.  I'd thought then that it was because of the economy, and that we just weren't getting any orders.  

Apparently not. 

Yep, they posted this morning, the plant is working Saturday.  Not me, because I have vacation already scheduled, but the rest of them are.  They gave us an entire week off, and now want us to work Saturdays -- for the rest of the year, from what I hear.  

Not only that, they've started making us all stay an hour over.  I was not happy about that.  I'd rather come in early than stay over, but that's not up to me.  And all of this after they'd spent several weeks sending the lines home at 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning.  

Make it make sense!  

What I heard is that the distribution center is empty, and the powers that be are starting to panic.  Now, for those of you who don't know, I work in a facility that manufactures evaporator coils for home air conditioners.  When we're done with an order, it's loaded on to a truck and shipped to the distribution center, which will send it on to the customer.  The DC is only about a mile up the road, so it's a short trip.  What I'm wondering is how in the world did no one notice that the stockpile was getting so low?  I mean, this kind of thing doesn't happen overnight.  Surely someone should have spoken up before now and said, "Hey, we need to put more coils into the distribution center!"  

By the way, I keep forgetting to mention that two supervisors have quit within the last month.  When your turnover rate among your shop floor employees is as high as ours is, you've got problems.  But when your turnover rate among supervisors and upper management is as high as ours is, you've really got problems. 

Think about this:  We've had five plant managers in the last seven years.  FIVE!  

First up, there was Butterball.  I call him that because he was short and pretty round.  He's the one that took our profit sharing bonus away because he didn't think we deserved it.  Someone in the meeting I was in asked, "Why don't we deserve it if we're meeting the criteria to get the bonus?" And butterball just snapped, "Because you don't!  You just don't!"  He was fired in early 2019.

Then came The Big Man Up Front.  He was fired for embezzlement in...I think it was late 2020 or early 2021.  Word is, all of that COVID relief the government was giving to companies for their employees was going straight into his pocket.  Someone who worked at another plant in the area was telling me her company gave them boxes full of groceries and lots of stuff like that.  We got a paper bag with two masks and a stick of gum.  

He was followed by Mob Boss.  He got that nickname because he always kept his dark hair slicked straight back, and to me, he looked like someone who belonged in the Mafia.  He's the one who told us we couldn't have anything to eat or drink on the shop floor but plain water -- even those who came in at 3:00 and 4:00 AM.  Lunch break is at 11:00.  That's a long time to ask people to go without food.  He got fired, but I don't really know why.  There aren't even any rumors about him.  Nobody missed him. 

Then came The Warden.  He resigned last year and went to another plant in the area. I thought he was going to be a good boss until that one day there was a big fight in the main breakroom at lunch.  Someone filmed it and posted the video to her Facebook.  I guess he got his behind embarrassed, because he went on an absolute tear after that.  That's how he got the nickname -- because he started treating the plant like a prison.  

Now we have Captain Cardboard.  I said I wasn't going to call him that, but it kind of stuck.  Truth is, the man hasn't shown enough personality for me to call him anything else.  He's been here almost a year, and...well, I'm not holding my breath that he stays too much longer.  I've already heard rumors that he's planning on resigning as soon as he's worked long enough to get his signing bonus.  Or some such. 

I don't know.  I guess we'll see...

On a brighter note, I've got spider lilies blooming!  

And finally, I had planned on taking the stuff up to the thrift shops this afternoon, but when they'd made us stay over, I changed my mind.  I'll take them tomorrow when I go to do my regular shopping.  Hopefully someone will take them. 

And just because...

 

Fruit Basket Turnover

We had to go through a bit of fruit basket turnover at work this morning in the sub-brazing department.  What happened was that the one brazer who comes in late every single day but still miraculously hasn't pointed out came in late yet again yesterday only to discover that someone else had set up on "her" stand.  

For that to make sense, I have to explain that we normally have 12 brazing stations.  When they moved us all around, they'd taken four of them out for the time being.  The brazers who normally work on those four stands had to find another stand.  Alas, one of them got on Prissy Butt's stand, and she had to get on a different stand. 

She pitched an absolute wall eyed hissy fit all day long claiming that everybody else was able to get on their "right" stand but her.  This wasn't at all true, by the way.  Only three of us had gotten on the same stands we'd had before, and the other five were on different stands. None of that mattered to her, and somehow in the conversation the other brazers agreed to swap stands to mollify her. 

This morning, four different brazers -- five if you count Prissy Butt -- swip swapped stands so she could have her "right" stand back.  I was kind of glad, to be honest, because she's farther away from me.  I swan, when we get moved back to the lines, I don't know what's going to happen to her, because she's one of those people who can't even wipe her own butt unless someone holds the toilet paper for her.  I feel sorry for whoever ends up having to work with her.  I only hope it's not me. 

On the bright side, I was able to come home and watch new seasons of Halloween Wars and Halloween Baking Championship! Oh, and Heartland is back on Hulu, so I picked right back up where I left off. 

On the not so bright side, still no word from the clean up man.  I think I'm going to wait until this heat breaks then try calling him back.  If he doesn't come then, I'll just find someone else who wants my money. 

In the meantime, I emptied two more boxes out and bagged up some stuff to donate-- mostly stuffed animals, Beanie Babies, and Micropets, plus the fish tank ornaments I've decided not to use in my toad garden.  There are three thrift shops here in town, Another Man's Treasure, The Broken Pot, and Huckleberry Finds.  Surely one of them will take this stuff.   

These two guys, however, I'm finding I'm having a hard time putting them into the donation box.  Their names are Joshua David and Gregory Jason. 

I've had them for forever, but I'm not quite ready to part with them.  

In garden news, not much is really going on with the garden.  While I was waiting for the clean up man yesterday, I tore up a few cardboard boxes and added them to my hot compost bin.  It still needs some more, but I've got plenty.  Maybe I'll get up early Friday and tear some more up before it gets too hot.  

And finally, a little football humor for you. 

IYKYK

Back To The Grindstone

Years ago, I used to have a coworker who when the end of lunch buzzer went off would slap her hands on the table and say, "Whelp, back to the grindstone" every day.  That's kind of how I felt this morning when I had to go back to work.  Boy, did I not want to do that, but somebody's got to pay the bills around here, so out of bed I got and off to work I went. 

Where I found the plant in total chaos.  They'd removed the wall between the front and the back, and had shifted all of the brazing stands around.  Now, you would think it would be common sense to put the same desk by the stand it was with before the moved it, but noooooo.  Apparently they were just plunking any old desk any old where.  

It wouldn't have been such a big deal except that we had all left our tools in our desks...because they'd taken our lockers away already.  Anyway, I was looking for my desk and Group Leader Shark was yelling at me about it for some reason, and I was trying to calmly explain that I needed to find it to get my tools, and she just snapped and started screaming at me.  

"They're back there!" she snapped.  

"That's all you had to say!"  I replied, and I went and got my tools.  I don't know why she has to be that way, but she did it again later.  I was looking for the parts stager to find out where she wanted us to put our completed orders, and Group Leader Shark yelled, "Put them over there!"  On the conveyors.  "Just plunk them down any old where?"  I asked.  But later on, I found the parts stager and asked her, and eventually we got a system worked out.  

The rest of the day passed largely without incident, except that they hadn't even hooked our computer up.  We couldn't even clock in on it, and had to go halfway across the plant to find a computer to clock in.  They called IT out and it took them until about 9:30 to get everything back up and running.   They were having to run cables and hook things up in the connection box thingy on the wall and everything.  

They also had some contractors in the plant taking down all the old A/C units, most of which never worked in the first place.  They pulled down one big piece of duct work and boy howdy there was so much dirt up in there!  Demi-god told me he thought a raccoon had fallen out.  Then he told me his wife wants a baby raccoon as a pet.  He'd tried to catch her one, but the mama raccoon bowed up on him and started growling, so he decided to leave that one alone.  

She also wants a skunk, which make good pets as long as you don't make them feel threatened.  By the way, I think I must have hit a skunk this morning, because boy was that smell strong as I was driving down the highway. 

Anyway, the long workday finally ended, and I came home to wait on the clean up man...who never showed up. Shame, because he had such a good reputation.  At this point, I'm beginning to think it's something about me.  Heck, I even tried to hire someone through Angi a few years ago, and they said they couldn't help me.  I'm going to try to stay positive, though, and hope he just got hung up on another job, but if he doesn't come within the next couple of days, I guess I'll try to find someone else to come get this junk.  Still, it's hard not to get discouraged. 

While I was waiting, I knit a few rounds on my latest sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Songbird Stripe

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

You know, this colorway is called Songbird Stripe, but I'm not seeing songbird in this.  I'm seeing some sort of Native American woven basket pattern.  But that's just me.  You might see something totally different. 

And finally, I think I have this jelly making thing down.  

The jar on the left is from the first batch I made -- the one where I chopped the peppers by hand.  You can see they're all kind of floating at the top.  The middle jar is from the second batch.  I'd chopped the peppers in the food processor, but didn't drain them before I made the jelly.  It looks better, but most of the peppers are still clustered towards the top.  The jar on the right, I chopped the peppers in the food processor and then let them drain overnight, and I think it turned out so much better.  The color is better, the peppers are more evenly distributed, and I sound like a total dork, don't I?  

OK, I'll let you go for now.  But I am kind of proud of that pepper jelly. 

Just in case you couldn't tell. 

Really Almost

It really almost feels like Fall today.  Oh it’s still hot, but I’ve got football on the TV, and I made pepper jelly.  

I was thisclose to going and getting my Fall decorations out, but I didn't.  I still have all those boxes of stuff I need to sort through, so I'm going to do that first.  Besides, once I was done with the jelly, I was already sweaty enough from standing over that hot stove and wanted to go take a shower.  

I decided to do something different with my jelly this time.  The other batches I'd made taste really good, but they're a little too loose for me.  I was reading another recipe and that one said to drain your peppers, especially if you chop them with a food processor.  So last night, I got my peppers out of the freezer and chopped them up.  Then I put them into a cheesecloth and let them both thaw and drain overnight.  I got this much juice out of them.

I'm hoping that makes this jelly more jelly like and less sauce like.  But doing this meant I only got six jars instead of seven.  No matter, it's not like I don't already have 14 jars of it in the pantry...

In garden news, I mentioned yesterday that we had some storms roll though here.  What I didn't mention is that we got 1.85 inches of rain.  That's more than we got for the entire month of August.  Well, apparently we had hail, too, which must have happened either during the ball games or after I went to bed, because I had no idea until I checked my rain gauge app.  I'm thinking it was after I went to bed, because I was hearing a strange rumbling noise, but didn't want to get out of bed to check for fear of setting the cat to yowling.  

Anyway, when I went to check my garden this morning, my poor basil had been beaten half to death. 

I went ahead and cut all the broken and snapped stems off and put them into the compost, but there is still plenty of basil left.  Not that I'm going to do anything with it.  I've got tons of it already dried and stored. 

Even before I did that, I got my little spreader thingy and spread weed and feed in the front and side yards.  I really need to get more consistent with doing that, both in spring and in fall.  I do not spread it in the back yard, because I want my clover and my purple deadnettle to grow.  For the bees and things.  

I had to take Marty Mac out of his protective custody so he wouldn't get the weed killer on him, and figured since I had him out, I might as well tidy him up.  

I pulled up the grass that was growing in his pot and trimmed away all the dead vegetation, and he looks a lot better now.  I've been so focused on my garden that I've kind of neglected him a bit.  I must do better from here on out. 

By the way, I filmed another garden journal, but since the book of faces tends to take my posts down when I embed my vlogs, I'm not posting it on the blog.  If you're interested, you can watch it here:  Garden Journal 9/13/26

And finally, a couple of years ago or so, I saw a meme that I was sure I had saved, but I can't for the life of me find it now.  It said something to the effect that a company's culture is best displayed by how your employees feel on a Sunday night, and boy do I feel that today.  After having a wonderful, glorious week off, turning those alarms back on this morning literally made me physically ill.  

I'm serious.  I've walked around all day today feeling like I want to throw up.  The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that one day, I can walk out of that toxic place and never ever go back.  Unfortunately, today is not that day.  

Neither is tomorrow.  But some day...

in 1934 more days...

Almost Fall

It has almost felt like Fall these last couple of days. Oh, it was still hot, but after the front passed through, the breeze had that crisp feeling that felt like Fall. Almost, but not quite. 

One of the meteorologists I follow said this was a not as hot front.  

 Yesterday morning, I mostly finished cleaning out the shed, and I'm pretty pleased that I finally got it done. 

I still have all of these boxes to sort through, and I've got to nag Cody to come go through his stuff, but for the most part, I'm done. 

All of this junk is ready to be hauled off,  

and guess what!  I actually...yes, I called the clean up man!  Woo hoo!  

He was going to come this afternoon, but when it started storming, we decided to put it off until Monday.  He said he'd come anyway, but there is no need for him to work out in the rain and muck and mud.  Monday will be sunny and drier.  Once that's done, it will be one more thing I can mark off my list.  

I wanted to show you this one thing I found in a box out there. 

Someone -- I can't even remember who-- gave this to me for Christmas years and years ago, long before 2001.  After the attacks, I put it away and never even opened it.  It is now up in the closet with the other puzzles, still unopened.   They're saying we will have a particularly harsh winter due to the Super El Nino, so maybe I'll work it if we get snowed in.  Or more likely, iced in.  I'm OK with that as long as the power doesn't go out.  

Even that won't be so bad, because I have a generator now.  That means I really need to get an electrician out to check that breaker, just in case I need it.  

This morning was our town's annual Downtown Jubilee, and I went as is my custom, but I didn't take a whole lot of photos this time.  I mean, they would look just the same as the photos I took last year, and the year before and the year before.  However, when I saw this old Beetle Bug, though I couldn't resist.  I haven't seen one in ages.  

I can usually pick up a few Christmas gifts from the vendors up there, but this time, nothing appealed.  There was one booth that had a whole bunch of polished rocks and gemstones, which Brennan loves, but those folks were a little too proud of their wares for my wallet.  A tiny little quarter sized stone for $15?  No thanks.  

I also found a man selling homemade apple butter, but he was very proud of that butter, too.  He gave me a sample, and it was delicious, but he wanted $15 for a pint sized jar.  I didn't want to pay that much for something Cody and Bren would likely end up throwing away anyway. 

The only thing I bought was this hot sauce for Cody. 

I thought it would be kind of a unique taste for him to try.  They had plain habanero sauce, too, but I didn't get it.  Now I kind of wish I had.  Cody is so hard to buy for, but I also keep thinking about how many of the gifts I got them ended up in the garbage or the donation box.  Oh my gosh, I don't even want to talk about their refrigerator...

How about the size of that flag?  

And the girl who sang the National Anthem did such a good job.  A little too much styling for my taste, but her voice was so strong and pitch perfect.  All in all, it was a nice little outing, even though I didn't stay long.  I made it home in time to watch all the football games -- and yes, I had the multi screen thing going at one point.  I'm trying to hurry up and get this post finished, because I'm going to need all four screens this evening.  Yes,  Navy, Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss all play at the same time. 

It ought to make for some good knitting time.  Speaking of, I finished this hat yesterday.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Day Dreamery

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

In gardening news, I was laying in bed Thursday night and remembered that I had forgotten a very important part to my trash can composter -- the air holes.  I got out of bed and ...no, I didn't go outside and drill air holes at 11:00 PM!  However, I did put my drill by the back door so I'd remember to do it in the morning, and bright and early Friday, that's just what I did. 

I still need to add some more browns to get the balance right, but it ought to turn out some nice compost by spring.  

The next thing I did was to pull up the last of the pepper plants and cover that bed with some landscape fabric to absorb the heat. 

Then I covered that with a sheet of Visqueen to contain that heat so that the fungus or virus or whatever infected that bed will be baked to death in the sun. 

The downside to that is this will also kill or drive out the earthworms and beneficial insects and microbes, leaving me a dead, sterile bed.  Come spring, a good layer of compost will revive it, I hope.  

And finally, I have baby bluebonnets!  

I ought to have a nice stand of them by spring time. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got football to watch and knitting to knit!  

Laters. 

Never Forget

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

So that we may never forget.

 

Take It Easy

I'd said I was going to take it easy yesterday, and I did.  In fact, I took it so easy I completely forgot to blog.  I thought about it once, but checked the clock and said, "I still have time."  The next time I even thought about blogging was after I'd gone to bed.  

Nothing so exciting happened that made it worth getting out of bed just to write a post, so you got a break from my drivel.  Indeed, the most exciting thing that happened was that I made nine more half pint jars of pickled peppers.  

I figured pickled peppers would be more useful than pepper jelly, though I do have enough jars to make one more batch of the jelly.  I'll probably do that before this weekend is over, as well. 

It's a good thing I made that last harvest, because I lost one more pepper plant to that fungus or whatever it is.  

I pulled it up and added it to my new hot compost bin.  Eh, it's probably time to pull them all up anyway, since I've decided not to try to overwinter these.  I think I'm going to do that this evening after the sun sets and it cools off a bit. 

This morning I cut down those three oldest tomato plants and only have this one little one left in that bed --and the basil, of course. 

I chopped them up and put them into the hot compost as well because they were in that same bed with that glob of ....whatever it is.  I think it's some kind of mold or fungus, but I'm not really sure.  It doesn't matter.  The heat in that bin ought to kill whatever it is. 

Speaking of heat, I am just about finished cleaning out that shed.  I've got a few more things to get down out of the rafters, then I can call the clean up man.  Meanwhile, I pulled this bin of stuffed animals and Beanie Babies out to sort through them.   

I'm going to donate most of them, but first, I set them out into the sunlight to air out, because they were quite musty after being in that storage building for over a decade. 

But this guy right here, his name is Bennie and he's not going anywhere.  

Bennie is the first teddy bear I ever had, and believe it or not, I didn't get him until the Christmas I was 16.  Bennie has been everywhere with me, even to Italy when I was stationed there.  He's been my friend, my confidant, my supporter throughout it all.  Bennie was there for me when no one else was.  Nope, he's not going anywhere. 

Anyway, I've got one more bin out in that shed that I need to bring inside and sort out.  If it's anything like the others, most of that stuff I will get rid of.  There is a shop here in town called Another Man's Treasure that I'm probably going to take all my trash to.  

Trash...Get it?  One man's trash...OK, whatever.  If it's something I think someone can use, I'll take it up there.  If it's garbage, then it will go into the garbage. 

That brings us to today.  I was already getting a bit stir crazy, so I decided to go do my weekly shopping just to get out of the house a minute.  I know I was making fun of it last week, but I gave in and got me some.  

I was almost out of Dawn anyway, so might as well get the fun stuff.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.   

While I was there, I bought a new mum for my front porch.  I transplanted it into a regular pot as soon as I got it home, taking a clue from Ben at GrowVeg.  He said to use a coffee filter in the bottom of your pot. which will keep the potting soil contained, but will still allow for drainage. 

It'll stay here on the back porch tonight, so it can get over transplant shock.  

Then I'll move it to the front porch and put it into direct sunlight. 

Kindly disregard the state of my porch.  Getting it swept and power washed is on the list, but it's going to have to wait until it's not so hot.  

And finally, the hummingbirds are in full migration mode.  I'm having to re-fill my feeder every single day.  In fact, when they first started migrating, I thought my feeder had cracked and all the nectar was leaking out.  I threw it away and now I'm thinking I shouldn't have done that.  Oh well, it's too late now. 

Thank goodness I had a spare feeder I could put out.  

Relief Is In Sight!

Look what I found!  

Do you know what that is????  It's a spider lily!  The first harbinger of Fall!  Oh, it's still hot outside and will be for several days yet, but spider lilies mean relief is in sight.  I'm so ready for it, too.  

It's hitting differently this year, because I want to be outside working in my garden when I've usually been content to sit inside watching TV and knitting.  It's just frustrating that the heat is keeping me from doing what I want to.  

Speaking of, I cast on a new sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Day Dreamery

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

I'm thinking about casting something on with some of that fun fur I found in the shed yesterday, but don't know what.  All I've ever made with it has been scarves.  I'm open to ideas. 

I'm going to have to take it easy the next few days, so I'll have plenty of time to knit.  I've spent too much time here lately digging and lifting and doing heavy work.  This morning, the plan was to dig down to my native soil in the spot I'm going to put my hot compost bin. 

I'd tried to do that yesterday, but the ground was too hard, and so it was again today.  I got my hose and soaked it a bit, but it was still too hard to dig by hand, so I got out the old roto-tiller and put it to work.

It was tough even for that thing.  At first, it just bounced off the dirt, but I persisted and finally got the clay dug out.   Mostly down to the native soil and fairly level. 

Once that was done, I drilled holes in the bottom of the garbage can I'd bought so earthworms and microbes can find their way in.  The video I'd watched said to put seven, but my can was a bit flimsy, so I only put five. 

I was afraid if I put too many, the bottom wouldn't hold up.  Eh, it was a cheap can, but it'll do for now.  

Next step was to seed the bin with compost from one of my other piles, which should have enough microbes to get it started.  

What with it being so dry here lately and all, I have to give my compost a good watering when I'm watering the beds so it won't die, so I did that before I put the lid on it.   

Before I put the roto-tiller up, I started trying to level the spot I want to put my three round beds into. 

Again, the poor tiller just bounced off that hard, dry ground.  I got that spot a little bit leveled, but I'm going to have to wait until it's rained a bit before I continue.  This is pretty much where I plan on putting these three beds.  It's almost level but not like I want it. 

I've mentioned before that I want at least a two bay compost system, preferably three.  But two will do for now.  Last night, as I was laying in bed, I said to myself, "Self, you've got those two big green bins out in the shed that you were going to throw away.  You can use those."  

That's exactly what I did.  I'd already cleaned one out last year and used it to store old potting soil in, which I've used all of that up since then.  I got that one first and drilled holes in the bottom of it. 

Then I moved the compost pile that was on the ground into that one, and set the other bin -- after I'd drilled holes in it as well- next to it. 

That will be for fresh stuff, and after about six months to a year, it'll be broken down enough to move into the second bin.  But I expect you don't want to hear all of that.  The last thing I did was to cover the bins to keep the critters, mainly my cat, out of my compost.  

She seems to think my compost pile is her own personal litter box.  But I did drill holes in the lid so oxygen could get into the bins.  

Soon, I'll go out and chop down my old tomato and pepper plants, but I got one last good banana pepper harvest before that happens. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these.  I bought some more canning jars, so I'll probably make pickled peppers out of them.  Those have much more usefulness than pepper jelly, but I do want to make some more of that, too.  I'll use some of my frozen peppers for that.  

At this point, I've got so many banana peppers, I might not even plant any next year.  That will free up at least one bed for something else.  I'm leaning towards yellow squash and sweet potatoes. 

And finally, I'm almost ready to call the clean up man.  Not mentally, mind you.  But the shed is just about where I want it to be.  Another day or two and it will be ready.  

Now I'll just have to get myself ready.  That's the hard part...