Not Much Going On

Work, sleep, work, sleep....that's about what my life has been like lately,and that's what it will be until overtime season is over.  There really hasn't been much to talk about, unless you want to hear about work stuff. 

Work has been rough lately.  Today, the shift we are not allowed to hold accountable for anything shorted us 100 parts on an order.  Let me spell that out for you.  One hundred parts. 

I wrote up the parts request for tubing and took it to Group Leader Fernando.  I told Vanessa, "If I don't come back, make sure my organs get donated."  I walked down to where Group Leader Fernando was and said, "Before I give this to you, can I have a few moments to see a lawyer and get my will updated?" 

I handed him the paper, and he handed it back and said, "When (Tubing Group Leader) Johnny comes over here, give it to him." 

I said, "I'm not giving that to (Group Leader) Johnny!" 

I turned around and spotted Supervisor Ronnie.  I ran over to him, and said, "You give this to (Group Leader) Johnny!" 

Supervisor Ronnie said, "I'm not giving this to (Group Leader) Johnny!  I'll give it to (Tubing Supervisor) Calvin." 

Now, let me just step out of the factory for a moment and tell you that Group Leader Johnny isn't that bad of a fellow.  He does have a temper that can be rather explosive, but one has to sympathize with him.  When the shift that we are not allowed to hold accountable for anything messes something up, he's usually the one who has to make all the parts again.  This morning, he came to me looking for some parts for another line.  The shift we are not allowed to hold accountable for anything had shorted an order on their line by 95 parts.  Just a couple of weeks ago, he'd had to re-do nearly 200 parts that someone had made wrong.  He wants to do right, but he gets understandably frustrated. 

So, I'll step back into the factory and tell you this little story.  

Group Leader Johnny's oldest daughter is working at the plant for the summer.  When he got aggravated about having to redo those bad parts, she asked me, "What was he mad about?"  I explained about the bad parts, and that he was just frustrated. 

She told me, "I know my daddy has a temper.  One time, I got in a wreck in my driveway.  I hit my sister's car.  My mama came out and told me, 'You go to your grandma's house and don't come come until I come get you!'"

I've been giggling about that ever since. 

In knitting news, I cast on an infant/child sized hat.  This one will end up in the charity box. 

Banished!

I'd been working on this striped hat for a few weeks now.  I didn't like it, but I was determined to finish it.  I got this far:

I was even a couple of rounds into the decreases.  Then I realized that I absolutely hated this hat.  I hated knitting it.  I hated the helix technique.  I hated the way it looks.  I hated everything about it.

Life is too short to knit things you hate, so it got banished.  From my knitting basket.  From my life.

Off to the frog pond it went.

I'll make some baby hats for the charity drawer with what's left. 

Dear CoWorker

I've always considered myself a reasonably intelligent person, but you have me stumped this time. 

Can you please explain to me how a show based (loosely, I'll admit) on real people who lived and actual historical events which occurred in the 8th century* is "trying to copy" a show based on a work of fiction which was published 1300 years later**?  Especially when those shows aren't that much alike in the first place.

Because, frankly, I'm just not seeing it. 

Oh, and wibbly, wobbly, timey wimey is not a valid explanation. 

Not this time. 

Thank you.

That is all.

*Vikings
**Game Of Thrones

Typical Thor's Day

It has been just another typical Thor's Day around here.  Filled with mayhem from the get go. 

It all started when I woke up exhausted.  I don't know what I'd been dreaming about, but the sheets were torn off the bed and Jesse was hiding.  All I remember about the dream was that Sears was closing, and I couldn't find my convertible, so my dentist's wife and I went and hid in the back of the dentist's office. 

Then I get to work, and of the six people that work at the front of my line (not counting sub-brazers), three of them were out.  I knew one man was going to be out, because his grandma passed away.  We won't be back until Monday.  I don't know where the other two were. 

That was just the front of the line;  there were some out on the back of the line, too.  Nevertheless, we were very shorthanded.  We managed to scrounge up enough people to at least get some work done, but some of us had to do double duty. 

As if that weren't enough, the shift that we are not allowed to hold accountable for anything had brazed two orders of header assemblies wrong, and I had to re-do them.  Not only did I have to re-do them, but the machine in tubing that makes those parts was down, so I had to reuse the old parts.  I won't go into all the gory details, but it wasn't pretty.  The poor guy who was running the leak test station was fussing all the while, saying we should have scrapped them and started over.

"I agree with you," I said, "but it wasn't my call.  Fernando said I had to reuse the parts."

"I know," he replied.  "You're doing the best you can, and that's all you can do."  

In the middle of doing that, my striker -- which I use to light my brazing tip -- broke.  I couldn't light my brazing tip, which meant work ground to a halt.  At that point, I told Supervisor Ronnie, "I'm giving up on this day." 

Adding insult to injury, if you've known me for any length of time, you know that I do not like people in my personal space.  Well, one of the guys they brought over from another department to help out...I was trying to be patient because I know he didn't know what was going on or anything.  I just got so tired of tripping over him every time I turned around.  I mean, he was all kinds of up in the way.  I was so glad when Group Leader Fernando moved him somewhere else.

At long last, the mayhem came to an end and the work day was over.  I'm at home relaxing, perusing Facebook, when I hear a massive dog fight in the back yard.  It was Jesse and the two dogs next door.  At least this time, no blood was spilled.    That's probably the first good thing that has happened today.

So, I'm sitting here thinking about all the crafty things I've bought in the last few weeks, wondering why I haven't actually done any of them.

Then, I think back on days like today, and say to myself, "Oh.  I get it now." 

Earth Day 2015

Genesis 1 

 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

 ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
 
 ⁶ And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

 ⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

    ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

 ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

 ²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
    ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”


 ²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.

 ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

    ²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

    ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Just Like That

No more 5:00 mornings.  I'm still going in early, just not that early.  Group Leader Fernando whined and begged and pleaded, and I can still go in at 6, but the Director of Operations said that two hours was too much overtime.  The bright side is, I can sleep in until 4:30 now!  Yay! 

The also bright side is, now I'll have a bit more time in the evenings, so maybe my days won't feel so rushed.  Hopefully, something will happen and I'll have something interesting to blog about. 

For now, I'll just show you these weeds.

Spring flowers have died back, and summer flowers haven't bloomed yet, so there is a dearth of flowers around here.  These are all over my yard right now.  And weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them. *

Now, since I did manage to find and print out the rest of my shawl pattern, I think I'll go work on it a bit.

Laters.

*A. A. Milne

Monday Moans

I knew what kind of day it was going to be when the alarm went off at 3:30, and my first thought was that I couldn't remember if it was Thursday or Friday.

Then it hit me.  It's Monday.  Ugh.  We have to start all over.

The good news is, I woke up this morning.  We had some pretty strong storms blow through last night.  They woke me up several times.  I'm telling ya, unless you live in Tornado Alley, you have no idea how relieving it is to see a post like this:

The bad news is, we get to do it all again Wednesday night. 

So, let's talk about something a bit more pleasant, shall we?  I finished chart two of the 2012 Anniversary Mystery Shawl.

This is just one section.  There are four total, but they are repeats of this one.  Notice the plethora of lifelines.  Yes, they will stay. 

Now, if I can only find where I put the rest of the charts...

Patriot Day

Concord Hymn

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare

   To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

   The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Such An Idiot

I felt like such an idiot Thursday.  One of the things I'd wanted to do on my day off was to order a new pair of safety glasses for work.

The plant has some sort of arrangement with one of the eye doctors in town, so we have to go to him to get our safety glasses.  He's not my regular doctor, and this is something fairly new.  Used to be, we got a form from HR and took it to our regular doctor, but now we have to go to this guy.

Anyway, Thursday, I was going to go order some new safety glasses.  I must have told myself 540 times before I left the house, "Don't forget to go by and get a copy of your prescription."  Well, guess what I did?

I know those people were laughing at me after I left.  But in the end, I got a copy of my prescription (even though I had to wait until the lady got back from lunch) and got my new glasses.  It'll take nearly a month for them to come in, but I will get them eventually. 

The good news is, the blackbirds seem to have moved on for the most part, and the finches are back!  I even saw a beautiful indigo bunting, but I only had my phone with me at the time, so I didn't get a good picture of it. 

You'll have to settle for this stock photo from the internet.  

For now, that is. 

Dear CoWorker

If there is one--and only one--order on the buggy, and you still can't figure out which order to do without asking me, you have no business becoming a teacher. 

I fear for our children's future. 

Stick with manual labor.  It suits you better.

Thank you.

That is all.

Staycation

That's what they call it these days when you take time off of work, but don't go anywhere. So, I took a staycation today. 

When I put in for the day, I was thinking about going up to Memphis to the zoo, but I decided against it.  I ended up not doing much of anything. 

I finished this washcloth.

And I watched TV, and that's about it. 

The best part about my day off, though, was when that alarm went off at 3:30 AM, and I turned it off, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

You have no idea how good that felt. 

I Have Azaleas!

This bush is probably 15 years old, or thereabouts.

It hadn't bloomed in a few years.  Not much anyway.  It had maybe one or two blooms on it. 

I'd had two, and when they were small, they were OK.  But as they grew, they kind of crowded each other too much, and neither one bloomed.  Last year, I got my pruning saw out and whacked one of them completely to the ground.  It has started putting out new growth, though.  The good news is, the other one --while not completely covered -- has quite a few blossoms this go 'round.

On the other side of the house, I've got things happening in my wildflower bed.

Little stuffs are coming up all over the bed. 

Most of what I'd started in the peat trays is still alive and thriving.  The bad news is, the bugs have already found some of them. 

Sometimes, you just can't win for losing.

Knit One

I finished the first one, and started another washcloth.

These are the smaller size I like to use for my face.  The yarn is Peaches & Creme and the color is Pink Lilacs. 

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:20.  You know it's sad when your first thought is, "Boy it feels so good to sleep in until 5:20!"  I got up and let the dogs out, then I laid back down.  I thought they'd want back in soon, so I'd just relax until they got me back up.

Next thing I know, it's 8:30.  I must have needed that sleep.

I have an alarm set for 6:30, and I honestly don't remember it going off.  I was just that tired.  These 3:30 mornings are starting to catch up with me.  I can't turn down the overtime, though.  You've got to get it while you can, because one day -- just like that-- we'll be back to working 4 days a week. 

Needless to say, I didn't make it to church.  I'm so glad they started putting the sermons up on the church's website.   

I spent my afternoon watching the last Hobbit movie.  I must honestly say I was disappointed in them -- all three of them.  First of all, when you stretch out a single book into a trilogy, you have to add a lot of filler.  In this last movie, the filler was so trite and so cliche, it had me rolling my eyes more than once. 

Secondly, the CG -- which had been so masterful in the LOTR trilogy -- was very fake and cartoonish.  Most of the battle scenes looked like cheaply made anime cartoons.  In one of the battle scenes, you can see several groups of characters making the exact same movements.  It looked like a bad copy and paste job.  I really expected more from Peter Jackson. 

Finally, Legolas (what was he doing there in the first place?  Oh, yeah, filler) looked completely fake.   Did they even have Orlando Bloom there, or did they just animate him? Seriously, he looked plastic.

All in all, they were entertaining movies, but I'm not going to rush out and buy them.  I'll wait until they get tossed into the $5 bin at Wal-mart. 

Eye Candy Friday

I keep running out to look at them, as if it will make them grow faster. 

I Couldn't Wait

I was going to wait a couple more weeks before planting my flower bed, but when I got home from work, and saw all that warm, inviting dirt where I'd raked the old mulch off yesterday, I couldn't wait.

I ran inside and got my garden claw, and clawed up the entire bed -- well, the half I intended to plant anyway.  "There," I said to myself.  "It'll be all ready for when I decide to plant in a couple of weeks."

But when I saw all that fresh tilled earth, all warm and soft and inviting, I couldn't wait.

I ran and got my starter trays with my little seedlings and nestled them into the warm earth.  "There," I said.  "Hopefully, there won't be another frost, but if there is, I still have those packs of seeds.  I'll plant them in a couple of weeks."

But as I stood there admiring my tiny plants, basking in the warm sun, I couldn't wait.

I ran inside and got my packets of seeds and cast them across the soil. 

Then I got down on my hands and knees and worked them into the loose earth, and gave the whole bed a good watering. 

And now, we wait...

Nothing New

Well, not quite nothing.  I have a couple of Iris blooming. 

That's about it.  The most exciting thing that happened today was that I got out and raked all of last year's mulch out of my flower bed.  I was going to show you, but I figured you've all seen dirt before.   It's about time, too, as my little seedlings are getting bigger and bigger.  It's nearly time to get them into the ground. 

Kindly ignore those oak pollen thingies.  They just come with the territory. 

We've got another major storm system supposed to come through on Friday,  so I'm thinking maybe one day next week I can get out and claw up the garden.  I don't think I'm going to plant anything other than wildflowers this year. 

You see, James is retiring at the end of the year, and they are moving back to Texas.  Since my house sits on their land, I've got to find a new place to live.  I don't want to plant a bunch of stuff, then just go off and leave it. 

I will admit, I'm both excited and a little terrified of buying a new house.  I've never taken on a 30 year mortgage before.  Even the house I'm living in now was only a 15 year loan.  Anyway, I've found a few houses I like, and that are in my price range.  The only problem is, they are on the opposite end of town that I want to live.  There is one that I really, really like, but it's smack dab in the middle of town.  I'm not sure I want to live in town. 

It's not like I have to decide right this very second, but I don't want to put it off too long.  It'll make for exciting blog fodder, though.  I'll be sure to keep you updated. 

Yeah, OK

Remember how I posted one day last week about how the other brazer for my line was out and Former Group Leader Rod wouldn't loan us one of his brazers for an hour?  Well, you know what they say about karma. 

That's right.  Guess who had a brazer out today.  And guess who they tried to send over there.  Um hum.  I told Supervisor Ronnie, "I'm about to say something very smart alecky." 

He said, "I know what you're going to say." 

Then I asked him, "If I go over there, who is going to help [the other brazer on my line]?"    That's when he told me to run back and forth between the two lines all day.  But I spent most of the day on my line, because Karma's a...well, you fill in the blank. 

It didn't help that my stomach was giving me troubles this morning.  I think it may have been that I've eaten way too many egg products these last few days -- holiday and all, you know. 

After work, I had to run into town to pay some bills, so I ran by the store to get more milk.  You know how they say not to go grocery shopping when you are hungry?  Yeah, well, really don't go down the half price Easter candy aisle when you're hungry.  And really, really don't go down the half price Easter candy aisle when you're hungry, tired, frustrated, and sick.

I won't mention the candy I ate before taking the picture.  And the cookies. 

I'm pleading the 5th. 

And going to bed.

Easter 2015

Just a few pictures from our Easter.

Cody in his new suit:

After eating dinner, Cody and Shelbi headed out to hide eggs: 

I think they had more fun hiding them than Cory did finding them. 

Look!  I found one!!

I find eggs, too, Mama? 

We've found them all; now, let's see what's inside.

The Last Of The Daffs

This one is called an Easter Bonnet.  It is one of the last ones to bloom.

Many years ago, before I had internet, I ordered a mixed bag of daffodil bulbs from a catalog.  These are one of the varieties that was in the bag.  I'm not sure what they are, but I like them.

Behold, here we have the very last of the yellow daffodils. 

And that's it until next year.  I'm always a bit sad when the last of the daffs dies, but I do have this to ease my heartache.  This is one of the plants from my uncle's funeral.  I think this is a begonia, but I'm not completely sure.  Whatever it is, it's got some buds on it.

Speaking of not knowing something, one of my little trays of seedlings is doing really well. 

The other one isn't. 

I don't know what the difference is.  I planted them both at the same time.  I used the same types of seeds -- mixed wildflowers.  I water them at the same time, and keep them both in the same place.  Clearly, something is up with this second tray.  I'm just not sure what.  It has never done as well as the first tray.  I even replanted some seeds, and ...nothing.  I'm bumfuzzled. 

I'm itching to get out and get my flower beds going, but it's supposed to rain all next week.  Scattered showers, so it won't be like a constant deluge.  I'm thinking maybe next weekend. 

Yeah, that sounds good.

Wednesday And Stuff

I was going to post something yesterday, but by the time I got home, I was so tired I forgot what it was.  I was at work, and the other brazer was out.  You know how every time Former Group Leader Rod needs a brazer I have to go work on his line?   Well, when little brother Fernando needs a brazer, Rod miraculously doesn't have anyone to spare.  Somehow, they couldn't find anyone anywhere in the entire plant who could help me out. 

Basically, what that means is that I did a two person job by myself all day.  Needless to say, I was plumb tuckered when I got off.  Then I had to go to the post office.  Since I was in town already, I figured I'd run by the store and get another bag of dog food.

Them crazy dogs of mine think I'm supposed to feed them every day.  What's up with that? 

Anyway, I wandered back into the electronics department and they actually had some iPhone 5 cases, so I got one for Fred.  It's just a plain camouflage color, but I feel a lot better now that he has some protection on.

Today was a much easier day at work.  They announced that we would be working both Friday and Saturday.  My co-workers are clamoring for cookies, so I came home and mixed up the dough and put it into the refrigerator.  Not sure when I'm going to make them, but I will.

This afternoon, I saw a video on Facebook about coloring eggs.  This guy puts a little bit of rice in a cup, and adds food coloring.  Then he puts an egg into it and shakes it up.  The effect was really cool, so I had to try it with my remaining fake eggs.  This is the result:

The top three are pure yellow, pure green, and pure blue.  The bottom two are a mixture of blue and green.  To my dismay, I didn't have any red left, so this is all you get.  I think it turned out well, and the colors are certainly brighter than using the Paas tablets.   I'm thinking when I get some more red, I'll overdye the one on the bottom right and see how that works out.