Scary Things

Yesterday was our annual inventory day at work. Long time readers may remember back in the day, inventory was pretty rough. We'd go in at 5:30 (yes, that is ante meridian), and sometimes not get off until 9:00 or 10:00 at night. Over the last few years, they'd made changes and streamlined the process, so that it only took 4 or 5 hours to do inventory. I was usually home by noon.

I am convinced that my place of employment sits around and figures out what makes the most sense so that they can do just the opposite.

I've been inventorying the tubing department ever since I started. I've been doing it longer than I have been writing this blog. I can inventory tubing in my sleep. This year, they decided I needed to inventory the stock room.

What the heck? I don't know anything about the stockroom. What's worse, this year they decided that each card writer (that's the person who fills out the inventory slips that the office puts into the computer) needs to have what they call a chieftain following him around all day.

First off, I do not like people hovering over me while I'm trying to work. Drives me up the wall. Secondly, I have been doing inventory for a long, long time. I know what to do. I don't need someone pestering me while I'm doing it. Finally, my chieftain had never done inventory before. He had no idea what he was doing. I was having to correct him.

For example, he came to me and said, “I found some more of such and such part, just add them to that other ticket.” I had to tell him that you can't do that. “I'd have to void the entire card and rewrite it, so I'll just write another card for these parts.”

I managed to get my job done, even though I could have done it in half the time had I not had a chieftain worrying me to death all day, and getting in the way.  I swear, I couldn't move without tripping over him.  We finished our area around 9:30, but my chieftain decided we (my counter and I) needed to go help Other Chieftain with his area.

“I can't just go help Other Chieftain. Only those people assigned to Other Chieftain's area can write cards for that area. I'll have to go get cards assigned to Other Chieftain's area.”

I didn't want to go help Other Chieftain, because I knew what would happen, and it happened exactly that way. As soon as we got over there, Other Chieftain's people stopped and stood there for the rest of the day watching us do their work. Not only that, Other Chieftain told them they could go on home, while he made us stay to finish his area. I was one of the last of the floor people to get to leave. Made me so mad. Not that I mind helping, but I shouldn't have to do their work FOR them.

Anyway, back in my Navy days, we had a term for what went on the the plant yesterday.  I sure hope they go back to the old way next year.

When I got home, I called the guy who bought my trailer. I had some more papers to bring to him. He said he'd call me this morning and we'd meet somewhere in town and make that exchange. Good, I'd just wait until today to go do my shopping. Only he never called. I went into town anyway around 9:00 AM, hoping to beat the rain.

I didn't make it.

It started sprinkling on me about halfway into town and hasn't stopped yet. It's supposed to rain all weekend, up until Monday morning. Could be worse. It's 10' in Fairbanks right now, where my sister lives.

So, the plan for today was to polish my hinges up 

and get my doors back onto my bathroom cabinets. The doors need a few touch ups, but for the most part, they are done. 

However, when I got home from the store, there was a package in my mailbox. What was in said package?

Yarn! My friend Abby sent me some yarn for the blanket. I should be able to add several squares to my sister's blanket with all this yarn. There is even some that I can add to my blanket.

Since knitters are the most generous people on the planet, she also sent me two hand knit dishcloths as a housewarming gift.

Just the thing to brighten up this chilly, rainy day.

Thank you, Abby! You're the best!

The good news is, some of the Halloween candy managed to survive until tonight.  What with the weather being bad and all, most parents are looking to go to the indoor activities at local churches, so I might not need it after all. But it's there, just in case. 

No matter what, we do need this: 

From Ghoulies and Ghosties 

And long legged beasties

And things that go bump in the night

May the Good Lord deliver us.

What Was I Thinking?

As my alarm went off at 3:30 this morning, I awoke with my first thought of the day being, "Why on Earth did I ever tell [my supervisor] I'd start coming in at 5 every day?"

Tomorrow is our annual inventory, so I don't have to go in until 7.  I get to sleep in until 5:30!

Number 396576 on the list of things I never thought I'd say:  "I get to sleep in until 5:30".  But there it is. 

Since I'm barely coherent, I thought I'd share this for ThrowBack Thursday.  

Anyone else remember this?  She is Derry Daring, the female counterpart to the Evil Knievel toy that was wildly popular in the 1970s.  My brother and I got them for Christmas one year.  He got the Evil Knievel, and I got Derry Daring.

In my childish exuberance, I called her Deary Darring until just a few weeks ago.  I'd mentioned her on Facebook and wanted to find a picture to post.  After doing some research, I found I'd been saying it wrong for 40 something years. 

Figures...

Smells

They say your sense of smell has the strongest memory of all of your senses.  It's true, too. 

I bought some of this to polish my hinges.

As soon as I opened the can, I was right back in Navy boot camp, polishing the garbage can with a recruit named Frechette. 

I was there, in the compartment, with the sounds and the smells, and hearing her telling me to hand her the Nevr-Dull.

It was uncanny how completely it all came back to me.  

Not It

I got home from my weekly resupply run Friday only to discover that I had forgotten to buy dog food.  I thought there would be enough to last the week, but this morning I realized it wouldn't make it.  After work, I ran in to the store to get some.

Since Halloween is just a few days away, I thought to myself that I needed to get some candy -- candy that would survive being eaten until Saturday.  This is not it. 

Back on my old road, we hardly ever got Trick Or Treaters.  I think I had 3 in the 20 years I lived there.  I'm not sure if they get a lot on this road, but I thought it would be best to be prepared.  I think I'll need to hide it from myself. 

I was walking towards the checkouts and passed a table of clearance items.  I just happened to spot these plates.

They weren't but $2 each, and since I got the OK to start going in to work at 5:00 (yes, that is ante meridian),  I splurged and got two.  I thought they'd look nice with a fake pumpkin, or a pile of squash and some autumn garland.  I didn't get any today, because I was tired and didn't want to go back to the decorations section.  Maybe Friday I'll look and see what they have left. 


You want to know how crazy things have been lately?  I'll tell you.  Cody's birthday was almost two weeks ago, and I just now realized I haven't bought him a present. 

Yeah, OK, I'm going to bed. 

Finally

I think I finally have the drip from my toilet stopped.  I ended up having to use the pliers on it anyway, even though they say not to.  I just tightened it about 1/4 turn at a time until it stopped dripping.  The little bowl I put under it to catch the drips has been dry for several hours, so I think it might be right this time.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment having done that, I decided to go ahead and start painting my cabinet.

Yes, it has doors.  I took them off to paint them separately, and to try to clean up the hinges really well.   They were gunky and tarnished.  I sprayed them with WD-40, but I might have to invest in some NevrDull. 

Now, there's a blast from my Navy days.  If you've ever had to polish a garbage can until it shone, you might be a Navy Veteran.

Anyway, I think it's going to look good when I'm done.  I'm going to let it dry overnight and see how it looks after church tomorrow.  Then I'll decide if it needs another coat of paint or not.  Just looking at it, I think it will, but we'll see after it's dried a bit more. I still need to get the door frame replaced.  James said he was going to come help me with it, but he hasn't had time.  He's busy trying to get his own house sold. 

I finally got my yarn out of that box and put into my yarn closet.

I have more yarn than this.  I'm just not sure where it is.  

Thanks to Hurricane Patricia, we are finally going to be getting some rain over the next several days.  That is good, because the entire state is under a burn ban since it's been so dry.  

Honestly, I can't even remember the last good rain we had.  Oh, we've had showers, but barely enough to settle the dust. 

Mercy drops round us are falling
But for the showers we plead.

I've Got Fire!

It's here!  My fire stick is here! 

I've got it hooked up to my TV, so I may never get out of my recliner again.  I'm wondering why I waited so long to get one.  I haven't even scratched the surface of all it can do.  The best thing is, it isn't always crashing like my old streaming device did.   The remote is also better, since it controls the stick without me having to hold my tongue just right.

I think I'm going to move my old streaming device/DVD player into the bedroom.  I've got a spare DVD player around here somewhere that I can hook up to the TV in the living room.  I just have to find it.

I got some more good news.  You see, I don't like change at all.  A couple of weeks ago, Beverly and James went to Texas.  I picked up their mail while they were gone.  When I took it over there to them, Bev and I were visiting for a bit.  She got to talking about how glad she is to be moving home, and next door to her sister, but is still going to miss the good friends she made here.  She started tearing up, and I was kind of choking up myself.  I was trying to hold it together, because it just wouldn't do for both of us to be crying.

However, as I was pulling out of her driveway heading home, the UPS man was passing by.  He saw me, and started waving.  That's when I lost it.  I bawled all the way home.  I really like my UPS man.  He always stops to chat for a moment when he delivers my packages, and he is so sweet.  Losing him was just one more change I had to deal with.

Today, when the UPS truck pulled up to deliver my Fire Stick, I waited anxiously to see who my new delivery guy would be.   When he stepped out of the truck, I was so happy to see it was my same old familiar UPS man.  I am still on his route!  I could have hugged his neck.

I probably would have if I didn't abhor human contact.  INTJ things, you know.

Speaking of the new house, this was my project for today.

It was actually just the flapper I needed to replace, but I went ahead and replaced the whole inner workings.  The bad news is, I've got a slow drip where the water line hooks into the tank.  They say not to use a wrench, but I can't get it tight enough just hand tightening it.  Probably in the morning, I'm going to unhook it and wrap the threads with some teflon tape.  Yes, I do have some teflon tape around here somewhere.  If that doesn't work, I'm going to have to use my wrench on it.   I had to use the wrench to loosen the nut, so I'm thinking whoever replaced it last used a wrench on it.

But I'm rambling now...

 Next project in the works: 

I'm going to start filling all the nail and screw holes in my paneling.  Believe me, there are a lot of them.

You know, when I bought the house, I was under the impression that an old lady lived here by herself.  My next door neighbor told me that wasn't the case at all.  Her daughter and a whole passel of kids lived here with her.  I knew she had grandkids, because I saw the toys.  I just didn't know that they all lived here.

 Be that as it may, the kids seemed to be quite destructive.   There are holes all in the paneling, and one spot that looks like it had been repeatedly struck with a hammer-like object.  Now that I'm almost finished with the bathroom, except for replacing the door frame, I'm starting to think about painting the living room.  I've chosen an off white color for the walls, and a light gray for the trim.

Farmer's Almanac is predicting a long, cold winter, and this will make a good project for these dreary winter days.  It'll also enable me to put off dealing with that horrid small bathroom for a while.  I really should get that one taken care of, though.  I just don't want to scrape all that sand off the walls. 

I also heard that there will be a shortage of pumpkins this year.  You can't tell it from our Wal-Mart.  They've got plenty of whole pumpkins.  Nevertheless, I'm stocking up on canned pumpkin, just in case. 

If it turns out we really do run out of pumpkin, I can get rich selling it on the black market.

Finally, today is my dad's 89th birthday.  I think this is one of my absolute favorite pictures of him.

It was taken in 1992 by my Aunt Martha.  That's my sister.  She'd gotten underwear for Christmas.  The expression on my daddy's face sums up his entire personality in one look.

Happy Birthday in heaven.  I still miss you. 

Almost Done

We are almost done getting all this paperwork from my trailer house in order.  The buyer's bank called me yesterday and said that the mortgage company had sent them the release of lien.  I called Steve -- the buyer-- and today right after work, we went to the court house and applied for the title.  Since my name was on the lien, I'll have to get the title in my name, then transfer it to Steve.  They'll send the title to me in about 10 days, then all I'll have to do is sign the back and take it to his bank.  I hope that will be the last thing I need to do in that regard.

While I was in town, I went next door to the county clerk's office and updated the address on my voter registration.  She printed me out a new card, and I'm all set to vote next month.

One more stop before I came home.  I went by Wal-Mart and bought Jurassic World.  Since I don't go to the theater, I hadn't seen it yet.  I watched it as soon as I got home.  It was a bit hokey, but pretty good.  It lacked the elegance and grace of the original, if you can describe a dinosaur movie as being elegant and graceful, but still worth the watch.  At the end of the movie, I found myself rooting for the....but wait, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who may not have seen it, so I'll just stop there.


A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Amazon, informing me that my streaming device would no longer work with Amazon Prime.  I've been thinking about getting a Fire Stick.  My friends who have one say they love it.  I think I'll go ahead and order one.  


I haven't made any more progress on my bathroom, but I have made progress in unpacking my yarn.  And by progress, I mean I picked the box up off the floor and took the lid off.

Hey, it's a start. 

Over My Head

I think I might be in over my head with this bathroom door frame.

Or I might be just getting overwhelmed.  I knew there was some damage to the frame itself.  You can see here that there is quite a lot of damage at the bottom.

Then there is this.  

The more I get into fixing up this house, the more I'm realizing that the previous owners weren't quite the handyman type that they imagined themselves to be.  That looks less like actual damage and more like a half hearted, lick-at-a-snake type of repair.  It's like they just slapped an extra strip of wood in the gap created when they added the tile.

The original plan was to take all that framing off and replace it.  However, after spending so much on getting my plumbing repaired, I thought I'd just strip the old paint off and repaint it for now, the replace it all later.  I could see that the previous paint job was not very well done, so I wanted to take it all off, down to the bare wood.

Do you want to know how thick and gloppy the previous paint application was?  Do you see this nail? 

  Here is a side on view of it.

The paint was built up so much on the door frame that this nail was barely visible.  What's even worse, there was no reason for that nail to be sticking out that far.  I found my hammer, and pounded it flush with the surface of the wood. 

As the paint came off, I discovered even more shoddy workmanship. 

The little wood strip that runs down the center of the door frame -- well, there was a significant gap between that strip and the actual frame itself.  

A lot of the gap has paint stuffed into it, but it's still there.  So, now I'm back to wanting to pull it all off and replace the whole mess.  Since I want it done right, I think I'm going to have to ask for help with this. 

Bevo

Bevo XIV died peacefully in his sleep last night after a brief battle with bovine leukemia.

Reveille sent her condolences.

As did Mike. 

Fair winds and following seas, old friend. 

Hook 'Em

Happy Birthday

Happy 22nd birthday, Cody!

Long Day

It all started way too early this morning, when we had to go into work at 5:30 for Code of Conduct classes. 

Personally, I think it should be a violation of the Code of Conduct to conduct conduct classes before the sun comes up. 

After that, we had our annual benefits meeting, about our insurance and stuff, followed by a full 8 hour day of work.  Needless to say, I'm a bit tuckered, so this post will be short, and most likely incomprehensible. 

Then, I get home to find out that Bevo XIV, the University of Texas mascot, has been diagnosed with bovine leukemia virus. 

 He will be retired immediately, and will live out the rest of his life on his ranch.  The search for Bevo XV will begin immediately, but it is unlikely he will be found and trained before the start of next season.
 

Rest easy, old friend.

We have the watch. 

When Things Don't Go As Planned

Yeah, I had plans for the weekend. 

I'd planned on stripping the paint from my bathroom door frame.  That was going to be my big project.  I was going to strip the old paint, sand the frames down, and repaint them until I could afford to replace them.  Alas, try as I might, I couldn't get the can of stripper open.  Even after hacking the plastic child proof ring from the cap, it still wouldn't come loose.

I have some pliers somewhere.  I looked all over the house for them, but I couldn't find them. I thought I'd left them at work.  No problem.  I'd just check when I went back this morning.  But after searching my locker and my tool bag, the aforementioned pliers were nowhere to be found.  Thus, paint has not gotten stripped.  I'm sure they will turn up eventually, but for now, I'll just have to live with what I've got. 

The other plan for the weekend was to get my yarn/craft closet organized.  This is as far as I got. 

 
I got my shelving units out of the shed and set them up in the closet, but haven't gotten my yarn put into it.  I sat all weekend thinking, "I have so much I need to be doing", and I didn't do any of it.  All I did was sit in front of the TV.  I guess I just needed a break. 

The entire weekend wasn't a total loss, though.  I got the snake heaters all plugged in, so they are ready for chilly weather.  I browsed some used cars on Auto Trader and True Car websites.  I found some possibilities for a new vehicle for me.  I'm going to try to go look at some later this week. 

And I found a bedroom knitting project.

This is a scarf I started years and years ago from some yarn which was leftover after knitting one of my nephews a sweater.  I'd gotten this far when I realized that I would never finish this scarf. 

I was going to wind the yarn into a cake, but I can't find my ball winder.  Sigh...So, I just started knitting from the end of this scarf.  Once it gets long enough, I'll show you what I'm knitting.

As if that weren't enough, I get to work this morning, and have the Happy Birthday song stuck in my head all day.  Then I get home and they were working on the Cable, so no TV or internet.  Tomorrow, I have to be at work at 5:30 for Code of Conduct classes and insurance meetings. 

I think I'm going to throw in the towel on this day. 

Good night.

But First

I promised knitting photos.  Here is my sister's sock yarn blanket.

 Like I said, it might be ready by the time she has grandkids.  I put out a plea on Facebook for knitting friends to send me leftover sock yarns.  I'm sure I'll get some.  Knitters are the most generous people on the planet.  It doesn't really even have to be sock yarn.  Any machine washable fingering weight will do.  She has three boys, and I want her to be able to toss it into the machine without worrying about ruining it.  I'm not picky about fiber content, either.

This is the scarf I cast on out of Knit Picks Aloft.

I'm probably going to frog it, though.  I don't like it.  It was supposed to be something mindless to keep in the bedroom to work on while I watch TV, but the yarn is too light, and I can't really see it.  Tomorrow, I'm going to work on getting my craft stuff organized, so I'll find something else to knit in the bedroom.

The plan today was to get the framing in my main bathroom painted.  When I got to looking more closely, I noticed that the paint was cracking in the corners and around the edges of my frame.   

I got my handy dandy paint scraper out and started scraping.  It looks like there are at least three layers of paint on the frame. 

While scraping, I noticed something else.  I had noticed it before, but I just figured out what it was I had been looking at.  It seems that the previous owner put new framing around the door, only she didn't take the old framing off first.  She just slapped the new frame on top of the old.  I know it's hard to see in this picture, but yes, that is two layers of framing around that door. 

I first thought I'd just paint over it, but I decided to take all the old framing down and replace it.  I know it's a lot more work, but I want it done right.  I went ahead and bought some paint stripper, so I can get all that paint off and see exactly what it is I am working with. Then I'll go from there. 

I got some new catalogs in the mail these last couple of days.

Apparently, when you buy a house, the realtors tattle on you to all these home decor companies.  It was fun to look through the catalogs, but even with the 15% coupons included, their stuff is just a bit out of my current budget. 

Not to mention, I just don't like it. 

Slowly, But Surely

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting my house redone.

And by slowly, I mean slooooowly.  I'm not going to get into any hurry fixing up my house.  I've got plenty of time.  What I don't have is plenty of money.  I don't want to make the same mistake I did when I bought the trailer house.  I put things on my credit card, thinking I could just pay them off.  Little did I know that we would spend the next 9 years working 4 day work weeks for half the year.

Yeah, I'm still paying that card off.

I got in last night and took all the painter's tape down and hung my shower curtain back up.

Then I took a shower, but that's not important.  Unless you have to be near me at any time.  Then it becomes very important. 

I've still got some touch up work to do, then get the trim and stuff painted.  I think it's going to look really nice once I get it all done.  

In between bouts of painting, I have been knitting a little bit.  I'm mostly working on my sister's sock yarn blanket.  At this rate, it might be done in time for her to have some grandchildren.

Last night, I decided I wanted to cast on something smaller and lighter to keep in the bedroom for when I'm watching TV in there.  Since I have a TV in the bedroom now, you know.  I was thinking a simple scarf would do, so I went into the room that is going to eventually become my craft room....and I couldn't find any of my yarn.

I guess I know what this weekend's project will be.

I dug around and finally found a couple of balls of Knit Picks Aloft and cast on a simple garter stitch scarf.  It's not even long enough to bother taking a picture yet, but I assure you, as I get more settled, more photos of stuff will be forthcoming.

Finally, I got a call from the bank that the guy who bought my trailer house.  They overnighted the check to the mortgage company, but still haven't received the title.  When I got home, I called the mortgage company.  I got the message, "Congratulations, your loan has been paid in full."  Ah, that is music to my ears!

Now, I just have 29 years and 11 months to pay on this one. 

A Chill In The Air

There was definitely a nip in the air these last couple of mornings.  This morning, I was seriously tempted to start a little fire in my wood heater, but I was afraid it would make the house too hot.  So I just put on some flannel pants and my moccasins and drank some hot chocolate.

Yesterday, I got up and painted my bathroom.  I put two coats on, and I think that will be enough.

After church today, I got in there and touched up a few spots.  I'll be touching up for a few days here before I take the painter's tape down.  Next step will be to paint the cabinet and the door frame.  Then I'll have to decide which molding I want to put up, and whether I want it in the dark blue, too.  Plus, I want to add at least two cabinets -- one mirrored and one plain. 

Since it was so chilly these last couple of days, I finally drug out the fall decorations and started putting them out. 

Yes, that was a little bit of vernacular there.  I haven't quite given up my grammar nazi position yet.  In fact, I was mentally correcting the pastor's grammar during the sermon this morning.  I probably ought not do that, huh? 

Anyway, I mostly stuck stuff on nails that were already in the walls in my living room.  Before I paint, though, I'm going to pull all those nails out and repair the holes.  That means that next year, I'm actually going to have to think about where I want stuff.  Yeesh...I'm not good at decorating. 

Other than that, I put some stuff on my mantle. 

I moved that plant after I took the photo, and yes, that hideous green will be going away eventually.  I really, really wonder about the previous owner's tastes in color and decor. 

This was the only other stuff I put out this year.  I decided it was enough.

Good news, I found someone who wants all this concrete.  She is going to put it into her dog kennels to get them up out of the mud.  She and her husband came got some of it this afternoon, but she didn't realize how big some of the pieces are.  She is going to have to find a truck and some men to help her, but she is going to come get the rest of it.

Now, if I could just get Rylea to stop digging canyons in my back yard, we'll be all set to do some landscaping come spring. 

I Have Plumbing!

The plumber finally showed up today.  Of course, the delay wasn't his, but the ones who had to give him authorization to dig up my yard.  He told me they gave him all sorts of problems.   First they told him he couldn't dig without someone there with him to make sure he didn't hit any underground stuff.

He told them that there wasn't anything near where he was going to dig, and didn't they see where his flags were?  Oh, OK, you can dig there...About 900 phone calls and many arguments later, he finally got authorization to do my plumbing work.

Daniel made it out to the house about 1:00 this afternoon.  First thing he had to do was tear up my patio.  My poor patio...

He tried to move it in one piece, but he couldn't.  It started buckling on him, so he just had to break it up.  He had this big old backhoe thing that he used to dig my yard up.  Naturally, it made noise.  A lot of noise, which freaked poor Rylea out.

This is where she ended up. 

Looking very nervous...I had to get her down, and she ain't light.  That's a 60 lb dog in my windowsill.  It wasn't easy, but I got her down, and she hid in my recliner. 

I couldn't bear to move her again, so I let her stay until Daniel was done and gone.

Once he got my yard all dug up, he was able to see what the problem was.

Back when all these houses were built, they were all on a septic system.  Sometime later, they were added to the municipal sewer system, but a lot of the houses still have old septic tanks in the back yards.  Mine did, and what had happened was the septic tank had collapsed and the sewer pipes had fallen into the old hole.  That put stress on them, causing them to break.

He replaced all the pipe from the back of the house to the fence, then used pieces of my patio to fill in the hole where the septic tank used to be.  Once he was done, he put all the dirt back into place and smoothed it all out. 

The dirt will settle, especially after it rains a few times, so I'll have to add more dirt and have it smoothed out.  I was going to have some work done on that yard anyway.

Another thing he did was to remove that tall cleanout that was in the middle of the yard and put a smaller one in.  This one is closer to the house and level with the ground, so I can hide it under a bush.

Now, I can get on with what I was doing.  I got my master bathroom all taped up and drop clothed and I'm ready to paint.

That will be my big project for tomorrow.

That, and finding someone to haul off all that concrete in my back yard...