That's The Last

The last of what I ordered in my weekend spending spree arrived a bit earlier than I expected. It's a Quikrete Walkmaker mold. 

Now, if it ever stops raining, I can start rebuilding my patio.  I'm so excited! 

Today was rough all around.  It started when I didn't sleep well last night.  It took me forever to fall asleep, then I kept waking up.  Shortly after midnight, I woke up to use the bathroom.  The first thing that popped into my head was, "Well, it's June now.  I am officially menopausal." 

Don't ask.  I've long since given up trying to find an explanation for such things.

Follow that with a difficult day at work.  Tubing had gotten behind, and I kept running out of work.   It wasn't just me, either.  All the lines were dealing with parts shortages.  Days like that are exhausting.  I was going to leave at the end of my shift, but the second shift supervisor told me she'd lost a sub- brazer and really needed me to stay.  She said that she and the other supervisor knew they could always depend on me.  I started to tell her that I wouldn't be so dependable if I weren't so broke, but I didn't. 

I went and asked the other second shift sub- brazer, and she said the other girl just walked out and didn't come back.  So, I stayed over a couple of hours to help.  I ended up line brazing, though, instead of sub-brazing.  Y'all would have been proud of me.  One of the second shift workers -- who's seen me over there line brazing dozens of times -- asked me if I knew how to braze.  I kept my mouth shut.  I smiled and said yes, instead of saying, "I hope so, since I've been doing it for 17 years." 

Second shift had the same problem we did.  They'd braze up an order, then go down waiting for the next order to be ready.  It was that way until I left.  I was glad when I walked out of the plant and found it was raining.  An excuse not to work in the yard, since I was too tired to want to anyway.

Now, a quick paragraph for Edna.  If you aren't Edna, you can still read it, but it might not make much sense to you.  Yes, there is a history behind this. 

You know, Bren wasn't there today, so Olivia was pulling parts.  Well, there was this 12 piece order that wasn't ready when I got there this morning.  It still needed two more legs.  I pulled everything that came before that 12 piece over to the line.  When we finished brazing it all, I went back and checked, and the 12 piece still wasn't ready.  The stuff that came after it was, so I got that.  Finally, the line was about to start running the 12, so I went back and checked one more time.  It still wasn't ready.  I said, "I'm going to print out a pick ticket just to see what else this order needs."  I'm thinking maybe here is something I can substitute and the line won't go down.  Lo and behold, all it needed was two semi legs.  SEMI legs!  She couldn't even pull two semi legs out of the rack. 

I pulled the last two legs and kitted the order out myself.  As I walked past Olivia, I mused somewhat loudly, "It's a shame sub brazers have to pull their own parts.  It's almost like we don't have a parts stager at all."

You're welcome. 


😀