The Plan

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I made plans to go up to Memphis to the zoo today.  But as the day grew closer, instead of being excited, I found myself dreading the trip.  I kept looking around my house, thinking of all the stuff I needed to get done, and yes, I mentally debated both sides of the issue. 

I've got so much I need to get done, I can't really afford to take a whole day for a zoo trip.
On the other hand, I could use a break -- a day just for fun.

In the end, the work around the house won out.  I went to my friend yesterday and asked her if she would be OK with putting our trip off until late next month, or maybe even into November.  She was not only OK with it, she said it would actually be better for her, because of some personal business she has to take care of.  So, it worked out for the best. 

It would have been a beautiful day to go, though.  Sunny, breezy, and not too warm.  I got out and got some more of that firewood cut up.  That is a job, I'm telling you!  Slowly but surely, I'm getting it done.  However, I'm rapidly getting to the point I'm going to need help.  I have a guy at work that says he'll come help me in exchange for half the wood, but so far, he hasn't shown up.  I told him earlier this week that the longer he waits, the more I cut by myself, and the more I keep. 

Oh, by the way, chainsaws work much better when you sharpen the chain every once in a while.

Also, you'll all be very thrilled to know that I cleaned off my car port.  See, there's been this pile of junk that's been sitting there since I moved in.  Every so often, I look at that pile of junk and tell myself, "Self, you really need to clean up that pile of junk."  But I don't.  Well, today I did.  No more pile of junk!  Yay, me!

The other thing I accomplished was to finish putting out my Fall decorations, and move the box back out to the shed.

That's about all I'm going to do for this year.  A few nicknacks on my Mammaw's ...um, whatever this is.

Even though it's kind of early, I put out the pilgrims, too

 This afternoon, the guy came back to see if he could get the old Jimmy started.  However, when he popped the hood, he discovered a rat had built a nest in the engine.  He's going to bring his wrecker and haul Jimmy down to his shop to fix it up, then sell it.  I'll be so glad to finally get that thing out of my yard!

Between getting rid of the Jimmy, the concrete, and the pile of wood, I'll finally have a yard again. 

I finally broke down and subscribed to HULU Plus.  I was thinking if I could watch The Big Bang Theory and NCIS on it, I could cut off my cable altogether.  Alas, they don't have those shows.  However, they do have Major Dad, and that right there is worth the price of admission.  

I know what I'll be doing the rest of the weekend...after I cut some more firewood in the morning. 

Thursday Ramblings

Before I begin tonight's post, I'd ask you all to take a moment to remember my friend Vanessa.  She lost her mom today.  They were very close.  She told me once, "I don't know what I'd do without my Mama."  This is going to be very, very difficult for her. 

Now, on to my regularly scheduled post. 

It was another one of those days at work.  I got there bright and early, and something was wrong with the computer system.  I'm not sure what was going on.  I hoped it would be enough that they would send us home, but no such luck.  I won't go into all the gory details, but safe to say, it wasn't an easy day.  Tubing was so far behind, and that made us get behind, and it was pretty much that way all day long. 

But just as all good things come to an end, so also do all bad things, and once again, I am free until Monday. 

Good news, I was out mowing my front yard this evening, when my next door neighbor pulled into my driveway.  He is an auto mechanic.  He asked me if I wanted to sell that old Jimmy that is, yes, still sitting in my yard.  We chatted a moment, and I told him I'd thought about advertising it in one of the local Facebook groups, but I just didn't want to deal with people.  I didn't want to have to try to explain what all is wrong with the Jimmy, and try to make arrangements for someone to come look at it, then they don't show up, etc. etc.

I'm trying to sell Slider's old tank and stand.  I've had four people say they wanted it, but not one has showed up yet.  That kind of stuff...

Back to Jimmy...Mack, my neighbor, said he'll come look at it tomorrow at lunch and see what it'll take to fix it up and sell it.  I told him what I was hoping to get for it, which is actually lower than KBB value, and he said he thinks he can get it for me.  I hope so, but mostly I'm just ready to get it out of my yard.  So, yay. 

My cat Squeaky is getting old.  She'll be 17 in January.  She doesn't like to jump much any more, so she mostly sleeps on the floor.  On a whim, I bought her a cat bed, thinking it might be more comfortable for her. 

I've showed it to her a couple of times, but she just jumped right out of it.  Maybe she'll get used to it and use it when it starts getting colder. 

On the other hand, if she pees on it, I'm going to be irate. 

Good thing it's machine washable. 

Fall Slowdown

Yesterday, Group Leader told me to start coming in at 6:00 AM instead of 5:00.   It's that time of year again.  Peak season is drawing to a close, work is slowing down, and they're starting to cut out overtime.  This morning, Supervisor told me that Production Superintendent had wanted all the overtime cut out, but Supervisor plead our case.  "I've got to have my sub-brazers coming in early!" he said.  So, I still get a little bit of overtime. 

The good thing is, I can sleep until 4:30 instead of getting up at 3:30.  The bad news is, I just stayed up an hour later last night, so it didn't really help.  Eh, can't win 'em all. 


The other good news is, I've already gotten a lot of my Christmas shopping done. Remember all that Harvey relief stuff I ordered a few weeks ago?  It's all starting to arrive, now.  I've got to make out a list of who all I give presents to, and see who gets what, and who I still need to buy for.  But I've got a good head start.

I've got a good head start on my Christmas cards, too.  They're all signed and sealed with sealing wax.  I'll just need to address and mail them.  I wish I'd waited, because I just bought this one.

Here is what the stamp looks like:

Yes, I did a practice stamp on Rylea's annual vaccination reminder. Which I still need to get done.  What has gotten done is some knitting.  It's hard to see what this is, but it's the start of another sweater for Addlyn.

This one is 0 - 6 month size, and it looks like it will fit much better.  The best part about it is it is totally seamless.  I do have to pick up for the sleeves, but that's so much easier than seaming.

I think I'm about done with my fall decorating. 

I have a few more things to hang up on the walls, but for the most part, this is it.

This little pot of fake flowers is new.  The end table looked just a little too bare, so I got something to put on it.

The stuff around the bottom is actually a candle ring that I got a year or two ago.  I set the little pot down into it instead of a candle, and I think it looks very nice. 

There was something else I was going to tell you, but right now, I can't remember what it was.  I'm taking that as a sign that it's time for bed.

Goodnight.

Sunday Hymn

Oh, worship the King
All glorious above
And gratefully sing
His wonderful love!

I Forgot

I had a post for you yesterday.  Oh, it was a wonderful post, detailing all the work I'd done around the house, and how I'd worked so hard, I might as well have gone to work.  I came in, took a shower, watched some TV, and went to bed.

It was then that I realized I'd forgotten to post that wonderful post detailing all the work I'd done around the house on my day off.  Most of which involved wrestling with a chainsaw all morning.  Oh, and I did drag my big box of fall decorations out of the shed.  I added one final touch to my porch decor.  That's going to be it for this fall.  Well, for outside, at least.

This morning, I got up and spent a few minutes debating whether I wanted to wrestle with the chainsaw again today.  I decided against it, and just did some stuff inside the house. 

Beverly's other granddaughter Shelbi is expecting a little girl in November.  I found a pattern and knit a sweater for baby Addlyn.  The whole time I was knitting, I was thinking, "This seems mighty small."  Last night, I finished, and decided it was just too small.  If she even got to wear it, she'd outgrow it within a week.

I couldn't find another pattern I liked that used that size of yarn, so I dug into the stash to see what else I could come up with.  While I was looking through some yarn my MIL sent me, I found this.

It looks like a yarmulke with a fringe.  Here we see Charlotte modeling it.

Charlotte was not happy.  "Get that thing off of me," she said.  Who am I to argue with a Styrofoam head? 

And with that, I'm back to perusing baby patterns...

I'm Free!

I'm free!  Until Monday, that is.

See, back in those dark times when we were often working four days a week during the Fall, I'd gotten into the habit of saving my vacation days for those Fridays.  That way, at least I would get paid.  Except for the one year I put in for all the Fridays, and they decided to give us Mondays instead.  But I don't want to talk about that. 

Even though work has picked back up, I'm still using most of my vacation days on Fall Fridays.  Basically, what I'm trying to tell you is that I've got tomorrow off.  And next Friday, and the one after that, and the one after that!  I will be working Fridays in December, though, because I have two weeks off at Christmas.  You have to work a minimum of 80 hours per month to get the attendance bonus.  I missed out on it last year, because I didn't think about that when I was scheduling my days.

The plant is working this Saturday, but since I have pre approved vacation, I don't have to.  I debated on working, because I always need the money, but I think I'm going to take Saturday off, too.    

I'm planning on getting some stuff done around the house -- particularly cutting up that big pile of firewood in my back yard.  I've been working on it off and on, and it's still pretty big, but it's smaller than it was.  Reality is, I'll probably just sit and watch TV all day.  

When I got home this afternoon, I found one of my lines down in my yard.

My first thought -- after determining it wasn't a power line -- was that someone was trying to steal my cable, but no, it couldn't be that, because the cable box is on the other side of the house.  Turns out, this line goes to my phone box. 

The line had slipped off the nail or whatever was holding it to the house.  I'm going to try to reattach it tomorrow, just to get it up off the ground.  I'm thinking, though, that since I no longer have a land line, I don't really need this at all.  I'm going to call (I know, I know) and ask them if they can just take the whole line away. 

I finally got a fake pumpkin for my porch.

I found one that looks realistic, instead of being covered with glitter or sequins.  I think it looks real good sitting there on that fake hay.  I still want to get some sort of scarecrow decoration to put out there with this stuff, but I'm not going to buy anything else until I drag my box of decorations out of the shed and see what I have in there to work with. 

Oh, that's something else I want to do this weekend.  Put out my fall decorations, since tomorrow is the first day of fall, and all that. 

It's still hot, but it's Fall!!

What A Day

I knew right away what kind of day it was going to be when I walked down to tell my group leader that her sub-brazers were out of work, and tubing didn't have any more work ready for us.  Her response, "The line is fixing to go down anyway, because we don't have any cabinets."

And that's about how it was all day long.  We'd get an order or two from tubing, braze it up, then go see if they had anything else ready.  They'd give us one or two more orders, because that was all that was ready.  The cabinet situation was pretty much the same way.  The part stager for the end of the line would go get four or five on a buggy and bring them to the line, then have to go get four or five more.

Finally, about 2:30 or so, Group Leader came up the line and said, "Y'all just go on home."  So we did.

Yesterday morning, one of my coworkers said to me, "I read your blog last night.  Did you hear about the fight on second shift?"  She'd overheard a couple of people taking about it.  Apparently, some guy walked in and punched his girlfriend right in the face, then jumped on top of her and started trying to choke her.  Sheesh, what is wrong with these people?

The good news is, I found my can of paint stripper.  Now, maybe this weekend I can start stripping that thick, gloppy paint off my bricks.

How Do You?

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Apparently, get her to follow a fellow.  Remember Jose'?  That crazy, drunk hurricane that has been wandering around in the Atlantic for the last three weeks?  Yeah, him.  As it would happen, something about the weather systems he's dragging along behind him in his ramblings are going -- oops, check that -- are projected to suck Maria up in his wake, right up the Atlantic seaboard. 

The top track is Jose.  The bottom track is Maria, with the gray areas being the cone.  That is, the potential path.  When she finally does make landfall, she is expected to be much weaker.  That's a good thing.

I'm so thankful Florida and Texas will be spared a second blow.  My friend Angie in Key West just got her electricity back today.  Some of my friends in Texas don't even have new drywall up yet, because their fame work is still damp. Everyone is still in the process of rebuilding.  Cody posted this picture of the stuff from their clean up efforts

This is what they weren't able to salvage.  If you drive down a random street pretty much anywhere in Southeast Texas right now, it all looks like this.  And yet, so many have it worse.  We will keep those people Maria is pounding right now in what has become an almost constant prayer this summer:

Oh, Christ whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at thy word
Who walked upon the foaming deep
And calm amidst its rage did sleep
Oh hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea.


Navy Hymn, by William Whiting

It's Monday, All Right

There I was at work, just a working away, when I heard a commotion from the front of one of the third shift lines. 

Now, let me step out of my story for a minute to explain that I go in early to set up the front of my line before the regular day shift people get there.  Not that I'm irregular.  But I am...well, you know what I mean.  When this incident took place, I'd been there maybe half an hour, so third shift hadn't gotten off yet.  OK?  Back to my story.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah...commotion from the front of one of the third shift lines.  At first I thought that someone was goofing around, making jokes or something, because they do a lot of playing on third shift and sometimes they get loud.  I didn't think too much of it.

But the commotion didn't stop.  Soon, all the people on that line were looking towards the front of the line, and I heard somebody say, "fight".  I still didn't think too much of it.  People often get into arguments in the plant; sometimes even yelling, screaming arguments. 

But the yelling and screaming didn't stop.  A moment later, the fight spilled out of the autobrazer and onto the platform behind it.  That's when I saw it was more than just an argument.  Two men were literally fighting -- hitting each other and all.  Their group leader got between them, trying to break them up, and I think he got hit more than the ones doing the actual fighting.  Group leader ended up tackling one of the men to the ground, while some other people pulled the other one away.  After a while, the group leader let the one man up off the floor, and he went right back after the other guy.  It took about 5 or 6 men to hold him back. 

I never did find out what started it, but both of them ended up getting fired.  When Production Superintendent walked them out, half the employees followed out into the parking lot.  I didn't.  Later, I asked the third shift group leader if he was OK.  He said he was, he was just tired.  Holding that guy down was a workout, because he just wouldn't stop. 

And that was my excitement for the day, unless you want to hear how I smashed my finger getting a new pair of gloves out of the PPE machine, then dropped a c-clamp right on top of my foot.  No?  I didn't think so.

How about we talk about fall? 

I was trying to plan some sort of fall decoration for my front porch.  I knew I wanted to get one of those mini fake hay bales, but two times I went to the store to get one, and two times I spent $100 and walked out without the fake hay. I finally remembered to get one, when I added it to my shopping list.  Right now, I just have my Chrysanthemums sitting on it.  I haven't decided what to do with it.  I think maybe I want to put a pumpkin or something like that on it.

I'd thought I would get my fall decorations out this past weekend, but after mowing the entire yard, including the part behind the fence, my sinuses reminded me that I am still very allergic to grass.  So, Sunday, I just sat and watched football.

This was not a good football weekend.  Not good at all.  LSU got trounced by Miss St.   I'm not sure what is going on down there in Baton Rouge, but they played like they had no spirit whatsoever.  Like they didn't even want to be there. 

Sunday, the Cowboys weren't much better.  They had me wondering for a moment if some high school kids had put on Cowboys uniforms and were running around out there.  Seriously, they looked like they'd forgotten how to play football. 

Texas, on the other hand, played like they had nothing to lose.  They still lost, in double overtime, but they put on a good show. 

Speaking of a good show, my spider lilies are putting one on in my back yard. 

The sad news is, the earliest blooms have already started dying back.  Soon, they'll be all gone. 

When I got home, I found this in my car port.  

It is a woolly bear.  Normally, they are black on the head and butt, and brown in the middle.  Folklore says that the less brown they have, the harsher the winter will be.  You can see what color this one is.

I guess I'd better get busy cutting up all that firewood in my back yard.

Sunday Hymn

I mostly post the old hymns here, but every once in a while, I feel led to post a more contemporary song.  While we were all watching Harvey and Irma, Montana has been burning in a tremendous wildfire. 

Earlier this week, it started raining and snowing in many of the areas affected by those fires.  As soon as I heard the news, this song sprang to mind.

And all God's people said "AMEN!!"

The Ruby Pendant

Funny things memories are.  There I was at work, just a working away, when for some completely unknown reason, I remembered a dream I had several years ago.  I've always had weird dreams, and this one was no exception.  But this one was so compelling, I felt the need to turn it into a short story.  Sometime later, I posted it to the blog. 

It occurred to me that some of you may not have been following my blog back then, and therefore didn't have the chance to read this story.  It is for you I got it back out, dusted it off, and made a few tweaks.  Thus, I present to you:

The Ruby Pendant

"I wonder what he'll be like", I thought to myself as I strolled through Philpot's Haberdashery that day. Though it was no longer the custom, I had agreed to an arranged marriage. I had misgivings, but I trusted my parents. I was their only surviving child and they doted on me. I knew they would not do anything that would bring me harm. They would choose a good man for me. Still, I couldn't help but wonder about him.  His temper and mannerisms. His character. His appearance. The only thing I knew was that he was several years older than I, and that my father admired him greatly.  

With a sigh, I chose several lengths of silk ribbon and some bows, and returned home to begin sewing my wedding dress. 

As the day of my wedding approached, things were very busy, both with wedding preparations and my parents moving. They had given me the family home, and were moving into a cottage about a mile away, but still on our estate. They would be close enough for me to visit every day, but far enough away for my husband and I to have our privacy. This suited me greatly, for I could not imagine life without them. 

The estate had been in our family for many generations, though I was not sure how it came to be ours. The house was ancient, but well kept, except for the back wing. It was old and in ill repair. It had been sealed off years ago--so completely that a wall had been built where the entryway had been As a child, I'd spent many hours playing there, exploring, pretending to be mistress of my own home. I found all sorts of forgotten treasures--knives, remnants of crumbled tapestries, jewelry, scraps of silk--all sorts of things a young girl would love to collect. Those were happy days, until the day my father discovered me. He forbade me to enter the ruinous wing again, saying it was not safe. The walls were unstable, he said, and the whole place could come down on top of me. That was the end of my playing in the old wing.

Finally, at long last, my wedding day arrived. My groom had requested the ceremony be held at dusk instead of the customary noon hour. I was uncomfortable with this change, but my parents acquiesced to his request. The hour spooked me. Neither day nor night, it was the hour the ancients called The Time Between Times. The time when strange and magical things happened.

Even more so, the lateness of the ceremony gave my mother more time to fret. She always did worry herself silly over every little thing, much to my dismay. Just when I thought I would pull every last hair out of my head, the wedding was upon us. As my father escorted me into our family chapel, I got my first look at my husband to be. I was pleasantly surprised. He appeared to be about 35 or 40 years old, but I didn't know his exact age, and though gray peppered his otherwise dark hair, he was still very handsome. As for his temperament, well, when he smiled at me with kindly eyes, I somehow felt that everything would be OK.

I remember very little of the ceremony itself, mostly the smiling faces of my family, friends wishing me well, showering me with gifts. Entering the chapel with my father, leaving with my husband.

The wedding feast lasted well into the night, until finally it was time for us to retire to our bedchamber. My maid and I went ahead to get ready. She brushed out my golden hair and wove tiny pink flowers into it, then dressed me in a lacy pink gown. I then climbed into bed to wait for my husband.

He didn't come.

I waited, and still he didn't come. As weariness overtook me, I thought to myself, 'He can wake me up when he gets here.' With that, I drifted off to sleep, alone on my wedding night.

I awoke to the sound of birds singing in the dawn light. As I lay there, wondering why my husband had not come, in he walked bearing a breakfast tray. I asked him why he hadn't come last night, and he responded, "I thought you would be tired from the wedding and the feast. I decided I would let you sleep." What a kind and thoughtful man I have married, I thought, though I wished he had let me know before I waited up half the night. And so I began my married life.

I soon fell into a comfortable routine of managing my home--keeping busy with all the mundane necessities of life. Every morning, I visited my parents. Afternoons and evenings were spent with friends, needlework, drawing, piano, and all the other accomplishments young women are expected to be proficient in. If there was any darkness in my life, it was my husband's continued absence from our bedroom. For the first few weeks, he made excuses--he was in town late on business, he lost track of time, he wasn't feeling well--but eventually he stopped making excuses. He just didn't come.

As the weeks went by, I gradually noticed a change in my husband. He grew more and more distracted, and more and more irritable. I often heard him muttering something about a family legacy. When he bothered to speak to me at all, he was short and testy. Days would go by when I wouldn't see him at all. I began to be glad of it. Then came the night...

I woke suddenly in the middle of the night. I'd heard a noise coming from the hall. I heard it again, and got out of bed to go see what it was. Unexpectedly, I came upon my husband in an old, old hall. He had a pickax and was attempting to break through the wall that had been erected to seal off the oldest wing of the house. All the while, he was mumbling, "I have to find it. My family legacy--I have to find it."

Shocked and amazed as his behavior, I asked him what he was doing. He turned and saw me. Enraged, he rushed at me with the pick raised as if to strike me with it. Fearing for my life, I reacted without thinking. In self defense, I picked up a shovel that was leaning against the wall and swung it at my husband. The flat of it hit him on the side of the head, and as he fell, I was horrified to see his head roll away from his body. Stunned, I just stared for a moment. I hadn't hit him that hard. The odd thing was that there was no blood.

Even odder was that my husband's head continued talking. Yelling, really. He demanded that I put his head back onto his body. Numbly, I swallowed my revulsion, and picked his head up. Again, he demanded that I return his head to his body. I began moving to comply, when

"Don't"

came the soft command from behind me. I turned to see my husband's butler standing there. He was the only servant my husband had brought into our home, and was a man ancient beyond years. From the head I was still holding came a torrent of foulness and hatred the like of which I had never heard. Gradually, though, the sound faded, and I saw the life fade from my husband's eyes. It was then Butler told me the story...

My husband's family had been the original owners of my estate, until the day his grandfather had been forced to surrender the property to one of my ancestors as payment of a debt.  Legend told of a legacy in my husband's family of such great value that if found, it would repay the entire debt and restore his family's estate, and more importantly restore his family's honor. My husband had vowed to spend his life searching for this legacy. "What was this legacy?" I asked. Butler then withdrew a scrap of parchment from his pocket and showed me a drawing of a gold and ruby pendant with a stone so large and so perfect it could have bought the entire estate.

Then a thought struck me. How could this be possible? The estate had been in my family for 600 years. Butler continued with his story. As my husband aged, he began to fear that he would die before finding this lost legacy. So, he lured a young man out into the forest and beheaded him. Then, using dark arts, he attached his own head to the young man's body and continued his quest to find his family legacy. When the new body aged, he found another young man, killed him, and repeated the evil sorcery. In this way, he had managed to survive for 6 centuries.

When he'd heard that my parents were arranging a marriage for me, he felt that if he could win their confidence and wed me, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to gain access to the house, so he could continue his search for the elusive jewel.

"But didn't he realize," I asked, "that by marrying me he once again became the rightful owner of the property?"

"After carrying his obsession for so long," Butler answered, "his mind had lost the ability to reason. He could think of nothing else. He could only continue to search."

Now his search was over.

"You will stay on with us here?" I asked Butler.

"No," he said. "For 600 years, my life has been bound to his. For 600 years I have walked this earth and served him. Now I have finally been released from this dark magic. I am tired. I am ready to rest." With that, Butler shuffled off to his bed, where I knew he would finally slip the bonds of mortality that had held him captive for so very long.

"Rest in peace," I whispered after him.

Once again, I looked at my late husband's head, still in my hands. In the intervening moments, it had grown cold and as withered as the ancient bodies sometimes found in the peat bogs.

Overcome with compassion for his tortured soul, I said, "You can rest in peace, too. Your family's debt has been paid in full. Your family's honor is restored." With those words, I reached into the bodice of my gown, to the gold chain that hung around my neck and withdrew

a gold and ruby pendant with a stone so large and so perfect that it could have bought the entire estate.

I Forgot

While I'm at work, I'm making plans.  I say to myself, I'm going to do this when I get home, and I'm going to do that when I get home, and I'm going to be so productive when I get home and get so much stuff done. Then I get home, and all I do is sit.  Watch TV.  Browse Facebook.  And I don't do anything I'd planned on doing. 

I'm sure you've been there, too.

Sometimes, blogging is the same way.  All day yesterday, I was mentally composing a blog post.  Oh, it was a wonderful post, but when I got home, for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was.  The only thing I could remember is the imaginary post I'd written debunking a ridiculous hurricane Irma meme I'd seen on FB, but that wasn't it.  I knew there was more.  I just couldn't remember what. All evening, I wracked my brain trying to think of something to post, but couldn't come up with anything, so you didn't get a post. 

I got up bright and early this morning, and went to work.  About halfway across the parking lot, I remembered.  I remembered what I was going to blog about yesterday.  Fat lot of good it did me then.  Nevertheless, I whipped out my phone and made myself a note, reminding myself what it was I'd wanted to blog about.  Thus, you get yesterday's post today.

What with cooler weather coming in, and shorter hours at the plant, I'm starting to want to do a little more work on my house.  First thing I want to do is get the crown molding and baseboards up in my bedroom, and crown molding in my bathroom.  Then those two rooms will be finished for the time being.

The other half finished project I want to complete is stripping all that thick, gloppy paint off the bricks behind my wood burner.  The good news is, I have discovered that I can get a wire brush attachment for my angle grinder, so that ought to help out a lot.  Once I get it stripped back to the brick, I want to paint it a light gray -- kind of a stone gray color -- then reinstall the mantle.  I may hire someone to do that, too.  Or I may try to do it myself.  The mantle is just regular old 2 x 12 pine boards, so it wouldn't be too hard to replace it if I mess it up.

That will take care of the half finished projects.  Next up on the list: get my living room painted.  This time around, I'm going to take Supervisor Ronny's advice and put down a coat of Kilz primer first.  And maybe use my belt sander with fine paper to remove the finish on the paneling.  I'm not sure about that, though.  If I'm not careful, I could put even more gouges into the walls.  I may try it on the walls that will be covered by my entertainment center first, just to see how it goes.

Step 1: remember where I put my belt sander...

Finally, I put me a little bit of fall color out.

This wreath was on my front door, but I decided I wanted it where I could see it.  I need to get some little somethings to put on either side of that candle holder, too.  Those spots look empty.  Probably this weekend, I'm going to drag the big box of decorations in from the shed and start putting stuff up.

September is halfway over.    How did that happen anyway?

Nope, Not Going To Happen

Yesterday morning, I got up bright and early....check that, I got up in the middle of the night, and went to work, where I promptly told Third Shift Production Superintendent I didn't want to come in at 3:00 AM any more. The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Is this going to be an every day thing, or is it just today?

TSPS:  Just today, unless you want to come in early.

Me:  Nooooo.  If you know ahead of time you're going to be shorthanded, let me know, and I'll come on in, but I can't do this every day.

And that was that.  There are some people who do go in every day at 3:00 AM, but I figure, what's the good of having all that money if you can't even enjoy it?  Speaking of, what the heck does a quality inspector need to be there four HOURS before the line starts up for? 

Enough about that.  I decided 10 hour shifts are enough for me. 

By the way, I bought me a new angle grinder. 

Have no idea what I'm going to use it for, but I wanted one.  Really, I thought maybe I could use it to sharpen my lawnmower blades and stuff.  I still have that rusted old blade I can practice on.  Whatever.  I'm sure I can find something to grind.  

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day -- warm, with a cool breeze.  I couldn't stay inside, so I got out and did some yard work.  In addition to mowing, I started cleaning up behind the back fence.  I'm feeling it today, but I'm pleased with the progress I made.  I hope to get that whole fence line cleaned up over the winter, so maybe it'll be easier to take care of next summer. 

Today was not so beautiful, as the remnants of Irma passed over us.  It wasn't too bad -- not even as bad as Harvey.  Just a slow, soaking rain all day long.  When I got home, I went outside to check my spider lilies.  I'd seen the first few peeking their little heads up late last week.  Now, they're coming up everywhere.   

Here's an artsy fartsy shot I took with my phone.  

Phone cameras sure have come a long way since they first came out. 

Never Forget

We will never forget. 

Those of us who lived through that day will never ever forget.

Whether you were in the midst of the the horror

or at home staring at the TV in shock and disbelief

we will never forget.

But we have reached the point where never forgetting is no longer enough.  Those children who will become adults in 2019 --  just two short years --

those who become adults in just two short years weren't even born when these events happened.   Even those who turn 18 this year were too young to remember this day -- the day 2996 of their countrymen died.

Never forgetting is no longer enough.  We must tell it to the next generation.

So that they, too, will never forget. 

Sunday Hymn

What have I to dread?
What have I to fear?
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

I have blessed peace
With my Lord so near
Leaning on the everlasting arms!

Saturday, For Want Of A Better Title

But first, some good news.  My friend Angie has made it out of Key West!  She and her husband left early this morning.  They are still in Florida, but they are off the island.  It's a very, very dangerous storm, but I feel a whole lot better about the situation, now.

And now, back to our regular post.

There I was at work, just a working away, when Third Shift Production Superintendent stopped by my stand and asked if I could come in early.  Um, you mean earlier?  Yeah.  I told him I would, but Monday morning, we were going to both go up to Day Shift Production Superintendent's office and clear it with him.  I don't want a repeat of what happened the last two times third shift personnel asked me to come in early.  I'm getting tired of feeling like a ping pong ball.  And I don't want my supervisor getting chewed out -- again -- for something he had no part in -- again.  This time, I want to hear it OKed out of MY ProdSups mouth with my own ears before I commit. 

So, it looks like I'll be on 12 hour shifts again for a while.  Eh, who needs sleep anyway?

It's a good thing those extra hours are coming along, because I've spent a buttload of money this last week or so.  There are a lot of businesses out there selling stuff with a "100% of the proceeds will go to hurricane relief" thing.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I combined a little hurricane relief with a little Christmas shopping, and hopefully did a little bit of good. And got a jump on Christmas. 

Not everything I bought was for Christmas gifts, though.  My tool bag for work was absolutely falling apart.  The seams were coming loose in more than one place, and there were holes worn in the bottom.  I was having to regularly poke my tools back in.  I was not pleased, as I've only had it a year.  This time, instead of buying a cheap Wal-Mart bag, I went to Amazon and bought one made from Military Grade canvas.  Having been in the military, I take that whole military grade thing with a grain of salt.

Still, I'm hoping this bag last longer than a year.  It had better, as much as I paid for it.

I also bought new shoes.  They're kind of a necessity.

I wish shoes didn't wear out.  Just about the time they get good and comfortable, it's time to get a new pair.

And I bought me a new little wax melter. 

You know, the kind you melt the scented wax cubes in.  It's starting to smell like Fall in this house.

Finally, after yesterday's discovery that my blog posts were no longer automatically publishing to Twitter, I though to myself  I'd probably ought to check my Google + feed, too.  I went over there, and sure enough, not a post for the last 6 weeks.  I guess I'm going to have to manually publish from now on.

Friday

Today is Friday.  It didn't feel like a Friday, but it is.  So, there you have it.

I've been wondering here lately about the sudden drop in my blog hits.  I mean, did I suddenly get boring or something?  I sure hope not!  After a bit of investigation, I discovered that my syndication app hasn't been publishing my links to my Twitter account.  Since that app is no longer supported -- they want you to move all your content to their pay site -- there really isn't anything I can do to fix it.  I'll just have to remember to manually publish to Twitter.

BTW, if you came here from Twitter, you might want to check out some of the posts you missed.

Now, on to business.  Remember how I'd talked to Supervisor yesterday about the people coming in and drying the end of the line out?  He said he'd talked to them, and they weren't going to be coming in at 5:00 AM any more.  This morning, they came in at 6:00.....and dried the end of the line out.  Sigh...

And I still didn't have any help, and Other Sub-Brazer stood and watched me work -- again.


The good news is, they announced today that we would be working Saturdays for the rest of September, and go back to 5 day work weeks starting in October.  All subject to change, of course, and I have a feeling all these hurricanes are going to make people need to repair or replace some air conditioners.  We might end up with more work than we know what to do with.

Speaking of mornings, it's been chilly and Fallish these last couple of days, so much so that I started putting my Fall decorations out.

Just the wreaths so far, but if this cool weather continues, I might drag the rest of it out, too.

I'd bought these two mums for my front porch a couple of weeks ago.  

I was going to get one of those mini, decorative hay bales to set them on, but walked right out of the store without it.  However, I did get a pie pumpkin.

Funny thing, when I was in line checking out, I put my peppermint mocha coffee creamer up on the conveyor.  The person behind me exclaimed, "I've never seen peppermint mocha creamer!  Is it good?  I'll have to try it."  I was thinking, "Really?  It's only been out for at least 5 years."  But I was good and kept my mouth shut.  For once.

I know, right?  

Before we go, I'd like you to join me in a moment of silence to remember the 8000 lives lost in the Galveston Hurricane, September 8, 1900. 

Not Friday

From the moment I woke up this morning, today has felt like a Friday to me. As many times as I've told myself it's only Thursday, it has still felt like Friday.  It also feels like Fall, for which I am immensely grateful. 

As for work...Group Leader has this new thing where she's having people come in at 5:00 AM and start running the line.  Now, for those of you not familiar with where I work, our assembly lines have water tank in the middle of each line.  This is the tank in which the units are tested for leaks.  We call this the test tank.

The part of the line before the test tank is called The Front Of The Line.  The part of the line behind the test tank is called The Back Of The Line.

Now that we have that cleared up, back to my story.  Group Leader has been having a few people come in early and run the line.  Problem is, she has 6 or 7 people working on the back of the line, but only one working on the front of the line.  I'll just let you guess who that one person is.  I'm doing six different jobs -- none of which is my actual job.  Oh, and Other Sub Brazer also comes in early, but she doesn't do anything but stand at her brazing stand, stuffing her face and watching me work.  Thus bestowing upon herself the moniker of "Lazy Laura". 

What ends up happening is that the people at the end of the line run the line dry.  That means, they finish all the units on the back of the line, so there is nothing whatsoever left.  Then Group Leader comes to the front of the line and starts rushing me to fill the line back up.  Remember, I'm by myself up there, trying to do six different jobs.  This morning, I'd had enough.  I talked to Supervisor and told him, "If you're going to have people coming in to run the line, I've got to have some help up here.  I can't keep up by myself."

Supervisor replied that she wasn't supposed to be running the line.  She was supposed to be filling the line up and getting things ready for the regular shift.  He went down and talked to everyone at the end of the line, so maybe tomorrow morning I can actually do the stuff I'm going in early to actually do. 

Sometime later in the day, there I was at work, just a working away, when it suddenly hit me.  I'm going to have another baby born soon.  No, not mine.  Beverly's other granddaughter Shelbi is expecting a little girl in about 9 weeks.  It kind of snuck up on me.  But it occurred to me that since I knit Brooklyn something, I should probably knit Addlyn something, too. 

Since Addlyn is going to be a late fall baby, I'm probably going to go with a sweater and hat combo.  I'm going to use the same yarn, though.  I've got lots left over. 

Now, I'm off to peruse baby sweater patterns...

Eclipse

Things are getting serious out there in the Atlantic.  We've got three, yes three, count'em three hurricanes we're tracking now.

As Irma barrels towards Florida with Jose right on her heels, and Katia wanders around in the Gulf Of Mexico,

the weather has pretty much consumed all my attention here lately.  My dad would be so proud.  He was the original weatherholic.  He'd track all the tropical depressions, storms, and hurricanes every year.  Starting when I was about 9 or 10, he'd get me my own little tracking chart, so I could track them, too.  We did that every year, until I decided I was too old for such things. 

This was waaaay back in the stone age before the internet and The Weather Channel. You know, back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

I'd like to take a moment from this dire situation and tell you about my trip to watch the eclipse.

I know, I know...finally!  A lot has been going on these last couple of weeks, but the post is going up today!

It was some time last year when I first heard there would be a total eclipse.  As soon as I was able, I put in for a day off of work, so I could watch it.  In reality, I'd just planned on staying here to watch it, since we would be at 90% totality.  Close enough, I figured.

However, when I jokingly posted on Facebook about how the path of totality was just a short drive away, my friend Peggy immediately said, "You can come watch it with me!"  A hotel reservation and boarding arrangements for the dogs and I was all set to go.

Oh, and an insane amount of road trip snacks, none of which could even be remotely considered healthy.
 

I left right after work on Sunday -- and I'll have more about the trip itself in another post.  I made it to the hotel in Sikeston, MO around 7ish that evening.  The next day, I drove the rest of the way up to Jackson and met up with Peggy and her husband Ed.

We drove to a park there in Jackson to watch the actual eclipse.  There was a big event at the South end of the park, so we went to the North end.  I was worried that it would be crowded, but it was just us and two other families.

We talked, and we visited, and Peggy and I knit, and Ed walked down to see the new sidewalk they'd poured, and we ate a picnic lunch.

And Peggy wore her Texas hat

and I wore my Navy Veteran cap, and Ed took a picture of us together eating,

and another picture of us watching the moon's shadow slowly creep across the face of the sun.

I caught Peggy looking at my legs, and cautioned her to put her eclipse glasses on before doing that.  Because they're blindingly white.


We oooed and ahhed over the crescent shaped shadows the tree leaves were casting.

As the moon covered more and more of the sun, we sat enraptured at the wonder that was going on around us.  We were both amazed that even though only a tiny little sliver of sun was left uncovered, it was still bright daylight.  Granted, it was early morning/late evening type of daylight, but it was still bright.  "That's the power of the sun," Peggy remarked.

Finally, the last bit of the sun was completely covered.  I heard a distant cheer from the South end of the park.  Then we all took our eclipse glasses off, and spontaneously, yet in near perfect unison, everyone in the park gasped in amazement, and said, "Oh, wow!"

Trust me, if you've never seen a total eclipse, you need to at some point in your life.  It is the most amazing thing.  Peggy took this picture of the sun's corona, which I shamelessly stole from her Facebook page.

This is her picture, also, of the artificial twilight. 

I was too enraptured to even think about taking pictures.  I mean, the stars were out in the middle of the day!

All too soon, there was a bright spot of sunlight showing, as the moon continued it's trek across the sun.  Back on went the eclipse glasses, and the day became bright again.

Then it got hot again.

Peggy said, "Let's go back home and sit in the air conditioning."  So we did.  We talked, and laughed, and visited some more, until I was ready to go back to the hotel.  And many bitter tears were shed at our parting.

We've already made plans to watch the next one -- April 8, 2024.  Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be there.

Want to join me?