Really Long Weekend

Before I get into today's post, I feel I owe it to my coworker to clarify her question.  Remember the one who asked if there were boy and girl horses?  Yeah...that one.  Now, she knows good and well there are male and female animals, and that you need one of each to make a baby animal.  Well, after she asked her initial question, and I'd dissolved into laughter,  she said, "No, but what I mean is..."

Turns out, she was really asking about the terminology.  In other words, she wanted to know if there is a different word for male horses and female horses.  It all stemmed from a conversation she'd had a few years ago about bulls.  She'd thought a bull was a species of animal, and not the term for a male of certain species.  She may have grown up in a small Mississippi town, but a country girl she is not.

And now, on to your regularly scheduled blog post.

I woke up yesterday, as is my custom, and went to work, as is also my custom.  However, when I stepped outside to put my things into my car, I said to myself, "Self, it's a bit nippy out here!"  I came back inside and checked the temps on my weather app.

65' in August???  What is this sorcery?

The good news is, nobody hates Port Isaac any more.  We are also not envious of Fairbanks.  Farmer's Almanac is predicting another brutally cold and snowy winter this year.  I'm not sure how they figure it, but they're usually more accurate than NOAA.  Also, I've already seen a solid black woolly bear, so there is that.   Now I'm watching the deer to see how soon they turn gray.  They say if the deer are gray by the end of October, it'll be an especially cold winter.

It was even cooler this morning.

Since I have the day off for our long weekend, I was able to leave the back door open and let some fresh air into the house -- for a little while at least.  I closed it when I had to get the dogs back into the house so I could go do my shopping.

I noticed yesterday there were more birds at my feeders than usual.  It would seem annual migration has begun, so I picked up an extra bag of bird seed while I was in town.

I also got another bag of deer corn, and some suet cakes.   I'm probably going to hang my other bird feeder back up, too, just for migration.  Well, I'll see if the squirrels will leave it alone, now that they've got their own food.  If they do, I'll leave it up.

Oh, and I saw my yearling bucks a couple of days ago.  One of them is going to be a 4 point, but the other one has seven (!) points on his antlers.  Maybe one day, I can get a picture of them.

The only other thing I did was to turn my piano back around.

What with football season starting up, I didn't want to have my back to the TV.   This way, I can practice my music while watching the games.  I'll have to come up with some sort of lighting for that corner, but I think it's going to be much better this way.

One thing I these instruments have taught me is I desperately need new glasses.  Here I am, trying to learn to play, and I can't even see the music!  If we have next Friday off, I'm going to go up to the optometrist at Walmart.  They take walk ins, so I don't have to make that dreaded phone call.

That's about it for now.  I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday.  I plan on spending the rest of the weekend watching football, knitting, practicing my music, and keeping an eye on Dorian.  I said a week ago he'd be one to watch.  Now they're predicting he'll make landfall as a Cat 4.

The only question left is, has anybody seen Jim?

An Extraordinary Impact

I've loved all my dogs.  They've all been special in their own ways, and I miss every one who's gone on to that great beyond.



However, every so often there comes along a dog who is so extraordinary, so special,  you still grieve her loss 10 years later.



Katie was just such a dog.




















I suspect that's a wound that will never completely heal.


















Run free, old girl.  We will never forget you.

Katie Belle

November 25, 1995 -- August 29, 2009

Hectic

Yesterday was somewhat of a hectic day for me.  I had my usual 11 hour shift out at the plant, then had to run into the dentist straight after work to get my new crown put on.  That didn't take but a few minutes.  I pulled into the dentist office parking lot at 4:12, and pulled back out at 4:21.  The bad news is, insurance wouldn't pay anything towards my replacement crown, so all of it had to come out of my pocket.  I was so excited, because I'd gotten that credit card down to $2K and some change.  Now, it's back up over $3K.  Sigh...a few more months...

Anyway, I was relieved to get it done.  The most stressful part is getting out of the plant, then flying across town to get there in only 15 minutes.  I said to myself, no more 4:15 appointments for me!  I'm not going to give myself a stroke trying to get there on time.  It's only going to get worse in the future, because the plant is installing these turnstiles over the employee entrance.

Eventually, they're going to have it so you have to scan your badge to get into the plant, and scan it again to get out.  They were saying there would be a 6 second delay between employees, but I think they're going to shorten that.  If they left it at 6 seconds, it'd take about 20 minutes just to get all of the employees out the door at the end of the day. 

Funny thing, today they were working on them, and tripped a breaker or something, plunging the entire plant into darkness.  OK, it wasn't really that dark, because they do have emergency lights up, but still...After milling around in the dark a few moments, someone in management said to send all the employees outside.  Out we went, and were just hanging around in the parking lot, when someone said, "Go to your designated area."

And by designated area, they mean the place each department is supposed to report to in the event of a fire alarm, bomb threat, or any other reason they'd need to evacuate the plant. 

Now, this is the first time we've ever had to evacuate since they moved the sub-brazers into the tubing department.  We haven't even had a fire drill since I don't remember when.  I'm pretty sure that's a violation of some sort of fire code or something.  So, all us brazers were wandering around the parking lot, looking for the sign that said Tubing. 

"There's Fin Press.  There's Line 1...That's Line 7...Where is Tubing?"

We eventually found our sign. 

Do you see it?  It's there.  Really, it is.  Honest and for true.

We got all the way out there and one of my coworkers said, "Dang, I got all the way out here and now I need to pee!"  To which I replied, "You can go behind them weeds," and another coworker said, "Nobody going to see you back there!" 

But I digress...

Back to yesterday. 

I got out of the dentist office, then had to go vote in the runoff on the way home.  It didn't take a minute, either, and I got another sticker. 

Finally, I made it home.  I sat down at the computer, because I had something really funny to tell you.   I logged on, and got the little notification, "Your computer needs a restart".  OK, no problem.  I hit the "Restart Now" icon and waited for the computer to reboot.  That's when I saw the dreaded line:  "Your computer is updating.  This may take a while." 

Three hours later, it still wasn't done.  It wasn't even close to being done. "Them people ain't gonna get no blog post today,"  I said to myself.  I cringed at my own grammar and went to bed. 

On the bright side, you now get to hear the funny thing I was going to tell you yesterday, but had to wait until today, due to stupid computer updates. 

Out at the plant, I have a coworker named Gladiola.  Like the flower.  One of the dispatchers insists on calling her Gladolia, and it sets my teeth on edge every single time.  But that's not what this story is about. 

Gladiola is a person of color.  Remember that.  It is significant.

Yesterday, one of the HR people was walking around the plant with a police officer and a sheriff's deputy.   I'm not sure what was going on, but they were out there getting a tour of the facilities.  The police officer was white, and the sheriff's deputy was black.  Normally, I wouldn't even make such a distinction, but that point must be made, or nothing that follows will seem even slightly humorous. 

As they were walking down the aisle, one of the other sub-brazers said, "That's Gladiola's son."  And Edna Who Loves To See Her Name In My Blog replied, "Which one?" 

Which one?  Which one?????  Yes, she really did say that. 

I thought Coworker Dorothy was going to hurt herself from laughing.

Once we could breathe again, I told Edna, "Don't feel too bad.  Just wait until you hear what Vanessa asked me yesterday." 

"Oh, Becky, don't tell that!"  But it was too late...the story is as follows. 

There I was at work, just a working away, when Vanessa said, "Becky, it's stupid question time."  She looked at me and said in all seriousness, "Are there girl horses and boy horses?" 

I stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded, and blurted out, "Where do you think baby horses come from?"

Then I dissolved into fits of laughter and was completely useless and unproductive for the rest of the day. 

One last thing before I let you go for today.  Someone has started referring to our Group Leader as "Group Leader Shark".  You know, like Baby shark do do do do.

Not only has it stuck, it's spreading.  We're going to try to make it go plant wide. 

OK, that's it for today.  Isn't that enough?

Labor Day

The first thing I though when I woke up this morning was, "Ugh, I don't want to get up.  Why can't we have Monday off, too?"  Then it struck me....when the heck is Labor Day anyway?

Getting up, I checked the calendar, and yippee!  It's next week!  Maybe I'll finally get one of those three day weekends they promised us when they switched us to this alternate schedule.

But my next thought was, "Ugh, I still have to go to work today.  Hmmm, maybe I'll call in sick and take another day off."  Alas, I didn't want to blow my perfect attendance this close to the end of the month, so I dragged my weary body in to work.  Surprisingly, the day went by fairly quickly.  Funny how cooler temps and having actual work to do does that.

By the way, it was only cool because it's Monday and all the machines have been shut down for a few days, and it was raining.  It'll be back to being its usual oven before the week is out.  The good news is, it's only a few more days until September!  Yes, it'll still be hot, but Fall is on the way!

I don't know about you, but bales of hay in a field speaks Fall to me.  And yes, I pulled over and stopped to take that photo.  Actually, I was at a stop sign, so I was kind of already stopped anyway.  The point is, I wasn't driving when I took it.  So there. 

More good news, after 4 months, they finally opened the levee road across the dam.  Last week, I went out and drove across it, just because I could.

The water is still high, but things are moving in the right direction.  And yes, I pulled over and stopped (at that little parking space below the visitor's center, for you local folks) to take that picture. 

I'm thinking about getting a fishing license again.  I used to fish a lot, but when my stalker found out I like to fish, he badgered and nagged and pestered and worries me so much about fishing, it kind of put me off it.  Of course, it'd be better if I had a boat, but still...

Before I leave you, the next hat is progressing nicely.

The colorway is Red Heart Pumpkin, but it looks hunter orange to me.  Soon, I'll have to pack all my hats up and send them on their merry way, so my friend can get her blessing bags ready before winter.

I guess that's it for today.  One day, the blog will be interesting again, but until then, you'll have to put up with this mindless drivel.

The Last Book

People can be such twits, I'm telling ya. 

We have this one lady at work...I call her Lazy L, because she has two speeds:  Super slow motion, and super duper slow motion.  She is not a nice person.  She's one of those folks who is always trying to stir up stuff.  She's a liar and an instigator.

I got into it with her a few weeks ago.  See, the line I braze for was down waiting on parts -- parts I didn't even have to braze for them.  I went into the tubing department, and found the headers I needed.  I carried the box to Lazy L and said, now mind you, I was perfectly polite and respectful about it...I said, "Can you do these for me real quick, please?"   

She got all irate, and started screaming and hollering, saying "NO!  I do them in the order they send them down the line!"  I said, "But, the line is down waiting on them."  She yelled, "I don't know nothing about that!" and went on doing what she was doing.

I went back to my stand, but another employee went and got Group Leader.  She got the box of parts and took them to Lazy L, telling her to do them -- only she wasn't nearly as nice as I was.  That made Lazy L mad, so she stood there just glaring at me.  I guess she thought she was going to intimidate me, but I just laughed at her.

Another time, I was hunting some adapter tubes.  I grabbed the hook the parts stagers use to pull the bins down the line, only the parts in the bin I pulled weren't the ones I needed.  I hung the hook back where I found it and walked off.  Lazy L started shouting that I'd put the hook in the wrong place.  Since I'd put it right back where I'd found it, I figured she's just trying to start something, so I ignored her and walked off.  Another employee asked what was going on, and Lazy L said, "I told that old b*tch..."  I turned around and said, "Excuse me?"  She said, "I said Becky.  I said that old Becky."  If she said that, how did she even know what I was talking about?  I said, "You'd better watch your mouth!"  And she popped back, "YOU better watch YOUR mouth!" like she was threatening me.  Yeah, good luck with that. 

There have been other incidents with her.  She's run off so many employees, because she's so hard to work with.  I heard one girl tell Supervisor she wasn't working over there any more, and if Sup didn't move her, she'd quit.  She's always trying to stir up crap and push people into reacting.  One of these days, she's going to push someone too far, and end up getting her tail end whipped.

One of my fellow sub brazers' birthday is next month.  Since it's her big Five Oh, we were planning a surprise party for her.  We were all sneaking around, trying to be secretive and all.  Only yesterday morning, guess who blabbed to her about it.  On purpose, too.  Now, why would you do something like that?  She was just trying to mess up our surprise, because she's just sorry. 

Some people are like that. 

In better news, the book of technical and dexterity exercises I'd ordered got here today.

It's actually three books combined into one:  Hanon The Virtuoso Pianist, Czerny Practical Method, and Schmitt Op 16 Preparatory.  The only complaint I have about it is I wish it were spiral bound.  The way it is bound, the pages don't stay open.  I put a binder clip on it, but that isn't helping much. 

I'm hoping with time, the binding will loosen, and the book will stay open better.  In the meantime, I'm thinking I may just run off copies on my scanner to make it easier to play.  So to speak.

Rylea has decided she likes to lay under my piano, both when I am playing, and when I'm not.

It's almost like I have a fan. 

A fan who sometimes walks out on me....

Little butt. 

Way Too Late

I stayed up way too late playing the piano last night, and believe me, I've felt it today.  I was going to do better...but then, these arrived. 

Yep, I'm not getting to bed early tonight after all.  The one on the left seems more designed to be used with the All In One course, while the one on the right is just simple music arrangements.  It's got flats in it, though.  I haven't learned flats yet. 

I tried to play a few songs, but the mail carrier had rolled the envelopes up to fit them into my mail box, and the pages kept closing.  I've got them under a book, so maybe by the time I get home tomorrow, they'll be flat enough. 

I've got one more book to order, a finger strength and dexterity exercise book, then I'll be done for a while.  Ordering books that is. 

By the way, I'm still plugging away at my guitar, and no you are not getting a guitar recital.  Not yet anyway. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's music to be made!

 

Thank You All!

Before I begin, I'd like to thank you all for your kind comments on my little recital.  I'll be doing those periodically.  Not every month, but maybe every three or four months.  My cousin Marsha suggested I do a Christmas concert, so I hopped onto Amazon and ordered a couple of Level 1 Christmas books.  They are supposed to get here tomorrow, so I can go ahead and start learning those.  That ought to give me plenty of time to practice up. 

Moving right along, some of you with better memories than I may recall a month or so ago I found this little notation at the bottom of one of my lesson pages.

It says, "You are now ready to begin GREATEST HITS, Level 1".  At the time, I chose not to order the book, based on reviews saying it was a bit too difficult for someone just beginning to play.  However, with another month of practice under my belt, one day last week, I took the plunge.

Before I logged off Amazon, I said to myself, "Self, while you're here, might as well get the other two, too."  And that's exactly what I did. 

I promptly put the level 2 and 3 books on the shelf with the appropriate level course books, for future use, and eagerly opened my level 1 book.  Some of the songs include:

Love Me Tender
Edelweiss
Beauty And The Beast (Tale As Old As Time)
Nadia's Theme

And more.  Squee!  I'm so excited!  I had to make my self practice my regular course before I started the new stuff, but once I'd finished, I grabbed up my new book, and began learning the first song, which is Love Me Tender.

What's cool about this book is up in the top corner by the title of each song, it tells you when you are ready to start learning that song.  As in, "You are ready to learn this song after page 54 of Alfred's All In One Lesson Book" or whatever.  By that guide, there are four songs I can learn at this time.  The songs are challenging, but not impossible. 

You may notice a reduced presence on Facebook over the next few weeks.  Eh, it's too depressing to get on FB any more anyway. 

And finally, I finished my Coriolis hat while watching Avengers:  Endgame yesterday.

This yarn was much better to work with than the other yarn I made this pattern out of.  It's much less splitty. 

I guess that's about it for now.  I think I'll go practice my new music a bit before bed time. 

Piano Recital

When I was a kid, I took piano lessons for a year.

And when I say a year, mean a school year, so it was really 9 months, or so.

By and by, recital time came around and my teacher began preparing her students for said recital.  Now, there was this one piece she had me learning called Our School Band.  I still remember it -- mainly because I hated that piece with a passion.

And when I say with a passion, I mean the passion of all the fires of a thousand volcanoes.

I seriously hated that song.  I don't know why.  It didn't even have any words, but I still hated it.  Guess which one Mrs. D chose for me to play at the recital?  Yep, that horrible song.  I told her I hated the song and didn't want to play it.  I begged her to let me play something else.  I said I'd be too embarrassed to play that song.

She said, "Embarrassed?  Why would you be embarrassed?  There's nothing wrong with that song, and you're going to play it."  She also had me playing two other songs, and to this day, I don't understand why I had to play all three.  Surely, two songs were enough, especially when one of them was Parade of The Tin Soldiers by Leon Jessel, played as a duet with the teacher.  But nooooo.

Finally, the big day arrived, and we had a rehearsal that afternoon, before the actual recital.  When it was my turn to practice, everything seemed to go well.  Until...I got to that horrible Our School Band song.  Oh, how I hated that song, but I was up there gamely banging my way through it, when I heard laughter.  It came from a group of girls, other students, waiting their turn to rehearse.  They laughed and laughed through the whole song.  I was convinced they were laughing at me having to play that song.

My mother insisted they were laughing at my younger brother, and not me, but I wasn't having it.  That night, I flat out refused to go to the recital.  By the next year, my mother had cancelled my lessons.  When school started back the following August, I hadn't yet gotten into the routine of things.  I kept forgetting which day my piano lesson was on, and would walk home from school instead of to the teacher's house.  My mother was furious, claiming I was being defiant and refusing to go to my lessons.  I tried to tell her I wasn't forgetting on purpose, but she wouldn't listen.   She said she wasn't going to fight me on this, and she stopped my lessons.

Thus, I have never been to a piano recital.

I've always regretted not continuing with my piano lessons, and if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that listening to The Piano Guys has inspired me to take it up again.  I cashed in my iBotta savings and bought myself a keyboard.

Today, I've had my keyboard (which I call my piano, even though it's technically not) for exactly two months, so I thought I'd invite you to my own little recital, so you can see how I'm progressing.

*Please ignore the crappy sound quality.  I'm afraid it's going to be that way for a while, until I can save up for a better camera -- or until Cody comes home and can film me on my phone.

For my first piece, I'd like to play a song from Alfred's All-In-One Course.  This song is called The Cuckoo.



This next song doesn't have a title.  I guess it's really a technical exercise, but I liked it.  I hope you do, too.



And finally, I will end my recital with this one.  No explanation is necessary.

I will say, however, it isn't in my piano course book.  I downloaded the sheet music, and truthfully, I haven't even learned some of these notes, which is why I'm playing so slowly.



Thank you for attending my little recital.  I hope you enjoyed it.

P.S.  Be kind.  I have only been playing for two months, after all.

Half Day Off

I'd taken a half day off work today -- mainly to use up my vacation days, since they don't let you carry them over.  Use them or lose them type of thing.  The plan was to watch Endgame and knit, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. 

Back a couple of weeks ago during my regular dentist appointment, my dentist told me I needed a filling.  Sure, and since I'd already had a half day of vacation approved, so I scheduled it for this afternoon.  Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes, right?  But you know what they say about...well, you know.

A few weeks back, I noticed that one of my crowns was loose.  I mentioned it to Dr. Horan at my checkup.  He thought having the root canal on it last December might have cracked the adhesive, and it just gradually worked loose.  I was worried that my actual tooth had broken, and I'd be losing another one. 

I got there today, and he filled my cavity, then tried to work the loose crown off the other tooth.  The hope was that he could remove it, clean it up, and re-cement it.  Unfortunately, he couldn't get the crown off.  We discussed it, and the only real solution is to completely replace the crown.  He said it would have to be done, and it would be better to do it sooner, before worse problems develop.  He said we could go ahead and do it today, if I wanted to.  I said, "Might as well." 

First thing the dentist did was to take an X-Ray.  The root canal and actual tooth looked good, so that was a relief to me.  I won't be losing another tooth.  Whew!

He then cut the old crown off and discovered it was the buildup underneath that was loose.  He had to cut that off and replace it, as well.  Again, he thinks that may have happened during that root canal I had on it.

Needless to say, all of that took a lot longer than we'd originally planned, so I guess I'll put off watching Endgame until the weekend. 

Speaking of the weekend, they have us working Friday again.  Now, why they are cutting our hours during the week, but still having us come in on Friday...well, scuttlebutt has it they did that so they could take our 2:30 break away.  They can't just tell us we can't take it, because that came from HR.  All personnel who work a 12 hour shift get a 10 minute break at 2:30. 

The only way they can keep us from taking that break is to cut our shifts by an hour, and that's why they did it.  At least that's the rumor going around...

And finally, I finished this hat.

The yarn is Red Heart Supersaver in the Pinata colorway.  It's some my friend Peggy sent me when she was de-stashing. 

I cast on another Coriolis hat. 

I think Peggy sent me this yarn, too.  It's Red Heart Supersaver in Pale Yellow. 

This is a really fun pattern to knit.  It's busy enough not to be boring, but mindlesss enough I can still watch TV while working on it.  I see a lot more of them in my future.

Computers and Aliens

There I was at work, just a working away, when a certain former group leader of mine came into the sub-brazing department.  He gestured at me to come over to where he was, so I went to see what he wanted.  He asked me to pull up the header assembly print for a work order he had in his hand. 

I said, "Come over here.  I'll teach you how to do it." 

"Nope, " he said, "Don't want to learn." 

"You're going to have to eventually," I responded.

 He replied, "Me and computers don't get along." 

I asked him, "Do you have a phone?"  When he said yes, I asked, "Is it a smart phone or a stupid phone?" 

"It's...a...smartphone," he said hesitantly, as if he were unsure what I was getting at. 

"Then you have a little computer in your pocket," I said. 

"Ummm...." 

And that was the end of that conversation.

OK, moving right  along.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've no doubt heard about this Storm Area 51 Event that's supposed to be happening next month.  It was meant to be a joke, but I have it on good authority that hotels in the area are getting booked up for those dates. 

And by "good authority," I mean that awesome hunk of pure awesomeness who used to be my imaginary boyfriend before he got married to someone who is not me, Bill Whittle mentioned it in one of his videos.

Naturally, I have no intention of traveling to Nevada to storm any military facility -- mainly because I have no desire to get shot, and that's a darn good way to get shot.  But, I decided to do the next best thing, and I signed up for the Area 51 virtual race on Yes.Fit.  The plan was to time it so I will vinish the virtual race pretty close to the date of they are supposed to storm Area 51. 

It sounded like a good idea at the time.  But no...

I'm telling you, this is the most boring race ever!  Even if you are the lead dog,

the

scenery

never

changes. 

And it's a long race, too!  It's 97 miles, but the good news is, I'm halfway done. 

Even more good news, there's supposed to be a storm system pass through tonight.  It'll drop the temps from the high 90s to the low 90s. 

Yay!...

I think...

Sunday Hymn

Slowdown

Me:  Man, I hate these 12 hour shifts!  You don't have time to do anything! I'm so tired!  They are working us to death!

Work:  Next week, cut back to 11 hour shifts.

Also me:  No!  Not my overtime!  Don't take away my extra hour! Give me my overtime back!

Yep, it would appear the fall slowdown is in full swing out at the plant.  Not that I'm complaining ...too much.  I'm going to miss the extra hours on my paycheck, but maybe I'll have more time to practice my instruments and blog.  And maybe write a few more letters.  And read more books.

Speaking of which, I bought a new one.

I've always liked Shel Silverstein, but I'd hardly say he writes poems for children.  There is a lot of underlying anger in some of his stuff.  Some of it is cute and funny, but there are quite a few that I would not read to a 5-8 year old child.  Yet, that is the audience they are marketed towards.

There aren't any new episodes of Lone Star Law out right now, so I've been watching North Woods Law, about game wardens in Maine.  It's not as good, but then I am biased.  In one episode, they were out in the woods trying to find some lost hunters.  The game warden was using an old fashioned compass to try to locate them.  Needless to say, it occurred to me that a compass might ought to find its way into my shopping cart -- and into my bug out bag.

Sometimes, you are in a place your cell phone might not get a signal, or what if your battery runs down?  Sometimes the old ways are best.  Or as one of my favorite shanty group sings:

New-fangled gear's no use to you
When you're off Cape Horn with your fuses blew;
Then's the time for to curse the day
You sent your shantyman away.

The irony of that is, hardly anyone uses fuses any more.  Even they are old fashioned these days.  It's all circuit breakers and GFI now.

OK, moving right along, the squirrels have found their feeder!

It's not the greatest picture, but it's the best I can do with my crappy camera.  Also, the birds have started eating from their new feeder, but the picture I got of them is even worse.  Most exciting of all, Mama Doe brought her twins out!

I'm not supposed to be feeding them due to the CWD, but squirrels are messy.  They toss corn everywhere, and sometimes the deer come out and clean up beneath the feeder.    BTW, I managed to get my back door open enough to stick the camera outside and take a slightly better picture of them.  The squirrels are a lot more skittish.

Not that Mama Doe wasn't skittish.  She seemed very nervous, so I'm guessing this is the first time she's actually taken the twins with her.

Oh, and I was going to buy some real squirrel food, but it was mighty expensive.  It was like $8 for a 10 lb bag.  Deer corn is $7 for a 40 lb bag.  They'll keep getting deer corn for now.  And maybe for always.

I don't even want to know what prompted this sign, seen at work by the back break room.

And last, but certainly not least, I don't care what the calendar says, I don't care that it's still triple digits outside, when the candy corn hits the stores, it's FALL!

Now, bring on the football!

Just Like That

Just like that, it's back to being summer. 

And just like that, we're all back to hating Port Isaac.

But not Fairbanks, because they have to deal with Alaska winters.  We'll give them a pass.

It was so hot in the plant today, when I came out of the break room after 2:30 break, my glasses fogged up. 

It was so hot, I began sending subliminal hints to The Boss Who Must Not Be Named to bring us popsciles.  Like a man lost in the desert crying "water, water," every time I saw him, I called out  "Popsicle!  Popsicle!"  It must have worked, because along about 3:00, he brought us some.

I'm sure you will all be pleased to know, I managed to consume mine without choking on the juice this time. 

It got up to 96' at my work station today -- inside a supposedly air conditioned plant. The bad news is, it's supposed to be even hotter next week. 

You know you live a sad and pathetic life when the most exciting thing that happens is you get to come straight home after work.  Let's see, yesterday I had to vote, which wouldn't have taken nearly as long if I hadn't yapped so long with my friend afterward.  Monday, I had to go pay a bill.  I sat there in the parking lot after work, wondering if I could put it off.  It's not due until Friday, after all.

Then I said to myself, "Self, might as well go and get that there bill paid, and you can check the cotton fields on that road on the way." 

Then I said to myself, "Seriously, Self?  You want to check the cotton fields?"  Truly, I should have been a farmer.   Or a farmer's wife.  Or a cattle rancher.  Or a shrimping boat captain.  Or a hermit.

You know, they say to get a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.  That's my conundrum.  I love the actual work that I do.  I love brazing, and can't imagine myself doing anything else -- except maybe being a farmer.  Or a farmer's wife.  Or a cattle rancher.  Or a shrimping boat captain.  Or a hermit. 

I love brazing.  It's the toxic environment out at the plant I hate. 



The unorganization.  The clutter.  The disorder.  The way they have us jammed into our work space like sardines. 

The attitude of the management towards the employees.  Seriously.  I've never worked in a place that acted so much like they hate the people who work for them.   They act like the want us to hate working there, and they work hard making sure we do.  Hate working there, that is. 

And I do.  I hate it there.  I can't wait to get out, and never go back!

Hmmm, I wonder how much shrimping boats cost? 

Primary

Today is primary day in several states, mine included. 

I voted, and I got a sticker.  I told my friend who works the polls that everyone between the polling place and my house is going to know I voted.  Which is only about a mile and a half.  But look!  I got a sticker!

People tend to not vote in primaries as much as they should.  I don't know why.  They are just as important as the general election in November.  Here's the thing...if you're tired of the same old same old...

If you're tired of the brown water coming out of your taps,
If you're tired of potholes that'll jar your fillings right out of your teeth,
If you're tired of our hit and miss trash pickup,
If you're tired of the way things are in general,

Then you need to get out an vote in the primaries.  Nothing's going to change if you keep voting for the same people over and over and over...

But enough about that.

My friend, the one that works the polls, she's the same one I used to get together and knit with - - long, long ago.  OK, we've done it twice, and it wasn't that long ago, but we keep saying we're going to get together again.  I just don't know when.   Maybe work will slow down soon.  I want to show her that new cast on I recently learned, the one I use for all my hats now.

She has family in El Paso, too, and they're all safe.  I was telling her about my brother, and how they always go to that Walmart on Saturday mornings, and I'm telling you, I broke out into a cold sweat just thinking about how close he came to being there.  I'm so thankful he's safe. 

By the way, I don't think the birds like my new squirrel proof feeder.  They've cleaned out the old one I hung by my kitchen window, but haven't touched the new one. 

Eh, maybe they'll get used to it soon. 

All Over

Well, Shark Week is over for another year, and so is my long weekend.  I did not want to go back to work this morning.  I seriously considered calling in sick and staying home another day, but I talked some sense into myself.

"Dummy!" I said to myself, "Don't waste a point, blow your monthly attendance bonus, and your 6 month perfect attendance when you just had 4 days off!"  So, I got up and trudged on into work -- even though I sure didn't want to.

The first day back is always hard, and this one was no exception.  We got there and our computers were down.  We couldn't clock in, and I couldn't run off a copy of the schedule.  My schedule is like my brain.  I can't do anything without it.  I wandered around feeling lost for a while, until someone got the computers back up.  I didn't really take that long, and I had work to do, but I still felt discombobulated without my schedule.

The rest of the day passed without incident, but I'm plumb knackered.  I have a feeling this is going to be one of those I'm so tired I hope this post is coherent posts.   No promises, eh?

Every so often, I have one of those moments I look back on later in life and wonder what was I thinking?  I certain crush I had when I was in Jr. High is just such a moment.  I look back at that guy, how arrogant and disdainful he was -- not just of me, but of anyone he deemed unworthy -- and wonder what was I thinking?

I have a feeling this is going to be another one.  I bought The Little Prince.

Oh, I had the book before.  I've had a copy for ages, and have read it over and over.  But this one is in French.

I don't speak French.  What was I thinking?

Truthfully, I'd read the book in the original French years and years ago -- when I was in college.  One of my classmates asked me if I understood what I was reading.  Yes, I did, back then.  I'd taken French in high school, and between that and my familiarity with the story, I was able to grasp most of it.  Ever since then, I've wanted a copy in French, even though after all this time, I remember very little of the language. 

Maybe I'll add French to all the things I'm trying to learn right now...

Speaking of, I'm still struggling with my guitar.  The book I bought is teaching the notes on the strings right now.  My very next lesson gets into chords.  That's what I struggled with the first time around.  That book started off with the most difficult chord -- the F chord-- and I just couldn't grasp it.  This time, they start with the C chord, which I kind of already know.  Also, this time, I have an accomplished guitarist in the family to whom I can cry "Help!" if I need to.  And I may need to.

My piano lessons are progressing nicely, though.  I was noticing over the weekend I'm already on page 80 of my piano book, and only on page 17 of my guitar book.  Piano is coming much more naturally to me.  Maybe it's because I had that year of lessons when I was a kid.  But that was 43 years ago, so maybe not. 

What else did I do over the weekend?  Well, I'll tell you.   While watching Shark Week, I finished a hat. 

This one is out of the Caron Simply Soft I bought on clearance a few weeks ago.  Then I cast on another. 

This is Red Heart Pinata that my friend Peggy sent me when she was de-stashing. 

One last thing I did was to just sit here being thankful.  See, my brother and his family live in El Paso.  Every Saturday, they go to Wal-mart.  Only, this Saturday, they decided they just didn't need anything that badly, so they stayed home. 

Even Russell said it had to be divine intervention.

Whatever it was, I'm thankful they were not there. 

Amen.

Not Eaten

No, I have not been eaten by a shark.  At least not yet.  I'm just worn out, and don't really feel like doing much.  Not even blogging.  The good news is, work seems to be slowing down a bit.  The plant only worked a partial shift today -- component areas and a few lines.  I didn't have to go in, due to my having taken vacation yesterday.  So, what have I been doing with my days off?

For the most part, I've just been relaxing and being lazy -- and watching Shark Week, of course.

Yesterday, the first order of business was to go to the dentist for my semi-annual cleaning and checkup.  We discussed getting implants for my recently broken tooth.  What Dr. Horan suggested was that I get an implant bridge.  See, I had some molars that my permanent teeth never came in, so my primary teeth never fell out.  When I was 19, my dentist pulled the primary teeth and gave me bridges in those spots.  I believe that's why I'm losing my molars now -- because of those bridges.

The problem is, once you lose a tooth, the bone in your jaw starts receding, and in those spots -- the ones where the tooth has been missing for 35 years -- doesn't have enough bone left for an implant.  We discussed some of the options -- trying to build the bone back up with a graft and what not, but he thinks doing an implant on either side and bridging the gap between would be the best bet.  He referred me to an oral surgeon who does a lot of implants.  I still have to call and make an appointment with her.

Yeah, you know me and phones.

It'll be October before I can get up there anyway, so I'll procrastinate until the last minute -- as usual.  BTW, he did not extract the root of my broken tooth, and I'm thinking he did it so the bone won't start deteriorating, since we're going to do implants. 

That was yesterday. 

This morning, the plan was to get up and go into town to do my business.  You know, shopping, payday errands and the like.  However, once I'd made the turn to get onto the access ramp to the highway, I discovered they had the whole road blocked.  No way to get onto the southbound lane, and no way to turn around and go back.  Well, no legal way at least. 

Gee, you could have let me know sometime before I got to the point of no return.

Not a big problem.  I'd just get on the Northbound side of the highway and get off at the Coffeeville exit.  Just a couple of miles up the road, and I needed to get gas anyway.  Alas, when I got up there, they had that exit closed as well.  I tried to get off, and the workers just kept waving me northward.  I had to go all the way to Tillatoba (ten miles further up, for you non local folks) to even find a place I could turn around.  I briefly considered going on up to Batesville, but I didn't really want to go that far today.

I turned around at Tillatoba, and got back onto the highway.  I got off at the Coffeeville exit on the Southbound side and thought, "While I'm here, might as well get gas."  That's exactly what I did. 

Once I'd finally made it into town, I ran my errands, then went on a bit of a spending spree.  See, the squirrels have found my bird feeders, and are emptying them out every day or two.  I figured, if you can't beat them, get them their own food.

Yes, I bought a squirrel feeder.

I hung it on the pecan tree just behind the fence, and filled it with loose corn, but so far, I haven't seen any squirrels feeding from it. 

I looked for some squirrel food -- which is just corn with peanuts and some other stuff added to it, but they were out, so I filled it with deer corn.  Hopefully, the squirrels will eat that, until I can get them some peanuts or something.  To complete the transition, I also bought what is supposed to be a squirrel proof bird feeder.

If anything heaver than a cardinal lands on those perches, the ports close and the squirrels can't get to the feed.  Eventually, they give up trying.  We shall see.

What got to me about it, though, were the instructions.  They said to hang the feeder away from trees or buildings, or anything a squirrel could jump onto it from, and to add a squirrel baffle.  What's the point of a "squirrel proof feeder" if you've got to do all that other stuff to keep them out?  I could have just bought the baffle and saved myself $20.  I hung my feeder on the hook under the eaves of my shed -- and moved the one that was there to a hook just outside my kitchen window.  Maybe I can watch birds while I'm washing dishes or whatever.

Speaking of, I was washing dishes, and saw one of my deer come out of the woods.  I've been seeing one of my big does these last few days.  I know she's got a fawn somewhere, because her bag is full.  I haven't seen the baby yet, though.  Buuuut, this deer wasn't her.  It was a little buck!  I think he is one of the fawns from last year.  He has antlers in velvet, and isn't a spike!  Yay! 

We are still under a supplemental feeding ban in my county, due to Chronic Wasting Disease, so I miss seeing my deer every day.  BTW, I tried to put the squirrel feeder high enough the deer couldn't reach it easily, but if some corn should just happen to spill on the ground, well, it'd be fair game,  wouldn't it?

The last things I bought on my spending spree were a book,

and some emergency blankets and panchos for my bug out bag.

They weren't but a couple of dollars each, so I grabbed extras, just in case. 

Now, if work really is starting to slow down for the fall, I'd probably better stop spending so much money. 

Got Christmas coming up and all.