And Then There Were None

 Whelp, the last supervisor standing has fallen.  No, he doesn't have the corona, as far as I know, but he's been put into quarantine, along with Group Leader Shark.  He was the last supervisor left -- at least on day shift -- who hadn't been put into quarantine at least once.  And the way it happened is as follows. 

A couple of days ago, one of the ladies over in tubing fell out.  Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't see any of this happen.  Another coworker told me about it after the fact.  Anyway, she fell out.  I don't know if she lost consciousness completely, but when they -- and by "they" I mean the first responders --got her up, she'd pooped on herself.  That is never good. 

Word came back Friday that she'd tested positive, so some of those who'd rendered first aid to her went into quarantine.  I'm not sure why all of them didn't go, but I guess the safety people felt they didn't need to.  

By the way, because the plant is so far out, and ambulance service here in town is iffy at best, we have our own team of EMTs on site.  They are usually supervisors and group leaders who've been through the training and can render first aid until the ambulance gets there.  Which sometimes takes 30 minutes or more.  

You know, or maybe you don't if you're new to this blog, it's been a tradition in my family for years to get a new ornament for our Christmas tree every year.  Sometimes, it's just a random ornament that I liked, but frequently, I try to get something that represented a significant event that occurred during the year.  This being the year of the plague, how could I resist?

It'll be perfect for 2020!  

Speaking of Christmas, my laptop speakers aren't working correctly.  I'm a bit aggravated about that, because my laptop is less than a year old.  They'll get loud, then cut out, then get loud again.  Cody thinks it might be a driver issue, but I'm thinking it might be a loose wire or something.  I've had some external laptop speakers for about ten-ish years, and the sound is just fine when I plug them in, so I'm not sure it's a driver.  And usually, getting any work done on a cheap laptop isn't worth the cost.  

Since it happened a few weeks ago, I've been using my external speakers, but as I said before, I've had them for ten-ish years, and after using them for so long, my they've have given up the ghost.  I watch a lot of videos on my laptop, so naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I went onto Amazon and ordered some new speakers.

 

They are quite a bit bigger than I thought they'd be, but they've got a good sound.  Since I'm still streaming church, I'll have no problem hearing the sermon now. 

After I placed my order, I got a bit of a surprise.  See this book?  

Yeah, I thought it was in the Save For Later section of my cart.  Apparently it wasn't.  I now have a whole book of Christmas music.  It's a little too advanced for where I am in my piano lessons, but hopefully, by next year, I can play some songs from it. 

I'll let you know how that goes.  

And finally, it looks like my family all escaped any serious damage from hurricane  Laura.  Power is still out in many places, and my brother said he's not going home until the power is back on.  The good news is, the cattle are all OK.  I was more worried about them, because there was no way to evacuate them.  They were just stuck riding the storm out.  

The really exciting news is, President Trump, Governor Abbot, and Senator Cruz were all in my hometown!  I don't care what your politics are, I think that's pretty cool.  

Brief

 This is going to be a brief post, because I've been neglecting my piano to keep the blog updated.  Oh, I've been practicing, but not like I should.  I'm just dropping in to let you know that my hometown was spared the full wrath of Laura. 

Lake Charles, Louisiana took the worst of it, but still, once again Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and though the damage is great, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been.  I'm not going to post a bunch of photos, because if you want to see them, there are plenty to be found online.  I did want to show you this one.  To me, this is probably the most worrisome.

This is the Isle of Capri riverboat casino, which broke loose from its moorings and struck the Lake Charles Bridge.  They're saying it's stuck there.  The truly worrisome part is, that bridge has already been declared unsound by structural engineers.  We don't even drive over it any more...except when Cody and I are talking about rice dryers and he misses the loop...then you pray the whole way over it, "Please don't collapse today."  

Before I go, just one thing more.  My new mask was a big hit at work. 

I think Stalker was a bit jealous.  Why?  Because today, I had a better beard than he does.  

He he he.   

The Whelming Flood

 My concern finally got the better of me, so this morning, I tracked down one of the supervisors and asked him how Other Boss was doing.  He told me Other Boss is doing better.  He'd been very sick for a while, but seems to have turned a corner.   His wife, on the other hand, has been put into hospice care.  She is not expected to survive.   

Also, remember my friend's pastor who died last week?  This morning, she told me his wife has also died.  Both died of COVID.

Of course, the big news of the day is the monster storm bearing down on the Texas and Louisiana coast. 

Heh, you know you're a weather geek when the first thing you do after you wake up is to grab your phone and check the status of the hurricane.  I can neither confirm nor deny that that is exactly what I did this morning.  Just in case you're living under a rock and haven't heard, Laura strengthened to a Category 2 overnight, and as of this writing, sits at a strong Category 4.  Her sustained winds are at 150 MPH -- only 7 miles shy of a Category 5.  The National Hurricane Center is saying she will produce an "unsurvivable" storm surge.  

I've never in my life heard of that, but it's what they're saying.  It's so bad, the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, LA evacuated.  It's so bad, my baby brother Scott and his wife have evacuated.  He's never evacuated from a hurricane in his life, so you know it's serious.  Beverly and James have also evacuated.  Beverly told me, "We're getting too old to ride this stuff out."  

By the way, The Jim is in my hometown.  

I feel a lot better knowing my family and most of my friends have turned tail and run.  And there is no shame at all in fleeing before a storm of this magnitude. It is the better part of valor, you know.   

Discretion.  

 

Hurricanes and Soup

I finally heard back from the produce company.  They apologized for taking so long, and explained that their e-mail isn't checked regularly.  No matter.  They said they don't deliver to private residences, only to food banks and churches.  So, apparently, someone at a local church wanted to give me a gift.  Good thing, because I'd already eaten the tomatoes.  I also used some of the potatoes to make soup.  

Now, when I make soup, I don't use a recipe.  I start with chicken broth, then just throw stuff in until it's done.  The problem with that is when I make a really good soup, I can't remember how I did it, so I can't make it again.  And this soup was really good, too.  But I can't remember how I made it.  Bummer. 

In other news, I got an unexpected couple of hours off of work today.  They didn't have any work for us to do, so they sent most of the sub-brazers home at 10:30.  After standing around doing nothing for several hours, they powers that be finally threw in the towel and sent the rest of us home at 2:30.  

So, what did I do with my extra hour and a half?  Was I productive?  Did I get some necessary chores done?  Did I even perform such a simple task as folding the laundry?  No.  I made some mac and cheese and watched Dr. Pimple Popper.

I don't recommend that if you have a weak stomach. 

I have a valid excuse, though.  It was raining.  I'm not completely sure, but I think it's something Marco dragged along behind him.  There wasn't any wind, just a slow and steady rain.  I'm not even mad, and my yard is very glad to get a drink.  Me, I just hope it settles some of this dust down.

I probably ought to point out that this isn't Sahara dust. That's long since gone.  This is just dust from not having any significant rain in about 6 weeks. It's pretty bad.  My poor supervisor's eyes were so swollen from it, he couldn't even come to work yesterday.  

All I could say once again was,  may the odds be ever in your favor. 

And finally, Laura's track has shifted westward again.  

We'll probably still get some wind and rain, but yes, my poor hometown is likely to take a direct hit. Again.  

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 from the sea.

Fizzled

Looks like we got a little bit of a break weatherwise, as it seems Marco has fizzled.  He's made landfall as barely a tropical storm, but is still causing flooding along the coast.  

However, Laura still presents a bit of a threat.  Quite a bit of a threat, as a matter of fact.

She is expected to strengthen into a category 2 hurricane before making landfall.  As of right now, we're still in the cone, even though she'll probably be weakened back to a tropical storm before she gets here.  

Hard to say for sure, as she seems to be dancing a jig over Cuba.  I do hope we get some rain from her.  It's been so dry here lately that my grass is dying.  On the bright side, that means I haven't had to mow as much.  

By the way, if any of my friends down south need a place to evacuate to, my door is open to you and to your pets.  We might end up having a dog fight or two, but we'll get through it.  Also, I have plenty of clean, unused disposable masks if you need one.  I won't shame you or call you a sheep for wearing one, as some people will.  Nor will I shame you for not wearing one.  It's your choice, and I'll respect whichever one you make. 

While we're on the subject, remember back on August 3 when all those people at work had been diagnosed with COVID?  They're all back, except for one.  I mentioned to my coworker, "I'm getting really concerned about Other Boss."  She said, "They said he's not doing well, nor his wife, either."  

"His wife has the COVID, too?"  I said.  "Yep," my coworker said, "and neither one of them are doing well."  So, if you wouldn't mind, lift them up in your prayers, please.  I've already lost two coworkers and an old friend to this horrible virus that some of you still insist is fake.  I don't want to lose anyone else.

My supervisor likes to start the day by calling, "HEY TUBING!  Hoo -de -hoo!" and we all call "Hoo - de - hoo!" back.  However, here lately, we've just been saying, "May the odds be ever in your favor."  

I think that's going to be my motto for the rest of the year...

Just When You Thought

 Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any weirder...

And what would be causing Jim such consternation?  Maybe because he doesn't quite know where to go.

Honestly, this is the most exciting thing that has happened here lately.  Well, except for that whole global pandemic thing, that is.  

So, we've got Laura to the East and Marco to the West, and I'm stuck in the middle...of Laura's track.  If they both develop into hurricanes, it will be the first time in recorded history that there have been two hurricanes in the Gulf at the same time.  I'm totally geeking out on this.  

On a completely unrelated note, I seem to have acquired a new nickname at work -- The Weather Channel.  All righty then...

I've been meaning to blog.  Really, I have.  I've even started writing posts, but then decided you didn't really want to hear about my dentist appointment...or getting my light fixture replaced.  If I thought you did, I'd have told you that I went to my semi-annual cleaning and checkup last week.  I had to get my temperature checked, then go through a screening thing.  You know, answer questions like, "Have you been exposed to anyone with Covid?"  Etc.  Etc.  Once I'd done that, the hygienist gave me a squirt of hand sanitizer, and some sort of disinfectant with which to rinse my mouth out.  About that time, she just sort of wilted and said, "I know, I know, but this is the only way they'd let us open back up."  

Other than that, the checkup went OK.  Except that I'm about to lose another tooth.  Not right away, but soon.  It's one I've had a crown on since I was 19.  I had a root canal, and the crown replaced back in '07 which extended the life of the tooth for quite a few years, but alas, nothing lasts forever.  The dentist showed me the x-ray, and said it's doing something called ditching out.  He also said some other stuff in dentistese which I didn't really understand. The long and the short of it is, at this point there's nothing he can do about it.  It will eventually weaken and break off, but since I've already had the root canal, it shouldn't cause me any real discomfort.  

The plan is still to get implants, but stuff keeps happening...an unexpected expense here, a global pandemic there...

The good news is, in the midst of our yapping -- because when you only see each other once a year you have a lot of catching up to do -- the hygienist mentioned that she and her daughter want to learn to knit.  I said I could teach them, but the issue for both of us is finding the time.  I referred her to the Knitting Help website, and she wrote down the URL, sooo, welcome to the dark side, Jennifer!

Speaking of knitting...

Despite the long, long hours we're working, I've managed to knit part of a hat.  

It's so hard to find time to do all the things I used to enjoy, like knitting.  And blogging.  You know...  living.  But they've cut our hours back at work.  Instead of working 11 1/2 hours, we're now working 10 1/2 hours.  Yippee...

But hey, it's a start.  

Didn't Last Long

 I mentioned the other day that they'd banned people from eating on the shop floor at work.  I don't mean literally on the floor, but you know...out while we're working.  So, yesterday about 6:30, I happened to glance over, and there was Stalker, mask pulled down below his chin, stuffing a sausage biscuit into his mouth.  

"Well, look who thinks he's special," I muttered to my coworker.  Then I had to correct myself, "I can't really say anything, because if I hadn't forgotten my breakfast at home, I'd be doing the exact same thing."  

I can neither confirm nor deny that this morning I may or may not have done something that could possibly resemble an activity that appears to be similar to eating my breakfast on the shop floor.  And that's all I have to say about that.

Looky, over here!  Let me show you my new shirt:

Now, there is debate in some of the Texas groups on how to count generations.  Some say you count from the first ancestor who moved to Texas.  Others say it's the first ancestor born in Texas.  The opinion seems to be about 50/50 split.  Me, I chose to count from the first ancestor who moved to Texas, since he was there before the Revolution. That would be William Abraham Winfree.  

While I was checking on Ancestry.com, I realized something fascinating.  Abraham -- as we in the family call him -- was born in Louisiana in 1802, when it was still part of France.  It became part of the American territories when Napoleon sold it to the United States in 1803 as The Louisiana Purchase, and became a state in 1812.  In 1830, Abraham moved his family to Texas, when it was still part of Mexico.  He remained there until his death in 1865.  During that time, Texas became an independent republic, a part of the United States, then part of the Confederate States Of America, and back to being part of the U.S. at the end of the Civil War. 

So, he lived in five different countries and never traveled more than 200 miles from his birthplace.  (He did live in the U.S. three different times, but I only counted it as one country.) I think that's pretty cool. 

Since masks are still required at work, I threw this one into the shopping cart, so I could rep the great state of Texas in style. 

The good news is, Mississippi's rolling 7 day average of new cases is slowly but surely decreasing.  The bad news is, I now know more about leading indicators and lagging indicators and rolling averages than I ever wanted to.  The more bad news is, according to state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, 11 hospitals in the state still have zero ICU beds available.  That was from Friday's press conference, I believe... or Saturday's.  The days are all running together.  They didn't do one today, so I don't know the current status. 

The latest group of quarantined people are all back at work -- including the ones who actually had COVID -- except for one.  We were talking about him just this afternoon.  "Other Boss must be really sick, because he's still not back.  He got it at the same time as Kitter and Assembly Line Group Leader, and they're both back already."  That's when my coworker told me her pastor in is intensive care on a ventilator.  He's not doing well.  

Keep him in your prayers, please, if you're so inclined.  

UPDATE: I just found out my friend's pastor has passed away.  Please remember his family during this difficult time.

Random Thoughts Of A Sunday Evening.

 1.  I had a long weekend this weekend.  And by long weekend, I meant what would be a normal weekend for everyone else.  And what did I do on my long weekend?  Well, I slept past 3:30 for starters.  And it felt wonderful.  But it's all over now.  Back to getting up at 3:30.

2.  Apparently, I'm not the only one who doesn't want to go to work, because they're having to bribe people to come in.

3.  It makes me wonder if they'll ever figure out that the way to get people to come to work is to make your work place somewhere people would want to come to.  That place isn't.  I hate that job.  Everybody I know hates that job.  One of these days, I'm going to decide I'm fed up enough, and I'm just going to quit.  

4.  I was out mowing yesterday, when I saw this:  

It isn't one of mine.  I saw it coming out of one of the chipmunk holes.  I hope it likes eating them, because I'm about sick of them tearing up my yard.  I wonder how many are out there, because I've already killed 5.  

5.  I've been so depressed and discouraged about the crap going on at work, I bought me a new piano book.  I said I wasn't going to get any more, but here it is...

6.  After having done it for 25 years, the Big Man Up Front has decided it's not safe for us to be eating lunch in our work areas due to the coronavirus.  It's much safer to cram us all into that dinky little break room.  Yeah, that makes so much more sense. 

7.  I guess I need to break down and find me a feller.  But you can't get very far on those dating sites if you put that you're just looking for someone to pay your bills and stay out of your life otherwise. 

8.  I'd gotten with a local contractor to paint and hang shutters on the front of my house.  That was a month ago.  I guess he's blown me off, because he's on Facebook accepting other jobs, when he hasn't even done the one I hired him for.  Are there any honest contractors in this town?  Because I'm getting tired of getting blown off, or ripped off.  

9.  All you men out there who own your own businesses, whether it be lawn care, auto mechanic, contracting, plumbing, or whatever, just remember this, your daughters are watching you. You are teaching them that the way you treat female clients is how they can expect to be treated by the men in their future. So, before you laugh about how you ripped off that woman who needed her house painted, or that you gave her a quote for a small job that is three times what you would a male client because "she's just a dumb female and won't know any better", or charge her for an auto repair that you didn't even do, or just not even bother to show up to give her a quote on cutting her grass, think to yourself, "Would I want someone treating MY daughter this way?"  Because you are teaching them what is acceptable behavior towards them.  

10.  I was going to tell you all about the flying trip Cody and I took to Texas last month, then I realized there wasn't all that much to tell.  All I did was take pictures of bridges.  While Cody drove.   Eh, I'll tell you about it another day. 

11.  Right now, I'm going to bed.  

Feels Like Christmas

There I was at work, just a working away, when my coworker bopped up to me and said, "Becky, do you know we're off Saturday?"

"Yes!" I replied, deciding not to press the issue. 

That's when my other coworker cut in and said, "Becky's the one who brought the paper around!"  

The first coworker said, "I didn't know!  I'm just so excited!  It feels like Christmas!" 

By now, you're probably wondering which issue I decided not to press.  To tell you that, we'll have to back up about 15 minutes...

I was walking past the group leader's desk returning a brazing jig to the rack, when the dispatcher handed me a piece of paper.  And on that piece of paper were the most wonderful words I'd ever seen:  

 ALL PRODUCTION AREAS ARE OFF SATURDAY.

Completely forgetting the jig that was still in my hand, I ran back to the sub brazing area, waving the paper around, calling, "WOOOO!  WOOOO!"  showing all my coworkers before hanging it up on the post beside the computer.  

So, yes, I did know we are off Saturday.  I'm not sure if it's because work may be slowing down -- it is   getting to be late summer after all -- or if someone finally convinced The Big Man Up Front that we need a break.  We've been working long, long hours these last few weeks.  We're all tired.  I can't remember the last time I was this absolutely worn out.  One of my coworkers -- who shall remain nameless -- told me he fell asleep on the toilet last night.  I told him I could have lived the rest of my life without knowing that.  He said he'd fallen asleep, then fell off the toilet, and his girlfriend called "Are you all right?" and he said he was just getting into the shower...

Kind of reminds me of the time in Navy boot camp when I fell asleep standing at parade rest.  But that's another story for another post.  

I have no idea what I'm going to do with my day off, other than sleep past 3:30 AM, but I'm sure I'll find something.  Maybe I'll catch up with all the blogging I've been wanting to do but have been too tired to.  Do, I mean.  Blog...whatever. 

A couple of weeks ago, I did some science.  I'd seen a video on Facebook in which a man grew some bacteria cultures in Petri dishes.  I found it fascinating, and said to myself, "Self, I'd like to find me some of them there Petri dishes and try that for my own self."  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  

I got onto Amazon and found some.  Then I did science.  

Now, the caveat is, these dishes are designed for kids to do science projects, so the agar is less toxic than the stuff you'd find in a professional medical or scientific lab.  That also means it's less conducive to bacteria growth, but they worked well enough, and it was fun doing it.  

I knew wearing a mask would catch the crap you cough out of your mouth, but I wanted to see if there was a significant difference in the types of masks.  I used three:  a home made mask my friend Mary Ellen sent me, a store bought mask from Walmart, and a surgical mask they gave me at work. 

Then, just because all the Facebook memes are mocking them, I also decided to test a doubled up bandana. 

I put on each type of mask and coughed twice into a petri dish held about 12 inches from my face.  The second caveat is, I don't have an incubator.  I put the dishes on top of Sunny's tank in the snake room, and closed the A/C vent. Even doing that, I couldn't quite get the room up to the 85-100' temp they recommend.  The best I could do on a consistent basis was 78.  I sure didn't want to turn on the space heater.  Not in the middle of a Mississippi summer.  I was afraid I'd roast my snakes.  

After a week, I checked the dishes and there was virtually no bacteria growth in any of them.  

And here we come to the third caveat.  If I'd had more sense, I would have taken the photos on a dark colored, non reflective surface instead of on the snake room floor.  Obviously, I didn't have more sense.

The reflection washes out the surface of the agar, so you can't really see anything.  You'll just have to take my word that there were only one or two very small spots of bacteria growth on them.  By the way, I did do a control, but as I said, the reflection washed out the few small spots of bacteria growth.  It wasn't a lot, but it was significantly more than with any of the masks. 

Since I had a couple of dishes left over, I took the opportunity to do some more tests.  I already showed you the swab I took of Jesse's mouth. None of the rest were very significant, but this one.  I've got some bad news for those of you who like hand sanitizer.    First off, I coughed directly into my hand, and took a swab without any sort of washing or sanitizing as a control.  

Then, I coughed into my hand, and used the hand sanitizer as directed.  This particular brand is 70% alcohol, and I rubbed it into my hands for 30 seconds. 

As you can see, using hand sanitizer is better than nothing, but there is still plenty of bacteria growth.  Now, I wish I'd had another dish to compare sanitizer to washing with regular soap and water.  Maybe I'll order some more and do even more science. 

Later, though.  Right now I'm going to bed. 

Goodnight. 

Love Hate

Just checking in for a quick post to let you all know I'm still here.  Barely kicking, completely exhausted, unable to remember all I was planning on posting about, but still here.  

I have a love/hate relationship with my printer.  I love that it's wireless, and it prints really well.  I love that you can replace each color cartridge separately when it runs out, instead of having one big cartridge with all three colors in it.  What I hate about it is when one of the cartridges is out, it won't print anything until that cartridge is replaced.  Or at least, I haven't figured out how to make it print when one of the cartridges is out.

One day last week, I'd had HR print me out a list of all my approved vacation days.  All black, no colors, no fancy stuff.  All I wanted to do was make an extra copy.  Just put it onto the scanner tray and make a black and white copy.

But my printer told me my -- get this -- my photo cartridge was out.  My photo cartridge.  I tried to tell it I wasn't printing a photo, but it wouldn't listen.  It wouldn't let me make my copy until I replaced that photo cartridge. 

I don't know if it's just because I'm really tired right now, or if I was looking in the wrong place, but I couldn't for the life of me find one sold separately.  You can buy all the color cartridges separately, but not the photo black.  The only place I found it was in a complete set.  

At now least I have extras of all the others.  You know, for when they run out.  

Since we are now under a statewide mask mandate, I needed a mask to be compliant.  So I got this one. 

Here we see my creepy styrofoam head modeling my creepy plague doctor mask.  

Her name is Charlotte, by the way.  The head.  Not the mask. 

Clearly, I don't get enough sleep.  Something I'm going to go rectify right now.

As soon as I practice my piano, that is. 

Mystery Solved

It would seem the mystery of the vegetables has been solved.  I'm told some of the churches here in town -- including mine -- have been giving out those boxes out to people in the community.  I reckon that's where my box came from.  Apparently, God is trying to tell me to eat better.

God may be on to something there...

Heh, a few weeks ago, I decided I was going to do better.  I was going to eat healthier.  I went to the store and bought me a little bag of salad greens, some fruit, some infused water and V-8...then came home from work and ate ice cream straight out of the carton.  

Sigh....

That all being said, as soon as I got home from work, I ripped open the package of tomatoes and had me a sandwich.  Then I had another one.  Contented sigh...

I've got to figure out what to do with all the rest of it.  I'm thinking I might use some of the potatoes and onions and make soup.  I don't have a recipe.  I'm just going to make it up as I go.  Hmmm, maybe I should get some ham to add into it.  That would be delicious.  I feel kind of bad because I do not like iceberg lettuce at all.  Would it seem ungrateful if I shared it with the wild rabbits that live behind my house?  

I finally got a picture, albeit not a very good one, of my fawn.  

This is still the only fawn I've seen this year.  I'm pretty sure my older doe didn't survive the winter.  She was pretty old to begin with, and was so very thin last year that I don't see how she could have lived through not only the winter, but also another pregnancy.  

And finally, another where has this song been all my life moment.

Dropping Like Flies

They're dropping like flies out at work, I'm telling you.  Dropping like flies, they are.

This morning, my supervisor told us they put the second shift production manager into quarantine last night, so there aren't any of them left.  Then today, they one of the assembly line group leaders test results came back, so a whole bunch of other group leaders got quarantined. 

Like I said yesterday, it's going to be an interesting few weeks.  

Now for the bad news... Stalker was back at work yesterday.  I knew before I even got inside.  He sits out on some picnic tables in the outdoor break area and waits for me to get there.  When I drive into the parking lot, he's like...

I seriously feel the need to look up the guy I had the huge crush on when I was 13 and apologize to him.  Over and over and over again...

It got even worse, as well.  The brazer who works right beside me left at lunch, and Stalker fell all over himself to move down to her stand.  He didn't just walk casually over and set up there, he practically bounded over.  And just stared.  And stared.  And stared.  Sigh...

Every time I had to do something on my table...

If I had to check my schedule...

If I turned to pick up my pen...

Getting parts out of my bin...

All afternoon long...

That day didn't end soon enough for me!  I told the brazer who normally works on that stand what Stalker had done, and she said, "I'm joining you in your disgust for him.  He gets on my [unwholesome word] nerves!"

In other news, over the weekend, I discovered a couple of pretty large lumps on Rylea.  Fortunately, the vet's office is back open after their COVID outbreak, so after work today, we took a little trip.  She wasn't happy.  

But it turned out OK after all.  The lumps were fatty tumors, or lipomas, which are totally benign.  The vet said he would rather just monitor them at this point to make sure they aren't growing or anything.  Given her age -- she is 13, after all-- it would be very risky to put her under general anesthesia.  

And finally, who had zombie cicadas on their 2020 Bingo cards?  

Anyone?  

*That's not really Stalker.  It's just a meme I found online.  

All Your Boss Are Belong To Us

Word is we had 6 -- yes 6 -- new COVID diagnoses out at the plant today.  Six!  I know who two of them are.  Of course, I can't give you their names due to privacy issues, but let's just say by the time the dust settled, both production managers and four supervisors had been put into quarantine -- plus a fifth who had been in quarantine for a while now.  

All your boss are belong to us!

We employees were all wandering around helplessly wondering who in the world is going to run the plant...I guess the only supervisor left standing --the retired Navy chief -- will be doing it by himself.  Eh, he's a chief.  He can handle it. 

As if that weren't enough, three out of the four sub-brazing kitters have been quarantined.  For those of you not up on the plant vernacular, a kitter is the person who gathers all the copper components for an order out of the rack and assembles them in a kit for us to braze.  Basically, they're parts stagers.  Not that it matters, but it's going to be rough on our one remaining kitter for a while.   Today, their group leader was actually pulling parts because they were so strapped.  

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.  

And to think, before this all happened, the most exciting thing I was going to tell you was we were down for two hours this morning because someone had somehow managed to cut the oxygen line.  

And that when I first got there, a coworker called me over and said, "God is good, isn't he?" gesturing to Stalker's empty stand.  "He sure is!"  I replied.

After all that...I got home and found a box of vegetables outside my car port door. 

There were all kinds of vegetables in there -- baby carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes.  I wasn't sure what that was all about, since I hadn't ordered any vegetables.  I thought maybe someone had sent me a gift, but anyone who knows me knows I don't eat vegetables.  Except those tomatoes.  I'll for sure eat them, on a sandwich.  Which I haven't had one all year, since we've worked every Saturday and I haven't been able to go to the Farmer's Market.

My next I thought maybe they had been delivered to the wrong address, but I couldn't tell since there was no packing slip, or order form, or anything.  The name and phone number of the company was on the side of the box, so I looked them up on Facebook. 

They were already closed for the day, so I left a message.  Maybe they'll get back to me, and the mystery will be solved.  Until I hear from them, though, the 'mater sandwich will have to wait. 

I finished another hat for my friend's charity project.  

Yeah, it's going to be a minute before I knit another black hat.  Oh, it isn't that hard, but isn't too pleasant on the eyes. 

And finally, a bit of sad news.  My dear friend from college, Karen Berry, lost her life yesterday to COVID - 19.  I took this picture of her back in our Hardin - Simmons University days.  It's always been a favorite of mine.  

It's so hard to believe she's gone, because it was just a couple of days ago she was commenting on my posts.  I'm still in shock.  

I'm really starting to hate this disease.