Not Over Yet

Well, we aren't quite done with the 'Rona out at work.  Yep, I found out this morning that one of the supervisors has it.  And also, one of the maintenance men.  It's ripping through the plant like wildfire out there.  Last I heard was the case count was 71, but that was over a month ago.  I'd be willing to be it's over 100 by now.  And that's out of...well, I don't really know how many employees we have right now, because we're still not fully staffed after they laid off all the temps.  I'm guessing between 400 -- 500, but I don't know for sure. 

Whatever, it's about 20 -25% of employees have had it so far, and it ain't over yet.  

Speaking of work, I've been enjoying these shorter shifts.  It's sure is nice getting off at 2:00.  I'm not getting any more accomplished with my extra time, but I'm enjoying it. The down side is my schedule is all out of whack.  I was sitting at home this afternoon and flew into a blind panic because I thought it was nearly bedtime and hadn't even taken my shower yet.  I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off for a minute, then looked at the clock. 

It was 4:30.  

Oh.  OK.  

Moving right along.  It's finally starting to feel like Fall out there.  

It's supposed to get down into the 40s by Friday, with daytime temps in the 60s.  With that in mind, I got some of Cody's gumbo out of the freezer and ate it for supper. I may just need to get some more out over the weekend, or maybe some of that potato soup I put up a few weeks ago.  Since I have another vacation day Friday, I might -- just might -- put me a little fire in the wood heater.  

I'm not sure if I was being a bit foolish or not, but a few weeks ago, I went back and started this book completely over.  From the very beginning.

And why exactly would I do that?  Because I discovered this:

Do you see it there?  That little Note = 120?  If you're not familiar with music, that is the tempo at which the song is supposed to be played.  I hadn't been playing them at the recommended speeds, so I decided I needed to.  Not that big of a deal.  I'm almost back to where I was the first time.  

Little Suzette is right there cheering me on.  

By the way, the dogs are just as confused by the shorter shift times as I am.  It'll take a minute to get used to it.  I just hope they leave us on this shift for a while.  They keep changing our hours so much, it wreaks havoc on your body.  I'm over here like, just pick a time and stick with it, already! 

Back to piano playing...I'm busy trying out songs to play for your Christmas concert this year.  

I've got two songs settled on, but I'd like to work up three or four more.  The problem is, the songs I really like -- Silent Night and such -- I do not like the arrangements in my books.  The melodies are just fine, but some of the harmonies are so discordant...I don't know what they were thinking.  I'm checking, double checking, triple checking, and yes, I'm playing the notes they wrote, but it sounds awful. 

I'll figure something out.

Right now, I'm going to bed. 

My Heart Is Breaking Again

I don't know where to start.  I don't even know how to start.  You'd think I'd be excited about getting this great big box, 

but it was bitter sweet.  I think more bitter than sweet.  You see, what was inside that great big box was yarn.  Lots of yarn.  Sue's yarn. 

My non-biological sister Sue, who left us back in April.  Her family has begun going through her things, and that includes her yarn.  

A lot of this is unlabeled, and I wonder if any of it is her hand spun.  Yes, she was a spinner -- and an artist, and a musician, and a kind and extremely generous soul.  Everything I wish I could be in life.  

There is store bought yarn as well.  Expensive store bought yarn...

Worsted weight, sock weight, 

and DK weight.   I wonder what she had in mind for this.  It isn't really enough for a sweater.  Or maybe it is.  It's been so long since I've knit a sweater, I have no idea how much yarn it takes. 

This gradient set will make a cool scarf, or lace stole.  I must search for patterns.  

There were spindles, as well.  I chose these two.  They spoke to me.  They're top whorl spindles, which I've never used.  I'll have to look up some videos to see how to do it.  

And a butt load of needles, of all sizes and types.  

I really do need to get back to knitting more than just charity hats.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I love doing the hats, and I love knowing someone who needs to know someone cares is wearing one of my hats.  But it's been so long since I've knit anything else.

Maybe with these shorter shifts, I can get back to enjoying knitting again.

Finally, tucked safely in to the middle of all that yarn was the little alpaca I bought for Sue at last year's Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  It's the only thing I specifically requested to get back.  

It's now sitting on my keyboard, where I can remember my non-biological sister every time I play.  Not that I'd ever forget her, but you know what I mean. 

Afterwards, I sat for a moment, holding some of the yarn in my lap, in my arms, as if I were holding my dear, dear friend.  

And I cried.

Not for her.  Never for her, because I know where she is.  She is finally free of pain.  Finally free of the many illnesses that have plagued her for so long.  She is finally whole again. 

But I miss her.

Oh, how I miss her...

I'm Still Knitting

 I am still knitting, and I'm going to show you here in a minute.  But before I do that, let me show you today's project.  

First, here is the before shot-- taken a couple of years ago, because I didn't think to do a before shot this morning:

Ever since I moved into this house, I've been talking about turning this corner into a reading nook.  Eventually, I'd like to close that door completely off, and just make it into a little snug area.  Then, I'd widen the doorway between the kitchen and living room, so that the heat from my wood stove flows into the living room better.  

The problem is finding a local contractor who'll actually show up...Most of them don't want to do small jobs like this.  Unless you're remodeling the whole house at once, you're just out of luck.  Around here, at least. I still haven't found someone to come hang my shutters...that hasn't blown me off, that is.  

But enough about that...

As I said,  today's project was one I've been meaning to do for a long time now.  I just kept procrastinating.  You'll all be pleased to know, today, I finally stopped the aforementioned procrastinating, and got 'er done.

And what was that project, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you.

I moved that gun cabinet out of there, and moved this little bookshelf from Cody's room into the spot where it stood.

Moving that big, dark cabinet out of there makes the whole room look bigger and brighter.

I'm planning on getting some sort of little lamp to put on top of that bookshelf.  I have to run into town tomorrow after work, so I may just run by the store and see what they have.  And since we're getting off at 2:00 instead of 4:00, I'll actually have time to run into town after work tomorrow.  I'm also thinking about getting an old looking framed map of the Republic Of Texas to hang over it. 

Oh, and I want to get rid of that whole chair rail thing.  I've never been fond of chair rails anyway, so it's got to go.  I know it's going to be more expensive, but I'd like to take all the walls down to the studs, get the wiring up to code -- because I'm sure it's not -- and just re-do it all.  I'm going to put spray foam insulation on all the exterior walls as well, plus put new, energy efficient windows in.  

I don't even want to think about how much overtime I'm going to have to work to pay for all that!

Anyway, while I was standing there admiring my handiwork, I noticed the other side of that chair had become a bit cluttered and dusty, so that was the next project. 

Just a little bit of tidying and it looks much better.  

That's not dirt on the floor.  It's actually primer from when I painted the bricks.  I had tape and drop cloths down, but somehow, it migrated under the plastic and stained the floor.  Since I intend to replace all the flooring eventually, I haven't really worried too much about it.  I did get in there after I took the picture and scrubbed it up with a little steel wool, so it's not as obvious.  I also cleaned the dirt off the wall.  Heh, I probably ought to do that stuff before I take pictures, shouldn't I?  

Finally, as promised, here is the evidence of my knitting.  This one is another charity hat, made from Red Heart.  

I haven't gotten as far on this one because this yarn isn't the best to knit with.  However, it'll soften up quite a bit when I wash it, so I'm carrying on.  But I've also been working on this scarf some. 

I started it a few years ago, when I went up to Missouri to watch the eclipse with my friend Peggy.  Thus, I've named it the Eclipse Scarf, even though a few months ago, I ripped it all out and started over.  I'd decided it was too narrow.  For reals.  I mean, it's still pretty narrow, but it was even more narrow before.  

The pattern is Trekking Is For Necking, from the now defunct NipperKnits blog.  Fortunately, I'd printed out a copy before she took the site down.  The yarn is Lion Brand Mandela, in the Spirit colorway.

I had to google it, because I lost the ball band a long time ago.  

  

I Didn't Do Squat

I didn't do squat today.   Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.

Well, unless you count washing dishes, doing laundry, and going grocery shopping, that is. But while I was doing said shopping, I picked me up a little something.

Remember last week when I bought those little fall signs for my shelf?  If you'll recall, I said there was a third one I wanted to get as well, to hang on the wall over my mantle.  Well, today, first thing I did was to go over to the fall decoration section and found the sign.  There were about three that I debated over, but I finally picked the one I wanted and continued on with my shopping.

As soon as I walked around the corner, lo and behold, I saw a sign I liked even better.

"Ooooo, I like that one even better," I said, picking it up and putting it into my basket.  I finished my shopping, and as soon as I got home and got my cold stuff put away, I got the sign and hung it over my mantle.  

I first hung it on the screw that had the horse head on it, but I ended up having to drive another nail in the wall anyway, because it was too close to that brown plate.  Moving it over just a bit gave it all a much better balance. 

While I had my nails out, I went ahead and drove another one to hang the horse head on.

So far, it hasn't fallen off the wall, so maybe it'll be OK.  All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how this corner has turned out. 

I finished my household chores and settled down to watch some Halloween baking shows on Food Network.  Funny, I only like watching cooking shows in the Fall and around Christmas time.  Oh, they're on all year long, but I guess when you're working 60+ hours a week, you don't have time to wipe your behind, much less enjoy TV shows.  

The good news is, starting Monday, we're back on 9 hours!  Eight hours for the assembly lines, but component areas always work a little longer.  I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.  I just hope this time it lasts more than two weeks. 

Anyway, there I was, watching Halloween Baking Championship, when I saw it.  Do you see it?  

Sigh...

No wonder I liked that sign.  Oh, well, I ain't taking it back.  Maybe nobody will notice. 

Well, this would have been the weekend for the third annual Fiber Fun In The 'Sip, if not for this whole pandemic thing we got going on.  I'm really missing hanging out with Amy, Christi, and Leann, but what can you do?  We keep saying we're going to have a weekend retreat at Leann's new shop up north of Memphis, but we can't seem to get our acts together enough to actually...um...get together.  

In the meantime, I noticed many of my hand knit wash cloths are getting a bit frayed around the edges, so I picked up some new balls of cotton to make some more.    

And maybe, just maybe, with these shorter shifts, I'll actually have time to knit them!  

We shall see. 

It's Beginning To Look

 OK, not quite Christmas, but it is the first official day of Astronomical Fall.  It actually felt like fall, too.  I don't think the temps got out of the 60s all day.  I was tempted to make myself some hot chocolate...and I may yet.

But first, I have to tell you, we had a bit of excitement at work yesterday.  I've got this one coworker, she's a real goofball.  She's sweet as can be, and we all love her, but she's crazy as a rocket. 

So, there I was at work, just a working away, when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Coworker laying on the floor.  Supervisor was standing there beside her.  I thought she was playing, and apparently, he did, too.  I turned to my other coworker and said, "Look at [Coworker] over there!"  She turned around and looked, and told me later she thought Coworker was playing, too.

I stood there watching her for a few seconds, all the while expecting her to pop up and make some cheeky comment about taking a nap.  When, after about 15-20 seconds, she still hadn't moved, it dawned on all three of us at the same time, hey, maybe she's not playing after all.  

Supervisor ran around and knelt beside her, calling her name and trying to rouse her.  Other Coworker ran over and began yelling her name as well.  The first aid team was summoned, an ambulance was called, and all the other workers in tubing began crowding around, rubbernecking and generally just getting in the way until Safety Lady came out and said, "Spread out!  Spread out!"  (Inside joke.  I can't explain it, you'd just have to know to know...)  

They finally got Coworker roused, on the gurney, and up to the first aid room to wait on the ambulance.  I'm not going to go into all her personal business here on the blog, but I asked after her this morning, and she's doing better.  She'll be OK, but she gave us all quite a scare. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  My place of employment is a horrible place to work, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  We have a seriously top notch first aid team out there.  I was really impressed at how fast they all got over there and began caring for my coworker, and how efficient they were.  Now, if we could only get the managers to be as efficient at running production, we might not be 20 weeks behind.  

Of course, the whole global pandemic thing had a lot to do with that.

All righty, then, moving right along...  

And with this, I am done ordering piano music.

For now, at least.  This is the last level two book -- at least as far as I know.  I may not buy any more anyway.  I just don't have time to play from them.  The good news is, next week, we go back to 8 hour shifts.  Well, 9 hours for us component areas, but hey, that's a sight better than 11 or 12 hour shifts.   I'll miss the money, but I'm so tired of having to rush through everything in the evenings.  Maybe with the shorter shifts, I can blog and practice my piano on the same days.  I hope so.  I'm trying to work up a little Christmas concert for you.  I'm having a little trouble picking songs.  The songs I really like, I just don't like the arrangements in these books.  

I'd said something before about live streaming one of my practice sessions, but none of you seemed interested, except Kristine.  If I can figure out the mechanics of it, and we can work out a time, she and I may just have our own little piano party this weekend.  What say, Kristine?  You up for that?  It's supposed to be raining most of the weekend, depending on how quickly the remnants of Tropical Storm Beta move through here.   

And finally, as if 2020 weren't crazy enough already, the remnants of hurricane Paulette have reorganized, and she's now a tropical storm again.  No threat to any land as of yet, but we'll have to keep an eye on her. 

*Please ignore the typo.  I know it's there, but the meme was too funny not to share.  Oh, and it's really only 23.  Storm watches, that is. 

And we've still got two more months of hurricane season!  Yippee!

Mini Vacation

When last we spoke, I mentioned that I had no idea what I was going to do on my day off.  The only thing I knew for sure was to go pay some bills, and do my weekly shopping.  Which I did not do last week, so I guess it was my bi-weekly shopping. 

So, what did I do on my day off?  Well, first thing is, I slept past 4:00 AM.  And let me tell you something, it felt wonderful.  You know what else was wonderful?  Not feeling like I had to rush all day long to get anything done.  I enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee -- or two-- then went and ran my errands.  It stayed so cool all day, I went ahead and mowed.  And get this, I weedeated, too!  I have a hate-hate relationship with my weedeater.  I hate it, and I'm pretty sure it hates me, too.  

Thing is, I can't ever get the string wound correctly, so that it feeds out when you bump the bumpy thing.  I have to stop, unscrew the thing, manually feed out more line, rescrew the thing, then start the weedeater all over again.  This is why I don't weedeat very often.  

I've been putting out my Fall decorations, and had this one shelf that just needed a bit more.  First thing I did when I got to Walmart was to...well the first thing I did was to squeal, because they have both doors open now!  Plus, they peeled the arrows up off of the floor...not that anyone followed them anyway, but still...

The things you get excited about during a pandemic...

OK, moving right along. 

As I was saying, I had this shelf that needed a little something more.  I'd put large brown plates there last year, but I moved them to the mantle, so it just seemed a bit empty.  I was perusing the fall decoration aisle, when I stumbled upon these cute little signs, and they fit the space perfectly.

I adjusted the two candles and the pumpkin dish a bit after I took the photo, so it's a bit better balanced.  I just didn't take another photo.  Which apparently means I'm not bringing my "A" game, but oh well.  

There was a third sign that I really liked as well, and I may get it next week.  If I do, I'm going to hang it here, where the horse's head is. 

I'm thinking about moving the horse over to where that cross wall hanging is, so it'll match my Texas theme better.  

My only hesitation is that head is pretty heavy, and there isn't a stud where I want to put it.  Right now, it's hanging on a screw in a drywall anchor, which was left there by the previous owner.  The cross hanging is only on a thumbtack stuck into the wall, but it doesn't weigh very much. I don't think that tack would hold the horse up at all.  

Eh, I'll figure it out eventually. 

I had an ibotta rebate for this first aid kit, so I went ahead and picked it up.

At the moment, it's in my bug out bag, but I have a feeling that's only going to be temporary.  First of all, it's in a hard case, and secondly, it's for minor injuries.  I think in a real survival situation, I'm going to need something a bit more complete than just a few boxes of Band-Aids and some Neosporin.  That's something I'm going to have to research. 

And here we have it, the last mask!

I saw it in a FB ad, and simply couldn't resist.  It comes with a little carbon filter, too. 

Not sure it's going to be strong enough to filter out the stank from some of those women in the bathroom at work, but there you have it. 

I'd thought about ordering some Halloween themed masks, but decided against it.  These generic ones I've got, I can still wear them after the pandemic is over for mowing, cleaning snake tanks, and such.  Not that I would ever wear Van Gogh for a dirty job like that...

After working on a scarf for nearly a week, I finally cast on a new hat.

It's just a plain stockinette hat out of Red Heart in Country Blue colorway.  It was chilly enough this morning -- 57'-- that I almost dragged out the sock yarn blanket.  Not quite, though. But soon...You know, eventually I'm going to get that thing finished.  Not today, but eventually. 

And finally, remember that big box of vegetables someone left outside my door a few weeks ago.  This afternoon, I finally got the onions chopped up and into the freezer.  They were the last of them.  A week or so ago, I boiled and mashed the sweet potatoes, and got them into the freezer.  I won't have to buy any this Thanksgiving, at least.  Or next Thanksgiving.  Or maybe the Thanksgiving after that, as well.  No, there weren't that many in the box.  Let's just say, I greatly overestimated how many sweet potatoes I'd need last year, so I had quite a bit in the freezer already. 

Because I can't ever seem to do anything halfway. 

One Day More!

One more day of work, then I have a weekend off.  Not the plant.  Just me, because I have a vacation day Friday.  No, I don't know what I'm going to do on my day off yet, other than paying bills and buying groceries.  You know, the usual.  I might go ahead and get the mowing done, so I don't have that hanging over my head all weekend.  We'll see.  

I was going to blog last night, but I got to watching a Q&A from Mississippi State Department of Health with State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs and State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers.  There is so much misinformation about COVID out there, so this was really interesting to me.  The session lasted an hour, but it was so fascinating that the time went by pretty quickly.  If you want to watch it, you can find it on their Facebook page here:  Mississippi Department Of Health.

I know some of y'all are going to say, "But they're lying!  I know they're lying because I saw a Facebook meme!"  Me, I'm going to take the word of two very intelligent doctors with some 50-ish years of experience between them than that of an unsubstantiated internet meme -- especially one I can debunk with 30 seconds of research.  While sitting on the toilet, no less. 

Anyway, what I was going to show you yesterday, before I got caught up in that Q&A, was this.  What with my beard mask being such a hit at work, I decided to order two more.  These two:

I wore the cat face today, but it didn't quite go over as well.  

At the end of the day, my supervisor told me not to go cough up any hairballs.  He's not nearly as funny as he thinks he is.

He's not exactly my favorite person right now anyway.  He just got back from taking a couple of weeks vacation, and told me he'd been surfing.  I thought he went to Florida, because he's always talking about an buddy who lives there.  But no, he said he'd gone to the Great State Of Texas.  

"Oh," I said.  "South Padre?"

"Galveston Island," was his reply.

I hate you.  I hate everything about you. 

Look!  A spider lily!

I thought we needed a distraction...

I'm still practicing my piano, but I think I goofed up.  See, I've been going through my Christmas music books, trying to decide what songs I want to work up for your Christmas concert. I found a really beautiful version of Joy To The World that I'm definitely going to learn.  The problem is, now I don't want to play anything else!  

It's OK if I take a break from lessons until after Christmas, isn't it? 

 

And finally, I'm having way too much fun watching my friend Susie spending her first hurricane season in Florida.  She sure picked a doozy of a year to move to the Gulf Coast, huh?  

Next storm on the list will be Wilfred, and we're only just past half way through hurricane season.  I wish my dad were still here.  

He'd have loved this. 

 

Quick Update

Records have been set.  

Maybe not the records you want to be set, but they've been set nonetheless. 

And what are those records, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  Better yet, I'll show you:

This is the first time since 1971 that there have been five named storms in the Atlantic at the same time.  Plus, every storm this year since Edouard has set the record for the earliest named storm of that letter.  The previous record for the earliest V named storm was Vince, who became a tropical depression on October 9, 2005.  

Vicky beat that by a full three weeks.  

I'm pretty confident by now that we will, in fact, make it to the Greek letters this year.  

For a full list of storm records, check the Wikipedia page. 

In other news, Other Boss was back at work this morning.  It was a bittersweet moment.  

He'd had the COVID, and had been very, very sick for a while, but eventually overcame it.  Unfortunately, his wife -- who'd been battling cancer already -- just wasn't strong enough to shake it off.  She passed away August 31.  

Y'all keep them in your prayers, would you please? 

Light At The End

Before we begin today's post, I have to brag just a bit.  Early Friday morning, I logged into my bank account and made the very last payment on my credit card.  There might be a bit of interest left to pay, but for the most part, that thing is finally paid off!  I feel if a great weight has been lifted off of me.  Now I can finally begin to put something aside in my savings account, and maybe get some much needed work done on this house.  If I can find a contractor who will actually show up, that is. 

OK, moving right along...

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  The overtime tunnel, that is.  They put the notice out Friday, at the end of this month, we will be going back to 8 hour shifts.  At least the lines will.  Component areas usually work longer hours anyway.  I just hope they let us come in early instead of making us stay late.  They say we'll still have to work Saturdays, though, so you can't win them all.   At least with the shorter work days, I might be able to blog more regularly.  

Oh, one more thing;   I meant to tell you this before, but it just never seemed to fit into the flow of a post.  Since this one is a big disjointed already, here goes.  I was at work a couple of weeks ago, when a coworker came up to me and said, "They told me you have pet snakes." When I answered in the affirmative, she said, "I'm going to show you this snake I found in my back yard and see if you can tell me what kind it is."   She opened her phone and showed me a video. 

"Oooh, that's a copperhead!" I said.  

"Why would you tell me that????" she asked.  Well, because that's what it is, and because you asked.  I told her if she saw it again,  not to try to kill it herself.  Most people in the U.S. who are snake bit are trying to kill the snake at the time.  I advised her to call animal control to come get it.  She hasn't mentioned it since, so hopefully it moved on its merry way.  

In other news, I've got spider lilies coming up!

A sure sign of Fall if ever there was one.  I can't wait until my Virginia Creeper starts turning. 

It ought to be stunning when it's fully red.  If you'll recall, I put that trellis there to shade my little Gardenia from the strong afternoon sun.  I'd say it's done a very good job.  A couple of months ago, a friend told me to put some specialized fertilizer on it, and that's helped as well.  See the darker green leaves at the bottom?  Those have come out since I started putting that stuff on it. 

She said she uses the fertilizer sticks that you push into the dirt, and they dissolve slowly over time.  I couldn't find any of those, so I used the little granules that you sprinkle around.  They do seem to help.  Oh, and the fence is to keep the dog from peeing on it. I need to spread it out a bit, now that the plant's grown some. 

The only other thing I've done this weekend, besides binge watch Harry Potter movies, is to finish putting out my Fall decorations. I'd show you pictures, but they're the same as last year.  Except I put this little scarecrow in a different spot.  

I usually put the two pilgrims there, but the scarecrow just fits the space there. 

That's all I have for now.  I was going to go to the store after work yesterday, but as soon as I got out of the  plant, it started pouring rain.  With that, I decided there isn't anything I desperately need before next Friday, and came straight home.  We ended up getting an inch, by the way.  Of rain, that is.  We needed it badly.

The only downside to that is my grass will grow again, and I'll have to mow.  Oh well, can't win 'em all. 

And finally, I'm currently in Sally's cone, but not to worry.  I'm far enough inland not to be in much danger, even if the cone shifts further west, like they're speculating it might. 

But, as always, if any of my friends on the coast need to evacuate, my door is open to you AND to your pets.