Ice, Maybe?

Well, now they're saying we're looking at the possibility of ice with this next storm coming through late Wednesday and into Thursday.  

My county is right at the edge between the "Threat" and "Higher Threat" area.  Whether we get ice or not, we still have a 100% chance of rain Thursday, so with that in mind, I began moving my new stack of wood under cover this afternoon -- to where I really wanted it to be in the first place.   I'm going to try to get the rest moved tomorrow and Wednesday, before the storm gets here.   Most of it anyway. 

I picked out some of the more seasoned pieces and started a stack by my back door,  just to have it close at hand.  

I'll need to find something to cover it with, so it doesn't get totally soaked when the rain starts.  Once the storm blows through, it's supposed to get cold again -- and by cold again, I mean in the mid to low 20s.  I'll have plenty of firewood, plus drinking water, and my propane camp stove all ready, just in case. Probably won't need it, but it never hurts to be prepared.   Hopefully, it'll all blow over with minimal ice buildup and no power outages.  

In other news, if you've been reading my blog awhile, you may recall a couple of years ago, I ordered some petri dishes from Amazon and did science.  Because science is cool.  The issue I had with that science is that I couldn't get my petri dishes up to the recommended 85'-100' temps for optimal bacteria growth.  Since then, I have found my heating pad, so I would be able to get my dishes incubating properly.  Now that I have the afore mentioned heating pad located, science is calling to me to try again.  

Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I ordered some more petri dishes, so I can do more science.

I'm probably going to wait until the weekend to start...you know, just in case the electricity goes out.  One of the experiments I'm thinking of doing is comparing the bacteria in the dog's mouth with bacteria in the cat's mouth.  I don't know how that'll turn out, but hey, that's what science is.  Getting an idea and testing it.  

Another thing I want to test is the effectiveness of hand sanitizer vs. regular soap.  I did that one last time, but I've got a better idea on how to get my hands really germy.  It involves potted meat and a large dog's large tongue.  And an appropriate level of grossness.  

I'll be sure to let you know how my little experiments go, and I'll be sure to take my photos on a dark colored, matte surface this time, too, so you can see the results better.  

I've got 10 dishes, so if there's anything you want me to test, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.  

And finally, Cody messaged me today to let me know that he and Brennan are officially engaged. 

Of course, that's no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention.  It's all he's been talking about for nearly 2 years now.  

And hey, I might end up with a grandkid after all...

Out Of Fumes

 You know how when people get really tired, they often say they're running on fumes?  Yeah, I think at this point, I'm out of fumes.  How out of fumes am I?  Check out my shopping list:

Do you see it?  Yeah...that tired.  The sad part is, it's still only January.  I've got at least 8 more months of this to go.  

Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, I'll become more accustomed to be exhausted and sleep deprived, and will be blogging more. Maybe I won't be going to bed at 6:00, either!  But then, maybe I will.

Anyway, what has been going on since I last wrote?  Not much.  Just work.  Another of my coworkers has come down with COVID for the second time.  Someone else said it was her third time.  I don't remember, but I know for sure she's had it at least once before.  That's something I've noticed...just my own personal observations.  All the ones who'd had it early on -- like in June or July of 2020 -- are all getting it again now.  

But there is good news, Dr. Dobbs put out another Three Minute Update (Shriek!  He's not reliable!  His videos last FIVE minutes!  That PROVES he's lying!  He can't be trusted!!!   Shriek!!!!), and it shows our 7 day rolling average is dropping pretty quickly.  They'd said it would probably peak around the third week of January, and that's exactly what it has done. 

Hopefully, they'll let us come out of our masks at work soon.  That's the only place I still have to wear one.  But then, we have a control freak for a boss...You know, the one who put us on water restrictions, because he's the boss and he can.  

I'll bet you anything, I can tell you how he votes, too. 

Let's see...what else has been happening?  Unless you've been living under a rock, you've no doubt heard about the massive snowstorm hitting the Northeast.  We haven't gotten anything near like that down here, but it has been cold these last few days.  Yesterday morning, the official temp was 19'.  We've got a brief warming spell, then it's going to get cold again this coming weekend.  With that in mind, I got ahold of the guy and had him bring me another load of firewood, just so I wouldn't feel the need to be so stingy with it.  

When he delivered it, he even asked if I'd already run out, and I said, "No, I've got plenty left.  I just wanted to put another load up.  Just to be sure I don't run out."  We had another brief tussle about him wanting to cut a hole in my fence, so he didn't have to walk around to where I store my wood, so I finally just told him to stack it here by the side of the shed.

I've already started moving it back to where I want it, and will continue to do so over the next few days.  With this load, I should be set for the rest of this year, and on into the beginning of next fall.  However, I'm probably going to try to find someone else to buy wood from if this guy keeps trying to cut a hole in my fence.  Seriously, dude, what is wrong with you?  You're NOT cutting a (unwholesome word) hole in my fence!  Why would you even think something like that would be OK???

Sometime in the future, though, I hope to get that whole shed rebuilt, and when I do, I want to put a lean-to for my firewood right there on that side.  The other thing I want to do is pull all those chicken coops down, and make that into a lean-to also, for my gardening stuff.  I want to have a potting table and hooks for my tools, and everything.  

Speaking of gardening, I looked for some peat moss for my Venus Fly Trap when I went into town Friday, and they didn't have any.  It's still early in the season, though.  I'm sure they'll get some in soon. In the meantime, what I did find was this:

I can start my bluebonnet seeds!  I'll be sure to keep you updated.  

Well, this is already long enough, so I think I'll go ahead and publish this post, and write up a  couple of rough drafts for later.  That might make things a bit easier, until I get adjusted to the longer hours, that is.

Laters.

Popping Up For Air

Hey all!  I'm still alive!  And somewhat well.  

I was actually going to blog last night, but I was so flipping tired I couldn't even think.  I went to bed at 6:15, and was asleep by 7:00, and slept all night long.  Until the alarm went off, rather.  I'm getting too old for this getting up at 2:45 business.  So, what was I going to tell you about yesterday but was too knackered to?  

Not much really.  It's all work, work, work these days.  `I found out this morning my supervisor had to leave yesterday to go into quarantine.  My friend and I were talking about it, and neither one of us had even noticed he was gone until a third coworker told us.  I guess that shows how much concern he has for our department that we see him so little we don't notice when he's gone.   

He doesn't have COVID, but his brother does -- for the second time.  The brother's wife had it a couple of weeks ago, and the whole family (who all work out there) had been quarantined -- except the brother.  I guess they figured since he'd had it before, he had natural immunity and wouldn't get it again.  I guess they figured wrong.  Because he's got it again.  Now the whole family has to go back into quarantine, after having just gotten out.  

In a slightly related note, one of the storm chasers I follow on Twitter has it for the third time.  He had the original strain, then he got Delta, now he has Omicron.  He said they should just change the virus' name to Justincron.

By the way, I ordered my four tests from the government.  I told my friend, "I may not need them, but my tax dollars paid for them, and by golly, I want my tests!"  

In other news, I bought a Venus Fly Trap.  I did not name it Audrey. 

I've always wanted one, and when I saw them in the store, I couldn't resist.  The real question is if I can somehow, you know...not kill it.  I googled how to care for them, and it's not looking good.  I'll have to go back and get the right kind of potting soil, plus distilled water, because it said you can't give them tap water.  Hopefully, it's not as delicate as the website made it seem.  If it can survive until Spring, I'm going to put it onto the front porch.  It ought to be able to attract lots of bugs there. 

Speaking of Spring, I bought more bluebonnet seeds, 

because I'm persistent like that.  Some people would say stubborn, but let's not quibble over terminology.  I'm going to start them in peat pots, so maybe the won't get overwhelmed by weeds before they get established.  Once they're a few inches tall, I can completely weed the bed, then plant them where I want them.  Better than random chance, I guess.  And it'll be easier to keep the weeds clear.  

Meanwhile, the one lonely bluebonnet already in the bed is looking pretty good. 

It seems to be tolerating our cold weather pretty well.  Oh, and yesterday morning, the deep south was colder than Fairbanks, Alaska where my sister lives. 

Of course, by noon, that was totally reversed, but hey...we take whatever small victories we can. 

In Piano Talk, I've started doing my videos with Mr. Let's Play Piano Methods again.  I think I messed up this week, because I decided to learn the songs before watching the videos.  After practicing all week, I watched his video and he decided to make a bunch of changes to the pedaling and fingering.  Sigh...

I mean, I guess it's OK to improvise -- I do it quite often.  The version of Joy To The World I played for you at Christmas was heavily improvised, because I just didn't like the way it was arranged.  Maybe one day, I'll do a video and walk you through all the changes I made.  But I doubt it.  I've been saying for a year and a half I was going to record or live stream a practice, but I haven't done it yet. 

Anyway, as I was saying, he made a bunch of changes to the fingering and pedaling, and I am a bit confused.  Maybe one of my piano playing readers could help me out here.  Mr. LPPM doesn't like using the same finger to play the same note, and I'm wondering if that's a standard thing, or if it's just him. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. 

See all those Gs in a row?  He'd play each one with a different finger.  Instead of playing them all with finger #1, he'd play them #1, 2, 3, 2.  He's never explained why, other than he just doesn't like playing them with the same finger.  To me, it seems much easier and more efficient to just use finger #1 for all four notes, but what do I know.  

Is playing them all with different fingers a thing?  Or is it just one of his idiosyncrasies?  

Enquiring minds want to know. 

Disaster Averted

 It was bound to happen sooner or later. We knew it would happen.  Today it did.  Yep, we are back on 10 hour shifts starting tomorrow.  And do we get to work 5:00 AM - 3:00 PM?  NOOOOO.  Because their precious second shift who can do no wrong wants to come in early instead of staying late.  What does that leave us?  Coming in at 4:00 AM.  FOUR AY EM.  

I supposed I should be used to it by now. 

And that's not the worst of it.  Group Leader Shark seem to imply that before it's all over, we'll be back on 12 hour shifts.  I swear, they're trying to kill us.  And it's all for nothing!  If they don't get tubing's butt in gear, we will be spending those 12 hours standing around with nothing to braze.  Like I did for an hour and a half today. 

Oh, and more bad news.  Guess who has COVID now...Nah, you won't know unless you work there, so I'll tell you.  The guy in the tool crib.  The guy in the tool crib....has COVID.  That means that everyone who has needed a tool, or a bolt, or a scrubby pad or piece of sandpaper, or anything they hand out at the tool crib has potentially been exposed.  And do you know what else?  They don't tell us any more who has it.  The only way we knew is we saw the cleaning man in his little biohazard suit with his little bottle of disinfectant walking by, and Particularly Outspoken Coworker asked him. Otherwise, nobody would have known.  

But a little bit of good news, Boss of Bosses is back. A lot of people say they don't like him, but he's always been nice to me. 

Let me tell you something, that wind was so cold this morning.  It's what we in Texas would call a Blue Norther.  I walked across the parking lot, and another guy was walking in front of me.  I used him to block the wind.  As much as I could, that is.  I went into the plant, and told the temperature guy, "My face is frozen."  Sure enough, he checked my skin temp, and it was 89.6.  Good thing that wasn't my core temp.  I'd be in the ICU ...or dead.  

In other news, I narrowly avoided disaster last night.  And the way that happened is as follows.   After I'd gotten all ready for bed, I went into the bathroom to answer nature one last time.  Finishing my business, I flushed...whereupon the toilet overflowed.  

I quickly went to the hall bathroom to get the plunger, and saw the water backing up into the tub.  Oh, no.  It wasn't just the toilet.  It was the whole sewer line.  As if that weren't enough, like a dummy, I flushed the toilet in that bathroom.

Whereupon it immediately overflowed.  

Great.  Now, I'm mopping up toilet water from the floors of two bathrooms.  The only thing I could think that would be blocking the line was if I'd accidentally flushed a wet wipe.  I know for sure I've done it at least once.  But would one be enough to clog the whole line?  Was I going to have to try to find a plumber to clear my sewer lines?  It was at this point frustration overtook me.  Knowing how much difficulty I've been having getting a plumber to show up and do anything, I muttered a few unwholesome words for which I had to repent.  

Then I thought, maybe it's just a giant wad of my hair.  Hoping beyond hope, I grabbed my trusty bottle of Drano and poured about half of it down the bathtub drain and went to bed.  However, I was so stressed, I couldn't sleep.  After about 30 minutes, I got up and ran some hot water down the tub.  

It drained beautifully.  Quickly, quietly, with no bubbling or gurgling, the water went right down.  I didn't dare try to flush again, though, not wanting to mop the bathroom floor in the middle of my night again.  

This morning, I got up and started getting ready for work.  I went into my bathroom to begin my morning ablutions, and cautiously...very cautiously....flushed the toilet.  

It worked perfectly.  

I waited a bit, then flushed it again.  And again, a perfect flush.  Excitedly, I went into the other bathroom and flushed that toilet.  Same thing.  A perfect flush.  I didn't relax completely, though, until I got home from work this afternoon and took a shower.  Everything drained as normal.  

Huge sigh of relief.  

Funny...a lot of my piano practice sessions seem to end this way.

And finally, because of our increased working hours, I don't know how consistent I'm going to be with the blog.  I'll try to pop in a couple of times a week just so's you'll know I'm still breathing.  

But no promises.  

Dear Place Of Employment

 Dear Place Of Employment, 

This morning, you told us -- "us" being the sub brazing department -- that you want us to braze 2100 headers per day.  That's a pretty tall order, but it is completely doable.  The caveat is, in order for us to accomplish this, you must also hold up your end of the bargain. 

Do I need to define caveat for you?  

You're probably wondering about this time, just exactly what is your end of the bargain?  Being the management team of a major manufacturing facility, you should already know this, but since you don't seem to, I'll be happy to tell you.  Your end of the bargain is as follows.

1.  You need to be sure there is work available for us at all times.  We can't braze if there is nothing for us to braze.  It's as simple as that.

2.  You need to fill those empty brazing stands.  It's neither fair nor realistic of you to make such demands of us knowing all the while we are short handed.  And if someone else is out for any reason, that really puts us in a bind.  Yes, I know that one person is coming back next month, but in the interim, you can put someone on her stand temporarily.  

Do I need to define interim for you?

The other stand, however, has been empty for what is it.  Seven, eight months now?  That brazer got a different job within the company.  He is not coming back.  It's time to replace him.  No, it's past time to replace him.  We can braze so much more with a fully staffed department.  

3.  Stop letting other supervisors move us out of the department.  You know that one assembly line supervisor who thinks the sub brazing department is her personal convenience store?  Yeah, tell her no every once in a while.  If we're on the line, we aren't brazing headers.  And if you do lend her someone, stop sending your best people.   Let her have the lazy folks for a change.  And yes, I know you need people on the line, but nothing goes down that line without a header on it.  Stop treating us like our job is irrelevant.   

4.  In addition to making sure we have work available, you need to make sure our orders are complete and our parts are correct.  When we're over in tubing ordering parts because they were wrong, we're not brazing.  When we're off trying to scrounge up enough parts to finish the order, because there weren't enough in the bin, we're not brazing.  When we're having to replace an adapter tube because it got smashed in the bender, and the operator did replace it like she was supposed to, we're not brazing. When we're having to open the holes in the header because they didn't do it in tubing like they were supposed to, we're not brazing.  When we're having to re-round the ends of the adapter tubes, or knock the burrs from the headers, or manually bend the parts so they'll fit into the jig....you guessed it.  When we have to take time to confirm headers or adapter tubes in the computer so we can confirm what we brazed, we're not brazing.  The more time we have to spend doing tubing's job, the less time we have to do our own.  

5. Replace or repair the missing and broken brazing fixtures, and give us adequate rack space to store the ones we do have.  The more time we spend hunting for jigs, or trying to jury rig broken ones, the less time we have to braze. 

6.  And finally, take us off water restrictions.  Because you seem to have slept through 7th grade life science, let me inform you of something.  The human body needs fuel, just like any other machine does.  You've got people coming in at 5:00 AM who are being forced to starve for 6 hours because of your hubris. 

Do I need to define hubris for you?

If you want us working as hard as you seem to, you need to let us fuel our bodies.  Your car isn't going to get very far without gas, and neither are your employees.  

Oh, and I almost forgot...one more thing...

7.  Treat your employees with respect.  You know you can look up how many headers we braze in that computer.  We know you know you can look up how many headers we braze in that computer.  So, why do you want us to write down how many we braze and turn it in to you?  Telling me it's so you can compare what I'm telling you with what the computer says is essentially telling me you think I'm lying to you.  I don't want to work for someone who as good as calls me a liar to my face.  

There you have it.  That's your end of the bargain.  You hold it up, and you'll be amazed at how much work we can put out for you.  

Seriously.  Give it a try sometime.

Thank you.

That is all. 

Blue Monday

 Today is what they call Blue Monday.

It's supposedly the one day out of the year when Americans suffer the most depression.  Christmas is over, it's usually cold and gray, and the bills people racked up over Christmas are starting to come due.  

Today is also the full moon.  The first of the new year.  Make of that what you will.  

We had today off work for MLK day.  I'm not quite sure where my day went, or what I did with myself.  All I remember is catching up on season 2 of the new version of All Creatures Great And Small on PBS.  

The season ended up with a Christmas special --which made me wish it was Christmas again.  It also made me miss the old days, when American TV shows always did a Christmas episode.  They don't do that any more.  They usually have a Fall finale sometime in late November or early December, then no new episodes until sometime in January.  

I don't know when they started doing that, or why, but I wish they'd go back to making Christmas episodes. 

After that, I watched the first episode of the new Around The World In 80 Days, with David Tennant.  I finished the day up by watching a few episodes of La Brea.  That's one of the few shows out there that isn't a reboot or sequel.  This is what happens when you overschedule your children.  Boredom breeds creativity, and kids need to be bored.  

By the way, did you hear they're rebooting Fresh Prince Of Bel Air now?  I won't be watching it.  It just won't be the same without Carlton doing the Carlton.  

Also, by the way, if you're feeling just a bit blue, go to Google dot com, and search for Betty White.  Wait a few minutes....you're welcome. 

Well, I don't really have much to talk about today, unless you want to hear how much of a couch potato I was.  Oh, there is one thing that's been on my mind.  

I don't talk a whole lot about the political side of the pandemic.  It is my considered opinion that it should have never been politicized in the first place, but it was, and that's where we are right now. 

What I wanted to talk about was, much has been made lately of the Director of the CDC saying she didn't know how many of those 847, 577 deaths were with COVID, or due to COVID.  First of all, this is not new.  Dr. Birx said that two years ago.  Remember Dr. Birx?  Yeah, her...

Now, I know how some of you feel about the CDC right about now, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute.   As far as data and statistics go, the CDC only knows what is reported to them by the states.  If the state's information isn't accurate, or they don't provide those details, the CDC isn't going to know.

Now in my state, every COVID or suspected COVID death is thoroughly reviewed by the health department.  They examine the patient's medical history and what Dr. Byers called the cascade of events, and a whole bunch of other medical jargon I didn't quite understand.  If they determine that something else (car wreck, non COVID related heart attack, etc.) is the primary cause of death, then that's what's put on the death certificate, and it is not counted as a COVID death.  State health officer Dr. Dobbs and state epidemiologist Dr. Byers have explained this process multiple times in press conferences, town hall meetings, and Q&A sessions over the last two years. 

Because of this, I feel reasonably certain my state's records are accurate -- within the margins of normal human error, that is.  And people do make mistakes, even under the best of circumstances.  There was a case back towards the beginning of the pandemic, where a clinic called a man and told him he'd tested positive, when he hadn't even been for a COVID test.  That happened here, too.  When the health department investigated, it turns out the receptionist at the clinic had dialed the wrong number.  

Simple human error, but instead of saying, "Hey, I think you have the wrong number", the guy decided to go after his 15 minutes and made a video, trying to push the narrative that the virus and everything about it was all fake. 

But that's a different story for a different day. 

All that to say, I feel pretty sure Mississippi's numbers are pretty accurate.  I have it on good authority that Florida does the same thing.  Some of these other states, I'm not so sure about.  New York, for example.  When the previous governor resigned, the first thing the interim governor did was to add some 12, 000 deaths to the state's total, because she said the previous governor wasn't reporting all of them.  

Just last week, I read a report where an auditor in the state of Michigan under reported nursing home deaths by 46%.  

And then there's California.  California is so messed up, I don't think even California knows what California is doing.  

So, if you have questions about the totals and such, my best suggestion is to contact your state health department and demand an explanation from them. 

Snow!

 We got snow!  

Even though it was really coming down there for a while, we didn't get any accumulation.  I put my bowl out just in case, but this is the most that stayed on the ground, and it melted pretty quickly after I took the photo. 

But it was snow!  Real snow, not that sleety mess we usually get.  And before any of my northern friends comments...I'm just going to leave this right here:

OK, moving right along.  My big project for today was to watch playoff football.  No, really, it was to watch playoff football and finally make all that turkey noodle soup I'd been planning on doing since Thanksgiving.  

Imma tell you one thing... when you boil down the carcass of a 17 lb bird, you get a lot of broth.  I used a gallon and a half for my soup, and still have tons of it in the freezer.  Once I'd added the meat, vegetables, and noodles, I probably ended up with three gallons of soup, most of which is now safely nestled in the freezer.  

We've got three more years of Bare Shelves Biden.  I might need every last drop of that soup before it's all over.

Anyway, the only thing I wish I'd done differently is to check how much of the celery Cody'd used for the gumbo he made.  I'd bought an entire bunch, and cut it all up, thinking it would be enough for both batches of soup, but he used a bit more than I thought he would.  If I'd checked, I'd have bought more.  But it's still good soup, even though most of you would think it needs more salt.  I'd be inclined to agree with you, but I don't like salt, so I don't add a lot of it to my food.  

In other news, I'm still knitting away at the same old scarf.  I'd show you picture of it, but it looks exactly like it did in the last picture I showed you, just a few inches longer. I've been working a bit on my needle felting.  I made a cute little cowboy hat:

And a horse: 

I'm going to make a boot, too.  And what is all this going to be, you may ask?  I'm going to add them to my Texas (for which I made a little Orange heart to put where my home town is)

and I'm going to make a sort of shadow box thing out of it all.  I probably will do a star, too...you know for the Lone Star State.  

The best part is, I got to play with some of the fiber in the kit my sister gave me for Christmas.  They may be tiny bags, but they packed a lot into them.  

Omicron

It's getting rough out there again, with the Omicron surge.  It seems like every one I know has it now.  It's so bad at work, there are so many people out that the powers that be cancelled everyone's vacation days for the next two weeks.  

I mean, every one who had scheduled a day between now and the end of the month, that is.  Then they'll re-evaluate and see if they need to continue that policy.  

I'm hearing chatter that our surge here in MS will peak probably late next week, then will drop off just as quickly as Delta did.  Dr. Dobbs gave a three minute update (which actually lasted five minutes)  today on what's going on here in the state.  Cases are spiking, but as is typical with this variant, hospitalizations and deaths are down compared to previous variants.  He also outlined which treatments work well against this one, and which are ineffective, so it sounds like he's on top of it.

In other news, I'm getting back into the groove with my piano practicing.  There are occasional obstacles, 

but we work through them. 

The biggest issue I've been dealing with is my sustain pedal.  I don't know if there is a problem with my technique or what, but when I pedal, my...umm...pedal scootches across the floor until eventually I can't reach it.  I have to stop playing and pull the pedal back to where I can reach it.  I'd tried bringing in one of the unused floor mats from my car to see if it had more traction, but no dice.  The entire mat scooted across the floor.  And I would have to stop playing and pull the pedal back to where I could reach it.  Ad infinitum.  

Well, today, at work, I had a brilliant idea.  As soon as I got home, I tried it out.  I went outside and got an old paver from the firepit behind the back fence and used it to brace my pedal. 

 It worked like a charm.  No more sliding across the floor!  And the car mat keeps it up off of my linoleum...or flooring...or whatever that stuff is. Now I can get back to getting serious about my playing. 

And finally, they've still got us at a 70% chance of snow for Sunday.  

We shall see...

Baby, It's Cold

 Look what we have in the forecast for Sunday!  Just look:

Of course, Sunday is still a ways away, and that could change between now and then.  Still, I've got my bowl all washed and ready to collect any show, should it happen to fall here.  Usually, all we get is sleet, but one can hope. 

For snow ice cream.  In case you're wondering why I have a bowl washed and ready to go.  

And I'm glad it's supposed to fall on a Sunday, so I don't have to drive in it.  I love watching the snow fall...out the window...while sitting in front of a warm fire drinking hot chocolate...wrapped in a blanket with knitting or a good book...Driving in snow, not so much.  

In other news, the temperature guy was back at work this morning.  Turns out he didn't have COVID after all.  It was someone in his family who had it, so he had to quarantine.  But he's OK.  Another coworker also came back today after his second or third time having the virus.  I know for sure it's at least his second, because I remember when he had it the first time.  It was pretty early in the pandemic, but then someone told me today it was his third time.  

Boss Of Bosses has it, too, and they say he's not doing well.  I don't know any of the details, but that's what I was told.  

That's about it for tonight, I guess.  I'll tell you one thing, this getting up at 3:30 AM nonsense really blows.  

Finally, A Bit Of Good News

 Before we begin tonight's post, I have a bit of good news.  

That Awesome Hunk Of Pure Awesomeness Who Used To Be My Imaginary Boyfriend Before He Married Someone Who Is Not Me Bill Whittle has turned the corner and is finally on the mend.  He posted on his website today, giving us an update.  

Things got pretty dicey there, because thanks to Brandon restricting them, Bill and his lovely bride Natasha didn't have access to monoclonal antibody treatments.  His operations manager finally found a clinic that had some, and she drove them there, only to be told that since it had been longer than ten days, the treatments would have no effect, and could even make things worse.  Sigh...Let's Go Brandon.

Bill hadn't eaten in about 8 days because he couldn't keep anything down, and he hadn't had anything to drink in 4 or 5 days.  He was severely dehydrated, then his sister found someone to give him IV fluids  -- I'm guessing at a clinic.  He said they'd gone to an ER and after waiting four hours without anyone seeing them, they got up and left.    By that time, he was so dehydrated, it took the nurse about 10 minutes just to find a vein.  But she finally did, and got some fluids into him. 

Once he got rehydrated a bit, he began perking up, and after two weeks of The Least Fun Either Of Us Has Ever Had (his own words), he began feeling better.  He'll be back to filming episodes soon, but wanted to check in and give us an update.

That is the Reader's Digest condensed version of what he posted.  It doesn't sound like Natasha got quite as sick as Bill did, but then, she's quite a bit younger than he is, and is in a lower risk group.  Doesn't matter.  I'm just glad he's feeling better.  

I don't know if I could handle losing someone else to this thing. 

Oh, and by the way, another one of my friends is recovering from her second bout with the stuff.  She's not happy.  And in a strange twist of irony, the man who takes our temperatures at work has it, too.  I haven't heard how he's doing, but I hope he's OK, too.  

OK, now, on to your regularly scheduled post.  

I had to run downtown after work today to pay a bill.  As is my custom, while I was in that part of town, I checked on the Little Free Library on the Square.  It was slap empty.  It is no longer slap empty.  I was able to fit almost all of the remaining books from Mr. Clark's house into it.   There were a few old cookbooks -- the kind you make for fundraising -- that I decided were a bit too bedraggled to put into the Library, so I brought them back home. 

After I'd returned home, I said to myself, "Self, let me look through this basket and see what is left that I can put into the LFL."  And that's what I did.  Down in the bottom of the basket, I found this:

Just look at what is in it!   Just look!  

Yeah, that book didn't quite make into the LFL.  Neither did these:

They may look the same, but one is a 1952 edition, and one is a 1957 edition.  They went onto my shelf, too, right next to my 1925 Funk & Wagnalls Desk Standard Dictionary. 

However, I might not keep one of them.  Why?  Because just inside the cover, I found this handwritten note:

For those of you with eyes like mine, it says

To Wayne & Ann

From Mom & Dad

On The 25th Day

Of Dec in year of 1959

Then on the inside cover, written in pencil in a little boy's hand, it says Gary.  

Gary was Mr. & Mrs. Clark's only child.  He died a couple of years ago of a horrible disease called neuromyelitis optica.  It's one of those degenerative things that kills you in slow motion.  Towards the end, he could barely move, and was almost totally blind, but he never lost his sense of humor and his fighting spirit.  

I really feel like I should offer this book to Gary's daughter, his only child.  I wonder if she even realized what she was tossing out when she put the basket of books out by the curb.  

In knitting news, I've gotten this far on the scarf I ripped and re-did.  

I've been checking it for errors almost obsessively.  Hopefully, I'll make it through this time.  My problem is, I've knit so many hats with K2 P2 ribbing, my fingers automatically want to go there.  I have to count out loud and really think...this is a K3 P1 pattern.  

And lastly, I made a little needle felted cactus, which the cat is displaying Vanna style for you:

I didn't have any fiber dyed green, in my practice fiber, I mean, so I tried to blend yellow and blue.  Eh, it's kind of greenish if you squint...from a distance.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's past my bedtime, and I haven't even practiced my piano yet.  

Laters.  

Still Here; Still Tired

 This cat of mine...I do declare.

It was supposed to get down into the mid 20s last night, so I made her stay in the house.  She didn't like that.  And she let me know she didn't like that.  All night long.  So, today after work, I found an old cardboard box that has been hanging around the house for at least 10 years, 

and a $2.00 mylar blanket from Walmart, 

ten minutes with some tape and scissors, and voila, an insulated cat house. 

I put it out onto the car port, and showed the cat where it was.  She sniffed at it a bit, but didn't go inside.  At least now, the option is there, and I'll feel better about leaving her outside if she has a warm place to get into.  

And maybe now, I can get some sleep.  

In other news, I finally got brave and popped my felt Texas out of the cookie cutter.  

I need to tighten up the edges a bit more, but overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I've got some more detailed cookie cutters that I want to try once I've gotten a bit more practice in.  After I've settled back into the routine a bit more (read: get used to a constant state of sleep deprivation again), I want to try to do a little cow or sheep.  Those are so cute.  

You know what else is cute?  These little playdough cutters: 

I want to try that little dragon next.  I mean for needle felting.  Not Play-Doh.  Although Play-Doh can be fun.  And somewhat therapeutic.  

And I need some therapy today after dealing with all the stupidity on Facebook.  

One of these days, I'm going to step on some toes and do a whole blog post about some of the seriously stupid stuff I've seen lately...

But for now, I think I'll get off here and watch this ball game.  The only question is, which version of the Cowboys will we get tonight:  Super Bowl Contender or Train Wreck?  

I'm Tired

 It's too early in the year for me to be this tired already.  You want to know how tired I am?  I'll tell you

Last night, I got the gumbo Cody had made for Thanksgiving out of the refrigerator.  It had finally thawed out.  I put some into a bowl, heated it up, and ate it.  It was good.  It was really good.  I went on about my business and finally went to bed.  Laying there in bed, trying to fall asleep, that's when it hit me.  I hadn't made any rice to go with it.  

I'd eaten riceless gumbo.  And it took me four hours to figure it out. 

The first thing I did when I got home today was start some rice.  Then I lit a fire.  

I ate my gumbo and by that time, my house was warm, so I took a shower, and I have no idea where I'm going with this....

Anyway, another one of my coworkers went home with COVID today, but she doesn't work anywhere near me.  According to my anonymous source -- her cousin-- she didn't lose her sense of taste and smell, and her only symptoms are fever and runny nose.  I thought it sounded like Omicron, but I don't know for sure.  I know the health department is keeping track, and Omicron has surpassed Delta in the state.  

Your state's mileage may vary...

I lifted this from the health department website, which is a good resource for statistics -- provided you're a statistics geek like me and are into such things.  Now, I know there are people out there who will claim the health department is lying -- and they know the health department is lying because a totally reliable and completely true random meme from an unknown source on Facebook told them so.  

Stupid, I know, but that's the world we live in now.  

That's about all I have for tonight, except to tell you the cat isn't happy with me.  It's going to be cold tonight, and I'm making her stay in the house.  

She'll live through it...maybe.  

Random Thoughts Of A Wednesday Evening

 1.  Just when I'd gotten used to not feeling completely and utterly exhausted all the time...we had to go back to work.  We thought we'd hit the ground running, and sure enough, the plant didn't fail us.  Back on 9 hour shifts from day one, and ...well, they never stopped working 6 days a week.  But yes, we're working Saturday.  

2. I have a cat now.  She is a drama queen.  How do I know this?  I'll tell you.  Monday night when it was supposed to be getting so cold, she kept asking to go outside.  I told her no, and this was her response:

to flop on the ground like a toddler.  Kindly ignore the state of my floors.  It's on the list.  Anyway, I wouldn't let her out, so I had to listen to her yowl all night long.  

3.  I've put together an Amazon wish list for my town's Little Free Library: 

Little Free Library

If you feel you want to contribute, all books purchased from this list will be put into the LFL on the town square.  Also, if you have a suggestion for a book I need to add, I'm open to them.  There may be some duplicates on there at the moment.  I'm still in the process of tidying it up.  

4.  I finally remembered to ask my brother Scott about the piano books from my childhood.  He confirmed my fears.  It did not survive the hurricane.  That would be Ike.  That's a bummer.  There was this one piece I just loved, and wish I still had.  It was called Stop Lights or Traffic Lights or something similar.  I don't remember.  I've looked for it and can't find it anywhere.  

5.  I've started back to doing my piano lessons, with the videos.  I said I was going to record one of my practice sessions for you, but when I get home from work, I'm too tired to even think, much less be personable on camera.  One day I will, though. 

6.  I had more to tell you, but my I'm so tired my eyes feel swollen, and I still have to practice my piano, so I'm going to have to cut this short and bid you good night. 

7.  Good night. 

Today Was Not A Good Day

 I killed a rabbit on the way to work. 

Wait, back up a minute.  First off, I had to go back to work -- which is always a bummer --and on the way, I killed a rabbit.  I certainly didn't mean to, but he darted out right in front of my car.  I slammed on the brakes, but I heard the thump and felt the bump that told me I wasn't quick enough.  It just put a damper on my whole day.  

The redneck in me thought briefly that I needed to go back get him, so I could put him in the freezer and eat him later, but I thought better of that.  I didn't have a way to store him while I was at work, and I was afraid the meat would go bad before I got off. 

Then I get to work, only to discover they'd changed our working hours again, and nobody told me, so I was late.  (My friend apologized, saying she'd meant to text me and let me know, but got distracted and forgot.  I can't fault her for that.  I do it all the time.)

Just before lunch, they told us we had to start wearing our masks again until further notice.

Then second shift did an order wrong and we had to re-so it.

And I dropped a hot piece of copper and burned a hole in my jacket.

And I bent over to pick up a piece of trash off the bathroom floor and clonked my head on the tissue holder

By this time, I was feeling pretty much like Alexander -- only unlike Alexander, I had gumbo at home to look forward to.  

Aaaand, I get home and the gumbo was still frozen.  I could have thawed it, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait that long. 

I ate boudin instead.  At least something in my day went right. 

How was your day? 

I'm Back

 Just a quick post to let you know we got back safely yesterday evening.  It was a good trip, and a really nice service.  I'll tell you more about it over the next few days.  I will tell you one thing, though --  it was good to sleep in my own bed again.  Cody, Brennan, and I stayed in James' camper, and even though it's a very nice camper, it's still a camper.  Every time one of us would roll over, the whole camper shook.  Every time someone got up to go to the bathroom, we all knew it.  

But it was nice being in the camper and being able to get away from the noise and chaos of a house full of kids.  Brennan, being  is a bit on the shy side, got fairly overwhelmed when all the cousins started showing up, so she and Cody spent a good deal of time out there watching TV.  They only got two channels and were stuck watching shows like Married At First Sight and such.  Then I showed them where I'd hidden the leftover banana pudding (from the family meal after the funeral), and as you know, nanner puddin makes everything better.  It wasn't until yesterday morning, as we were leaving to come home, I told James, "Oh, by the way, don't forget the banana pudding out in the camper refrigerator."  

The drive back from Texas was largely uneventful, even though we drove through rain for about the last 3 hours, and arrived to find it snowing ---well, mostly sleeting.  We got a few tiny, dry flakes of snow, but it was mostly sleet.  Everywhere else in MS got snow.  Everywhere in TN got snow.  Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas got snow.  Everywhere in the entire flipping country got snow, but not me.  What did I get?  Sleet.  Always with the sleet.  

Today, I've been busy today taking down Christmas, so I'll tell you more about my trip over the next few days, but for now, I wanted to share this photo of Cody and Brennan at the beach.  

I'll tell you more about that later.  But for now, I'm going to relax and watch Tiny Food Fight on Food Network.  If you've never seen that, I highly recommend it.