What A Mess!

There I was at work, just a working away when...

By the way, you know your workplace lacks leadership when both your group leader and your supervisor are out on the same day and you don't even notice it.  Everything ran just as smoothly as it does when they're there.  

So there I was at work, just a working away when Cuz walked up to one of the parts stagers and spoke to her.  "I'll bet he's telling her to let us go at 2:00."  Sure enough, she turns around, holds up two fingers and says, "Two o'clock everyone!"  

I looked at the clock...it was 1:58.  

"You could have given us a little more notice than that!"  I said to Cuz.  "I'm not complaining, but still..."  

That was a lie.  I was complaining.  Just a li'l bit. 

It turns out it was a good thing, because remember those checks I ordered nearly a month ago?  Yeah, they still haven't arrived.  I looked up the tracking number, and they've been in Georgia since September 17th.  I got onto the credit union website and chatted with a customer service rep.  I explained the situation, and long story slightly less long, he said that at this point, we have to assume the checks are lost and my account is likely to be compromised.  The best thing to do would be to close that account and open a new one, but he couldn't do that over chat.  I'd have to call. 

As much as I hate making phone calls, this is something that couldn't be ignored, so call the credit union is just what I did.  After nearly 45 minutes on the phone with a very patient rep, I have a shiny new checking account with some shiny new checks on the way.  Hopefully.  She also fixed it so that the new checks would be free of charge, because of what I'd gone through.  They even linked my old debit card to the new account, so I don't have to get a new one of those yet.  

Now I just have to update all my auto draft payments, Paypal info, and stuff like that, and we'll be all set.   It's such a pain, but what with thieves everywhere, you can't be too sure.  

Oh, and the rep got a bit of a chuckle when the cat started yelling at me.  "I'm sorry," I said, "I'm talking to my cat."  

"I can hear her," the rep said, laughing.  

In other news, I finished a hat last night.  

 Then I cast on a new one, which won't be for the Seaman's Church Institute.  I can't show you a photo, because if it turns out, it will be a Christmas gift.  The pattern is the pinwheel hat, but alas it is no longer available.  Fortunately, I'd printed out a copy years ago, before the website it was on was taken down.  It's knit in short rows, then seamed, but I'm going to try to do it with a provisional cast on and kitchener the live stitches together and see if that works out better. 

The bad news is, I've tried it on two different kinds of yarn, and don't like how it's knitting up on either one.  One was too dark and the pattern got lost.  The other is too stiff, and I'm not sure she'd like the color anyway.  I have a few more options before I'll have to break down and order something, though.  

But now, I think I'm going to go take a hot shower, even though it's kind of early, and then watch some more Downton Abbey or maybe Halloween Wars.  

Laters. 

Chilly Saturday

The raggedy tails of Hurricane Helene blew themselves out during the night, and this morning dawned cloudy, chilly, and damp.  It was chilly enough the coffee hit the spot, and my new lounge pants felt nice and warm. 

I found these at Walmart yesterday, less than $10, and they have pockets.  Functional pockets that will hold both a phone and a hand.  I'd bought a couple pairs last year, and was glad to see them back on the shelves this Fall.  

By the way, I can't debunk this meme.  

I don't know if the percentages are completely accurate, but based on my own frustrating attempts to find women's clothing with functional pockets, I wouldn't doubt that they are.  I've never understood why clothing designers seem to think we don't want or need functional pockets, especially in exercise wear.  It's not like I'm going to want to lug a purse around with me when I'm out walking.  I just need something that will fit a phone and ID.  

I don't carry a purse anymore anyway.  To me, it's just a handy way to lose everything at once.  But I digress...

After my morning coffee, I went outside and piddled in the yard a bit, and found the storm had broken off another branch of my sunflower. 

Given the devastation up in NC and Tennessee, I'm not complaining. My heart goes out to those people.  You never expect a hurricane when you live in the mountains.  They're just not prepared for it.  Entire towns have been wiped off the map.  Roads and bridges swept away in the flooding.  They say Asheville, North Carolina is completely cut off by flooding.  The only way in or out is by helicopter -- although the water may have receded some by the time this gets published.  I remember going to youth camp just outside of Asheville, so I have fond memories of the place. I will be sure to give a little extra to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Fund. 

Anyway, I chopped up the broken branch and put it into the compost, then began deadheading some of the spider lilies.  It always makes me sad that they die back so quickly.  I didn't get very far, because they were still so wet with morning dew my clothes were getting soaked.  I'd said I was going to go back outside after said dew dried, but I got caught up watching the rest of season 1 of Downton Abbey, and then the football games started, and that's where I've been ever since. 

Navy won and is now 4-0.  Texas got off to a slow start, but picked up after halftime and beat MS ST 35-13, with Arch Manning getting his second start of the season.  In the middle of that game, Cody and Brennan stopped by for a visit on their way home from Memphis.  While they were there, I had Cody go through his old DVDs and take the ones he wanted.  Out of the entire stack of about 20, he took two.  Mainly because he wanted to upgrade those movies to 4K HD or whatever it was he said.  He wanted upgrades of the ones he didn't take, I mean.  The two he took didn't have upgrades, I guess.  

In the middle of the stack, I found this piece of ancient history.

Remember these-- when you had to put the disc into your PS3 to stream from Netflix?  

Those were the days...

A What?

I swan...

If you're from the South, you know what that means.  You will also know what "I swanee" means, too.  If you're not, I don't know if I can explain it to you. 

Nevertheless, I swan...I take these weekends off to get stuff done, and so far it's rained every one of them.  Two weeks ago, it was Hurricane Francine.  This week, it's Hurricane Helene.  

Next week, it just might be Joyce.  

I'd originally thought I might drive up to Batesville and walk the trails at the Mounds, but when I saw the forecast, that plan went out the window.  Then I thought I'd go walk the trails out at the lake, but by the time I finished my coffee, it had already started raining, so I just stayed home and piddled around the house, but more about that later. 

A funny thing happened yesterday that I have to tell you about.  I left work early to go to the dentist, but that's not the funny part.  I had a good check-up for once.  No cavities or anything to be concerned about.  After my appointment, I thought to myself, "I'm already in town.  Might as well go to Walmart and get my shopping done."  But that's not the funny part, either. 

So, I get my shopping done and come on home, only to find the electricity was out -- but only on my road.  I got the message from Entergy that it had already been reported, so I sat down to wait until it came back on.  Figuratively speaking of course.  I didn't really just sit.  I piddled in the yard a bit, deadheading some of my spider lilies, adding stuff to my compost bin -- that sort of thing.  I thought I might paint a little on my fence, but remembered my paint sprayer runs on electricity.  Then I thought, "Hey, I'll go ahead and power wash my back porch...oh, wait..."  so I came inside and knit until it was too dark to see, after which I read a few chapters in my book on my Kindle -- Stormy, Misty's Foal, if you're wondering.  

About two hours after the outage began, I got the message that a lineman had arrived.  I guess most of them are down in Florida, so they only have a skeleton crew still here, and had to wait for someone to get here.  Once he'd arrived, he got the power back on relatively quickly, just in time for the ball game.  

Cowboys won, by the way, even though it was a very sloppy win. 

I finished the hat I'd been working on, 

 and cast on another. 

Sometime during the third quarter, I got an update on the power outage.  It had been caused by an animal.  

That's a new one on me. They didn't specify, but my guess would be a squirrel.  Those things aren't good for anything but eating.  Me eating them, I mean.  They do make for good eating.  I just hope I can get some this season. 

By the way, the refs threw so many flags in the football game, that even Al Michaels quipped that they had to get onto Amazon and order more.  

So, back to today...It started raining about 9:00 AM and hasn't stopped yet.  Yes, this is from Helene as she drags her skirts behind her.  We're fortunate, though, that we're only getting some wind and rain.  The images I'm seeing out of Florida and the Carolinas are absolutely devastating.  Our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to them. 

Since I couldn't really do anything, I got onto Facebook and found out Dame Maggie Smith had died, so I've been re-watching Downton Abbey from the beginning in her honor.  I don't normally get all upset over celebrities, but she was so talented and I loved her as The Dowager Countess.  

After getting this far into the post, it suddenly occurred to me that you don't really want to hear about me washing my shower curtain, so I'm going to end this and go get something to eat.  I bought some Everything Bagel seasoning, and that stuff is so good, I'm absolutely going to make some pasta and put it on it.  

Laters. 

Random Thoughts Of A Tuesday Evening

1.  Well, I thought I had some good news for you, but alas, I don't.  

For those of you who have memories like mine, something has been digging in my raised beds, and I think it's squirrels.  I'd done a minute of research and found that they don't like peppermint, so I cut some springs and scattered them around the second bed -- remember that I'd put bricks into the first one.  Anyway, it seemed to work because the next morning, the bed hadn't been dug in.  However, by the second morning, and the third, whatever was digging had been back.  Nearly the whole bed was dug up.  Bummer. 

So, this afternoon when I got home, I rounded up some bricks and small chunks of concrete and put them into the second bed. 

That ought to keep the little buggers out, and may I remind them that squirrel season starts in ...one week.  

By the time I got done with that, I was sooo drenched in sweat I came inside and took my shower while cheering on the coming cold front.  Indeed, it got up to 93° at my work station and yes, I moaned all day about it.  "Come on, cold front!"  I said as my clothes stuck to me.   

2.  I had to order more checks this month.  Seriously, I have one -- one -- bill that I still have to pay by check, and it's a pretty important one.  I've tried to set up an online payment, but they say I don't qualify for electronic funds transfer.  I don't know why.  Every other bill I can pay with an auto draft or I can make a payment online.  Only this one bill am I still over here writing a check every month like a Neanderthal.  

All that to say, I woke up this morning and thought to myself, "Dadgum, it's been three weeks and them checks still ain't got here."  When I got home this afternoon, after my shower, I got online and after running in circles a few moments, found my order status. My checks have been shipped, and were supposed to arrive yesterday.  Hopefully, they'll get here today or tomorrow.  That bill is due Oct 1, and I'm starting to sweat just a bit.  And not due to the temps this time. 

I don't know why I told you all that, but this is my life.  

3.  You know what else is my life?  This:

I'm not sure whether to be proud or a little frightened that I knew that.  Right away, too.  I didn't even have to think about it. 

4.  I watched a mini-series on Prime called A Very Royal Scandal.  It's exactly what it says.  The show has three seasons -- each with three episodes-- about some big scandal in the British Royalty.  Each season is its own story, so you don't have to start from the beginning.   I skipped straight to season 3, which was about Prince Andrew allegedly raping that 17 year old girl.  It was pretty interesting, but like everything else these days, it was absolutely loaded with obscene language.  

5.  I started watching Joey B and That Kid Jayden play against each other, but fell asleep.  I woke up at halftime, and just decided to turn it off.  BTW, I can never root for Washington, but I do like That Kid Jayden. 

6.  There are new seasons of both Halloween Baking Championship and Halloween Wars on.  I have to admit, I'm just a wee bit jealous of those people who just take a pill or a shot, and eat and drink whatever they want when I'm over here trying to control my glucose naturally and giving up everything that makes life worth living.  I haven't had a single piece of candy corn this year.  Normally by this time, I've eaten three bags of the stuff.  Sigh...

7.  Facebook is at it again.  This isn't my post, but seriously?  

What about this violated community standards?  She was thanking people for wishing her a happy birthday.  You've got to do better than this, Zuckerberg!

8.  Fall allergies are in full swing.  Ragweed is in bloom, and I'm coughing my head off.  I think I'm going to get off of here and knit a bit before bed.  Not that that has anything to do with ragweed, but there it is. 

9.  Goodnight. 

Beautiful

The spider lilies are in full bloom, and I wish you could see them in person, because this photo simply doesn't do them justice.  

Those yellow butterflies love them, and I wish I could have gotten a photo of one.  They're kind of quick, though.   I did manage to take a few artsy-fartsy photos, and these two were my favorite.

It was kind of hard, because the sun is so bright, I can't really see my phone screen, but I think they turned out OK.  Still no yellow butterflies, though. 

While I was out there, I took another photo of that wire imbedded in the tree trunk.  My lovely markings indicate where the outer edges of the trunk were.  There's just a little bit left showing.  For perspective, when the tree was first cut down, the trunk was 3' across. 

The wire appears to be right in the center.  I wonder how long it had to have been there for that much of the tree to grow up around it, and why was it put there in the first place?  That's a story I wish I could hear. 

In other news, there has also, there has been knitting.  

It's weird, though.  I've used this yarn before, but the last time it didn't stripe like this.  I wonder if they changed the way they dyed it since I bought the last few skeins.   I cast on another hat last night, but there was a knot in the yarn, so it's going to pool a bit differently.  Oh, well, that's what you get when you buy cheap yarn.  I mean, I like it, but it's cheap.  

And finally, if you missed yesterday's post, this is why. 

Please someone tell me, what was deceptive or misleading about Fall decorations and my herb gardens?  I very strongly suggest that if you want to keep reading my blog, you bookmark the site and come here directly, because I'm getting tired of this nonsense.  If it happens again, I won't be linking to Facebook any more.  You will be able to fine me here at Blogspot, on X, and if I start getting enough traffic, I'll post my links to Substack as well.  The post is still here on the blog, though, if you want to go back and read it. 

 Oh, one more thing before I go.  Yesterday was a good day for football.  Texas won decidedly in Arch Manning's first start.  He made some freshman mistakes, but that's why they wanted him to play in the first place -- to get real game experience, and to give Quin Ewers another week to recover.  

LSU won, but I didn't really pay that much attention to that game because Navy was playing at the same time.  Yes, that Navy.  THE Navy who upset the Memphis Tigers!  

More importantly, if they play like they did yesterday, Army doesn't stand a chance. 

Go Navy!  Beat Army!

Finally Fall

And the long, hot miserable summer finally comes to an end this weekend.  Tomorrow morning at 7:43 AM CDT to be precise.  Of course, it's been meteorological fall for three weeks now, but let's not quibble over details.   The point is, it's finally Fall!  Except that it's still hot, at least for the next few days.  By Wednesday, it'll drop into the lower 80s, and I can't wait!  

With that in mind, I started putting out a few of my fall decorations.  

I won't show you all of them, because they're the same every year.  Mostly.  I did do something a little different here, because last year, I had a turkey wall plaque hanging in this corner.  

I felt like it made that corner just a little too cluttered, so this year, I put it out in the car port by my back door -- which is not the door shown here. 

 That is the old door into my laundry room.  Sometime before I bought the house, someone added a door from the kitchen into the aforementioned laundry room, so this one doesn't get used any more.  In fact, if I ever get to the point I can get my house completely remodeled, I've been considering having it removed completely and that space bricked up -- provided they can find matching bricks, of course. 

OK, moving right along.  Some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that these bricks seemed to have worked, because this bed was undisturbed this morning. 

The bad news is, the other raised bed was all dug up.  Sigh...I guess I'll have to put some bricks in it for the time being.  Next year, I want to get some of that stiff plastic screen and cut holes in it just big enough for the plants to grow up through.  

On the other hand, after a few moments of research, I found out that squirrels -- and indeed most rodents-- are repelled by peppermint oil.  I don't have any on hand, but I do have a peppermint plant.  I went outside and cut a few springs of it, then crushed the leaves just a bit and scattered them around the bed.  If it works, I may be able to do away with the bricks.  

Hmmm, I wonder if I can drop some down the chipmunk holes and run them off, too...

On a similar note, I got out early this morning and started digging up some of the day lilies.  I recorded a short video about it....

And finally, I started taste testing my new coffee this morning.  Since I'm not one of those people who can drink it all day and still fall asleep at night, I only tried three of the new flavors:  maple walnut, caramel brownie, and Frosty's mint chip.  They were all pretty good, but my favorite of these three was the caramel brownie.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get this published because LSU and Navy both play here in about 15 minutes.  I'll need the computer to watch one of those games, so I'll check you later. 

Geaux, and Anchors Aweigh!

P.S.  Just so's you'll know, I do read all comments you leave on my posts, whether you do so here on Blogger or on Facebook.  I may not respond to them all, because I'm an introvert.  I need time to absorb and process, then I figure it's been too long to reply, so I don't.  But I do read and appreciate every one of them. 

Needless To Say

Needless to say, I didn't go to Batesville today.  Instead, I spent a quiet morning piddling in my own yard, and was content to stay home-ish.  OK, I did go out to the lake and walked one of the trails, but other than that, I spent a quite morning piddling in my own yard and was content to stay home. 

It was a wonderful morning to do just that -- cool enough I could leave my French Doors open until nearly noon, even though it would eventually get up into the low 90s.   Still, it was nice to be able to spend some time outdoors without being crushed by oppressive heat and humidity.  

My spider lilies by the fence are starting to open up, and I keep stepping outside to admire them. 

These are the ones I want to dig up and move.  

They'd been planted by the previous owner, and I've never liked them being right out in the middle of the yard.  I've got one coworker who has already laid claim to a few of the bulbs, but I'll have plenty to share if anyone wants some. 

While I was tidying, I ran across something pretty interesting.  Back when I first moved into this house, I had a huge oak tree cut down, and the trunk has been slowly rotting back ever since.   I was cutting back some of the grass and weeds that had grown up around it and found this wire that looks like it had been imbedded in one of the roots or the trunk. 

Now that I think about it, it had to have been in one of the roots and the fence guy dug it up when he was removing the old fence.  If it had been in the trunk, surely I would have noticed it before.  Or maybe not.  There was that one part of the trunk that didn't seem to be decaying as fast as the rest.  Maybe that was because of this wire.  Oh well, now I'm going to have to figure out how to get that out of there. 

OK, back to my piddling...

All these daylilies are sitting here mocking me.   

I need to move them, now that the fence is no longer there, so that they aren't out in the middle of the lawn, and you've already heard how I feel about that. 

These things are starting to flower. 

One of my jalapenos has turned completely red.  I'm not sure what to do with it because I'm not much of a jalapeno person. 

I've got a lot more cayennes coming on, including one I need to cut and tring up to dry. 

Plus two more banana peppers that will be ready to pick soon.  I cut them up and put them into my chicken or ham salad. 

 BTW, I asked Cody if he had tried the pickled peppers I sent home with them, and he said they turned out really good.  I'm glad of that.  

Nor for a bit of bad news.  Something keeps digging up this bed, and I can't figure out how to discourage whatever it is.  I've tried Repels-All, which apparently doesn't.  I've tried vinegar, which I think is killing my sweet mint. This is my last resort:

Hopefully, that will discourage whatever is digging that bed up -- at least until I can come up with a more permanent solution. Funny, they didn't bother this bed last year.  I wonder what made it so fascinating all of the sudden. 

And finally, remember a few days ago when I told you I'd ordered $100 worth of coffee?  This is what $100 worth of coffee looks like: 

Don't ask.  Even I don't know, but it looks like I'm going to be set for coffee for quite some time, now.  Since I've been using my pod coffee maker almost all the time now, I move the old style coffee maker off of the cabinet.  It looks so much cleaner in that corner now. 

I reckon that's it for today.  I'm going get off of here and get some knitting done while I catch up on old episodes of Good Bones. 

That’ll Get Your Sugar Down

Sometimes I just don't understand my place of employment.  Yesterday, they let us go at 2:00 because we were way ahead.  Today, we were even farther ahead, but they made us stay until 3:00.  I don't get it.  I just don't get it. 

That place is starved for leadership, I'm telling you.  Oh, we've got "boss-erhsip", but not leadership.  Let me tell you a little story to show you what I mean.  A few days ago, I'd gone back to the break area to get some ice in my stupid little clear cup.  I was on my way back to my work area, walking behind one of the supervisors.  One of the sheet metal parts stagers got the supervisor's attention and asked him to sign her scrap tickets.  

"Why am I signing scrap tickets?  Don't you work for [Other Supervisor]?" he said.  

"I haven't seen him all day," replied the parts stager. 

"If I were you, I'd complain about that," said the supervisor, and he walked off without signing her scrap tickets.  Someone needs to remind him that we're all supposed to be on the same team out there.  Heck, even Cuz will sign our scrap tickets when we ask him to.  The irony of the situation is, it took him longer to stand there and argue with her than it would have to just sign the tickets.  

That guy is probably the most disliked supervisor out there, and for good reason.   I've had a few run-ins with him myself.  He's a boss, not a leader.  We don't have leaders out there.  As I said, the place is starved for leadership.  

So, after a 10 hour day at the factory, I decided to go to Walmart today instead of tomorrow and get that chore out of the way.  While I was there, I bought a new candle and pumpkin scented soap.  

They still don't have any pumpkin spice coffee creamer, though.  Usually they have it out by now.  They've got tons of peppermint mocha, but no pumpkin spice -- except in that one really high dollar brand that I refuse to buy.  I guess that new store manager is an old sour puss who doesn't like pumpkin.  

I'll have to check a few more stores around town, I guess.  I was thinking about going up to Batesville tomorrow and walk the trails at the Mounds, so I might check their Walmart while I'm up there.  It all depends, because I need to get my fence painted as well.  We'll see. 

Speaking of the fence, my spider lilies are starting to open up.  

On a whim, I decided to go ahead and mow the side yard.  That was all I intended to do, but while I had the mower out, I figured I might was well do the back, too. I was only going to mow until I ran out of gas, but as it happens, I had just enough to do the entire back yard.  That'll probably be the last time this year I mow the back, but I'll still try to keep the public side of things looking presentable.  

And finally, since I was already dirty and sweaty, and the shed was open anyway, I got the Fall decorations out and bright them into the house.  

After all that, I might not go to Batesville tomorrow, because I might not be able to move.  

Now, I'd better go practice my piano before I get too stiff and sore. 

Laters...

Shine On

Shine on Harvest Super Moon, up in the sky!

It's been a tradition since my childhood that we go out and watch the Harvest Moon rise.  I don't know how or why it started, but it's something we always did with my dad.  It's a tradition I've tried to keep up with, but I almost missed it last night.  After all that yardwork, and a hot shower, I was settled in to my chair knitting and watching Land Of The Lost on Tubi.  

I just happened to glance over at the clock and shout to myself, "Oh!  It's time!"  

I'd debated on whether to drive out to the lake again, but decided against it this year, since it was in the middle of the week.  Harvest Moon or not, I still had to get up at 3:30 AM, so I watched it from home.  Just long enough for the moon to clear the trees, then I came inside and had my traditional mug of hot chocolate. 

Even though it was still 90° outside and the air conditioner was running, it's tradition.  

This afternoon, I got one of my chores knocked off the list.  Yep, I took the Incarnation of Evil in to the vet for her annual vaccinations.   I'd booked her appointment for 4:00 PM, but when Group Leader Shark told us we could leave at 2:00, I called the vet and asked if I could bring her in early.  They said I could, so we went right after work.  Wednesdays must be a slow day, because there was only one other person in there.  

The office has a new vet who has joined them, and I'm not sure I like him.  I mean, he gave the cat her shots, but didn't really do a checkup or anything.  He didn't even bring her record into the exam room with him.  I think next time she has to go, I'll request one of the other vets.  

This segues nicely into today's meme debunkeration topic.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the meme I wanted to debunk.  I've seen it all over FB, but wouldn't you know it, when I want it, it's nowhere to be found.   Anyway, the meme states that mRNA vaccines for animals were banned 50 years ago.  This one is easily debunked, because the technology didn't even exist 50 years ago.  Ten seconds worth of research would have shown you that... 

In other news, I'm about to have an explosion of spider lilies in my back yard. 

 I have a bunch up in the newly fenced in area that I want to move, but I don't know what I'm going to do with them.  Maybe I'll plant them alongside the fence so that the line of lilies goes all the way up to the front.  

I also want to find something to do with this rock. 

 

I knew it was out there, because I'd seen it out by the fence with just a little bit of it showing.  The fence guy dug it up when he put my new fence in, but I had no idea it was this big.  I think it's cool looking and want to use it as a design element somewhere.  I just don't know where yet. 

I'm thinking of making some sort of little rock garden in the corner and using this as a focal point.  I'll have to look up some ideas on Pinterest and see what I can come up with.   And as always, I'll take you on that journey with me. 

But for now, the only journey I want to take is to bed.  To sleep.  Perchance to dream....

Laters....

What Is That?

What is that great light in the sky?  Hark!  It is the sun!  It appears Ol' Francine has finally shaken out the last of her skirts and skedaddled on out of here. It's about time, too.  I thought she'd never go. 

OK, clearly I don't get enough sleep, but seriously, it's been way too long since we've seen the sun here.  I took advantage of it and got the front yard mowed for the first time in about a month.  

I even weed wacked the ditch.  I was going to do the side yard, too, but by the time I was don with all that, I was so tired I was about to fall over.  Remember, I'm doing this after a 10 hour shift in the factory.  So I came inside and took a hot shower, then settled down to watch the new season of Halloween Baking Championship.  

In other news, some of you may recall I got myself one of those compost tumbler about a year ago.  

 The thing about it is, it works great on grass clippings and fallen leaves, and even kitchen scraps.  But the big stuff, like this...

not so much.  

I'd been looking at getting a larger bin, but while I was pondering, I ran across these composting bags. 

Basically, it's a bag shaped tarp with a zip close lid.  It's also got a little flap on the bottom where you can take out the composted stuff while still adding more to the tope.  It got good reviews and was less than $20, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I put some grass clippings into it, and was going to start chopping up the pile of stuff shown above, but nah, that can wait until another day.  I'm tahrd.  

And finally, I finished reading Thomas Jefferson And The Tripoli Pirates, and now I'm reading The Ancient Origins Of Modern Holidays, by Ken Johnson.  I've only just started, but it's supposed to be a rebuttal of all those claims that Christian holidays are actually pagan.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

One Weekend

 One of these weekends, it will be sunny and not too hot and I will be able to get out and do all the things I'd planned on doing on my weekends off.  This was not that weekend, and today was not that day, either.  Yes, it has rained off and on all day.  I mean, not that I had planned on doing much today anyway, it being a Sunday and all, but still.  

On a completely unrelated note, I ordered $100 worth of coffee from Amazon this morning.  I'll tell you about it when it gets here.  

So, what did I do on this dreary rainy day?  Weekend?  I knit.  

I had finished the last hat I was working on -- which I already showed you -- and felt like I needed a break from hats, so I picked this scarf back up and added a few more inches to it. 

I worked on it for a bit, then I needed something more mindless for the football games, so I cast on... another hat.  

At this point, I can pretty much do them with my eyes closed.  Or on the TV screen.  Whatever. 

On another completely unrelated note, I finished reading Black Gold, and am now reading Stormy: Misty's Foal.  

OK, moving on...

If you've been on social media at all, no doubt you've seen this meme. 

While technically it's true--ish-- what most people don't seem to want to think about is, with the cup of melon on the right, you're not just paying for the fruit.  You're also paying for someone to peel and cut it up for you.  If you go buy a whole watermelon, a whole honeydew, a whole cantaloupe, and a whole mango and cut it up yourself, you're going to get a whole lot more fruit for the same amount of money.  

But what about the fries, you ask?  Doesn't someone have to peel and cut them, too?  Nope.  That process is almost completely automated.  There are YouTube videos that show how it's done, if you're interested enough to go look one up.  The point is, it can be done with minimal manpower, unlike cutting melons.  

BTW, I've come up with a new term for those people who mindlessly believe these memes without so much as a single critical thought about them, much less researching them.  Meme Sheep.  

Don't be a Meme Sheep.  Think about these things before you repost them.  The creators of these mems aren't interested in sharing accurate information.  They're going to post what gets them the most likes and shares to boost their page stats.  

Abrupt change of subject.  This is the post that got removed from both Instagram and Threads, because it supposedly incites violence.  

It's very threatening, isn't it. It's still up on Facebook, but I expect that will change soon enough, even though I changed knock to bop.  It's stuff like that why I don't use Meta much any more. 

On yet another completely unrelated note, I love those Devante Adams Taco Bell commercials.  

And finally, about a year ago, I'd bought one of those light traps for bugs.  You know, like the Zevo, only the ones I got were a different brand.  I've had it in the kitchen and it works pretty well, so I decided to get one for my bedroom. 

Bad move.  It doesn't seem like they put out that much light until you're trying to go to sleep.  I had to take it out and move it to another room.  First, I tried putting it into my bathroom, but that wasn't much better.  Now, it's in the living room, and that's where it will stay.  

I guess that's it for today.  There is a new season of Halloween Baking Championship I need to start watching. 

Laters...

Downtown Jubilee

This morning was my town's annual Downtown Jubilee, and as always, I got up and went.  It seems to me it's really fallen off these last few years -- maybe because they no longer have the car show.  I don't know why they stopped, but they did.  That was one of my favorite parts, and I'm not even a classic car person.  It's still cool to see all of them.  Still, they had the vendor booths, and food trucks, and bouncy stuff for the kids, and several entertainers up there singing.  

I walked around a bit and looked at all the little craft booths, but nothing jumped out at me as something I just had to have, so I didn't buy anything.  The Adult Education center was handing out free books, as they usually do, and let me pick whichever one I wanted.  I got Charlie And The Chocolate Factory in hard copy. 

I only stayed an hour, then came home and got inside my air conditioning.  It wasn't that hot, but the humidity was so high I could feel my hair curling.  I did manage to walk one of the Pokémon Go routes down there and earned a new route badge, but the routes around the Square are kind of weird.  I may walk it a few more times to get the badges, but mostly, I'll stick with the ones down by the lake. 

As I said, I didn't stay long, and made it home in plenty of time to watch football.  LSU got really lucky today.  If South Carolina's quarterback hadn't been knocked out of the game, they wouldn't have won.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Brian Kelly is not the coach LSU needs -- especially after the hissy fit he pitched when they lost to USC.  

While I was watching the game, I asked Meta AI to create an image for LSU Tigers, and this is what they gave me:  

I sent it to Cody, and he said, "I see no inaccuracies."  

And now for today's meme debunkeration.  I've seen this -- or something very similar -- going around social media for a while now.  

And while it's true that taxes have gone up, prices have gone up (wages have gone up, too, but nobody wants to mention that), and inflation is out of control, the fact of the matter is that we had a much, much lower standard of living back then, too.  In those days, a three bedroom one bath 1200-1500 square foot house, and not just for a starter home.  Those were the forever homes people bought to live in the rest of their lives.  

These days, young people would turn up their noses at a house like that.  "I'm not going to live in a shack!" they pout, and so they buy the five bedroom four bath 2500-3000 square foot house with a game room, man cave, swimming pool and "space to entertain", then struggle to pay the mortgage -- not to mention how much more it costs to heat and cool such a house.  In the days when a HS diploma could support a family of five, they didn't even have air conditioning.  

And they didn't have cable TV, or internet, or a cell phones for each member of the family, or three or four cars-- each requiring gas, maintenance, and insurance -- or multiple gaming systems, each with its own subscription price.  And they didn't eat out or order in nearly every day, either.  Eating out was a rare treat.  Normally, Mom cooked, and if she was like my mom, she used a lot of rice in what she prepared.  

Seriously, I was grown before I realized that chili isn't normally served over rice.    BTW, at the risk of stirring up an old controversy, beans were added to chili to stretch the meal as well. 

Then you ate leftovers until they were gone.  Our parents and grandparents didn't waste food the way we do today.  

So yeah, they could live comfortably, but they had a vastly different definition of what was comfortable than we do today.  And you know what?  I'll bet if you find people willing to go back to that standard of living, they could survive on one salary, too.  

And finally, I almost got my Fall decorations out this afternoon, but got lazy and didn't do it.  Maybe next weekend...when astronomical autumn starts...

Now, if you'll excuse me, the Texas ball game is about to start and I must go...

Laters...

And Hook 'Em.