Unexpected Half Day Off

I am a bit behind on my blogging, or rather the stuff I want to blog about, but there is a good reason for that.  I felt it was important to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy, and it deserved a bit more than an "Oh yeah" at the end of a post.  

Thus, this post might be a little bit long, but I hope not too terribly boring.  

So there I was yesterday at work, just a working away when the lights went out.  Not just the lights.  Everything cut off.  Even the emergency lights were off.  It was pitch black in there.  The only light we had was from the lit brazing tips.  It was downright spooky.  

Fortunately, the lights came back on pretty quickly, at least up in the component area.  They were still off back in the back.  But they were the only thing that was on.  We had no electricity anywhere else.  We couldn't run machines, or our fans, or even strike our tips.

About 15 minutes later, Inspector Gadget came around the corner and called, "Everybody clock out and go home!"  He didn't have to tell me twice!  The only downside is a short paycheck, but that's why I get all the overtime when it is available -- so I'll have savings built up for days like this. 

Anyway, it took forever to get out of the parking lot, because they couldn't even open the exit gate, and everyone had to go out the entrance, which is only one lane wide.  But get out I eventually did, and ... got caught by a freight train.  

As luck would have it, it was a short one, so once it had passed and I had waved at the engineer, I zoomed on back to the highway...were I got stuck behind road construction.  

At this point, I was beginning to feel like that old cartoon character, you know the one the rain cloud follows around all the time...But I finally made it home, and first thing I did was light a little fire in the wood box. 

I thought about putting one in the fire pit and sitting out there for a while, but man, that wind was kicking.  I walked outside and it like to have blown me away.  I said, "Nope" and went right back inside.  It would have been nice otherwise.  As it was, I settled for the one in the stove.  I let it burn down, then lit my little creosote sweeping log and let it burn down.  

Then I sat in my chair, thinking about all the phone calls I need to make and not making any of them.  

I'll tell you what I did do, though.  But first, you need a little backstory. 

Ever since I moved into this house, I've had this little microwave stand right here in this spot. 

I've actually had the stand for much longer.  I think I bought it 2006, when I bought my second trailer house, but that's neither here nor there. 

These last couple of years, I've been thinking that this spot would be perfect for some sort of baker's rack.  The plan was, if I ever got my act together and got this house remodeled, I'd have whoever did the remodel to build one in.  I wanted to make some sort of coffee bar, and thus would be able to clear this mess out and get it better organized. 

As the years went by, however, and I realized my act would probably never be that together, I began looking for one on Amazon.  I found several that I liked, but as I said, I've been trying to cut back on my spending at least until the overtime starts up again.  

Then one day last week, I realized that after six long years, I finally had enough points on my Fetch app to redeem them for a $100 Amazon card.   It just so happened, that the baker's rack I wanted was marked down to....$100!  To make a long story short, the points got redeemed, the rack got delivered Sunday morning, and it quickly got put together. 

Really, the hardest part was getting back up off the floor...and by the time I was done, I was too tired to worry about cleaning the spot out, so there it sat until yesterday.  What with my half day off, I got that old stand moved out, the floor under it swept and mopped, and my bakers rack put into place. 

Once that was done, it didn't take long at all to move my coffee maker and all my coffee and tea over to my new coffee bar. 

It took a bit longer to convince myself to put my microwave onto the rack, because I was worried about its weight.  However, after reading the reviews, they said it would hold that much weight, so I took a deep breath and put the microwave onto the stand. 

No creaks, no groans...nothing.  Heaving a great sigh of relief, I plugged it in and we're good to go.  I'm loving it.  

 Better yet, I now have all of this additional counter space to work on. 

As for the old microwave stand, I want to use it for my seed starting station.  Right now, everything is sitting on this old sewing machine that my cousin's wife gave me. 

Someone had given it to her ages ago, and she didn't want it.  She offered it to me, and even though I already had a sewing machine, I needed a stand for a snake tank, so I took it.  Blaze's tank sat on it until just a few years ago when Snow died, and I moved him into her tank. 

Now I use it for my seed starting tray, but it's not really practical for that.  It's heavy and hard to move, and as you can see by the state of the floor, there is no storage.  I'm thinking I can use the old microwave stand for the seed starting tray, and the shelf and cabinet underneath for storing all that other stuff.  

And it's on wheels, so it'll be easier to move it back into the junk room when it comes time to bring my outside plants inside for the winter.  

After I finished all of that, I was sitting in my chair watching some TV -- a real life game show based on the Netflix show The Squid Game -- when I realized, hey, I have room to get my toaster oven out!  That is exactly what I did.  

I got the toaster oven out, cleaned it up really well, then made my self some toast  -- some proper toast for the first time in years.  It was soo good, I'm telling you.  Then I thought, "While I'm getting old appliances back out, might as well get the coffee pot out, too."  And I did just that. 

I cleaned it up, ran some vinegar through it, and found it a place on the baker's rack right next to my single serve coffee maker.  I had to move my pod holder over, but there's still room for it. 

When my toaster oven had cooled off, I even found a space for it on the bottom shelf. 

There is even room for the cat's food and water bowl right beside it.

Finally, I had my baker's rack set up just the way I wanted it....or so I thought...

I got up this morning and went to work, and today being Veteran's Day, they had gift baskets for all of the veterans.  

It was filled with junk food, as usual, but I was more excited about the basket it all came in.  It's just perfect to put my teas into.  I was able to fit five cans and one box of tea into the basket, and it fit onto the shelf perfectly.  

Now, I think it's finally the way I want it.  

And finally, this is what I work up to this morning.  

It would have been a great day to call in and snuggle back into bed, but given what happened yesterday, that simply wasn't feasible.  My paycheck simply can't take that big of a hit.  So I got up and went to work, and we managed to stay the whole day.  

As expected, the frost got my basil.  

I'll get out and pull it up here in the next few days.  And another bit of sad news, the high winds ripped my fall flag up. 

It's come full circle, because high winds several years ago blew this flag into my yard in the first place, and now high winds have taken it away. 

Ah well, the wind yeeteth and the wind yoinketh away.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bowl of birthday gumbo calling my name.  

Laters.