Back Into The Swing

It's been a rough week trying to get back into the swing of things -- mainly waking up at 2:30 AM -- after having a whole week off to sleep as late as I wanted to.  I don't know what's going on, but I've been so exhausted.  Heh, I put on the Cowboys game Monday night and didn't even last until the end of the first quarter.  I woke up with 4-ish minutes left in the game, and said I was going to watch the end, but didn't make it that time, either. 

I've been feeling so run down all week.  In spite of that, I managed to stain the rest of my fence today.  Mostly.

I wanted to get it done before the rains tomorrow-- hopefully we'll get some.  And hopefully, it'll settle whatever it is that has got my allergies all stirred up.  One day, I think it was Wednesday, my eyes were burning so badly I couldn't even see.  We won't even talk about my breathing...

But about that fence, I got one coat on the entire inside, and everything to the left of those orange flags has two coats.  I have one more gallon of stain, but I'm the one who ran out of steam.  I might not be able to move tomorrow, but that's one more thing I can almost mark off of my list.  

Except I still have to do the outside, but that will require talking to the neighbors since I'll have to trespass on their side to get it done.  I don't think they'd mind, but still....

Speaking of the neighbors, it looks like they're planning a Halloween party.  They might get rained out, but they moved their car out of the carport and have a table set up there, so maybe not.  

In other news, it's also been a rough week for Trekkies, losing Mr. Chekov and Captain Picard in the same week.  Mr. Chekov was one of my first childhood crushes, along with Mr. Greenjeans.   Nothing romantic, per se.  I was still a bit too young for that, but Mr. Chekov and I spent many hours exploring strange new worlds in my childish imagination.  Someone on FB posted that we now live in a world where there are no more Pavel Chekovs, since the young actor who played him in the reboots was killed in a tragic accident ten years ago.  Almost to the day... 

In spite of it all, I managed to finish the sailor hat to match the scarf I'd knit. 

I got a message from one of my cousins last week.  He's got cancer and has requested I knit him a couple of beanies for when his head gets cold.  I didn't say so out loud, but I was thinking, "You're already bald headed, how much colder are we talking about?"   Anyway, he wants one in orange and one in purple.  Guess which are the only two colors I didn't have?  I ran into town after work one day -- I'm so tired I don't even remember which day it was-- and picked up a skein of each.  

Yes, it looks blue in the photo, but it really is purple.  I've got the orange hat cast on, but haven't taken a photo of it. 

In a bit of better news, the chicken wire on my raised bed seems to have worked well keeping the cat out. 

Look at this!  My crimson clover is germinating.  

So is my bachelor's button.  

I don't know how well you can see, but my second planting is absolutely loaded with tomatoes.  

I doubt I'm going to do succession planting next year, because I don't think they'll ripen before the earliest chance of frost.  We've had them in the last week of October before, and if we got one this year, all of these tomatoes would be toast.  I might have to cover these, even so.  I'm watching the forecast pretty closely, but I think next year, I'll just plant something more cold hardy.  The extension office put out a list of things to plant in October.

Alas, there isn't a whole lot on this list that I really like, and the stuff I do like, I wouldn't be able to eat it up before it goes bad.  The spinach, for example.  I love fresh baby spinach, but don't like it cooked.  Wait, I like it in stuff like spinach quiche, so that may be a possibility.  But a small one, since I'm allergic to eggs.  I still eat them from time to time, but don't want to over do it. 

Abrupt change of subject, despite my lingering fatigue, I got up and walked the Bottomland Trail at the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve.  

I wish I weren't so exhausted after a long day at work, or I'd go more often.  But what with them moving us back to the lines, I probably won't have to.  Back when we were on the lines before, I'd usually end up walking 3-3.5 miles just in the course of an average work day.  That's what we'll be going back to, whereas now, with us close to where we need to be, I only walk 1.5-2 miles per day.  

Someone on FB posted this:  

and I felt it to the depths of my soul.  I remember one time when the brazers were on the assembly lines last time.  I was working on line 2, and neither of line 1's brazers showed up that morning, so the supervisor asked me if I would go work on line 1.  Alas, the other brazer for line 2 was lazy as all get out.  I'm telling you, if she brazed 50 headers per day, she was doing well.  For context, we were supposed to be doing 250 per day, but she was also boinking the group leader, so she got away with it. 

Well, said group leader told Supervisor that she couldn't keep up by herself, so said supervisor told me to run back and forth between line 1 and line 2 all day.  Go do a few orders for line 1, then come do a few orders for line 2....all so group leader's side chick wouldn't have to make any effort whatsoever to do her job.  

 I definitely got my steps in that day.