As Ready As I'm Going To Be

I reckon I'm about as ready for this ice storm as I'm going to be.  The models keep updating, but the latest from NWS Jackson shows us possibly getting 1-2" of accumulation, which is bad.  

Very bad.  Some folks are saying this one could be as bad as the ice storm of '94, which I wasn't here for.  I was still in Italy at the time.  But that's neither here nor there.  Point is, I've done about as much prep as I can.  

This morning at our meeting, Group Leader Shark said, "I hope you all had a chance to go to the grocery store yesterday."  One of the other people said she's going today, and I said, "No point in going today. Ain't nothing left!"  

And yes, I do speak in vernacular in the real world.  

Despite the fact that it was still raining...it rained all day yesterday and most of the night, by the way.  Rain that we desperately needed.  But as I was saying, despite the fact that it was still raining, I went to the store after work yesterday.  I thought I was being so clever going early and beating the rush, but apparently the entire town was just as clever and also trying to beat the rus, because I think everybody in Grenada county was in the Walmart.  

Even so, I got pretty much everything I went in there to get, which was mainly birdseed and bottled water.  I already have bread and milk, plus I still have some shelf stable milk that I probably ought to use up anyway.  I'll use it for cooking, should the need arise. 

I also picked up a pack of paper plates, just in case the pipes freeze and I can't wash.  I know they say to fill up your bathtub so you'll have water to wash and flush with, but I can't find my stopper.  It's been that long since I've taken a tub bath.  Anyway, I'm not going back into town just to get one, so if I don't find mine, I've got a couple of five gallon buckets I'll fill up and use sparingly.  And I'll follow the adage if it's yellow, let it mellow and not flush unless I absolutely have to.  

I'm hoping none of that will be necessary, because today's project was to get some extra insulation that I'd saved from the last time I bought snake food and wrap the faucet on the north side of the house.   

Then I covered the whole thing with a bucket for extra protection.  

The other one on the south side already had one of these styrofoam faucet covers on it, 

so I took it off and wrapped that faucet with an old sock and put the cover back on.  And of course, I'll drip the inside faucets starting tomorrow evening.  Hopefully, that'll be enough.  They're predicting temps down into the teens, and my pipes have done fine all the way down into single digits, so I'm cautiously optimistic that they won't freeze this time, either. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself...let's go back to the store.  In the post, I mean.  Not in real life. 

I said I was going to get some more canned goods, but all of the Great Value stuff had been cleaned out.  I picked up one can of Chef Boyardee ravioli, but said I wasn't going to pay for all of that high dollar stuff when I have plenty of soup at home.   

And beans.  I have so many cans of beans, and I don't know why.  I've also got a full loaf of bread, so I can make some beans on toast, which is surprisingly good.  Heh, I was watching a video on Andre's channel and he made a crack about Brits eating beans on toast.  I left a comment that it was actually pretty good, and someone replied, "Yeah, but did you eat it the way Brits do?  Straight from the can and nothing actually toasted?"  

I said, "Well, I'm no expert on British cuisine, but I'm pretty sure for it to be BEANS ON TOAST, you have to take the beans out of the can and put them onto a piece of toasted break, aka TOAST.  But what do I know?"  

This numb nut came back with, "Brits call all bread toast, whether it is toasted or not."

That was one of those conversations I just had to walk away from, because the stupidity was too much for me to handle. 

Yes, that is instant coffee, too.  Just in case the power goes out and I can't run the coffee maker.   I can at least heat water on my camp stove. Speaking of, I ran into one of my friends and she had gotten quite a few cans of propane, which made me think, "I might ought to get some propane, too."  

I walked over to the aisle where it is kept and got the last two bottles.  I still have one that I'd gotten before, so I should have plenty. Since I have the wood stove, I don't really need the propane for anything but my camp stove.  Actually, my wood stove has a cooking surface, too, but last time I tried it, my soup didn't get hot enough for my liking.  I'll give it another try, but if I have to, I'll break out the camp stove.

Then I went over to try to find some rock salt, but it was all sold out.  I picked up an extra container of regular salt since I only have a small space to de- ice.  Today one of my coworkers suggested using kitty litter, which I have plenty of, so once I get a path cleared out, I'll spread some litter on it to keep it from getting slick. 

The next project was to move my fire pit and chairs out from under that big old oak tree in my back yard just in case it decides to drop some limbs. 

I even got my covers out and put them on -- except for the little table.  It doesn't have one.  I guess I could put a garbage bag over it, but I don't really think it's necessary. 

Tomorrow they're going to let us off at 11:00, and have already announced that the plant will be closed Monday because of the weather.  When I get home, I'm going to try to move as much as I can from my small freezer to my deep freeze and cover it all with two liter bottles of water.  Last time my power was out for a few days, the stuff on the bottom stayed frozen, so I'm hoping it works this time, too.  

What I'm really hoping is that this whole storm ends up being a big nothing burger, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.  I'm good, though.  I have plenty of firewood, plenty of knitting, and plenty of books to read, not to mention my Harvey lantern.  

I call it that because I bought it right after hurricane Harvey came through and the power went out for a day.  Try as I might, I couldn't find a single working battery operated lantern, so the next day, I went to Walmart and bought the biggest, brightest LED lantern I could find.  It also has USB ports so I can charge my phone and Kindle. 

The last time my power went out for a significant length of time was during the Easter storms of 2020.  I took my phone to work and charged it there, which was technically against the rules, but my supervisor knew my situation and overlooked it.  There's no way I'd be able to get away with that under the current management.  

They barely consider us humans.  

So, I'll try to blog again tomorrow, and maybe Saturday, depending on if I have electricity still or not.  After that, I don't know.  They're saying even cell service might be disrupted, so I'll check in when I can.  

For now, I'm going to go watch a little TV.  I found a new gross show to watch called About Face.  It's about plastic surgeons who specialize in reconstruction malformities in the head and face area.  I love seeing the before and after shots.  

And I need to cast on something.  I haven't knit in days.  

OK, I'm done.  Laters...

 

Hold On To Your Butts

Back to work today, and it was another one of those excruciatingly slow days -- you know the kind where we spend more time waiting on tubing to get work ready for us than we do actually working.  I hate those days.  They go by so slowly.  But they do go by eventually and right at 2:00, we all walked out -- because that's when our shift ends.  

Oops...

Of course, the talk of the plant was the upcoming winter storm.  Models are increasingly pointing to a significant weather event that will impact millions, including yours truly. 

Now, don't freak out over that map.  It's only showing the probability for impacts, not the severity.  It could be that some of those areas could get as little as some really cold rain.  This map, on the other hand, clearly shows my county in the significant impact area.

All of the meteorologists are using words like historic and memorable and potentially catastrophic, and one we'll be talking about for years to come...but we can all pray it doesn't get that bad.  As my governor likes to say, prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and expect somewhere in between.  

I'll be happy if the electricity stays on, me....But still, if you're in the area that is expecting winter weather, the time to prepare is now.  Don't be trying to run buy bread and milk after the roads have iced over and the power has gone out.  Have plenty of food and water on hand, have a non electrical way to heat your house and cook your food.  

Not being one to ignore my own advice, first thing I did after work was to go fill up my car with gas.  Then I came home and checked my supply of canned foods -- soup, beans, and what not.  I have plenty of that, and a camp stove to cook in should the need arise.  Tomorrow, I'll run to the store and pick up some more bottled water, because Cody and Brennan hit my storm stash pretty hard when they were here last.  They don't drink tap water, even though it's good where I live. 

If we lived in town and were on city water, that would be a different story, but here it's OK.  

I'm going to also get another bag of birdseed, because the birds have finally found the feeder again. I don't know what the deal was, but for several months, I hardly saw a bird in the yard, nor squirrels neither.  I think I'll pick up some canned ravioli or spaghetti -0s, just for some variety.  Just in case. 

-

And of course, I have plenty of firewood.  By the way, I was moving some this afternoon and look what I found. 

Do you see what I see?  Daffodils poking their heads up.  They're going to get might cold next week.  Good thing they're hardy. 

In other news, I did not stay up to watch the Natty last night, though I did check to see who'd won when I got up to answer Nature's Call.  I spent all day at work mentally composing a detailed blog post about how the NIL is ruining football and such, but when I got home and was able to check the weather, those plans changed.  

Oh well, maybe if I get iced in but with electricity still on, I can write it over the weekend. 

For now, I think I'm going to go get me some popcorn.  

Laters...

 

Absolutely Nothing

Nothing happened today.  Absolutely nothing at all.  

I woke up at 3:30 to answer nature's call, with the full intention of going back to bed and back to sleep.  Somehow, at 3:31 the cat figured out I was up, and was instantly yowling outside my bedroom door.  

I let her in with the admonition that she needed to lay down and be still -- which she did not do.  She roamed all over the bed, walked back and forth across my head a few time, and bit my hands.  Sometime between 4:30 and 5:00, I gave up and got up.  

I fed the cat, made a pot of coffee, then got the fire going.  I was pleasantly surprised to find I still had some live coals from yesterday and was able to start the fire without having to use any of my fire starter things.  I had to use my blow dryer as a bellows, but that's no big deal, and soon I had a cheery fire crackling in the box.  

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know I did not fill the house with smoke, and that's the most exciting thing that has happened today.  

I sat down with my coffee and listened to a few more of my records.  I read my book a bit.  I finished my classical music course, and my next square on my sampler afghan. 

It's a windmill, and if you look closely, you can see the little building in the center.  It's supposed to have some tulips embroidered along the bottom, but I thought they made the square look untidy, so I left them out.  

Shortly after noon, I got a bit stir crazy and took a walk around the yard.  I sat in my chair a moment and thought briefly about putting a fire into the fire pit, but I didn't really want to fool with one.   It would have been a beautiful day for it, sunny and cold, but no wind.  If the kids had been here, or if I'd had any company at all, I'd have done it, but as it was just me, I came back inside and made myself a patty melt for lunch.  

After that, I just sat and watched Call The Midwife and Heartland on Netflix for the rest of the day.  

And that was how my holiday went.  

How was yours?

Sunday Sundries

I was right back at it this morning.  Listening to my records, I mean.  The old National Geographic ones I bought on eBay.  

I was thinking about my dad, and how he called that particular album his "fruitcake baking tape."  It started as a coincidence that we played it a couple of years in a row as we were baking fruitcakes, and eventually it became a tradition.  I must remember that when I'm baking fruitcakes this fall.  

By the way, I finally cut up and started eating my store bought fruitcake.  It's good, but the homemade ones are definitely better.  I should just stick with those from here on out. 

In other news, thank you to everyone who offered advice on starting fires without smoking up the whole house.  This is what I use to start mine, and they work well.  

It's when I start adding wood that the smoking starts.  It's like it all swirls around in the wood stove and won't go up the chimney.  One of my friends suggested lighting a small bit of newspaper and putting it up the chimney to draw the smoke up that way.  If I can find some newspaper, I'll try that.  It's actually kind of hard to find newspaper these days.  My town doesn't even have a daily paper any more.  I think they put one out once or twice a week, but I usually just look at their website or Facebook page for the local news.  I don't think they even do the coupon circulars -- at least, I can't remember the last time I got one. 

One thing I'll need to remember that I think will help is to put the wood further in.  Into the stove, I mean.  This is the one I have, and as you can see, it opens from the side. 

It makes it hard sometimes to put those big old heavy pieces of wood into it, so I tend to pile it up right inside the door.  I guess the smoke finds that going out the door instead of up the chimney is the path of least resistance.  

I keep saying that if I can ever get my act together enough to get my house remodeled, I'm definitely going to go with a stove that's a) more aesthetically pleasing, and b) opens in the front.  I suppose I could just get the stove replaced, but I might as well get it all done at once.  

By the way, that little pot on top is filled with water to add a bit of humidity to the house.  It gets so dry in the winter time, and I find that a little steam helps a bit.  At least, I don't get shocked as much when I have a simmer pot going.  Sometimes I'll put cinnamon sticks or whole cloves into the water, but I didn't this time.  It's just plain water.  

While I was lighting the fire, I went ahead and cleaned up all of the leaves, twigs, and bits of bark that had collected under my little wood rack, and that's my one claim to fame for the day.  

Anyway, while I had the fire going, I decided to clean out my file cabinet and burn old stuff.  That's something I do every now and then, but apparently not often enough, because I found receipts dating back to 2018.  

In the middle of doing that, my younger brother texted me and asked if I would send him a copy of my DD-214.  He's wanting to make a shadow box of our family's military history, and I didn't want to discourage him, but I'm thinking, "Box?  With our family, he'll need an 18 wheeler!"  We have ancestors that fought all the way back in the American Revolution.  Heck, three of the four of us kids all served.  

So, that sent me on a quest to find my DD-214, which I did and sent him a copy.  I also found Cody's Italian birth certificate, and a few other things I'd forgotten about.  Then I sorted through a few old owner's manuals -- some for things I don't even have any more -- and got rid of a bunch of them.  I was thinking that I really needed to toss them all, because you can find all of that stuff online these days.  

I was thinking the same thing about my receipts and stuff, that I don't need to keep any of it because it's all online, but I did.  I kept everything dated 2023 or newer.  

That was about all I accomplished today, other than finishing this hat while listening to my second lecture in my classical music course. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripe

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

I cast on another square for the sampler afghan, but it's just a couple of rows, so there's no point in taking a photo until it gets a little bigger.  

I guess that's it for today.  I have tomorrow off for the holiday, so I'm going to finish watching this ball game, the probably go on to bed. 

Good night, all. 

Had To Give

Back in the day, some 25 or so years ago, I did a brief stint as chairman of the library committee at church.  Now, in my church, you served on a committee for three years, then rotated off, but I only did a year or so.  The previous chairman had stepped down, and the nominating committee asked if I would finish her term.  I agreed, but when they asked me if I would serve another term -- a full three year term this time -- I had to decline.  

Cody was little, in first or second grade at the time, I don't rightly remember, and he was getting active in cub scouts and soccer and little league, and of course, you know my job is very demanding.  I felt like I couldn't give the library the time and attention it deserved, so I stepped down.  But that's neither here nor there...

One Wednesday evening, I was in the library chatting with another church member, and I mentioned needing to get the oil changed in my car.  

My friend gasped in horror and exclaimed, "I just realized!  You have to do everything!"  She went on to say that oil changes are something her husband normally did, but it had just then occurred to her that I had to do all of it. 

Of course, she didn't offer to help me with anything, but still....

I think about that conversation from time to time, especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed with how much needs to be done, and it's only me there to do it.  Such was the case Monday afternoon.  I was looking around at all the stuff I need to get done, and how little time I have to do it, and how do I trust a contractor when I've been cheated so many times already, and getting overwhelmed, so I said to no one in particular -- because there was no one there to hear me -- "I can't do this all myself.  Something's got to give."  

This week, that something was the blog.  I needed a break.  I've been so tired trying to get back into the swing of things at work, and feeling pulled in so many directions, I just wasn't up to trying to write anything coherent. 

Which brings us to today, Saturday.  I wanted to be able to take it easy today, but no....I had to wake up at 3:30 in the blessed ay em, and couldn't get back to sleep for the life of me.  I lay there and lay there, and finally gave up and got up shortly after 5:00.  

Not much went on, because as I said, I wanted to take it easy today.  I did laundry and Swiffered the bathroom and kitchen floors, changed the sheets, and that was about it.  In the midst of all of that, I finally found time to listen to the new record my sister in law sent me for Christmas. 

When it was finished, I said to myself, "Self, while you have that record player out, you ought to listen to more of your records.  You've been wanting to do that for weeks."  So I did.  I listened to several of my Christmas albums up until it was time for the ball games to start.  

That music provided the perfect backdrop so I could get that second baby surprise jacket seamed up. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Crayon Box

Pattern:  Baby Surprise Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Needles:  US 8/ 5 mm

I don't know why I hate seaming so much, but I do.  I mean, it's not hard at all, but it took me longer to convince myself to start seaming than it did to get the whole jacket done.  Once I finally convinced myself to get started, it went pretty quickly, and that's it for baby surprise jackets -- at least for a while.  I don't have buttons on them, but I'll have time for that.  I'm thinking I'll send them to my great nephew for Christmas next year.  They ought to fit him then.  

But then, I hate sewing on buttons, and it may take me the whole year to work up the umph to do that chore...

In other news, my deer are getting a treat this week, but not because I'm altruistic or anything like that. 

Nope, my motives were purely selfish.  I was too tired to wrestle the plain corn that comes in the 50 lb bags, and the apple flavor comes in 30 lb bags, so that's what they're getting.  

Then I got home from the store yesterday evening, and moved firewood.  Go figure. 

Exhausted as I was, I was able to get that entire front stack of wood under cover before the rain started last night. 

They're predicting low 20s for the next few mornings, so that fire will feel good.  You know, one of these days, I'm going to figure out how to start a fire without filling my whole house with smoke.  Today was not one of those days.  Some times I'm successful, most of the time, I'm not, and I can't figure out what I'm doing differently.  Oh, well...

Here's a bit of good news.  Do you know what that is?  

It's a bluebonnet seedling from that last pack I planted a week or so ago.  I found five coming up so far, but I didn't take photos of all of them.  They look just like this one.  My older ones are still going strong, 

and I'm hopeful I might finally get a stand going well enough to re-seed itself every year.  Even so, I bought a few extra packets of seeds to plant in September.  Just in case.  

On a similar note, looky what I found in the Walmart garden center?   

When the ground dries out a bit more, I'll go out and pin my barrier down, and take the bricks out of my bed.  They're starting to put out the garden stuff, so sometime in the not to distant future, I'm going to buy some bark mulch and put it down over the top of my plastic barrier.  It'll look much nicer and even if something digs in the mulch, it won't be able to dig deeply enough to disturb the roots of the plants.  At least I hope not.

By the way, I had to redneck my belt a bit.  I knew it was about worn out, and a new belt was already in my shopping list, but it had gotten so thin in one spot, I was worried it would break before I could get to the store.  Thus, I had to break out the handyman's secret weapon:  duct tape. 

It may not look like much, but it bought me a couple of days.  

And finally, I started the second classical music course at Hillsdale College.  This one only has four lessons and a concert at the end.  I'm hoping I can get it finished over the long weekend.  That's something else I haven't been able to do since going back to work.  When I get home, my brain is too tired to try to learn anything...

Now that I've got you all caught up, I think I'll go get me some hot chocolate on this chilly evening. 

Laters.  

High Tech Hyacinth

I almost didn't blog today, mainly because it's been a pretty quiet day.  Not much has gone on, other than knitting and watching football.  More about that in a minute. 

I've been playing around with AI here lately, and yesterday, I uploaded a photo of The Incarnation Of Evil to ChatGPT with the prompt, "Turn my cat into a plushie".  This is what it gave me. 

Then I uploaded the exact photo with the exact same prompt to Gemini and got this. 

One more time with Grok, and got:  

To be honest, I like ChatGPT's interpretation the best, and if I'm being completely honest, I think I like the cat better as a plushie -- at least today I do.  She's run in and out so many times, I'm starting to understand why my mother locked the door on us when we were kids.  

Not to be outdone, I tried the same thing with the Christmas tree photo.  I posted ChatGPT results yesterday, then I uploaded the exact same photo with the exact same prompt to Gemini

and to Grok. 

As with the cat photo, I like ChatGPT's result the best.  It seems to have more personality, if AI can have personality.  I guess they can.  I mean, Hal did...

Speaking of, most of you know by now that Amazon has its own delivery service now for many parts of the country.  What I like about it is that you can stalk your delivery driver right there in the app.  

It makes me feel like a high tech Hyacinth Bucket.  

And what was in that Amazon package I was stalking the deliver driver over?  Nothing so exciting as watching it get closer and closer.  I ordered a screen for my bathroom sink to keep me from dropping stuff down the drain.  And also, some cotton spice bags. 

I'd seen a photo posted online where you could put cloves, cinnamon, anise seed, and chili flakes into a spice bag and the strong smells are supposed to repel mice.   I thought it wouldn't hurt to try.  I didn't have chili flakes, and powdered chili just sifted through the fabric, so I put some of my dried peppermint in instead.  We'll see if it works.  

Even if it doesn't, I now have spice bags for cooking -- like when I want to make broth or something.  

Speaking of things that smell, back before Christmas I'd bought a new wax melter, because my old one had broken.  Alas, the first or second time I used it, the bowl cracked and the melted wax seeped down into the part that holds the bulb and ruined it. 

No matter how diligently I cleaned the wax out, I never could get it to work again, so I tossed the whole thing.  The next time I went into the store, I bought one of these kinds that has the heating element instead of the light bulb. 

I don't know if it's because the bowl is shallower and wider, or what, but those wax melts really smell so much stronger.  I'd bought some a while back that were Creamy Cinnamon Clove, and had been so disappointed in them.  They smelled so good in the package, but hardly put out any scent at all in the melter.  

On a whim, I put one into this new melter this morning, and boy howdy the whole kitchen smells soooo good now. That melter was definitely worth the money.  

In knitting news, I finished another square for my sampler afghan.  

Yarn:  Red Heart The Pounder

Colorway:  313 Aran

Pattern:  Annie's Attic Sampler Afghan Square #4

Needles:  US 8/ 5mm

Then I cast on another sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5mm

I haven't knit a whole heck of a lot this week, mostly from being so tired when I get home from work.  I hope that once I get back into the routine and more accustomed to the physical exertion, I'll be able to knit more. 

And finally, a bit of sad news, I broke up my gingerbread house this morning to start eating it. 

I figured it would be hard as a rock, because although I had it covered with plastic, it wasn't air tight.  Still, I thought if I dunk it in my coffee or tea, that'll soften it up enough to eat.  

Slowly but surely, I'm getting all of the Christmas sugar either eaten up or vacuum sealed and frozen.  I'm still thinking I might get my new candy molds out and use the leftover chocolate chips to make some of those.  Once they're hardened, I can vacuum seal and freeze those, too.  Then next Christmas, I can make thumbprint cookies and use those for the chocolate bits...

Man, for someone who started this blog saying that nothing happened today, I've sure babbled on a lot.  I guess that means it's time to end this post, and go make myself some popcorn.  

Laters.

I Survived

I survived my first week back at work.  It wasn't easy, but I did it.  I was so tuckered these last couple of nights, I didn't even feel like blogging.  I hope you understand. 

So, what's been going on while I was busy not blogging?  Well, the big news is we got quite a bit of rain yesterday.  So much so, I got out and shaved some of the high spots down in my garden spot before the next round moved in.  

That next round started around 7:00 PM and it pretty much rained all night long.  According to my Raindrop app the two day total adds up to 2.25"  That's rain we desperately need, as pretty much the entire South is in drought conditions.  I know we like to grouse and complain about tropical systems, but those storms proved the majority of the moisture we get, especially in the second half of the year.  

We didn't have a single storm make landfall along the Gulf coast this year, so we're dry.  We're all dry.  Very dry...

I went back out this morning and checked the spot, and there are a few high spots I still need to level out a bit more, but for the most part, it looks pretty good.  Truth is, I could probably leave it the way it is and it would be fine, but I like working in the dirt.  I'm going to miss it when I'm done. 

Speaking of dry, I got my Strikeman dry fire training system out and played with it a bit.  It has a laser cartridge you put into your firearm and your shots register on the app.  I think I did pretty good, considering I haven't shot in ages.  

Unfortunately, because I wasn't logged in to my account, this session wasn't saved.  Now if only I could make myself practice regularly...and get new glasses so I can see clearly, I'll be a pretty good shot.   I'll have to figure out where I can set it up so I can shoot from further away, too.  

Back to the rain... we got a pretty heavy rain yesterday morning while I was at work, and when I was leaving, there was a truck backing out of its spot in front of me.  When he put his truck into drive and took off, water came pouring out of his truck bed.  It put me in mind of something that had happened years and years ago. 

Cody was in kindergarten or first grade, I don't exactly remember, but I had him in a local private school.  They claimed to be a Christian school, but they were more like a whitewashed sepulcher school in my mind.  But that's a different story for a different day. 

I had gotten off of work and was driving down to the school to pick him up, when there on the side of the road, I saw a unit.  An entire unit, like what we make, laying on the side of the road.  I cased coil, for my fellow plant people.  If I remember, it was a Lennox unit, too.  We don't even make those any more, but they were the high dollar brand name units. 

A few days later, the story came out.  There was a man who did the warranty claims.  When a customer sent a unit back because it wasn't working correctly or something else was wrong, this guy built a new unit and sent it back out to that customer.  

This guy -- I'll call him John Doe -- would get a copy of the bill of materials, and he'd come to tubing and say, "I need two of these header assemblies."  Then he'd go to fin press and say, "I need four slabs."  And four delta plates, and two top plates, and no one ever questioned him.  We just gave him what he asked for.  

But what we didn't know is that he was making one unit for the customer, then sneaking the other out the back door, taking them home, and selling them out of a shed in his back yard.  I'm guessing the unit I saw on the side of the road must have fallen out of his truck, and that's what started them looking into the situation. 

The police executed a search warrant and found a shed absolutely full of our coils, and John Doe said with wide eyed innocence, "I have no idea how those got there."  They must have also found drugs, because that's what he went to prison for.  For five years.  

Needless to say, he was also terminated from the plant. 

There was also another man, I'll call him Will Smith -- who used to wad up a small piece of fin stock and carry it out to his truck every day.  Just a little piece, about the size of a tennis ball.  When he got enough built up, he'd take it down to the local scrap metal place and sell it.  Until the day he got caught, that is.  

Ah, fun times at the factory...

Abrupt change of subject, look what I found!

I'd found the cauldron cake a few weeks ago, and found the butterbeer yesterday.  The cauldron cake is pretty good, but I wasn't too impressed with the butterbeer.  Maybe if they'd had the one with sugar in it, it would be better.  Eh, they were fun, but not something I'm going to buy over and over.  

By the time I got home from the store and piddled in the garden spot a bit, I was too tired to do anything, even blog, so I just sat there and watched ...um, college playoff football until it looked like Indiana had the game well in hand, then I went to bed.  I don't know about you, but watching college ball after New Year's Day just feels wrong somehow.  But then, I'm old school, and still think the old ways are better. 

Believe me, I have a whole post about how NIL and the transfer portal are ruining college football rolling around in my head, but I'll save that one for another day.  

Today, well, not much exciting happened.  I finally got around to stripping the sheets off of the guest bed, washing, and replacing them.  Then I did my bed.  And I cleaned up a little bit of the stuff that gets piled on my desk in the spare room. Then I Swiffered the bathroom floor and cleaned the laundry room under the cat pan.  The last thing I did was clean the wood stove and bring in some more wood for tomorrow's impending cold snap.  

This one is supposed to actually stick around for a while, so it's a good thing I bought all of that firewood.  Usually, cold in early January makes me want to put my Christmas stuff back out, but I thing this will have to do.  

I got ChatGPT to turn a photo of my tree into a painting.  I think it did a pretty good job.  I like it anyway. 

And finally, today is the 125th anniversary of the Spindletop gusher in Beaumont, Texas that ushered in the oil industry on a large scale.  As is my custom, last night before I went to bed, I changed my profile picture to a photo of it.  

This morning, I woke up to this:  

Seriously, Facebook?  You don't have anything better to do than to nag me to change my profile picture?  If you can put this into my feed, then you can put my friends' posts into my feed. 

This is why you're a dying platform.  

Peanut Butter

Man, that fog was wicked thick out there this morning.  As thick as peanut butter.  

Heh, I posted that on the book of faces, and one of my oldest childhood friends responded with a photo of Yukon Cornelius.  I knew she wouldn't let me down.  

Anyway, I knew it would be foggy, as we'd been under an advisory since sometime yesterday, but man...I couldn't see anything.  I was driving down 51 Highway -- for you local folks -- and I didn't know where I was.  All I could see was dense fog.  I couldn't see the road, or the houses on the sides of the roads or signs or anything.  Maybe two feet of road in front of the car, and that was it. 

Finally, I got to where I could see the lights of the Ol' Corner Store -- for you local folks -- and that was the first time I even had an inkling of my location.   It was a relief to get my bearings and to know where I was.  

Then I had to turn onto Riverdale Road -- for you local folks.  That was an adventure in itself.  The whole way down that road, I was praying non stop, "Please don't be deer on this road!  Please don't be deer on this road!"  Fortunately, I made it all the way down the road without hitting a deer.

Then I got to the railroad tracks...and this curve.

Image courtesy of Google Earth

There are no lights on that section of the road.  There are no lines on that section of the road.  I was praying -- again, or should I say still -- that I wouldn't drive off of the road and down into the ditch.    

I didn't, and made it to work safely, and all the talk of the morning was the fog.  Everyone was saying the same thing, how they couldn't see and were afraid to hit deer, and one of my coworkers had had a headlight go out.  She said, "I already couldn't see!"  But eventually the sun came up and the fog burned off and talk turned to other matters at hand. 

The question all week has been whether we're back on five days, but nobody seemed to know.  Finally, someone asked Group Leader Shark, and she didn't know, either.  She said she'd asked Inspector Gadget, but he didn't know either.  He said they were going to have a meeting today to decide and they'd let us know. 

Sure enough, right around lunch time, they put out the notice that we are indeed working Friday.  About an  hour after that, HR put out an email that said we are back on our regular five day schedule.  No word yet about Saturdays, though.  One of the parts stagers told me she's over working Saturdays.  

I said, "Yeah, but that's where I get the money I'm saving to fix up my house."  She replied, "I'd like to have the money without having to work to get it!"  So I suggested we move to Minnesota and open up a fake day care.  

OK, moving right along...I don't think I could get by in Minnesota anyway.  Not just because it's cold, but back when I was in the Navy, I once had a bunkmate who was from Minnesota and I'm not kidding, we could not understand each other. It's like we were speaking two separate languages.  

They have strange accents up in the far North.  

By the way, I found out this week that we have a recruiter out at the plant.  Seriously?  A recruiter?  Funny how fast they went from having "a line of people a mile long waiting to get on out here, we don't need you" to needing a recruiter because they can't find anyone who wants to work there. 

That's what happens when you treat your prisoners like garbage.

Oh, did I say prisoners?  I mean employees...just a little Freudian slip, there...

The Last Gift

There I was at work, just a working away, confirming an order in the computer when over in the TXV area, I heard a lot of shouting and screaming. 

Long time readers may remember me referring to a certain coworker as Greedy Bess.  If you don't, you can just click that link above and read about her.  She's a piece of work, I'm telling ya. 

Back to my story, I looked over to where all the shouting was happening, and Greedy Bess and another coworker I'll call Attitude were all up in each other's faces just a going at it.  Another TXV worker walked over and got them separated and calmed down, and I went on about my business.  

Some time later, someone had told me that they were arguing over a fan.  Sheesh....A few minutes after that, I saw Cuz come get Attitude and take her up to the HR office.  A minute or two later, Inspector Gadget came and got all of her stuff and took it up there.  

They'd fired her.  "Seriously?  They fired her for arguing about a fan?"  But no, they'd fired her for cussing out Inspector Gadget.  Oh...yeah, you can't cuss out your supervisor like that.  

The only thing, though, and my coworkers and I discussed this, is that they don't perp walk them out of the plant any more when they fire someone.  Back in the day, they walked them out -- down the main aisle in front of the whole plant so everyone knew they were getting walked out the door.  

Anyway, that's one way to start the new year off with a bang.  

The rest of my day seems dull by comparison, but let me tell you about it anyway.   My last Christmas gift finally arrived.   My brother had told me he'd ordered me something that wouldn't arrive until after Christmas, and it's here!  

It actually got here yesterday, but I was so tired I forgot to tell you about it.  I've been wanting this book for ages, and I've already started reading it.  OK, I read about half of the introduction then fell asleep, but it's a start.  I'm going to go read some more, if I don't fall asleep again.  These 3:30 mornings are a bit rough.

Not much else going on right now.  I'm still trying to get back into the swing of the work routine.  This afternoon, I planted one packet of my bluebonnet seeds, which looks like it might be enough, provided most of the seeds germinate.  The gardening bench my sister sent me really came in handy for that.  It was nice not to have to squat-- which I'm definitely getting too old to do -- or kneel on damp ground.  

On a similar note, my garlic is starting to perk up a bit, but I'm not so sure about the celery.  

Maybe it'll start growing when it warms up some or maybe it won't.  We'll have to wait and see.  

My onions are definitely growing, though.  

The only other thing of note is that I finished my Classical music course from Hillsdale College.  The last lesson was just listening to him play for 45 minutes, which reminds me, I still need to practice my piano.  

I guess I'd better get on that. 

Laters. 

I Did It

I did it.  I survived my first day back at work, but it wasn't easy, I'm telling ya.   When that alarm went off at 3:30, I did not want to get out of bed.  I briefly considered checking my 401(k) to see if I had enough saved up to retire today, but in the end, out of bed I got and to work I went. 

Where nothing had changed, as far as I could tell.  The very first order I set up on was short on adapter tubes -- and I mean short in quantity, not length.  And the second was short on a header, and the third had too many headers and not enough adapter tubes, and the next one had adapter tubes bent wrong...and so on and so forth. 

In other words, business as usual.  

By the way, Salena, Robert brought out some of the 2026 calendars, so I don't need one, but thank you for thinking about it.  😊  I knew you would.  

After work, I ran into Walmart and bought a new computer mouse. 

And it really is lavender.  And it really is silent.  It's a bit disconcerting not to hear the click of the buttons, but I'm slowly getting used to it.  I was clicking four or five times at first, before I remembered it's supposed to be silent.  

While I was there, I took a gander at the coffee makers and found one with the keep warm technology and it was only $13.  

It's not programmable, but it does have auto shut off and anti drip capability.   As soon as I got home, I ran the two cycles of plain water through it, and then made hot water for real.  I now have a bag of Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea steeping and an episode of Call The Midwife on the TV.

I also checked out the Christmas clearance, which was indeed marked down to 90% off.  It was pretty well picked over, but I did get two more boxes of cards, which were only 66 cents each. 

I was thinking I could send some off to Seaman's Church Institute with my next shipment of hats, since they can always use Christmas cards.  The only other thing I got is this cookie cutter with a stencil.  

I debated on whether I would even use it, but it was only 23 cents, so I took a chance.  Since I have so many other cookies in the freezer, I want to do roll out cookies next Christmas, so this will come in handy.   

The last thing I did was to swing by the garden center to see what they had out.  The shelves are still pretty bare, but they're working on filling them up.  They have quite a few seed displays already, so I got two more packets of bluebonnet seeds. 

Tomorrow, I'll plant them in some of the bare spots where the last batch didn't germinate, and we'll just see what comes up.   Over the next few weeks, I'll buy a few more packets to stash in the freezer and plant in September.  

Now if you'll excuse me, 3:30 came mighty early this morning, and I have a mug of hot tea waiting for me.  

Laters.