Monday, Moanday

When I got up this morning, the little dog was gone.  He was still gone when I got home from work, but then, about 8:15 PM, I heard a whining outside.  I wondered why Rylea would be whining, but it wasn't her.  It was the little foxhound.  I loved on him a bit, and put him some fresh food and water out.  If he's going to come by for dinner every evening, I need to get him some regular dog food.  I've got Rylea on fat dog dog food, but this guy sure doesn't need any weight management.  Unless you count putting some on.  He's very thin. 

Yesterday, I tried to get my Anniversary Mystery Shawl '10 out and work on it.  I got one round done, and put it back away.  The mojo just isn't there.  I don't know where it went.  I have hardly knit anything in two weeks.  Even the blankie square I started is incomplete, and I started it yesterday.  Well, Wednesday I have the day off of work.  No reason, I just wanted a day off.  I'm going up to Southaven and gonna meet Amy B at Hank of Yarn.  It's so bad that I don't even know what project I'm going to take to work on while we visit.  I'm sure I'll think of something, though.

On the other hand, I did get my new fan club packet in the mail.  I actually got it last week, but haven't been able to fit it into a post until today.  In addition to all the normal fan club stuff (including a new membership card, which I didn't seem to get into the photo)

 
I got a new photo, schedule and, team photo. 

And the certificate, of course. 

It's not much good without the certificate.

It has my name on it. 

Evening Walk

When we set out for our evening walk, I didn't think at first that we'd get very far. Dark clouds looked ominous, and we even felt a few raindrops.

I started to turn back then, but decided to keep going until I knew if it would really start raining. It didn't, so we kept going. We walked all the way down to the creek, so Rylea could get herself a drink, and cool off a bit. It wasn't really that hot, but it was very humid.  By the time we got to the creek, I was soaked, but I joked that it wasn't sweat.  It was condensation.

Somewhere along the way, we picked up this guy

He's a little foxhound.  He didn't have a collar on, or any tattoos or anything.  He was thin, but didn't appear to be starving.  He was full of ticks, though, and appeared to have been shot in the behind with a shotgun. 

He's a real sweet thing, and very obedient.  We waded in the creek a bit, then headed home. 

 
I figured the little foxhound just wanted some company, and when we went home, he'd head back to his home.  He didn't.  He followed us all the way home.  I gave him some food and water, and tried to get him to come into the house.  He wouldn't. 

Tomorrow, if he's still around, I'll call the radio station to run an ad, and I'll put one up at the vet's office.  I'd thought that if no one claimed him, I'd keep him, but now I'm not so sure.  He needs to be with someone who will hunt with him.  That's what these dogs are bred for. 

Religious Jewelry

 I saw a guy wearing a Rosary today at work. Apparently, that is some sort of new fashion statement.

The football player formerly known as Chad Johnson wears one.

As does this guy, whoever he is

And this guy, whoever he is.

Now, I am not Catholic, but I do know this one thing, Rosary beads are not for wearing. (If you are Catholic, and I am wrong about this, please feel free to correct me.)  They are for praying. Wearing them is very disrespectful, perhaps even sacrilegious. I'm sure any devout Catholic would never be caught wearing Rosary beads.  But to these people, and others who wear them as if they were any ordinary piece of jewelry, they mean nothing.

Kind of reminds me of the fad not too long ago of wearing crosses.  The bigger, the gaudier, the better.  You know that these people did not know the significance of the cross.  Rappers who glorify the abuse of women, murdering police officers, drug use, violence.  The ones who can't go three words without the vilest of obscenities coming out of their mouths, would have huge 3 inch gold crosses hanging from their necks. 

And the jewelry store owner asks them, "Do you want a plain cross, or one with a little man on it?"  Yet they have no idea who that little man is, or why he was on the cross in the first place.  Because it means nothing to them.  It's just a fashion statement.

Several years ago, my sister and brother in law were visiting me.  This was during the height of the WWJD bracelet fad.  We had gone to visit the Christian book store in Batesville, and they had a basket of them for sale.  My sister offered to buy me one, but I'd seen too many people wearing them who had no idea who "J" is, or why they should even care about what he would do.

I declined.

My faith is more than just a fashion to me. 

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Sleepy

So, I was out looking for Rylea yesterday evening, when I stopped to speak to a neighbor.  She invited me in, and offered me a diet coke.

Now, since the doctor told me that avoiding caffeine will help reduce my tachycardia episodes, I've limited myself to one diet Dr. Pepper per day--and usually I drink most of it in the morning.

I just wasn't used to have that much caffeine in the evening, so I was wide awake until probably after 11:00 PM.  After a while, I was afraid to look at the clock.  Still, it was a too short night.

I found Rylea, by the way.  She'd followed a neighbor kid down the road, and I found her in the cow pasture.


Knothead.

Telephones

I work in a job that is basically a no-brainer, and as such, I have a lot of time to just think about stuff.  Its strange the things you sometimes think of when your mind isn't otherwise occupied.

There was this boy I went to high school with.  We weren't really friends, but I had a lot of classes with him throughout junior high and high school.  One day we were in class, and he was telling the story of a girl--a class mate of ours--and how she would call him all the time and just talk and talk and talk.  She drove him crazy.  Finally, he got an idea.  When he was tired of talking to her, he'd ask his parents to yell at him to get off the phone.  He said his dad was cool.  He'd just yell across the room, "RANDY!  Get off the phone!"  The first time he asked his mother, though, she came up to him and said, "Randy, dear, I really need you to get off the phone."

He was like, "Aww mom!" 


Moving right along....

I was in fourth grade, or thereabouts, when one day I couldn't remember my homework assignment.  I got the phone book to look up a classmate's number.  As I was searching for her number, I found another classmate's number.  "Oh, here is James' number.  I'll call him.  He'll know."  At that moment, my mother rounded the corner, arms a-flailing and eyes a-blazing. "Girls do not call boys on the phone!  It's not proper!"

"But mom", I countered. "It's not like I was going to ask him out on a date.  I'm just calling him about school work."  But my mother was adamant,  girls do not call boys on the phone under any circumstances. 

Fast forward to 6th grade...my little boyfriend called me on the phone.  I was unavailable at the moment.  My mother told him to call back in about 15 minutes.  He did.  "What were  you doing?" he asked.

"Oh, I was using the bathroom," I replied.  At that moment, my mother rounded the corner, arms a-flailing and eyes a-blazing.  "Girls do not tell boys they were in the bathroom!" 

"Why not?", I asked.  "They have to go, too."  But my mother was adamant.  Girls do not tell boys they actually *ahem* use the bathroom.

I think this may be where my phone issues come from.  My older brother had phone issues, too.  His freshman year at college, he was unable to find a ride home for the Thanksgiving break.  What did he do?  He wrote my parents a letter.  They got it the day he was supposed to be coming home.  My dad got off work that evening, and had to immediately set out driving 4 hours to Marshall, TX to pick up my brother.  They took the younger kids with them, but told me I could stay home if I wanted to.  I was 17, and they would have let me stay home alone, but I didn't really feel comfortable doing that.  I chose to go stay with my grandparents instead.

I was waiting for them to come pick me up, and they didn't come.  Six o'clock passed, then seven.  Finally I called my grandpa and asked him what time he was coming to get me.  "At 9:00," he snapped, then sneeringly added, "Is that OK with you?"

I have a terrible aversion to using the phone ever since. 

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Rain

It has been raining off and on all day today.  My co-worker Kathy went out to the parking lot when it first started so she could roll up her car windows.  When she came back, she was soaked, even though she'd had an umbrella. 

Rylea is upset because she didn't get her walk.  I don't know what she's complaining about.  She doesn't like to be outside in the rain anyway. 

It is predicting scattered showers all week.  Soon we will have Lake Riverdale again.

Tomorrow is Rod's birthday.  I was going to bake him some cookies, but I completely forgot.  It's too late now to fool with them.  Well, I've left the butter out, so maybe I'll remember to bake them tomorrow.

At least he'll have something to look forward to.

Lazy Monday

I didn't do much of anything today. We didn't have to go to work, so first thing I did was to sleep in until 6ish. I'm not really sure because I didn't even look at the clock when I got up. I thought briefly about driving up to Southaven, but decided against it. Instead, I stayed home and caught up on a few things around the house.

I did two loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed and rug sticked the carpet, and paid bills. After that, I felt like I'd earned a little knitting time, so I finished the first Bubble Wrap sock.

I did 4 pattern repeats on the foot, instead of the three the pattern calls for.  The last pair I'd made with this pattern were a bit tight across the toes, so I wanted to make this one a bit bigger.  As you can see, I succeeded. 

I was looking at them and thought, "Boy that toe sure looks pointier than normal." That's when I realized, I'd decreased to 8 stitches on each needle, instead of my normal 12-14. Oh well, I'm not re-doing them.

I'd also wanted to make them a bit big, because I've heard that this yarn (Knit Picks Imagination) has a tendency to shrink a lot.  It is supposed to be superwash wool, but some people have reported that it has felted on them.  Others have reported that it does just fine in the washer.   I'm not so sure I'm going to like this yarn for socks.  It seems very loosely spun, and even more loosely plied.  In some spots, it seemed that the plies weren't even twisted around each other, but laying side by side. 

It was also supposed to be hand painted in such a way that it wouldn't pool, but as you can see, it pooled just fine, thank you very much.  Oh, well, good thing I don't mind pooling.

After a while, I got tired of sitting and watching TV, so I took Rylea for a walk.  We were just going to go for a short walk, because of the heat.  But there was a good breeze blowing, so we walked all the way down to the creek.  Ry was able to get a drink and cool off a bit.  Even I slipped off my shoes and went wading.  It kind of reminded me of the carefree days of childhood, when playing in a creek was the most important thing I had to do all summer.   

Now, the sun is setting, and my beautiful, glorious weekend is drawing to a close.  In the morning--very early in the morning--I'll have to return to the humdrum grind of everyday life.  I sure have enjoyed this weekend, even though I didn't anything special. 

Sometimes doing nothing is special in itself. 

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Happy Fourth!

Finished Object!

And that FO would be the Vernal Equinox shawl.  Well, I really finished it last weekend, but I didn't get around to blocking it until today.  I did run into one minor snag.  I got this far in the bind off

and ran out of yarn.  No biggie, as I had another hank.  I just was hoping not to have to wind it. But I did, and persevered. 

Funny thing is, I thought it was going to be a fairly small shawl when I started knitting it, but it was almost too big to pin out on my bed. 

Here is the final product, released from its bonds.

An interesting thing happened today while I was cleaning snake tanks.  I was cleaning out Scarlett's tank and found these things buried in the substrate:

At first, I couldn't figure out what they were, then it hit me.  Eggs!  She'd laid eggs!  Of course, they weren't fertile, because she's never been with a male, but still.  It's kind of nice to know that the little snake I thought was going to die has recovered enough to lay eggs. 

The would-be mama.  The spots are water spots on the glass, which I am notoriously lax about wiping down. 

Telling On Myself

Since I told off on my cousin Ashlee a couple of days ago, I decided it was only right for me to tell off on myself, too.  Fair's fair, after all.

I think it was the summer I was 7, and we'd gone up to visit Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Tommy.  I had taken my bath and was getting my pajamas on.  Aunt Bonnie had a basket of toys she kept in the back bedroom for when kids came to visit.  Since my dad married late (for that day and age), my first cousins on his side were quite a bit older than we were.  They were already married and having kids while we were still pretty young.  In fact, Aunt Bonnie's oldest grandchild is the same age as my sister, and only 5 years younger than me. 

Anyway, I was getting my pj's on, and in that basket of toys were two mini footballs.  You know, the kind the cheerleaders throw up into the stands at high school football games.  Well, I don't know what got into my head, but I put those two footballs under my pajama top to make it look as if I had boobs.  And I walked out into the living room. 

Aunt Bonnie thought it was hilarious, but my mother was furious.  I knew as soon as I saw the look on her face that I was in for it.  I don't remember what punishment I got for it, but I never did anything like that again. But I've always remembered it.

I thought it was hilarious, too.  Still do.

Today's Photo:  Gratuitous sunset through hurricane clouds shot. 6/30/10

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Alex

The year's first named storm has strengthened into a hurricane.

Alex is now a category 2 storm, and is expected to make landfall sometime this evening.

Though we are too far away for any real storm activity, I can see clouds outside my window.  They are hurricane clouds.  One can't grow up on the Gulf Coast without recognizing hurricane clouds when one sees them.

Today at work, my group leader Rod walked up to me and said, "I need you.  Come with me."  About half way down the aisle, Rod turned to me and said, "You're going to hate me, but I need you to [work in this other area].  I'm going to owe you huge for this one."    He took me where he wanted me to work, and showed me what I was supposed to be doing.  I was grumbling and fussing the whole time, and he was just going, "yeah, I know."

Well, he didn't have the right tool for what I was supposed to do, so he said, "I'm just going to Afro-engineer* this."

"Ummmm!"  I said.  "You're not supposed to say that!"

"I can, because I'm black," was Rod's reply.  "But if you were to say that, you'd get into trouble." 

"Yeah, if I said it, it'd be a racist thing.  But it's ok for you to say stuff like that, and that is so not fair!"

Not that I want to be saying racist things, but hey, a racial slur is a racial slur, no matter who says it.  But that's the topic for another discussion.

So, Rod got me set up and as he was walking away, I quipped, "This is number 5387 on the list of things you owe me for."

At that point, Opie** butted in to a conversation he was not a part of and said, "Excuse me, but don't we pay you for this?"

"No,"  I rejoined.  "You pay me to braze."    He's lucky that's all I said to him.  You don't know who you're dealing with, baby engineer.

There I was, finally set up and ready to start working when Mary runs up to Rod and tells him that if he wants a chance of going home at 3:00, he needed to get another helium tester.  One of the ones that normally did it had gone home.  Well, guess who got the nod for that.  Now, I don't really like helium testing, but it sure beats screwing on access panels.

I'd been down there helium testing for about an hour, when I looked up and saw Rod watching me.  I gave him one of those "I'm going to smile at you but pretend I'm trying not to smile at you" smiles.  He smiled back and all was right with the world again.

*The first time I heard Rod use that phrase was right after I'd gotten moved to his line.  When I told him he wasn't supposed to say that, he looked at me and said, "You're lucky I didn't say something else."


**Opie is the student co-op from one of the local universities.  He's pretending to be the shift supervisor this week.  Honestly, I think he should stick to engineering.  He doesn't have the people skills to be a boss.  That's not his real name, by the way.  We just call him that because of his bright red hair.

I Fought For You By The Sound Tank

Chocolate Cake In A Mug

You gotta try this!

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa

1 egg

3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large mug. Add egg and mix well.  Add milk and oil an mix well.

Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes. 

Don't make too often. 

Kids Say...

We have a new blogger in the family. Welcome to my cousin Ashlee, who has finally jumped into the blogging world.

Ashlee is my first cousin Tommy Gene's youngest child.  (I'm told that as he got older, he preferred to be called Tom, but to the family, he was always Tommy Gene.)   He was the one who added the term "monstrosity" to the family lexicon.  Anyway, they lived quite a ways away from us, and I didn't really see much of Ashlee when she was growing up.  However, there was one time...

She was three, and we were visiting my Aunt Bonnie, who is Ashlee's grandmother.  She didn't have enough room for all of us, so I went to stay with Tommy Gene and his wife Linda.  Ashlee proudly told me that I would like staying with them because their water was blue. She was talking about the Tid-e-bowl.

The next morning, were back at Aunt Bonnie's, getting ready to head for home.  Just up the street from her house was a cow pasture.

Ashlee loved the cows, and every time she went to her Mammaw's, she wanted to walk up the street and see them. That morning was no different, she begged Aunt Bonnie  over and over again until finally she said, "All right, we'll go see the cows."

As soon as she got the OK, Ashlee ran into the kitchen and grabbed a dish towel.  Running back into the living room, she exclaimed, "I need to put this over my head in case one of them poops on me!" 

For All You World Cup Watchers

or not...

I shall go to sleep tonight and dream of vuvuzelas.