Dear Coworker

 If your primary purpose at work is to make sure everyone knows without a doubt that you're the boss, then you have no business being a supervisor.

Or anything else for that matter. 

Do your shift a favor and resign.

Yesterday.

Thank you.

That is all. 

I Suppose I Ought To Blog

 I suppose I ought to blog, huh?  

Truth is, I really haven't felt like blogging much here lately.  Sometimes, it just doesn't seem worth the effort.  But I suppose better writers than I am have felt that way at times, too, so onward we go.  

First, some good news.  The yarn has found a pattern it likes.  

You could call it a loose fitting cowl, or maybe it's a circular scarf.  Whatever it is, the yarn seems to like it.  The pattern is one I've adapted from a sock pattern I downloaded years and years ago, called Roundabout socks.  It's a really easy, almost mindless pattern, but I still managed to mess it up.  The yarn kept telling me I'd messed up, but I told the yarn it didn't know what it was talking about.  

Doggedly, I knit on, but when I came to the end of the round, I realized I should have listened to the yarn after all.  I had indeed messed up.  This one thing I knew, I was not going to rip and re-cast on 216 stitches in Chinese Waitress, so I did the only thing I could do.  I tinked nearly the entire round until I found the mistake, corrected it, and resumed knitting.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but not nearly as much as redoing the cast on would have been.  

The yarn has been cooperative ever since.  Well, except for collapsing into a giant wad of yarn barf, that is.   But other than that...I was able to make good progress while watching football all day yesterday.  

Speaking of, this has not been a good weekend for football.  Texas lost the Red River Rivalry, after leading by 21 points in the first quarter.  I guess nobody told them they had to play the second half of the game, too.  Navy lost to SMU, but I didn't really expect them to win that one anyway, so it didn't bother me as much.  I miss Malcolm Perry.  And I miss Keenan Reynolds.  Navy hasn't had a good quarterback since Malcolm graduated.  LSU got absolutely slaughtered by Kentucky.  I don't want to talk about it.

So, no, it hasn't been a good weekend...except for this:

Do you see it?  Do you see it???  Unranked A&M knocked off Number 1 Alabama.  Funny, those obnoxious Bama fans have been mighty quiet today.  As my old dad would say, the Crimson Tide became the pink puddle.  And I said, but just this once, GIG 'EM!  

My cousin David posted this photo (which I shamelessly swiped from his FB page) of his son's reaction.  I think it says it all. 

In more mundane news, I'm sure you've been hearing about the supply chain problems due to the ineptitude of the current administration.  It's affected everything from milk to dog food.  To small animal bedding.  I usually put aspen shavings in my snake tanks, but Walmart has been out since July.  I finally broke down and bought this stuff, and let me tell you, it's expensive! 

That one bag is enough to do three tanks, if I don't put in as thick a layer as I usually do.  I've gotten two tanks changed so far, before I took a break to watch football.  The good news is, Friday when I went into town, they had some aspen in stock.  I got a couple of bags, so hopefully I won't have to keep buying that pricy stuff.  

OK, then...

If you know me at all, you know I love my pumpkin spice.  However, there is a line I will not cross.  Pumpkin spice biscuits is that line. 

And in piano news, I'm almost done with my Michael Aaron course 1 book, so I went ahead and ordered the level two books. 

Well, two of them at least.  I didn't buy the theory or technic books, because I figure I already have enough of those kinds of books.  Here lately, I've mostly been playing in my Christmas books.  I'm trying to focus less on getting them note perfect and more on just enjoying playing.  It's why I wanted to learn, after all.  One of these days, I'm going to get you some music recorded.  Some day, but not today.  

Do you know how to tell you live a dull life?  When the highlight of your weekend is replacing the window blinds in your laundry room. 

When I first got the cat, in her panic to try to get outside of this strange place she was suddenly put into, she tore them up pretty good.  I mean, the whole bottom 6 inches were gone, and I always felt like whoever was driving down the road was looking right into my house.  They weren't, but I still felt like they were.  

Anyway, by this time, I'd figured the cat has settled down enough I can replace them and be reasonably sure she won't go berserk again.  By the way, ignore the giant hole in the wall.  It was there when I moved in, and it's on the list to get repaired.  The previous owner had put a mesh patch over it, but I guess they didn't know they needed to spackle over the patch, too.  I've hesitated, because I don't have any more paint of that color -- it's hideously ugly anyway-  so I would have had a giant white blob right in the middle of the room.  I may go ahead and re-paint the whole room.  I may not.  It won't be that green if I do, though.  I think I have some leftover white from the living room.  I'll use it.  Or else the blue from the bathroom.  I don't know.  I'll figure it out. 

While I was replacing things, I put new blinds up in the kitchen window, too.  They'd gotten old and brittle, and some of the slats were breaking.  

These look much better.  The next thing to do is find some sort of valance or window treatment to put up to give it that homey feel.  I guess when you spend so much time at work, you don't notice all these things as much.  Or you do, and they just don't bother you.  As much.  

And lastly, when you have disinfectant spray, but you forget you have disinfectant spray, and you also forgot you already bought more disinfectant spray, so you buy more disinfectant spray, you end up with a lot of disinfectant spray.  

I don't want to talk about it.  Here's a sunset instead. 

That's one thing I love about fall and winter.  The sun goes to bed before I do, so I get to see these things.  

What The Yarn Wants

 I think the yarn wants to be a cowl.  

In the meantime, I asked the yarn if at least part of it wanted to be a blanket square, and the yarn happily agreed.  I found the blanket and got it out to add a square, that's when I discovered I already had a square in progress.  

Now I know why I couldn't find my other size 3 needle when I needed it.  When I needed my needle...get it?  OK, never mind.  I can't even blame sleep deprivation this time, because I slept until nearly 6:00 AM this morning.    

Moving right along, 

I finished the square I'd already started, then knitted the new one.

By the time I was finished, I was pretty sure the yarn was telling me it wants to be a cowl, but the ball games had started.  As usual, I had one game going on the TV, and one on my laptop, so I couldn't search for a pattern.  

Speaking of football, Texas held on to win a nailbiter.  Hook 'Em.

Navy came from behind to win a nailbiter, for their first notch in the W column this season.  Beat Army.  

As of this writing, LSU is locked in a nailbiter with Auburn.  Geaux Tigers. 

All in all, it's been a good weekend for football, and will be real good if LSU figures out how to tackle Bo Nix.  Best of all, those obnoxious Alabama fans had to listen to Gary.  He he he...Now, back to knitting...

My friend Amy commented on my last blog post about wanting to start a scarf for when she needed some mindless knitting.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded knitter would do.  I dug out my mindless scarf and resumed knitting on it for a little while.  

It's real good for mindlessness.

And finally, on this date in 1835, The Battle of Gonzales was fought when the Mexican government demanded the Texians return the canon they'd given them.  The Texians refused, and in what later became known as Texas Lexington, the Texas Revolution began. 

Now, I'm down to one ball game at a time, so I'm off to search cowl patterns.  

Laters. 

Listen To The Yarn

When last I left you, I'd cast on a second beret after finishing the first one.  Same yarn, same pattern.  Magic Loop technique.  I got a few rounds in, and realized I'd messed something up.  I tried to fix it, but me being me, I ended up just making things worse.  After fiddling with the hat for a few minutes, I decided, "Eh, I'm only a few rounds in.  I'll rip the whole thing and start over."  

Off to the frog pond we went.  I started over, and just a few rounds in, I messed up again.  I frogged the hat.  Again, and started over.  Again....By this time, I was getting pretty frustrated and couldn't figure out why I couldn't knit this stupid hat.  After all, I'd just knit the exact same hat with absolutely no problem whatsoever.  Why was I having such trouble this time?  

By the seventh time I'd ripped and started over,  I sat there a moment, and just listened.  Softly, I hear the yarn whispering.  I leaned in close, and realized the yarn was telling me it didn't want to be that hat.  Again.  It wants to be something else, and was not going to let me knit it into something it didn't want to be.  That's why nothing was working right. 

Sometimes, you just have to listen to the yarn.  

Thus, the pattern is put away, the needles have been put away, and the yarn sits patiently waiting for me to find a pattern it wants to be.  In the meantime, I'm adding a few more rounds to this hat:

which this yarn is perfectly OK with being. 

Oh, and I think I know why I stopped wearing hand knit socks.  They never stay up.  I wore a pair yesterday to work, and spent the entire day pulling them up.  Otherwise, they stayed bunched up around my toes.  I might try going down a needle size and seeing if that helps.  It should, because it'll yield a firmer fabric.  

Other than that, and a bunch of rain, not much exciting has been going on, unless you want to hear about me sorting out my canned goods.  I looked through them all, and amazingly enough, only found two cans of soup that were out of date.  I opened one, and it passed the sniff test.  I went ahead and cooked it, and it passed the taste test.  I went ahead and ate some, and haven't gotten food poisoning yet, so I'll finish it off probably tomorrow.

The only other out of date thing I found was this, but I didn't buy it:

Just in case you can't see it, it's a can of tuna that expired in 2013.  When they brought Mr. Clark's cat over, they'd also brought all the cat food he had.  This was mixed in with those cans of cat food, so I'm guessing they didn't realize it was not, in fact, cat food.  The ends aren't puffed out, but I'll probably feed it to the dog anyway.  I'm not a big fan of tuna.  

Oh, and I found Pumpkin Spice latte on clearance at Walmart!  I started to get all they had, but I restrained myself and only got 4 boxes. 

I left the last two for someone else...he he he. 

In piano talk, I've decided when I finish the two Schaum books I've already bought, I'm not going to continue with that course.  

I'm just not enjoying it.  Honestly, I think if my childhood piano teacher had used this course, I wouldn't have stuck with piano, even if my mother had let me.  

I will continue through the Aaron and the Alfred's courses, though.  I've already bought the entire Alfred's course, and I am enjoying it, so I might as well.  I'm also really enjoying going through the Aaron's course.  I'm not sure if it's that feeling of nostalgia, or just that the songs are more fun to play.  There is one song my piano teacher had me learning that I wish I could find again.  It wasn't in any of the books, but was a separate sheet music.  It was called Stop Lights, and I loved that song.  I've looked online, but haven't found it.  I wonder if it's still at my brother's house.  I'll have to ask him to look for it. 

Well, I've got good news and bad news.  The good news is, Texas, LSU, and Navy all play at different times tomorrow, so I'll be able to watch all three games.  The bad news is, the first game starts at 11:00 AM, so I won't be able to run up to Batesville in the morning.  I may go Sunday after church.  If I can pry my butt out of the house, that is.  But I probably won't.  I'll probably just stay home and order what I need online. 

My friend and I were talking about it yesterday at work, how the older we get, the less we want to leave our houses.  My dad was the same way.  He used to sit at home with the doors locked, and peep out through the window blinds.  I thought it was sad and weird.  Now I'm the one sitting at home with the doors locked peeping out through the window blinds.  And I like it that way.  

The worse news, I still didn't call the guy to come fix my washing machine, nor did I call the plumber.  I don't know why I have such problems making simple phone calls.  I do know part of the problem is that to do the jobs I need them to do, they'll have to come inside my house and be there for a couple of hours at least.  I don't like people in my house.  Plus, I don't know who to trust.  Around here, contractors will rip off a single woman as fast as they'll kiss their mamas.  

And finally, the spider lilies are in full bloom.

It's fall every which way you look at it!  

Hats & Organs

 And here is the beret in its blocked state:  

Pretty nice, if I do say so myself.  I'd taken a photo of the other one, but I held the camera too close and the flash washed all the color out.  Eh, there's not much more to it than the last time I showed you.  

In other news, my brother and nephew recently participated in an organ symposium.  I have no idea what an organ symposium is, but here is my very talented brother playing his piece: 

And here is my very talented nephew playing his piece. 

Joshua has been taking piano lessons since he was little, but has recently started teaching himself to play the organ.  He also plays the cello in his school orchestra.  

And I'm still the only one in the family with absolutely no musical talent.  But watching them has spurred me to go practice more. 

One day, blog posts will be interesting again.  Today is not that day.  Enjoy the music.  That's all I have for you. 

Sunday Afternoon

Man, it's hard to believe how fast my three day weekend went by, but alas, it's Sunday afternoon and my days off are almost over.  

I still didn't get anything accomplished.  Well, except I finished knitting the beret I'd been working on.

The tricky part was removing the belly button cast on.  I was so worried I would drop one of the stitches, and I think I actually did.  

The pattern said to block it over a 12" plate, but I didn't have one, so I had to use a 10" inch.   Once I'd gotten it as stretched as I could, the stitches didn't seem as even as I'd like them to be.  We'll just have to see how it turns out.  In the mean time, I cast on another one.  

Same yarn.  Same pattern.  Different method.  When I was organizing my needles last weekend, I found I had a 40" circular needle of the size I needed, so I broke it out for the next hat.  I've never been that fond of the Magic Loop technique, but I thought in this case, it might be better than trying to juggle those DPNs.  I can already tell the center will be more even.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

I think I might give the second one to Cody's girlfriend for Christmas.   I'll have to ask him if she wears hats.  

The only other thing I did this weekend was to go through all my level 1 Christmas books and marked the songs I want to keep on playing. 

I probably ought to try to get you a Christmas concert worked up this year, since I didn't do one last year.  I'd intended to.  I even recorded a couple of songs, but made the mistake of putting my camera onto the end of my keyboard.  Every time I played a note, the whole thing would shake.  I was afraid you'd get seasick watching them, then I never got around to re-recording them.  I'm seriously considering getting one of those stand things with the light to record my songs on my phone.  I'm just not sure I want to invest in one if only one or two people will even be watching.  

Speaking of phones, I'm about ready to upgrade my iPhone 7.  Yesterday, I went to the AT&T website, and let me tell you, they have the most frustrating and convoluted site you ever did see.  I spent an hour just trying to find my way to my wireless account.  I was able to log into my email account, but they kept saying I didn't have a wireless account.   Um, yes I do.  I've had one for nearly 20 years.  Then the site said I could combine all of my accounts under the same log in.  Um, I thought I did that years ago.  But no, that log-in didn't work.  I tried one more log in, and it said my password was incorrect, but I'd just updated it.  

I was getting more and more frustrated, uttering more than a few unwholesome words for which I had to repent, when at long last, I finally got into my wireless account.  Wouldn't you know it.  I get an error message.

We're having trouble loading your cart right now. Please try again later.

Sigh....

You know, that's why I had to put my payment on autopay a few years ago, because I couldn't ever get into the site to pay my bill.  It's almost like they don't want to take my money.  I'm about to cut ties with AT&T, just for this reason.  I've never had any problem with the phone service, but their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. 

Now for a bit of good news, our Delta surge seems to be tapering off rather quickly.  This is a screen shot from the MS Health Department website:  

It peaked rapidly, and is falling off just as rapidly.  Even so, this week, the U.S. surpassed the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic in deaths.  And yes, I know we have three times the population, so it has affected a smaller percentage, but you also have to take into account we also have vastly more medical knowledge and technology available than we did 100 years ago, so it balances out. I mean, Alexander Fleming didn't even discover penicillin until 10 years after the Spanish Flu struck.  Can you imagine if we'd had to deal with COVID with only what they had available back then?  This is why I don't think it's all that helpful to compare COVID with pandemics from the past.  I mean, during the Black Plague, they had no concept of germ theory.  The idea that things like viruses and bacteria even existed was more than they could comprehend.  They thought you got sick from miasma, or bad air.  Even the word "malaria" literally means bad (mal) air (aire).  We know so much more today than even 50 or 60 years ago.  

On the other hand, they didn't have to deal with people getting medical advice from Facebook memes back then, either. So again, it balances out.  

By the way, Alexander Fleming saved my life when I was 11.  Someday, I'll have to tell you about that. 

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Cutie, who has claimed Cody's bed for her own. 

I just have to remember to leave the door open for her. 

\

All That Didn't Happen

 I love fall.  

I love everything about it.  The cool, crisp mornings and warm, but not too hot afternoons.  The colors.  The smells.  The holidays...

But I think  the thing I love most is using my vacation days to take three day weekends for the last three months of the year.  And today, yes today was the first of those vacation days.  

It was actually chilly enough this morning I needed to break out the flannel pants for a bit, but never got so warm I had to close the doors and windows and turn on the A/C.  All in all, the weather was just about as perfect as it gets.  

I had so many plans for my day off.  I was going to call the plumber.  I was going to get the washing machine fixed.  I was going to find an oral surgeon.  I was going to do so much stuff...In the end, none of that happened.  None of it. 

Today, I was a cat. 

Except for laundry and dishes.  Those were my  accomplishments for the day.  Laundry and dishes.  

The most exciting thing that happened was I got some new candles from my friend Kristine's shop.  She has a new one out called Writer's Nook, and the minute she posted it, I knew I had to have it.  That was a good call, because it smells soooo good.  It might just be my favorite (non Christmas) of her candles.  Cutie approves, too.  

She wasn't too happy when I put the other three up there for the photo, though.  

"Do you mind?  I'm trying to nap here!"  

The other three are some I've bought before, and that I've bought them again ought to tell you everything you need to know.  The Gaudete on the far left, get that one.  Do not pass GO.  Do not collect $200.  Just get it. I think that one is my all time favorite candle of hers, and that's not an easy achievement to attain.  She has so many good smelling things.  

Well, I was finally able to get the cat a bed of her own.  I've been looking, but Walmart has been out of them for a while.  Supply chain issues and all that.  Thanks, Joe.  And all of you who voted for him.  

I'd gotten one for Squeaky a while back, but gave it away after she went to that great litterbox in the sky.  Of course, at the time, I hadn't planned on getting another cat, but then life happened.  My reasoning is that if Cutie had a bed of her own, she wouldn't be napping on my piano bench all the time, and it seems to be working.  She took to it right away.  It took the Squeaker several weeks before she'd even get into hers.   

And lastly, I was finally able to eat my Harvest Moon cookies, just a few days late.  

But it still counted.  

Shine On

 Shine on Harvest moon, up in the sky.

Well, I didn't make it out to the lake to watch the Harvest moon rise.  I'd actually gotten into my car and driven about half way there, but when I got close enough to have cleared all the trees -- almost out to the airport-- I saw a heavy bank of low clouds along the eastern horizon.  Hmmmm...

I stopped at a stop sign and sat there contemplating those clouds.  I thought, "By the time the moon clears those clouds, it'll be just about clear of the trees out at the house.  On the other hand, those clouds could break up.  Or maybe they couldn't.  But maybe they will..."

I sat there for a good long minute, debating on whether to go on out to the lake, or to just go back home.  Then I said to myself, "You know you still have to get up at 3:30 in the morning."  And with that, the decision was made for me.  I turned around and went back home.

Where I watched the moon rise from my front yard. 

 After which, I came inside and drank my traditional mug of hot chocolate -- even though it was 80 something degrees outside.  

My photos didn't turn out so great, because it was so steamy the telescope lens kept fogging up.  Even my glasses fogged up.  And I got eat up by mosquitoes.  But it's tradition.  It's one of the oldest family traditions I can remember.  So I carried on.  

By the way, three more employees have come down with COVID.  Two of them are brazers.  Line brazers yes, but still, they're brazers.  And when I say "so and so has got the COVID", remember, that's only the ones I hear about.   I'm sure there are a lot more. 

Finally, I feel I need to issue a clarification.  Apparently it was only the one HR person who didn't know about the maintenance man's passing.  We got to work Friday, and his picture still wasn't up on the screen, so that time, we asked the person in charge of putting stuff up onto the screens -- like we should have done in the first place.  

She told us the screens were not working.  She had something all ready to put up, just as soon as they got the screens fixed, which they did, and his memorial was up Saturday when we got there. 

Still, her desk is like two steps away from the other HR person, and she couldn't have mentioned to her?  Yeah, lack of communication is a big, big problem out there. 

It always has been.  

Stormy Start

There I was in bed, sleeping in knowing I didn't have to wake up to an alarm this morning, when suddenly, I heard Weatherman Matt's* voice coming across my weather app.

"Doppler radar indicates heavy rain approaching your area."

It was followed almost immediately by a loud clap of thunder.  Instantly, I was wide awake.  

Throwing off the covers, I ran to the back door and flung it open.  I didn't even stop to put on pants.  Shouting through my mouth guard, I called, "KITTY!!!  KITTY!!!"  From somewhere behind me, I heard a plaintive meow, and my first thought was, "Oh, good!  At least she had sense enough to get under the carport."  After letting my very wet and miserable kitty in, I went back to bed, but got right  back up as it was already almost 5:00 AM.  

Wait, what??   5:00 AM isn't sleeping in?  It is when you're used to getting up at 3:30.  

But I don't want to talk about that...

Other than the cat bring another live vole into my house and letting it loose, the rest of the day passed without incident.  I guess that was her revenge for me leaving her out in the rain.  

I spent a bit of time doing something I've been saying for months that I need to do.  And what was that?

For a while now, I've been fussing about how hard it is to find the right size knitting needles when I need them.  I've been telling myself for weeks I need to get them organized.  Today, that organization finally happened.  

I separated them by size, and put all of them -- DPNs, circs, everything -- into the same bag, so now, when I need a size 7, no more searching through dozens of needle packets -- half of which are empty anyway.  I just go to my ziplock bag with the 7s and get out what I need.  Cool, huh?  I even have a bag for miscellaneous sizes, mostly needles I only have one of that size.   

Cutie forgave me long enough to give it her seal of approval.  

In other news, I'm making progress on the beret I'm knitting.  

Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and show it on the blog.  Even if the recipient sometimes reads, she's not really someone who has to be surprised.  Besides, I did pick up a little something else for her at the Downtown Jubilee last week, and that will be a surprise.  

Speaking of the Jubilee, this was the first year in several years I've been able to go.  Last year, they didn't have it, and the two years prior to that, I was at the Fiber Fun In The 'Sip.  It was nice visiting some of the local vendors, and seeing local talent singing.  Even so, I missed going to FFITS, too.  I wonder if she's going to start it back up next year.  I hope so.  It's one of the few times I get to hang out with my knitting buddies any more, since Hank Of Yarn closed up in Southaven.   Amy suggested a shop down in Ridgeland we could try, but we haven't yet.  Maybe this fall...orrr we could all just go up to Leann's place and hang out.  She's been wanting us to come up there ever since she opened it.  

We need to get on that.  

By the way, I did not knit these. 

I picked them up at Walmart, because my old slipper socks are starting to get a bit raggedy.  These are sherpa lined, so they ought to be nice and cozy.  Now, I just need to find some firewood, and I'll be all ready for cold weather.

Speaking of cold, we're going to have a front coming through and the highs Wednesday and Thursday are supposed to be in the low 70s.  I can't wait!  The bad news is, the Harvest Moon will rise tomorrow night, and we've got a 50% chance of rain.  Well, we can hope it clears off in time to watch it rise.  

If I can drag my lazy behind out of the house, I might drive down to the lake and watch it rising over the water.  Yes, I'll take the telescope if I go, and yes, I'll take pictures.  If I go. That's the real trick.  Getting me out of the house.  

In the meantime, enjoy these spider lilies I picked from the patch behind the fence.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some knitting and piano practicing to do.  Laters. 

*Matt Laubhan, meteorologist for WTVA voices the alerts for the station's weather app.  

What If You Died And Nobody Told Your Employer?

 What if you died and nobody told your employer?  

It's been a week since the maintenance man died.  A few days ago, some of us started questioning why they hadn't put a memorial for him up on the screens by the doors and in the break areas.  At first, we thought maybe they hadn't gotten around to it, but no, that wasn't right. 

They'd gotten other memorials up the same day as the person's death.  Not Mr. Gene.  A couple more days passed, and we were really wondering.  No picture on the screen.  No envelope.  Nothing.

One of my coworkers said it is disrespectful, not just to him and his family, but also to those of us who knew and worked with him.  I told another coworker, "It's like he died and nobody even noticed."  

As it happens...

One of the brazers is really good friends with a lady who works in HR.  Today, she had come out to the department to speak with Coworker, as she often does.  Somewhere in the course of the conversation, Coworker asked HR why they didn't put Gene's picture on the screen.  Quickly, Coworker called to me and said, "What was that man's name again?  Gene....?"  I told her his last name, and HR looked shocked and exclaimed, "He died???  Are you sure?"  

I replied that his obituary was in the local paper, and his funeral had been Monday.  One of the front office people had stopped by and told me he'd gone to the visitation.  HR replied that they hadn't known he'd even died.  

I'm not blaming HR.  It's not her fault nobody told them.  And I could see the person's face and tell that  she was very upset.  They hadn't sent flowers to his funeral, and the family probably thought they didn't care.  

What was mind boggling to me is that nobody thought to tell HR that one of their employees had died.   

Well, the situation is rectified now, and Gene will get his proper memorial, thanks to three irate employees who refused to let it go.  

*Gene and Mrs. Gene-  swiped from his FB page. 

We're Winners!

 Today was my annual health screening at work, for my insurance.  Now, I don't usually have any problems meeting the requirements to avoid the higher priced premiums, but my cholesterol has always been high.  Before going in for these screenings, they recommend you fast for at least 6 hours before hand, so your numbers will be more accurate.

Wouldn't you know it, today was the one day I wake up absolutely starving.  Normally, I'm not hungry first thing in the morning...not today.  I was ravenous.  I tried to hold out, but I said, "Forget this.  I'm eating some oatmeal." And eat some oatmeal I did.  I knew it would effect my test results, but oh well...

Thus, it was not without some trepidation I went into my screening. 

And let me tell you, I killed it in there!  ALL of my numbers improved so much, except for my triglycerides, but the nurse said that was probably because I wasn't fasting.  And get this...my total cholesterol was down to 225!  It usually hangs out in the 300 range, and my LDL was 134.  She said they want it to be below 100, but that is when you've fasted.  For a non-fasting number, mine was OK.  

All that going in early and stomping up and down those stairs paid off!  And I'm sure losing 25 lbs didn't hurt, either.  I was so wanting to lower it naturally, without having to go on medications, and I did!  The trick is now to keep it that low.   I'm considering buying one of those machines you can test it at home, just so I can keep an eye on it. I don't know, though.  They can be pretty pricy.  

I felt so sorry for that poor nurse, because the test meter kept messing up.  It kept giving her an error message. She had to run my tests three times to get it to work right, which meant three finger sticks for me.  She kept apologizing, but I told her not to worry about it.  Things happen.  Heh, she had to get one of the other nurses to help her figure out how to clear the error, and I overheard her said, "I know she's about tired of me!"  Nah, it wasn't her fault.  

Once I was finished, and the nurse had explained the numbers to me, I was so stoked, I took my paper and accosted my coworkers with it, forcing them look at my outstanding cholesterol levels.  The three of us started dancing around, with me waving my paper in the air, singing, "We're winners!  We're winners!"  

And the rest of the brazers looked at us like we'd lost our minds...

Then I came home and saw that my spider lilies are starting to bloom. 

 Yay!  That means fall is almost here!

Now for a bit of bad news, I found out yesterday another former coworker of my lost his battle with COVID.  I didn't know him that well, and he wasn't there very long, but his mother also worked out there for a few years.  She and I had been good friends, but lost touch after she quit.  Her husband also worked out there briefly, but I didn't know him but in passing.  They had three sons.  Jason was the youngest.  He was 46 years old.  Y'all please be in prayer for his family.  

And finally, that I even needed to explain this tells me society is doomed. 

Doomed, I tell you.  

Doomed...

Dear Coworker

 Yes, I gave you a little thank you wave as you let me cut in front of you on the way out of the parking lot this evening.  

I was extending you a common courtesy.

I was not agreeing to be your wife. 

Simmer down, there pardner.

Thank you.

That is all. 

Back To The Grindstone

 Way back years ago, when I first started working at ADP, even before the current facility had been built and we were in the back room of what we colloquially refer to as "the old plant", I had a coworker who would say every single day at the end of lunch break, "Well, back to the grindstone,''  as she slapped her hands down on the lunch table.  Every.  Single.  Day.  

That's what I felt like this morning when that alarm went off way too early.  Back to the grindstone.  The good news is, this is my last full week of work for the year!  Thanks to judicious use of my vacation days, I have a long weekend every single weekend from here until January.  Maybe I can catch up on some of the stuff I need to get done...like finding an oral surgeon who can get me in before November.  I need to get on that, or it will be November, and I won't even have made the appointment.

All right, then, moving right along.

My long awaited new Kindle has arrived!  

OK, it wasn't actually that long awaited, as I ordered it Friday and got it Saturday.  That's capitalism for you.  But, since it was a different size than the old one, I also had to order a new case and screen protector.  Those didn't arrive until today.   In the meantime, I just left said Kindle in its protective plastic bag, and played my games through the cellophane.  

That's a word you don't hear much any more.  Does anyone still call it cellophane?  Or am I just an anachronism?  Wait, don't answer that...

Anyway, the case and screen protector arrived today, and the Kindle is safely cocooned in them, 

and game play...um, I mean reading...  may commence. 

In knitting knews, I finished the second hat.

 I think this one will fit much better.  That bit to the left is the yarn I had left over.  I was tempted to make a pompom out of it, but I decided against it.  Mainly because I detest making pompoms. 

For the last several days, I've had a skein of yarn whispering my name.  I'd gotten it out a while ago, and just laid it on a book shelf in the craft room.  Every time I walked past, it seem to mock me.  "Wind me!" it said.  Yesterday, I finally gave in and wound it.  

While I was trying to figure out what to do with it next, I got out the old sock yarn blanket and added a square to it. .

Once I'd seen how it is going to knit up, I knew the yarn would be perfect for a beret or tam with a snowflake - like pattern.  I got onto Pinterest and almost immediately found the perfect one.  Unfortunately, I can't share with you right now, because this is going to be a Christmas present.  

This pattern is knit from the crown down instead of ribbing up.  You cast on 8 stitches to double pointed needles and increase as you go.  After nearly poking my eyes out more than once, I still didn't like the way it was looking.  I pulled it all out, and tried again.  Same result...then I remembered!

The belly button cast on!  

By that time, it was way past my bedtime, so I waited until today to try that method, and it worked like a charm.

That bit sticking up in the middle looking a bit like an umbilicus is the belly button cast on.  It'll be removed at a later date and the hole tightened up.  

And finally, more bad news.  I lost another friend to COVID yesterday morning.  

He will be missed.  

And I found out, Beverly and James both have it now.  This is Bev's second time through.  

Now, I think I'll go to bed early and hide under the covers for a while.