Just When You Thought

 it was safe to go back into the factory, the drama just keeps on coming.  

I don't even know what started it all, but it was a doozy.  See, two of the new hire brazers got mad over the amount they are getting paid.  I don't know all the details, but the way it works is when you get hired, you're put on probation for the first several months.  You get paid a probationary wage, then every so often, you get what they call step-up raises.  Once you've made it through the probation period, you start earning the standard wage for your position.  

Well, apparently these two decided that they shouldn't have to go through the probation and should be able to skip to the end and start earning the regular starting wage.  When they found out they couldn't, they both grabbed their stuff and left.  Maybe they'll be back on Monday.  Maybe they won't.  I guess we'll see. 

The one I call The Mouth kept saying she made such and such amount at her old job, but only makes such and such here.  So, why didn't she stay at her old job?  I said, "Well, if she worked there like she works where -- which is not at all-- she probably got fired."  

Seriously, before she left today, she brazed six headers in two hours.  Six.  And that is typical of her.  I've often said if she ran her stand as much as she runs her mouth, she'd actually get something done.  The department got mighty quiet after they left, but we still got just as much done without them. 

They weren't the only ones who left early today.  A lot of the people who had come to day shift last year when they shut down second shift had gotten comfortable, and didn't want to go back.  There was a constant stream of people going to Cuz and the HR director all day long, and a bunch of them left.  I guess we shall see.  

I hadn't planned on going into town today, because I have plenty of food at home, but I remembered I needed to pay my house note, so I went anyway.  Since I was there anyway, I ran by Walmart and bought a sweet banana pepper plant and a tabasco pepper plant. 

A couple of years ago, Cody had said something about making home made pepper sauce.  I don't remember if he was using tabasco or some other kind of pepper, but I thought he might want to try it with these.  Now my little pepper bed is complete.  I have two spots left in my partial-shade bed, but haven't decided what to put into them.  

I'm telling you, this rain we had today really brought out the mock strawberries, so after I had nestled my new pepper plants into their new home, I made myself a salad of American Plantain garnished with mock strawberries. 

To be honest, the strawberries don't have much flavor, but the plantain is dee-lish-us.  You have to make sure you get the tender new leaves from the center of the plant, because the larger leaves can be tough and they get those stringy veins in them.  They're better for eating cooked, but I haven't tried that yet.  

In other news, the gastroenterology clinic finally called and I got my colonoscopy scheduled.  I was trying to text Cody to let him know the details, and I kept messing up.  I mean, really messing up.  I was getting so frustrated, and exclaimed, "Why is this so hard?"  

That's when I realized my phone's keyboard was set to French.  

That explains a lot. 

You Got Questions?

I got answers, and those answers are....well, we'll get to that in a minute.

There I was at work this morning, just a working away when I spotted the safety guy talking to Cuz and a couple of supervisors.  When they were done, I walked over and said, "I need to ask you a question.  Why do we not have an emergency shut off button here in the sub brazing area."

He kind of looked taken aback, the said, "Hell, I don't know."  

That there is answer #1.  

Then I told him that because of what had happened Monday with the pipes coming loose and all, I wanted to familiarize myself with where it was, only I couldn't find it.  I know we used to have one, but I'd been told it was taken out.   I said, "I was thinking -- because I overthink everything -- when that gas was leaking, what if it had ignited somehow, there wouldn't be any way to get to the shutoff valves and cut it off."  

I also said that that is what had happened last Fall when the regulator on station #9 blew up.  I'd had to wait until the flames went down a bit before I could safely go over and shut the gas off.  So not having an emergency shutoff is an issue.  

Safety Guy said he'd look into it -- find out why the emergency shutoff button was removed and see about getting us a new one installed. 

And there you have answer #2.  

The rest of the day passed without incident except for the big meeting we had at the end of the day.  They were talking about how employees need to be doing their jobs instead of standing around talking, and not leaving their work area without letting someone know where they are going -- etc., etc., all the usual stuff.  Group Leader Shark asked, "Does anyone have any questions?" and I said, "I do!" 

I asked, "What about all these people from these other departments coming over here, standing up and talking?"

Group Leader Shark replied, "They're all having this exact same meeting right now in their own departments?"  And I said, "Even in the lab?  Because there is absolutely no reason for anyone from the lab to be coming over here, walking around this department, and talking to people for 20 minutes at a time!"  

From somewhere behind me, I heard a voice say, "AMEN!"  

Anyway, GLS said she'd look into that, so dare I hope that I can finally be rid of my Stalker -- at least for a little while?  

In other news,  I was intending to plant some of these seedlings into the front flower bed this afternoon, 

but we're supposed to get some potentially heavy rains over the next few days.  I didn't want the little plants pounded into mush, so they'll stay in the tray for another day or two.  In the meantime, since nothing has ever happened with the seeds I planted in these little cups, I decided to put them onto the heat mat to see if that helps stir things up. 

I'd planted eight of them, but one actually germinated something.  It's outside with Marty Mad for the time being.  These are dwarf cutsey variety.  The others I planted are dwarf sensation, and look!  One is about to bloom soon.

I'm not quite sure what this thing is doing.  Sunflower people, is this a bud?  

 Whatever, it'll be interesting to see what it turns out to be. 

Work Drama And Red Clover

The bad thing about taking a day off in the middle of the week is that the next day feels like Monday all over again, and that's exactly what today felt like to me -- but apparently I missed all the fun yesterday.  

They're opening second shift back up Monday -- but only one line and some component areas right now-- and yesterday they went around telling the ones who are going to have to go to second shift that they were going.  Well, some people weren't happy about it.  

Some are mad that they are going to second shift and they don't want to.  Others are mad that they want to go to second shift and they won't let them. Ain't that just the way it is out there?  

But here is the kicker.  Demi-god is over there saying, "I can't go back to second shift!  I'd miss seeing my daughter in the evenings!"  

When I heard that, I promise you I was looking just like this:

Every parent who works on second shift has to go through this.  I know I did.  I was very lucky that I came to day shift just before Cody started kindergarten, or I'd have never seen him, other than those few moments in the morning when I got him up and ready for school. 

What's more, Demi-god spent all day down on his stand talking about what his mommy and daddy are going to do if they make him go back to second shift, because you know he's special, and Don't you know who my daddy is?????

And he was saying things like, "If I have to go back, day shift is going to lose 400-500 headers a day!"  We all just laughed and said, "Bless his heart."  He really is full of himself.  And no, he doesn't braze nearly that many headers.  Then I pointed out the bright side will be that he can once again pick and choose which orders he wants to do instead of having to do what the line needs.  

From what I hear, he went on and on about it all day long.  I'm just glad I don't have to work next to him and listen to his whining.  

But wait, there's more!  In all the excitement over my doctor appointment, I forgot to tell you about what happened Monday.  Sometime around 4:15 AM, flux started leaking out of the pipes that carry our brazing gas to our stands.  I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but somehow, the connection between two of the pipes had come loose.  They got the gas shut off at the valve, but maintenance doesn't come in until 5:00, so we had to wait until they got there to fix the problem.  

It only took him about 15 minutes to get the connection tightened back up, then back to work we went.  I was thinking about that this afternoon, and I wondered where our emergency shut off button is.  I didn't know, so I went looking for it.  I couldn't find it, so I asked.   That's when I found out. 

We don't have an emergency shut off button.  We're supposed to have an emergency shut off button.  But we don't.  Why don't we have an emergency shut off button?  Answer me that!

And just to put the icing on the cake, someone was smoking weed in the men's bathroom.  They do that a lot, but nobody has been able to catch whoever it is in the act.  Maybe they need to bring back the random drug testing.  

I'd planned on coming home and planting a few of those daffodil bulbs, and maybe some of my cosmos seedlings, but after all that, I just came home and sat.  Well, I did cut and start drying a bit of cilantro.  Is it supposed to smell like stink bugs?  

Wait, I just googled it and yes it does!  Cilantro can sometimes smell like stink bugs!  It's still OK to eat, so they say, but since it's for Brennan's bearded dragon anyway, I don't think it'll matter.   Although Cody did mention wanting to cook with it, so I'll just have to see what it smells like to him.  

In other news, look what I found growing behind my back fence!  

Red clover!  I've wanted some for ages, but didn't want to buy seeds in bulk.  Looks like the wind finally brought some my way.  I want to try to catch some of these seeds and see if I can get it to grow inside my fence.  

Keep your fingers crossed!

Annual Physical

You know those people who just love going to the doctor?  They love getting all the tests and the poking and prodding, buying all the newest medical gadgets and all of that stuff.  Yeah, I'm not one of those.  

Those of you with better memories than mine may remember about a year ago, I went in to try to get my cholesterol numbers under control.  I'd tried and tried to do it naturally, but it just wasn't working.  So, to avoid surcharges on my insurance, off to the doctor I went.  He put me on Crestor, and wanted to see me again in 6 months.  Things were better, but not quite where I wanted them to be, so he told me to start taking Omega-3 and come back in another 6 months. 

Today was that second follow-up, so after spending a week fighting myself not to cancel the appointment, I took a day off of work and went in to see my doctor.  All in all, everything looks pretty good, except for a couple of things.  

First up, some of my liver enzymes were a bit high.  He thinks it might be due to fatty deposits on my liver because my triglycerides have been so high for so long, however we're going to schedule an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.  That was my call, given my family history with liver cancer and all.  

The other thing he's concerned about is my A1-C.  I forgot what it is --6 point something-- but it's high enough to be considered pre-diabetic.  I know my dad was also pre-diabetic, but I don't think he ever was diagnosed with full blown diabetes.    The doc is going to set me up with a diabetes educator, and I have to go back at the end of July to see if it's gotten any better.  My insurance has a program where they'll send me a free meter and support, but I have to have a diagnosis first.  I really need to get back to eating my oatmeal, too.  I used to eat a bowl every day, but have kind of gotten away from it when they started making us come in so [unwholesome word] early. 

Anyway, he said my cholesterol numbers looked so much better, I don't have to do another 6 month follow up for them,  so I don't have to go back for those until next year.  I just have to go back for my A1-C.

 After I was done at the doctor's office, I ran by Walmart and picked up a few things for the herb garden.   For my full-sun garden, I bought some purple basil and some sweet basil. 

And some cayenne and jalapeno peppers for Cody.  

Then, for my part shade garden I got Greek oregano.  

I've got two more spots in each one, so I'll have to see if there is anything else the kids want.  Cody is the cook in the family.  I just like growing the stuff. 

Then I went by Spain's and spent those two gift cards I'd been carrying around -- one of them for 18 months.  Honestly, I don't know why everyone loves that store so much.  It's cluttered, crowded, and expensive.  I was just walking around buying stuff so I could use that gift money up, and I picked up some Velveeta Shells 'n' Cheese.  It costs .50 cents per box MORE than you can buy it for at Walmart. 

Then I tipped the bag boy way too much, but justified it by telling myself it'll be another two years or so before I ever come back to this store.  Really, it was just because I didn't have any $1s on me, and didn't want to not give him anything.  So he got a very generous tip. 

And that was it.  I came home, ate a bit of lunch, then got out and dug up the last of those daffodils from the front yard.   Here you can see the empty spot where they used to be. 

Why I felt the need to show you that is beyond me.  I've long since given up trying to find an explanation for such things. 

I did not, however, begin re-planting said daffodils.  I laid them back on my potting table, a bit overwhelmed by how many there are. 

I guess I'll just plant a few at a time until I get them all back into the ground.  

In the meantime, I think I'll go take a shower and wash the sweat from my body.  Oh, and before I go, it looks like this year's fawns will be here before we know it. 

There Has Been Knitting

 Lest you think all I did this weekend was piddle in the flower beds, here is proof that there has indeed been knitting. 

I finished this hat.

Then I cast on another with the same yarn. 

I even knit a few rows on this scarf.  

I probably won't do too many of these, though.  I've got to do 14" of garter stitch, followed by 18" of 4X4 rib, and then another 14" of garter stitch.  It's pretty mindless, but then, so are the hats, and I can get so many more of them done in the same amount of time.  

Meanwhile, I'm still adding a row here and there to this scarf.  

I dunno.  I might keep this one for myself.  I give most of my knitted stuff away, so it's kind of nice to make something for me for a change.  

In other news, I got a surprise when I went out and checked on my Cosmos yesterday evening.  You might have to enlarge the photo, but do you see it?  Right there at the top?

Yep!  It's a bud!  There are actually two of them on there, so I'm pretty happy about that.  And look at this: 

Now, I'm not all that familiar with sunflowers, this being the first time I've tried growing them and all, but those look like buds to me!  

Kindly ignore all the ground ivy in the background.  I've been meaning to pull it all up now that it's finished flowering.  I just haven't gotten around to it.

And finally, I've found a really good BBC series on Prime called The Royal.  It's a medical drama set back in 1960s Yorkshire.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  In fact, I think I'll go take a quick shower and watch a few more episodes while knitting...something.

Laters. 

Lazy Saturday

Today has been a totally lazy day.  It started when I slept in until 6:00, and after getting up at 2:30 all week, it felt wonderful.  I almost laid in bed even longer, but then I remembered, I have to check the sun!  

See, when I got my new raised bed, the plan had been to put it here on the East side of the carport. 

But I'd wanted to check and see how much sun this spot gets before filling the bed with dirt.  Good thing I did, too, because it doesn't get nearly as much sun as I thought it would.  

Even though the Supervisor approved of this location, it just wouldn't do for my plants. 

"Dis my spot now.  I'm not moving," she said.  

"Suit yourself," I said.  "I'm going to go get me some breakfast."  

"Breakfast?  I want some breakfast, too!"  said the supervisor and she jumped right out of the box. 

After breakfast, I moved the box to a spot behind the house where it gets a lot more sun. 

Confident I'd gotten the box in the right spot, I headed up to Lowe's to get some garden soil.  I'd checked on their app and found some Miracle Gro that was specifically blended for raised beds, and thought it'd be a whole lot easier than trying to mix soil.  Honestly, I wish I'd done that the first time.  

While I was up there, I checked their herb selection, then ran by Walmart on the way home -- the Walmart in Batesville, I mean -- to see if they had anything different than what our Walmart has.  They didn't, so I passed on buying plants and came on home.  

One of the things I did was to get out the old lawn mower to make sure I'd left enough room between the planter and the house, so while I had it out, I went ahead and mowed.  I was able to leave a huge patch of clover for the bees, 

along with some patches of my short yellow flowers, 

and my tall yellow flowers.  

Once the flowers have died back, I'll cut those spots, too, but for now, they stay.  I finished the back, but didn't do the front or the side yards.  I did them last week.  They're good for now.  I didn't fix the weedeater, either.  

Wait, what's wrong with the weedeater?  One of the gas lines broke.  I've bought a new one.  I just haven't gotten around to replacing the gas tank yet.  I don't really like weedeating anyway, so it probably won't get fixed any time soon.  I kind of wish I'd bought an electric weedeater again.   I had one before, and it was a lot lighter and had much less vibration.  It was not fun dragging all those extension cords around the yard, though.  

When I'd finished mowing and had cooled off a bit, I filled up my new raised bed and the first thing I did was to move the cilantro and rosemary into it. 

 I've got six more spots in this bed, so I messaged Cody and asked if he wanted me to grow any peppers or anything for him.  He said he's planted some cayenne and jalapenos, but they haven't grown, so I'm going to get some of those, and some sweet basil, too.   I might even get some catnip for the cat.  Or for tea...

I've got three spots left in my other box, the one that's in partial shade, so I'll have to look into getting something to put there.  I'm sorely tempted to pull up my peppermint and replace it.  I'd put it into a pot last year and don't think that was the right move.  Earlier this month, I moved it to the raised bed, but it's still struggling. 

Eh, it's still alive, so I'll probably just leave it and give it some time to recover.  If it dies, I'll get a new one, but as long as there's life, there's hope. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've found Ray Bradbury Theater on Prime, and I have a hat to finish.  

Laters. 

Long Week

I got to work bright and early this morning, went to the break area and filled my lunchbox with ice, went and got my tool box out of my locker, then clocked in and headed over to my brazing stand to get ready for the workday.  I stood there for a moment, then without thinking I let out one of those deep, "whooee" sighs...and from across the department I heard another brazer say, "Me, too, Becky  Me, too."  

It has been a long week, but it's finally over, and I even successfully went to Walmart, where I picked up Cody's Italian Parsley and some Lemon Balm for me.  

I've already gotten them planted into the bed that will stay in the back yard, because they are partial shade plants.  

Then I put together my new planter while watching round 2 of the NFL draft.  

My supervisor abandoned me after I told her she could not sharpen her claws on it, 

but I persevered and got 'er done.  Even without the little brat's help. 

Tomorrow I will move it outside and go get some dirt to put into it, but for now, I'm going to go take a quick shower, because I'm all sweaty.  

Laters.  

I’ll Have My Crown Now

Did you ever watch the movie Dances With Wolves?  Do you remember the koo koo bird Major who assigned that post on the frontier to John Dunbar?  And how he flipped out and stood there demanding his crown?

Well, I'll have my crown now.

Yep, my long awaited dental appointment was this afternoon.  My dentist was a bit concerned at first, because the filling was pretty large and it had been replaced at least once.  What can I say?  I was cursed with soft teeth. 

The dentist was concerned that the cavity was so deep that we'd get into the nerve and I'd end up having to have a root canal.  But after getting the old filling out and my tooth all cleaned out, he took an X-Ray and said, "We're close to the  nerve, but not there yet, so we're going to go with our original plan of putting a crown on it."  He cautioned me to be aware that the tooth could still abscess and I might need a root canal anyway, and I said, "We'll deal with that when it happens."  

We got the tooth prepped and impressions taken, and he seriously pumped me full of whatever it was he uses to numb teeth, because my appointment was at 1:00 and it was after 5:00 PM before it all wore off.  

I'd planned on stopping by Walmart on the way home and buying soil for my new planter, which arrived while I was at the dentist, but after laying on my head for all that time, I was pretty wobbly for a while, so I decided to  just skip it for today.  I'll probably be tomorrow or even Saturday before I get the thing put together anyway. 

My supervisor is ready to oversee the project.   

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I finished reading Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice, and am now reading The Merry Wives Of Windsor.  Sometime this weekend, I'll find a production of The Merchant Of Venice on YouTube and watch it.  

Speaking of watching, I found a good miniseries on Prime called To The Ends Of The Earth, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Neill, and a whole host of other British actors I recognize but couldn't name to save my life.  It's based on the Trilogy of the same name written by William Golding.  If you have Prime, it's worth watching. 

And finally, here's a little humor for the day. 

You'd think...huh?  

It's That Time

Time to put that last little sunflower seedling into its permanent home.  

I put this one into my little flower bed in front of my porch, and protected it with a cloche. 

It will quickly outgrow it, just like the others have.  I'm thinking next year I might plant a whole row in this bed.  It'll give me a little more privacy in the front of my house.  I kind of wish I'd thought of that before I planted all of these...

which are doing great, by the way.  

The Incarnation of Evil was there to supervise the whole operation, but I don't think she approves. 

A bit of good news.  This little cosmos that I'd thought was done-for seems to be making a comeback.  

I know it's a blurry picture, but it seems to be growing a bit.  Even if it doesn't make it, I've got plenty more in the mini-greenhouse.  

Speaking of making it, I've been trying to kill this rose for about 5 years now, but it keeps coming back. 

It's even got buds on it!  Well, as long is it is out of the fence -- which I hope to get replaced sometime this summer or fall.  If I can ever get my act together enough to make a couple of phone calls.  And you know how I feel about those. 

Oh, here's something.  I finally got a good photo of my Bachelor's Buttons.  Or a halfway decent one, at least. 

And of course, the one I didn't plant is the one that looks the best.  Go figure. 

 While I was doing all of this gardening, I got Marty Mac out and trimmed all of his dead leaves and traps. 

He has fully recovered from being transplanted and is looking so much better.  If I can keep the critters from pulling him up, he ought to thrive from here on out. 

I reckon that's it for today.  Oh, I'm still plugging away at the piano, but it's slow going.  I'm hoping I can get a song recorded for you in a couple of weeks.  

OK, now that's all I have for you. 

Laters. 

Winter? Is that you?

Winter came back to Mississippi for one last hurrah before giving way to the suffocating heat and humidity of summer.  Some parts of the state were even under a frost advisory Sunday night.  I was a little nervous about my outside plants, but it only got down to 41° here, so they were fine.  

Still, that was enough to make it mighty chilly at my work station. 

I'd almost put my winter hats and scarves away for the year, but I was thankful I left them out a little longer.  I needed them this week.  It warmed up pretty quickly after the sun came up, but for a minute there, those winter clothes felt really good.  

I hope I haven't messed up with these little seedlings, but I've already started putting them outside in the afternoons.

 I don't know if it's something with the specific variety of cosmos, but they are thin and leggy as if they weren't getting enough light.  So, out into the sunshine they go.  Also, I still haven't figured out why some of the plant cells dry out so much faster than others.  I'm thinking I might get some of those grow sponges and try them -- along with different varieties of seeds to see if they do any better under these grow lights.  I don't know.  This little system got really good reviews on Amazon, but I'm not having much luck with it.  

The sunflowers did well, so maybe it's just these seeds that are struggling.  

Oh and I may have done something very foolish last night...And what was that foolish thing I may have done?  I ordered another one of those raised planters.  I've enjoyed the one I have so much, I've wanted another one ever since I got the first one.  Well, this week, I finally got my Amazon rewards card paid off, so I splurged a little.   I think I'm going to put this one beside the car port.  It'll get better sunlight there.  

In other news, my place of employment has struck again.  See, I've worked out there for 29 years, and for at least 28 of those years, it's been company policy that if you work a 10 hour shift, you get an extra ten minutes at lunch. Back in the day,  we got both a 30 minute lunch and a ten minute break, but they took the extra break away several years ago.  

OK, let me step outside my story for a moment to give you a little background.    Back during the pandemic, the Big Man Up Front that we had back then split us up into two different lunch breaks.  One was from 10:40 - 11:00 and the other was from 11:05 - 11:25.  Sometime last summer, the powers that be decided that since the pandemic was over, so was the need for separate breaks and everyone was going to go to lunch from 11:00 -11:20, the way it was before.  

That's what we'd been doing ever since then.  But for some reason, yesterday Group Leader Shark seemed to forget all about that, and told us that lunch was from 11:05 - 11:25 and made us stand there working like a bunch of doofuses while everyone else in the plant was going to lunch.  

Later that day, one of the brazers stopped Cuz and asked him.  He said that GLS was wrong and that we were supposed to be going to lunch at 11:00.  I said, "Can you please make sure she knows that?"  

So that was yesterday's drama.  

Well, today when I got back from lunch, she came over and told me "We don't get 30 minutes any more."  Nobody seems to know who decided that, or why, but suddenly after 28 years...someone has a problem with it.  I said, "Then I'm not coming in at 4:00 any more!"   To which she replied, "You have to!" 

Which brings me to my next question:  Why do I have to come in at 4:00 when everyone else over there she told, "Come in when you feel like it.  4:15, 5:00...whenever you want to..."  I don't know, but I'm going to talk to ...a supervisor about it in the morning.  I don't even know who our supervisor is now.  

I swan I hate that place so much.  I'm already counting down the days until I retire, and it will probably be a lot sooner than anyone thinks it will.  

Funny, they can get all bent out of shape over 10 minutes, but they can't seem to keep my Stalker away from over there.  They seem to think that's funny...

You know what I think is funny?  That they can't figure out why nobody wants to work there!  Oh, but they're playing that creepy weird music every morning!  That's supposed to solve everything, isn't it?  

And finally, just so this post isn't a total waste of your time, here's hat progress. 

I've started the crown decreases, and should be finished soon.  But for now, I'd better get to bed, since I'm the one that HAS to come in at 4:00.  

Earth Day 2024

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

San Jacinto Day

After the fall of the Alamo, on March 6, 1836, the Texas Army, led by General Sam Houston, spent 6 weeks running from the relentless pursuit of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.  On April 21, on the banks of the San Jacinto River, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution was fought.

It lasted just 18 minutes, and culminated with the capture -- and surrender -- of Santa Ana.  Against all odds, the Texas Revolution was won, and Texas became an independent republic, until they joined the United States by treaty in 1845.

And this is the song those soldiers played as they marched into battle:

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.  -- Joel 1 : 3

It's Alive!

Life!  Life!  I have given my creation liiiiiife!  

OK, they weren't exactly my creation, and I had very little to do with them being alive, but my seeds are germinating!  It would seem planting them at the proper depth is actually quite important.  I still haven't figured out why some of the cells are drying out so much faster than others, though. But I hope to get a few viable plants out of these anyway.  

By the way, the eggshells seem to be doing the trick with the ones already in the flower bed. They're not looking any worse, and I'm hopeful they'll recover in time.  

The only other new thing garden wise is I found some cilantro for the herb garden.  

Cody and Brennan requested some of that, along with Italian Parsley.  They actually had some at Walmart, but it didn't look too good, so I'm going to wait until next week to see if they get some more in.  I'd thought about running up to Batesville to see what they have up there, but when I saw the forecast, I reconsidered.  

Yep, it's rained on and off all day long, and is supposed to rain all the night through.  It was the perfect day to sit inside and knit.  I got a good deal done on my next hat for the Seaman's Church Institute.  

I decided I'd also cast on a scarf, too.  It's their pattern, available on their website.  

 I probably won't do too many scarves, as the hats knit up so much faster, but I've been wanting to do at least one for a while now.   It's a very simple pattern, good for mindless knitting.  

And finally, I've always been a morning person, but not this much morning.  You know you get up early when waking up at 4:00 AM feels like sleeping in.  

My next job will definitely have normal human being hours.