Ugh, it's Monday, y'all

I just can not do a positive and upbeat post today folks. Sorry. The evening last night was rough, and this morning is no better. Long and short of it, the cats are being cats and hubby is stroking out over it. I can do nothing but keep myself as calm as possible instead of going ballistic myself and telling him to calm down or get out until he does. I have no clue why, for the last few weeks, he keeps going off like this, and I do not care. Temper tantrums from a 40-year-old man are not necessary, and I'm pretty sure that most folks will understand where I am going with that.

In better news, the MAM afghan strips are done and I have gotten a few of them finished as far as getting all the ends worked in and snipped off so they are neatened up. I have a long ways to go on that, though. It takes about a minute or so to thread the needle, weave in the end, pull the yarn needle off, and snip the excess off and throw it out. Times about 150 to 200 ends to do over twenty total strips, that's a lot of time weaving in ends. But it is going to be so pretty when it's done that I don't care.

The webstore gift shop is growing like crazy, and I'm pleased with that, too. I am only semi-pleased with the weather. It's still hot and while I am not happy that we are looking at upwards of nine inches more of rain due to the tropical depression in the Gulf looking to track this way, I am happy not to have to water the garden for a while! So I am off to get a few things done before I have to head to work, so I can keep on trying to truck to get that other point back, so I can transfer off breast line. I love debone, but I need to get out of there, because if I don't, they'll just keep hauling me back over to "help," and the way things are running around there now, I do not want any part of it any more. So hugs and love, all. I will see you later!

Sleepy Sunday

It has been a bit crazy the last several days. The heat has me tired enough, but the way work has been going with the changes they are "trying" on breast line have me exhausted much of the time. (By "trying," read as "Someone decided it would be a good thing and no matter how messed up it is, you are still stuck with it on a permanent basis.") So when I get another point back in a few weeks, I will be putting in for transfer somewhere else where the work is a bit easier on me. Apparently, so will half of breast line, because the "changes" are not working out well for the people who actually have to do the work. NOT good. I am not a robot, and I can not work like one. So it's off I go somewhere else, which possibly means working a lot of weekends instead of longer days and full weekends. Oddly, that does not wear me out near as much as 10- or 12-hour shifts all week do. Anyhow ...

The place is looking like a jungle. If I had reliable transport that I did not have to worry about so much (the Escort may be going back to the dealer and a different car coming home ... not sure yet on that one since we can't get a belt that fits it and it needs at least one new tire plus don't know what the engine light is on for), I would likely go back to first shift so I would have daylight hours in which to cut some of it down and back. You literally can not see the back trash trailers from the deck now, it has gotten so overgrown with no time to work on things.

At least it rained some yesterday, a good steady rain for a few hours, so the tomatoes got watered well. It is supposed to possibly rain again today, which would be nice. Breaks up some of the heat. I think I will head back to bed for a bit once I put this up, beause I did not sleep well last night for whatever reason. Hugs and love, all ... it's looking to be a sleepy Sunday!

Vacation day - happy me!

So warm today that I am having to dunk the cats in water to soak them down and help them cool off. Too bad I don't work strictly from home, because I would gladly do it several times a day. Thankfully, the worst of the heat doesn't last more than a couple of hours, so they don't overheat badly. I always make sure there's plenty of water, and right now the fans and swamp cooler are going constantly to help keep things in better shape.

All the outside chores are done - did them while it was not too breezy and the heat of the day had settled some but before the bugs all came out for their evening snacking on me. Thank goodness for all the birds and bats around here!

Took some pictures today, too, along with getting some edited from a week or so ago at the end of all the rain we had for about a MONTH. Enjoy!

This was from the end of the rain in May. You know how I mention the shallow gully that crosses the road at the cow pasture, where the extra water from the pasture goes through to the seasonal creek? This is the water going into the creek.

This is where the water comes from the cow pasture and starts across the road. It looks like a lot, but it's pretty shallow - maybe an inch deep at the most. Mostly it just spread out this year due to a month of nearly unending rain.

The upstream side of the low-water bridge, near the area at the cow pasture where everybody parks when the road is unpassable (like the wintertime, unless you have 4x4 and tire chains and hopefully a winch just in case).

The downstream side of the seasonal creek at the low-water bridge. The creek here is about six feet deep all told. That it was this high was amazing. It so rarely gets this full, and usually is only about 2 feet deep. The county had to put the bridge in, by the by, because of all the elderly and disabled folks who live at the top of the mountain. It didn't used to be here about twenty years ago, and folks had to park at the bottom near the mailboxes and walk all the way up to the top (about three miles).

The first of the afghans is airing out, draped on the trailer in the yard. So on going out to burn the trash, I saw this little darling fanning itself on the afghan! I don't know what it is, but it is pretty.

Some of the daisies at the easement near where we park.

A different type of butterfly, sunning on one of the Black-Eyed Susans near the easement.

A patch of the Black-Eyed Susans near the easement.

The burn barrel smoldering up a storm as the trash caught fire good. Hubby and I keep the weeds well away from it, though we do need to clean up the cans from the old barrel in the back and take them to the scrappers. The black thing in front was the last of the trash to be burnt. I had to wait for the barrel to burn down to make room for it. In this weather, we keep the burn small, so the flames don't get above the top of the barrel. Takes a while to burn two weeks' worth of trash, let me tell you!

It's a peaceful Tuesday

Hey, good news of a sort, at least job-wise! We got a full shift in last night! Barely, but a full shift. That helps a bit on the paycheck. The GPM is back from his vacation and says likely we will be back to full hours plus some overtime again either this week or next week. Thank goodness, because I need the money. All these short checks the last few weeks are killing me financially.

But I have tomorrow off!!!! Paid holiday! So JUICED about it, I can hardly wait for today to be over! I want tomorrow to drag. Lots to do, so it will probably rush past, but so much will be accomplished I know. Trash will get burnt so it will be caught up, the usual clean the cat boxes, do some light cleaning and organizing once it's dark that couldn't get done the other day from the heat, and a TON of writing and working on the store and working the afghan, and winding scrap yarn up into balls for later scrapghans, and ... yeah. It will be a nice, quiet, BUSY day, and an enjoyable one. Especially the late afternoon out in what garden there is that is busting out with life, because that is when it gets a little shady so it makes it easier to work in it, because there are some weeds trying to grow and I am going to pull the dickens out of them and get the mulch down (finally - yeah, it's been one of THOSE years in the garden).

I love homesteading, and all that goes with it. Always such a pleasure to do what you love. Hugs and love all, I need to get busy so I can do one more day of chicken fun before I get away from it for a day!

Yay, it's Monday

I sit here writing and wishing my supervisor had not been such a jerk over my vacation day today and insisted that I had to pick a different one because SHE overscheduled people to have the day off. Trust me, if I did not need the money, and was not working my points down, and was not such a nice person, I would call in and take a point without thinking twice about it, then take my paid day off Wednesday, too. See how she'd like THAT. But I am too nice a person, so as usual, I'm the one who has to suffers for it.

But on the bright side, the house got super clean yesterday, I got a lot of needlework done on rest breaks, and stuff is getting done on the store and on the book and on a bunch of other stuff. Woot!! So hugs and love, y'all. I gotta scoot to do a couple things and pull together for a not-so-lovely day at work.

It's a good Friday

So I haven't written anything in a few days, mainly because it decided to quit raining and get hot and muggy instead. Overall, things are going pretty decent, barring that I do wish work would give us more hours. Add in that they have changed up things on the boob line a bit to "help" us do our jobs better, and that takes away a lot of what fun there was there, but oh well. In a few months, I will be in a position to bid on better-paying stuff, and that's okay. I can deal till then.

The car is still down, but not for anything horrible. The belt still needs finishing up, due to two of the smooth pulleys for the serpentine belt being old enough that they have no grip left to hold the belt in place, and in hanging out under the car, hubby has discovered that the right front tire has a spot that is almost to steel belts, so no way am I driving it again till those issues are dealt with. I'll have to rush my mornings to ride with him for a bit, but I can deal. Not FUN, but I can deal.

Monday, the house will be getting cleaned after dark, and before dark I will be outside, doused in OFF!!! Deep Woods, and using my little chainsaw to cut down a crapton of brush for the woodpile. Also will be setting up the box fan and a pan of water for our cheap but effective swamp cooler for the summer, and moving the pedestal fan back down to the bedroom. Might even sneak in some extra writing and crocheting and such. Why? Don't I have to work or something? Technically, yes. But officially, I am taking my paid birthday vacation day on Monday, the day after my birthday. Boob line is shorthanded anyhow, but since both I and the lead will be gone, they are basically going to have a BAD day. Woops. Hey, the supervisor signed off on it! So I am outta here for now to get done what I can and go from there to work the last day of the week. Yay, me! Hugs and love, all!

Monday is here

The sun is out a bit, though it is still a tad gloomy. So glad to see bright light during the day instead of nothing but grey clouds. Now to just get out of this funky mood I am in. Things are progressing nicely, and at a steady pace, so I am okay with that. I did not get as far on the afghan as I wanted last night, but kitties wanted cuddles and that is just a tad more important.

Tomatoes did get the organic fertilizer granules dumped around them yesterday. I am hoping that perks them up quite a bit. I got a bit done on the store last night (you should SEE some of the goodies in the webstore - http://www.homesteadcrafter.com. I gave away 234 copies of my book on making money taking surveys, which is pretty cool, and with luck, I will get some referrals from that which will make me some extra cash as well.

The second belt we tried yesterday actually did get the battery light to go off and the charge to come up on it, so that likely was the issue there. The check engine soon light is still on, however, which means next weekend, we take both vehicles and have the car codes checked at O'Reilly's and hopefully cleared. If nothing else, we will find out what is setting it off. That means that I still ride with hubby for a few days, but once the road dries out a bit more after all this rain, I can drive myself again. Yay. More work done here!!! Less tolerating nimrods at work!

Time to get some other things done, before I have to pull together for work and the early ride in with hubby. Hugs and love, all!! Have a good Monday!