So. There are several inches of snow covering the car that I can see closest out the front window… Actually, I LOVE snow, but we haven’t contracted with anyone yet to plow the parking lot at the shop and I’m concerned as to whether or not we’ll be able to make it in and out of there.
P.S. Thanks, Nava!
Morning all; up and caffeinating and getting ready for the last day of training … until tomorrow. 
Happy belated birthday Tygergirl; sorry I missed it yesterday!
Also sorry that I’ve been missing somewhat - just a busy schedule IRL. Hugs and good thoughts to all. And good to see ya again, kai. 
Blurf.
Carry on.
Blergh.
No husband for the next few days- everyone wave to Time Killer as he passes over mid-America en route to Seattle
Morning! Not much sleep-- his limo came at 3:15 AM, so obviously I didn’t fall back asleep after he left…
Blurf, indeed
How you doin’?
Heh. That perked you right up, huh Bobbio?
G’mornin’! I feel good this morning for a change. Nothing achy or bothersome. Yay!
Y’all were talking about training - I have a “lunch and learn” tomorrow, about corrosion control of subsea equipment. <snore>
I’m so disappointed! Last night I made a veritable gourmet feast, and Dad and Mr Rebo said it was too spicy. It was not! It was absolutely wonderful!
I made blackened catfish with a creole sauce served over dirty rice, and a side salad. Those guys are just wussies! I have leftovers for lunch - neener, neener! Well, I guess neener doesn’t work when they don’t like it.
I’m counting down the hours 'til vacation. Today and tomorrow and I’m done until Dec 1!!! C’mon five o’clock!
I’ve heard that work makes the time go faster, so I better go test that theory…
Later, gators!
Looooooonely… what’s a girl to do, sigh…
Last week I mentioned a couple of cynical fire-related signs that autumn was here. One (I don’t remember the other) was the same old lady who every year generates a fire dispatch because she can’t comprehend the need to change the batteries in her carbon monoxide detector.
Two more, while equally cynical but far more serious, are that with the change to colder weather the number of fire dispatches jumps significantly, and the batteries in the trucks tend to crap out. Here’s last night’s short tale.
Yesterday was the coldest day of this end of the year to date in Cottonfield County. When I got home from the salt mines, I said to VWife that I can guarantee that somewhere in the county that there was going to be a call last night for a chimney fire; even we were burning wood at the VunderLair.
Right at 5 PM was a fire page, for a furnace fire in Hooterville’s district, with Mayberry paged for automatic mutual aid. I was close in my prediction… I got to the station, and Engine 22, our big one, would not start because of battery trouble, and had to be jumped. In the meantime I rode Engine 20, our other smaller truck.
While en route, I heard Hooterville call for a second alarm because they couldn’t start one of their trucks, and Crabwell Corners was also dispatched. The place was going to be butt-deep in firemen…
The fire was on the underside of a doublewide trailer, limited to the furnace and ductwork, and was out in minutes. I did a lot of ceremonial butt picking, until I got an order to go shut off the water line at the road. I don’t know if the problem was someone under the trailer with the hose hit and broke it, or the line melted from the fire, but either way it was leaking badly.
The valves and meters for all county water customers are in an inground box near the road. I went with a couple of buddies, found the box, and opened it up. The valve was different than mine, and needed a special wrench to shut off, but could be operated with pliers.
Well, that sucker was stuck, and there was not a lot of room to get some good leverage. It took a while. While I was fooling with it, I also realized there was something down there moving. A rodent? A snake? I shined my flashlight into the corner, and found a very pissed off crawdad.
I tried to coax it into clamping onto my glove, but it didn’t. I ended up grabbing it behind the head, asked all around if they wanted gumbo, and tossed it into the ditch.
I told y’all this one was short.
ETA: Rebo, I’ll join you for dinner, and bring the mudbugs…
Ugh. Came in this morning to a mercury spill in the chemistry office. Yeah.
The Dean that deals with this stuff hates us. We always have something hazardous going on…
Hands Soapy the powdered sulphur
I must say, the ability to handle dangerous substances on a daily basis has got to be one of the funniest parts of being a chemist. I don’t miss organic solvents, but funky colored stuff and sodium ships were fun.
Soapy, I’ve got some Kosher Sodium Chloride here if you need that. 
I loved my organic solvents! I did tons of 2D chromatography on radioactive cell extracts in grad school. Pyridine, chloroform, ethanol, methanol and more! Wheee! I loved it!
We have to go through the environmental response team, so it’s out of our hands now.
Pie: Kosher Sodium Chloride, eh? See-- bakers are chemists after all!
We’re at 42° Murkin this morning with a wind chill factor thrown in. 
Happy belated, tyger.
Methinks I got the old bait and switch from the knife company. I e-mailed back and asked for an estimated timeline for delivery…days? Weeks? Months? This morning I got a reply saying they were checking with Henkel and then, later, another reply saying the product had been discontinued. :dubious: O, rly?? Did I want to purchase something else? :rolleyes: Dude! Cancel my order.
But all is not lost. I will simply put a nice Henkel Chef’s knife on my Xmas list. One of them family units should get the hint.
dotty, would HRH sit in a bath long enough to maybe “soak” out the powder?
Hey, bobbio, does anybody ever test the truck batteries? Seems like that would be a good idea come Fall.
Oh, and since I loved your funnies, I thought I contribute a few:
SMART ASS ANSWER #6 – It was mealtime during a flight on Hooters Airline. “Would you like dinner?” the flight attendant asked John, seated in front. “What are my choices?” John asked. “Yes or no,” she replied.
SMART ASS ANSWER #5 – A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. As a man approached, she extended her hand for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed her. Without missing a beat, she said, “Sir, I need to see your ticket, not your stub.”
SMART ASS ANSWER #4 – A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store but she couldn’t find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?” The stock boy replied, “No ma’am, they’re dead.”
SMART ASS ANSWER #3 – The cop got out of his car and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window. “I’ve been waiting for you all day,” the cop said. The kid replied, “Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could.” When the cop finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket.
SMART ASS ANSWER #2 – A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, “Low Bridge Ahead.” Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, “Got stuck, huh?” The truck driver says, “No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas.”
SMART ASS ANSWER OF THE YEAR 2007 – A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow’s final exam. “Now class, I won’t tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that’s it, no other excuses whatsoever!” A smart-ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, “What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?” The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says, “Well, I guess you’d have to write the exam with your other hand.”
Two bonus extras: A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards. She says to the clerk , “May I have 50 Christmas stamps?” The clerk says, “What denomination?” The blonde says, "God help us. Has it come to this? Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptists.
A woman is standing nude looking in the bedroom mirror. She is not happy with what she sees and says to her husband, “I feel horrible; I look old, fat and ugly. I really need you to pay me a compliment.” The husband replies, “Your eyesight’s damn near perfect.” He never heard the shot…
Later.
Tupug
Puggy, when I did truck inspections last month, I noted for all 4 weeks that the right side batteries on that engine were mushy. The chief noticed.
Then last week there was a call where it failed to start, but someone had left the batteries engaged when parked, which is the equivalent of leaving your headlights on. The problem will probably get fixed now; what the truck needs is a trickle charger so we can plug it in.
Sister Montse and Sister Anna used to do the shopping for the dorm. One day they came back and Sister Anna was all flustered. She told the Mother Superior, who was manning (womanning?) reception that they’d been flashed!
Now, while seeing a man’s, ah, manly parts for the first time in her 50+ years of life had been enough to give Sister Anna a fit, the thing that totally drove her nuts was Sister Montse’s response. Being a farm girl, Sister Montse had looked at the man’s parts and said “oh you poor tiny man, maybe you should see a doctor!”
I’m sure Sister Montse would appreciate that flight attendant’s vocabulary. Teehee, stub…
Mornin’ all.
Dirty Jokes in the MMP, I’m shocked. Shocked I say. I thought you all were innocent angels with your white robes shimmering in the light and halos brightly polished.
Grandma was feeling much better last night: she can eat clear liquids now, and has some of her energy back. She really seemed to like the flowers I sent.
Of course we are. But some angels are more earthly than others…
Do you need a volunteer for a stand-in?
I’m home. Might have to fly again next week, for one night. Why, oh why won’t they allow us remote access to the &*(^ing lab? It’s not even a production system! :rolleyes:
Hi all. Crap, I’m tired! Up at 3am when hubby got up and left for Riyadh, back to sleep again, only to be woken up by HRH shortly before 6. Work from home till 10am, take HRH to the doctor (a 70km/45mi. round trip), wait 30 minutes for the doctor to turn up, physically restrain a screaming (and I mean SCREAMING) child while the paediatric nurse tries to clean her privates, carry not-very-impressed child around to the insurance counter, carry not-very-impressed child back to the doctor’s office to get the claim form signed, carry not-very-impressed, now very heavy child back to the insurance counter, settle account, carry now very sleepy child out to car, drive back to MIL’s house and deposit sleeping child in her grandfather’s arms, drive to office and respond to a series of idiotic emails, drive home again 3 hours later, deal with fractious child and tired husband (now returned from Riyadh - a 950km/600mi. round trip), put child to bed at 7pm (finally), relax … well, no, because now I have to wash the dishes and clean some bottles and figure what we can make for dinner … sigh
Puggy, HRH loves the bath, but not to just sit - she’s up and down like a yoyo, pouring water from cup to jug and back again, throwing toys, splashing, etc. So, the chance of her sitting long enough for the powder to soak out is limited. Anyway, we shall just have to keep trying, seeing as even the nurse (sorry, nurses - it took 2 of them plus me to restrain her and try to clean her butt) couldn’t get it all out - it’s such a tiny little spot!
Dirty jokes - my favourite line as a flight attendant (actually said to me by a clueless young Indian gentleman with a strong accent, who was pressing his call button repeatedly), “Madam, Madam, I have been fingering you now one half-hour! Why you didn’t come?” All I could say was, “I guess you weren’t pushing the right button!”
Sorry, Bobbio beat you to the punch. You gotta be quicker than that!