I bought one of those small “room coolers” for my potting shed but the shed leaks too much air so it was pretty worthless. If you want, I’ll go find it and see if it still works after sitting out there for so long. If it works, I would be more than willing to send it to you if you would like.
They work pretty well. Except in August.
They killed Hemmer. Dammit.
?Hemmerrr?
You are going to get the cane, dude.
Popsicles, dude! Shove one into your … shirt.
Up, caffeinated, and sheveled. Off to heave.
Sorry. But now you know how Captain Pike feels. 
Also,
HAPPY CANADA DAY, EH?
thanks all its supposed to be here by Saturday
Morning, mumpers! No irk for me today, I has a long weekend off.
It’s currently 16c/60f out there and cloudy. Weather app says “For fuck’s sake. What’s up with the overcast sky?” I don’t mind it being overcast, we are off to a weekend music festival up north-ish so overcast for driving is fine with me. Should only take us an hour and a half to get there so blokie is irking this morning and we’re leaving after lunch.
Got three friends coming along too, so we’re all staying at the same place and have arranged to meet in the bar at 4pm before getting a cab/uber/horse and cart to the festival venue. Should be a fun weekend, a friend’s popping in to feed the mogs so I need to clean the house, empty bins, put out extra kibble and water for the mogs, and leave the necessary food and medications in the kitchen where he can find them. We feed each other’s pets when any of us are away (his g/f is off to Dublin for a girlie weekend so he’s home alone) so I will be retuning the favour soon.
Better finish my cuppa and get on with it!
The grands slept thru, and they’re still sleeping. Not me, tho. I woke every couple of hours (stoopit bladder) and I kept having disturbing (weird, not scary) dreams, so I’m a mess. I decided at 5 I’d get up and have a quiet hour (I hope) before the young uns wake. Apart from tending the critters, I scooped the cat box, then loaded and started the dishwasher. Just finished my PB&J, and now I’m caffeinating and surfing. I fear it’s gonna be a long day…
I need to convince FCD to take the day off. He’s having all kinds of problems walking, and I’m sure it’s from climbing in and out of the engine room. Maybe I can convinced him to take one measurement, then stay home and design the new cover for the opening that we made when we removed the doors from the fly bridge instrument area. Wish me luck.
I expect much of this morning will be spent in the basement with the kids - I’ll take Roxy’s Lego down there. Tobias was having a ball playing with a bunch of stuff that Roxy had left out, so I think it’ll be a good alternative. Then after naptime and lunch, we’ll head to the marine museum and kill some time before I take the grands back to their house and wait for Daughter to get home from work. It’s gonna be a long day, and I’m starting out draggy.
At least we got the mowage done yesterday! Happy Firday!! And Happy July!! (Holy crap, half the year is gone!!!) 
And before I could post this, Roxy came out. Oh well…
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 72 Amurrkin out and cloudy with a predicted high of 91 with rain/tstorms/apocalypse predicted for this afternoon and evenin’. We did have a really good tstorm yestiddy and some steady rain afterward for a while. A beer run shall be accomplished along with fetchin’ N.O,L. from Long John Silver’s (due to a gnawin’ and a cravin’ for fish and no desire to cook said fish). Ribs are thawin’ in da fridge and shall get smoked tomorrow even though they won’t get et until Moanday. The usual sloth, nappage and general overall uselessness shall also ensue.
BooFae look at you takin’ a long weekend as if you were Canadian or Amurrkin! Nice of you to celebrate Canada Day and Sod Off Colonial Traitors day along with us over here in your past. 
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the day! Rah.
Happy Firday Y’all! Happy Canada Day, Eh!
Grump. Woke before 5am and really couldn’t get back to sleep so up and browsing. Need to do the Great Monthly Grocery trip this morning, the list is already prepared so shouldn’t take long. Heading for 90F today (again). Need to get the swimmin’ in something today and as for the rest…we’ll see.
Boo fae, enjoy the festival and your friends.
FCM, looks like I’ll be doing mowage this weekend, that usually triggers rain so maybe it’ll be worth it. Hope you make it through the day OK.
shady, hope they make it by Saturday with the cooler part.
JtC, nice plants and I’m sure the felines approve of the catnip.
OK, need to finish waking up and be about the day. All y’all take care.
Happy Firday!
Happy Canada Day! (I’m not really feeling the independence day vibe here, so my alternate celebration will be Canada Day this year).
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted, bed stripped, a load of sheets / towels ready for the dryer and a load of clothes on deck. Other than the usual Firday chores, I’ll continue the organization project in the studio.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
We need a laughing emoji…
When I retired the company was in a small, cramped building that we had outgrown years before. in the last couple of years I worked, the owner was looking for a new location and getting designs for our expansion. They broke ground for the new place a few months after I left. Yesterday I had a few errands to run and finished up pretty close to the new building and stopped in.
The two women at the front desk were new and had no idea who I was. I explained and told them I was just going to stop in and see the manager. The owner was in as well. They gave me a tour and we spent almost an hour talking about how things are going. The manager’s first words were “So, you are finally back to work. I have half a dozen service calls you can start with.”
It was a great visit. I do not miss working, but even after almost two years I still feel like part of the company. It was great to feel so welcome.
Hippie - the company I worked for was going to build an engineering and manufacturing facility and consolidate multiple locations in one. It was supposed to be done before I left, but there were permitting issues from locals. I retired at the end of 2019 and I think the building is almost done. I want to see it when it’s done.
Toby is napping, Roxy wants to play. I want a nap…
Good morning one and all!
I’m off today and Monday and am just trying to slough off all the negativity from this week. It’s been a ridiculously stressful and hectic week and by yesterday I was completely over EVERY.LAST.THING. work-related.
On Wednesday, I had to put on my policy police/employee safety hat and direct someone to put on a mask in our office. She was gleefully bragging to her visiting teammates that HER doctor said Thurston county isn’t red and she doesn’t have to wear a mask. Oh, and she knows what’s up and no one there is going to make her put on a mask Guess what, she poked the wrong bear. I was debating how I was going to handle it, but she made the mistake of walking outside of my office with the rest of the visiting teammates. Queue the rising annoyance in me, but this was the conversation:
“Oh, hey C? Look this is an awkward conversation, but the fact is our organization follows agency and CDC guidance with regard to COVID transmission levels and masking requirements. We are red and masks are required to be worn in our facility. The signs are clearly posted on every door into this place.”
I was expecting a fight, but what I got was gawping fish face, flash of red (whether embarrassment or anger I don’t care), a gulp, then a meek, “Okay, let me get my mask”. Her teammates thanked me after she walked away.
I am sure she bitched to her friends that still work in our office, but I don’t give a flying fuck. Personnel safety is paramount and the fact is cases are on the rise. I don’t know who she thought she was messing with, but she found out.
I emailed both the state director and my boss up at National in case there was any negative fallout or a complaint up her national chain. I let them know what happened. As of yesterday, the SD hadn’t heard anything and after I related everything that happened, including her brazenly stating she wasn’t going to comply (prior to me telling her she would), the SD was both pleased and satisfied.
Yesterday, I had to fire more shots off the bow and this is exactly how I know I really, really, really, really need my vacation. One of the program directors wanted us to replace a combo lock on a several thousand dollar fire safe with a keypad lock because one of the employees at that particular office states it’s too hard to use. The safe that just arrived, that he said yes to, after I found a less expensive alternative and screenshotted it for him. The employee he’s talking about is finding many things difficult all of a sudden, and, I hate to say it, but maybe it’s time for her to retire. Replacing that lock would cost anywhere from 700 to 1000 bucks. I put my foot down and said no. This is the same employee that just this week informed us three days after her scheduled departure date for travel across the country, that she didn’t go and needed us to cancel it. There were some special circumstances for this travel that had caused a lot of extra work, so the MPA had to reach out to ask for assistance. The wrong travel got canceled and the employee lost her shit, screaming she NEEDED the flight that was canceled. The travel unit got her squared away, but I will be having a come to jesus talk with her supervisor.
Bottom line, people are messing up in travel left and right and I’m over it. I will be having a come to jesus statewide talk with everyone when all the supervisors are back at work and not in travel status. My MPA and I are not a damned travel agency. When I direct an employee to follow a specific course of action, I expect him/her to follow it and not ignore it. I sent an email to her boss this morning. I’ve probably spent 15 hours on travel issues this week, and about 20 hours last week, fixing these travel issues because the staff has made errors, waited until the last minute or didn’t even have their damn travel card, meaning another overnight of travel card issuance. Another set of employees tried to make travel arrangements for a trip mid-July. On the face of it, this is a good thing. They then “informed” us that we needed to hurry up and push this stuff through yesterday. First, I have other shit to do, and you are not a priority. Secondly, you do NOT direct my work flow and you better remember it. Thirdly, the travel and finance systems were not talking yesterday, so nothing was going to go through. Much high-handed bitchness occurred, until I informed them that I can’t control that, that they are talking to a Director and Acting State Director (me), and that maybe they’ve forgotten how things work, but they better start remembering.
There were many, many other things that happened. I had a talk with the SD yesterday about this and let her know it needed to stop.
That was just the travel related stuff; there were data calls, meetings, statements of work for obtaining movers for a relocation, budgeting, and myriad of other things going on each and every day. Today, on my day off, I had to certify my timecard, and go through my emails, approve some travel, and deal with some National stuff.
I am truly fried to a crisp.
However, I’m done now and can just concentrate on what I want to do. My daughter has sent me some lovely pics of the grands playing in Missouri, both in the garden and pool. Those pics made me smile.
In a bit, I’ll head out and mow the lawn. Have a good day everyone.
.
It’s Canada four miles north of the house.
Happy Canada Day, Neighbours!
You’re probably sick of it, but I have to post this every year. Well, semi-regularly anyway.
Irking for an hour already. There might be one person in the orifice, since she gets there very early. (I’m irking from home.) We have a three-day weekend. I suspect El Jefe will let everyone go home at 14 o’clock. No short day for me though, since I start around six-ish. Being the 1st, the datalanche has started.
Well that was a nice surprise. Someone contacted me through Etsy and asked if I wanted to have some of my stuff shown at his new store. I brought a bunch of pieces up to the store and he went gaga. It’s now peak vacationer season, so’s I guess I’ll need to make some more. He also told me I am asking way to little for them.
That’s wonderful, Paintcharge! May you sell as much as you want or need.