Mother Nature is at it again!

We had weather for the last month or so, that was much springlike.  So much so that we have beautiful crocus, and some daffodils, and even a few iris.

So I walk out and there is my lovely spots of yellow peeking through the dry leaves and grasses. 

The night before, it was 34 degrees.  Next night it was 26ish. 

So, I walk out, and see my daffodils that look that odd translucence when they are frozen, and the crocus are all flopped over.  The crocus might survive, but I am not sure about the dillies...

 This time of year is sooo odd here.  We can have lovely spring, sometimes almost early summer like weather, and then boom, snow.

Oh, and did I mention, there WAS snow on the poor dillies?  And the next day had some Graupel, or hail snow.  (Thank you for the word, Momma!)  So, now we are supposed to warm up, and get rain...

Um.  Well, hopefully, we won't have snow for Easter.  Yes, it happened once, about then.  Somehow, I do think it would make egg hunting a lot easier!

Or harder...

The mysterious ticking noise*...

There it is again... CLUNK.  I wait, and then listen carefully.  Get back to work, typing, and...

CLACK.

What in the world IS that?  I am the only one who seems to hear... Or care.

There is something that sounds like someone hitting the wall with a rock.  Now, in the day of a deputy, a thing at the substation that clanks is not exactly spellbinding.

Clank.  Wasn't so loud that time.

But for at least a month or two, there has been a continual clinking, clacking noise in the back of the sub. I have even asked a few of the others, do you hear that? (Cue Christmas music, Do You Hear What I Hear? Ahem)

And, they do.  But, it's a, "Yeah, hear it.  Oh, you brought more cookies?" or some such.  Like I say, not exactly Earth Shattering.

CLANK!!

I have walked to the back when I am not busy, and I still can't quite figure out where it's coming from.  I have narrowed it down to the back wall, or the back roof area.  My bet is the roof, probably having to do with the air conditioning/heater... But it's so strange to have this odd noise.  And there is no set time.  Sometimes it clicks several times in 5 minutes, then nothing for a few hours.  Then, it might click and clank every few minutes for an hour or two.

Who knows, maybe it's a poltergeist, this used to be a convenience store, before it was a substation.  Maybe it's the ghost of some kid who ate too many roller hot dogs...

Click...

The mystery continues.













* The title is from a goofy video on YouTube by the Potter Puppet Pals. Click here if you want to see said goofy joke.

Long day...

My Husband and I had one of those sort of busy, get stuff taken care of mornings, and then had finally sat down to rest for a bit before dinner. 

He gets a phone call, and it's from his dad.  Husband's youngest brother is under EMT care, he is not responsive, and they are taking him to the hospital.

We just sat dumbfounded.  He was doing fine!  Dad and Mom-in-law were staying at his house!  GAH???

So. 

We waited, Brother in law is a state away, with Middle Brother and Dad.  We received word, this morning, Youngest Brother didn't make it. 

He wasn't much older than me, so there's that.  He was finally getting settled in, doing pretty well for himself, and working on hearth and home.  Having been there, I might add, quite a nice home.

Husband has been hit hard, obviously.  I am going to have to see what happens, he might have to do some travelling in the future. 

Just amazing how a normal day can go completely sideways, and kick you in the teeth sometimes...

Best laid plans...

When I was just starting school, Mom had me lay out what I was going to wear, and what I needed to take to school the night before.  It worked very well, with the exception of when I forgot to tell her I needed something.

Ahem. Oops.

It has been a habit that I have continued. (Both the laying things out, and sometimes the forgetting.)  But I am beginning to wonder if I need to put a fridge in the car.

Seriously.

I go to work on Tuesday, and I put out the stuff to take to Mom.  I put my clothes out, to change, once I finish feeding.  I have all the foodstuffs for a snack space at the sub. 

Hat, vest, purse...

Oop, need to make lunch.  Which, I put mayo on.  Well, don't need to leave for a bit yet, so I better keep this in the fridge...

This happens nearly every time I make a lunch with a perishable!  I get half way to town...

Click...

Oh... Crap. 

Now, most days I do bring 'emergency money', but that isn't the point.  I really need to get some way to have the things in the fridge, unlike Vegas, not STAY in the fridge when I leave.  This occasionally happens with eggs that a gal orders, who lives in town.

Now, I put up a note for the eggs, but have occasionally forgotten them still.  I have had people tell me that I need to put a string on my finger, rubber band on my wrist, etc., to remind me. 

Nope, I remember it's there, oh, when it catches on something at work... Sigh.

I know I can do this, it's not rocket science, (or rocket surgery, as I read on a t-shirt recently), but if I remember one thing, I seem to forget something else...

I am highly tempted to store apples, and granola bars at the sub. 

If they didn't get eaten... By someone who is not me.

Meh.  I think a brain cell or three are in the back of my brain, just waiting to see if I remember, then when it's too late/far to go back, they spring the trap. 

Darn cells, anyway.  Maybe a pre "flight" checklist. 

If I don't misplace the list...

Woooah, look at all the pretty colors... ??

For my American friends, Happy Independence Day!  If not, Happy Thursday! 

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Well, it was clean the chicken house day, and I had a mess.  I cleaned, and cleaned.  Without going into great detail, some of the older birds are... prodigious in the EXTREME in voiding... EEEEW, even.  So, I had to clean up, and put down fresh cedar. 

I also had to clean the yard, too.  The brambles and blackberry vines were taking over the whole of the back of the chicken house.  Not good for getting around, and gives hiding spots for chickens... And predators.  And so about an hour or a bit less, everything was whacked down to a reasonable walking area again.  (And I discovered where the blasted broodies were hiding eggs in the yard.  Which are now removed... Sigh.)

When I finish this, I am bushed.  Husband got me a very powerful weed whacker, and I can use it for a limited amount of time, or it darn near rattles my teeth out!  So, after all the dust, pollen, plant bits, and... doo...  I was a mess.  I came in the house, and was ready to clean up.  I sat down to remove my shoes and socks.  This is normally a no biggie item...

Until Ding showed up. 

Yon kitty decided I was eminently sniffable.  And proceeded to do so, from bottom to top.  She was relentless! I would move her from my feet to start taking off a shoe, and she was then up beside me, sniffing my belly and elbows.  She was really into sniffing, going full flehmen, all over me. 

I let her continue for a while, then had to draw the line when she climbed up to my face, and proceeded to sniff and lick same, and tried to even pull off my glasses by nipping them! 

I still don't know exactly what set her off, but... 

We do have wild peppermint in the hen yard.  Considering that, we could have other wild plants out there that 'tripped her trigger', too.  I don't know if peppermint would do it, but it could have been that, too.

Or, she just thought dirty hen yard smells good... With that crazy kitty, anything is possible. 

But, after a shower, and change of clothes, she was back to good ol' "meh" mode...

The story of the three chairs. And counting...

In the sub, I have a desk.  And that’s fine, I can do my work for one section of the office, take notes when I need to, I have a phone, and a computer, and several forms and information to use, and give out.

And… I have a running battle of late with… 

The chairs.

We had a pretty nice office chair, sort of a red colored seat, with black, and it was pretty cushy.  It has started showing its age, but I still like it.  However, I showed up about 3 or so weeks ago, and there was a new chair.  A black one, with a taller seat.  I thought I would just adjust it.  No dice, it was as low as it was going to get.  So, I sat.  

And realized, it also was tipped forward slightly.  Just enough that I felt like I was going to slide out, if I sat for any length of time.  I didn’t realize it, but I was compensating by leaning back, and holding myself “up” by my toes, sort of ‘on pointe’, if you will.  This did NOT work.  I ended up with cramps in my back and legs by the end of the day. 

So, the next week I used the red colored chair I’d mentioned before.  It was sitting in the back, I just rolled it up to the desk and sat.  SQUEEE-AAAAK!

Hm.  Well, no one is here, and I don’t care, so I will just use it.  And what a symphony of noise ensued!  Groaning, squeaking, grinding noises, some low pitched whines… And then 2 deputies came in to catch up on paperwork.  After about 15 minutes or so, there was a comment about the noise. 

My sin?  I would turn my head from the computer to the papers in front of me, and then click the computer mouse, and look up again.  This basically made a continuous Squee-click-Squank, about every minute or two.  After a comment about what was going to happen to the chair if it kept up, (nothing mentioned about the user, but I really thought I should do something), I quickly went back to the black chair.  And a mild case of leg cramps.

So, last week, I used a non-office-y, plain old chair with padding, that they have sitting out for back office visitors.  Sort of a gray-pink think, with gray metal legs.  

It worked… Except it grips like iron, so when someone would come to the desk, and I would need to come up and talk to them, I would have to do a rather heavy push against the desk to move the chair back.  Once, the desk, rather than the chair, moved. Not much, but enough to convince me I need to find a different chair.

Next week, the deputies will find one of the conference table chairs missing…