Last Day of May

Strange day!  Back to work, and had a hard time getting back into the swing of things.  The FACETS 4.11 upgrade seems to have gone pretty smoothly.  We got a fairly short list of things that will need to be ironed out, but I think all in all it went well.  We were a little short on work, enough to keep us busy, but not like a normal Mon./Tues.  I have a feeling we'll be swamped tomorrow and Thursday.

Eler Beth didn't go to school today.  She woke up around 4 a.m. burning up with fever.  So I gave her acetominephan and some Robitussin for her cough.  She settled herself on the couch in the living room and I arranged for care for her for the day.  I hated to, but I really needed to be at work today!  She did fine, though.  I hated for her to miss on the last week of school, though.  Her fever went down to low-grade, then came back up this afternoon.  When I got home it was high again.  She ate popcicles all day, drank juice and Gatorade, but couldn't eat much until she had a little soup this evening.  I hope it isn't strep.  A friend of  hers had strep last week, and she is prone to throat infections. 

She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon to deal with her panic attacks, but I may end up having to take her to her pediatrician also.  We'll see.

Andrew had his English final today.  He said it was pretty easy, but we'll see!!!  Tomorrow he has his Algebra and Science finals.  He's not worried about the Algebra one, but his Science teacher's tests are always hard, he says.  That's his favorite teacher, though. 

Thomas wasn't feeling well tonight.  He took a Benedryl and went to bed early.  I napped this evening, and that's why I'm up now on the computer.  I'm listening to the news.  Of course the story of Deep Throat's ID is all they're talking of.  I respect and admire the man.  I think any hype to the contrary is only that -- hype.  Leave the man alone.  He did what he did; he had no hidden agenda. Let him live out the last years of his life in peace. 

Back to work tomorrow!

Well, today was a nice, quiet day for me.  Thomas and Eler Beth got home around 8 this morning.  They caught a few fish last night, but not too many.  She had a good time, though.  Andrew and I were up till about 2 this morning.  He was writing and I was journaling and reading journals and cleaning out files on my computer, etc.  So needless to say we all slept late this morning.

We didn't do anything special, just rested.  I think Eler Beth is getting a cold, though.  The kids only have 3-1/2 more days of school left, and I AM SO GLAD!  I am SO ready for this school year to be over.

Thomas and I go back to work tomorrow, and I am kind of looking forward to it.  It will be one of my regular 10 hour days, so I'll probably be extra tired when I get  home.  I hope the new FACETS implementation went well.

Hope everyone out there had a nice, restful holiday.

 

Gracious Sakes Alive!

Weekend Assignment #61:

What is the most ridiculous name you've ever given a pet?

The most ridiculous (read: inappropriate) name I've ever given to a pet was to a little, cute, shorthaired gray kitten.  I decided to call her "Gracious" because there was absolutely nothing gracious about her.  Her mother was one of our cats, but she and her siblings were hidden until they were a few weeks old, so they were completely wild.  The others became tamed enough for us to place in new homes, but this one little, petite, gray female refused to be converted.  She would at times come close enough to me (and only to me) for me to pick up (usually lured by tuna or sardines) so that I could try to form some kind of bond and convince her that being someone's pet was a good thing, and she would stare at me with horrified, wide, green eyes with an expression that said, "Who the Hell are you?!"  Sometimes I would manage to keep her for a full minute or two in my arms before she would spit and claw and growl her way out of them.   During the minute or two I would gently stroke her, scratch her chin, talk quietly and soothingly to her ("Yes, Gracious, pretty little gray girl, it's all right.  You'll like to be petted.  You get to get your ears scratched, and you get milk and sardines, and you can lie on my lap and nap and be petted and get taken care of for the rest of your life.").  She wasn't buying it.  A few times she even started to purr while I was holding her, as if the little purr motor was on automatic and she had no control over it.  I know she had no control over it because even while she was purring she was looking at me with those shockingly wide eyes sending me the message, "I hate you!"

I finally gave up and found her a home where someone needed barn cats to control their mice population!   

Tags: Pet stories, Cat stories

Nice to see my Mom!

Mom, Dennice (my oldest sister) and Lois (Number 5 of my siblings) came up to visit for the day. 

We took them to Golden Corral for lunch..  And I think we all ate WAY more than we should have!  I love their dinner roles!  I even had dessert this time, and usually I don't.   After lunch we went back to our house.  Eler Beth showed off the puppies and her newest fossils.  I had some books for Lois and one to take home for Barbara.  We had a nice visit.  Mom had brought some of her old family photos that I'd asked for, so I could scan them into my computer.  I'll use some of them in my other journal and I want to make some copies of some of them.  A couple were pictures of me when I was little that I didn't have.

     I was about four years old here.  That would be about 1970.  Wow, look how blonde I was back then.  I'm riding my little stick pony.

     Here I am sitting in my Daddy's lap.  Again, that's about 1970 or 1971.  We were at my Papaw Roberts' house (Mom's Dad).   I've always been a Momma's Baby, but I think I was a little bit of a Daddy's Girl, too. 

They called me to let me know they'd gotten home safely.  I really enjoyed their visit.  Now we need to get down there soon to visit because it's been a while since I've seen everyone.  

Thomas and Eler Beth went fishing tonight.  They're going to fish all night.  Andrew decided he didn't want to go this time.  I think he's working on his "book" that he's writing (!!) and I think he's like me and just needs a little down time at home.  This has been a hard school year.  I thought about going, but man, oh man, I am so worn out from the past few weeks.  So I'm catching up on my journal and on reading other journals and I'm watching Double Jeopardy.  I really love that movie.

I shouldn't be hungry at all after that lunch, but it is rather late.  I think I'll just heat up some leftovers for the two of us, unless Andrew wants something else.  Hopefully he'll be happy with leftovers!

I may write more later.

Boy, did I need this Break!!!

We finished our massive overtime on Friday.  That was the deadline, the day they were implementing the FACETS 4.11 software upgrade.  I hope everything goes well, or we'll just have to do the same thing all over again.  We got our inventories down as close to zero as possible.  I think every one of us was burned-out and ready for a break.  But I got an email from Rita yesterday morning saying that she was so used to getting up and going to work and working long days that she didn't know what to do with herself!  I emailed her back and told her she'd better come up with something!

The weather was SOOOOO beautiful yesterday.  Thomas and Eler Beth got up and went to yard sales.  I just piddled around the house and relaxed.  Then Thomas and I did some errands and just drove around wherever the mood took us.  I really needed to be cleaning house, but I kept putting it off.  I did, however, do a load of laundry and mow the back yard.  Then this evening Thomas took Eler Beth and her friend, Britney, fishing for a couple of hours.  Eler Beth hooked into a HUGE catfish, but the line broke.  Thomas said she cried all the way home.  She usually catches her fish, and this would have been the biggest one she's ever caught.....And she's caught some big ones.  Thomas said he didn't realize he had such a lightweight line on that pole.  Andrew pretty much just played on the computer yesterday.  He was supposed to have cleaned his room, and I think he did SOME cleaning, but not much!  Well, he'll just have to spend Monday doing it!

Remembering my Father

Jeff Dowell, 1922 - 2002

This is my Dad, Jeff Dowell, Jr. in 1943.  He was Gunner's Mate 1st Class aboard the USS Tappahannock, a tanker servicing ships in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
He was about 21 years old, 5'11", with very pale blonde hair and blue, blue eyes.  He was neat and trim and looked good in his US Navy uniform.

The USS Tappahannock was a tanker.  My father told stories of how he would have to send a connecting line over the water to the ship they were servicing, and to do this he would shoot it over the water with his 4-10 shotgun.  My mother still has that gun.

I have not written in this journal for a long while.  I've been busy, but also I've been a little depressed and down lately.  The three-year anniversary of my father's death just recently passed, and I think that has been weighing on my mind more than I had realized.  He died May 19, 2002 and was buried on May 23.  My Mom and two of my sisters were up visiting today and my mother brought some of her old photos that I had asked for.  I wanted to scan them into my computer so I could copy them.  That got me to thinking about Daddy and I wanted to share this handsome photo of him with my journal.  I'll probably write some more a little later.  I will also put this entry in my other journal, http://journals.aol.com/helmswondermom/OurFamilyStory/

For more information and pictures on USS Navy Oilers or on the USS Tappahannock:
AO-43 USS Tappahannock

• Mattaponi class Fleet Oiler:
• Displacement: 21,750 tons
• Length: 520'
• Beam: 68'
• Draft: 30'6"
• Speed: 17 knots (max); 10.5 knots (econ)
• Armament: 1 5"/38 DP, 4 3"/50 DP, 4x2 40mm, 4x2 20mm
• Complement: 242
• Capacity: 135,000 barrels
• Geared turbine engines, single screw, 12,800 hp
• Maritime Commission T2-A (MC-K)type
• Built at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and commissioned 22 Jun 1942
• ex-SS Jorkay

Additional Links:

• "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" -- USS Tappahannock
  See Also:
• The parent directory for more information on this class and type
• Reunion links for scheduled reunions
  and possible contacts for crew lists
• Sources of ship's documents: logs, action reports, etc.
  -- mostly from the National Archives

Tags: Jeff Dowell, Jr., USS Tappannock, Mattaponi Class Fleet Oiler

A Lazy Daisy Saturday

I had a nice Saturday.  We didn't work today.  Mostly because we had inventories down pretty well, and since today was Derby Day and tomorrow is Mother's Day, no one worked.  (Well, not at the office, anyway.)  Thomas worked though, from 5 to 3, which was a pretty long day for him for a Saturday.  I felt a little guilty about being home and not getting much done, but, oh well, I've been working pretty hard lately, so I needed a day off.

Andrew went to a friend's house for the day, and Eler Beth was in and out with her little girl friends in the neighborhood.  I did do four loads of laundry, and I even got to hang most of it out on the line and dry it.  I LOVE line-dryed clothes.  Five years ago when we bought our house the first thing Thomas did for me was put up a clothesline!  I don't know what it is or where it comes from but the smell of clothes that have been line dried cannot be duplicated, try though they might.  WHAT IS IT, ANYWAY?  Is it some kind of chemical reaction between the fibers in the clothing and the air?  How is it that we get to SMELL the SUNSHINE in line-dried clothes???  I love it!

Other than laundry and putting away clothes I also picked through some clothes to get rid of.  Some are in a box to go to Once Upon A Child, some in a bag to go to Goodwill and some, I'm afraid, are in the garbage.  Some things just shouldn't be recycled, or have already reached their recycling limit!  I did a little grocery shopping, but not for the whole week; just ran out for some things I was out of.  I got Eler Beth lunch at McDonald's, but I refrained!  Goodee for me!  I did good today, but I did have one LITTLE piece of chocolate earlier.  I have been so thirsty all day and have had about a gallon of water.  That's good because I need to drink more water, anyway.  But I'm still thirsty.  Maybe I'm trying to come down with something and my body is trying to keep from dehydrating.  I have sneezed a few times today.

Other than the above I have spent almost the whole rest of the day on the computer!  That is something for me!  I got caught up on all my favorite journals, found some new ones that I like (some that I didn't like), cleaned out some files, and surfed the web for awhile.  So I have had a pretty good day! 

A Link I Want To Share

http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/43

I enjoyed it.  I hope you do, too.

 

Derby Week and Sad News

Well, we got some very bad news today at work.  One of the young girls in my department who is currently a temporary associate (but who would probably qualify for hiring soon) was not there today.   After our staff meeting this morning Debbie got a call from the temporary agency representative that this girl's husband was shot and killed last night.  We were all stunned and most of us were in tears.  We had heard on the news of a young man who, while stopped at a stop sign, was shot several times and as of 10:30 last night was in surgery.  Apparently he didn't make it.

Sherae is a very sweet, happy young woman and a hard worker.  She and her husband hadn't been married very long.  He had a child from a previous relationship, she had a child from a previous marriage and she is pregnant with their first child.  I don't know any other details about what happened. It is just very sad.                                             

On a happier note, we finished out our Derby Week activities today.  Rita's horse won in the OCR Derby AND she won the Derby Hat contest in our department, but not the interdepartmental contest AND she won Most Orange Worn on Orange Day.  And no, Orange Day had nothing to do with the Kentucky Derby.  It was just a fun, Friday thing to do.  I'm telling you, "A" is a great place to work!

 In our staff meeting today, Debbie outlined our May Teamwork Contest.  It is the OCR 300. 

Yes, we have a race car theme!  Since there are 12 "A" associates in our department and 12 temporary associates we were divided into teams of 4 with two of each.  Each crew has a crew chief (that's me on our team) and each team has a race car on the wall (that was our Derby track, now it's our OCR 300 track!),and we earn laps by reaching certain daily goals in productivity, quality, attendance and system usage.  There are bonus laps awarded for exceeding certain percentages.  Then there are penalties for not reaching our goals.  It should be fun.  It definitely has all of us determined to reach and exceed our goals.  I have a newly-hired "A" associate on my team and two temps.  But one of the temps is Sherae, and I don't think she'll be coming back. 

A Little Better

Well, I slept a lot on Saturday, and Sunday I got some relaxation.  The meeting was really good Sunday morning.  A young brother whom I've known since he was a young boy gave his first public talk.  He did a great job.  The topic was on the difference between good jealousy and bad jealousy.  Andrew was really excited to hear the talk.  He thinks a lot of this young brother who has really been encouraging to Andrew.  He sets a good example for the young ones in our congregation. 

Then Sunday afternoon Thomas took the kids to Jim's, and they took two of the puppies, Regis and Ellie Mae.  Jim decided he liked the look of Ellie Mae and is keeping them both, so that lady he knows is out of luck. 

We'll miss them, but at least if Jim has them Eler Beth can see them whenever she visits.  He'll take good care of them, too.  I am happy with Scout, and Contessa (Little Bit) is perfect for Eler Beth.  I got pictures of them all and will try to get them on here soon.  Eler Beth went fossil hunting too while they were there and came back with some more really nice ones.  We're going to have to add a room to the house just to put her fossils!

While they were gone, I just relaxed.  I played with the remaining dogs, did some laundry and hung it on the line to dry, snacked, watched some TV and did some research on the computer.   Gave my brain and body both some down time.

Monday was my regular 10 hour day, and it was really hard to get through it.  It was interrupted a lot, too, which always makes it harder.  I had my quarterly one-on-one (performance review), which went very well.  And Debra gave me a couple of projects to work on which took some extra time out of my day, but I enjoyed it.  When I got home I actually got some housework done before I went to bed.

Tuesday was my other 10 hour day, and it went better, but when I got home I went straight to bed and right to sleep!  Today is usually my 4 hour day, but I went in earlier than usual, because we were having a floor-wide Food Day and a Run For The Blue Relay Race.   Our little bit to help celebrate Derby Week, you know.  I got up and fixed a double zucchini casserole to take in.  Then there was an accident on the interstate and I was in traffic for over half an hour.  My usual 23-30 minute drive took over an hour!  I still got there earlier than usual!  Anyway, the relay team I was on started out great.  I was the fourth man, and just as I was taking off with my tray full of FULL water glasses I heard someone yell, "No Lori!", and turned, thinking I was going the wrong way.  Every one of my glasses fell off!  Come to find out it was Debra yelling, "Go Lori!"  The funny thing was that there were teams that did worse than us!!!  I'm not sure what the final scores were; I know we are near the bottom, but we had a lot of fun. 

"A" is a fun place to work!  (We call our OCR Team "Debbie's Busy Bees")  And lunch was GREEAAATTT!  I was stuffed.  I barely ate any dinner tonight. 

I am working over a little tomorrow and Friday, but because Saturday is the Derby we aren't working.  That's okay because I need the rest.  Next week and the week after will be a lot of overtime to get the inventory volumes down before Memorial Day weekend. 

Well, I think I've caught up, so I'm going to bed now.  I'm up later than I should be, but Debra gave me another project to work on, so I've been at the computer putting it together.  More tomorrow....