Farmtown 2014 Update

The Old Man asked if I would take a pic of the infamous Ugly Tomatoes tonight and post them in my blog.  I was only too happy to oblige.  Let me be the first to say that even though these aren't the prettiest tomatoes, when we sliced one up for supper tonight, it was one of the tastiest.  You rock Mom and Dad for all of your hard work out in Farmtown.  

Happy National Cheesecake Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very happy National Cheesecake Day.  It's not too late - you still have time to stop by a bakery, deli, or grocery store and buy a cheesecake or just make one yourself.  Here at The Compound, we will be having plain cheesecake, with an assortment of toppings so you can personalize your slice. 

 

2014 Dainty Contest Updatge

TWIT would like to congratulate Ned Dailey for winning the 2014 Dainty Contest.  Ned hit the dainty an impressive 131 feet. 

Personally, anyone that can even hit the dainty is a winner in my book.

World's Championship Dainty Contest

The weather could not have been any better for tonight's 44th annual Dainty Contest in the Schnitzelburg neighborhood.  This was my 12th consecutive year of attending, it was the biggest crowd so far. 

We left at about 8:30, and they were on contestant #163, with still two more pages of contestants to go.  So as of now, I don't know who won.  As soon as I find out, I will let you know.  

And yes, I'm in that crowd somewhere.  See if you can pick me out. 

Link Of The Week

My trusty LG Spectrum is on its last leg, I'm afraid. It's been a bit sluggish and is starting to do some crazy things on the screen, and it's taking a pretty long time to connect when I make a call.  Plus I stupidly shorted out the charging cord Thursday night.  So needless to say, I'm shopping around for a new phone.  My contract was up a few months ago, so I can get a good deal through Verizon.  I started looking online and researching, and a friend told me about a website where you can do comparisons of cell phones.  It's simply 
http://www.phonearena.com/phones .  I've been looking on there and have my choice narrowed down to two different models. 

When I make my final choice, I will let you know.

Happy Life Day

TWIT would like to wish a very happy Life Day to me.  July 26 is the anniversary of my horrible car wreck, and on this day every year I celebrate life.

In case you don't know, I was almost killed in a wreck 22 years ago today.  I had to have my right foot rebuilt, and was off from work for almost six months.  But thanks to the Lord and my surgeon, the only after affects are arthritis in that foot. But I digress.

Every year on my Life Day, I celebrate life.  Today, I started the celebration by going to the women's prayer breakfast at church.  I need to give a big shout out to Linda, who made her awesome crustless spinach quiche for our breakfast just because she knew it was my favorite.  Later this afternoon, I will continue the celebration by going to watch my beloved Bats play a double-header.  

It Was A Sad Day In Mudville

I should say "It Was A Sad Day In Farmtown".  I called home this morning during my 9:00 break like I always do to check in with the 'Rents.  This morning, I found them both disgusted and livid.  Something had gotten into the garden last night and had eaten up half of the green bean plants.  Yep, half.  I saw it myself an hour ago when I got home from work.

Of course, this means war.  On my way home today, I stopped and got a trail camera that is now set up outside and will be able to give us photographic proof of what varmint has been eating the green beans. 

As always, I will keep you posted. 

Happy National Tequila Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very Happy National Tequila Day.  It is also National Drive-Thru Day.  in case you haven't had any tequila today, it's not too late.  You can go to your local liquor store that most likely has a drive-thru window and buy a bottle!

I Need Another Vacation

I think I definitely need another vacation.  I've been swamped every day this week.  And it hasn't been from being off last week, either.  It's just normal weekly and monthly work that needs to be done.  I wish I could hire an assistant because I sure would have today. 

Welcome Back, Summer

I sure was spoiled last week on my vacation - we had 3 or 4 days in a row where the temperature was in the mid 70's.  That all changed on Sunday, when it started getting warmer.  Yesterday and today, the heat index was near 100, and today we had our first air quality and heat index alert of the season.  It made me glad I was inside in my air-conditioned office. 

On a related note, the 'Rents worked outside most of the morning in the heat and humidity, and other than them saying that they feel a bit tired tonight, the heat and humidity didn't affect those two tough old birds much.  

I've said it before and I will say it again - I thank the Lord every day for the strength and energy that He gives those two.  

Re-Entry

My first day back after being away from the office for a week wasn't bad at all. We've grown to call the first day back "re-entry."  

Re-entry wasn't without problems, however. The power went out in the plant at 1:00, and that put things in tail spin, but there wasn't anything we could do about that. We couldn't key the day's production because we didn't know what was built, so there wasn't anything we could do about that.

And I've said this before and I will say it again:  in our department, the majority of our work has to be done daily, since we schedule and take care of inventory; so when someone is out of the office, everybody else pitches in and does their work.  So when you come back from being off, there's not big pile of work you need to do to get caught up.  And this was the case today.  Other than "boss" things I had to take care of, all of my work had been done while I was off.  By 11:00, I was all caught up. 

I'm glad I had a week away from the office, and for the first time in ages, I didn't really dread going back today.

Vacation Day 9 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 9 Decision Of The Day:

After spending a frustrating Saturday morning of trying (key word) to make a CD of the pictures from the Cher concert, I was finally able to get it done. But it took forever doing it through Picasa and their "create a gift CD" option. Don't ask; just agree with me. Anyhoo, I need to find a very reliable CD/DVD burning software to use. Free would be best, but if it's a good program, I'm willing to pay. The decision is for you all to let me know what program you use.  

 

As of now, I've only received two suggestions - Roxio and Nero.  I've used both in the past, and am going to give each a try with a free trial subscription.  

 

So now, it's back to making my own decisions tomorrow at work.  Thanks for helping me out in the past week. 

Happy National Ice Cream Day

TWIT would like to wish everyone a very happy National Ice Cream Day.  It's not too late, so you still have time to run to the store or any place that sells ice cream and buy some to celebrate. 

Here at The Compound, we will be celebrating by having our favorites.  Mom will be having sugar-free vanilla, Dad will be having Death By Chocolate, and I will be having Butterfinger.

Happy National Ice Cream Day.  Now go eat some ice cream.

Vacation Day 8 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 8 Decision Of The Day:

Tomorrow is Sunday, and then Monday will be here, and that unfortunately means back to work. The decision of the day is do I post a decision for tomorrow, or not?

Decision - I will let my TWIT faithful readers and my FB friends make one more decision for me tomorrow before I have to go back to work where I get paid to make decisions. 
 

Vacation Day 7 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 7 Decision Of The Day:

The week has wound down, and I've done a good job of not thinking about the office. I know there will be a bizillion emails waiting for me in my inbox. Do I take some time this weekend and go through them and delete the junk, or do I wait until Monday?

 

Decision:  

After thinking this through, I decided to do a blitz through the emails while I was waiting for my pizza rolls to bake in the toaster oven.  It's one less thing to deal with upon my re-entry on Monday.  I'm glad I did.  I made a quick blitz and only left emails that looked like they needed my attention.  Please note I did not open the actual important emails; I merely deleted junk emails and other non-essential emails.  

Vacation Day 6 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 6 Decision Of The Day:

I don't need help from my TWIT and FB friends today in deciding what I should do on Vacation Day 6, because the decision had already been made by me. I decided to take My Sweet Mother to get a haircut and perm.  Her hair looks great, and I have to honestly say that waiting for her at the salon was the most relaxing time I've had during this vacation.  I just sat there and read a book and took time to relax.  This might be the best Decision Of The Day so far.

Vacation Day 5 Decision Of The Day:

It was refreshing being able to stay up late last night (I sound like a kid) and watch some of my favorite TV shows on DVD. So this got me thinking about doing it again. This time, I just might try streaming.I already have the old school Netflix DVD membership, and I do watch some things online at Hulu. This brings us to the decision: Netflix or HuluPlus?

Decision:  After hearing from a lot of friends, all of whom said they have Netflix, I do believe I'll give it a try.  

Vacation Day 4 Decision Of The Day:

I spent a good part of today doing Good Shepherd Security Consulting work, but today's decision is for later this evening, so my FB friends will have more time to post their decision. I've got a a couple of Netflix DVD's and a couple of movies I've wanted to watch and haven't had the time. Do I stay up tonight and binge-watch all of them or watch a little at a time the rest of the week?

According to the respons on Facebook today, the decision was overwhelming:  binge-watch.  

So it looks like I'm going to be up for quite awhile tonight. 

Vacation Day 3 Decision Of The Day

Vacation Day 3 Decision Of The Day:

I have some Good Shepherd Security Consulting business to do today, so that was non-decision.  But I have been in the mood for some hot wings.  Where should I get them?

Decision: based on response from followers on Facebook, I went to BW3's.  And it didn't hurt to have a gift card from BW3's, either.  The wings rocked. 

Vacation Day 2 Decidion Of The Day

Vacation day 2 Decision of the Day:

Since I won't be going to work tomorrow, I won't be experiencing the Monday Morning Dread that usually hits me in the afternoon, making me want to cry. Decision of the day:  Should I take a nice Sunday afternoon nap?

Yes, I should, and I did.  It was only about a half hour long, but the nap was nice. 

Vacation Day 1 Decision of the Day

Back by very popular demand is another installment of Decision of the Day. 

I am taking a well deserved and much needed week off. Other than one day of Good Shepherd Security Consulting work, I plan to do nothing, and just like before, I will let you make very important decisions for me.

Vacation day 1 Decision of the Day:

I'll be going to see my beloved Louisville Bats tonight. While at Slugger Field, what should I eat? 

Decision:  After an overwhelming response on Facebook today, it was a dead heat with either a hot dog or fried bologna sandwich.  So to make everyone happy, I am going to have one of each.

Flashback Friday

Way back in the year 1987, "Alone" by my all-time favorite group Heart was at the #1 spot on the Billboard charts from July 11 to July 25.  

 

During this time period, diehard fans like me held their breath as the group conformed to the MTV-ish big hair rock bands.  But they still cranked out damned good music. They came to their senses a few years later and went back to their roots.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Miss Susie

TWIT would like to wish Miss Susie Mushatt a very happy birthday.  Yesterday, Miss Susie turned 115 yeras old.  Yep, 115 years old. 

Miss Susie's niece said she never smoked or drank alcohol, but when it came to her diet she was not exactly healthy."Miss Susie loves her gum, Miss Susie loves her barbeque chicken, Miss Susie loves her bacon and if you take any of the three away you will be told off," said Taheera Mushatt, Miss Susie's niece.

Miss Susie was married, but not for long which she says may be the secret to a long life

"When somebody asks her that she says, 'Well, I didn't have husband,' she had a husband for five years and didn't have any children," Lavilla Mushatt said.

But with more than 100 nieces and nephews, she loves them like they're her own. Her family says she believes education is the key to success.

"She told my niece, "You going to school? That's good, get all the education you can get," said Sclbrea Mushatt, Miss Susie's niece.

Her legacy continues with baby Susannah who is named after her great great aunt.

She also set up a college scholarship fund for African-American students at her high school.

She didn't want to speak at the birthday party, her only wish was to go back upstairs and take a nap!

And at 115 years old, she most definitely deserves a nap.  

Way To Go, Dad

For the past week, the war between the Old Man and the squirrels has been going on.  It all started last week when The Old Man saw a squirrel carrying off a bell pepper from the garden.  It was game on. 

Flash forward to today.  Today, The Old Man is two for two on his war against the squirrels.  Mom and I heard the shot just moments ago.  He came in the house and she said "Did you get it?"  He non-chalantly said "I shot, didn't I?"  Nuff said. 

At 81 years old, he still has one of the most steady set of hands I've seen.

Note to squirrels and other varmints here at The Compound:  You don't have a chance.  Note to any PETA faithful readers - sorry. 

I Saw Karma Again Today

Interestingly enough, I saw Karma again today at work.

It's very interesting (sorry to use that again) that people don't think about karma.  I'm a firm believer that whatever comes around, goes around.  And today, I witnessed it happening again.  Only the person it happened to had no clue that it wash happening. 

I just want to do what I'm supposed to, and keep karma from coming back around and biting me in the ass. 

Who Needs The Maytag Repairman?

I am very happy to report that I fixed a problem on our refrigerator freezer last night.  Yep, it made me feel awesome.

I came home from Diva Stacy's, and was being slightly OCD - I wanted to make sure I found my leftover container of salad and my half of an Arby's I was taking for lunch. I looked for 10 minutes and couldn't find the Rubbermaid container in the fridge. I looked at the small fridge on the porch and nothing. Then I looked in the freezer, thinking either Mom or I had a senior moment and put it in there. Nothing. But in doing that, I discovered that the freezer wasn't fully closing on the left side. Even if you slammed it and put your full weight against it, it still wouldn't close. I took a few things out of the freezer and it still wouldn't close. By this time Mom had come back in from walking and The Old Man wanted to know what I was doing, so everyone was involved now.

The first thing I did was go find the owners manual to the fridge. Then I saw where you need to adjust the level of the fridge because that could make the freezer door not fully close. In the meanwhile, Mom was on her hands and knees cleaning up under the fridge and inside the fridge. The Old Man went out to get a level from the garage. We had to take off a plastic grill from the bottom of the freezer to get to two knobs to adjust the levels. Once we finally got that off, The Old Man did some tinkering with the left knob and in a few minutes the door was closing fine.

Then tempers were still pretty flared up, so I knew the best way to calm them would be with ice cream. So I ran up to Krogers, not before stopping at the corner liquor store for some tequila.  I got them a box of sugar-free ice cream bars and I got a dollar small carton of Gelato and all was well with the world.

Link Of The Week

Now it's time for some shameless promotion.  As I mentioned a week or so ago, I just got my second paid church security consulting job.  I think it's pretty darned exciting.  So I'm going to ask you, faithful readers, to help me out and spread the word about Good Shepherd Security Consulting.  You can do this by visiting my website at http://www.goodshepherdsecurityconsulting.com and recommending it to your church or to friends that go to church or to friends that work in a church.  Second you can visit GSSC's Facebook page and "Like" it.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Good-Shepherd-Security-Consulting/313328992065026.  Thanks for taking the time to check out GSSC.

Happy Birthday, Gertrude Weaver

TWIT would like to wish Gertrude Weaver a very happy birthday.  She turned 116 yesterday.  That makes Gertrude the oldest living person in the U.S. and the second oldest in the world.   Of course, reporters asked Gertrude her secret to longevity.  She told him there were three factors to living such a long life, and I quote:
"Trusting in the Lord, hard work, and loving everybody.  You have to follow God.  Don't follow anyone else.  Be obedient and follow the lows and don't worry about anything.  I've followed the Lord for many, many years and I ain't tired."  

Well said, Gertrude, well said. 

Happy Fourth of July, America

Nice To See You Again, Karma

An interesting thing happened at work today: I was able to witness firsthand karma coming around and biting someone in the ass.  I'm not gloating, for fear of karma visiting me and biting me in the ass; I'm merely stating the facts. It was an interesting and overdue come-uppance for someone.  That's about all I'm going to say.

Wednesday, Wednesday

I was in a pretty good mood today; actually, it was a great mood.  But this afternoon, there was a shift in the paradigm, as the business experts say, that caused me to be in not such a good mood.  But that's OK.  I've gotten myself back out of the not-so-good mood and am happy again.  

While I was stewing, a lot of things kept going through my mind; wisdom from trusted friends and family, and wisdom from the Bible.  I've just got to let this round go, because it's not a fight worth picking. 
 

Beggers Can't Be Choosers

Last Monday, we were sitting out on the back porch visiting with our dear friends F&B, when we started talking about all of the different birds that we all see in our yards.  We mentioned the little finches, and how we loved to see them around The Compound.  After F&B went home, Dad went to the garage and got out our finch feeder, and I ran up to Krogers and got a bag of finch food/seed.  It didn't take long for the finches to find it and since then, we've kept a steady watch, making sure we keep the feeder full.

Last night, we were out of seed, so I ran up to Wally World and got a 20 pound bag of cardinal and finch feed.  Well, the finches don't like this as much as the Krogers feed.  They eat out the thistle and throw the rest on the ground.  Evidently they don't know that beggers can't be choosers.  

I was going to go to Meijers tonight and get a big bag of thistle seed but I decided not to.  The finches can make do with the 20 pound bag of mixed seed I got last night, or they can do without.