Good Morning!

Good morning!  And, yes, I'm here . . . believe it or not!  :)

Work has been good lately, and there are even days when I can say that I ENJOY being there!  (Compared to "meh, it's a job".)  It's a good group of people to work with, and everyone enjoys having as much fun as the days allow.  Slowly but surely, I'm making progress on all my aisles and displays . . . organizing and learning exactly what I have and SHOULD have.  Ordering is pretty much solely at-my-discretion, so that's fun, too.  Each day the orders come in is kinda like Christmas - particularly when I've ordered new products.  


The pet area now has merchandise for caged, indoor birds.  Hmmm, the person who places the order must have an aviary, huh?!  ;)  And, buying new dog and cat treats and toys is fun for everyone, as most of us have those four-leggeds in our homes.


Another woman and I are both "foodies" and love new kitchen gadgets, but, unfortunately, my kitchen resources (until / if I ever start going to the big shows) are limited in the company I do the ordering from.  Maybe that's good, tho, as it will save on the ol' pocketbook!  I did order a good, stainless steel pizza pan, though, and one of those will go home with me soon.


* * * * *


The electrical situation.  It hasn't been bad, truth to tell, although the house is cold today.  We had temps in the high 30s last week, and that, combined with the late-winter (i.e. improving) sun, brought the house up to 62 degrees!  In the last couple of days, though, the mercury has dropped back down to normal (below zero morning-before-last), and it's 53 in the house this morning.  My fingers are a little stiff typing this!


My days have been a regular routine of:

• As soon as I wake up, go out to turn on the generator.
• Turn the generator off, last thing before I drive out of the yard.
• Buzz home RIGHT after work (particularly if it's cold out) and turn the generator on, as soon as I get out of the car.
• Go out and turn the generator off before I fall into bed.

BUT, word is that the used, replacement inverter is on its way to Mama & Papa Pea's house (so much easier to deliver THERE than out here).  Today I will let Guru #1 know that Guru #2 has sent it . . . and find out when he can come out to install it.  Today, I'll need to go out to test all 24 of my batteries in the hopes of finding 16 that are still in good shape.  If I can't find that many, Guru #1 has some used ones now that he can sell me, cheap.


When I asked Guru #2 if he'd accept a down payment and then payment plan for this used inverter, he replied that I can pay him when I have the money!  It's a huge drag to add MORE to the "I Owe" list, but INVALUABLE that he's granting me this favor!  And, in the long run, getting the inverter hooked up sooner rather than later will save me because, right now, I can't even take advantage of the sun's charge during the day . . . since that inverter feeds into the broken inverter before heading into the batteries!  So, it's baby steps of progress, all tolled.  Progress!!


After being incredibly stupid on my way to work Tuesday morning, I had an experience that made it ALL worthwhile!  First, the stupid part.


I was running late as I left for work (BIG surprise!).  Trying to multi-task, I was arranging my mug of coffee, everything in my bag and plugging in the cellphone . . . all while trying to drive.  Needless to say, my eyes were NOT on the road, and I'd just had the brilliant mental flash that "hmmm, this isn't very smart (to "drive" this way)" when WHAM!  I sped RIGHT into a high snowbank, burying the front of the little car in the hard-packed snow (it was below zero that morning).


Served me right, it did!  Moron!  I couldn't get the driver's side door open due to the buried-in-the-snow effects of my little "detour", so I climbed over my bags and got out on the passenger's side.  Changed into my mukluks and unloaded the dogs . . . and hoofed it back to the house.  (There was LITTLE chance of shoveling myself out unless I wanted to spend the next three hours at it.)  On my way, I thought, "Jeez, WHAT if the truck doesn't start?!"  Fortunately, and without too much argument, the truck DID start and we were heading back out to the car.


Now, there are NO hooks on the front or rear of these cars for towing.  MAJOR design flaw.  'Course, I supposed they didn't expect anyone to be driving a Yaris in the conditions *I* ask of it!  That's another thing on my To Do When I Have Money list:  get a tow link welded to both ends of the frame.  Anyway, I knew trying to pull it out from the back would not be a good idea . . . since I'd have to affix the tow rope to some part of the car NOT intended for that use!  So, instead, I thought I'd . . . PUSH it out with the plow!


But, how to do that without the front end crumpling in the cold like an accordion?  Well, since it was well-buried in the snow already, I figured I'd start a couple of feet back from the car itself, and, instead, plow the SNOW . . . and, thereby, the car along with it!  So, I got the truck positioned, left the car running with the gear shift in neutral, lowered the plow as far as it would go into the frozen snowbank . . . and s-l-o-w-l-y depressed the gas pedal.  And, as I hoped, the car inched backwards.

I took these shots after the car was out, so you don't see the snow I used as a pad between the car and plow.  But, you CAN see the size of the snowbank.  ;)  (Dummy.)

I had to get out a couple of times to turn the steering wheel on the car (Mama Pea keeps saying that I need to teach one of the dogs how to steer!), but it WORKED!  


I leap-frogged the vehicles back home, called into work and let my folks know what was going on, and, an hour late, was back on my way.  NOW for the it-was-all-worth-it part of the story!


About a mile and a half from home, I rounded a corner and saw . . . THREE moose standing all together at a 90 degree turn in the road!!!  You RARELY see so many together like that!  Before I could dig out my camera, they had turned and hot-footed it into the woods.  I drove past the spot slowly, hoping to catch them in the trees, but no luck.  As I turned the corner and brought my eyes back to the road (a good idea considering the way I'd started my drive!), there was a WOLF running down the road, away from the moose!!!  UN-believable!!!  I thought it was a lone timber wolf, but someone at work mentioned that it was likely the scout for a pack . . . and that I'd, perhaps, saved the life of one of the moose!  VERY cool, needless to say!  A GREAT (after all!) way to start my day!