Just a few things
Tomorrow is the last day for the August Flash story
September is Academy Month
Also beginning in September, I will be going into the physical office for my work once a week (we will see if they increase this amount in 2024), so not quite sure how or if that will affect my productivity. We shall see.
It’s Labor Day Weekend coming up. And of course I have the Monday off. My sister is hosting a big party on Saturday with all the nieces and nephews and grand nieces. So that’s what I will be doing. Can hardly believe it is nearly September already! You know what that means! Pumpkins and other Winter Squash.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 
August 29, 2023 at 9:41 am
Cool.
Well, I’m sure being in the office one day a week will be different.
I mean, you used to do all your writing AND work in the office 5 days a week. I’m guessing though it will be different this time.
Now that they’re starting mask mandates again and threatening other stuff because the big bad new variant is looming (which means mostly a new election period is coming up – what? Do I sound bitter? Dramatic? Part of us totally expected this!) they may change your schedule again at any time with little warning again. Who knows, after what we’ve all been through the past 3 years, what’s over the horizon – especially since they discovered that ‘secret’ Chinese lab in California this summer. And never told us what, if anything, they did about it.
Thanks for letting us know. Have a pre-autumn blast this weekend.
(My washer finally died yesterday, so I have to do a bit of housekeeping here today before a new one arrives tomorrow. This body is no longer capable of handling a laundramat – not even the one here in the complex.)
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August 29, 2023 at 9:48 am
Sure it could change any time
I have heard no talk of mask mandates where I am and I am sure Texas isn’t talking about them
Oh and major bummer on the washer! Yikes
I assume your apartment complex replaces it? Yes?
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August 29, 2023 at 10:07 am
No, they just have the laundry closet and hookups. The washer and dryer are mine. I’ve spent enough trying to get it repaired correctly over the past 5 years to have PAID for a new one. But how can anyone like me know that, right? This particular washer – maytag/whirlpool/something else merged brands use a rod system that is very faulty and never worked right. They break, they warp and the tub BANGS against the sides sometimes. Literally, 3 different companies have worked on it/replaced those rods and nothing fixes it for long – it’s all over youtube when I search people who own these particular machines. It’s a lemon!
31 states now have laws against mask mandates EVER being imposed, Texas being one. It goes into effect September 1. But you and I both know that means nothing because the feds will just punish us for not complying withholding $$$ somehow. They always do. That’s why we had to have wind turbines replace our coal and oil powerplants that NEVER went down. EVER. So that 3 years ago when we had -9 degree cold, we’d have been fine. But those blasted turbines froze up and animals and people died and all that because our grid went down for 3-5 days, depending on where people lived. You know my kids had to get a hotel by a hospital and several rooms for neighbors – and with no electricity all those wells don’t pump. They hauled warm water to hundreds and hundreds of animals twice a day – and that was just one area.
But I’m not bitter. Can you tell?
Anyway, some universities are now requiring masks and social distancing again, and at least one college football game was cancelled due to someone testing positive for COVID.
I guess it’s all on again.
Anyway, I didn’t get a raise in pension. But the price of washers has almost doubled. And that’s a reduction from what they were a year ago, so I’m thoroughly, deeply grateful those prices have come down from then! It lasted 4 years longer than I thought it would.
But that WAS another flood in that closet. I just love cleaning those up. And I had to work 5 minutes to break open the lid so I could get the clothes I was washing out of it before they haul it off tomorrow. (Which cost an extra $50)
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August 29, 2023 at 10:10 am
Ugh on the washer and I am glad you are getting a new one even if it is yet another cost grr
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August 29, 2023 at 10:09 am
Bring on fall baby! I am so ready!
I get the need to change tenses. Sometimes that’s just right for the story. And what are you gonna do? You have to follow the muse!
Boo on the working in the office. You know dang well how I feel about your works nonsense. It’s ugh and I’m sorry that after all this time they’re making you go back, however part time it will be.
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August 29, 2023 at 10:11 am
Yeah they jumped on the corporate band wagon to make employees go back in for no good reason
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August 29, 2023 at 11:48 am
I’ve already stocked up on various pumpkin products already, including: pumpkin spice, Cheerios, pumpkin spice Kind thin bars, pumpkin spice yogurt. I already had some pumpkin spice coffee drinks… Dunkin(very sweet pumpkin iced coffee which needs less pumps of pumpkin. And a pumpkin spice iced coffee from Starbucks, which was spot on!!) . And I bought a can of pumpkin purée! That should get me through the week! lol!!!
As to your story, I’m looking forward to reading more of it. I guess I need to go back and reread it before and after you change to see how that effects the story. 💚❤️😘🖖
Covid it’s going to be like the flu. Back every fall just like the flu, with a different variant just like the flu requiring a different vaccine just like the flu.
And masks do work. A virus spread by the air, that people must breathe, can be prevented by proper masking and distancing, and there’s outbreaks. I’ve seen too many Covid patients at my job. Enough deaths for a lifetime! 💔 If masks are useless, next time someone has surgery just tell your surgeon not to bother with masking up during surgery. Take it off your bill. :((
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August 29, 2023 at 11:59 am
Yep I will be getting my shots for flu and covid same time
My doctor’s office never went back to no masks so every time I have an appointment I mask up. Doesn’t bother me in the least.
I got pumpkin yogurt too LOL
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August 29, 2023 at 12:05 pm
J good luck on replacing your washing machine. They certainly don’t make them like they used to. We had an old machine from back in the late 80s early 90s. That thing was a beast. Nothing could put it down. It also weighed a ton. But they build these things these days to be obsolete in a couple years! The appliance companies can’t make any money if your machine lasts
forever. 😕☹️
See the following article and the quote from it. I had heard this at the time when it happened a few years ago.
“Natural gas wells and pipelines (and wind turbines) in Texas, the country’s biggest energy-producing state, do not undergo the winterization of those farther north – resulting in many being knocked offline by the prolonged freezing weather.”
Also, for some reason, the Texas power grid is separate from the rest of the country. If it were connected to other states, all the states could supply power when the power plants in Texas ground to a halt.
The powers that be that built the systems in Texas failed to adequately insulate the energy producing infrastructure. . Cutting costs, with the assumption that temperatures would not drop low enough to need winterization.. it was a gamble, and unfortunately people suffered as a result! :((
Interesting article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-texas-wind-turbines-explain-idUSKBN2AJ2EI
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August 29, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Thank you for the info! And for the good luck wishes. Yep, NOTHING is built to last any more – an expiration date is built into everything.
Texas being the 2nd largest state, with Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, and San Antonio, we’ve ALWAYS had our own grid. And when we had powerplants that used oil and coal, no matter what happened anywhere else, our grid NEVER EVER in my 67 years (at that time) went down. Not even once. No matter how cold or hot. Our electricity was dependable and inexpensive.
As far as other states sharing, remember the ice storm and low temps extended from Texas east through several states – they were struggling to stay online too.
I would have left but there were so many states in that mess that there was nowhere I could afford to go far enough away to miss it!
We were BEGGING as many people as could to go away -so there was not so much drain on our power grids and food and medical supplies.
That’s why we’re furious at the ones who mocked Senator Cruz for leaving. Being a US senator, he had no jurisdiction here. Our state reps stayed and worked tirelessly to do anything!
But nobody could help us – trucks and trains didn’t run for days. Too much ice. It was national news in Fort Worth when there were over 100 cars in a massive traffic pileup because the ice hit so suddenly and so bad!
When electricity doesn’t run, the rural homes’ wells don’t run, nor do those warmers that keep their water troughs below freezing so their animals have water to drink.
My son was an insider who knew to get a hotel room on the same powerlines as the closest hospital (still miles away) as they do their best to keep those alive. He rented rooms for all their closest neighbors, including one with stage 4 cancer who has almost 100 rescue animals on her rescue reserve to keep fed and watered.
All of them hauled water and food twice a day trying to keep their animals alive, and of course checking on neighbors toughing it out at home. They were without electricity for 5 days. And without any heat, so many water pipes burst in walls and out to their wells. My son had to replace long lines of water pipes from their well to their house, under their house and in one wall.
All because we weren’t allowed to keep our oil and gas powerplants – at LEAST for emergencies.
I’ll never EVER forgive them.
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