Heat wave

Getting hot here, will be interesting to see how hot the attic space gets and how much the central air runs, know my electric bill is lower than past summers here and house more comfortable and much quieter. Loads of work to do still here but hope to make some progress again this summer, despite a very tight budget. Shipping cookies and socks off to Jake today, and it's Library day for me also, suppose that means I should wash the dishes before I leave. Work is ok, the issue about overtime is still not resolved, lead is still playing favorites but have lived through that before and will again. Production gets their bonus next week, we do not as hourly management does not get bonus. Have most the plums off the trees and am just starting to have Japanese beetles, hope to spray a lot and not have so much damage from them this year. Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl is started and so far ok, plan is for it to be a Christmas gift so want it to turn out nice. Well, need to find food, pack Jake's box and wash those dishes, will need those cookie sheets again soon.

Summer Solstice and rains

Yesterday was the summer solstice and I am in a knit a long for a mystery shawl, so got the first clue yesterday and hope to cast it on today.  The yarn is Heritage Silk sock yarn in a dark blue teal and I bought 2 skeins as I don't want a tiny shawlette thing, I want something bigger and hope to use it for a Christmas gift this year so need to get it done.
We had a great rain Saturday night, and I had the mowing done, I mowed yesterday again, already and it looks like it might rain today.  But I am watering and do have green grass and most of my plants look ok.
the plum trees are loaded and ripe and I hope I have people coming this weekend to pick them.  The ground doesn't need them, I can't use them and I sure do not need people on the property to damage my trees.

The latest utility bill came yesterday, still lower than past summers, the house is more comfortable and I have gained the attic space, which is often hot now but it's still very rough.  Walls and ceiling covered with paneling would help with that heat issue and I hope to budget some of that later this summer.

The debt load is going down a little at a time and I will owe less than 1/3 of the total cost of the new iPad Friday, and I really love having it.and use it alot.  But I did finally find a way to use my Thrive tablet, I downloaded an alarm clock app and now have it set up so I can use it that way, would like a clock app that would keep the screen on all the time but at least this is using a device I paid a lot of money for last year and managed to crack the screen in a corner this winter, with it in a case.

It slid off the sofa upstairs onto the floor, with that corner hitting the floor, just a freak accident that normally would not have caused any damage, but if I didn't have a screen protector on, the damage would be worse, LOL, the screen protector is holding the broken piece and chips together.

And that is why I was quite willing to pay $100 for the AppleCare+ for the new iPad.  And it has a padded case but I am also being a bit more careful about the iPad than I was the Thrive, just figured it was safe from most damage with that case I had it in.

Work is going ok, Barb and Ana are working hard and fast, what a change and I have no idea why but doubt if it will last.  I do expect management to require that the late punch in on our shift to be rotated and the overtime to be better offered equitably.

Some overtime would help me pay down the debt load faster and give me a bit of slack.  I'm doing ok, I managed to afford the yarn for the knit a long and I could afford the parts I just ordered for the bike. The property taxes are paid for the year, the city utility bill is paid, the next house payment will be made tomorrow and I will pay on that iPad debt, next week will be the phone bill and on some of the blasted credit debt.  

It's a stable life, and I am making it work one day at a time, limiting the amount of pain reliever I am taking, doing what I can to take care of this old body as best I can, and knowing my limits when it comes to what I can do and what I can't keep up with.

Still date that Larry guy, and still tr to balance my needs and what I want to do with time spent with him, some times I would like more of my weekend for just me, the house and things here I want to do, but I work out what works for both of us, he would like me there more and accepts that I do have this house and my job and friends, stuff I want and need to do.

Today is library day and I am taking the laptop and working on adding my cassettes into the music files with the tape player the library has, might bring it home as I can be allowed to check it out.and will take the truck as it looks like a chance of rain.  and I need to get moving.

Time for new photos

There is a mountain of clean laundry on my bed to be taken care of, knitting to work on, kitchen floor needs mopped and instead I am adding photos to my blog.  The laundry and floor can wait a bit. 
Larry and I have gone camping 2 times so far, the first was raining off and on, a quiet trip to 'shake down' our camping, check for any problems with the camper, and make lists of what all we wish we had brought or would want on future camping trips, like a potato peeler and fix the leak at hot water tank. 
The knitting always goes, first trip I was working on some wild socks for Jake, the second trip I don't remember which socks went but I also started knitting a market bag from some crochet thread I bought boxes of at a yard sale.
Cargill work has some issues, the overtime and who is getting most of it, I am dealing with it up the ladder and hope to see it being offered more fairly, which translates in the late come in slot on 2nd shift needs to be available as a weekly rotation as that is where the stable overtime is every week.  It's against company policy if only person holds it and none of the rest of us are given the chance to rotate that late slot.  We do not bid into certain 'jobs' in that 2nd shift frock room and until about a year ago, it was mandatory that the late come in was rotated so the overtime it brings was also shared out more evenly.
Our nights are still cooling down and days under 90 now, we had higher earlier but it didn't last long, good for my electric bill here and the plants outside.  I am working on watering at night after I come home from work as I have new roses to settle in and have all that new grass in the old garden area to keep alive.
And watering means mowing more often.I am not griping as grass sure beats weeds and sand which is the other option, no watering and no ground cover here.
This summer I am doing my first mystery knit a long, a shawl and I have the yarn and needles but need to knit up the gauge swatch,  We get the first of the patten on June 21 so I have some time, and will work on getting progress made on the 2 pair of socks I have going.  1 pair is for Jake and the other is for pal Julie, just did a pair for pal Sharon who might start knitting socks soon, she does knit but has never done socks.
Well, it's time to take the dog out and water a couple plants with plant food, my only tomato is in a planter and needs fed,