Life at the ranch

(As in, "meanwhile back at the ranch...")

Well, the good news is, for the next couple of weeks I'll be commenting on your blogs a lot sooner....

Yep, laid off until the week of the 8th, and possibly again thereafter.  It seems our one customer (at least in the opinion of one co-worker) is paying their karmic debt for being bossy to their vendors by having several of their most important parts run out at the same time, right in the middle of their big move to another location.  So, while they were glad-handing the mayor and governor over a move that will lead to "200 new jobs", they were actually laying people off- and so, now us as well.  Quite frankly, if I don't stop "borrowing to pay Paul" soon, Peter's gonna kick both our butts!

But there IS legitimate good news- I GOT MY ARTWORK!!!

And, my dear Mynx, this is mounted beside the front door.  I can take a break from watching TV and look over and pretend I was there.  Tres Cool!


Excuse my questionable photography.  I couldn't quite clean the flash glare all off, it looks much better in real life.

Speaking of questionable photography...this is from a few days ago.

Looks more like an ancient lava flow than a fungi...

And guess what happens just as we get to the bridge?

Yep- she comes wandering out!

And Scrappy actually sees her for a change!

We haven't been so lucky since then.  In fact, we took our walk today at 7 AM because it's supposed to get into the 90s ( Celsius translation:  Screw the Barbie, I'm staying in the AC!) today.  Saw one chipmunk.

And then- after catching up on the world- I popped in on the Aussie hockey scores, thinking to myself, if Adelaide gets beat this weekend, we might as well bag the season.  But it could be worse- I could be rooting for Canberra.

Then I saw the scores.  When you're right...

Melbourne's Mustangs were playing Canberra today.  Despite Melbourne's 22-7 first-period shot advantage, it took 18:51 before anyone scored- and that was Canberra, short handed at that.  The 'Stangs tied it 11 seconds later, and you think, here we go.

In the second period, despite Melbourne having a 14-7 shot advantage, it was 18:17 seconds before they scored, to make it 2-1.

But oh, the third period...The 'Stangs scored EIGHT third period goals, out shot them 24-7 (for a total of 60-21) and won the game 10-1.  Their losing streak is now eight games, in which they have been outscored 62-12.  Adelaide, however, did manage to win, so at least I can hold off on their early post-mortem.


Hey, here's one to laugh at, from FoxNews:

 With a little more than two weeks to go before their wedding, Emily Dreyfuss' fiance ordered a tie and pocket square from Gap chain Banana Republic's website to go with his Navy blue suit.
What the couple got in the mail instead on Thursday would make an identity thief giddy: the confidential files of about 20 former employees, including Social Security numbers and W4 tax forms.
"We totally laughed," Dreyfuss, 29, said on Friday from her home in Cambridge, Mass.
She had misgivings about the package as soon as it arrived. It was really heavy and didn't say Banana Republic, but Gap Inc.
She and her fiancee have been buying each other presents, and she thought it may have been a really heavy piece of clothing with catalogs, said Dreyfuss, the daughter of actor Richard Dreyfuss.
Inside were three folders sealed with tape and labeled "HR Administration." They contained tax and Social Security information as well as handwritten resignation letters, doctors' notes and salary information -- seemingly the employees' entire record at the company...

San Francisco-based Gap Inc. blamed the mix-up on a human mistake.
"We're taking immediate action to evaluate and strengthen our processes to prevent mis-mailings in the future and apologize for the error," spokeswoman Edie Kissko said in a statement.
Dreyfuss said a Banana Republic representative has since responded to a tweet about the mix-up and apologized. Dreyfuss was told clothing and employee information is sent out in the same type of gray plastic bag, and the two packages appear to have been mislabeled. It wasn't clear how that happened. The representative told Dreyfuss the store would look into what went wrong and inform the affected employees.
The company is sending her a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return the information.


Apparently, they also offered to send them the actual order gratis, but the Dreyfusses (Dreyffi?) declined.

And remember me pimping Nain's work as a court reporter?  Here's another good one from her.

Two Columbus men were held on Monday, June 17, 2013, for an incident occurring over the weekend in Franklin, Indiana. Both men were arrested after they reportedly tried to dig in a Franklin woman’s yard. Charges are pending.
Todd A. Heagy, 35, and Benjamin Perry, 31, were arrested after they went to a home on Highland Avenue. Perry told the resident he wanted to dig up his dead dog allegedly buried in her backyard. The woman insisted they not dig up her yard, but despite her requests, the men continued on their mission. The woman contacted the police, informing them that she did not know the men.

When police arrived, both men began to argue with the officers. A struggle followed, and both men were arrested. At the time of the arrest, the report states that both men had been drinking.

No hearings are currently set regarding this matter, however, both men have a criminal history with prior convictions and arrests.

My only suggestion for this one is she should have titled it, Drunken Dog Diggers Detained.

Well, that's it for now- but it is only 9:36...