Friday Doings

Hello Everyone,

It's looking...again...quite grey outside and the cars are wet.  I know it rained overnight and more is expected today.  But yesterday was nice and I managed to get out a bit - more on that later.

The other day I received a somewhat unsettling e-mail that talked about senior management taking a 90 day pay cut; lay-offs and furloughs to be expected, etc.  Fortunately right after that email came out my boss called me to let me know that I am not impacted by that.  Whew!  I am retirement age, but I am not yet ready to retire.  However, one of my peers is being impacted and now my work has increased in that I will be supporting 3 Division Presidents rather than 2.  That's fine with me, as you all know I haven't been that busy lately!  Plus, the new one - Bruce - and I worked together 20 years ago when I first came to the company.  So, it will be just like the old days...sort of...Anyway, count me as being very relieved.  But I feel so badly for my peer who is a single (widowed) mother with a young son.  My company is still fully operational, but 60% of our parent company's business is shut down now.  That's a lot.  So they are depending on our company for revenue, etc.  Thus the pay cuts, layoffs, etc.

On to nicer things.  I started some new socks!  I know, not really a surprise.  Since the Plaid Blanket socks are for Colin, I decided I should make some for Mailing.  She prefers short socks, so I started a shortie pair.

I'm using size 1 needles and the yarn is an oldie from Knitpicks - Stroll Fingering and the colorway is Koi Pond.  I think I made some fingerless gloves for someone out of this yarn and now I'm using the leftovers.  These should go quickly, though I don't seem to have gotten much done since starting.  The heel has been turned and I'm on the gusset now.

One reason I haven't gotten much done is that yesterday was beautiful!  I worked all morning, taking a 30 minute break to workout with my weights.  After lunch I knew I needed to get out and walk, so I headed over to the towpath in Phoeniville.  The canal is on one side and the Schuylkill River on the other.  There were plenty of people out and about (mostly keeping their distance...the 20+ year olds aren't so cautious).  Some walkers, some joggers, some dog walkers, some bikers.  There were the usual geese and ducks all over the place.

Things are greening up nicely and Forsythia is in bloom everywhere.

There were a few turtles sunbathing.

And I even saw a single kayaker.

Look at that blue, blue sky!  It was still a little on the chilly side and when the wind blew, my ears hurt, my eyes watered and my nose ran.  BUT, it was just so good to get outside for a little bit.

After I had been home for a little while, we decided to do this again.

We shot 3 rounds (9 arrows apiece each round)...so I shot a total of 27 arrows.  I could really feel it across my back (in a good way).  I'm not as shakey doing this as I have been in the past.  I guess the arm exercises I do with my weights are helping me to be a little bit stronger.

Tyg came in with a tick kthe other day, so everyone watch out.  The season is upon us.  I was holding him in my lap last night and saw a tick crawling across my hand.  Luckily Fletch was right there to grab it and flush it down the toilet!  I felt itchy all evening!  LOL.

I have a conference call at 10 and I think a quick run to the grocery store is in order later (we are just about out of fresh produce).  If the weather clears, I'd like to get out for another walk.  We'll see.

Hope you are all hanging in there and doing ok.  Take care!