Exhausted

Well, the last couple of days have been exhausting at the railway. We are now using the new software, and it works fine. But much of yesterday we kept finding the gaps -- something we could only do by actually using it -- and figuring out how to fill them in. Today Roberta had her first day using it, which meant I got to try to work my station and help her along in the middle of some other chaos (don't ask) that was going on practically on top of her.

Well, okay, I'll tell you. The powers that be decided that today -- Day Two of the new software and Roberta's first day with it -- was the perfect day to start running two trains and work out all the kinks in that system as they went along. The radio conversations -- which were sometimes a bit heated -- were all being done from a microphone right beside Roberta's workstation. So we were trying to wait on people, do a bit of training, troubleshoot the occasional problem and ignore the shouts in the background. And this was all on the busiest day of the year so far.

Somehow we have all survived, and I think with each passing day things will improve.

At least, I can hope so.

Rabbit and ribbit

This morning Sundance came crying into my bedroom, hopped in bed and demanded attention. She was covered with dew, so I assumed she had been out hunting. She jumped off the bed and ran into the living room, then came back and started on me again. I finally surrendered.

The take this morning was another bunny (dead) and a frog (live). Tom disposed of the bunny while I put the frog out onto the deck. This time only the frog hopped away.

Flip flop

This evening when I got home, I turned on my computer and waited for it to load. I kept hearing a popping sort of noise, but the cats didn't seem to be up to anything. A few minutes later, I decided to look under the bookcase. Helen had told me the last time they found a headless bunny, the head showed up sometime later under a bookcase.

I did not find the head, but I did find another bunny. This one was alive but had gotten itself stuck in one of the sticky traps for the mice. I put on gloves, picked it up -- have you ever heard a small rabbit cry? -- and took it outside. Surprisingly, I was able to get it disentangled from the trap. It sat for about half a minute in the rocks out front by the door and then hopped away.

Not carrying a basket of Easter eggs, but I think it was happy.

At least it wasn't a snake.

Cats!

Flowers and such

This is what I see when I look out my window in the morning -- a patch of blackeyed Susans. Because my side of the wildflower garden is more sheltered and shaded, the flowers do not bloom as soon and they do not grow as tall. One happy result is that the flowers do not get as beat up by the wind and rain.

Tom scattered wildflower seeds when we first moved up here, and each year has brought a different look to those areas. This year the Susans really came into their own. Other flowers bloomed first, and we had an early wave of pink and purple, then a lot of blue, but now the predominant color is yellow, mixed with some whites.

On the other wildlife front, yesterday afternoon during a thunderstorm, a single turkey ran through the backyard like she was heading for shelter somewhere down the ridge.

Wooly wooly

Common mullein, also known as wooly mullein, is an erect herb. First year mullein plants are low-growing rosettes of bluish gray-green, feltlike leaves that range from 4-12 inches in length and 1-5 inches in width. Mature flowering plants are produced the second year, and grow to 5 to 10 feet in height, including the conspicuous flowering stalk. The five-petaled yellow flowers are arranged in a leafy spike and bloom a few at a time from June-August. Leaves alternate along the flowering stalks and are much larger toward the base of the plant. The tiny seeds are pitted and rough with wavy ridges and deep grooves and can germinate after lying dormant in the soil for several decades.

A couple of these things popped up in the area between the front yard proper and the woods. Tom was fascinated by them -- they are huge, five to six feet high. Today I decided to try to identify them online, and this is it. The bad news is they will drive everything else out, so Tom just headed down to chop them down. I think he said something about taking his chainsaw, but I don't think they have gotten quite that big yet ...

Installation

Today we tried to work while a new computer system was being installed that will change the way we sell things and presumably (I'm hopeful but cautious) will speed things up and ease things along. It was more than a little crowded and chaotic, and during most of the day I was trying to do four things at once. I was totally ready to go home at 5:00. Tomorrow I am off work, but I have to go in from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for training on the new system. I shouldn't complain. Tom was conductoring today, but he had to go in early to help move some things around for the computer installation. So he was there from about 7:00 a.m. until 5:45 or so. And he's an unpaid volunteer!

I may just sleep a big chunk of Wednesday. I'm the lucky one, though. Roberta, Ann and Mary have to work all day and then stay for the training afterwards.

When I went into the living room this morning, there was a headless baby bunny lying on the carpet. Oh, and one ear.

Sundance's eye looks fine today. Cats!

More Dells-Delton social life

Rich is in Canada working for a couple of months, so Tom invited Peggy over for dinner tonight. He got some ribs from Wal-Mart -- precooked -- and gussied them up with more barbecue sauce and heated them on the grill. They were scrumptious and messy, as befits BBQ ribs, I suppose. We had deli cole slaw and potato salad, and Peggy brought over half of a lemon pound cake she had baked. She said it was more like a two-and-a-half pound cake, and I admit it was pretty dense, though tasty.

She also brought over some lilacs for Tom to plant somewhere. He decided there are too many skeeters out for him to fool with it tonight.

So now we can settle down to watch two episodes of The Big Bang Theory and try to digest dinner.