Snakes in the Grass

I had an interesting evening. Worked till six. Stopped by Baskin Robbins on the way home.

Then the library. Picked out four books, including The Nightingale. Went to check out. There was a young twenty-something librarian, more of the librarian type than millennial, but still millennial. She was doing something, and didn't ask for my library card. Instead she asked if I knew my password. Then I figured out that she wanted my to use the self-checkout. Well if she didn't want to check me out, I'd just go check myself out. I was making progress checking out when the older librarian, who had seen how I was treated, came over to help. I made a joke, pointing to the book I was checking out titled "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

Ceil wanted me to pick up a couple of things at Kroger, so that was the next stop. Supper was chicken tenders, baked potato pieces, steamed broccoli, and tossed salad.

We finished up just before 8 pm. Only then did I go outside to cut the grass. Our front yard has tall trees on three sides, so the yard was already in shadow. As usual I started on the outside and cut in squares, moving slowly toward the middle. I was about three quarters finished when I realized I had run over a decent sized snake. It was getting dark but I could see the markings - possible a 12-18" copperhead. I make sure the lawnmower cut it up. I saw part of the snake get slung into the uncut grass, and a middle section two to three inches long in the already cut grass - but I never found the rest of the snake. I was careful cutting the rest of the yard. When I first ran over the snake I had squealed. Later I moved over to the side yard and saw the neighbor boy shooting baskets. I was going to tell him why I had squealed, then noticed he was wearing earphones. He hadn't heard anything.

It was almost nine by the time I got inside. Ceil was watching a series on Amazon prime TV that we've gotten interested in, starring the guy who had played Monk.

Crazy morning this morning fighting several battles. A series of errors needed to be fixed: the mill had shipped the wrong size. Another mill was supposed to ship but no action for a week. The bad material hadn't been moved out, so we didn't realize today's shipment didn't deliver. I had to line up a truck to pick up in Michigan. The truck was willing but the mill couldn't fit me in until tonight, so instead of receiving the material at mid-day tomorrow it would be the next morning.

And that was just one of the battles. I'm out of about ten different sizes, my customer is buying more and more, I can't ship rail and trucks can't be found - yet Purchasing wants me to not bring in more.

Yesterday the Pittsburgh Pirates were flying to their next game. The entire team was dressed from head to toe in NBA jerseys, shorts, and sneakers.