February 2023 breakroom reboot
 

Hi gang! in an attempt to revitalize the old break room, I thought I'd take a poke at a restart. The last time a breakroom was started was August of 2020. So, fire hosed the place down, sanitized the counter and tables, and put some coffee on. Sorry if it tastes funny. It was from a can I found under the counter. I put up a Help Wanted, Dragon sign. No resumes yet. Got some new chairs on order to. As for me. I've been back to work for a year this month after an almost 2-year unemployment/retirement. Curious thing about the job. It's the same job, in the same office, working with the same people. The only difference is it's for a different company now with different airplanes. Pay is better, benefits not so much. Days are starting to get longer here but winter is still intrenched. Had to get a tracked skid steer out here again to move piles of snow. Having septic tank problems again after the last earthquake. Looks like I will be digging up the line to the tank and find where it broke this spring. Good thing I know how to operate an excavator. Wife is still ticking. Good thing because I'm not. Got a different cat after the last one passed almost 3 years ago. Mr Morris, a big old grouchy orange tabby with no teeth. Trucks are still a work in progress.

Holy Bat Guano, Batman !

A breakroom ? Gee willakers, paw ! Haven't seen one of these around these parts since Maw made pucktaters and squirrel stew at the old homestead.:cowboy:

Good to hear you're wife is still tickling people. Must get crazy listening to all that giggling and laughter all the time.

Sad about your cat. Glad you got a new one. Orange cats are pretty awesome, as everyone we ever had with us made sure his attitude (or should I say Cattitude) was well known. Angry cat who's mad that you locked him out of the kitchen with the sliding 15 lite door who would purposely poop outside the door while staring at you, made sure you paid particular attention to him when he demanded. Yeah, he was a bottle of fun. :rolleyes:

YUK ! This coffee sucks ! Tastes like Chester's back at the office. Doc will be by soon, so he'll drink it, the cheapskate he is. Miss Kitty may swing by later. We'll have a real party.

RIght now, I'm off to find Wild Billy Kunklemarketfunklefingermackdoodle. He's been stealing horses again, and I gotta bringRin.

Later pops.

T. Dillon

Gee willikins, a new breakroom, what next? Yuh dun gud! Cougar, if you are going to do this again, please dig a bit deeper and maybe see if you can find some of Bob's phoo. It tastes a heck of a lot better than this swill you made and have the nerve to call coffee. NO, am not volunteering to make fresh coffee either.

Glad to hear that things are working out for you. Too bad about Morris, but unfortunately that is called life. Your job situation reminds me of a young guy I trained. He was working for Bombardier and they laid him off because he was earning too much. He was immediately hired by a contracting company who put him to work doing the exact same job for the same company. He now gets even more money as a contractor and works from home. The company was trying to save money and cutting back, but how does this make sense? HR in corporations sometimes make head scratching decisions.

My aviation days are finished. Now fully retired and spending most of my time working on my property and off grid cottage in the middle of nowhere, up in the mountains of central Mexico. Learning to do carpentry work and to be a farmer. A few decades ago used to work with Boeing on the 747 in Everett and see that the last one was just delivered. Am proud to have been part of that amazing history.

Okay you babies. Brought in some of my personal coffee stash and made a fresh pot after scraping what was left of the old one out of the pot. Not hair curling strong (for those of you who still have hair), but very flavorful. Also put out on the counter some of the old shrew's, I mean the old lady's Alaska famous banana berry bread. Enjoy. Still cleaning around here, maybe I'll find Bob's phoo 4U. Found some desiccated possum remains. Looked kind of artistic in a way. I'm kinda retired in the sense that I no longer turn wrenches but work in maintenance control. A high stress thankless job. Yah, orange cats are their own animals and Mr Morris is no exception. He likes to play rough and expects you to play rough back. Pretty soon he's purring up a storm and settles down. Glad he has no teeth. Work on the house continues. Replaced the shower head last night. Found it easier while I was in the shower. Water spraying everywhere and all. Snow the next few days so my plans for today are on hold till my next weekend which is mid week. 4 day 10 hour shift like before. Been replacing my corded and gas power tools with battery powered where practical. Less stress on the wrest and back. Getting Dewalt stuff, mainly because it's what we got round here without mail ordering. What's your favorite?

I still have hair! Coffee is a huge improvement on that stuff that yesterday was mistakenly labelled as 'coffee'. Banana berry bread ... :)

Also replacing my corded tools with cordless. All mine are the 18 volt Milwaukee. The 20 volt Dewalt are similar. Both very good, powerful and long lasting.

Since I've always owned Makita stuff, and I've had great success with durability and reliability with them, I've stuck with the brand. When you have seventeen 5.0amp hr batteries for one brand, it doesn't make sense to start buying another brand unless you don't have much choice. What sold me on makita was, years ago, I was up on a roof. Put my screwgun down, and it made a run for it. Flew off the roof, landed some 15 feet down, bounced up about 4 ft, and landed back down on the concrete. Scuffed up, but still worked just fine for years afterwards. Powers flashlights, tools, radio, hedge trimmer, blower, etc, so doesn't make sense to switch now. Batteries last forever, minus the few I broke the yellow connector tabs on by piling the batteries on top of one another in a carry bag.
Best thing I ever did was to install a laser pointer on my P365. Since I have it on me 24/7, the cat I have loves to follow me around and demand that we play "chase the red dot", all over the house. It's really great when the little bugger is hiding, and we want to leave the house to go somewhere, and the wife won't walk out the door unless she knows exactly where everyone is, and that they're safe, and not stuck somewhere. Paranoid lovely woman never gonna change after 35 years of sharing life with her. I just rack it, and he comes a running after the laser, no matter where he was hiding at.

Well, it must be the possum you found that smells, considering you're all showered up. Thanks for the vittles, paw. Off to put my front driveshaft back in my brick, just in case any Chemically nucleated “four letter word" events happen here for plowing.

Thanks for the Banana Berry bread. Never had that before. Dropped a bag of florida Navel oranges I picked up at the local grocery overpriced store yesterday.

8:30 AM and lunch time for me. Half my day is done. Typical Saturday morning, no surprises save 1, a charter. Snowing off and on. A couple inches on top of a layer of ice makes for fun driving. Not too bad because the hours I drive no one is out there except the mooses. Or is that mice. Mr Morris loves the laser pointer too. He suffers from post traumatic abandonment disorder. We are his fifth guardian. Not sure why the others unloaded him other than maybe they where afraid of him. He is rather cranky. He has panic attacks when I leave the house. Not so much with the wife. If he's not right next to me, he stays in line of site. Back to the grind stone.

Separation anxiety in cats ? Wow ! Never realized.

I've had plenty of dogs like that. My current beagle, Chuckles, is that way. He freaks out when you come back, even if you just left for a minute or two. I guess he has no sense of time. His Biological brother, Lenny helps with this a lot, as they're so much alike. Lenny is his 'zen', when he's the "zing zang". We had Lenny first, then Chuckles came along after he was dumped by his "new parents".

His last owners turned him in as well, after the previous left him for dead. Imagine two years in someone's home, and they dumped him again, after the horrible time previous. Then we adoped him, and realized he had behavior issues related to "being an excited dog". Since we're familiar with this issue, is hasn't been terrible to correct. He's much better now he's been with us a couple years, but boy oh boy, take his harness and chain out? Crazy dog appears. He's soooooo happy to go for a ride, he just can't control himself. Love him anyway.

Great you have a cat that loves you. If you want to help him with the anxiety issue, get him another friend. Cat, dog, rat, pet chicken. Whatever works. Seems the more friends they have, the less you become their focal point.

Once they're ours, they're ours till they pass. I can't give them back, or up, other than to god.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.die...226c7e6430.jpg

Wow a DTR break room!
Cool, or if you are in my neck of the woods, cold. I am hearing several reports of -25F or a bit colder last night. We had -22F when I checked this morning.

Off to stove up the wood boiler with the dogs.

Ha ha ! you want cold ?

Watch this report on why its cold. Better yet, don't watch, as it's too much for most to comprehend what's really going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6jgOfPUfJk&feature=youtu.be

Morning everyone. All alone in the building today. Don't mind it at all. I get to listen to my mushroom music (as some call it) uninterrupted. Snow let up and temperature dropped (yes dropped Olly) to 12°. Mr Morris hates other animals. Wish he didn't. There are some feral strays around here I'd like to give a home. Sometimes I can trap the kittens and find them homes through the cat rescue places like the one we got Mr M from. No one passed on his history but he is a cat with PTSD. NJT, I've had a number of different brands over the years including Makita, Mitsubishi, Black and Decker, plus early Dewalts. My current Dewalt replaced a Makita after I got tired of replacing batteries all the time. Got an assortment of batteries and chargers for the different tools I've acquired from drill to chainsaw. Fresh coffee and a fruit plate on the counter. Enjoy!

Funny, my Makita batteries seem to never die. Go figure.

We've successfully introduced animals dozens of times over the decades. It's a long, arduous process, sometimes, but worth the effort.

With cats, particularly, we separate them for a period of time until they finally figure things out. Best is the newcomer in a room with ample space beneath the door, so they can interact without damaging each other. Eventually the invaders become a curiosity for the old timers, and they start to play under the door through that space. Placing catnip and treats at the door helps with the socialization process, and makes for fat, happy cats. Again, every single time we've done this, eventually they come around, and we can sparingly open the door, eventually keeping it open forever. If you have a very problematic original cat, place a litter box near the door, or nearby, as they can be very spiteful bastards sometimes, specifically males. Keep that box SPOTLESS, and kept clean of cat excretions, as that box is their outlet for their frustrations.

(Don't ask how I know about the angry cat syndrome)

When wife's mom passed, we took her 5 cats. That process was how we did the introduction, and today, they're all buddies. Most have passed away, naturally, but all were tolerant of each other during their lives, after the separation time. Sometimes separation is short lived, other times, it's months or even a year or more. Eventually, they all give in to the curiosity of "who's on the other side, and why is daddy and mommy in there with them?".

I made up a batch of scrambled eggs for everyone to get heart attacks from. Added 4 lbs of smoked bacon for those who's death wish is required to be tasty, yummy and enjoyable.

That's what I have for breakfast every day. Doc say I'll die from homelyness before anything else. Long morning, lots of parts issues. They need it yesterday, but tell me about it now kind of thing. Still waiting on our 5" of snow. Did get a whole lot of used drifted several feet worth. Made getting to work interesting trying to dodge stuck vehicles and the 3:30 AM bar flies in town.

[QUOTE=cougar;3383462]That's what I have for breakfast every day. /QUOTE]

Cougar, you eat 4 lbs of smoked bacon every day? [eyecrazy] [whistle]

Left a bunch of red and green tamales on the table for you hungry folk. They have a variety of fillings Also a few sweet tamales. If you do not know what a tamale is, read this:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-tamales-3029232

Yummy. My mom use to make them. My wife can't quite get it right. Wife is really good at stuffed chilies though. 15°, got that 5" of snow overnight. Supposed to get another dose tomorrow. In the bed of my other truck is a new snowplow in a crate. Brought it home and got freezing rain that night. It's still froze to the bed. Strong coffee from a local roaster in the pot. Off to dig out and figure out what to do today.