Home From Work

Yesterday about 10:30 I was sitting in the front room working on some stuff and see Keith coming up the walk home from work. What the heck? Did he get fired? Laid off? Quit in frustration?

No, he just got sent home early because there was nothing for him to do, and his boss also said he could take today off, too. Hopefully he has enough vacation time saved up so that we aren't short on his next paycheck.

So, since he had the rest of the day off yesterday he drove up into the mountains to the cement plant that is hiring to fill out an application. Our neighbor just started work there and the pay and benefits are good. But. It took an hour for him to drive up there and an hour back. And it started to snow while he was up there. It's considered in the little town of Lebec, but to actually get to the place you have to go past Gorman and take the always empty freeway that heads toward Palmdale and then get off that freeway onto a gravely muddy road that goes to the plant. After considering the long long drive and how much gas it would cost to get up there 5 days a week, and the long long drive, he thinks that if they call he'll have to pass this one by. Our neighbor doesn't mind it yet because he was used to driving long hours to get to all of the temp jobs that he's been doing while looking for full time. We kind of have a feeling that he will get a little burned out after 6 months or so of driving so far, but he's about 20 years younger than Keith and doesn't mind driving an hour, working 10 or 12, then driving another hour to get back home. Yet.

So, it's always weird when he is home during the week and it kind of throws me off of what little schedule I have. I did get the vacuuming done, laundry done, trip to Target for cat litter done, trip to the grocery store for potatoes and eggs for the mashed potatoes and deviled eggs we are bringing for Christmas done, and we are thinking about going to see a movie with our free passes (thanks, Jennifer) that we have been hanging onto for just the right movie to see.

But, right now he is taking one of the many stray cats to the pound. We've seen this poor extremely skinny little black cat around looking for food and were able to trap it this morning. I think there is something wrong with the cat because it just doesn't look halfway healthy like the other strays, way too skinny and almost skeletal. We feel bad taking cats to the pound, but we have so many strays running around, strays that will just keep reproducing and adding to the problem. Next up is Stumpy, but he is a little smarter about going near the trap. I think he's got some infection going on in what's left of his tail, it's even more gross looking these days.

So, that's what's up with us on Keith's unexpected extra day off. He goes back in tomorrow but thinks he will get off early again, then gets a long weekend.