Bright Spot on a Dreary Day

It's another chilly dreary day here in the upper Midwest.  It's probably in the mid-20s but it's breezy and the humidity's high enough to send the chill right into your bones.  The only bright thing I saw outside today was this cardinal that came to the feeder and chased off any other bird that wanted to share his lunch.  I guess that means everyone's in a crap mood in February.

I had kind of a busy day at work yesterday which is a good thing.  People bought things, an old neighbor came in for some silicone for her mother-in-law's CPAP (they use it to help the mask or nose piece fit more comfortably, silicone softens it), and another guy came in and stayed to chat for a few minutes.  I love talking to divers about places they've been and dives they've done.  I got pool sessions arranged for a woman and her son who are leaving on the 22nd which is a pretty narrow window of time, and I did not say "well, thank god, you didn't leave it until the last minute."  Which is always my first thought when people call so near to their vacation, and I must confess there's not a lot of barriers between my brain and my lips so too often thoughts blurt right out.  Oops.

A big part of my day was taken up with trying to find out if we (by "we" I mean Mr. Boss who is our tech whiz) could pump up a huge tank, 440 cubic foot like our bank tanks, to 6000 psi for a testing lab guy in Milwaukee.  We can't, we can get close but not with that short notice, and evidently neither can any other dive shops around, but the cool thing is he needed it pumped up so he could do a "shot test."  That means he needs to shoot it with a gun.  He said he gets to do a bonfire test and a couple other catastrophic failure kinds of things. Just like the Mythbusters.  Too cool.  Too bad we couldn't help him but it'd take too long to readjust the compressors, fill the big tank, and set the gauges back to where we need them to be, way too long for a single tank, and it'd be very expensive in terms of man hours.

I got a few rounds done on my knitting in the afternoon and after supper.  I'm hoping to get this done by the weekend so I can do something else next week when I'm OFF WORK THE WHOLE WEEK.  Ahem, excuse me, I didn't mean to shout but I am so looking forward to not hearing the alarm clock and not having to drive away for a few days, just spend time fondling my yarn and fabric stashes, sewing and knitting and doing whatever I want to do.  Ahh.

February 10--Lighthouse.  Kate loved living in the old lighthouse keeper's house.  Even when the foghorn sounded all night like it had last night she still couldn't imagine living anywhere else.  This morning the sun shone bright and a fresh wind brought the smell of salt and the sound of waves pounding the rocks down the bluff.  She picked her way down the spray-slick rock path to see what new treasures had washed ashore.  Some days all she found was snarls of fishing line or a single boot.  On lucky days she found sea glass or driftwood that looked like birds.  Today the beach teemed with small crabs scuttling in and out of clumps of seaweed strung like bunting along the shore.  Kate walked along intent on finding things she could use in her collages when she almost stepped on a hand lying white and still, jutting out of a yellow storm coat sleeve that held the rest of the body.  She held her breath as she bent down to check for a pulse.  There was one, slow and steady, so she dared to look at the face of the man lying there tangled in fishing line and seaweed like an unintended catch.

Okay, that's enough blabbering for one day.  I hope it's warm and sunny, or at the very least sunny where you are.
--Barbara