back to work

First week on the new job is nearly over. Yesterday I was so sore I could barely move; today it's pretty much worked its way out. Four months of mostly sitting on my ass at the computer (or in the hammock, or in the "chairtrap," watching movies) makes for sore legs, arms, back when I get back to spending eight hours a day on my feet & climbing around on scaffolding. But, as I said, it's working its way out. I am getting to sleep easier, too. Though the alarm wakes me at four ayem now, the first couple of nights it was hard work to get to sleep before ten (and I'm used to staying up past midnight), but that's a must when I have to be on the road by five. It's already routine to get to bed by eight and read no later than nine.

Lunches so far are sandwiches, brought from home. Eventually we'll have a fridge and microwave in the break trailer, but that's up to the local hands (or the contractor) to supply, not a "traveler" like me. When we do have a fridge I'll start bringing a salad for one break (can then keep a bottle of dressing cold), and leftovers of whatever we'd had for dinner that week, for lunch. But so far I'm okay with sandwiches. We only have two breaks on an eight-hour day: 9:30 to 9:45 and 12 to 12:30. I eat fast, then knit. I'm working on a pair of white socks for th'Mr. I hope they come clean ;) because no matter how carefully I wash my hands before break, the white yarn has become the grey of flyash.

Had car woes this week; Moby Dodge is getting terrible mileage and getting worse: Sunday we filled it up, to the tune of $59. (Remember, I'm driving right at 200 miles a day, round trip) Monday after work I put in $48 in gas and two quarts of oil. Tuesday after work I put in $48 in gas and three quarts of oil, went home and whined about it. We went looking at the used car lots, but of course the only one that was open that late had nothing under $6k on the lot. I'm thinking more along the line of $2k total, $500 down and $100/wk payments. Drove Moby Dodge once again Wednesday, came straight home (it's a 30 gallon tank, $50 fills half of it these days) and th'neighbor had begun work on Astro Van. Today I drove Astro (with a new starter --$100-- and a 3-gallon kitty litter pail of water for the leaky radiator) and was pleased to only put $28 worth of gas in it this afternoon. I only wish the headlights were better.

Today when I got home th'Mr said my cats (*my* cats) had killed two birds today, a cardinal and a titmouse. Bad kitties. Raleigh and Winston have been taking turns seeing me off in the mornings; there's been one of them across the road from our mailbox when I go by, three days running.

th'Mr finally went to the VA Tuesday, about the chest pain he's had at least a month. His doctors in Maysville said there's nothing wrong with his chest (meaning the heart surgery), but they didn't look as closely as the VA doctors did: he has pneumonia! He had a pneumonia shot in January, so it's not as bad as it could be; he's on pills for five days then goes back to the VA.

I have too much to do in too little time (an hour to bedtime now), so I'm going to cut this short now.