pens--- are a problem--they walk...
the best buy i ever had on pens was on ebay 1000 pens for $40+$20 shipping.. nice pens if you didn't mind they were stamped with Mikes Funeral home... or some such.... which for 6 cents each... i could overlook...
.problem is... there are none at my desk-- they are in a big box on the floor in the overflow room and when i am on my hands and knees on the floor in the overflow room, i don't need a pen.
it is a case of the leak in the roof-- which you can't fix in the rain - and when it is not raining, it is not leaking.
****
my basic life plan is to find a need and fill it-- which is how i delivered magaines for 30 years and picked up mouse poop for the same 30 years as "animal episodes"---in the meantime..... i discovered these pens had a very commercial value---
almost any doctors office-- and many besides- the receptionist tries to hold on to one pen, while the doctors or nurses borrow the pen and promise to return it.... and they don't... i discovered that if i had a shoe box full of these pens and gave them to the receptionist she would think kindly of me ( and often let me jump the queue in a waiting room full of waiting people)-- her desk would be filled with chocolates,which she did not need... she needed pens...
***
i am bad...... when the kids were small and we had to go to the doctor's office, i would hand janine a coffee can and tell her to pretend to throw up. that gets any nurse or receptionist's attention...
i have not figured out how to get around the modern equivilent-- the hold button...
*************
the next somewhat delicate topic is my memory-- or lack thereof... 100 years ago when i was into programming computers, there was an unwritten law that unless a person made eye contact, you did not speak to them. i need a sign behind me that illustrates that rule... problem is when i am concentrating on a bunch of numbers, or contracts or tanning booths for the irs and someone comes behind me and asks "is it raining?" my concentration is gone and i have to start all over again at the beginning....in many cases i can't even remember what the beginning was..... it is maddening--
the only time it is worse is if i am trying to train a dog and get their concentration-- and someone interupts with "i just want to empty the scrapbaskets" - granted someone is just trying to be helpful and empty the scrap baskets, but to have the dog suddenly be more interested in scrap baskets than ... say .. picking up a basket....could mean i have missed an opportunity of lifetime with that dog...
there are times when i am sitting around doing nothing-- and i may be.... but i could be thinking-- i think the rule should hold true then too... if i don't make eye contact..... do not disturb-- it is very difficult having my desk in the main line of fire here-- but it has to be... someone put a red light above my desk about a year ago... but i forget to turn it on....
...This has happened--- i am typing... trying to get an assignment done for explore- and someone stuck their finger on the screen and told me i had a typo---- the concept was .. gone.
after about a year, i got the CP's trained.... if the barn is on fire , call me, but don't call and tell me a bird is in the barn. i don't mean to hurt anyones feelings-- but the frustration is great-- i need a sign...
*************
this place does not smell like puppy poo.... as one would expect-- but it sure smells like adult generic dog... maybe with a little of baliey's abcess thrown in... with bailey on one side and chaos on the other, i think we need to put some of the wqterless shampoo to good use... opal is no gem either... they wwere not in here when it was only puppies... but i can smell them now..
***
in that same vein..... we have a perfectly good place to wash dogs inside in the laundry building... a good size stall shower-- all tiled etc.... been ther for years.... problem being-- and i don't know how or when this happened... but the drain goes no where except straight into the hole where the pipes come in so if you shower,, the hole just fills and drains--been working fine for 20 years because it does not get much use....... --- i hope to get thatt fixed before winter... i we need to wash a dog now and then.... the waterless is great... but we are talking chaos size odor...
******
the other problem of the day is to get the tractor to ayer for the new doors... which are now in--- i wonder if uhaul has car trailers??
winter approacheth-- and the tractor has a wonderful heater -- but not with both doors gone.