Final Full Time Shift
Monday, June 5th, 2023 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio79F and sunny today, with cottonwood fluff sailing through the air like snowflakes in a silent winter storm.
Some more grass seed, and the gras seed spreader were waiting for me on the stoop this morning.
The spreader is hand triggered, but battery powered... and it's good for both seeds, and salt in the winter! I should've bought one of these years ago!
I think dirt would clog it up though.
The dirt patches out back don't look like they'll need much to top them off. So I think I'll just spread seed over them all, and then put a light layer of soil over that with that sifting pan I got weeks ago.
Grass mat will go on the old shed site, with bricks holding it down.
Even with two sprinklers in back, it's gonna be impossible to hit the area north of the back room. So I guess I'll just have to get the other stuff growing as fast as possible, and move over to that area later on in the season.
I also may have a new problem of what to do with the left over topsoil!
------------{=0=}------------
Gingham isn't much further of a drive than to Cloud.
I should leave about 2:15 instead of 2:20.
Not thrilled about going there for eight hours today, but I'll survive.
It also looks like Chantele wants me to stay 3PM to 7PM, but I don't know for sure.
--<>--
12:03AM
Well, I reported to Gingham at 2:25PM, and clocked in with three Mexican women.
Chantele was there, and found us by the time clock. She told us that we weren't needed and to return to our home buildings.
WHEW!
I spoke with her individually and she said for now I should just go to Cloud every day, and the hours should be 1:30PM to 5:30PM.
And she said to set the alarm at 5:30PM before I go.
--<>--
Cloud still had school staff there today, and they still had tons of new garbage for me, but tonight, I managed to get it all out by 7PM.
I spent the second half of the shift vacuuming... which hasn't gotten done since last Wednesday... so that took me all the way until 11:20PM.
What did not get done today were the bathrooms. But mine are all student bathrooms so... they got little to no use today.
------------{=0=}------------
I know they were offering unlimited overtime, and weekend pay to anybody working at Gingham for the big furniture moves, and classroom painting.
So my guess is that by going part time, I made myself completely useless for the Gingham project!
So... it seems to have been an even better move than I originally thought!
But things will likely remain unpredictable through the whole summer, so I will stay part time until school starts again... just to avoid getting stuck anywhere else, doing God knows what, for eight hours.
--<>--
I had been thinking about 12PM to 4PM, but 1:30PM to 5:30PM is just fine!
That means I'm home by 6PM... with a full two and a half hours of daylight to work in the yard every night.
And mowing the entire lawn only takes 90 minutes, so that'll be easily done on a single evening after work, every week!
Certain trees can be cut down, and branches chipped in two hours as well... I imagine.
And I should be shooting to be on my feet by 10AM, so... I can go to bed at 2AM and still get 8 hours of sleep!
--<>--
This really should throw everything outside into much higher gear!
All the projects on the agenda are things that lend themselves more to... a couple hours a day... than to taking an extra day off.
Seeding & watering... mowing... pruning... cutting up a tree...
But also the firepit cap and the new hatch door.
--<>--
The firepit cap's gonna happen in a lot of small stages;
1) cut 1x4s to carefully measured lengths to make a form that clamps around the top, and get that form level.
2) Get castable concrete into the form and wait for it to dry a few days.
3) Carefully figure out the placement of the capstones, using spacers. This step could require drawing pencil lines on the undersides of the corner caps.
4) Carefully stick each capstone down to the concrete with tube mortar, and make sure they're all the same height, and spacing, and level... then wait for that to cure a few days.
5) Carefully trowel white mortar inbetween the capstones, and wait for that to cure.
6) Carefully remove the masking tape.
Almost every step can be done in a couple hours... and then wait a day or two. It doesn't require a 3-day weekend.
--<>--
The same will be true with all the prep for the new hatch door. The only part that has to happen on a weekend is the actual swap-out.
--<>--
The two other projects are the utility space on the hill, and the rock garden.
The utility space takes precedence, because that's where the wood rack will stand.
Kindling, wood chips, and lawn furniture will also be stored there... out in the open.
And I feel like one of the 12V lamps needs to be over there, so I can see what I'm doing late at night, if I'm trying to feed a fire.
And it does look like I'm gonna have a lot of extra topsoil, so... should I use it in the landscaping of that area?
Either way... this is probably more of a, two hours a night, thing, than a, slam it out in a weekend thing.
Same with the rock garden.
--<>--
The math of taking days off will be a double edged knife this summer.
On the one hand... if I take a day off, I'm only taking four hours off. So the PTO I've accrued so far will get me twice as many days off!
On the other hand... I'll only be accruing time off in 4 hour increments through June and July. And I DO need to take several days off in October, for the family reunion and Dad's burial.
I won't gain too many new 8-hour days off through August and September.
So it behooves me to take zero days off, if at all possible, this whole summer.
Though I should probably put in for July 3rd, if we don't have it off automatically... as that's a Monday. Getting a four day weekend for spending only four hours of PTO is a pretty good deal.
I better let Chantele know about that this week!
------------{=0=}------------
The final thing to consider is doing handyman jobs on the side, with this free time, to make extra money.
If I truly am gonna stay at Cloud through all of June and July, then I don't foresee being too exhausted after four hours to go ahead and hit a side job.
And my work phone is still ringing four to five times a day.
If... and it's a big IF... I can make some reliable money doing side jobs, it might make sense to stay part time.
But I'll have to make that call by early August.
Because if I want to stay at Cloud, I'll need to go back to full time in mid August... and I could push that a few weeks into September, but no later.
If I decide to stay part time, I'll be reassigned to some other school.
So we'll just have to see how that plays out this summer, with everything else I've got going on.
--<>--
But with that... and with the moon now safely a waning gibbous... let June 2023 begin in earnest!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Some more grass seed, and the gras seed spreader were waiting for me on the stoop this morning.
The spreader is hand triggered, but battery powered... and it's good for both seeds, and salt in the winter! I should've bought one of these years ago!
I think dirt would clog it up though.
The dirt patches out back don't look like they'll need much to top them off. So I think I'll just spread seed over them all, and then put a light layer of soil over that with that sifting pan I got weeks ago.
Grass mat will go on the old shed site, with bricks holding it down.
Even with two sprinklers in back, it's gonna be impossible to hit the area north of the back room. So I guess I'll just have to get the other stuff growing as fast as possible, and move over to that area later on in the season.
I also may have a new problem of what to do with the left over topsoil!
Gingham isn't much further of a drive than to Cloud.
I should leave about 2:15 instead of 2:20.
Not thrilled about going there for eight hours today, but I'll survive.
It also looks like Chantele wants me to stay 3PM to 7PM, but I don't know for sure.
Well, I reported to Gingham at 2:25PM, and clocked in with three Mexican women.
Chantele was there, and found us by the time clock. She told us that we weren't needed and to return to our home buildings.
WHEW!
I spoke with her individually and she said for now I should just go to Cloud every day, and the hours should be 1:30PM to 5:30PM.
And she said to set the alarm at 5:30PM before I go.
Cloud still had school staff there today, and they still had tons of new garbage for me, but tonight, I managed to get it all out by 7PM.
I spent the second half of the shift vacuuming... which hasn't gotten done since last Wednesday... so that took me all the way until 11:20PM.
What did not get done today were the bathrooms. But mine are all student bathrooms so... they got little to no use today.
I know they were offering unlimited overtime, and weekend pay to anybody working at Gingham for the big furniture moves, and classroom painting.
So my guess is that by going part time, I made myself completely useless for the Gingham project!
So... it seems to have been an even better move than I originally thought!
But things will likely remain unpredictable through the whole summer, so I will stay part time until school starts again... just to avoid getting stuck anywhere else, doing God knows what, for eight hours.
I had been thinking about 12PM to 4PM, but 1:30PM to 5:30PM is just fine!
That means I'm home by 6PM... with a full two and a half hours of daylight to work in the yard every night.
And mowing the entire lawn only takes 90 minutes, so that'll be easily done on a single evening after work, every week!
Certain trees can be cut down, and branches chipped in two hours as well... I imagine.
And I should be shooting to be on my feet by 10AM, so... I can go to bed at 2AM and still get 8 hours of sleep!
This really should throw everything outside into much higher gear!
All the projects on the agenda are things that lend themselves more to... a couple hours a day... than to taking an extra day off.
Seeding & watering... mowing... pruning... cutting up a tree...
But also the firepit cap and the new hatch door.
The firepit cap's gonna happen in a lot of small stages;
1) cut 1x4s to carefully measured lengths to make a form that clamps around the top, and get that form level.
2) Get castable concrete into the form and wait for it to dry a few days.
3) Carefully figure out the placement of the capstones, using spacers. This step could require drawing pencil lines on the undersides of the corner caps.
4) Carefully stick each capstone down to the concrete with tube mortar, and make sure they're all the same height, and spacing, and level... then wait for that to cure a few days.
5) Carefully trowel white mortar inbetween the capstones, and wait for that to cure.
6) Carefully remove the masking tape.
Almost every step can be done in a couple hours... and then wait a day or two. It doesn't require a 3-day weekend.
The same will be true with all the prep for the new hatch door. The only part that has to happen on a weekend is the actual swap-out.
The two other projects are the utility space on the hill, and the rock garden.
The utility space takes precedence, because that's where the wood rack will stand.
Kindling, wood chips, and lawn furniture will also be stored there... out in the open.
And I feel like one of the 12V lamps needs to be over there, so I can see what I'm doing late at night, if I'm trying to feed a fire.
And it does look like I'm gonna have a lot of extra topsoil, so... should I use it in the landscaping of that area?
Either way... this is probably more of a, two hours a night, thing, than a, slam it out in a weekend thing.
Same with the rock garden.
The math of taking days off will be a double edged knife this summer.
On the one hand... if I take a day off, I'm only taking four hours off. So the PTO I've accrued so far will get me twice as many days off!
On the other hand... I'll only be accruing time off in 4 hour increments through June and July. And I DO need to take several days off in October, for the family reunion and Dad's burial.
I won't gain too many new 8-hour days off through August and September.
So it behooves me to take zero days off, if at all possible, this whole summer.
Though I should probably put in for July 3rd, if we don't have it off automatically... as that's a Monday. Getting a four day weekend for spending only four hours of PTO is a pretty good deal.
I better let Chantele know about that this week!
The final thing to consider is doing handyman jobs on the side, with this free time, to make extra money.
If I truly am gonna stay at Cloud through all of June and July, then I don't foresee being too exhausted after four hours to go ahead and hit a side job.
And my work phone is still ringing four to five times a day.
If... and it's a big IF... I can make some reliable money doing side jobs, it might make sense to stay part time.
But I'll have to make that call by early August.
Because if I want to stay at Cloud, I'll need to go back to full time in mid August... and I could push that a few weeks into September, but no later.
If I decide to stay part time, I'll be reassigned to some other school.
So we'll just have to see how that plays out this summer, with everything else I've got going on.
But with that... and with the moon now safely a waning gibbous... let June 2023 begin in earnest!
°¦}
