Bigwigs in town

I think about posting about every day, and here it's been a week again. This weekend I finished wiring the new shed. It now has lights and about eight receptacles. I had to get some (it's called schedule 40) tubing and run wires from the old shed to the new one four feet away. Underground, of course, which meant digging in the dirt. But it's done, and now I can put in shelves, drag stuff from the garage, and clear out the garage so we can convert it into a family room. Sunday was another adventure. I rode the bike in the rain to the Hagley museum to represent the DE Nature Society at a private DuPont party. They fed me royally. I walked around and gathered several exotic invasive weeds and made an impromptu live display to go along with the DNS backyard habitat display. I got several compliments on my little spiel that went along with the plant samples. Everyone knew multiflora rose and English Ivy, and many were surprised to learn how invasive vinca is. I showed them garlic mustard, which is really nasty—it'll produce seeds even after it's pulled up, so you have to burn or compost it to keep it from spreading. The ride home was pretty much rain free, but still wet. Val spent the afternoon at the Iron Hill Museum's Archeology Festival, which was pretty much dampened by the rain. She got her picture in the local paper, though for her face painting, and she passed out a bunch of cards with her info on it, aimed at people who might want face painting for a party. Oh yes, the big wigs. A couple flew in from Dallas to visit our department at work. Everyone is nervous. Word is out that contractors are being cut back severely, and the ones kept are getting their wages reduced. The management story is that the suppliers are supposed to take the wage hit, not the contractors, but that's not what the suppliers are telling us. We take a large share of the hit. Morale is not good. Mike warned me of the possibility that I might be the sacrifical lamb if his boss is really forced to cut someone. My boss says they should accept his opinion about whether someone is necessary, and he suggested that he would quit if they cut me. It's not exactly to protect me, but because he's not interested in working under the duress of being understaffed. I don't blame him. As it happened, I had occasion to work late tonight—a couple of the guys wanted me to make some improvements to some of the charts of their work that I had put on the walls, and I did so, getting them up just before the people showed up. I continued to work on another one that Mike wanted modified, and when I came in with a draft, I got to meet one of these folks. We exchanged some pleasantries, and all, an he got to see that I'm doing useful work. So, a 12-hour day, almost. And it's way past my bedtime!