She knows him well

SASS (referring to her daddy): " . . . and if they don't know how to nap -- oh, honey -- he can sure show them!"

I don't know what was funnier -- that she was talking about her daddy teaching someone how to nap or the "oh honey" that she threw in that has her mama all over it!

That Company

Things are stressful at That Company at the moment. That Company (Skeeter's employer) is pretty particular about things, so I can't ever go into detail.

The first phase of his job is supposed to be complete at the end of the year. They've overcome some pretty big obstacles, but they don't know if they'll make the deadline. So stress takes over. Poor Skeeter is working the same hours -- about 6:30 am to 6:00 pm -- but he has about three times as much to do in that time frame. He's more tired than usual when he gets home, and I've made him start going to bed earlier.

He's still saving them money though -- a lot of money. Today it was about $16,000. And they like saving money, but tensions are running high. It will continue until this phase is finished; nothing can be done about that.

There's not much I can do to help, except keep things settled on the home front. And try to keep him in matching socks.

Perhaps this is part of the reason our marriage works so well

An excerpt from an actual conversation last night while Skeeter was setting out his clothing and boots for this morning:

SKEETER: I'm running out of socks.

ME: Okay. I'll wash some tomorrow.

(Skeeter walks by with one grey sock and one navy blue sock.)

ME: Those don't match, you know.

SKEETER: Oh, I know. My socks haven't matched for the last few days.

ME: Oh no! I'm so sorry! I had no idea you were out.

SKEETER: I wasn't out. I just didn't have any that matched.

ME: Well that's just as bad as being out!

SKEETER: No it's not. You've been busy, so I didn't want to ask you to wash them until I really needed them. You're the one who worries about that whole matching thing anyway. To me they're just something to cover my feet.

The Pile Shirt

As promised, a picture of Skeeter's black-dotted Pile Shirt, complete with nerdly pocket items. Unfortunately, you can't see the interior pocket with its pencils and notebook.


There's just nothing that says "nerd" like a button down striped shirt with an overflowing pocket.

Every day is an adventure

Oh my gosh, y'all. My Skeeter is so unintentionally funny.

I just got a call from him. He started the conversation with, "You'll never guess what's going on."

Of course, my mind immediately went to any number of disasters that could occur on site. "Is it bad?" I said.

"Oh, no. No. Well, I guess it depends. There's a film crew here today," he said. "They're following me around, making some sort of training video."

I laughed. "They're what?"

"They're following me around, filming everything. I'm just trying to get my work done, and they keep saying things like, "That was good. Can you do it again, and move your chair back about four inches?" and they're keeping the camera about two feet from my face all the time. You know how I feel about my personal space. I just ditched them for a few minutes, and I thought I'd call you. I'm on the high line."

I won't even pretend I wasn't laughing about this. I pulled myself together and asked what any wife will ask when she finds out that her husband is the subject of some work video. "So what did you wear today? Do you at least look decent?"

"Well, I'm wearing The Pile Shirt. And I've got all the usual stuff in my pocket."

At that point, I didn't even pretend that I wasn't laughing.

Now this requires some explanation.

The Pile Shirt is a very nerdly type shirt that is one of Skeeter's favorites. The Pile Shirt name came from when he was inspecting piles out on a site, and oil or something splattered across him. The Pile Shirt is a blue striped shirt, similar to blue ticking, but after the pile incident, it's blue striped with black spots. I don't fuss about what he wears mostly, simply because of the type of work he does, so I let him keep it in his closet.

The pocket requires a paragraph all to itself. Skeeter keeps pens, pencils, a field log, and glasses (or sunglasses, depending on which he's wearing) in his pocket. Those are all in the shirt pocket. He has the benefit of two pockets -- one on the shirt and one on his neon vest. The vest pocket also contains a few pens and pencils and a different field log. It has a loop for his work cell phone. The left half of his clothing is so weighed down with stuff that it's pulled lower than the rest of his shirt.

When he gets home today, I'll take a photo. I don't think the explanation does it justice.

So my Skeeter is out there today, in The Pile Shirt, with cameras two feet from his face, having to do all of his tasks twice. I'm sure he's having a grand old day.

But it made for a good laugh.