Who?

Yesterday evening, around twilight, Brian calls me to the dining room & announces that he has heard an owl. As if on cue, the owl hoots loudly & we know is pretty close to the house. Brian's able to spot the owl & points out where it is to me. Running as fast as I can, I fetch my binoculars & sneak back to the window. Finding things with binoculars has never been my strong point & I have zero luck in seeing the owl. Just as Brian says, "he'll fly soon" ... the owl takes off for another tree in the woods behind the house.

(I know Brian probably wanted to snatch the binoculars from my hand to see the owl, but he was patient with me.)

As I was getting in to bed later on, I heard the owl again & fall asleep, curled up next to Brian, thinking of owls.

This morning, just before dawn, there is a huge racket of owl noises ~ two distinct calls.

This weekend also brought the first hummingbirds to our feeder!

5% update

So far two people have given their notice over the 5% pay cut ordeal. One is a mechanic which they will need to replace right away & the other was a gal who has been looking for a new job since she got here. I doubt they will bother replacing her position any time soon.

Many folks voiced their opinion that they were OK with the pay cut, but not OK with how it had been handled or the fact that it was made retroactively. In living up to my BITCH standards, I am not OK with either! Many hourly employees have stated that they will no longer work overtime when asked. Morale is a bit low despite upper management's attempt to keep things looking cheery.

The big surprise came with our paychecks ... a memo was attached along with a second check. It seems management heard what their employees said (or learned that a retroactive pay cut is illegal). The pay cut will go into effect next pay period & those affected got a second check with the difference. Ironically, my check did not have the 5% removed.