August 18-24, 2019

Weather | 8/18, 0.03" rain, 67°, 83° | 8/19, 67°, 89° | 8/20, 1.11" rain, 67°,79 ° | 8/21, 0.17" rain, 68°, 79° | 8/22, 0.06" rain, 67°, 79° | 8/23, 57°, 79° | 8/24, 56°, 75° |

• Sunday (8/18): The 2 dogs in my 11 am class, Lucy, a great dane, and Drogo, a pitbull, passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test in 15 minutes. They are both great dogs and their pet parents are dedicated to improving their lives.
  
  My 3:30 pm class, Benny, a mastiff, graduated out of Level I dog training. Tony, who owns Benny, asked to take a photo of me with Benny. He's very friendly.
  
  I spent time with the new dog trainer, Kisha (pronounced kiss-sha), on how to sell dog training and what to expect from other employees once she becomes a certified trainer. I'm letting her have my index cards and the posters I use for the classes. The main computer locked up, so Emily had to call technical help in order to finish closeout for the day. Bought a couple Subway sandwiches, because Mary was late at getting to fixing dinner. Mary did cleaning and finished cross stitching a Christmas ornament.
• Monday (8/19): Finished training Rabbit, a horrible boxer/great dane mix. Glad to be done with that dog. Also, finished with a CGC test for Leia, a pointer/lab mix, and Ellie, a white golden doodle. It was the first day for the new manager, Matthew Brown. He lives just north of Canton, MO, so pretty close to Quincy. He worked for 22 years at Walgreen Drug. They wouldn't advance him beyond store manager, so moved on. He thinks Walgreen's will be a future nationwide company to go out of business. He figured out a future schedule and some of the employees are already pissed that they will have to close...they are such a pack of children. I bought a UV flashlight from Petco that's sold to see pet urine inside the home. A black light can be used to see horn worms on tomato plants at night. An online search indicated that a black light is a form of UV lighting. Tried it once I got home and easily spotted 3 worms when Mary didn't see any in daylight. They glow fluorescent green. Mary cleaned the cook stove.
• Tuesday (8/20): Didn't do squat. Woke to thunderstorm and it rained all morning. Picked close to 20 worms off tomato plants. Watched Life as a House and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
• Wednesday (8/21): Sort of another lazy day. Updated checkbook register. Ordered a pigtail for the mass airflow connector that plugs into the air filter housing of the Cadillac. I also ordered a pair of boots for Mary, since her current boots are cracking. Picked 23 worms off tomato plants. Mary gets most of them during the day, then we go out with the UV flashlight after dark and get any remaining worms. They are so easy to see with that light.
• Thursday (8/22): Worked my last day at Petco. Niki, with her black labradoodle, Ruby, didn't show, again. She bought dog training on 11/2/18 and still can't finish. I'm so glad to be done with idiots like her. She was supposed to show at 2pm. Texted me at 3:30 with apologies for forgetting. I texted back asking when she wanted to do dog training, today. She texted at 6pm that she wasn't going to make it. I texted back that Ron will call her to line up a day and time to arrange for her to go through the CGC test. Left a note and paperwork on Ron's locker in the break room. Missy expounded to me on how Matthew, the new boss, wasn't scheduling anyone correctly. My response, "I don't care." Then she said I cared about her and I said, "Not really." It's nice to not have to listen to self-important little-minded Petco employees. Got home around 10:30pm...late, like it always is working at Petco, ate a chicken dinner and had a celebratory brandy and Coke. Got 9 worms from the garden. Mary picked a grocery bag of cucumbers and 2/3 bag of green beans.
• Friday (8/23): Goofed around a lot online. Updated Facebook stuff. Added a bunch of items to my random To Do list. Found recipes for autumn olive wine. Pulled 6 worms out of the garden. Picked half a bag of green beans and same amount of cucumbers. Offered Bill all of the hops flowers growing at the NW corner of the house. He said yes. Mary washed clothes and figured up a shopping list for tomorrow.
• Saturday (8/24): Chatted a little while with Karen via Facebook Messenger. Shopped in Quincy. I bought a new mouse at Staples to use with my laptop, since an older 1 works only part of the time. I also bought a soldering gun at Menards. Also, got an LED light bulb at Menards for our living room pendant light fixture that's 5000K light spectrum, 4060 lumens, 33 watts, and 300 watt incandescent equivalent. It's a vast improvement over the CFL light it replaced. Found a funny movie in Walmart for $5 and bought a bunch of food. After getting home, unloaded, did chores, and picked 4 worms off tomatoes. Watched Paul, the movie we bought today. Liked it so much, we watched it twice. Then, checked tomatoes for worms with the UV flashlight and didn't find any.