Good morning!

Yesterday I reported that my outbound packages were picked up on Monday but could not be scanned in because the power was still out at the local postal station.

A little side story — last week I needed something for the kitchen and ordered on Amazon.  Package Tracking on the Amazon Web site said it was to be coming via UPS Mail Innovations.  And the UPS tracking page showed my package was moving through their system, scheduled for delivery on Tuesday.

Tuesday came and went.  No package.    I last checked my mailbox around 7:00 last night, but no joy still.

This morning I went to feed BigBoy and noticed my mailbox door was down, so I went to check.  Yes!  My package had been delivered last night.  Yippee.   I checked the UPS tracking and it shows it was marked delivered at 7:38 p.m.   Terrific!

The package came with the UPS number but also the USPS tracking number for when UPS hands it off to the local P.O. for delivery to me.
So I went to USPS.com to see what they showed for the 9239 number.

So the postal station is still not even acknowledging receipt of the package from UPS.  But the package is here in my hand.

What all of this tells me is that while they aren’t able to track packages locally, somehow things are moving and I expect the customers to whom I mailed things on Monday will get their packages even if a day or two later than expected.

And with that all sorted, I have confidence in handing off today’s packages.  They might not get scanned in by the mail carrier or at the local P.O. but they will travel as they need to.   After all, electronic bar code scanning has only been around a few decades at most, but the post office has been figuring out packages since the U.S. Postal Service was written into the Constitution back in  1787 and ratified in 1788.

And now I will pour myself a coffee and get into the day, but I had to share a bit of somewhat good news.  Or at least hopeful news.  🙂

There were some packages that were supposed to have been picked up and carried away last Thursday.  In reality, the packages were ready but the mail carrier never came around to take them.  I was not here for the carrier on Friday, but I put in another pick-up request for Saturday and still no pick-up.   So I put in yet another request for Monday, but this time I kept a close watch and stalked the mail carrier to ensure the packages were taken away.

Y’all know we had a hurricane a week ago Monday.   I got my power back later that same day.  The mail carrier on Monday told me the local postal station, which serves my ZIP code and a neighboring one, was still without power on Monday, so he was unable to scan the packages in.

I just checked and there is still no tracking available on the packages that were picked up on Monday.  If they had no electricity to power their scanners I’m pretty sure there was no power to automatically sort mail and packages and it was all being done by hand.

It is all very frustrating for me trying to send packages out, and I’m sure it is frustrating for other customers awaiting incoming mail and packages.  But even more, I can only image the frustration of the postal workers and mail carriers trying to do their jobs on the clock while also many of them don’t have power in their own homes.

One of my daughters finally got power back on Sunday night, and my other daughter got power back last night.

I just looked at the CenterPoint outage tracker.  There are currently over 51,000 customers STILL without power around the Houston metro area.  These are meters without power, but many of those meters are attached to homes with families and pets.    I suppose this is better than the 2.7 million customers without power right after the storm, but golly gee this is ridiculous.

Anyway, I just wanted to give an update on what’s happening with your yarns.  The sooner I give yarns to the mail carrier, the sooner those packages starting winding their way through the system, so I will still do my part to have packages ready for pick-up tomorrow as promised for the most recent collection of Blog Reader Specials.

I am giving this week to creating 3-skein combinations of previously shown Phydlbitz Sock.   These yarns need to be sold, I need them to be sold, and yarns yet to be dyed need the previously dyed yarns to be sold.

So, I’m wondering — should I lean toward coordinating colors (like  various greens or blues), or should I lean toward pleasant contrasts?

And, should I make them as 3-skein bundles or show them merely as suggestions for people to make their own combinations?

Hi there. Much of Houston is still without power. I’m  typing this on my phone but can’t process pictures. Can’t even dye yarn. No clue when power will be restored. Eight of the ten massive towers that were blown down are in Harris County and they are saying it could be weeks before we are up and running. Weeks of  no new yarns for you and no income at all for me. Obviously this is a right foul mess.

It is barely 3:00 a.m. so I won’t solve the issue now. I only just now figured how to make a post from my phone. I think I’ll have a cup of coffee and wait for daylight to inspire me.

Awwrighty, then!

I started the day by somehow getting myself locked out of here.  It took a while to get back in.  I think I have that straightened out (else I couldn’t be posting this here), and trying to get my head wrapped around what else needs to be done.

I had originally planned to dye up another batch of the Shropshire yarns, but I think I’m going to do a batch of Phydlbitz Sock tomorrow instead.  I still need to go through the previous Blog Reader Specials yarns and the Phydlbitz Sock are easier/faster to get ready for dyeing.

It will likely take a couple of weeks to get the ‘look-and-feel’ into a better presentation, but more important I am able to sell yarns.  I have several medical appointments coming soon that will take time away from work, so I have to make money ahead so I don’t get into trouble in May.

And with that, I am off to do work-stuff.  🙂

Okay, I’m getting my bearings, and muddling my way through the WordPress package.  The basics are quite familiar but setting up the “look-and-feel” is taking me a bit of time.

I was hoping to have time to dye and show yarns this weekend, but at the moment I am unsure that will happen.

After a major server crash at my Web hosting service (and loss of 12+ years of posts and yarn pictures) I am now setting out to rebuild the knitivity.com Web site.