August 2008 – Page 3

Today is the first day of the state’s new four-day workweek.

For about 23,000 state employees, working 9 to 5 is now 7 to 6 as the governor’s four-day workweek kicks in. For those coming to use the state services, “I think it’s good because it’s going to save a lot of gas,” one man told us.

The state’s own survey last month said 56 percent preferred the new schedule. Some employees wonder if those numbers will change after the employees get used to the new schedules.

For the public, if you’re planning to walk in your car taxes on the last day of the month, you’d better hope that’s not on a Friday. Air quality monitoring services will be closed, too, red air quality day or not. And you might be a bit more nervous if you’ve got a bear problem, since wildlife services is on the list of agencies closed on Friday.

The Utah Department of Transportation still will plow snow on Fridays, and you can buy at state liquor stores on Fridays, too.

Estimated Taxpayer savings per year: 3 MILLION!

This morning seemed like it would be a regular Saturday morning… Pace left early to help a neighbor move in, and Chase and I went outside to do a little yard work. Chase was doing a good job of entertaining himself with his tricycle, digging, etc. as I pulled weeds. Suddenly I heard him screaming, and when I looked up, I saw him swatting at a few yellow jackets that were swarming around him! (For a quick second, it reminded me of the bee attack scene from the movie My Girl!) I grabbed him, ran inside, and noticed that he had been stung multiple times. He usually gets over injuries in about 5 seconds, but he was definitely very tense and upset even a few minutes later! I was a little upset, too… I counted the slightly swollen red marks, and he had been stung 8 times! Poor guy.

I tried to ice the sore spots, but he’s never been a fan of that, plus there were too many of them to ice! So I put him in the bathtub and washed him off, gave him some ibuprofen, called my mom for moral support, and then later put some baking soda/water paste on the wounds (supposedly helpful). Soon, Pace got home, and when I told him what had happened, he said, “He’ll be fine.” When I looked more closely, I noticed that Pace had some wounds of his own on his face… He told me that while they were moving the neighbors’ stuff, someone had accidentally whacked him in the nose/face with a bed frame. Yikes! So then we all just laid on the bed, attempting to avoid any further travesties (at least for a few minutes)… we’d had enough for the morning. My poor guys! Everyone’s doing better now, though. 🙂

What’s weird is that Chase woke up 3 times last night, each time asking very concernedly if Daddy had killed the bees and sprayed the bees. So I don’t know if he had some premonition-type dreams last night, but it’s really strange that he woke up so much asking about bees…