Sucky Tuesday

I woke up just before the alarm on Tuesday morning. It was another long night with weird dreams. For a person who either didn't dream or couldn't remember them when I woke up for the last 40 years, this is quite unsettling.

But, I threw my clothes on and got the two bags of trash out to the road. BTW, the new pants for the paralyzed vets are still sitting there. These people should take a hint: if I'd put them in the trash cans at the nearby quarter carwash (where the homeless people routinely search for empty pop or beer bottles) they would have been gone in less than an hour!

Back inside, I undressed and watched the weather channel and then the local news. Once I was clued in on the weather, I showered (no shave today) dressed and headed out to therapy. It was very slippery, BTW.

Maureen incorporated some (not all) of the recommended exercises I did with the Physical Therapist last Thursday. I finished up around 9:00 AM and then went and did my voluntary shoulder exercises on the big machine (I added 10 more pounds this week and barely made it through either of them).

I got home and got changed and started straightening up. I finally had a full dishwasher, so, after running the hot water in the kitchen sink, I added soap and turned it on.

The power went out briefly at 9:50 AM. It came right back on, but I had to reset all the electronic clocks (I hate that).

I heated up four stuffed shells in the microwave and ate them for breakfast/lunch. Damn! Those are good! I ate them watching some TV, hoping for a nap. It didn't happen, though.

I noticed when turning on the hot water, the pressure had diminished again. So, after, giving up on the nap idea, I shut off the hot water to the sink and took apart the faucet control. Oh, oh... bad idea. When I pulled it out, only half of it came with my tug.

I spent at least an hour trying to gently get out the rest of the faucet control. Finally, I got it! Yeah! I made a terrible mess trying to blast out the little chunks of solid chunks (if you remember, I drained my hot water tank last summer to end this shit. Apparently, that didn't work...)

I eventually got the rest of it out, cleaned it up and reassembled it. I put it back in (not easy) and the damn thing leaked. So, I took it out again, reassembled it and it still didn't work. I tried at least 10 more times, before I gave up in disgust at 3:45 PM. I dug out my file box that had all my purchase's information, found the faucet stuff and set it on the counter. I guess this means a trip to Westland and the Lowe's store. Since, if you turn on just the cold water, it blasts out of the hot water faucet hole, this is something I really need to fix. I do kinda need the kitchen sink.

So, there goes the ToDo list for this afternoon...

(sigh... I was really hoping for just some good movie and a nice nap today).

So, I headed out into rush-hour traffic. I got to Lowe's at about 5:30 PM and was amazed! Back in the day, B___ and I used to go there routinely at lunch hour and it was always packed. I've also gone there on Saturday and it was also a hot mess. But, tonight, there was like five people there!!

I found what I thought was the perfect replacement, but the numbers didn't match up. So, I called for an associate and he said the stamped numbers were the date they were made, not the part number (who knew?) So, I give them eight bucks and started for home.

I got back home, got the mail and then treated the cats. Then I tried to install the new assembly. It was difficult (the "O" rings are obviously new) but I finally got it. I turned on the water and it was okay!!

Thanks, God!

It was about 7:00 PM when I thought about dinner. I have been researching hot dogs (believe it or not). Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog_variations. It's kinda weird that a Coney dog in Detroit is not the same as one in, say, Flint, Michigan.

I, however, want a true New York style dog; which is a steamed natural casing hot dog, topped with just yellow mustard and sauerkraut. So, I put a bag of sauerkraut in a pot and topped them with Koegle's Vienna hot dogs (you need the natural casings for that "snap" when you bite into them). I let the warming sauerkraut steam the dogs and then, finally plated two of them.

It was a long, annoying day, so I gratefully turned in just before 10:00 PM.