Sore Sunday

I woke up Sunday morning just after 5:00 AM. I stripped the bed (over the cat’s protests) and got that all in the washer. Then I put on another pot of coffee.

I put the final paragraphs on the Blog entry and posted it. I sent some emails and then I watched the news.

The big news (to me anyway) was that Wolfgang Puck is closing his restaurant in the MGM casino. I’m lucky that Jake and Carla took me there, since I’ll probably never eat at any of his other ones.

When the dryer shut off, I made the bed. Then I refilled the pill tray, ate breakfast and took my morning pills and tests. Next, I ran this week’s dirty dishes through the dishwasher.

When the dishwasher stopped washing and rinsing, I took a shower and then did the last load of laundry: the towels and my bathrobe. I got dressed and headed out at 10:00 AM again.

I stopped at Home Depot and had a guy grab me six red 2x8x16 inch paving blocks (they call them stepping stones), a bag of cypress mulch and a bag of leveling sand. I found a nice bleeding heart to transplant into my tree’s hanging basket but I had to buy it in a green, plastic hanging basket! They didn’t have any just in a pot.

Next I went to Petsmart for some kitty litter. Then I went to Kroger’s to refill my dwindling juice and buttermilk supply.

Before I went down the aisle to shop though, I used the Coinstar machine to finally get rid of all the change I had. I knew I had a lot from the weight of the bag (and I usually take out the quarters for the car wash). But I was shocked to see I got $61.97 on the chit.

Since it was supposed to be such a nice day, I bought some brats to grill for dinner. Then I started my usual debate about the buns. I hate hot dog buns, even the potato ones. It’s not the taste, it’s the texture. They are just too soft and mushy for me. Plus, they come in packs of eight and the brats are usually in packs of five or six. So, what to do?

I’ve tried several things, but today I had an inspiration (hopefully) and bought a baguette. I’ll just cut it to size and slit it. It “should” be a lot crunchier than a hot dog bun. We’ll see how that turns out.

Anyway, I got my shopping done, handed the cashier the Coinstar chit instead of money and still got back $14.98 in change! The 98 cents will be the start of the next Coinstar bag, I guess.

I made one more stop on the way home to fill up the car’s gas tank (for the prescription run to St. Clair Shores on Monday). Back at home, I treated the cats, put away the groceries, drank a glass of buttermilk and talked with Jake for a while. When we finished our conversation, I went outside.

It was about 1:00 PM. First, I transplanted the bleeding heart from its plastic hanging basket to my nice one. The trouble is that it had a pretty full root system, so, I’m not sure it will do as well as a less mature plant. I watered it and hung it up again. It looks nice now, but we’ll see, I guess.

Then I started to clean off the gray patio blocks the outlined the herb garden next to the reflection pool. I didn’t realize just how overgrown they had become over the last 10 years. It took a lot of scraping with a spade, but I got ‘er done! Then I laid the new red ones on top, staggering the seams so the grass wouldn’t grow through the new ones. In order to do that, I had to cut one of the new ones with a cold chisel and a hand sledge. It wasn’t a perfect cut, but it was close enough for me.

I took all the cleaned off grass, chives and oregano back to the compost heap. I came back in the house to pee and was surprised it was almost 3:30 PM! I should have guessed it by just how much my back hurt. After I washed my hands, I took the towels and my bathrobe out of the dryer.

I was wearing that thick polo shirt the hospital gave me and it was soaked with sweat (and it was only 70 degrees F. outside). I guessed that my brace’s foam was, too. So, I took off the brace, took a pain pill and lay on the bed to rest for a little.

While I was resting, Carla’s mother called. She was returning my call from Easter. She said she was finally going to see Jake and Carla’s new house when she goes there for a visit later this month. She said she’d been praying for me and would keep me in her prayers. I told her it must be working as I am slowly healing.

I started to feel a little better about 4:30 PM. Since I still wanted to grill my dinner and still had a lot to do, I got suited up and went back outside.

I got the leveling sand in the back, but left it in the bag. It was supposed to rain heavy overnight, so I didn’t want to start something I couldn’t finish. Instead, I went out to the back garden and started cleaning out all the picker plants (I’m overrun with the damn things). I was using the weed whip to cut them down. I had bought some herbicide I was going to spray them with afterwards, but decided that there was no point in it today if it’s going to rain. I’ll spray it another night when it can work for a while without being washed off right away.

I finished up with that about 5:30 PM, and it was time to light the charcoal. So, I put everything away, gave the cats some catnip I found growing in the back and got the charcoal chimney loaded up. I lit a newspaper on fire under it and went in the house.

Inside, I opened a can of Bush’s Grillin’ Beans and put them on low. I peeled an onion, sliced it and started to saute it in canola oil and butter.

Back outside, I put the charcoal in the grille, scrapped the grate and oiled it. Then I put on the brats. Man they smelled good cooking! I moved between turning the brats, stirring the beans and watching the onions.

When the brats were done, I took them inside. While they rested, I cut two brat-sized hunks off the baguette and sliced them open. I put in some deli mustard (with horseradish) then a brat and finally, the sautéed onions. I put the two of them on a plate with a generous amount of the beans. I went in to watch the rest of the news and eat dinner.

That baguette idea worked pretty well! It was nice and crunchy but a little too thick. So next time I’ll dig out some of the bread from the inside.

I let everything cool after eating. I took my night pills and took a break. I shrunk down the five best photos and emailed them to my brother Carl, as he requested. Then I put the leftovers in the fridge, washed the skillet, saucepan and knives and then got ready for bed.

No, I didn’t say anything about “sleep,” just “bed” so I could take the brace off!

I watched a taped movie, “Sahara,” and then switched to reading until I fell asleep.