Rainy Days and Sundays

I woke up at a delicious 7:00 a.m. on Sunday I posted the Blog (I wrote it and processed the photos Saturday Night) after getting a cup of coffee. It had rained again overnight, with more forecast for today.

So, I thought about it and decided that today would be just right for putting down the last of the grass seed, with or without straw. So, I threw on my shorts and t-shirts and went outside at 8:30 a.m.

It was still raining slightly, but that didn’t bother a good old country boy like me. What did bother me was the hundreds of mosquitoes! I raked up the dirt, put down the seed and the raked it again. I finally ran out of seed, but not before I got everything south of the “lane” done, including the big spot where the Bobcat got stuck. That only leaves the area behind the play structure left to do. I locked up the shed and went back inside (scratching mosquito bites) just after 9:30 a.m. Good thing I ran out of seed, because the rain had started back up in earnest again.

I finally shaved, showered and got dressed in fresh clothes. Next, I made some brunch. I sliced up the remaining two small potatoes I had “baked” on the grill and fried them in butter until they had a nice golden crust. Then I fried two eggs over-easy and had a great meal.

I tried out my new vacuum sweeper and was very impressed! I have to get used to maneuvering it, though. It has that “Dyson” ball-type swivel and is awkward at times. But, I swept the whole house and even did the living room carpet on just the one charge (something the old one couldn’t do) so I was pleased. I started the last load of weekend laundry.

Jake had called. He’s building a workbench for his garage and wanted to know what kind of casters I’d used on my carts. After we hung up, I remembered that cutting my big workbench down has been on the ToDo list for months. I had made it four feet deep, thinking it would give me a lot of room to work on stuff. And, it did. But, it also made it damn near impossible to reach the items on the pegboard behind it.

So, I decided to at least start on this project. I moved the car out (into the rain) and then started to clean off the bench. That took a lot longer than you might suspect! I had all kinds of stuff on and under that bench, including the tile saw I completely forgot I owned, LOL!

But, I finally got it cleaned and pulled out. The sawdust and cobwebs were rather amazing, BTW. Next I had to try and figure out how I had built it. Since this was probably the first thing I ever made when I first started renting the house, I couldn’t remember.

I thought making it smaller would be simply cutting back one 2x12 and moving the legs. But, no, of course not. There are 2x4 cross members and the bottom shelf was plywood. And, me with an iffy Sawzall!

So, I removed the top 2 x 12 and moved the side legs back to the new location. Then I sawed through the plywood, allowing for the 2 x 4 that supports it. I removed the rear legs and realized that, even if I get the Sawzall working, I don’t have the room to use it unless I turn the table upside down.

All of this has to fit UNDER the back 2 x 12!

Ummm, spinal-fused crip here! I don’t think so!! So, I took off another top 2 x 12 and the plywood left in the rear of the bottom shelf. Now I can cut it down (even with a circular saw) but there was a problem. I trashed both the rear 2 x 4’s removing them. Actually, I think I trashed them when I built it by not pre-drilling the holes. Either way, getting this sucker cut down and back together was NOT going to happen tonight.

So, I cleaned up all my mess and pulled the car back in. There was a LOT of crap on all three walk-off rungs, so I got the shop vac and dealt with it. I don’t want to screw up my clean floors!

Then I remembered I completely forgot about the laundry load. So, I ran it through another rinse and then threw it into the dryer. It was 4:15 p.m.

So, I started my Sunday supper. I was making the same meatloaf recipe that I did on September 16 but with three changes. I used crushed saltine crackers instead of bread crumbs. I also added a package of crimini mushrooms (I needed to use them or lose them) I diced and finally, I made my glaze with half ketchup, half BBQ sauce and two splashes of Worcestershire sauce. That brown sugar/ketchup glaze was WAY too sweet.

I also cut in half the two butternut squash my neighbors had given me and I was saving in the back room. I cleaned out the seeds, added a knob of butter and both rosemary and thyme stems to the cavity. I salted them as well.

The squash and the meatloaf went into a preheated 350 degrees F. oven and I set the timer for 70 minutes.

While I was waiting, I folded the clothes and put them away. Then I peeled three large parsnips, cut them into rounds and put them in salted water. I fired them up when the meatloaf and squash were close to being done.

When the timer went off, I let the meatloaf rest for about 10 minutes. Then I cut two pieces, scooped out some squash and drained the parsnips. Dinner was excellent!

I watched some taped TV shows until 9:00 p.m. when I watched one of my favorite movies, "The Ninth Gate." Unfortunately, it lasted until midnight so I went to bed a bit late. My right shoulder was killing me (could have been the raking, the vacuuming and/or the workbench project) and it was raining again...