Sunday, Sunday...

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. I grabbed a cup of coffee and finished the Blog post. Then I watched the news for a bit. I vacuumed the downstairs while Joel Osteen was on. I do like his rap, but I was busy…

I stripped the bed and put the bedding in the washer. Then I shaved and showered, drinking yet another cup of coffee. I made sure this time I didn’t look out the windows, though. Bad juju! I made scrambled eggs with chives, along with some sourdough toast for my breakfast.

My right shoulder was killing me (I couldn’t lift a full cup of coffee or a water glass in my right hand, for example), and I started to seriously think about Jake’s comment on the last post. So, I washed all the floors (wood and tile) upstairs, working backwards. When I got to the downstairs steps, I retrieved my coat and went to Home Depot.

I bought the 3/8 dowel I need for the project and an 18-volt Ryobi 10-inch chain saw. I bought the Ryobi because I have a Ryobi drill and blower as well, so I have plenty of spare 18-volt batteries. I also have a Ryobi 24-volt line trimmer, but that’s another story.

Back home, the floors were dry, so I went in and treated the cats. Then I sat down and read the instruction book for the little chain saw.

I went out and poured in the little bottle of chainsaw oil I got in the box. Then I went out back and started to cut up the rest of the tree. My brother Carl had messaged me that he would take the wood if it were cut up into 18-inch sections. So, I got the tape measure and a black magic marker and made a mark so I could easily estimate “18 inches.”

I ran through all four of my charged-up batteries before I had to stop. I had about one fourth of the wood left to cut up, but was quite pleased. I reminded myself this is just a trimmer, not a “real” chainsaw.

Here's where the tree snapped off

Chain saw with 18" mark for Carl

What I still have left to do

Carl's pile of firewood

Back inside, I hauled all the little cut-off bits of wood in the garage back to the shed. I put all the usable wood into the dump trailer Jake and Carla gave me. The rest, I put in my fire pit. I doused it with diesel fuel and lit it up. I don’t know why, but this always reminds me of bow hunting…

I took the now-empty shelving unit out back. I hosed it down and then scrubbed it down with Pine Sol and a brush. I rinsed it off and put it into it’s new location. I started putting together the new storage container but then stopped to take a photo.

I moved everything on the right side (driving in to the garage) back to the left side, and then I pulled the car inside.

Next, I tried to fulfill a request from Jake, to show me in my new t-shirt, working on the bike. It took a while, as I was not used to using the timer function on the camera. Now if I could just get the focus right, LOL!

Back inside for the night, I started making my Sunday supper: Spaghetti with hot Italian sausage. I broiled the sausage five minutes on a side. Then I took them out of the oven and let them cool a while.

Meanwhile, I made my sauce. Instead of my usual marinara sauce, I wanted something thicker. So, I diced an onion and sautéed that in olive oil until it was soft. I threw in four minced garlic cloves and took it another minute or so until I had my canned tomatoes opened. I put in two 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes, and then I crushed each tomato by hand. I also added a 6-ounce can of tomato paste and a handful of frozen diced green peppers (from my garden). Finally, I seasoned it with salt, pepper, some red pepper flakes, a little sugar, chopped fresh basil and fresh oregano, stripped off the stems.

I cut the sausages into 1/4-inch rings and stuck them under the broiler again, When they started to crisp up, I pulled them and popped them into the sauce to get happy.

I cooked a box of thick spaghetti until al dente, drained it and put that in the sauce as well. I plated a dish and topped it with a big helping of fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Now, the sauce was excellent, if I do say so, myself. But the hot Italian sausage was a bit “too” hot (or maybe I’m just a pussy). It didn’t stop me from going back for seconds though, LOL!

I started watching some TV, but realized just how tired and sore I was. So, I ended up going to bed around 9:30 p.m.