Slow Hand Saturday

I woke up at the usual time on Saturday. I hadn’t slept well, waking up almost every hour on the hour to pee. Damn my prostate!

None the less, I was up and accepted it. I stripped the bed and started the weekend wash. I wasn’t hungry, so I just had a cup of coffee. Then I had another watching the news.

When the news stopped and the Saturday morning cartoons came on, I went and shaved, showered and got dressed in my work clothes.

I should have made a run to the grocery store, but I wasn’t convinced I needed to, except for ground fennel. I didn’t have any ground fennel. But, I was wearing my paint-spattered, crappy pants and didn’t think that would go over so well with the hot babes at the Kroger’s.

“Hey, Babe! I can see you are a puzzle. But I like the way the pieces fit together!”

Sidebar: I stole that from Frank Sinatra, but I like it!

On the other hand, I am out of Copenhagen and that’s a real problem. So, I drove the truck to the gas station and filled it up (they don’t care how I’m dressed). I filled the gas tank ($48.31 US) and bought five cans of Cope. Then I went across the parking lot and stopped into the quarter car wash.

I hosed the salt and shit off the truck and then headed home. I left it in the driveway and went inside to grab a towel. I dried it off and was surprised to see how “unclean” it was. Did I just miss that on the Volvo or did the silver color mask it?

I dunno…

But, before I pulled it back in, I swept out all the water on the garage floor. As I think I said before my oldest Brother George told me once, “You can move a lot of water with a broom.”

So, I did. Then I pulled the truck in.

I had watched the damn rats last night. I didn’t try to shoot them as the wind was strong and I didn’t have a feel on how to compensate with the pellet gun. I could have blown their ass up with my old 22, but that’s illegal here. But, what was different is that they came from, and ran back to, my neighbor’s house.

So, I went out in the garage and made the other bait box. I put on my boots and trudged outside. I set it next to the St. Francis statue (Forgive me Saint Francis, but I hate them rat bastards!) by the neighbor’s fence.

I checked the other bait box and it was empty. So, I refilled it. Note: I wore latex gloves for most of this so as not to transfer human smell. Or maybe I just like wearing latex… I dunno…

Scary…

Back inside, I took a nap. I woke up just after 5:00 p.m. So, I started one of the things I wanted to make this weekend. I got out the Dutch oven, added canola oil and heated it up. Then I added two sliced yellow onions (they were small), three diced carrots and two stalks of celery.

I sautéed them until they were soft. I added two minced garlic cloves and the thawed out ham hock. I covered that with water and added a box of beef stock for luck (did I mention I am making this up?)

I threw in the bag of 15 mixed beans I bought at the Kroger’s on Ford Road. I threw away the spice bag in the package and added just salt, pepper and a bay leaf. I brought that to a boil, reduced the heat to simmer and set the timer for an hour.

Okay, so now I had soup for the weekend, but what about breakfast/lunch/dinner today? So, I opened a can of tuna fish (packed in oil) and put most of it in a bowl. I gave the rest to the cats. Scruffy loved it!

I added more raw onions, salt and pepper and some mayo. I toasted the last two slices of sourdough bread (I have a whole loaf of French bread in case you are worried). I added some lettuce and built a killer tuna fish sandwich.

I ate that watching the Olympics, which is how I ended the day.