Quote of the Day #2

"When mommies and daddies have been married for a long time and have run out of anything else to talk about, they badmouth their closest friends!"

~ Homer Simpson

"The Girl Who Slept too Little"

Quote of the Day

"Be polite, be courteous, show professionalism, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet." 

~ General Mad Dog Mattis

Rainy Days and Tuesdays...

Tuesday was supposed to be the worse day of the week, weather-wise, and it certainly tried to live up to that. It was windy and sprinkling when I left for work.

By 8:30 a.m. it was raining and during the next couple of hours, it was pouring!

It let up by noon, which allowed me to sneak out to the Newburgh Grille. I wanted their bean and ham soup (only available on Tuesday) but, once again, she told me it wasn’t ready yet! How can soup not be ready for lunch??? So, I settled for one of their specials: a patty melt with a side salad for $4.99.

Then the skies cleared in the early afternoon and it got hot! Hot enough that it dried off the puddles in the parking lot. That allowed me to walk outside in the afternoon!

After work, I hurried home (as much as you can “hurry” on Plymouth Road at 5:00 p.m. these days). I grabbed the mail and took in the trashcan. I treated Caley and then brushed my teeth. I headed back out to try and get to the dentist by 6:20 p.m.

I made it with five minutes to spare. This was to get my permanent caps. The ones that didn’t arrive the day before my South Carolina road trip began. So, the receptionist said, “Hi, John! I’m sorry your caps were late!” I said, “No problem. It worked out for the best.” Then the dental assistant, who came to get me, apologized. I explained I was more concerned that they would come it and wreck Easter for me. She has relatives in North Carolina, so we swapped travel stories.

She removed the temporary caps and cleaned off the glue. Then the dentist came in. First thing after the handshake was an apology!

I had ground through the plastic temporary (although I didn’t know it) and they had to grind down my existing tooth a bit. So, they numbed my gum and then gave me shots.

They did finally attached the two caps after what seemed like a lot of fitting. Then I had to sit for five minutes, biting down on a stick while the glue set.

BTW, the glue tastes like crap. When I could talk, I asked them what they used, Liquid Nails?

The dentist told me to hold off eating until the numbness was gone. Then I went to the office manager, to see if I owed anything more. Nope. But, she did apologize for the delay adding, “The dentist felt bad and wanted me to give you this” and handed me a Home Depot gift card!

On the trip back, I had to put down the visors in the truck, the sun was so bright. I was home by 7:30 p.m. I was hungry, but numb.

So, I did some catch-up computer work and then watched my two NCIS’s. The numbness finally wore off, but now I was paranoid about chewing. So, I fixed a can of Campbell’s bean with bacon soup.

About 9:00 p.m., there was a flash I could see through the closed shades, followed by a peel of thunder. Then there was another. I let the TV tape while I went to sit on the couch and watch an impressive light show.

Sidebar: I love to sit on the porch and watch storms, but this time the wind was from the southeast and I would have gotten drenched.

When it grumbled on, I went back and watched the rest of my show. I went to bed about 10:30 p.m.

Thought for the Day

Monday, Monday…

Okay, so the weather sucked on Monday. Not nearly as bad as the folks who got hit by tornadoes. But it was windy and raw outside.

I took in the rest of the rhubarb dump cake. Everybody who tried it liked it.

It started to sprinkle just before noon. I went to Best Buy and then hit the Harbor Freight outlet. I decided I needed a ramp for the truck and “thought” I remembered them as costing, like, $50.00 US.

Well, you can get them as cheap as $69.00, but they have BIG holes in them. The ones I would want (solid flooring) cost $150.00! So, I left.

I stopped at a Wendy’s and got their much-talked about fish sandwich. I was told it would be a five minute wait and sat off to the side until they brought me my order out.

I took it back to work and ate it in the remaining minutes of my lunch hour.  Personal observation: Way better than the typical fast food fish sandwich, but nothing I would order again.

At the end of the day, there was still about 1/4 left in the baking dish, so I offered the remaining rhubarb dump cake to Vicky for her Mother and family.

The wind and rain had really picked up before I left for home. So, I rocked (and rolled) down Plymouth road. I got home just after 5:30 p.m.

When I pulled in, the first thing I saw was my forsythia wreath on the ground. The next thing I saw was one of the ornamental bird feeders (from the porch rail) on the lawn!

As I said, the wind was fierce!  So, I replaced the wreath and bird feeder and then went into the house.

Note to self: Secure the bird feeders with the porch railing when it stops raining.

I rolled the trashcan to the road, figuring better tonight than in the stronger storms predicted for tomorrow morning.

Once inside, I treated Caley, changed clothes and turned on the news. At 7:00 p.m. I took up some stuff into the attic and then started dusting in the living room. I finished that and then vacuumed.

I called my friend B___ to ask him a question. We chatted for a bit. Once we hung up, I warmed up more brats and sauerkraut for dinner.

After eating, I watched one taped TV show and then switched to reading until an early bedtime.

Quote of the Day

"I am rarely bored alone; I'm often bored in groups and crowds."

~ Laurie Helgoe

True Story!

Sunday's Story

Sunday, I woke up early again, but this time I managed to fall back asleep. I woke up for real just after 7:00 a.m. I filled in the Blog entry while sipping a cup of coffee.

Then I did the last load of weekend wash, ran the dishwasher and swept all the floors. I needed to get all the indoor stuff done this morning as this will be the last sunny day to work outside. It’s supposed to rain for the next five days!

So, I washed all the floors (backwards) and then went outside. It was windy and cool and I needed the jacket I had thrown on.

I slapped a fresh battery into the electric chainsaw and cut down the dead pine. It took a while, but it fell just like I wanted! Unfortunately, the branches held it up, but I’ll deal with that another time.

Dead Pine

Dead Pine Down (sorta)

I had to pull the riding mower out to get to things in the shed. I was gratified to find the battery was still charged and that the engine fired right up!

Next, I used the garden cart to haul all the patio furniture out of the shed. Once I had that in place, I took the hose box out of the shed (also using the garden wagon) and hooked it back up.

I also put up the window box under the kitchen window and put the porch rail planter in the garage. I need to buy some dirt for both.

I took off the reflecting pool cover, ran the hose to it and filled it up. I let the water run while I tried to net old leaves, dead worms, etc. Finally, I shut the water off and reeled the hose back in.

I noticed that the chives are just about tall enough for the first harvest. But, I still have half a baggie of last year’s crop in the freezer!

The front grass was growing tall in spots. Since it’s supposed to rain all this coming week, I thought I should cut it all level. Problem was, I didn’t have much gas in the can. But, there was just enough to do the front yard. The side law (being shaded) hasn’t grown enough yet to warrant cutting.

Before

After

It was about 3:30 p.m. and I realized I was starving! So, I lit a newspaper under the charcoal chimney after filling it with the last of my cowboy charcoal.

I put the sauerkraut in a pan on low to warm up.  Then I went out to the raised bed garden and planted two rows of peas. When the charcoal was ready, I dumped it in, set the grill grate to the right height, scrubbed it with a wire brush and then oiled it. I put the brats on and went inside to cut up the baguette.

I cut the baguette into brat-sized chunks and the sliced them almost through. I took two of them and dug out most of the bread.

Now, you know me and I would have roasted sweet corn as my side. And Westborn did have some Florida sweet corn in the husks. But, when I peeled a few of them, the kernels looked immature. So, I passed on them. Instead I steamed some frozen whole kernel corn.

When the brats were done, I brought them inside. I filled the baguette buns with sauerkraut, added a brat and topped it with good old yellow mustard. I put the sweet corn in a dish, topped it with butter and salt and then ate my Sunday supper.

It was excellent!

I rested a while on the bed (my back was starting to hurt) and then went out to put away the leftovers.

I cleaned up the minimal mess and then started making dessert: A Rhubarb Dump Cake. Note: I don’t “know’ this, but I suspect they are called dump cakes as you just dump stuff in and don’t mix anything.

So, I cut the rhubarb into 1/4-inch dice. That went into a 9x13 greased baking dish, spread evenly. I sprinkled on one cup of sugar, then one 3-ounce package of strawberry jello and finally a package of yellow cake mix (again, always trying to spread everything evenly.

I sprinkled in one cup of water and 1/4 cup of melted butter. I put the cake pan into a preheated 350 degree F. oven and set the timer for 45 minutes…

When the timer went off, I pulled it out and let it cool. Finally I cut a piece. 

It was very messy. It did have a good flavor, but was way too sweet for my taste.

I settled in for a Sunday night movie or something. But, I couldn’t find anything good on. So, I tried to catch up with my taped shows on the DVD-R. I finally gave up and went to bed after the 11:00 p.m. news.