Tuesday's Trials

I took out the garbage in the morning at 6:00 AM as usual. I did call the Township offices on Monday to make sure Veteran's Day was NOT a holiday for the garbage trucks (and it wasn't).

Remember me saying I bought a new battery for my remote garage door opener yesterday? Well, what I didn't tell you was that while I was waiting for the sewer guys to finish, I took apart the opener, installed the new battery and tried it. It didn't work!!! Maybe it's upside down? I opened it and turned the battery over. Nothing. Maybe the contacts are worn and not touching? Bent them up to ensure contact. Nothing! Maybe the battery is no good? I checked with my multi-tester and the battery's putting out 3 volts, just like it was supposed to. Damn!

So, this morning (not wanting to try and run again), I pulled the car out, walked back in the garage, shut the door and exited the house through the front door. Once at work, I called B___ to ask if a trip to Sears after lunch would be okay. It was, so we went to pick up a replacement. I took in the defective one so I could match up the new one. I found the exact same model and gave them $40 US for it.

When I got home, I pulled in the driveway, pushed the button and...NOTHING!!! Got out of the car, went in the front door (fortunate side trip, as a book I'd ordered from Amazon was laying in one of the front porch chairs), got in the garage and pushed the button to raise the door. I had read on the new opener's package that if the button on the rear of the garage door opener was green, this was the right model remote. So, I grabbed a two step step-ladder and, balancing on the top step (stupid, I know), checked with a flashlight. Sure enough, the button was green. I pulled the car in and pushed the remote button again (standing behind the unit) and noticed something. The green button flashed when I pushed the button, although the door didn't move. Hmmm... tried the old one, no flashing. I think I'm onto something.

So, I went into my file box where I keep the owner's manuals and installation guides for anything I buy and started looking. When I finished, I had about a 2-inch stack of old owner's guides for things I no longer even owned (those went in the garbage), three guides for things that are actually Jake's (that went in the kitchen to give to him next time I see him) but NO manual for the garage door opener. Weird! I even still had the manual for the stereo I bought when we lived with my Mom on 24 Mile Road! But, no garage door opener manual.

Then I got to thinking. I got the garage door opener just after moving here. I had made an agreement with my landlady that she would buy the materials and I would provide the labor free for any improvements to the house I suggested and she approved. After Jake and I installed it, I think I gave her the bill for the opener and the owner's guide, too.

So, I got down the real step ladder and went to check out this "green" button thingie close up. And there, thank God, were little instructions on how you push the green button and the remote opener at the same time to sinc up the signal. I did and it did and the door opened! Hurray!

I celebrated by warming up two hamburgers, eating them on buns with two dill pickle spears and checking out my new book.

Next came baking Thanksgiving dessert. As I have mentioned before, having been burned once or twice making a recipe (that sounded great) for the first time and serving it, only to find it bland or boring or worse, I don't give people something now I haven't tried first. But this will be a challenge for me as I really don't like sweets. Hence, the early taste-test concept.

I am combining the best (hopefully) of three separate recipes for pumpkin-cranberry cake. For example, one recipe calls for dried cranberries (which are sweet) and another calls for fresh cranberries (which are tart), so in the Captain's cake, we are using half dried, half fresh cranberries. Another recipe called for brown sugar, while the first two used white. Since I already know you can substitute brown for white, cup for cup, if you pack the brown sugar, I'm using a half and half mixture here, too.

So, cake batter's done and in the greased, floured mold. Into the oven it goes for an hour and 10 minutes. I check and the toothpicks clean, so I pulled it out and let it rest in the mold for 15 minutes more. Now, the mold is two halves of a 3-D turkey, and the cake rose over top of the mold, so I got out my electric knife and cut both sides flush with the mold (so the two halves would fit together perfectly). Then, I put it on a rack to cool and went to watch TV.

About three hours later, it's cool to the touch. I opened up the store-bought cream cheese frosting (the "glue" that will hold them together) and frost each side, but staying about an inch away from the edge. I don't want the frosting to show. I used more frosting to "glue" it to stand up on a paper plate, dusted the top with confectioner's sugar and then covered it with Saran Wrap. Tomorrow, this will face the ultimate taste testers, the people from work!

Happy with the day, I went to sleep.