Door Day, Part III

Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:30 AM (I had a long night's sleep, for a change) and decided to get up. I have to get back into that "work" groove or Monday's gonna suck. Of course, going back to work on Mondays always sucks, come to think of it!

I put a pot of coffee on and, after doing some work on the computer, I went out on the porch and drank my first cup. There was no sign of an overnight rain, but the weatherman on TV said there was still a chance this morning, until noon. So, the first order of business was to water the container gardens. Next was to get everything on the patio that shouldn't get wet back inside. That accomplished, I gratefully hauled the kitty litter box from the office back down to its spot next to the washer.

I noticed this morning that the door handles are upside-down, but according to the instruction pamphlet, this is an easy fix. But, it can wait as I wanted breakfast! So, I emptied the dishwasher and then got scrubbing on the drip pans from the stove that I had been soaking overnight.

Once I had the stove back together, I made myself three soft-boiled eggs, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Time to get er done, so back to work! I cut and installed the now-primed filler strips. Then I cut and installed the new molding. I finished up the work by 11:00 AM and then shaved and showered. I left on my weekend errand run just after 12:30. The places I went to were:

- CVS to pick up the prescriptions I forgot to get yesterday
- Brighthouse to exchange the cable remote (it quit working a couple of days ago, and yes, I did change the batteries, lol).
- The Feed Store for birdseed and suet
- Westborn Market for veggies and cheese
- The Wine Palace for some vermouth (for soup I want to make)

I gave up on going to Meijer's today (for the bulk of grocery shopping). Why? I was beat, it was too hot outside and I had expensive cheese from Westborn in the car.

Back home and after unpacking, I filled the suet cage and the bird feeder. Then I went into the garage and dug out some of those heavy-duty paper leaf bags. Now, you and I know I don't bag my leaves, but they are perfect for putting refuse (like from the back door project) into and then putting the paper bag into a garbage bag. That way the wood scraps, screws, nails, etc, don't punch holes in the plastic garbage bags and the garbage man takes them away without a fuss. So, I cleaned up all the sawdust and debris in the garage which filled a garbage bag full.

I have been troubled by the now-dead vegetation in the driveway. Back in the day on Palms Road, my neighbor, Mr. Dupee, showed me a trick to fix up the crushed limestone (that both he and I had) in the driveway every spring. It involved a six foot wide and about eight foot long piece of chain link fencing. I bolted one end to a 2 x 4 and at the other end I attached some cement blocks. Then I chained it to the old Minneapolis-Moline tractor and dragged it back and forth, up and down the driveway. The vibrating fencing would knock down any high spots and drag them along until the low spots, where they would drop off the gravel.

Now, I don't have a tractor, or a huge section of chain link fencing. But, I do have a garden tractor and about a four-foot wide, three-foot long piece of fencing. So, I got it all set up, with a rope through a metal piece and, instead of the cement blocks, a solid steel bar to give it some weight (see photos). I hooked it up and drove slowly up and down my driveway (until the rope broke). While it did level out the driveway, it had little effect on the now-dead vegetation. So, I was bummed, but, I think I have one trick left up my sleeve: FIRE!!!

Back in the day on the River Road in St. Clair, the upstairs porch (or deck), accessible from the master bedroom started leaking (don't bother to drive by and try and see it, the new owners changed it all around - damn fools). So, Jake and I decided to fix it. We got some thick, rubber-roofing stuff that you had to melt as you were applying it. In order to do that, you needed this torch (aka a flame-thrower) thingie that you attached to a propane tank. It was a pain, but did work to seal the roof.

Now, I still have that, but no propane tank. So, I'm thinking, I could buy a propane tank, hook it up and just toast the dead grass and weeds. Then, I'd blow away the ashes... We'll see...

I used another leaf bag to get everything in the back room and on the patio cleaned up. When I was in the garage, I checked in my root cellar. The heat had turned about 10 pounds of russet potatoes into a soft, sprouting mass. So, those got pitched. There was one lone butternut squash still surviving. So I cut it in half, took out the seeds, added a good-sized pat of butter, some salt and pepper and fresh parsley, oregano and rosemary sprigs into the cavity. I baked that in the toaster oven, set at 375 degrees F., set for an hour, to use another time.

Meanwhile, I sliced up the three yellow summer squash I had just bought and started to fry them in olive oil and butter. I dug out and checked the "use by" date of all the yeast packets I had and they were all "use by 2007." So, they went in the trash and tonight's Sicilian pizza is not going to happen. But the squash, topped with some salt, made a nice late lunch.

I went back out to the garage to clean off my work bench. I have got a ton of tools out and I might as well put them back where they belong. Then I started to put the tools back. I got the air compressor, hose and the nail guns out, along with the Dremel tool. Then I looked at the clock. It was after 6:30 PM and I am tired. I figured the rest of the tool relocation could probably wait until tomorrow, or even next week, so I quit.

I finally got the new remote to work (not easy) and watched a couple of taped cooking shows. Then I turned on the taped Friday Night Fights. About 9:00 PM, I started getting hungry, so I warmed up the last of the spaghetti and meatballs, topped it with Parmigiano-Reggiano and some salt and ate it with great gusto! It tasted even better the third day.

I'm not sure when the fights got over (10:30 or so) but I shut everything off and went to sleep. Well, for a little while, anyway. I was wide awake again at 1:00 AM, so I posted the pictures of the back door project, caught the blog entry up to date (I'll post it in the morning), opened up the bedroom and kitchen windows (its down to 63 degrees F.) and then eventually fell back asleep...