Wednesday's Woes

I made the mistake of going to Kroger's at lunch today. I realized I was out of eggs. I should have been tipped off by the number of cars in the lot, but it wasn't until I was inside I realized the magnitude of the "day before Thanksgiving" problem. There were people EVERYWHERE and everybody had a frozen turkey in their cart. I grabbed a dozen eggs and waiting far too long in the express lane.

It was a long day at work, too. People kept leaving early until, by 4:30 PM, I think there were only four of us left in the building. I myself left at five minutes to 5:00, not because I was in any hurry, I just didn't want to be the last one in the building. I couldn't remember how to set the burglar alarm, lol.

I had to take Jake to the Enterprise car rental place after work. His VW Jetta has some wiring problems and keeps turning the air bag off. Since the problem cannot be solved today, the dealership graciously said they would give him a rental car.

So, I dropped him off and, after a bit of a wait, went home. I got there about 6:00 PM, just missing my Mom's call, thanking me for the Thanksgiving bouquet I sent her. I deliberately didn't call her back, thinking they would be eating dinner.

I did the mid-week laundry and started getting stuff out for tomorrow's side dishes. I am bringing a traditional dish (honey glazed carrots) and a switch from the traditional mashed potatoes (Prosciutto-wrapped Roasted Garlic Potato medallions). Since I will have to finish these at Jake and Carla's, there is a bunch of stuff I need to bring besides the dishes themselves. Such as: a lemon, basil-infused olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a 1/4 cup of fine diced fresh, flat leaf parsley and so on...

It was already after 8:00 PM when I started to think about dinner. Now, I have a beautiful big eggplant sitting here, that last poached chicken breast and other things I could make a damn fine dinner with. But, I don't feel like it. For some reason, I am deeply depressed and have been all day.

I keep thinking about the Palms Road house (the one I sold to my neighbor so I could buy the house in St. Clair). That was my last real attempt to live as a "homesteader" (as they called it in the 60's). I raised chickens, rabbits and pigs and had about a half acre garden. I had a monster Minneapolis-Moline tractor and borrowed my neighbor's plow and disc to work up the land. I planted the rest of the two acres in clover and, in the fall, used a hand scythe to cut hay, and then piled it up into an old-fashioned hay stack to feed the animals. We had one shed that came with the property and dragged a brooder house on skids from my neighbors house to mine. We had a a pole barn built big enough for two cars and an office for Luanne to do her writing in.

I had driven by it a couple of times since we moved, but not since I saw they built a two-story modern home right next to it. And, once I heard the house had burned down, never again. I feel you only diminish the past when you try to re-create it.

Be that all as it may, I do need to eat. I took the easy way out and opened a can of beef stew that I ate with some bread.

I watched Top Chef and went to bed at 11:00 PM.