The Day after Earth Day

It was sunny, without a cloud in the sky when I left for work on Thursday morning. Not that warm, just yet. The high is supposed to be only 60 degrees F., today. But the next few days are supposed to be in the 80's!

We take what we can get in Michigan.

At lunch, I swung by Westborn Market to get more apples and veggies, cheese and herbs for the weekend.

I also stopped at Gordon Foods to pick up some more natural hardwood charcoal. As I was doing that, I was accosted by a small, elderly gentleman with a heavy Italian accent. He asked my why I was buying this type of charcoal. I explained it's more natural than charcoal briquettes, with less "yuck" in it. He explained that he had recently bought a smoker to make homemade Italian sausage and had used Kingsford charcoal briquettes (as he thought they were the best), but was not happy with the end product. He said it had a bit of an oily taste he didn't like.

Recognizing a kindred soul, I explained about natural charcoal and also how to purchase and use a charcoal lighter chimney, rather than using charcoal lighter fluid. It took a while with the little language barrier, but he seemed very grateful when we finished. For my part, I was happy to have helped a fellow pilgrim.

Back home at 5:15 PM, I noticed all the electronic clocks were flashing. Hmmm... I must have lost power during the day (that explains why I couldn't remote to my home computer this afternoon). So I reset them all and rebooted the computer.

Then I started working on tonight's mini-ToDo list. I took out the last pork loin and the remaining beef tip steak from the freezer to thaw for the weekend (oh, I got plans). I pulled out the leftovers for tonight's dinner to let them come to room temperature.

Then I checked to make sure the shutoff for the hot water under the sink was opened all the way (it was). I am having a problem with low water pressure at the kitchen faucet with the hot water only. And, yet, when I check the upstairs main bathroom sink and tub (all of which are further away from the hot water heater), the pressure is fine. WTF? Unfortunately, they are all copper pipes, so I can't "open" them to check it out).

I started a load of whites (my bathrobe, the downstairs bath mat, the bath towel and the kitchen towels). Then I went in to fill in the Blog. Back in the kitchen, I washed up the big pots and pans from last night and put the rest in the dishwasher. I swapped the clothes from the washer into the dyer.

Then I took off the shower curtain, which was starting to show signs of mold (a common problem, in this bathroom). I put that in the washer with some detergent and a healthy slug of beach. I turned it on "hot" water and washed it on a small load.

Back upstairs, I put the remaining garlic mashed potatoes in a Pyrex bowl and heated them in the microwave. Next, I put the remaining store-bought chicken gravy in another glass bowl and then reheated that. Finally, I wrapped the last two chicken thighs in wax paper and zapped them. I played with it all a bit, but it was after 7:30 PM when I finally plated dinner.

I ate it watching "Jeopardy" and then cleaned up my mess. The wash machine buzzer went off, so I took the dripping shower curtain and hung it back up (you don't want to dry a shower curtain in the dryer, in my world).

Then I went and watched TV until bedtime.