Labor Day Itself

This morning I slept in until 7:00 AM. I had a very restless night. I had two cups of coffee and then started cleaning up the kitchen from last night's supper. I emptied the dishwasher, and then put in the few plates, the three pans from my dredging station, etc. I hand-washed my big skillet and my chef's knife. I washed down the countertops and the stove and then moved on to other things.

I was thinking last night I should have taken pictures of the fall decorations, so I did this morning (in my bathrobe!) I posted those and then got dressed in my shorts and T-shirt. I have a busy day planned (for a change) and wanted to get a few of the more dirty jobs done before I took my shower.

First I stripped the bedding and loaded it into the washer. I got that going, fetched a garden glove and headed out back to the raised bed garden. I pulled out the under-performing green peppers (1 1/2 peppers this year), the non-performing eggplant (nothing) and all the weeds. That mess went into this year's compost heap.

I picked two plum tomatoes that were sorta close to ripe (more orange than red, but I wanted a taste) and three more grape tomatoes (from the topsy-turvy planter) and went back inside to enjoy my fresh breakfast. Yum-o!

I noticed this morning that the long-range forecast had changed. Last time I looked at it the only chance of rain was to be on Wednesday. So, I figured I'd cut the grass (both front and back) this coming Thursday. But, this morning, the Weather Channel showed a chance of rain for the entire next week!

Well, the back lawn can't take five or six days of rain and still be short enough to cut. So, it's not raining yet and that means I need to cut the lawn! I have to be at Jake and Carla's for a Labor Day barbecue, so time is an issue.

I started off cutting the front lawn (which barely needed it) and then heading out back (which did need it). It all got done and by 12:30 PM, I was in the shower.

I had some time, so I thought I'd catch a nap. I set the alarm for 1:30 PM (I have to be at their house by 2:00). But something went wrong (I'm not in the habit of setting the alarm, I guess) and I woke up without an alarm at 2:15 PM! I jumped in the car and drove like crazy!

After some chitchat, we started playing a new card game they'd bought called Twist. The results were somewhat predictable: Carla won, Jake was a close second and I, a distant third.

After that, they started prepping for dinner. Carla had already made the potato salad and Jake made a spicy corn relish (spicy is an understatement, BTW), so Carla started slicing toppings for the burgers while Jake made the patties. My job was to stay out of the way, sitting on a kitchen chair and amusing them with my witty conversation.

Then we went outside while Jake fired up the grille. There was impressive sounding thunder and the occasional lightning going on, but no rain yet. Jake caught a break and it had just started to sprinkle when he finished toasting the burger buns. The 1/3 pound burgers, the natural casing hot dogs and the smoked sausages were already done and resting in the house.

Back inside, we began to assemble our plates. In addition to the corn relish (Did I mention it was HOT!), Carla had made some chipotle mayo for the burgers (definitely spicy, but not over the top and with an excellent taste).

So, I spread the chipotle mayo on the bottom of the toasted bun, then added a burger, a tomato slice, lettuce and onion (I didn't notice and used the diced onion, which was for the hot dogs, instead of the red onion slices - my bad) and finally, yellow mustard. I passed on the pepper-jack cheese to make it a cheeseburger.

I took a double helping of the potato salad (secret ingredient: Worcestershire sauce) and a tentative helping of the spicy corn relish. Even Jake admitted it was a bit TOO spicy (he'd added in a habanera pepper along with the jalapeno peppers), so he suggested topping it with sour cream. Good idea and it worked.

By the time I was finished with my plate, I was full and the hot dogs and smoked sausage were gonna have to be leftovers. I resumed my role as "pater familia," sitting on the kitchen chair while they both cleaned up (I could get used to this, lol!)

The thunder and lightning had continued throughout the meal and clean up (making their dog a bit nervous), but there was still no real rain. I noticed that it was almost 6:00 PM and knew they had to be at work in the morning (not me, man!) so I thanked them (thanks again guys! It was great!!) and then headed home. Before I left, I passed on leftovers (I have a fridge-full), but did agree to take one of the mondo chicken enchiladas they'd made a day or two ago. What intrigued me about this (besides the elaborate preparation they described) was that it did not have a tomato-based sauce.

Judging from the amount of water on the roads, it had rained much harder northeast of their house. I stupidly stopped at CVS to pick up a prescription and found the pharmacy was closed due to the Holiday. So, I went home empty-handed.

I did a little of this-and-that and then started watching an old favorite war movie I'd taped over the weekend (the Guns of Navarone, staring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn). After that, I watched a new "No Reservations" and then went to bed at 11:00 PM.