Slowed Down Sunday...

I woke up at 5:30, but got up at 7:00 AM. Why? Well, I got two new magazines in the mail yesterday and stayed in bed to read them. Nice way to spend a Sunday morning. Yeah, I know, my more intellectual friends are probably reading the New York Times, but I hate newspapers (except for starting my lump charcoal).

I got the lawn watered and the Blog posted, and then made a fresh pot of coffee. Then I started filling out my Fall ToDo list (I still haven't been making my normal weekly one, BTW), noting all the remaining stuff to do before the onset of winter here in Redford. Geesh, that's a lot of work! But, the coffee's good and "thinking about work" beats the hell out of "doing the work," I suppose.

However, all that prep work didn't really inspire me. Once I'd shaved and showered, I did go out and plug up the yellow jacket hole. But, not with mortar, yet. Since, earlier this summer, I killed one in my entry way and Jake killed another two later, I'm worried they might come indoors if they can't get out. My friend B___ suggested plugging the hole with steel wool, temporarily, to see what happens. That way, I can take the plug back out, if necessary. So, that's what I did.

Then I went out back and filled the bird feeder. I also got the Shoalin Monk statue and the Japanese lantern and put them on the patio to dry their bottoms (that turned out to be a mistake, later). I also pulled my little trailer around by hand for a bit (difficult, but not impossible) as somebody told me you had to do that every now and then to keep the wheel bearings well greased. I would have done it to the sail boat trailer, too, but one of the tires was flat...

Back inside, I sort of un-made my bed, so I could spin the mattress around (I forgot to do that yesterday). With my old mattress, I would do that and flip it over every third time. But this one's got that silly "pillow-top" thing, so flipping it over is not an option. But, I am firmly convinced that moving it makes it last a lot longer, as you are not continually lying on the same spot and breaking it down.

I gave into my lazy self in the afternoon and watched yet another John Wayne movie, Rio Bravo. While I would like to think I was the character portrayed by John Wayne, Dean Martin or even Ricky Nelson, I realized the person I most closely resembled was Stumpy, played by Walter Brennan! That was a bit depressing!!

For my dinner, I got out the thawed pound of ground chuck and formed it into two big patties. I let them come up to room temperature while I sauteed some onion slices and mushrooms. I put those in a bowl and seared the two fatty-patties. When I had both sides done, I topped them with the onions and mushrooms and stuck them in the oven to finish.

Meanwhile, I went outside and grabbed some chives. I cut them up into a bowl and added the leftover mashed potatoes from the fridge. To that, I put in two eggs and some flour and mixed it all together. Then I put some peanut oil in another saut� pan and made some of Fran's potato cakes. I hit them with salt and put them on a rack over paper towels when they were finished.

Finally, I plated my food and topped the ground beef, onions and mushrooms with some A-1 steak sauce. I wandered in to watch my Sunday shows... Oh, no, they are either not on tonight or are reruns!!! I watched some stupid other shows and went to bed at 10:00 PM in disgust.

That turned out to be a mistake, as I woke up at 2:00 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. I noticed it was unusually warm (67 degrees F.) instead of the temps in the 40 degrees we've been having recently. I also noticed it was raining like hell (since the monk and lantern were still lying on the patio, that's not so good).

So, I put my pants and shirt on, fixed a drink and grabbed my stale pack of Pall Malls and went out on the front porch to sit for a spell. I finally fell back asleep about 5:00 AM...