Friday

Friday morning, it had apparently rained hard during the night (this time I slept through it!) and still looked hazy. When I left work at lunchtime I could see it had rained again. I went home and made a can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup to eat. Then I went to Building 50 to scope out a project and stopped at Building 7 to talk with Facilities.

Back at work, I left the car all buttoned up in spite of it being 84 degrees F. (due to the fear of yet another rain shower). So, naturally, when I left at 5:00 PM, it hadn’t rained and the car was an oven!

Back home, I noticed the lilac was starting to bloom, so I walked over to smell them. Then I noticed my shoes weren’t wet, even though I walked through the grass. So, I went in the house, treated the cats and changed clothes.

I went back outside, gassed up the push mower and cut the front lawn (it needed it again – with all this rain, its growing fast!) I would have liked to cut the backyard, but the lake has returned somewhat.

Back inside, I returned Melissa’s call. We chatted for a while, but she mostly called to remind me I need to have copies made of the Orion keys for her upcoming visit. I assured her that my keys are on the kitchen table. I just need to find the time to get to the locksmith. One key is an antique (go figure) and only a locksmith carries them.

After we hung up, I thought briefly about making dinner, but it seemed like a lot of work. I would have just made a sandwich, but I’m out of bread. I looked in the fridge, but I just had a pickle for dinner last night, so I said to hell with it.

I started a load of laundry with my shirts, pants and socks for work.

I took a semi-thawed beef tip roast out of the fridge and cut it into thin strips. Then I made up a marinade, loosely based on one I found in a recipe called “Amos’s Beef Jerky.” That recipe is quite amusing, BTW. For example, it calls for 1/2 glass of young, full-bodied red wine in the marinade. Well, later on, it says “Drink rest of wine bottle” and the recipe ends by saying “This recipe is best executed while listening to a fall 1970 Grateful Dead show.”

Anyway, I put in one cup Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of ground ginger, three cloves of minced garlic, a teaspoon of rosemary leaves (that I crushed) 1 1/2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and the aforementioned half glass of wine.

I would have put the meat and marinate in a gallon Ziplock bag, but I’m out of them, too. So, I put them both in my big Tupperware bowl, put the lid on it, shook it all around and stuck it in the fridge. I cleaned up the counter, put the clothes in the dryer and went in to watch some TV.

When the dryer shut off, I hung up my shirts (not that it matters, they all have to be ironed) and pants, shut off the TV and went to bed.