Saturday's Story

I guess I went to bed too early Friday night, as I woke up at 4:30 AM on Saturday. All my efforts to go back to sleep failed, so I put a pot of coffee on and read until it was light out.

Then I resumed the weekend washing. While the shirts were drying and the pants were washing, I made myself some breakfast: Bacon, eggs and toast.

(Messy, but yummo!)

I cleaned up the kitchen and then shaved and showered. I got dressed watching the morning news and then put together a box to mail to Dave and Melissa. In it I included a magazine Missy and I had talked about and some paperbacks.

The article in the magazine was about a drug dealer (and not a very nice person) but he talks about the most effective way to beat somebody up with a baseball bat (Melissa’s weapon of choice for intruders). Mine is of course, as you probably know already, a shotgun loaded with double-ought buckshot. It’s a lot less work and a lot more devastating.

Note to Melissa: While not going “Brogan” here (it apparently entails too many questions) I must admit I knew about the Doberman thing and the “running towards the guy with the gun” thing. I even knew about “running a guy over with your car” feeling (it was back when I was dating your Mom). But I never heard anything about using a baseball bat. LOL! Enjoy!!

Anyway, I thought of just mailing her the page, but I realized there was a very interesting article about Mohammed (sp) Ali that I thought Dave might be interested in. He and I shared a deep respect for Ali. Ignore Amy and her Mike Tyson infatuation. We who were there back in the day KNOW who the “Greatest!” is.

I also included three of the latest John Sandford novels I had bought. Why? Well, two reasons. I thought his Lucas Davenport novels had ended, and Melissa was the one who turned me onto them back in the day. But, recently I learned he is writing more of them (so to speak) with the hero, Virgil Flowers, who “works” for Lucas Davenport. So, I thought I’d return the favor and let her read the newest stuff (if she’s still interested).

So, I wrapped it up, addressed it and headed out, stopping at the Post office first.
It took a while standing in line, but I finally got the box mailed. It made me smile when the postal worker asked if I worked part-time wrapping packages. Because,
after mailing stuff here and there over the years, I do know what to do!

Running north on Beech-Daly to the Library, I stopped at a Scottish bakery at 5-mile and Beech Daly. Now, my physical therapist had told me (years ago) about a fantastic lamb pie they sold. I pulled in and asked about the lamb pie. The lady said, “So, you’d be wanting the beef pie?” (insert cute Scottish accent here) I said no, the lamb pie. She said they’d stopped making them years ago and the only thing they had with mutton was haggis. I asked to see a “haggis” and she brought one out. It’s a mutton and oatmeal thingie in a big ball. She said it was really rich and is served only as a side dish, so I bought two beef pies, instead.

Damn! I really wanted to taste the lamb pie!

She put them in a box and wrapped it with some string. When the last time you were in a bakery and they wrapped the box with string?

I hit the library and found that not only had my card expired (they apparently expire every year now) but that I owed $1.60 in past due fines! So, I paid my fine, renewed my card and got four books (three John Sandford and one Ernest Hemmingway), Then I headed out to Kroger’s.

Before I got there, I stopped at a Sunoco and filled up my tank for the next two weeks or so.

I got everything on the list at Kroger, except for the Dearborn-brand thick-sliced bacon. They don’t carry it, although they carry other Dearborn brand items. I was hoping to find another source for that bacon besides Westborn (it’s a bit pricy there). After paying my tab, I headed out the door.

I got home around 11:30 PM, treated the cats and then put away the groceries. I started to peruse my library books. Here’s my dilemma: My father would have said, “Hey we have sh*t to do on the ToDo list, so let’s get going!” My Mother, on the other hand, would have said, “Hey, I have new books to read!” I guess I am my Mother’s son, as I started to read a book...

It was about that time that I heard the back-pack blowers outside. I went out and talked with the guys. They said it wasn’t easy as a lot of the black walnuts were pressed into the ground (hey, I had to cut the grass, right?) but that they would get it done. The last time I looked out, one guy had abandoned his blower and was raking the nuts onto a tarp. The other guy was still trying to blow the damn things up and out of the lawn.

I went back to reading...

It was around 2:00 PM that I finally noticed I didn’t hear the blowers. Great, I thought – They are finished. But, when I walked outside, I saw the driveway (which was littered with nuts) was still littered and the side lawn hadn’t been touched. WTF?

Did I not explain I wanted the “entire” front lawn cleaned good enough? Did they just go to lunch and would be back (that didn’t happen, BTW). Did they do $65 worth of work and then called it quits? If so, why didn’t they ring the doorbell and ask me for more money? I would have paid it.

So, now I’m totally p*ssed. This is going to be an ugly phone call on Monday. Forget sociopathic, we are talking about psychotic, here!

I went back to reading...

My Brother Jim called about 5:30 PM. He said there was nothing much new to talk about (same here). He asked about Jake and Carla and I said they seemed to be doing fine.

He did floor me when he said that he was selling his accounting firm (the one he started and has had for like 30-40 years now). But, as much as I dislike it, things change, I suppose...

I went back to reading...

About 10:00 PM, I started to get hungry. So, I made some baked potatoes. I must say here that I’ve tried a LOT of different methods of baking a potato. When I was a lad, my Mother just stuck them in the oven. To eat them, you cut them in half and scooped out the potato. This left you with two of the crunchy skin cups. I would add in some butter, salt and pepper and eat them. The butter would run down your chin but they tasted perfect!

But, as time passed, I started experimenting. I’d poke holes in them with a fork (so they didn’t explode in the oven – it happens) and then cover them with shortening, or butter, or oil, etc., before baking them. I’ve even covered them with foil and threw them on the hot coals of a grille (easy to screw up and burn, but excellent when done right). You will notice I haven't mentioned microwaving them (I've done that, too, but that's not "baking" a potato, that's just warming them up).

The best baked potatoes I think I ever had (other than my Mom’s, of course) were in an obscure restaurant in a strip mall in Auburn Hills. I’ll have to ask James at work what the name was, as one day we were talking about baked potatoes and he knew exactly the place!

They were huge (think Mr. Potato Head-size), covered with pine rosin (sp) and you could get them topped with anything you wanted. Even chili, although I only tried them with butter, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, sliced green onions and bacon crumbles. They were more than enough by themselves for lunch and the skin was fantastic.

But, I digress (when I want to digest). These potatoes were not huge, just your normal sized russet potatoes. I poked them with a fork, rubbed them with Canola oil and seasoned them with Kosher salt. I had arranged the oven racks with one in the middle and the other under it. I stuck a half sheet pan on the bottom rack (to catch any drips) and put the potatoes on the middle one in the preheated 350 degree oven. After 30 minutes (it takes an hour for baked potatoes) I stuck in the two beef pies. 30 minutes more, I plated dinner.

I split one of the potatoes, added butter and sour cream and topped it with some fresh cut chives.

The pie was good and sort of reminded me of the Michigan pastie. But, it was made in puff pastry, not the pie dough like a pastie.

I stuck everything else in the fridge after it cooled and then went back to reading...