A Hot One!

It was a hot day on Tuesday. It was already 70 degrees F. when I woke up to the alarm clock, with the predicted high in the mid 90’s! And, it was supposed to be worse on Wednesday (which is the official start of summer, according to the calendar).

I wanted to find that extra-long gold metal stair tread nose I need, so I went to the Newburgh Grille at lunchtime, with Lowe’s being the next stop. I forgot for a moment which Coney Island I was at and ordered the gyro special with bean soup. The waitress pointed out that the special was a gyro and a mini-Greek salad. Since that was too much food for me (and I what I really wanted was the bean and ham soup) I picked another lunch special, a turkey sandwich on a croissant with a cup of soup.

I had finished the soup and was starting on the sandwich (which was very good, with warm turkey, melted cheese, lettuce and mayo) when I was joined by two of my co-workers, Michelle and Vicky. They took my walker out of the other side of the booth (which is where I always stash it to keep it out of everyone’s way) and sat down.

I apologized that I couldn’t stay through their lunch because I had to still go to Lowe’s. But, it was a nice change to have company at lunch for a little while, anyway. We all agreed to do it again sometime when I didn’t have errands to run.

My Lowe’s trip didn’t result in me finding what I needed, however. They only had the size I already bought. The salesman said that my original molding was an old size (hey, it’s an old house) and suggested I might find it online. I went back out into the heat and humidity (it was 91 degrees F. at 12:45 PM) and back to work.

I did get back in time to look around online, but couldn’t find what I needed. I did, however, have a brilliant idea (if it works): I will try and use the flat gold carpet strips (that you put between two rooms with different color or style carpets) to face the edge of the stairs and then my too-short tread nose to cover the tile and meet the carpet strip. I figure that, since it’s just two stairs, unless you were lying down on the floor, you’d never notice it. We’ll see...

I went out into a blast furnace at 5:00 PM (there was a definite wind, but even it was hot). Once home, I turned on the TV after treating the cats and the weatherman said we had tied the all-time record of 95 degrees today!

So, the first order of business was to water the container gardens in front. I not only watered them, but also the begonias planted in the front garden (which are doing poorly, especially when compared to the ones in the window box in back) and the one iris I moved when I got those other ones dug out for my Brother Carl.

I did fill up the window box out back, but decided not to water anything else with the sun beating on them (the front of the house is mostly in shade at this time of the day). I used my Velcro ties to direct one of the morning glories that sprouted towards the arbor and attached all the tomatoes to the bottom rung of the wooden trellis.

I went back inside and, since it was 6:30 PM, I watched the NBC Nightly News. Then I went and replaced six more tiles, cutting and fitting two of them. I had to stop then and start the charcoal for the grille.

Did I want to grill in this heat? No, but I have had a pack of brats and two thin-cut round steaks thawing in the fridge since Saturday and I figured I had to use them or lose them. While the coals were heating, I watered the back-of-the-house garden and the raised herb bed. Since its close to the grille, I like to get the cedar boards wet, just in case.

I seasoned the two thin round steaks (I haven’t got a plan on how to use them yet – I thought of cutting them into strips and putting them on tortillas with sautéed green peppers, onions and mushrooms) with just salt and pepper. The steaks and the brats were coming up to room temperature while the coals were getting hot.

Finally, everything was ready. I scraped and oiled the grate and put the brats on first (I figured they would take the longest to cook). When they were about half done, I moved them to the back and did each steak. I only grilled the steaks about two minutes on a side as they were only about 1/4 inch thick and I didn’t want them tough.

When both steaks were done, so were the brats, so I pulled everything off and took them in the house to rest while I cleaned up everything I used and moved the grate to the lowest setting (to burn off any stuck-on stuff).

I was going to have a brat, but the steaks smelled so good, I ate one of those instead. I had made a side salad, so it was a pretty filling and excellent dinner. When the rest of the meat was cool, I put the brats in one baggie and the steak in another and stuck them in the fridge.

It was almost 9:00 PM at that point, so I watched TV until after the 11:00 PM news and then went to sleep. It was still 80 degrees F. outside at that point, BTW.