Humping it on Hump Day

Weather-wise, Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, only hotter (are you sensing a pattern here?)

I did run an errand at lunch, but this one wasn’t mission-critical. I’m just getting low on lump charcoal, so I went up to Gordon Food Service (GFS) and bought two 20-pound bags of it. Those are the “big” bags, as lump charcoal is pretty lightweight. I browsed a bit, remembering the good old days when I was more of a cook than a handyman.

The only other thing I bought was a box of powder-free latex gloves. They come in handy when handling raw chicken (or when either creating or processing a crime scene, but that’s another story).

When I got home after work, I did the mid-week wash while I watched the news. When the washer was finished, the clothes went in the dryer and I went in the back yard. I hooked up the square-head sprinkler and watered the vegetable garden for an hour.

The kitchen tile not only had marks from moving appliances and hutches, but glue from the old tiles that had wafted across the new, then picked up dust, dirt and/or cat hair. I’ve been ignoring it and putting it off for a while (concentrating on getting the tile down first) but today it was time to address the problem.

So, I got a rag and a container of mineral spirits and a bucket of hot water and Pine-Sol with a sponge. I opened the kitchen window all the way and turned on all the fans.

Then I washed nine tile squares at a time, first rubbing them with the mineral spirit rag and then the sponge and Pine-Sol mixture. It was a stinky mess and had to be done on hands and knees (never easy for me, but especially not now).

And, for some unknown reason, during this time, my next door neighbor starting setting off fireworks (I heard they are legal here in Michigan now). I know this because when the first “boom” rattled my windows, I got up and looked. Now, these were the rocket type that burst into colored patterns in the air.

What’s weird is that its not the 4th of July and its not dark out! I didn’t understand and didn’t ask. I was busy.

I finished the floor about 15 minutes after the timer went off, but the extra water won’t hurt the veggies. I went out and turned off the water, but didn’t bother with rolling up the hose.

I went back inside and cleaned up as best I could downstairs, repeatedly washing my hands and arms, so I could hang up my pants and shirts without making them smell like mineral spirits.

I walked across the damp floor, getting my socks wet, and carried the clothes to the bedroom. I watched TV until the floor was completely dry.

Then I shut off all the fans, closed the window and made a pound of ground chuck into sloppy joes. It was getting late and I was getting hungry.

I used sourdough bread instead of buns (not because I was being cool, but because that’s all I had) and ate two sandwiches for my dinner. I cleaned up that mess and put away the leftover sloppy joe mixture.

The last thing I did before retiring to my bed for the night was to get out the Wet-Jet and wash the entire kitchen floor again, trapping myself in the bedroom/bathroom area.

I fell asleep watching TV and didn’t wake up until 1:30 AM! I turned off the TV and the light and went to bed for real.