The Tuesday Tale

I didn’t run into any trains on the way to work, so I arrived there nice and early. I got a cup of coffee and got to work.

At lunch, I had errands to run in Westland, so I stopped at the Newburgh Grill and had a cup of bean with ham soup (my favorite, as you probably know) and a turkey sandwich on a fresh croissant. It WAS hot, but at least I didn’t drive over any bombs...

At 5:30 PM, the news said it was 102 degrees F. at Metro, breaking the record of 101, set in 1887!

I rolled in the garbage can and got out the watering can. I hand-watered all the container gardens in the front yard. Then I went out back and hooked up the oscillating sprinkler to water the raised herb bed and the new garden in the back of the house. Again, the gusty winds were a problem for proper sprinkler placement.

I went back inside to the cool (well, I say that, but it was 79 degrees inside – my A/C just couldn’t keep up) and set the timer for one hour.

I checked out the screws I bought from Home Depot and decided I could go with the #8 2 2/1 long ones. Which was good, because then I didn’t have to drill out the holes in the aluminum uprights. But, it did mean I had WAY too big holes drilled into the tile walls.

So, I went with Plan B. I used my wood dowel to measure the depth of each hole and wrote it on the tile next to it with a pencil. Then I cut each dowel to the right size (each hole was a different depth, obviously), applied some Elmer’s carpenter glue to all the surfaces and pounded them into the holes until they were flush. I will have to let them dry (at least for a day) before I can go any further.

About halfway through this part of the project, the timer went off, so I went out and reset the sprinkler to water the gardens around the reflecting pool. I reset the timer and finished the dowel insertion.

I was rethinking my choice of glue, however. If it was just wood, the carpenter glue would be perfect. But, there is also ceramic tile and the cement board it needs to bond with. If this doesn’t work, I’ll drill out these dowels and try again with Liquid Nails or something.

Dinner was a Puerto Rican dish Vicky’s mother, Evy (the one who I made the truck planter for), sent me. In Spanish, it is called “arroz con pollo y alubias blancas” which in English means its rice mixed with shredded chicken and white beans with potatoes. She carefully kept the beans and potatoes in some sauce separate in a baggie (apparently the bean/potato/sauce stored with it makes the rice soggy or something) and I was supposed to mix it all together before reheating it.

So, I did just that, then heated it up in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. I stirred it and then put it back another 1 1/2 minutes. I let it set for a couple of minutes after the timer went off to get happy and then ate it.

It was delicious! It was spicy, but not hot like Mexican food. I originally estimated that she had sent enough for two meals, but I ended up eating it all! It really was that good.

When the timer went off, I went out and disconnected the sprinkler, reeled in the hose and shut up the house for the night.

I was starting to worry about the air conditioner running 24/7, so I turned the thermostat up to 80 and it finally shut off. It was warm inside, but not that uncomfortable and the sun had gone down. I turned on the fan in my bedroom to get the air moving.

I did run the dishwasher, though. It was almost full and I wanted to bring back Evy’s dish in the morning. When it went to the drying cycle, I turned on the stove fan to exhaust the heat a little.

I watched TV until the news ended. Then I turned off the fan and turned in.