The Saturday Story

I woke up on Saturday morning about 6:30 AM. I was slightly stuffed up from having the window open, but nothing as bad as I get in the springtime. The air felt refreshing (it was 51 degrees F. outside).

I went through my morning routine, except for the shaving and showering. I’ll do that after I get some work done. I put together the weekend ToDo list and then went outside to turn on the sprinkler for the reflecting pool garden area. There is a “slight” chance of rain on Sunday, but nothing predicted for the entire next week.

After the hour timer went off, I moved the sprinkler to the back of the house and raised herb bed gardens. I reset the timer for another hour and went back inside.

Once again the timer went off, but this time I moved it to a new spot. I set it to water the gardens on the south side of the garage. This involved changing the setting on the sprinkler itself (I don’t need to water the empty lot next door) and then a lot of trial and error.

Why do this at all? Because of the cool weather, today’s project is to dig out the gardens and install the same cedar edging that goes around the new garden in back. This will not only tie the look together but finally (finally) kept the gardens on the south side of the garage from creeping onto the sidewalk, like they always do. So, I need the dirt moist and hence the sprinkler.

But, this time I shaved while I waited. I also used the cat shampoo, successfully on Scruffy (he didn’t like me rubbing it in and then toweling it off, but he merely voiced his displeasure) and not so successfully on Caley (I barely got started rubbing it in when she hissed, spit, tried to bite me and ran under the love seat). No amount of coaxing could convince her to come out, so I’m not sure how long the shampoo will stay on her (or what effect leaving it on has). But, I guess its her problem!

When the timer went off, I went out and shut off the water. I disconnected the hose from the oscillating sprinkler and dragged it over to the raise bed garden, so I can use the soaker hose tonight. Then I stood under the dripping trees and took some “Before” photos.

I went back inside and put on my brace and some work gloves. Then I got out my spade (with the measurement painted on), the transfer shovel, a snow shovel (for scraping off the sidewalk when I’m finished) and the wheel barrow.

I worked steadily and got about 2/3 of the way done before my back started hurting (I got one side of the door done and the other one started). Before shutting down for the day, I went and got the hose back. I scraped off the dirt and then hosed the sidewalk down. I also hosed off my crocs and then took the hose out to the garden again. I left the crocs on the patio furniture to dry, took off my soggy socks and walked barefoot back into the house. It was close to 3:30 PM and 71 degrees F, BTW.

I took off my sweaty brace. Then I ate a pain pill and an anti-inflammatory pill, made a cup of coffee and sat on the bed, watching a DIY show and being p*ssed off I couldn’t finish today. But, better safe than sorry (or sore), I suppose.

When I’m feeling better, and my crocs are dry, I’ll take an “After” picture for you.

About an hour later, I felt well enough to take my shower. It felt good to be clean and really good to let the hot water beat on my back. I got dressed in fresh clothes and started a load of clothes in the washer.

I have been jonesing for some pasta, so I started tonight’s dinner by making that marinara sauce from last Sunday, except this time I added a diced green pepper I picked from my garden to the garlic.

Then I made some meatballs. I had a package of Johnsonville Italian sausages (sweet) in the freezer. I don’t remember what dish I bought “sweet” for as I usually buy mild, but anyway, I thawed them out overnight. I took them out of the casings and added one egg (lightly beaten) 1/3 cup of dry breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese (the recipe called for grated, but I had the shredded left over from something else) and about 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F. and lined a half sheet pan with tinfoil. After I mixed all the ingredients together, I made twenty meatballs of roughly the same size. If I had a smaller ice-cream scoop, I would have used that to ensure uniformity, but the one I have would have made the meatballs too big.

Here's a trick I use: Anytime I'm trying to make something all the same size and it doesn't work out right, I just say the dish is "rustic."

Anyway, I stuck them in the oven for 20 minutes. While they were baking, I heated the salted water and made a pound of mostaccioli (I was going to use spaghetti, but found I didn't have any in the cupboard). I put the meatballs into the marinara sauce and let them get happy while I drained the pasta. Then I put everything together in a big bowl, mixed it carefully, so all the pasta got some sauce, but I didn't break any meatballs and then dished myself up a smaller bowl of it. I topped that with fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

It was delicious! I was full, but did have a smaller second helping, just for the taste.

I was watching Jeremiah Johnson for the hundredth time. There’s just something about that movie that speaks to me. During commercials, I hung up my clothes and turned on the water for the soaker hose. I set the timer and, hopefully, it will go off before the mosquitoes come out.

I talked with Jake and Carla. They are really putting the miles on that bike! Which reminded me that I needed to call Carla’s mother to wish her happy birthday (although I was a day late), so I did.

Later on, during another commercial break, I put the rest of the meatballs and pasta away in the fridge and, when the timer went off, I turned off the hose for the night.

Inside, I processed the photos for tomorrow’s posting. I did the dishes that were left. Then I went back and watched TV until bedtime.