I Think I Got Ripped Off

(but I think it’s my own damn fault!)

I woke up stiff and sore to the alarm on Monday morning. Oddly enough, although my back did hurt, it was my arms, shoulders and legs that were killing me (that attic ladder is murder on knees).

I left for work a half hour early (to compensate in part for the two hour window I might be gone at lunchtime), I was the first one at the building and, thankfully, remembered the code to shut the alarm off. I made a pot of coffee and got to work.

I left for home a few minutes before noon and, when I got there, nobody was there (of course). So, I didn’t even park, I just turned around and went down the street to Arby’s. I have wanted to try their new warm turkey club sandwich for a while now, so I ordered one. Naturally, when I got back home (less than five minutes later), they were there and just calling my cell.

So, I left lunch in the car and opened the garage door to show them what I wanted hauled away. They took one look and the head guy explained that I had paid for 1/7th of a truckload, which he said was about a 1/4 of what I had lined up!

So, I need to pay for the extra space if I wanted them to take it all. So, he did some calculating and, based on a full truck load dollar amount, minus what I had already paid for, I owed them another $359.00! Since I had everything stacked up and taking the space for my car, what choices did I have, really?. But, rather than guessing what 1/7th of a truck amounted to, I should have asked cubic feet or size or something. I damn sure didn’t want to carry it all back up into the attic, so I gave them the money (well, I gave them my credit card number) and they put it all in the truck

Note to Carl, they do recycle as they put all the metal in one spot, wood in another, trash in the middle and the cardboard all on the end. They even swept the garage floor and then they left. It took them about 20 minutes, tops.

I got my lunch sack and ate it watching the rest of the noon-time news. The sandwich was excellent, BTW. I went back to work and was there well before 1:00 PM.

The afternoon passed pretty quickly and soon I was headed home again. It was a beautiful day, BTW, though it’s all supposed to end tonight after midnight.

I parked the car on the side lawn and took out my electric blower. I blew out the garage as best as I could and then blew the junk and leaves out to the street. Then I pulled the car in and shut the door. The cats were ticked, though, because they had to wait for their treats.

I put together the last of the trash and put the can and that little wicker table out to the road. If I’m lucky (or I guess, if they’re lucky) the people who took the chairs will notice the table and take it, too. We’ll see.

Back inside, I returned some calls and answered some emails. I took out some brats and a porterhouse steak I had thawed to let it come up to room temperature. Then I went out in front and watered the newly sown grass again.

I locked everything up out front and went out back. I started the charcoal chimney and then used the hose to water the new grass by the edging. I also wet down the side of the raised bed garden nearest the state park grille (I always do). I’m pretty sure it’s far enough away that there’s no danger of it scorching, but there’s no sense taking chances.

When the coals were ready, I spread them out, cleaned the grate and oiled it. Then I grilled the brats. I pulled them off and threw on the steak, seasoned with just salt and pepper again. Once it was done, I took it inside, added a pat of butter on top and let it rest a bit. I peeled and rough-chopped those three hard-boiled eggs and added them to a container of deli potato salad (mustard, this time).

The steak was delicious, the potato salad was good (not great) and I ate them both watching some TV. I cleaned up the minimal mess in the kitchen (that is one of the best things about grilling outside – you don’t mess up your kitchen inside!) and put the cooled off brats in the fridge with the rest of the potato salad.

Back in the bedroom, I was looking at the TV listing and trying to decide between a regular show, a taped show or another episode of Breaking Bad. I looked at the clock and it was a little after 9:00 PM.

I decided that as sore as I was, what I really wanted to do was take a pain pill and go to sleep, so I did that, instead.