Saturday

I woke up a little early on Saturday, but drank coffee and watched the news for a while. Then I posted the entry for the Blog and went through the rest of my morning rituals (only deviating by eating a slice of buttered zucchini bread instead of oatmeal for breakfast). I had a 9:00 AM haircut scheduled.

I left and got there five minutes early, but it was okay because she was already here (usually, one of us has to wait for the other for a few minutes). When I was done, I started my weekly errands run.

First it was Westborn for some yams. Since I was there, I grabbed two tubs of the Williams Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Spread. Melissa has got me hooked on this stuff. It’s the only place around here I can find it and I know I probably pay too much, but dip a pretzel rod in it and IT IS WORTH IT! Okay, so, eating it as a snack in bed watching TV also leaves crumbs that are uncomfortable later when trying to sleep but, trust me, IT IS WORTH IT!

But, I digress. I also got a head of garlic and another sweet onion.

From there, I went to Home Depot. When I was cleaning out my furnace/water heater closet (What? You don’t?) the other cold, windy day, I noticed a draft coming from where the pipes come through the cement block wall from the air conditioner outside. The furnace is in the way of the only light in the closet, so I couldn’t tell exactly “where” it was coming from. So, today, I picked up some of that foam insulation spray.

Now, from bitter experience I usually only buy the non-expanding stuff (a door frame will go out of plumb or level using the expanding stuff, for example. I know. I been there.), but this time, since it’s a cement block wall, I went with expanding, hoping to seal whatever leaks I might have.

I also picked up two 60 watt-equivalent CLF bulbs, but the kind that still look like a regular light bulb (round, not squiggly). I want to put them in the bathroom, but I don’t want to mar the look the of the antique glass fixtures my Mother gave me that belonged to my Grandmother.

Note to Jake: Remember this when I die. Don’t leave those glass globes in the bathroom. Take them off and give them to somebody in the family who might give a sh*t. There were originally three, but I only needed two, so I gave the other antique one to your Mom. So, either give my two to your mother or ask for the one back. They were from your great-grandmother. Your call.

I also bought two 2 foot by 4 foot white pegboards for the garage redo and a tractor pull-behind lawn de-thatcher because I have a wild idea up my *ss on how to fix my driveway. And, if it doesn’t work, I can always de-thatch my lawn, I suppose.

Next I went to PetSmart and got more cat treats and a 42-pound bag of kitty litter. I thoroughly enjoyed flirting with the young blonde cashier and she seemed like she did too. I mean, come on, its not like she’s a waitress and you’ll give her a bigger tip if she’s nice, right? Let an old man have his fantasies...

Then I drove home. I unloaded a handful of stuff and treated the cats. Then I went back outside for the rest. I stripped the bed while the cat’s were preoccupied and started the weekend wash.

The I replaced the lights in the bathroom. Hmmm... The round bulb does sorta hide the squiggly CFL, but I’m not impressed with how long it takes to get fully lit. I suppose, though, that would be a blessing on some mornings when I need to “ease” into facing myself in the mirror to shave. I dunno... I’m just trying to get green and save some green at the same time.

Next, I got out my rolling walker (I still keep it downstairs, just in case) and rolled it out to the garage and put the kitty litter on it, then rolled it back into the house. I don’t fear picking up a 42 pound bag of litter and putting it into the cart and then into the car. But carrying it for a distance seems fraught with peril for a spinal fusion kinda guy. So, I just roll it (hey, that’s how I roll, man).

Then I went out and started working on the two benches just around noon. I pulled the car back outside and left the garage door open, BTW. We’re not supposed to get any rain (we never got the predicted 8:00 AM rain here, BTW) until tonight and I like the fresh Fall air and the added light. I really need to install windows in my garage door (one of the items on my 2012 projects before I got screwed up).

Speaking of rain, I did check the gauge this morning and we got less than 1/4 inch overnight. We’ll see what develops today. At least I don’t have to worry about the newly sown grass.

But, before I started on the work benches, I had two missions to accomplish. I dug through my little chest freezer in the garage and took out the rest of the bird suet (I had bought a whole carton somewhere, sometime, last year and froze most of it) and a young turkey I got on sale after last Christmas. One of the suet cakes and the turkey I left out to thaw. The other suet cakes went into the fridge.

The next item of the day was to restore my Craftsman socket set. If you remember, I dropped it and sockets and stuff went everywhere. So, I had washed out the case and, when it dried, I sprayed it with WD-40 and let that dry as well. So, today, I am wiping off every socket, extension and ratchet and replacing them. This took a long, long time and I am still missing about half of them (I can only assume they are under the benches or something).

Then I started cleaning the work benches. Here’s how I get around the stupid garbage pickup regulations (but don’t tell anybody): Now, I’m pretty sure that a chunk of wood will disintegrate long before a plastic bottle. So, I feel justified to use a “Lawn and Garden” paper bag inside of a plastic trash bag. I put all my trash in it until its about half full and then just fold it over and tighten up the plastic bag. That goes out to the trash on the pickup day.


So, I got the main work bench done (the one with the tool box and the chop saw) but I went back inside before tackling the small bench (with the band saw and belt sander).

I decided to take the bull by the horns with this “going to bed to early” and just take a nap, so I did.

I slept until after 6:00 PM and woke up refreshed and invigorated. But, not so invigorated that I felt like going back out to the garage and working. So, I pulled the car back in and buttoned everything up for the night.

Back inside, I decided to make some vegetable soup for dinner. First, I sautéed a chopped onion, Then I added a pound of thawed ground chuck and browned that. When it was ready, I added four cups of chicken stock, a handful of fresh thyme leaves and another handful of fresh oregano leaves. A dried bay leaf completed my herbs.

I added half a bag of frozen mixed veggies, two diced redskin potatoes (skin on) and, in a moment of sheer stupidity, a diced fresh butternut squash (I peeled it, dug out the seeds and cubed it). To further compound my error, I put in about a half a pound of elbow macaroni I had left from something or another.

I had to add another whole box of chicken stock to keep it soup. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and dished out a big bowl.

It tasted like crap!

The butternut squash gave it an off flavor that even more salt couldn’t fix. Don’t get me wrong, I ate it and even had a second helping. But, the rest will go in the trash. Bleech! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, FOLKS!

I watched some taped DIY and NCIS shows and then another episode of Breaking BAD. Note to Jake: Now I get it! Tight!

I went to bed at 11:30 PM after the news.