Road Trip

I woke up on Sunday at 6:30 AM. I posted the Blog entry and a couple of pictures and then started my Sunday routine. I shaved, but I’ll shower later (closer to the time I am leaving). I did throw on some work clothes and made a quick trip to Home Depot. I got a cedar board, a hinge and some plexiglass (well, technically it’s a polycarbonate sheet made by Lexan) so I can make the new squirrel feeder. I didn’t take the time to look for thin copper, though. I can do that some other time.

After eating my usual breakfast, taking my pills and refilling the pill box, I started making soup. Today is the family gathering for the anniversary of my Mother’s birthday. It is potluck and I had a great plan for some sandwiches: beer brat subs (fresh brats, boiled in beer and apples, then grilled and cut lengthwise. These are put on sliced baguettes, covered with sauerkraut and then topped with a melted cheese with diced, pickled
jalapenos sauce.

But, I wrote to my Brother Carl and, considering the weather, he suggested the mushroom barley soup as a better alternative (plus, I would have had to grill the brats in the rain yesterday).

So, this morning, I was making a double batch of the soup. I unfortunately used too small of a pot, so I had to transfer everything to my mid-sized stock pot (so, more work cleaning up, dammit!)

The only thing I did different was to use fresh shiitake mushrooms and also some oyster mushrooms along with the baby bellas. Well, I take that back: I also found “quick-cooking barley” (Quaker Oats makes it) so I did the 12 minute simmer thing at the end this time. I strained some of the broth and put it in a thermos I got down from the attic and rinsed out, so I could fill my slow cooker to a level I felt wouldn’t spill on the upcoming road trip. I’ll add it back when I get there. I also taped down the top with masking tape, just in case.

But, by 11:30 AM, the soup was ready and in the slow cooker on “warm”. I also put a soup ladle, a power strip (in case there aren’t enough plugs), plastic bowls and spoons and a couple of empty containers (so if there’s any left, I can give it away rather than take it home and have to eat it all week) in a bag. I’m also taking the thermos of broth and a basket to put individual packets of oyster crackers in for those who might want them. I set the slow cooker on the front seat floor covered with a big bath towel to keep warm. Then I headed out about 12:30 PM.

It was sprinkling on and off all the way there, but traffic was light and I got there about 15 minutes early. Imagine my surprise to see some sort of big commotion with balloon and flags and a bandstand and every parking space full! WTF?

I had to pee really bad with the morning coffee, the long ride and the rain combination, so I stopped in at the St. Mary’s Recreation Center and used their facilities. They were all set for “something” so the door was unlocked.

Then as I went back out onto the road to look for a spot (no way could I carry that slow cooker filled with soup a 1/4 mile). As luck would have it, somebody had just pulled out from in front of the place, so I pulled in. The political rally (or whatever it was) was breaking up and people were walking over to the St. Mary’s Rec Center, so I guess I timed that just right.

But, when I went to get the soup, I saw that it had indeed spilled over and onto the carpet. Unfortunately, spilled mushroom and barley soup looks just like throw-up. Nice! My Brother Jim met me halfway and insisted on taking in the soup, so I went back for everything else.

Once inside and having greeted those closest to the door, I added the broth back into the soup, gave it a quick stir and took the thermos bottle back out to the car.

Then I came back inside and started making the rounds. There weren’t as many people there as in the past, but the noise volume was the same and it was as hot inside as it always is. Outside was windy and rainy, but still warm.

Observations:

- All the little kids whose names I had trouble with are now teenagers and I have even more trouble sorting them out.
- There’s a whole new crop of little kids whose names I have trouble with.
- Once again there was a LOT of food and consequently, a LOT of leftovers. - When my son Jeremy (he was there with my grand daughter Riese) left, he didn’t take his chicken wraps with him. Kathy (Joe’s wife) insisted on me taking at least four with me. So, I did.
- My brother Carl is a great (as in really good) great grampa.
- My brother Joe was telling me he finally looked at some German books my mother had given him years ago when she moved out of the 24-Mile Road house. He said one “appears” to be some sort of college report (maybe a book report) written and illustrated by my Dad. My father was an excellent illustrator, BTW, and he said some of the drawing were quite elaborate while other deliberately cartoon-ish. I was interested and suggested he get it translated somewhere.
- It was shocking to see how gray Jason and John’s (my sister Anne’s sons) hair was, but not their older brother Russell’s. Weird.
- Bringing along some containers was smart as it allowed me to give 8 cups of soup to my brother Carl, thus reducing the possibilities for spillage on the return trip. Although a lot of people ate it (and liked it) there was a lot left.
- While it was great to see the people I did, I missed seeing the others who couldn’t come. Living far away, and being somewhat anti-social anyway, it’s the only time I ever seen most of these people. My sister-in-law Jean (Pete's wife) for example: Her son Mark (who was there with Anna), said he had talked to her just before the party. She said her legs were bothering her and, although she wanted to, she wasn't coming. I can understand that (if anybody could understand that, I can), but I would have loved to see her again.


I packed up and left about 4:30 PM. It was sprinkling on the way home on I-94, but it started really raining hard when I got onto I-96. So, I didn’t get home until about 6:00 PM. I treated the cats, put the chicken wraps in the fridge, plugged the slow cooker in on “warm,” changed clothes and started the last load of laundry for this weekend.

I washed put the thermos and set it to air dry. Then I went out to the garage and built the new squirrel feeder. I finished it just before 8:00 PM. The one major difference is that the old one had a bent-up piano hinge, but I went with a regular brass hinge.

As I said, before I use it, I want to see if there is something metal and thin I can wrap the edges around with (I’d like it to be copper) so the squirrels don’t gnaw on it like they did the old one.

It also dawned on me that what the original one was made from was not a regular cedar board, like I bought, but a thinner, pine board used for a fence picket. See photos.

Inside, again, I put my shirts and pants in the dryer and then ate dinner. I had two of Jeremy’s chicken rollups (not bad with a little extra salt) and a small bowl of mushroom barley soup. Then I hung up my clothes.

I watched a little TV, but it had been quite a long day and I went to bed by 10:00 PM.