Sunday

I thought I woke up late on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM and then thought, “Late for what?” I did the usual morning routine and then made an unusual (for me) breakfast: Pancakes and bacon. I used my electric griddle and the tried-and-true recipe from that old little blue book back on Palms Road.

Breakfast was excellent. And, I ended up with eight pancakes leftover! I would have cut the recipe in half, but how do you use half an egg? Ah, well, I can probably warm them up in the microwave or toaster.

I worked through the normal Sunday morning routines (water the bay leaf tree and put three ice cubes on the orchid, wind the clock, refill the pillbox, etc.) Finally, it was time to play with my pallet!

First, I backed the car out of the garage, locked it and left it so I had room to work inside.

Now, you have to remember that pallets are basically made out of crap wood and assembled with air tools in about two minutes a piece. So, it’s a basic truth that if you try to “carefully” remove a board, it will split or break or something.

So, I used the easiest method: I cut off half of the pallet with a circular saw. Then I cut through all the nails using the Sawzall with a metal cutting blade. Now, stop here for a minute and record this important fact: You still have parts of nails in the 2x4 and in the cutoff boards! So, remember that when you cut into them!!!

So, I took the 2x4 and cut down (between the nails) the two sides of my magazine rack (that’s what I am making, BTW). Now, a lot of pallets have a cut-out on the side for  picking up the pallets sideways (which I wanted because of the interesting look). But, mine didn’t have it, so I drew half of one and cut it out with the jig saw.

Hey, I’m an “artist” and just “interpreting” what should have been there, okay?

I carefully cut the other boards down to the right length with the chop saw, avoiding the nails. I cut a lot more boards than I theoretically need because I know when I rip them on the table saw, some will splinter or break. Its crap wood, like I said.

Then I screwed a leftover 1x8 to my saw horses. I screwed a scrap piece of wood to that for a stop and then I had a good sanding bench. I could have just run then through a planner, if I had a planner, but I don’t.

[Sidebar: Note to Melissa: This is why Dave wants a planner! This is why I want a planner! Buy the poor guy a planer for Valentine’s Day or something, for God’s sake. You can buy me one for Father’s Day, too!]

Anyway, by that time, my hands were freezing (it was supposed to get above 32 degrees F. today and start raining, but that’s not until after 4:00 PM and it was cold in the garage) so I went into the house to have a coffee and warm up.

As Fate would have it, my daughter Melissa called and we talked for a while (okay, a long while). When we finally hung up, my late night had caught up to me (despite the coffee) and so I took a nap, thus putting the pallet project on hold.

[Sidebar: I would like a do-over on all the naps I refused to take as a child! I love naps now!!]

Anyway, it was getting late when I woke up, so I decided it would be better to make dinner than make a magazine rack. So, the car stayed outside and the pallet project stayed on hold.

I got out two skillets. In the 10-inch one, I put in some canola oil and seared the city chicken (or mock chicken as they call it these days) on all sides, then turned it to low to make sure they cooked through.

Meanwhile, in the 12-inch one, I heated some bacon grease and then added one chopped shallot. If you remember, I made the bacon in the oven on Saturday, so now I have to pretend I browned three chopped slices of bacon in this pan, took them out with a slotted spoon and added in the shallot. Anyway, while that was sautéing, I cut the ends off, stripped off the outer leaves and halved a whole box of Brussels sprouts. I threw all of them into the pan, seasoned them with salt and pepper and let them cook for two or three minutes, just to soften.

Then I added a cup of chicken stock. I brought that to a boil and covered the skillet (not that my skillets came with covers, but the top of my smaller stock pot fits perfectly on this skillet). I reduced the heat to medium low and cooked them until tender (about 10 minutes). I added in three strips of bacon, chopped thin, at the last minute and then dished up my Sunday supper.

OMG! Maybe it was just because I had skipped lunch (due to the unusually big breakfast I had) but, damn, that tasted good! I had two sticks of the city chicken and two helping of the Brussels sprouts and bacon. It was some serious good eats!

I watched the end of “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (I love that movie) and then attended to the mess in the kitchen. I put away the now-cooled leftovers and washed the two skillets, the stovetop and the counter.

I watched a couple of taped shows and then went to bed, keeping in the back of my mind two things: (1.) I still have to finish the pallet project, at least until I can put the car into the garage and (2.) The car is sitting outside and its been raining. So, if it freezes overnight, I will have to scrape the windows before I can go to work. Crap!