Spring has Sprung!

Thursday was an absolutely beautiful Spring Day here in Michigan. In fact. At one point in the afternoon, Jake sent me a text saying that we were 10 degrees F. warmer than they were!

Before I went to work, though, I stopped at the Looney Bakery and bought a dozen mixed bagels, plus one extra salt bagel (in a separate bag – for me). I had a bet last week with Vicky over bagels that I lost (I still think she cheated) and wanted to repay the wager. I also got a tub of cream cheese.

At lunch, I headed out to Kroger’s. I needed some bread and milk, but thought I’d grab some buns, brats and Bush’s Grillin’ beans for dinner tonight. I bought the Southern Style Pit Barbeque beans (that I never tasted before) for a change. I also grabbed a pint of their Key West Krab Pasta salad at the Deli for my lunch (it’s the bomb!)

I went home and treated the cats and then ate my lunch. It was great, but I knew it would be. [Sidebar: any time you see the word Krab instead of Crab, you’re getting fish chunks… Just so you know]

Back at work, I dealt with a problem that had surfaced about 10:30 AM. My cell phone battery had died.  Fred, the Telecom guy, sprang into action, but as I explained to him the last time, we went through this before and he didn’t have a charger that would fit (I have a cool ruggedized  phone that nobody else has, if you remember).

So, I tried my car charger, but found it doesn’t work with the car turned off (apparently American cars do, but I own a foreign car). So, during lunch, I charged the phone on the way to Kroger’s, charged it at home while I ate, the then charged it again on the way back to work. But, this time I took my house current charger with me and plugged in the phone.

My afternoon walk was one of the few times I really didn’t want to go back inside. Usually, I am freezing.

When I got home, I left the car outside. No, its not a work-on-the-clock night, its clean-up time. I treated the cats and changed clothes. Then I went back in the garage, opened the door and used the leaf blower to blow all the sawdust and small bits of wood (from the router) out and onto the grass. Then I screwed the plywood back onto the sawhorses. I went inside and removed all the clamps from the clock and took it out to the garage. Finally, I pulled the car inside and buttoned everything up for the night.

Then I went out back with a bucket of charcoal and fired up the charcoal lighter. I opened the can of beans and put them in a pot on low in the kitchen. When the coals were covered with white ash, I went out with my brats and a package of smoked sausages (hot dog size and an impulse buy). I cleaned and oiled the grates and started grillin’ in the warm fresh air.

When everything was ready, I piled it all on a platter. Inside, I fixed one brat and one smoked sausage with mustard on buns and dished up some beans. The beans were great, BTW and all in all, it was a delicious dinner!

I cleaned up the minimal mess I made and watched a little taped TV. I went to bed at 10:00 PM.