Sunday…

I woke up at 6:00 AM on Sunday. I got a cup of coffee and then wrote the Blog entry. It took two cups of coffee to finish, BTW.

I got dressed (I’d shower later) and went out back. I hooked up the hose to the vegetable garden’s soaker hose and turned it on. I set the stove timer for two hours. Then I went out in the garage and pulled the car out. I parked it under the maple tree in the shade. It was predicted to be a high of 88 degrees F. with increasing humidity today, and the upcoming week is supposed to just get worse. We caught a few nice days, but it’s over now!

I finished staining a small project I’d been working on and had a lot of stain left. So, I stained that old bench out back by the fire pit. I was using “Red Chestnut #2” Stain. It’s my new favorite. It’s darker than, say, maple (which always looks orange to me) but not too dark and has a nice red tint in it.

It will take eight hours before I can polyurethane the bench, so I set it in the garage to dry. I went in and finally took my shower.

My friend B___ called. We’d been playing phone tags for the past couple of days. So, we caught each other up on things and then hung up.

I got the two replacement blades for the lawn tractor and took them out on the patio along with the Dremel tool. I need to sharpen the blades before installing them. For some reason (safety?), new blades are not sharp these days. So, I sat there grinding until they were sharp. 

While I was out there, a beautiful butterfly flew in. The dill flowers fascinated him. I have no idea why, as I would think the pollen or nectar would be bitter (or at least sour). But, he hung around enough to let me take several pictures.

Then I pulled out the mower onto the fire pit pad, laid down and replaced both blades. I chewed up the knuckles on my left hand, but I always do when replacing the blades.

Then I tested it out. Bingo! No vibration! So, I recut the back lawn. Checking it out afterwards, I realized one side of the mower deck was now higher than the other… Sigh… Oh well, that won’t be fixed today!

Before I went back inside, I did two things I’d been meaning to do in the shed. First, I put down some masking tape and painted a red line just past the door tracks. I did that in the garage after the door jumped the tracks and I had to pay a garage door company to fix the beat-up, bent-up door. Granted, there’s no automatic door opener in the shed, but I think it will help to gauge how far to pull the mower in, etc.

Then I coated the top of the workbench with Tung oil, to protect it.

I went back inside and it was almost 4:00 PM. Since my next project cannot happen for three more hours, I decided to take a nap before making supper. I set the alarm, just in case. But, not to worry: I couldn’t fall asleep!

So, I got up and stated supper. I decided to make a potato salad and a riff on my favorite burger: a Patty Melt.

I boiled 1 1/2 pounds of baby redskin potatoes. I also turned five eggs into hardboiled ones. While they were cooking, I made my dressing. I put three big spoonfuls of mayo  and one glug of deli mustard (horseradish and coarse-ground mustard) into a big bowl. I added a splash of red wine vinegar, sea salt and coarse ground black pepper. I went out and harvested some thyme and flat leaf parsley. I stripped the thyme leaves off the stems and rough chopped the parsley.

I diced up a medium Vidalia onion and four stalks of celery. I peeled a carrot and ran it through the box grater (for some color). When the potatoes and eggs were done, I cut the potatoes in half and cut the peeled eggs into large chunks. I threw them both (still warm, Carla!) into my dressing. I stirred that a while and then added the veggies. I mixed them in, covered the bowl with foil and stuck it in the fridge to chill.

Meanwhile, I sautéed half a sliced red onion in butter. When the onion was soft, I threw in eight ounces of sliced Crimini mushrooms and sautéed those as well. I just let them sit as they will be toppings for my burgers.

I started the charcoal in the charcoal chimney. I cut two pounds of ground chuck into six equal pieces and formed them into patties. I seasoned them with some sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and a touch of garlic powder. I was all set, but the coals were not! I was just about out of newspaper (I buy one every month or so just to start my charcoal). In desperation, I used the Redford Township paper that was on my doorstep last Friday and I didn’t have time yet to read. Sigh…

But, the coals eventually caught, so I cleaned the grate, oiled it and proceeded to grill some brats for next week’s lunches or dinners (I hate to waste good coals!)

Then I grilled the burgers. I pulled them off and let them rest a bit. I topped one with two thin slices of provolone cheese. I put the patty on a sandwich thin, added a smear of Dijon mustard and topped it with the mushroom/onion mixture. I put that on a plate with a big spoonful of potato salad and ate my Sunday supper.

The burger was excellent! The potato salad was good, but under-seasoned. A little more salt and pepper fixed that problem, though.

I went in and watched TV until 7:00 PM. Then I went out and did the first coat of polyurethane. I repeated the process at 9:00 and finally did the last coat at 11:00 PM. I backed the car out from under the tree and parked next to the porch. I locked it and then I went to bed.