Rainy Days and Saturday...

I woke up at the usual time on Saturday – 5:30 a.m. I had a cup of coffee and an English muffin for breakfast. I shaved, showered and got dressed for the Saturday errands run. it sprinkled on and off throughout the morning run, BTW.

First stop was an 8:00 a.m. massage. From there I went to Kroger’s to resupply. Next was Westborn for fresh veggies. Finally, I stopped at Home Depot for some wire ties, medium-duty threadlocker, more AA batteries (Energizer Lithium for the camera and Duracell for general use.) and some yellow marking paint (I’ll explain later).

I took everything back home so I could put the milk, meat, etc., in the fridge. I treated Caley and then headed out again. This time I went to the Post Office, then Andersen Music, on Telegraph in Dearborn, for some new guitar strings (it’s time). While I was there, I spent some time looking around. I was drooling over a twelve string guitar when my very helpful (and very young) sales guy came over, got it down and offered it to me to play. I fumbled through a few cords (as you might guess) and handed it back. It was wonderful, but $400.00! Maybe someday…

The last stop was Harry’s Army Surplus, also on Telegraph, south of Ford Road. I have a half-baked idea for a storage compartment on the bike and so I bought two ammo cases. Not that I wanted two of them, but because I couldn’t decide which was more practical. They are more or less the same height and length. But the one for 200 cartridges of 7.62 MM is four inches wide, while the one for 5.56 MM ball 10-round clips is six inches wide. I dunno… But, I’ll figure it out.

Disclosure: I do already own a 30 caliber ammo box. My brother Peter gave it to me when I was just a kid. But, I use it to hold all my ammo (go figure) and didn’t want to use it for this project.

I got home for good at 12:30 p.m. I treated Caley (again – it’s the garage door opener that sets her off) and changed clothes. Then I got my pasta pot, filled it up and when it was boiling, added a handful of salt. Then I dumped in two 12-ounce boxes of Barilla Tri-color Rotini. I stirred it a bit and set the timer for seven minutes.

When it was done, I drained it, refilled the pot with cold water, drained it again and then dumped it in my largest bowl. I stuck that in the fridge.

You see, I have a god-awful amount of stuff to do this weekend (I’ll never get it all done) and, back when it was hot outside, I decided to make a huge pasta salad. That way I could eat whenever I felt hungry and not have to “fix” lunch or dinner. Of course, now that it’s cold out there, I should have picked chili or soup. But, no, I’m making a pasta salad.

So, while the pasta chilled, I started prepping the veggies. I diced up the other half of the Vidalia onion, a big, beautiful red bell pepper, an English cucumber (skin left on) and quartered a container of cherry tomatoes. That all went into the big bowl.

Next I added a large (well, 3.8 ounce) drained can of sliced black olives, half a bag of shredded mozzarella and the last of the prosciutto (cut into strips and then diced). I taste-tested it. Either the prosciutto or the mozzarella added in enough salt, but I did grind in some fresh ground black pepper.

Then I added the dressing. Please note: If you have the time and the fresh herbs to make your own, go for it. I have done that in the past and it tasted fantastic!

BUT IF YOU DON’T: Use Kraft Zesty Italian dressing. Please don’t give me any sh*t about using the “Lite” version or that the Kroger (or whatever) brand is cheaper, use Kraft Zesty Italian dressing!!! You (and/or your guests) will thank me.

I had stirred the bowl with every ingredient, but I double stirred it to incorporate the dressing. Then I covered the bowl with cling wrap and stuck it in the fridge.

It had sprinkled off and on during my morning journey, but I went out and worked on the push mower. I washed and re-oiled the air cleaner, removed, cleaned and re-gapped the sparkplug and then started it up. It ran perfectly!

I started out cutting the front lawn. Unfortunately, I was about 3/4 of the way through when it started to rain. I finished up the front lawn, but left the side lawn (next to the garage) and the back yard for a drier day.

Inside, I called my friend B___ to see what he was up to. After we hung up, I was hungry, so I got a bowl a pasta salad. I ate that watching the Carey Treatment, a 1970’s movie.

The movie finished, I was full and it was still sprinkling, so I took a nap.

When I got up, I decided it was too late to get into any project, so I did some minor housecleaning (sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning toilets and sinks, etc.)

About 8:00 p.m., I had another bowl of pasta salad. Did I mention it was excellent? I watched TV until I fell asleep.