I ran out of Sunday!

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday. I grabbed a cup of coffee and started the first of the weekend wash.

I farted around a bit, and then filled in the Blog entry. At 8:00 a.m., I shaved, showered and got dressed. Before I left, I hung up my shirts and pants from the dryer.

I got my massage. I learned two new things today about Margaret. Come to find out, she was in the Air Force, back in the day, for six years. She also showed me a picture of her finished shutters. She made them out of reclaimed wood. She painted them green and put them up on her fresh-painted cream-colored house. They looked great.

I asked her what she was going to do with the rest of her Sunday and she said she was going to pull out all her annuals! What? It’s still summer (sort of). She said she couldn’t count on getting another nice a day as today before winter, so she planned on using it.

I confess I hadn’t even thought of that…

But, when I really looked at it back home, the kitchen window planter was a bit overgrown…

Anyway, I stopped briefly at Kroger’s (again). I forgot to get some Hormel chili without beans, for chili dogs for lunch and later in the week. I was home by 10:30 a.m. I left the truck outside. I took off the shorty face shield on my helmet, snapped the visor back on, got my new motorcycle glasses, fired up the bike and headed out.

I rode Hines Drive, back and forth, between 40 and 50 mph. There was still a little tearing, but much, MUCH more manageable! I still can’t get used to the peripheral vision thing, but, who cares? I can ride!!!

I pulled the bike into the garage space for the truck. I was a little unclear on fuel injection, but I knew I wanted some Stabil in the mowers for over the winter. I figured the bike might need it too. So, I got the Owner’s Guide and found out how much fuel is in the tank (14.5 liters). I had to use my “Convert” program to find out that is 3.8 gallons.

So, let’s say four gallons. Stabil is recommended at one ounce for 2 1/2 gallons for 12 month storage. Or, using “Convert” again, just less than 1/4 cup for a full tank. So I added that to the gas tank and topped it off with fresh gasoline. I shook the bike around to mix it but then gave up and drove it up and down San Jose a few time to work it in.

It might not be perfect, but I think I did a good job of winterizing the bike.

I added the correct amount of Stabil to the gas cans and then filled up the push mower and the tractor. I ran both for a bit to get the treated gas into the carbs.

I moved on to my lunch (and dinner) I fired up the charcoal burner When it was ready, I spread the charcoal, wire-brushed the grill and oiled it with canola oil.

I added to that a pack of Kogel’s Vienna hotdogs and the rope of thawed onion sausage. I cut the sausage in half and then cut one of the halves into thirds. I needed a half a pound of sausage for dinner.

Sidebar: The recipe calls for Andouie sausage, but I’m using the freezer stuff as I mentioned. Besides, it’s not that far from South Carolina to Louisiana!

So, back inside, I heated up a can of no-bean chili. I diced up a big onion and made two chili dogs for my lunch. Yummo!

Photographer's Note: I had the buns nice and tight, but they opened up before I snapped the photo. :(

Then I took a nap. And that was my undoing.

I woke up and turned on the PBS Big Band Era. Loved the Andrews sisters, “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” and Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” Eight to the bar, man, eight to the bar.

I got a phone call from my friend B___ and we chatted for a while, mostly about getting things ready for winter. He said I did good with the Stabil in the bike, because carburetors and fuel injection didn’t matter, it was the gasoline jelling that I had to worry about.

When we hung up it was after 6:00 p.m. and I started dinner. I got out the Dutch oven, added in some canola oil and turned it on medium-high heat. I put in one cup of chopped onions, 1/2-cup of chopped celery and 1/2-cup of diced green pepper (from my garden), some salt, black pepper, 1/4-teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and one teaspoon of dried thyme. I sautéed that for about five minutes.

Then I added my onion sausage (cut into 1/4-inch rounds), one pound of diced ham and two bay leaves. I sautéed that for another five minutes. Then I added the red beans I had soaked overnight and three tablespoons of chopped garlic. I added enough water to cover, turned it on high until it came up to a boil, and then turned it down to low.

I let that simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally and adding water when needed.

By that time, it was after 8:00 p.m. and I was hungry. But, the recipe called for mashing half of the mixture and simmering another hour and a half!

So, I decided my red beans and rice was going to be a Monday night supper!

I ate the last wedge of cantaloupe instead. I watched TV, but switched to reading until bedtime.