Sunday’s Story

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday which made sense to me. Unfortunately, I had reset the time of the programmable thermostat, so the house was only 68 degrees! So, I dashed out and made a cup of coffee. Then I went back and stayed under the covers for an hour, reading.

I was pleased to see the sunrise so much earlier. But my enthusiasm was tempered by realizing the sun would now set about the time I was heading home from work. No more outside weekday yard work!

Sidebar: it was in the 20’s outside, with a high in the mid 40’s predicted.

Once the house warmed up, I got up and made breakfast. I still had some onion left over, so I diced them and sautéed them in butter. Then I added four (yes, four!) eggs I had whisked with some heavy cream.  I cooked them until they were just set and plated them. I topped my scrambled eggs with Franks Red Hot Sauce and pretended I was eating breakfast down south.

I went through the usual Sunday morning chores, including starting the last load of the weekend wash.

I sent a text to Jake, asking him to do a rough sketch of Betsy’s computer table. She did have a photo of what she wanted, but lost it when she moved last week. She still had the dimensions, though. He worked one up and sent it back to me. I forwarded it to her, so we could talk about it later.

Sidebar: It’s way too modern for my taste. But, maybe that’s what she wanted. Whatever. I could make it into a nice piece of furniture, instead of something you’d buy at IKEA.  However, the customer is always right.

I took the walk-off mat that’s between the garage door, the downstairs door and the kitchen steps out on the patio. There was dried cat barf on it. So, first I hosed it off, then I scrubbed it with a brush, hot water and Pine Sol. I rinsed the piss out of it and hung it on a patio chair to dry.

At noon, I pulled the truck out of the garage and started a little project I had planned that I now need to complete before beginning on the computer desk.

Sidebar: “This is ourselves, under pressure…”

I got a coat (the sun was out, making it look a lot warmer than it was and my propane heater still needs a repair part) and got to work. Once again, the basic cuts were easy. It’s imagining and then creating jigs to hold pieces that’s tough!

I quit work about 5:30 p.m. I blew out the sawdust from the garage and then blew the leaves on the garage apron and the porch into the lawn. I blew off my coat and pants, pulled the truck back in and buttoned it up for the night.

I went out on the patio and retrieved the walk-off mat. It was still damp (as I had expected) so I draped it over the exercise machine so it could dry thoroughly.

I was a little hungry, so I ate a couple of pieces of Pinconning cheese with some table water crackers. Then I went in to try and take a well-deserved nap.

Once again I couldn’t fall asleep. I blame it on Daylight Saving Time.

So, I gave up and got up. I tried calling Betsy again and this time I got her! We talked for a long while about various desk options.  I'm gonna try and draw up something on Monday and send it to her.

I went to start dinner. That’s when I discovered my mustard greens were moldy! Damn! There went my entire dinner I’d been thinking about for two weeks!

So, I had to seriously regroup. I got out the last butternut squash Rick had given me, washed it off and cut it in half. I dug out the seeds and added a pat of butter and some fresh rosemary and thyme.  I added some slits in the flesh, based on my acorn squash experience.

I set the oven for 400 degrees F. and set the timer for 20 minutes and stuck the squash in. Then I peeled and cut up another rutabagas. That went into a medium pot with salted cold water.

Instead of the elaborate recipe I had planned, I went with something simple for the boneless pork chops. I figured I had frozen them, thawed them, then re-froze them and thawed them again. I didn’t think they would stand up to much more fooling around…

So, I mixed about a quarter cup of A/P flour with some salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried thyme (it was too dark by then to go get fresh thyme) in a flat dish.

Sidebar: Don’t ask me about measurements. I was making this up.

I put some canola oil in my 12-inch skillet and fired it up. Then I dredged each of the pork chops in the flour mixture and laid them in the skillet. I got a good crust on each side, then pulled the skillet off the stove and stuck it in the oven to finish.

Everything was ready when the timer went off for the squash, except for the squash! It was still rock hard. So I stuck it back in for another 20 minutes.

Rather than try and keep the pork chops warm while waiting (and risking drying them out) I plated two of them and some rutabagas. Both were delicious!

When the squash was finally finished, I tasted some (excellent) and left it to cool.  Later on, I dug it out and put it in two containers. I also put away the rest of the rutabagas and the other two pork chops.

I watched Lethal Weapon for the gazzillionth time and then went to bed.