It is hot! It is the Summer Solstice. It is Father’s Day.
I made teriyaki boneless ribeye steaks for dinner on the grill. The deck was so hot that, even in my socks, I had to stand on the part of the deck in the shade. I imagine that we could cook eggs in a black pan today just set on the street in the sun.
Tomorrow will be hotter. We have the AC on, and all the curtains and blinds pulled. No baking or cooking. I even grilled carrots (almost to cinders). The potatoes in foil did better.
To make dinner, I picked up another tank of propane today. Now I have only one that is empty. When it is under 100F in the car, I will get the other one refilled! Today is not the weather to put a possible leaking propane tank in Air Volvo and drive it to the gas station to refill!
Returning to the morning, I spent the morning painting some Scythe figures and managed to finish the basic painting on the Saxony faction (black). I painted everything brighter than before as I liked the look I did for Richard’s Anachrony figures.
Evan spent the night reducing his commute to a pickleball training camp. He was out by 9.
Susie slept in; I headed out to a coffee shop. I first tried Insomnia Coffee. It was jammed, and every spot was taken. Yes, it is 90+, and there are lines for coffee. You must be in the Pacific Northwest! I drove to Starbucks near the Barnes and Noble bookstore–a double hitter for me, and it was busy but not full. I got my old fav of a giant Americano with a shot of caramel syrup (I decided to make an exception to no sugar in coffee today). It was huge and dark and sweet. Usually, I order an extra shot–but I am out of practice and wanted not to have my hands shaking.
I got a small snack too of cheese sausage sliced so thin you could see through it. I ate that with my coffee for lunch. I then managed a few more paragraphs of Howard’s Unlock story and covered Howard’s vaccination.
It was so nice to write and sit in Starbucks again on a stupidly hot day drinking hot coffee drinks. Usually, I have noise-reducing headphones, not today. I wanted to hear the goings-on of fellow humans surviving the pandemic.
I should also note that everyone wore a mask at Starbuck except when seated and enjoying a coffee product or other goodies. When not drinking or eating, my fellow laptop users put back on their masks and continued to work; there was a row of us in the window seats—the usual overly polite Portland behavior. I aligned to the local traditions, of course.
I found Barnes and Noble open and headed for the magazines. I am looking for two UK-based wargaming periodicals. Nope. Apparently, and I remember reading about this some time back, one of the main publishers of magazines went belly-up, and Barnes and Nobles have fewer options. The staff there also informed me that they reduce the issues to 60% of the total before the pandemic. I will have to subscribe. I have multiple-year subscriptions to 2600 The Hacker Quarterly and Strategy and Tactics Quarterly to help keep those alive. I will have to consider the others.
Masks were in use at Barnes and Noble, and social distancing was maintained. Brook, a sales gal, gave me advice on reading SciFi and Fantasy. I will be back to buy something next time. My Kindle is loaded up.
I should add that we return to Roll20 for D&D on Monday. I have prepared for another adventure. It is another book-based mystery story from Candlekeep Mysteries. It is set in a desert, and it will be near 100F on Monday, so it fits.
This is the weekend edition; we stop there. Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 