I rose late on Labor Day and did not start writing until after 9. I had not been to the grocer or fruit stand in at least a week, and the choices for breakfast were limited. I selected to make steel-cut oats for breakfast and promptly burned them and blackened my expensive and high-quality saucepan! I stopped writing, cooled the burning hot pan under running water, and cleaned the mess. I had to get some steel wool. I keep a bag of various roughness for woodworking. One example is when I spray paint wood, age, and distress it with steel wool. I keep it in a drawer in the tool chest as steel wool is highly flammable. I took the fine wool, scrubbed the pan with it, removed the harsh burn, and returned it to usable. Be warned, the wool cleans by scratching and will fog glass, leaving scratches on glass, and mar fine paint and finishes. Use it only for work not seen or to get to base wood or metal when planning to remake the finish. I carefully made steel-cut oats for breakfast.
I spent the morning writing the blog. I was not able to find my focus. I was tired and even sleepy. I added more water to the French press to make more liberal coffee from Equal Exchange; coffee was necessary today. I reviewed my transactions in Quicken. My balance for my Alaska Visa was high again, which represented my choice to use it for most daily expenses and my trip to Chicago. I purchased the hotel from Expedia, so the main costs (air and hotel) are already in my balance.
I shave, dress, and so on, and I am dressed before (very late for me), but I am nearly staggering. I rest and read and nod off. I bake a Trader Joe’s Steak Pie. I step outside to wake up, and my neighbors are out, and I chat with them. I then help my next-door neighbor, Lauren, remove some weeds. They don’t have grass but wood chips, but this means laying a weed matt under the wood chips, how I did it for the garden years ago (the matt is still there in places), or facing endless battles of weeds and grass. The weeds are enormous and deep-rooted in the cement-like earth we have here in the former farmer fields (it is like pudding in the rains). We pull them as best as we can. I bring over my lawn waste container, and we fill it. I have to check on my lunch and wish Lauren the best.
Lunch is good, and I watch ShipHappens and nod off at my Apple. On the cool, overcast day, I considered focusing on my model, but I was just unable to focus and was tired. This is not the time to sleep. I board Air Volvo. The coffee place supplies a super wake-up of a European Moca, and I see that Safeway has grilled ribs for sale. Why not?
Before Safeway, I took my size 42 pants and shorts to the clothing donation bin. It is time to believe I will not head back to size 42. Excellent.
Fortified with my moca, I head into Safeway with a small cart. I find the rack of $9 ribs, cole slaw, and corn on the cob and tour Safeway to collect the items I need for a few more meals. I try to be good, but the potato chips are irresistible. I also get a Pumpkin Spice quick bread mix (I usually resist pumpkin everything). Aws, an Iraqi immigrant, is checking, and we are happy to see each other. We shake hands, and he is glad to see me relaxed, smiling, and looking well.
I brought the bags of groceries to the house in an Air Volvo and soon put everything away. I finish ShipHappens. Dinner is microwaved corn (in husk, run for three minutes, and everything just comes off), slightly rewarmed Safeway ribs, and cole slaw. I continue watching the last Matrix movie, The Matrix Resurrections, on my Apple.
During the day, I do the dishes, do three loads of laundry, make the bed, and order my next COVID-19 vaccination (plus flu and RSV–my seventh COVID-19 shot) next week (using Walgreens’s website). I lost my passport holder, yellow vaccination records, and my COVID-19 card in Morroco. I have printed out my Covid-19 with a QR code in case we return to lockdown again. My passport, while not lost, is somewhere in my office. My Oregon driver’s license is a federally approved one, and I have my passport card in my wallet. I can travel within the USA and Mexico with those.
I will remind folks that vaccines are far cheaper and safer than actually getting the crap. Viruses are rising that could lock us down again. I hope to write blogs for many more years, and this is one of the best and cheapest ways to ensure I can keep going. Recommended.
I decided I needed some sweat and baked. I made pumpkin spice bread from the box mix, adding dried fruit from a bag of King Arthur Flower for fruit cakes. It took an hour and was wonderful. I have a slice to help with my evening pills and later when I can’t sleep.
I am trying to read Conan Doyle’s The White Company novel (about monks so far) to help me better write like him. I also have his biography–I have yet to start–created by editing his letters. So far, this book is OK and reminds me of Tolkien’s and C.S. Forester’s writing style. There is also the careful description of people often commenting on the shape of faces and hand movements I see in Holmes’s stories. I will see if I can keep going; I am on page 20.
One of the few luxuries you can enjoy for free at home is freshly laundered towels, sheets, and PJs. I luxuriated in them Monday evening after doing laundry all day. I read and tried to sleep.
With the shopping, I managed 1,600+ steps while so tired. I am still at 235 pounds, and I could not sleep!
I finally sleep before 1AM. I rise twice for proof of hydration.
I should mention it rained the night before, and the day did not climb over the mid-70s (23C) and was overcast grey, thus previewing the next seven months.
Here is David Austin’s Wedgwood climbing rose. It nearly drowned last winter, but it has finally fully recovered, and the flowers are four inches across!
Souvenir du Président Lincoln is still flowering, but these are smaller, heat-reduced blooms. I am still happy to get a late flower from the rose. The Bourbon rose shows no black spot issues. It is a surprisingly good choice for the Greater Portland Area.
Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 