Back in the saddle, so to speak

May 28, 2008
Broad Brook, CT

Well, my back's better if not yet 100%, but I'm getting antsy to be on the road again. We'll see what the next few weeks bring…

With a few days rest, I'm back at the project list although still tending to go easy on the back. Every once in a while, I'll get a twinge that starts to head down the leg. Geri says it a sciatica issue (she knows this well from personal experience) and that's got me concerned. I'll be monitoring this carefully over the next few weeks.

All that said, we've checked off a few minor projects (new light and medicine cabinet in Pat's bathroom) and I've started cleaning Al's garage (ever notice how some parts of the house get pink and blue labels?), first because it needs it and, second because we're planning a set of built-in shelves recessed into the hallway leading to the basement stairs; because of the location, the back side of this cabinet will extend about 16" into the garage. There won't really be any loss of floor space in the garage, since there was a free-standing shelf system already in that spot that'll be relocated elsewhere. This is a pretty small house, and the hallway has become a prime spot for kitchen storage overflow (primarily cooking utensils). Pat's idea is a good one and it should be relatively easy to box in a space about 24" wide by 6' tall that'll take away some of the clutter.

In preparation, I've relocated the existing garage shelf and moved the garden hose that hangs on that wall. We'll probably rough out the opening this weekend. We're a little constrained with the lack of a table saw for the cabinet work, but Al is arranging to borrow one from a neighbor. To minimize the "borrow time", we'll probably rough it out one day and do the cabinet build on a separate day. Construction will be simple, with fixed shelves (we're designing for strength, not necessarily flexibility, as this thing will end up carrying some weight.

In the meantime, I've got a few maintenance items to tackle around the coach this week, taking advantage of what's supposed to be a few nice days in a row. We had a pretty good holiday weekend, although it wasn't quite as nice as it was supposed to be according to the local TV weather reports. Yesterday, though, we had some pretty severe storms roll through in the afternoon, triggered by a passing cold front. We had what appeared to be over an inch of rain inside of an hour, and the power was out for about four hours. I was just in the middle of a beard trim when the power went out. Fortunately, "we don't need no stinkin' power" since I just fired up the generator. It was time for its monthly "exercise period" anyway.

In other news, we've been eating and drinking well, as usual. Friday night, we made Chicken Piccata (well, not exactly, as mushrooms were added), a special request from Melisa. We had quite a crowd over for dinner, with Melisa/Paul/Jesse and the Bowers. It was a "white wine night", which left many a little under the weather the next day (we're a red wine crowd). Saturday, Al and I picked up a couple of sirloin steaks, almost like our family used to have every Saturday night when we were growing up. Al grilled them up with some corn-on-the-cob while I made fries. Saturday, we went to the beach in Westbrook for the afternoon (it's about an hour away), where it was pretty breezy. After several games of cribbage (evenly divided; no clear winner), we headed back to Broad Brook and had dinner at a local fish market. Monday brought somewhat traditional "burgers and dogs" for Memorial Day, although things did get kicked up a notch. Half the burgers were stuffed with cheese and half we made with an olive tapenade mixed in, and half of the "dogs" were polish-style brats. With Geri's special sauerkraut, Sabratt's onion relish, and Lynne Bower's famous baked beans, we really cleaned up. As a bonus, since there were uncooked burgers left over, Geri made a pot of sauce with the burgers turned into meatballs and we had pasta last night. Today, we went for a one-mile walk with the pups (yeah, they've been eating well, too). :-)

Meanwhile, I've started to plan our "return trip" west. We're planning to stay here until late-July because of the family event schedule, which kicks off with Melisa's graduation from Manchester Community College tomorrow. I hope we make it, since I'm already feeling the desire to be "on the road again". We have a standing invitation from Dave and Sandy to visit them up north, even if we drive up without the coach (it's about a day's drive), so that might be an option for a break of a few days. I was also thinking about spending a couple of days in New York (cashing in hotel points and leaving the pups here in CT), so that might also be a choice. I've also been thinking about getting out the photo gear and visiting some of the CT/MA state parks to see what kind of pictures might be waiting, but those places are usually more photogenic in spring (running water and flowers) or fall (foliage). We'll see...