White Lightning Axiom: Redux

My third day of vacation, true vacation, was pretty mundane. We got up at 0700 to tend to the kids. Started a fire to heat the house (since I have turned down the heat to a balmy 51 degrees) and then prep myself to get rid of ... errr, drop the inlaws off at the train station. Not the closer station at Cornwall Heights. That would require them to make a train change in Trenton NJ. Since we did all that shopping yesterday, the bags and booty now outweigh the porters and such a transfer between trains would not be feasible. Instead, I will be driving them all the way to Princeton so that they will be able to stay on the train all the way to Penn Station. Getting to Princeton was another matter entirely. I chose what I believed to be the lesser of MANY evils for my route. It involved some back roads and a few alternate interchanges. The only problem I ran into was a car stalled on Eastbound Street Road (Love that name) that caused all the traffic in the right lane to detour over to the left lane. This is usually not a problem except there were a lot of semi trucks out and people don't always want to give these guys a break. That, and the car that was disabled blocked the right turn lane causing some of the less fortunate motorists to attempt a right turn from the left lane while avoiding the cement island. Not a recommended action for the less skilled (read: half of the jokers). On the way up, I spotted a Red Robin restaurant on the West side of Rt 1. That and the Nifty 50's restaurant are two places that we need to eat out at more. They are noisy, greasy and purveyors of heavily (heavenly) fried foods.

We eventually get to the train station but miss the train only by seconds. No big deal, the trains come every 15 minutes and they will not need to wait long at all. I bid my good-bye's and get back on the road. Since the Mrs is taking care of the children alone, I have to get back asap and give her some relief. All is fair in Love and War and the Tumultuous Toddlers have made this their personal mantra. I couldn't break more than Mach 0.05 since there were police everywhere on the way back and I only have immunity from the PA Troopers, not the NJ Enforcement Regimen. One upside is that I was able to get gas for 1.82 at Mobil. The Family Tank can hold about 25 gallons and I needed 20 gallons, at 8-10cents lower than anywhere else, it was worth the trip after all.

Since the hot water demands are lower now (fewer showers, less dishes), I went down to the utility closet in the lowest sub-basement and turned down the heat on the water heater. Don't need 10,000 gallons of water heated to 3000K anymore. Keep some of my cash out of the hands of OPEC and all. Actually, I think all our NG is produced domestically, but it's the thought that counts, eh? I spend the rest of the day playing with kids and giving sly winks to the Mrs. One final note, while the Mrs was talking to her cousin on the phone, Alexis shouted out "Slacker". This is in reference to said cousin not coming down for a visit and all. I'm soooo proud!

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 2:21 PM