White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Yesterday was warmer since the rain clouds rolled off later in the afternoon. Not above 60 yet, but the glorious warmth of the sun shall soon be pulling life from the soil. I had better get my rear in gear and start planting the lettuce and spring peas or I'll miss the boat! Mmm, crunchy lettuce and suculent sugar snap peas ... I can hardly wait! The traffic on the turnpike was unusually light and thus, enabled me to arrive at the Car Port on the Manor grounds in a timely manner. I had to stop at a local corner-market on the way though. We were low on bread and this would inhibit me from preparing the Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for dinner. The market had lots of meat and very little else. It is a small place so everything was double price as a result. Some stuff that they proffered probably does not sell well. I decuded this by the opaque layer of dust on said products and the hand-held insta-carbon dating device I had built into my watch. I feel a bit silly buying a single loaf of bread on a credit card so I picked up a 6pack of ... klondike bars. Yeah, we don't sell beer in super markets here in Puritan Quaker Pennsyltucky. I also grabbed some beef bones used for stock from the freezer section. I was going to toss them to the dogs since they have been pretty good the last few days. There are two segments in the cellophane package and they measure about 6 inches long. That should keep them preoccupied for a long time.

I pick up the mail at the postal drop box at the front of the Manor perimeter. Lots of stuff for the Mrs, nothing for me. Standard. I bring the recycling bins in from the curb and make my way to the mess-hall and kitchen. There, I get down to the business of preparing the dinner for the kids. I'll need 2 grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and then 2 more for lunch on Thursday. Might as well make them now while I have the materials out. My first try was a disaster. I got distracted and burnt the heck out of one side. It was charcoal for the first 1/8 of an inch into the bread so 'scraping' off the carbonized bread was not an option. I peeled off the blackened side and tossed the rest into the dogs bowls. I turned the stove heat down to 3 (from 11) and had much better results with the next four.

I have a ton of things to do before I can go get the kids at 1730. Instead of the usual litany of tedious items regurgitated with snide, snarky and generally monotonous description, I'm going to cheat and put them in a bullet list.

• put vitamins on kids plates with cut gcs (grilled cheese sandwich)


• let the dogs out, shovel up poop - leave them on deck for now


• empty ashes from wood burning stove


• filter ashes to extract unburnt coals


• put 'charcoal' back in stove


• start fire


• put towels out for kids bath


• fill medicine dropper-syringes for Jacob (Antibiotics, antihistimine)


• get out training potties


• get out kids clothes, diapers, and lotion


• get out my clothes


• get milk bottles from upstairs refrigeration unit and fill them


• run off to conduct S&R mission for kids


• Get gas first at 2.06 ... 19$ worth


• back at home, put away their coats


• fill container, sippy cups with milk for tomorrow


• slice hotdog, start making mac-n-cheese


• wife arrives - kids rejoice


• start dish-washer


• go hang silk table cloth in basement


• spend the next hour+ brining in wood


• Katie whimpers that she cannot get into bone, cut both into 2" parts with miter saw


• party with kids


• start bath


• put tooth paste on brushes


• give Jake medicine


• empty and clean potty receptacles


• dry, dress and tuck twins into bed at 2115


• we go to bed at 2215

Nuff said?

The following morning, I get up at 0600 sharp and complete the morning check-list quickly. We get out the door at 0650 and I get to work by 0725. Sweet. The Mrs is going to an after-hours dinner with a few co-workers and some associates from a Japan project. This means that I'll be on my own again. Should be ok. I was planning on going out to the garden and raking the soil to get any rocks out. Need a nice flat surface so I can get the furrows for the seeds ready. I suppose it will have to wait till this weekend. One last thing for this morning: I was going to meet my buddy Pete for lunch today, but he had to bail for unspecified reasons. We rescheduled for Friday. The Mrs had given me 20$ and a shopping list for the company store where Pete works. Turns out he is at a competing Pharma and the Mrs likes to use some of their products. Is that treachery or just plain good economic sense?