Rain and Tornado Warnings

Once again we were short being able to take a boat out Thursday morning. It was warm so the “It’s too cold to row” excuse can’t apply. Oh, well… I’ll just erg a bit harder at the Y on the Concept II rower later. I’ve been getting into a routine of getting to the Y now pretty much five mornings a week. That used to be a staple in the AOL profiles… “workout five days a week”. I always liked the true profiles, “I drive by the gym five days a week!”

Thursday afternoon I made an excursion to the Habitat for Humanity store. It has been quite a while since I’ve been here. What a disappointment. They had NOTHING. It must be the downturn in building and remodeling where nobody is donating anything.

Debbi had told me K-Mart had Epsom Salts on sale. That store is just down the road from Habitat, so I stopped by. It is sort of depressing to go into the local K-Marts. The stores are pretty empty. The stock they have is spread so thin over the shelves to make them look full. I found the salts on an end display. There were 11 bags left; six pounds for $1.99. I took them all! The display was right by the pharmacy, so I tested my blood pressure at the free machine. It was 106/68 and my pulse rate 74. As I was driving away I realized I forgot to get milk. Publix is just across the street, I detoured there.

Publix sells strawberries from Florida which have such a flavor compared to the ones at Sam’s Club which normally originate from California or some foreign country. I had to get a box; they looked and smelled so good. On the way to get milk I passed the meat counters. There were four lamb shanks on display. Better yet they were on sale! Lamb shanks are my favourite dinner to cook up. I checked with the butcher and he had two more shanks in the back. Talk about a score, six lamb shanks at one store was a jackpot!

Driving back home I went straight down University BLVD instead of turning down my street. The University Publix is located just a few blocks from that intersection. They had four lamb shanks out. I asked if they had any more. The butcher brought out six more. I took them all!! My ice box looked like a butcher shop with all those lamb shanks stacked up!

The temperatures warmed up into the 70’s. What a glorious day to rake and do up long neglected yard work. The doors and windows were opened in the house allowing the fresh air to circulate through.

Thursday night was a “patio party” with Daggy and Stump. I relish these evenings where I’ll relax in the deck chair with a glass of box wine. The back yard lights were on, the yellow bulbs illuminating the recesses of the rear patio that houses the bulk of my brick collection. Daggy was perched on my legs, posed like the Sphinx, while Stumpy was annoying the bug population. He is so comical to watch racing and jumping across the grass after real and imagined bugs.

For this short period of time all is right with the world in my little “safety zone”. I’m no doctor but I swear it is being able to relax in this manor that keeps my blood pressure down!

Debbie and I walked the riverfront and campus early Friday morning. It was so nice to not have to be all bundled up. At the riverfront I looked downstream and saw two boats leaving the docks at the boathouse. How I wished I were rowing!

With all the lamb shanks I decided to have a dinner party Saturday night. The weather forecast was horrible for Friday; I think it was pretty safe to assume we would not be rowing in the afternoon. I took the truck to the “Y” so I could drive to the bank and then to Wal-Mart for groceries.

I just started on the rowing machine when the sky opened up. It just poured. The TV’s hanging from the ceiling showed special reports of the horrible weather over Birmingham way. It was still raining when I finished up my workout. The last thing I want to do is to drive across town in the pouring rain to “Hell-Mart”. I ended up going back to the University Publix. I lucked out in that everything I needed to get was on sale!

The rain had pretty much abated by the time I got home. Once I got the groceries put away, it was time to start work on the lamb. There is a membrane that has to be peeled away from the shanks. It is a real pain, but it must be done. The shanks were then browned in a cast iron pan in which generous amounts of bacon grease and garlic had been added. Fresh ground pepper and salt seasoned the shanks as they cooked.

The bar-b-que sauce was made up: Ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, dry mustard, and lots of onion slices. This was all dumped over the shanks which were arranged in my ancient turkey roaster. The mess cooked in a slow oven till 5:30.

While the shanks were cooking, I shredded up a head of cabbage and some carrots for cole slaw. Once that was done, I cut up the strawberries. This entire time I’m working in the kitchen the storms raged on. It was perfect afternoon to piddle in the kitchen.

All the while I was working the storm alerts interrupted my NPR radio shows. The tornado sirens sounded a couple times. This intense weather is something you get used to living here. The icing on the cake was hearing the police sirens in front of my house. Walking onto the front porch I heard the taped announcement of an immanent tornado blasted from the car before it proceeded down the street. It is hard to take this seriously with the absence of the tornado sirens sounding.

Back to the kitchen: the shanks are taken out of the oven, put onto the platter and covered in foil. “Resting” the meat overnight allows the flavour to intensify. The sauce is dumped into a bowl and placed in the ice box. By doing this, all the fat will rise to the top and solidify. Cooking up lamb shanks is something I can do in my sleep!

Saturday morning:

Talking to Scott this morning I kept hearing a motor running and then stopping. At first I thought it was the fan in my computer tower, or at worst the tankless water heater fan mis-cycling. I’m dreading it is the later. Tracing the sound to the basement I realized with relief it was the sump pump. There was some five inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Enough water seeped into the basement to trigger the pump. That sump hole had been dry since I turned off the air conditioning. The drain from the air system drains into that sump hole.

Getting my day underway, I tried to venture to the workshop. I can’t get the new screen door to open. All the moisture from the past two days swelled the wood. Using a grapefruit knife I was able to jimmy the latch open. The strike plate had to be removed and reset after planning down some of the door frame. The door functions fine now. It is always something.

On a happier note: Once again things worked out well for me. Wednesday afternoon I placed my order for a brass clock cable. That cable was in my mailbox at 10:00 this morning! Thank you E-bay.