Coached Erg / Fun With the Fire Hydrant

The incessant gray, dampness and rain is really getting me down. There is nothing that can be done about the weather but I’ve had enough of these gloomy days.

Ever the optimist, I hung out a load of laundry on the line yesterday before daybreak. I was pleasantly surprised that things were pretty dry when I took them down right at sundown.

I’ve been working on getting the newest fire hydrant restored up. Once it is installed I’d like to have a fall party in the back. I was in a quandary on how to configure the base. I did not want to sacrifice any of my good signed pavers to be all cut up. Just plain cement, even with a topping of pea gravel would not have looked right. Here I go being anal again!

Then I remembered the ½ bricks I had in the fancy design. I have no plan for them; they have been stashed away buried under the ivy in the back by the Camelliea bush.

The brick saw got set up again to cut these bricks to fit around the pipe. I love doing this fussy work. I happily fussed and obsessed the afternoon away messing with this job.

Once the bricks were cut, mortar was mixed and they were installed onto the base. Plastic was placed over to protect against the imminent rain.

This morning I erged at the AquaticCenter with our coach Alison, and team mates Amy, Trish, Rachel, and Tina. I have never done a coached erg session before. Usually I just strap into the machines at the Y and go at it. Alison had a good “techno’ set of music for us to row to. I’ll have to bring in my Wing CD for the next time!

The Concept II rowers were lined up in front of the mirrored wall, the time was set to 30 minutes. The stroke rating was at a 20 and every five minutes it was brought up to a 28 and applying pressure. This was just like rowing in the sweep. Alison was the stroke seat and we all followed. It took lots of concentration to keep at the rate and not speed up.

It was a great workout. Right after the session I met a group of my old co-workers at Wrights for breakfast. This is a wonderful hole in the wall place. Their western omlette is my favourite. I get this every time I eat breakfast here. They put everything into this concoction. When you cut into it the grease just runs out. Add grits and biscuits and it is near heaven!

I made quite an impression on the boys showing up right from the gym in my spandex and ancient Nautilus Tee shirt.

From Wrights I had to head out to do shopping. My food situation at home was pretty sad. First I checked out the Alabama Thrift Store. I took a chance on a glass blender jar and cap. The cap for my old Oster blender has been missing for too many years. They are available, but by the time you get just the lid and add shipping you are up near $20.00. This was $1.50 so if it does not work out, I won’t be out that much.

Got my groceries at Wal-mart and Sam’s. There were not a lot of people out. I swear I spent more time sorting through the Fancy Feast for the cats to get the stuff they like than I did getting my groceries!

On the way home I had to make a special trip to Manna to get my Big Sky 3 grain Bread. That stuff is so good. Believe me, if I spend $7.00 on a loaf of bread that is saying a lot! It is so dense and heavy half a sandwich fills me up as much as a whole sandwich of the “mushy chemical bread”.

Once I packed away the groceries I tried out the new blender jar. It fit perfectly! YAY!!! Now I can make my iced coffees blended up without having to hold a plastic plate on the top as a make shift lid. That reminded me so of a skit Judy had on beta from a locally produced TV show. It was called “Cooking With Esther”. This guy was in horrible Aunt Jemima blackface drag hosted a cooking show. This episode he was cooking up “chicken necks and pearly little rice”. Everything was dumped into a pot… “If you don’t have a lid, you just use a plate and put a hammer on top of it.” I have searched the internets to see if this clip is out there someplace. No luck so far…..

The rain held off this afternoon allowing me to work on the hydrant. I was able to dismantle the top cap to facilitate stripping the paint. I had enough Strypeese left over from the porch roof project last year to get me started.

I was amazed how quickly this stripper ate into the paint. There is not much on this hydrant. I think whoever installed this in that Michigan front yard all those years ago, did a good job cleaning it up. The paint removal should be a fairly routine operation.

With the paint gone, the monogram is so crisp. MIB which stands for Michigan Iron and Brass works.

I happened to check out the calendar and realized I’ll be on the road to the Brick Swap in Cleburne, Texas next week! This month is flying by…..