The Second Feast

Hick did indeed grill on Labor Day, cooking the replacement food that I had to buy after the power outage. We didn't have as much as our regular feasts. Not because of losing the food, but because I didn't want to spend time cooking the sides. The Pony was fine with it. We are both cutting back. Hick will eat whatever is available. So it was no hardship to go without potato salad, or deviled eggs, or Stove Top Stuffing, or Sister Schubert's Rolls. We didn't even have dessert. Nobody accidentally lost a pound, I guarantee!

Hick even seemed to cut back slightly, by not having a whole pork steak.

You can see that Hick was poised to dig in (with my little ceramic paring knife!) when The Pony snapped the picture. He has a slice of pepper jack cheese, plus onion and tomato and pickle on his burger. Plus a pile of baked beans, and a haystack of SLAW.

The Pony is not a slaw aficionado.

The Pony didn't cut back on the Hidden Valley Ranch Dip that I made with sour cream and the powder packet. There are the baby carrots. The Pony actually ate the giant carrot as a snack while we were baking the beans. I used three kinds: Homestyle, Maple and Cured Bacon, and a regular can of Showboat Pork & Beans. Then I added yellow mustard, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce, Kraft Original BBQ Sauce (it was on sale), two diced Vidalia onions, six hot dogs, and half a pound of bacon. Once they were all mixed and in the oven, The Pony assisted with the intermittent stirring. Those beans were delicious!

I didn't treat myself to the slaw this time, because I wanted more meat.

I love pickle and onions on the side. They were Baby Whole Dill Pickles from Save A Lot. They're my favorite whole pickle, with a nice crunch, although I don't consider them to be very "babyish." The Petite Dills I get at 10Box are much smaller than the babies. I use them in tuna salad and potato salad, because they don't leak a lot of juice. Anyhoo... Hick only wanted one slice of tomato, and The Pony doesn't like them. So I got the rest. It was only storebought, but better than no tomato.

You might think the meat looks overdone, but it was not. Both the burgers and pork steaks were delicious. I would be the first to complain if Hick overcooked the meat! The pork steaks had a nice saucy char on the fatty edge, which is how we like them. They were tender. The burgers were just right. Still juicy, but not rare.

The Pony took home a second bag of baby carrots, but plans to make the dip later. Also three hamburgers, and half the baked beans. We are all enjoying leftovers for several days.

I, Myself, Would Prefer a Harmless Lie to Save Hurt Feelings

I mentioned how we lost our meat during the 13-hour power outage on Saturday night. Part of that meat was four gigantic pork steaks that Hick got from one of his buddies at his SUS2.5 (Storage Unit Store 2.5) on Saturday. As I said, Hick was really proud of them, because they weren't just pork steaks from a store, but from a hog that his buddy had butchered.

At first I was leery of those pork steaks. "I don't know. How will you get them home without them spoiling? It's over 100 degrees, and he's bringing them to your store!" 

"I have air conditioning there, Val. And I have a refrigerator."

"A mini fridge! Will they even fit? And how will you get them home in your truck?"

"They'll be fine, Val. My truck has air conditioning."

Even so, I sent Hick a text midday on Saturday, after he sent one announcing the procurement of those pork steaks at 11:36 a.m.

"Val i got the four pork steaks here in the fridge"

"OK. Try to wrap them in something to stay cool on the way home."

Hick agreed. I don't know what he used, but carried in a bundle of meat that was inside a paper bag. He tore away the paper bag, revealing a gallon zip-lock bag stuffed with meat and white butcher paper. He chucked the whole thing in the bottom of FRIG II.

No way was I going to take a chance on ANY meat left in FRIG II after 13 hours without electricity. Especially meat that had traveled 30 minutes through the sweltering afternoon without a cooler. I couldn't throw it out, because the dogs would gorge on it. I couldn't just put it in the trash, because it would stink terribly before trash pickup day, and wild animals (and my dogs) would be trying to get into the dumpster. So I baked it, to ration to the dogs as daily treats/meals.

On Monday evening, we were sitting at the table, enjoying our grilled replacement meats. Hick got a text. 

"Huh. It's my buddy, asking how the pork steaks are."

"Oh, no! Just tell him they're delicious."

"Too late. I just texted that we had to throw them out."

"It wouldn't hurt to tell him we enjoyed them."

"No. I'm telling the truth. He ain't gonna care. I paid for them."

If the buddy didn't really care, why would he send a text asking about those precious pork steaks? At least Hick might have said that the dogs found them tasty.

The Culprit

This is the limb that fell on the bridge that took down the electric line that gives Val all the amenities of modern life. It doesn't look like a big limb. But its dive was powerful enough to leave Val powerless for 13 hours and 20 minutes.

This was on the way home from town Sunday. With $79.40 of groceries to replace those I had to throw out. That's actually just a limb off a big tree. I saw where the branch had twisted off as I came from the other side on the way to town. It's not visible, but was around the upper right corner area of the picture.

I don't sense that the tree-trimming crew did much trimming. Looks like they just shoved the whole thing off the bridge into the creek. The other side only had an itty bitty limb.

Hick said he could see where they patched the electric line. I couldn't even see where the actual line was running across the creek. All I know is I'm happy to have my power back! I don't need to know how the sausage is made...

Val Is NOT Having a Good Day

It's a three-day weekend for Labor Day. Not that it matters. The "time off," I mean, not the concept. Since I don't work, weekends are just like weekdays to me. I should be happy, looking forward to the cookout we're having with The Pony on Monday. But it has become extra "work" for me now.

Saturday evening at 5:25, our electricity went off.

It has been blazing hot all week. 103 in town, 99 out here in the country. That's actual temperature, not heat index. Hot enough to make the devil sigh (to borrow from a Tracy Byrd song, "Watermelon Crawl"). HOT. Hick got home around 4:30. The sky had clouded up a bit.

"Was there rain in the forecast?"

"I don't think so. Just a couple of sprinkles. But it rained hard down at my store."

Then the wind started to pick up at 5:00. DARK sky. Then a little rain. Then a LOT of wind. Whipping the rain sideways, twisting the trees all will-nilly. Then hail. Then lightning. The lights flickered off. Came back on. Then went off for good.

"Do you think somebody is reporting our power outage?"

"Probably. But they don't need to anymore. The electric company can tell."

"Huh. Well. At least there's still enough light for me to see my lottery tickets."

Hick counted his SUS2.5 money. Looked out the front door. Sat down to wait for his John Wayne movie "The Horse Soldiers" to come back on. It had just started. 

We got an email from the electric company that there was a possible outage in our area. 95 homes affected. Reason unknown.

"Huh. I guess they'll have to send a crew out of St. Louis."

"Not anymore. They have some out on the highway, over towards the junior college. They'll send a crew."

"Yeah. On a holiday weekend."

"They have people on call. They like it. They'll be making at least double time for the holiday."

"They'll be taking their sweet time! To rake in more money!"

The Facebook page of our enclave had people asking if anybody knew anything. I'm sure they all got the same notice we did from the electric company. Hick told me I could call in and report it. I told him HE could call in and report it! Without electricity, we have no internet. No water, no air conditioning. No FRIG II, no lights, no cooking. One toilet flush for each bathroom. If Hick could get his phone to work, he could look up the number and call it himself. He did not.

Around 6:10, we got another notice that the estimated restore time was 8:30.

"I guess you're not having corn dogs for supper. Do you want a ham sandwich?"

"Nah. I'm not real hungry."

Hick saw on Facebook that people were saying not to take the county blacktop road to town. A tree fell on the low water bridge, and took down power lines. Which meant, according to Hick, that the tree-trimming crew would have to come out first, to clear away the tree.

Around 7:00, Hick went to bed. I was done scratching. I just sat at the kitchen table. Hoping. Sometimes it gets repaired before the estimated time.

8:30 came and went. 9:00, too. 9:30, 10:00, 10:30. I gave up waiting for power. I cracked open an individual can of Beanie Weenies for my supper. Followed by an apple for dessert. In the dark. Only the dim light of Hick's two solar lights on the porch rail seeping through the kitchen window.

At 11:30, I went to bed. Five minutes later, I got another update. The electric company was sorry that they did not have power restored by the estimated time. That's it!

At 2:30, another update. Estimated restore time was now NOON on Sunday.

At 4:20, the lights came on. The AC kicked on. I got up for a flush and some water. Sat down in my OPC. And the power went off again at 4:35! I immediately put my OPC down so I wasn't trapped. Good thing we have that battery backup, which was deader than a doornail within minutes, having been drained by the 11 hours that came before.

Hick left for his SUS2.5 at 6:00. I went back to bed. Hick had promised to manually open the garage door, so I would be able to at least drive around in T-Hoe to cool off if the house heated up. Thanks to the rain, it had been staying at 75 degrees through the night.

At 6:45 a.m., the electricity returned. You'd think I'd be celebrating. I now had flushes and water to go with my daylight. But I also had a whole FRIG II to clean out.

All week, I had been buying things for our cookout. That's because I can't carry in a lot of heavy stuff in this heat. And Hick can't help because of his surgery recovery. I'd just finished the shopping on Saturday afternoon, with two pounds of hamburger. The pre-made patties this time. 12 of them. To make my life easier. Hick had brought home 4 pork steaks from a buddy who had a hog butchered. He was really excited about those pork steaks. Now they're garbage.

According to my estranged BFF Google, food in a powerless refrigerator is only good for 4 hours. Not 13 hours. So today I have to go back to the store, and buy hamburger, pork steaks, sour cream for dip, bacon for the baked beans, hot dogs, slaw, cheese, and mayo.

I am not looking forward to the cleaning out, nor the carrying in. If we had known that the electricity was going to be off past 8:30, we could have gone to town for ice, to preserve our refrigerator foods. Or Hick could have started the generator for lights, and to run FRIG II. 

You'd think the electric company could send out more helpful notices. Even to say that they don't know when power might be restored. Then people don't lose all their food. I'm afraid that some of those 95 homes will be hurting, having probably just bought their groceries at the first of the month. By the electric company not informing us right after 8:30 that this repair was going to take much longer, people assumed the power would be coming back shortly.

Has the Record Been Broken?

Friday afternoon. Friday evening. A phone call for Hick. But it was an old guy he'd been installing electricity for. NOT ONE OF HICK'S HAREM! Bedtime for Hick. Up early Saturday morning. WITH NO HAREM CALL!

I'd like to think this needy weekend behavior has ended, but there WAS the call on Thursday night around 8:00. From one of Hick's Harem. Perhaps she was worried about the long weekend. How Hick doesn't go by the apartments on Fridays, and then with Labor Day coming on Monday.

Hick was leaned back in his recliner. He pretty much just gave perfunctory answers. It wasn't a chatfest.

"Oh. Okay. I'll be there tomorrow. Yeah. It's okay. I'll come by tomorrow."

"What was THAT about?"

"Just one of my ladies at the apartments. She has her dog's shot record."

"Huh. Does she think this is an emergency? Did it bite somebody?"

"No. I just have to have a record of the dog's shots, to go with her doctor's note that she needs the dog as a support animal."

"Well. She made sure you'll come by on Friday! That's your Harem."

I guess others might have seen Hick while he was there. Thus getting their Hick Fix on Friday, to tide them over until Tuesday when he goes back for lunch at the Senior Center.

Imagine, If You Might

Hick sent another picture from Cheap House on Thursday. He can't do much else with no helpers. I don't know if he's working through this in his head, or just doing it to show ME. Because I cain't understand nothin', you know!

Text with Hick's own grammar and spelling:

"This is what the opening from hall to kitchen and living will look like when I get the studs and drywall on it.you can see the edge of the one bedroom door on the left. Picture from front door. Piece of wood on right is just to show where wall will be"

I still had to ask some questions. Yes, walls will be white drywall. I don't know if he plans to do any painting, since it will still be sold as a flip. I don't plan on putting in flooring, either. But the little stick-out part on the left with the board will still be there, just covered by drywall. The water heater will be behind that, and the laundry room entrance in that area. 

This seems like a good area for the eventual owner/liver to put up a coat rack, or a thin hall table. It could be a handy catch-all kind of nook, perhaps for a kid's backpack to be ready to grab and go out to catch the bus.

With that board on the right, you can see how it will be an outer wall of the bedroom. Then as you walk past the corner, the hall opens up. You can see the bathroom door, and how you would turn back for the eventual bedroom door.

Now if Hick's help would only be as interested in meeting with him as his Harem...

Back Under Construction

Hick was back to work on Cheap House on Wednesday. Or at least back to taking pictures. He'd spent Monday and Tuesday putting in electricity for some random old man. Didn't bother to tell me, except I passed him at Mailbox Row, and noticed that he came from the complete opposite direction than town. No wonder Cheap House hasn't been getting any doner!

Anyhoo... Hick sent me a couple pictures on Wednesday morning. I suppose to prove that he was indeed working on Cheap House.

This is the view when you walk in the front door. Hick says it will be a hall, with a wall where that brown board is. A wall that runs from that board back to the kitchen area. There will also be a wall on the right, from that support post back towards the kitchen, and coming up to the front door. There will be a bedroom to the right, but the door into it will be between that support post and the yellow thing. You would walk in the front door, and then turn right at the bathroom door area (seen behind that blue broom), and come back towards the bedroom door. 

There's another bedroom on the left. You can barely see the bottom of the door frame just in front of that push broom. Hick says it might seem small in the picture, but the hallway will actually be 48 inches wide.

Standing by that blue broom, you can see where the entry to the laundry room will be, between the two wooden posts. To the left of the ladder is the living room area, and the back door that gives entry from the back yard.

Hick also sent a text with these two pictures. As you can imagine, the info I gave above came from interrogation, as I could not have figured it out from the text alone:

"This will be the opening going into kitchen from front door. There will be a wall where the brown board is standing. No Old Buddy today so couldn't do alot by myself."

Anyhoo... if Hick can get his paid help to work, they will be getting those walls built, and then put up drywall. Thus partially-completing even more of Cheap House before flipping it to a flipper.