Author: gallopingcow

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Breasts

Autumn slept in this morning and didn’t shower like she promised, before going to get Eaddie and heading to Clarksville. This shocked nobody, and I was a little upset there wasn’t more screaming involved. It was a nice day without the kids though. I made ham sandwiches for breakfast, and Summer worked on the jigsaw puzzle for most of the day.

Eventually we got out of the house in the rain, and went to Walmart to look for turkeys on sale. They still had whole turkey breasts for a buck a pound, so we picked up five for me to practice smoking. They had enormous Butterball turkeys for 75 cents per pound, but I didn’t really want a turkey that large. We wandered through the rest of the store before making our way out, where I managed to wade through some pretty deep water in the parking lot.

We made another stop at Sally Beauty so Summer could pick up some tools for nail art, and then I got a McRib on the way back to the house. Once there, Summer took off to go to the gym and then I killed more time working on the jigsaw puzzle.

Eventually I made it home to start some laundry and shower. It took me a while to get everything sorted before the Eagles concert, but hopefully I got everything. I finally made my way back up to Summer around midnight, and it was off to bed.

Lot about birds, lately.

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Laundreaddie

Summer went back to work today. I eventually got up and toasted a very small ham sandwich for breakfast. Autumn left pretty early to go work at Tom E Tiger. Even Eaddie got up without me having to pull her out of bed. She kept wanting to know if I was leaving, and finally discussed me taking her to Maristella’s after she finished doing laundry. What she thought would only take her until about three o’clock turned into nearly six.

In that time, my greatest accomplishments were placing a curbside pickup order from Home Depot so Eaddie would have some better organization of her tiny plastic beads, and completing this year’s Cards Against Humanity Black Friday game. It was a series of captchas that I was fairly proud of solving, but I got stuck on an obvious one that kept me from getting paid to have them ship me a new storage box. I was still happy with my 43% discount though.

Summer got home just as Eaddie was finishing up, so we loaded up one of the tables and the chairs we borrowed from my parents, and I dropped Eaddie off along the way. I still hadn’t cleaned up the smoker, so I didn’t stay with my parents long. The cleanup was relatively easy, and I even prepped it for next time. Having gloves makes a big difference as well.

After a shower, I headed back up to Summer’s for the evening. She was watching Grease 2 while putting together the jigsaw puzzle, and then put on a Jo Koy special afterward. Autumn got home late, and Summer made her come sit in the living room with us rather than hide in her room. As soon as the special was over, everyone was off to bed.

Read: Laundry Dae

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The Host that Smokes

Summer spent all morning getting ready for everyone to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. We struggled to get Autumn to help as usual, and we’re just counting the days until we show her, imperically, that she’s not pulling her weight around the house. In fact, she’s completely delusional, as is often the case.

Summer really wanted to get a table and chairs set up early, so I took out some trash and dumped it at Dwight on the way, and brought back a big and little table, as well as chairs. Then I quickly made the butter and seasoning concoction that I would be injecting into the bird. I made it about a block down the road before I realized I forgot to actually take the turkey with me, so I had to turn back.

The smoker started reliably well, but I kind of forgot how foolproof it was and unnecessarily started it twice. It got up to temperature much more quickly than I prepped the bird. I wished I had done all of that at Summer’s where I had more room to work. I was in and out of gloves to get the grill set up, and then had trouble getting the drip pan in under the grates. I just needed to think my process through better before starting. My syringe clogged during my very first attempt to inject the first breast, but I was eventually able to clean that out and made it work.

The turkey seemed to be rising in temperature pretty steadily, but it was pretty clear it wasn’t going to be done by 4 when we told everyone we would be eating. I eventually had to crank the heat up from the already-high 295 all the way up to about 350 to finish it off, because I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of the temperature probe, and I didn’t think to use my wireless Meater probe alongside the one integrated into the smoker. Ultimately I lost the apparently cool part that I was measuring, and every other part I probed tested over 160.

Just before it finished, I glazed it with some of the leftover butter and seasoning from the injection, and mixed in some honey and bourbon. The skin was super crispy, and I think the glaze softened it up a little bit, but it could have also been the covered ride back over to Summer’s.

Mom, Dad, Bác Vân, and Doug were all there with the girls. Julie was somehow last after I told her not to rush on account of the turkey. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait any longer than it took me to carve the turkey, and we all dug in.

All of the food was great. Summer made a bunch of sides and a ham, and the turkey was at least done, and I thought it presented well. I thought it was a little bit salty, could have used some more smoke, and ended up not being as moist as I expected. I assumed that was all because of my cook time and temperature, so next time I’ll take much more care to start earlier. Hopefully we can pick up some more turkey on clearance in the coming days.

After we ate, Julie wanted to play a game, so the girls brought out Phase 10. She had to teach Mom how to play, and the game wasn’t entirely without drama, but I think most everyone had a good time while Dad, Bác Vân, and Doug watched from the couch. We played through more phases than I expected, and then everyone filed out relatively quickly. Summer was proud of how quickly everything broke down and cleaned up, and then she was off to bed while the girls started on another jigsaw puzzle before bed.

Less heat; more smoke!

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Spatched

Summer went to work this morning, and I eventually got out of bed and made some rice for the leftover corned beef. Autumn slept on the couch because she got everything out of her storage unit, but didn’t have her room cleaned up with a place for everything. She sat around watching Criminal Minds all morning, and then ate some plain white rice without any of the actual leftovers. I tried to get Eaddie out of bed, but she didn’t want to get up. Neither of them wanted to clean house like I asked.

I eventually left to meet Summer at Superfast so we could get her patched tire back on. I was there with her for a little while after the guys helped swap the tires, since she was ready to leave work a bit early and I thought she might do something with me. She ended up going to the gym, so I went to my parents’ house to prep the turkey.

I’d never actually handled a raw turkey before, but this was actually much cleaner than I expected. I’ve always felt that chickens were super gross and slimy, but the turkey wasn’t slimy at all. It trimmed up nicely, and the random clearanced shears I picked up at Walmart a while back did a great job cutting the spine out. I decided to spatchcock the turkey for my first attempt at smoking one, since it promised a more even cook with the added benefit of speeding up the whole process. I couldn’t have been more pleased with how the prep went.

Mom warmed up some shrimp soup while I was there, so we ate a bit before I headed home. I was supposed to drop the spine and other assorted entrails off at Julie’s house so she could make gravy out of it, but she took forever to respond to my text messages, and said she had left the house to go shopping. I killed a bunch of time cleaning up at home, re-covering the fire pit out back, showering, and getting things generally organized to smoke the turkey. Finally she just had me leave the bag of turkey bits in my mailbox so she could pick it up on the way home.

I had to stop by Lowe’s for an injector, and I decided to throw out my leftover marinade, so I’ll be making my own from scratch in the morning. Just as I left Lowe’s, Summer reminded me to bring my bread maker, so I had to circle back home to get it. When I got to her house, Autumn was still at her boyfriend’s house. Eaddie was working on homework, and Summer was making fruit salad, key lime pie, and deviled eggs. She finished up with a loaf of bread that we thought was a bit overdone. Autumn got back home a little early, and after a little wind-down time, everyone was off to bed.

There’s simply no respect.

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Phone Games

I had plenty of time to get up and around this morning before prying Eaddie out of bed so I could take her home. She said she had a bunch of school work to do, but wasn’t really in a rush to do any of it after verbally stressing about it last night. When I did finally get her home, she spent all day in her room while I just sat around the house.

Autumn arrived shortly after we did, and said she passed whatever screening they did for her to join the military. After that, I guess she went to her room and fell asleep. Eventually Summer called to say she was on her way home, so I took Tres home to charge before meeting her at Walmart.

Mom and Dad pulled up next door as I was leaving, so I handed off some stuff to him before leaving. Then I braved the last-minute Thanksgiving crowd at Walmart to find Summer. The traffic along the way, and the bustling crowd of people just reminded me how much I hate holidays, because they give us an excuse not to have family gatherings more often throughout the year. I’d much rather split this stuff up randomly than save it all for one time of year, with concentrated stupidness all around.

Autumn helped us unload when we got home, and Summer made brownies while the girls ate some leftover pizza. I continued to pick at a bit of stuff, but was still mostly useless. All I had done all day was complete upkeep tasks in Puzzle Tales, ExoMiner, and Phase 10. I only recently started playing games on my phone again, and it’s already eating away at my life. I’ll have to re-prioritize quality over quantity entertainment.

Idle me this, idle me that.

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Cold House, Cold Drinks

Summer took the flat tire to Hindsman’s this morning, and then dropped the Mercury off for me before heading to work. Autumn got up and left for MEPS, but came back after a trip to McDonald’s, saying she wasn’t informed the dress code disallowed sweatpants. Fortunately she wasn’t left behind, and could come home to change before going back. Noah left as well, but said he would be back the next day. Eaddie didn’t want to get out of bed all day, so after some leftover chicken tacos, I headed home.

I planned to take the air tanks and accessories back to my parents’ house, but we ended up deciding to have a fire at my house in the evening. Summer left work really early for her, and I cleaned up a bit and got a fire started before taking a shower and going back up to their house for leftovers. Evidently a couple fairly large branches fell, and at least one of them ripped a big hole in the cover I had over the chairs. I wouldn’t mind having the tree about 10 feet further away from the house.

I stopped by Walmart to get some chips and cheese, and we made nachos out of the leftover chicken. We headed back to my house as soon as we finished eating, and I had to get some more wood started over the hot coals. Everything was so dry outside that it all burned relatively quickly. Eaddie wanted to have a friend over, but couldn’t find a single soul that could make it. I was glad that she came out to spend time with us though, instead of hiding in her room all night. We had a good talk, and it was a good time for all of us. I think the chocolate-stuffed marshmallows helped.

Inventory time.

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Flat Out

It was nice to sleep in today after a late night. We all got up and finished the chili for brunch, and Summer went to the gym while I showered. When she got back, we went to my parents’ house to borrow some air tanks and an emergency tire inflator for the Montego. Unfortunately it wouldn’t hold any air, so Summer dug out the spare and we took it to my house to fill it up and get some tools.

The floor jack was too thick to fit under the frame, so we had to use the emergency jack. It had pretty smooth action though, so it wasn’t too painful. The impact sped things up a whole lot, and we got the spare on and took everything back to their house.

Noah came over later in the evening, so Summer ordered Domino’s and had Autumn pick it up. We all played a long game of Mario Party, and then Noah and Eaddie stayed up late watching Smile until bedtime.

A murder, most foul!

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Da Boiz

I woke up a bit early today after staying up to late last night. Eaddie was up before I was, and made herself breakfast and started cleaning house. Both of the girls were having their boyfriends over, so they had to get everything cleaned up before then. I tried to clean up some leftovers for breakfast, and then went home to shower before meeting Summer at Walmart.

Summer went to the gym, and then had most of the stuff picked up for chili by the time I found her. Then we made a quick run through the rest of the store before heading up to the house. Gavin showed up in the early afternoon with a flower in a vase. Eaddie had fallen asleep again because her head cold was draining her, but she got up and I eventually took them to the Valley Park Center to wander around.

Adam didn’t show up until after I left to pick up Eaddie and Gavin again. Then they played some Mario Kart and watched TV until it was time for me to take then to Pasta Grill. When I got back, Summer had chili ready for the four of us. Adam was well mannered enough, though he didn’t eat much. Autumn warned us that he was a picky eater, but he let slip that his father took him to CiCi’s before he came over.

After we ate, the four of us played a game of Monopoly. Adam seemed to enjoy it, but was mostly quiet and didn’t seem to fully understand all of the mechanics. We taught him about making monopolies, and coached him through buying houses. I tried to get the game going pretty quickly, so it was a good time until I had to go pick up Eaddie and Gavin again from the train depot.

When we got back to the house, the two couples split up to watch two different TVs. I laid down in bed until Summer came in to find me, and then made me periodically wander through the house to mind the children. Gavin had to be home by 10:30, so Eaddie and I took him home in time for that. We saw lots of deer and a raccoon, but fortunately nothing jumped out in front of us. I had to make Eaddie ride up front with me on the way back, but then she was super talkative for the whole drive home.

We stopped by my house to get the Montego and my neti pot since her head cold had just gotten worse all evening. Right as we turned onto Main Street, we could hear and feel that the car had a flat tire. I pulled over in front of GameStop, and the rear left tire was completely flat. Summer had to come pick us up for the evening, and we’ll have to go back tomorrow to try and air it back up.

Adam was gone again by the time we got home. Autumn was in her room. Eaddie showered and went to bed. I chatted with Summer for a bit, and then it was off to bed for us as well.

Just be a well-rounded, good-intentioned human.

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Idledeedee

Gary and Greg were both out today, and we only had a really brief meeting in the morning. Zach sent everyone but me to replace docking stations at the junior high. I slowly dug into my own things until he called and asked me to run across the street to help Chris with an “internet slowness” issue. That, of course, didn’t really turn into much of anything on account of “everything” that was going wrong at the time. On the way over, I inspected the parking lot and found the offending ketchup packet sitting right next to my tire. Unfortunately there wasn’t any way to get proof of who did it, but at least now I know it was some stupid kid that squirted ketchup all over my car.

After that, I burned most of my day trying to get the new Google Drive deployment to behave properly. It either didn’t want to uninstall the old version properly, or wouldn’t install and detect the new version. When lunch time came around, Zach and Kyle were the only two around to go. Zach suggested Brangus, which didn’t really excite me, but nothing else did either. I took the two of them, and we had an awkwardly quiet lunch.

The afternoon dragged on a bit. I went upstairs to restart a laptop for a kid, and then Thomas sent everyone home a few minutes earlier than the half hour that Ginni gave us. I had actually gotten into some things, so I didn’t actually leave until a few minutes late. Summer didn’t get back to town until late, Autumn went to an away game in Greenwood, and Eaddie had her grandparents take her home right after school, so I hung out at home for a while before coming over.

On the way out, I stopped by to troubleshoot Bác Vân’s dead iPad. It needed to be charged in a bad way. Then I cleaned up some leftovers at the house. The girls watched a bit of TV when Summer got home, but didn’t get up to anything else. I stayed up late playing on my phone until Autumn showed up. Then it was off to bed. Mom came down with the flu or something like it, so it’s just as well that we’ll be hosting Thanksgiving this year.

I guess I should start shopping for tires early…

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Quarter Panel with Ketchup

I almost made it to my charge limit this morning, and left the house at 75%. I think being able to take a day trip during the weekend and then recoup that energy throughout the week is acceptable. I kept relatively busy today, and went to Dwight in the morning to troubleshoot a display issue. I ended up having to contact Newline support for some firmware, so I went back to the shop and had lunch before going back.

Aramark served us Thanksgiving lunch in the Gardner cafeteria, and most of our crew went, along with a few from maintenance, several from administration, and some others from the surrounding buildings that I didn’t know so well. Gary joked that the superintendent didn’t punch me when she walked in, so I must be in the clear for now. Thomas was going to go back to the shop, but we ended up staying. I sat with our substitute custodian, Anthony, and a couple Chrises from maintenance, since the tech table was a little crowded.

After lunch, I finished up at Dwight and Ian found me in the office again. I guess no one else ever sticks around so long when he starts talking, because he’s always got something to say. I ended up going back to the shop just before school let out, and rode out the rest of the day there. Thomas told us not to wait until 4:30 to leave, but I only got out a few minutes early.

I saw Summer at Superfast, so I stopped in to see her and we went to Walmart to get stuff for her to make chili for work. I found a kitchen faucet on clearance as well, so I picked it up to replace my leaky one. She dropped me back off at my car and I took it home, but on my way back out to go to her house, I noticed a big blob of ketchup on my rear passenger quarter panel. It was all over the place, and obviously intentional, so I had to take it to the carwash.

I spent a couple minutes in the carwash, trying to scrub through what little sentry mode footage I had. I never saw anything suspicious, but the recording hadn’t been working for several days anyway. I was really upset that someone would do something like that to my car for no apparent reason other than the fact that it’s a Tesla. The ketchup was very dry, but I never noticed it throughout the day as I walked to the car. It took me a little while to clean it off, but I had been wanting to wash the car again anyway. Fortunately it didn’t seem to mess anything else up, but it was also dark outside. While I was in the middle of the wash, I had to ride out an anxiety attack. I remember a couple of loud trucks being around, which probably put me a little more on edge on account of why I was at a carwash in the middle of a cold night.

I made it back home to swap cars and headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie had me bring my Yeti microphone over so she could record some flute assignments, but she kept yelling with frustration for most of the evening. Summer baked a cake, but I just laid in bed playing the Stranger Things game on my phone, desperately trying to make it through Chapter 5. When I finally got back up to finish my blog, I had another anxiety attack that I tried to collect some data on. I stopped breathing to see if my oxygen level was just low, but it didn’t seem to be. I’d love to know why I get these now.

This is the kind of stuff that gets people shot.