Sargie's doing some last minute touch up's in the kitchen

September 3, 2017 - Sunday

49 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

The countdown is on. In a matter of a few short hours, the first of the Mighty Milligan's will pull in the drive. Let the Labor Day celebration begin!

It appears we're going to luck out (again) with today's weather. After being deluged with rain on Saturday, the skies began to clear during the afternoon and all signs of inclement weather disappeared. We're promised a rare sunny and warm day. 

It appears our reprieve is to be short lived. Rain is forecast to move back into the area tonight.

I stayed busy on Saturday and started the day by sweeping and washing the floors between loads of laundry.

At one point, I became overly ambitious and pushed a bit too hard on the Swiffer. The result was a broken handle. I think I can use epoxy to fix it. If not, I'll owe Sargie a new one.

When doing repetitive work like sweeping, scrubbing, or running the vacuum, I often make up some silly rhyme, a nonsensical song, anything to tease my brain to help pass the time. 

Yesterday, I thought maybe I'd compose a rap song. 

Why? I don't know. I HATE rap. Other than occasionally resembling a marching band cadence gone horribly wrong, there's nothing about rap that remotely resembles music to my ears. 

None-the-less, I thought I'd give it a try.

"... I'm washin' the floors and it's as if
I'm usin' my wifie's handy Swif
removin' all the dirt and grime
Seems I'm washin' all the time...
yo yo yo, Dunkin' yo yo yo..."

And it went on and on, ad nauseum. 

Problem was, each time I'd repeat it (and believe me, I was Swiffin' in time to the rhyme) it came out sounding more like a cheer at a junior high school pep rally. In fact, the final rendition went something like...

"... READY? OKAY!"

I tapped the Swiffer twice on the floor and proceeded:

".. I'm washing the floors, *clap clap*
and it's as if, *clap-clap-clap*
I'm using my pretty Wifie's Swif!"
*stomp feet, clap hands, and scream*

GO TEAM GO!!

Yeah. The moral of the story: NEVER leave a grandpa home alone with a Swiffer. Other than clean floors, nothing good can come of it.

I next turned my attentions to preparing the pork loin and hamburgers for today's celebration.

After using a dry rub of my own secret herbs (remember, we pronounce the "h") and spices on the loin, I applied a liberal glaze of pure maple syrup.

After the glaze came an entire pound of bacon. Why? Because bacon makes everything taste better. 

The loins were left in a large pan and placed in the refrigerator to soak overnight in the marinade.

Next on the culinary agenda was making hamburger patties. It's quite simple when one buys his burger in a long and compressed roll. 

I used a sharp knife to slice through the roll, plastic and all, to make perfect sized patties. After the plastic was removed from each slice, I once again applied a few secret herbs and spices and wrapped everything to sit overnight in the refrigerator.

A steady rain fell through mid afternoon with an inch of water in the gauge by the time it moved on.

The rest of the day was spent doing odds and ends. The bushes alongside the deck were sheared. The garage was straightened and swept, the grates on the grill were removed and washed. The afternoon flew by.

The clock was chiming five bells by the time I quit. There was no more fuel in Tommy P's tank.

Sargie arrived home early in the evening. She immediately became busy in the kitchen. 

After, we enjoyed a good supper and spent a quiet evening in front of the television.

Today's the big day. I'm heading out fairly soon to start the smoker. Sargie's up and raring to go in anticipation of our family and friends to begin arriving early this afternoon.

Guess I ought to quit writing and get busy. As we in the rap/cheer business say, "GO TEAM GO!"

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...