Monday was the best Monday that I’ve had in a long while. It was Yvette’s birthday so I went and got her some balloons. When delivering the balloons the entire campus lost power. Rather than go back to my dark office where I couldn’t do a thing, I stayed put. Much better conversation to be had. A little over an hour later I departed. Next thing I know, it was lunch.
The art gallery had a new student exhibit. I always look forward to these. The last one wasn’t so great. I’m always delighted when I walk by to notice a new one is up.
It was a short week. Good Friday we had off. I can’t say a whole lot happened, but I enjoyed the week. It was nice to visit with my campus friends.
Song of the Week: “This Must Be The Place” by Talking Heads.
Jalapeño
Chorizo potato bean tacos. Just things we had around the house that needed to be cooked or thrown out. Really can’t go wrong with this.
Jalapeño bratwurst served over a sea so honey mustard with potato salad and jalapeño.
Easy chicken paprikash. This is a Hungarian mea and my first time making it. The sauce was butter, paprika, heavy cream, chicken stock and flour. For the chicken I used rotisserie chicken. It was very good.
Artichoke rice salad with grilled chicken over a bed of mixed greens.
Bekah was going to make Taco Mac & Cheese. She went for drinks and brought hone enchiladas.
Saturday Bekah took off early to Hoe-zona on a mission with her siblings and I was left to my own devices. I was having a very ADD day. I was bouncing all over the place and couldn’t stay focused on one thing long enough to complete a task. It literally took me 2 hours to leave the house. I’d tried for 2 hours. No joke. When I did leave the house with my 4 task at hand I diverted to the Lily park and then from that I got lost.
The park was kind of pathetic. Only 3 Lily’s in bloom. I wonder, did the tanks completely freeze over during the winter storm like peoples pools did? How many plants did they lose if that is the case. That saddens me. I remember what it looked like 2020. Of course I do. It was a refuge when we first went on lockdown. I went their often. It’s a place I found peace. I was somewhat depressed. I missed my people. My routine. Lord, it’s been a f***ing year. Before I digress (pretty sure I did), the park was off to a hard start. The bluebonnets were killing it though. I located a few pink ones. Rare and beautiful. Not a lot else was in bloom.
From there I wondered downtown. For an hour. I really deviated from the course of my day. A peacock caught my eye. From there I just wondered around looking at various art & the outdoors. My head was in the clouds. I saw some pretty beautiful water fowl. Something relaxing about watching the ducks, or am I alone? When I was a little boy, younger than my nephew Teddy is now, my grandparents would take me to a pond to feed the ducks. I loved that about our visits. I got such a kick out of watching the quacking birds. I wanted to hold them, but of course that never happened. To this day, sadly, I’ve never held a duck. I’m still captivated by the little critters.
Once back on course I made my rounds around town. My main mission was to get some plants for the yard. Sadly, I had a good deal of replacing to do. F***ing polar vortex. So I hit up a few locations and I found some but not much for variety. Worker said the supply chain was greatly impacted by that blast. I’m sure it was. Green houses lost all power for days. I spruced up the patio & front porch a little. I did the same last year. With the fear of imminent lockdown I wanted my outdoor space to be pretty and soothing on the mind. It’s amazing what some plants will do for a place.
Next up was an attack on the HEB. I planned a dinner my mother would make. God, it had been years. I’m not even sure why I thought of it. The store was a breeze. But…. I guess the siblings decided to have sibling night. Completely understand. What a day they must have had. So I was back to square one on dinner. Screw it.
My main indecision for the day was lunch. My indecision. I know it drives Bekah crazy. Some days I just can’t. Nothing is concrete. It drives me f***ing batty. I fretted over what the hell I was to eat. Out of f***ing nowhere something popped up! Street Eats!! Thank the heavens. I called it in and I drove. You have no idea how satisfied I was. Barrio Barria. That dipping broth was heavenly.
I chilled on the couch and watched a movie I’d been hearing about. “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” It was cute and not bloated like so many movies seems to be these days. At an hour and a half. That’s unheard of. I now know the origin of “It’s Friday pumpkin!” lol. I must finish by saying that Michael Cera looks like a f***ing lizard. A chameleon to be specific. When I watch him I keep waiting for that long tongue to whip out and eat someone else on screen . Not sure about that guy.
So what the hell was I going to do for dinner for myself? I had chicken thigh, broccoli, and I’m not sure why, microwave rice. I don’t eat that s***. Panda Express orange sauce. I made a bowl!!! It was delish. And I went into a diabetic coma. Oops. I needed insulin.
The remainder of the evening I spent outside on the patio fighting the wind or inside on the couch watching whatever I could find. I decided to play bartender. I made drinks and I poured heavy but I never really reached the state of inebriation that I was longing for. I was up late and still it eluded me. Overall it was a jolly good time. Drinking alone is frowned upon, I know. Somehow solitary boozing has been stigmatized as a sign someone is slipping. I feel that every once in a while it’s needed. It’s a good way to find that inner you. Let the booze be the moderator to the conversation you have with yourself. All distractions are set aside. Tap that subconscious mind.
A weekend a weekend. As I mentioned my youngest brother and the wife and kids were in town. Loved seeing them. Jesus. The kids are so much fun. I built monsters with Teddy and gave him a cup cake he wasn’t supposed to have. He is the splitting image of my father at that age. Patrick just smiles. He has my red hair. Hopefully not my hairline.
Brother, sister-in-law and I went to a vineyard outside of town. At first he canceled our plans. I went from “chill relax mode to let’s get things done mode” when he called to say plans were back on. Eye rolls, people. It took me a sec to switch gears again. Almost stayed in “get things done” mode. Glad I changed gears. Great time. I felt like I’d gone one vacation. It was great to hit the highway. I had not left town in over a year. It was weird putting the car in cruise mode at 75mph. We sat out and shared 3 bottles of wine. Is that excessive between the 3 of us? I don’t know. I guess I should include the wasp that drank with us. She wouldn’t leave the sparkling almond alone. When you need a drink you need a drink. Who am I to judge.
The week began with a gloomy wet Monday, thank the heavens. I was not feeling work. It’s my office week. What a bummer, right? The drizzle and eventual downpour got me through it. I got goosebumps when it finally thundered. How I’d been waiting for a good daytime storm to pass through. Enough of the AM pitch black storms where you can’t see anything.
Pretty uneventful week, honestly. Leroy will tell you that “the bulls*** wouldn’t end” and he would be right. He clocked out early Friday. I mean, I woke up Wednesday thinking it was Thursday’s, I never shook that feeling. NOTHING eventful happened. We did get some more rain. 2 days of precipitation. I’ll take more, thank you very much.
I did find a little bit of treasure while looking for my father resume. His detailed account of family history and his early life up until he and my mother moved from Colorado. I spent a good time going through and printing (not my paper). I skimmed over some of it. Will be an interesting read once I find the time. Emotional no doubt.
Song of the Week: “Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears.
Jalapeño
Waffle BLT? Sure. It was a fun concept but the waffle really didn’t add much. I think the fried egg was a little over kill. What this meal did do was make me crave an actual BLT. Not saying it was a dud. It wasn’t. It just didn’t live up to what it was mimicking.
Steak, onion & pepper grilled and tossed in red enchilada sauce with melted cheddar. Borracho beans cooked with brown beer. Not the prettiest but never the less delicious.
Teriyaki steak with broccoli, rice, pineapple & jalapeño.
Seared tuna w/ seaweed salad.
Orange citrus shrimp grilled with a vegetable medley of asparagus, radish & jalapeño. Simple and light.
I had no idea WTF was for dinner. So I made chicken fajita and threw queso on top. It was tasty as always.
Cocktail of the Week: Jalapeño Margarita Martini. You must know it’s been a year since I’ve had this drink and it was sooooooooo good. I actually said f*** it and went into a place Jay for the drink. I was out in under 10 min and it was worth it. No one was there anyways.
The weekend was actually a lot of fun. Friday I watched WandaVision. Bekah wasn’t around and she really doesn’t do Marvel. I have a little crush on Elizabeth Olsen and I like Paul Bettany so I gave it a try. I’m not the biggest Marvel nerd and I was clearly missing some back story but I was still able to enjoy it. I wasn’t expecting the show to pull at my heart strings. The end was deep. I recommend. It’s only eight 30min episodes. Very easy to power through.
Saturday came around and I was craving a certain lettuce wrap. The thing is when you order that as carry out it’s a soggy mess. After much deliberation I decided it was time to dine out. I was just a little anxious. It had been almost exactly a year since I had eaten inside a restaurant. We went at an off hour so no one was really around. It was good seeing the staff. The cook made mine extra spicy (they were spicy) since he hadn’t seen me since last March. It was all that I remembered it being. A good year since I’ve had it like this. I took my time. We played some music on the Touch Tunes and had some drinks. It was nice but still felt weird. I just wasn’t use to it, dining out. We continued to day drink once back home. It was a nice day for the patio. Bekah had a little too much fun and crashed before dinner was ready. It happens.
That evening I was electrical. I was so excited. Our first sever weather threat!!!! Tornado watch!!!! Boy howdy!!! I couldn’t sit still. I went outside with my hands in the air. BRING IT ON!!!! We didn’t end up getting anything but some rain, heavy winds and a nice light show but I’ll take what I can get. It’s sever weather season and the experts are expecting an above average amount of outbreaks this year. Should be exciting. Wednesday morning we got hit with another storm. This one brought with it hail. I woke up to artillery shells hitting my house. Because of the excitement I found little sleep the rest of the night. I need these things to happen during the day light hours.
Daylight savings time. My favorite. You know sleep disruption has been know to cause deaths. Why we still practice this barbaric ritual is beyond me. Starting the week in all the right ways I had a flat tire. I also have an air compressor now. I went to Discount Tire. Slow leak nail in tire. That’s a free fix but it seems I need a new tire. Oh, and another tire is almost in the red. Screw it, might as well replace the 2 of them and while at it get a rotation. I don’t want to be back here in another month.
To pass the time I went for a leisurely stroll. Upon my stroll, lost in my thoughts, I noticed a bright golden marble pebble. I bent down to inspect it. Weathered by time it’s smooth surface was as soft as a new borns skin. As I examined what could only be of natural design, I wondered to myself if ever this rock had been touched by human hands before? Would it ever be touched again? When I carried it away from its predestined path & placed it upon a large conglomerate exposed through the dirt, I wondered if this was where it would remains till the end of my days? Or would some other force of nature come along and carry it away? Maybe years from now I’ll come back and check on it.
My nephews were in town!!!! My lord they grow fast. Teddy is a big boy and baby Patrick is running!! He was crawling when I last saw him! This last year! I didn’t get to see enough of him because of the f***ing virus. I’m so happy that they came. The exhaustion is real. Just watching them play makes me tired. And that’s great.
St. Patrick’s Day. Oh what an anniversary this was. A year ago the world closed. Well, Texas closed. We were a little late. This was my last day at work for a few months. It’s insane to think how different this year is from the last. Last year fear was in the air. This year no one cares. We are doing better but it’s not over yet. I just…. what a f***ing year.
Bekah asked if I wanted to go get a green beer somewhere. To be honest I’m yet onboard with returning to the bar scene. It’s just… weird. Also, just because I’ve had COVID and a drip of bamlanivimab doesn’t mean I can’t catch it again. I actually found some green food coloring so she could have a green beer. Lamest St. Patrick’s Day I think I’ve ever had. Oh well. The last year was rather lame. I ended up making her a green beer at the house.
It took forever but Friday finally rolled around. Beeto day, unsupervised & a trip to Sam’s. That’s pretty much my day. I f***ed off for an hour on my mail run. Took a nice stroll on the campus. Beautiful afternoon.
After work Bekah & I went to my mother’s to have dinner with the family. Youngest brother got into town so we had his whole family. Uncle was in. We kind of celebrated his birthday. We ordered carry out. Cork & Pig. It’s been months. It was a good time
Song of the Week: “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphy’s in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
Jalapeño
Pasta. I had to make something with the leftover Italian sausage that I used for my pizza. I had a can of fire roasted tomatoes, broccolini, mushrooms, sundries tomatoes, ricotta & parmesan cheese. Combine all that with some bow-tie pasta & fresh basil. This one was a keeper.
Full English breakfast. Well, excluding the blood sausage. Cooked it all on the grill which was fun.
BBQ bacon wrapped chicken w/ grilled okra and deviled eggs.
Teriyaki burger. Simply Monday meal for the time change.
HEB jalapeño salmon patties with peas and mushrooms.
St Patrick’s Day!!! I always seem to default to a shepherds pie. Time to try something else. Corned beef. I basically made a Reuben on the grill. It was a fun experiment. Have to have potato’s on my Irish day.
Bibigo pork tenderloin. Korean BBQ. You have to love it. It’s a frequent on our menu but always chicken or steak. Served with some pan fried pork pot sticker and broccoli.
Friday dinner with the family. Pizza. BBQ chicken pizza.
I understand why people in small towns drink. They are bored to tears and have nothing else to do. A relatively boring weekend segued into a extremely boring week. Bored to tears I was. I was going to title this one the “Boring Blog” but than I thought what is a fixer for boredom? A drink. And I needed a few. What did I do that made the week so boring, you ask? Zilch. It was the first week that I spent traveling around the campus to the various departments in a long time but unfortunately that still gave me very little to do. I shouldn’t have been so bored. When an opportunity arose and I was able to escape the office I sure tried to make the most of it. People I had not seen in over a month were in for long conversations. Because I was bored. Bored with coworkers. Bored with the internet. Bored with the food I cooked for meal preps. Bored with life. What a boring planet. Bored bored bored….
Rotting pumpkin art?
Speaking of conversations, I had a guy on campus come into my office saying that the ice storm we went through in February was all a government conspiracy. They made the storm. It was intended to make our Republican state government look like failures. So we control the weather now? WOW! This is f***ing BIG news. I mean, how did I miss this? I watch the weather, read the weather. This simply slipped by me. I am so happy for this visitors insight. I couldn’t wait to tell all my fellow weather geeks. My eyes were rolling out of my f***ing head. I was later asked how I was able to keep a straight face while listening to that horse s***. Well you see, I hear s*** like that to various degrees all the time working here. I’m trained in the arts of listening to said horse s***. Sad but true.
Diva
We had a friends mother pass away. Almost exactly a year after her father passed away. The visitation was bound to be sad. As a rule I don’t do viewings. I want the memories I hold to be the last image I have of that person. So when we went the the sister-in-law Connie and I held back and avoided the viewing room. Bekah said she looked good. I find it pretty amazing what the desairologists can do. To make the dead beautiful. Over all I was surprised that the atmosphere wasn’t in the gloom. It was a rather happy visitation.
Cube
It was such a nice and gloomy week. To cap of the week there was a free outdoor concert on campus. The symphonic band put on a nice little show. I was able to sneak out and catch about 30 min and I realized how badly I missed live performances. That was a sweet little taste I guess I’ll have to do with. Hey, I wasn’t bored!!!
Jalapeño
Spicy sesame chicken w/ sushi rice. The sauce was spot on. I was going for a mimic of my favorite from my childhood. Pretty close. Could have used their plumb sauce.
Brunch. I decided to do a smothered breakfast burrito. This thing was HUGE!! It was a burrito baby. For the filling I used chorizo, egg, onion & jalapeño, refried beans & cheese. I found some extra large tortilla and rolled it all up. I used a green enchilada sauce as the base to my sauce which I added a little extra seasonings to. Side with fresh pico and some avocado. I had to power through this one. It was great but it was too much food. The most stuffing brunch I’ve done yet.
Bunless burger of burger salad?
Chicken & broccoli smothered with creamy alfredo sauce. I made a spicy sauce with jalapeño and cracked red peppers. It was pretty yummy.
Buffalo chicken salad. This one turned out so good. Like, real d*** good.
Tonight was originally going to be grill shrimp & asparagus but we had a visitation to attend and bekah was going to eat out afterwards so I just experimented. Shredded chicken mixed together with taco seasoning, jalapeño, rotel & velveta cheese. Placed in a casserole dish, covered with cheese and corn chips. I thought it was pretty good for a quick throw together.
Mushroom Swiss bacon burger patty. I know it’s not the most visually stunning of meals so trust me when I say it was delicious. Heart healthy it ain’t.
With Bekah gone I guess I must make pizza. Looking at the last pizzas that I’ve made I realized they are all various pepperoni pizza. I wanted to try a different protein so I tried spicy Italian sausage. Also, red onions and fresh jalapeño. It’s was tasty but sausage pizza has never been my thing.
“WE WON!!!! Covid is gone!!! Woot woot!!! Not even a year has passed and we can all go back to normal!!! It wasn’t even real in the first place!!! All about making us sheep and taking away our rights. Enforcing lies upon us. All these idiots that fell in line and followed those dumb scientist. Science isn’t real either. Dumb egg head fear mongering motherf***er’s get paid to lie to us. Idiots that have been living in fear all this time. Cowardly f***’s! Making all is patriotic Americans look like sissy little girls. Who is the sissy now!! MERICA!!”
If the above offended you I’m not sorry. That’s how I imagine it must have been on Tuesday for many of Texans. “Eye rolling out of my head”.
The great state of Texas is opening up 100% and lifting the mask mandate. What a f***ing great idea. Coming from someone that was unlucky enough to catch the virus and knows first hand it’s not just the flu, what are these people thinking!!! This goes directly against what the CDC recommended on the exact same DAY! I’ll stick to wearing my mask, thank you very much. No coincidence that they made this announcement on Texas Independence Day. Nice way of making us look like a horses a**. Again, it hasn’t even been a year since lockdown. I’m just thrilled so many friends of mine can get the vaccine now.
Anyways…..
Monday was so nice and gloomy. It was also chilly again after a warm weekend. March 1st. WTF happened to the month of February? I’ve probably already said this, but I feel like I skipped the month.
My father is getting an exhibit in the campus’s new art museum. The mammoth bones he excavated will be on display. To provide the exhibit with a little information I needed to research my fathers work. It’s a lot to go through but I really enjoyed it. I could hear his voice while reading his words. I also realized how much I missed research projects from my college days. It was a real treat. I’m not sure I can provide the exhibit with anything else useful. His field notes, I fear, were disposed when we cleaned out my parents house. Amongst the many problems with Alzheimer’s is that the person isn’t cognitive to tell you what is of value and what is not. Where something is. It’s f***ed all around. I feel we lost many of things my father would have deemed important but how would we have known. I’m beyond happy he has an exhibit. He always said “they should be in a museum.”
Thursday was actually a very fun day at work. The morning we were to say goodbye to the crocodile that’s been part of our team for 3 years. His friend was very sad to see him go. Moving it across campus took some thought and a little bit of crazy. It was a real rush, let me say. Dangling a 500lb croc in the air and setting him into the back of a trailer. Nothing could go wrong. Nah. Once the crocodile was transported I got to see the new addition to the campus, T. Rex. I was kind of geeking out a little. To keep the day interesting I went and got the new Chick-fil-A spicy grilled sandwich. It was tasty. Not as good as the breaded, but still a dang good sandwich.
Separation anxiety.
Needs a goat in its jaws. The Meg
The afternoon was totally opposite. I was bored out of my mind. Nothing on the internet entertained me. No one came in. The phone never rang. I begged my coworker Janine to let me please to the mail run. For the love of all things Holy will you allow me this task. She agreed. I decided to pass on a golf cart ride and just run mail by foot. I took a nice leisurely stroll across the campus to burn up some daylight. Lots of plants look pretty sad after the ice storm. The green house was fine!!! I was told everything died. I told others everything died. Someone made a liar out of me. Rude.
Sad plants
On my journey back to the office some jerk on a motorcycle yelled at a couple students for pushing the crosswalk button. In some ways I could relate. His was the only vehicle and if they had waited a couple seconds they could have just walked across. But yelling at anyone is just uncalled for. The students looked confused.
Who cares about Friday. It was boring and long.
Song of the Week: “Foyer” by Wild Nothing. This one has a very 80’s vibe to it. I’m a sucker for a catchy bass line & they don’t get much catchier than this. Nice rainy day song.
Jalapeño
This was a can good kind of dinner. While dealing with winter storm Uri it became very apparent to us how little food we had in the house that did not require cooking. We don’t have much when it comes to canned goods. Well, the shelves were empty except for canned lasagna. Does not sound appetizing, does it. I added the leftover Italian chicken from last week into the pasta and served it with some canned green beans. It was actually a very good dinner. A meal that shouldn’t have worked.
Bekah made SOS “S*** on a Shingle”. I have no idea why it’s called that. It’s biscuits and gravy and it’s good. Double yoke is good luck, right?
Beef tenderloin with a peppercorn cream sauce & some asparagus/mashed potato’s . This sauce is a new thing. It was amazing.
Enchilada chicken. On of Bekah’s signature dishes. All I contributed was the poached egg.
Fish tacos using acing actual tacos. Years now it’s been basically the equivalent of a bunless burger. Not carbs. So this was a real treat.
Chicken Yakatori. I was going to make something totally different and this just happened. It was a warm day in March. You can’t go wrong with this and it’s one of Bekah’s favorites.
Queso burger for the win. Just can’t go wrong with this. Creamy spicy cheese over a delicious burger patty. My mouth is reliving it right as I type this. Yum!!!
We were going to have dinner with my mother and I was going to get a nice brick oven pizza. Her second COVID vaccine shot hit her and she had to cancel. I did not want to got to the store for dinner. I had chicken, beans and leftover queso. It was so good.
Cocktail of the Week: Kraken Black Spiced Rum w/ Coke.
People like to blame. They can’t accept that things happen just because they happen. Someone is always at fault. You should have planned!! You should have known!!! Why didn’t you…”insert word”!!! That’s all we heard after the winter storm Uri. Lots of people thrown under the bus. Does it really surprise me? Nope. Not when working for the state. It’s a joke. It’s an uncommon event. We were prepared had the power and water not been f***ed for days. We had everything in line for the cold and what to do. But when an ENTIRE power grid collapses, WTF can you do??? But heaven forbid we look bad in moments of crisis. Just cool your burners people. It was bad for everyone. It could have been much much worse.
Part of the problem is communication. It’s always about communication. No one truly says what they mean. It’s amazing to behold. Functionality is a joke at times. I’m sorry, but heads need to be pulled out of their a**es. How can they all be so obtuse?
So is it any wonder?
A week later it’s a balmy 80 degrees. Bipolar weather is normal in this state, just not to such degrees. I actually heard someone crying over it being so hot in February. This same motherf***er cried over having no heat for 3 days. Shut the f*** up, buddy.
Friday finally rolled around and it was Bekah’s birthday. She kept complaining about being so old. I laugh. She is still just a baby. So I got flowers delivered. I bought her hooch. I did something I hadn’t done since last March. I agreed to go have a drink with her inside of a bar. I honestly had to think hard on that throughout the day. I came to the conclusion that the chances of me catching COVID twice in a month was pretty slim. I had the infusion and the antibodies. She really wanted this and I will do anything to grant her birthday wishes. It was weird as f*** and I had trouble. I was anxious. Like a different world. I saw some people I wasn’t surprised to see just out and doing it. Whatever. It made Bekah’s night and that’s what mattered. I love her. Happy birthday Bekah!!!!
After the drinks we called in and picked up food from The Wharf, one of our favorite restaurants. It might not have been the most exciting birthday but that’s somewhat expected once you reach adulthood. We had a pleasant evening. The karaoke machine came out. Hahaha. Dreaded it is. I sang.
On an unrelated note, Pippin, our warehouse cat, has warmed up to me. Perhaps it’s him seeing me everyday walking in circles to get me miles in but he finally let me pet him. I didn’t even force it. He got off the chair, meowed, and cautiously approached. Sniffed my hand, rubbed his face against it and I was all good. Big day.
Jalapeño
Bibigo Korean BBQ steak. Connie I think enjoyed it.
Sunday brunch I was on my own. Bekah was feeling ill. Since we actually had bread in the house I decided to make a bacon egg sandwich w/ side salad. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.
Some kind of grill stir fry. Jalapeño, onion, mushrooms, zucchini & chicken w/ a stir fry sauce. It wasn’t pretty but it sure did taste good.
Italian chicken and salad. Cooked some chicken & jalapeño on the grill with some Italian dressing placed on top of a bed of marinara sauce and topped with melted mozzarella. I’ll have to make this one for Bekah.
So I decided on chimichurri steak for a change. We eat much more chicken & honestly I like my chimichurri sauce on chicken but I have steak I need to cook. Grilled the steak with some onion and jalapeño. Warm jalapeño, I might add.
Italian dressing seasoned chicken with potatoes. Bekah can’t eat hot food right now. I added cracked chili flakes. It was too hot. She wanted to eat. It taste good. But it hurt her chest.
BBQ burgers it was again. I made mind with heat.
Carry out The Wharf. Jalapeño soup. Bottle caps. Hawaiian chicken. I didn’t get my soup….
That little furry b****** was right, winter wasn’t over. Always trust the groundhog.
So the state of Texas was crippled. It’s just not equipped for this cold with this much ice for this duration of time. It was bad. They closed the university for the week. That’s never happened. Ice was on the road over a week. Power out at my house for 2 days. No water elsewhere in town. All under a boil notice. Just a bad scene. I could handle the house temps being in the 40s. We built a fire and if we needed a good thaw out my car worked well as a warming station. Bekah and I brought drinks and snacks to my car and made a little date night. Very high school of us. You have to make the most out of every situation. I will say that Tuesday when she went to work and I was alone without power I did get bored. Just the absolute silence of it.
Power was restored for us on Wednesday morning. Still no cable or internet. And the water was bad. Was to remain bad through the weekend. At least I had a trickle and could flush my toilets. My mother had nothing. She was melting snow. And she had 6 stranded guest in her house. What a mess.
Our state got a lot of laughs over our response to the weather. People are dying here and the response is to laugh? Humanity at its finest.
Friday morning rolled around and for bulls*** reasons I was needed at work from 9-1. It was a waste of f***ing time. I’ve been snowed in all week and suddenly Friday I’m expected to just be a warm body at work for 4 hours. Waste of my time indeed. My boss wanted me to stay longer. He wouldn’t let me leave. F***!!!
All in all, it was a f***ing adventure.
Jalapeño
For a cold weekend it was pot roast. I can stretch this into a couple meals. For the first, traditional w/ the ideal sides to accompany.
Leftover pot roast has w/ a poached egg and hollandaise sauce. God, I love a good breakfast hash.
Valentines Day leftover pot roast stroganoff.
Chicken cabbage rice straight from the grill. No power meal.
Canned chili, hot dog frito pie. Also from the grill. No power.
Finally power. Sloppy Joe over sweet potato and broccoli. Topped with pickled jalapeño.
So Monday night was something. Bekah got hone from her weekend with Connie in the hill country. I was to make one of her favorite meals. It all went rather perfect. New was amazing. I left the grill on to cook off some the spices that lung you the grate. Then I heard that work was canceled because of contaminated water. This doesn’t happen. I got in a conversation with multiple work text. I forgot about the grill for a few min. Next thing I know a neighbor is dining the door bell concerned. So I go out and it’s a little fire. All the old drippings which had basically become coal. It was smoky. I easily distinguished of it with a little water, which added to the smoke. Problem diverted. Time for bed. Nope. Someone called the fire department. I start hearing sirens I say to Bekah: “What do you want to bet those are heading our way?” Sure enough the flashing lights are in front of our house. The police and firemen were very nice. They clearly saw nothing was at stake but had to go through procedure. Everyone wanted to know if dinner was a disaster. The fire marshal wanted to know where the chicken was that I grilled because I kept talking about how good it turned out. I made them all laugh. Anxious I was, I put it to good use and gave some hard workers a little joy. It was all rather embarrassing but in the end comical and I’m happy for it.
So we had a “bad water day”. Work was canceled, the city was told not to drink or even bathe in the water. Weird indeed. A contamination of unknown origin. The stores were overrun by panic shoppers. The same frenzy of f***er’s that I saw when the pandemic began. People had loaded carts full of water. It was an insane sight.
The days itself was rather enjoyable. It was gloomy and I watched a show and generally just enjoyed myself. Not accustomed to having a Tuesday off. What I was accustomed to was working short weeks. When will I actually have a full week. Who cares. Go with it.
It was also National Pizza Day!!! Since every restaurant in town were closed I couldn’t order. I could have bought a frozen one, but since I had all the ingredients to just make my own I choose that option. Taste better anyway.
Wednesday it was back to work. The campus water was okay. My water was okay. Half the town still was not okay. I showed up at work at 10. Nothing going on anyway. It was another gloomy day. I was getting used to this.
Next morning the roads were icy. I slid around a little making my journey to work. It’s funny. They delay so often on days which the roads are just fine. It’s actually icy and we all have to come in. Well, for a short period. Email came out saying everyone could go home at 10. Pretty much the opposite of yesterday for me.
So I went home. Went to HEB for cat food. They had a true champion putting out salt in the lot. It was better than ever. He used a fertilizer distributer. He got a thumbs up from me. After that I was home, watched TV & played a little Nintendo again. What the hell. It ended up being icy all day. Some parts of town got some heavy sleet. The gloom persisted and the majority were sad. Not I!!!
Friday was delayed to 10. It was eventually canceled altogether. The roads were worse and it was only getting colder. Temperatures reaching the single digits with wind chills in the -20s. This isn’t the west Texas we know. It was warm when the week began. So weird, but I’ll take it. I love it.
So I only worked 1 full day all week long. I spent Friday mostly on the couch. I ventured out and restocked my provisions. A blizzard is expected. That evening I watched my final Jimmy Eat World concert. Part of my Christmas present from Bekah was a 3 part virtual concert series. Well worth the money and it was towards a good cause. It was fun. In true concert form, I got a little tipsy.
Song of the Week: “For Me This Is Heaven” by Jimmy Eat World. Well since I was watching them live… Song that was officially realized in 1998 but found and album in 1999. Hits a note. Lots of memories. They play is so well.
Jalapeño
Carne asada w/ cheese enchilada & rice.
Chorizo bean breakfast tacos.
Steak w/ balsamic reduction and feta cheese served with scalloped potato’s and asparagus.
White wine herb chicken w/ sweet kale salad & baked sweet potato.
Ten days. Ten days seemed like such a long time to be stuck at my house unable to go anywhere. In truth, on Tuesday, my final day of quarantine, I’m really surprised how easy it was. I did not go crazy. I enjoyed the time with Bekah and the dogs (f*** the cat) once I had the illness behind me. I was only really sick for 5 days, one of which was truly terrible. It’s just weird. Ten days. Where did they go? It’s an understatement to say I was excited to get back to work. To see some other humans. And I get another short week!! I’m having trouble remembering my last full 5 day work week. Have I had one since the new year? I don’t know.
I’m not happy that I got it. I never want to go through that again, but there is something liberating about having had it and overcome it. It’s been like an enemy knocking on my doorstep since March. We finally had our confrontation and I beat the f***er. Being at risk, I didn’t know what it might do to me. I’ve been anxious about it for almost a year. My anxiety has subsided some. This doesn’t mean back to the old world. I don’t plan on changing my routine. I won’t be doing anything differently. I still plan on applying sanitizer every time I leave the grocery store. I might start giving my blood if it helps others. I am still waiting on that vaccine. The world which I live is very much the same as it was before I caught COVID. It’s not like I can’t catch it again. Other have. Real bummer, that. I’ve just got about and 80% less likely chance of catching it for the next 4-5 months. I’m not invincible.
It was a much stranger feeling being around people again than I imagined. I felt overwhelmed. I also felt like I was doing something dirty. Like I was dirty and should still be away from people. Is this how people in solitary confinement feel when released? Whatever the feelings I may have had, it was nice seeing all the faces that I’ve missed. You have NO idea. Ten days…. Everyone had questions. Wanted to know my symptoms, how bad was it, you feeling better. I humored everyone but by the 10th time I was over talking about it.
The week was fairy lame. Even with the kids back after 2 months it seemed terribly slow. Might not help that my energy level is muted. I’m not who I was 2 weeks ago. I’m still tired and I get winded easily. Annoying.
Friday rolled around and I needed to get burritos. I left my friends high & dry the week before because of the quarantine. I think they understood, but for me to not make up for it would be an awful slight. The rest of the day I just sort of coasted through. I got home and Bekah was gone with her sister Connie. They had a weekend get away. I think I need one with Bekah. I feel a little better about escape now. I f***ing need it. Just somewhere quiet and pretty. I ask for little….
Jalapeño
Song of the Week: Pink Floyd – “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. This should probably be last weeks because I listened to it and the album ( for that matter, 2 Pink Floyd albums) while I was getting the infusion. But since that kicked of a PF kick, it still applies to this week. I post part one because, really.
Bekah made a large breakfast spread consisting of pancakes, skillet potatoes, bacon, sausage balls & scrambled eggs. I think she’s trying to put meat on my bones after this last week.
I came out of the west wing!!!! I cooked!!! Pizza chicken!! Pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Side salad. Sooooooo fun and sooooooo good.
Grilled chicken marinaded in Italian dressing, Mac & cheese w/ green beans. A proper comfort meal before being released back into the world.
Hoisin steak. This used to be a staple in our house when I first discovered hoisin sauce. It had been a while. Since the weather was so nice I couldn’t pass up the option to grill.
Chipotle chicken thigh over peppers & onions w/ Bekah’s famous Spanish rice. The rice is the real star here.
Pineapple on pizza. Pepperoni and Canadian bacon. Jalapeño. What a f***ing dish.
En Fuego 