Rocky, Sam, Steak, Echo, Propane, & Fire

Knowing that I didn’t have to be up at 5:30am was definitely welcome news, but I did commit to helping Mindy by picking Rocky up for his dental appointment and having him back to our house before 9:30am. That meant I needed to be up by 7am if I were to comfortably exercise, walk Ykraps, relax and then run before hand. I was successful in executing my plan. I was back from my run at 8:40am. And after sharing a little time with Bella I darted off to fetch Rocky. Rocky was ready and excited. Landon acted bashful but warmed to me quickly, or just before I had to head back home. Honestly, I worried that he might be heart broken seeing me pull away with Rocky, but he didn’t seem to mind. He gave me a hug and then a big smile as Rocky & I pulled away. Mindy & the kids were waiting at the front door ready to go when we pulled up at the house. I didn’t even get in the house before the entire gang headed out. Not only was Mindy taking Rocky to his dental appointment, but she was taking all three kids to her bff’s house afterwards and hanging out with them for the day. Incidentally, her bff’s husband is the dentist fixing Rocky’s teeth. Meanwhile, it was a simply gorgeous morning. One couldn’t ask for prettier weather. It was sunny and in the mid 60s with an anticipated high of 81 degrees – September-type weather. I spent the next hour updating my blog. Mindy suggested that I visit Sam’s Club, purchase a membership, and then buy some of their awesome steaks. To that end, I left the house at 11am. The crowd at Sam’s was quite entertaining, employees and customers alike. No one was in a hurry. The employees don’t mind airing their dirty laundry right in front of customers, either. Realize, at Sam’s, if you don’t have a membership you can’t buy anything. I had to go to the service desk to purchase a membership before anything else. That took about 20 minutes best guess, although it seemed longer. They gave me a business membership since I ‘manage’ a business. I added Mindy so she can play there too. Finally, I was set loose in their large warehouse-like store. I took my time perusing all the aisles, but planned to buy only two or three specific things: dog food, steaks, and perhaps a new extension cord for the new garage fridge. I spent a good hour walking around looking. I had to chuckle at some of the bulk items they carry, like a box of 1500 Styrofoam cups and boxes of cereal as big as our entire pantry. I concluded that you won’t necessarily save any money by purchasing these larger quantities. Do the math before you buy. I ended up at the meat counter. They had some awesome looking ribeye steaks for just under $7 a pound. I bought a three pack for $27. They were gigantic and about 2” thick, just like I like my steaks. I bought a frozen turtle cheesecake, too. Even though I had cold items, I still took a cursory stroll through the neighboring Kohl’s and Dick’s looking at wicking golf shirts. I didn’t buy one from either place. I could use one or two but don’t want to buy compulsively. Cognizant of having fresh meat and a frozen cheesecake out in the Trooper, I headed for the car and ultimately home. I was there by 1pm. I was really hungry so I made a roast beef and cheese sandwich. I enjoyed my sandwich while surfing the internet reading Viking training camp updates via Twitter for up to the minute breaking information. At 1:30pm I left the house again only this time for Home Depot. As you may recall, I wanted to get an extension cord for the new garage fridge but they didn’t have them at Sam’s. I knew that they had what I needed at Home Depot. And since I was there, I figured I would go ahead and buy that gas powered Echo leaf blower that I’ve had my eye on for literally the last two years. I kept thinking that Mindy would get it for me as a birthday, Xmas, or Father’s Day gift but she hadn’t. Just the same, don’t get me wrong. She’s bought me all sorts of cool stuff, just not my gas powered leaf blower. At Home Depot I fetched the leaf blower first. I’ve looked it so many times I didn’t need to ‘shop’ per se. The Echo PB-251 is one of the top gas powered blowers on the market and it comes with a 5 year consumer warranty, which is practically unheard of in the industry. Over the years I’ve had two other gas powered blowers, neither were even near the same quality as the Echo, the most recent being a Weedeater, and it lasted a mere two seasons. It was junk! I’ve been using an electric model for the last three or four years. It works well and needs zero maintenance, but it’s too restrictive with having to drag extension cords around the yard. I found a 12’ #14 extension cord with a three outlet hub that would be perfect for the new garage fridge. It was $10. I bought a new one gallon fuel container just for the leaf blower too, what the heck. I have one specifically marked for each of my gas powered lawn toys that require an oil/gas mixture. I headed home thinking that I might settle in for a quick nap before cutting the lawn. But by the time I got home and plopped down on the sofa I just wasn’t that tired. I headed out to work on the lawn around 3pm. I had just started whacking when the trimmer head ran out of line. Crap! I had to spend fifteen minutes loading new line. Anyone who’s done that a time or two knows how much fun that can be. I’m getting better at it, however. I trimmed, edged, and mowed for the next 1.5 hours. Mindy & the kids got home from Teri’s around 4:40pm, just as I was in the middle of putting together my new leaf blower. The new fuel container has this new fangled safety device that is supposed turn the flow of fuel on and off with the press of a button. I found it clunky and ended up spilling gas on the garage floor. Not a big deal, except for the fact that it is supposedly designed to prevent such accidents. I cleaned it up and then gave my new blower a rigorous workout. It felt great to be free of the extension cords for the first time in four years. I was able to do a much nicer, more efficient job. It’ll come in real handy come fall. After finishing the lawn I went inside to take my second shower of the day. It was a quick one. It was 5:40pm when I returned downstairs. Mindy and I planed dinner – ribeye steaks, ricearoni, and cheesecake. Before starting the grill, we walked Ykraps together. I started the grill around 6:15pm while Mindy seasoned the meat. After allowing ten minutes of warm-up time, I went to put the steaks on the grill. Oh yeah - out of propane! Are you kidding me? Dammit! I wasn’t pleased. Instead of spending a lot of time bitching I freed the cylinder and grabbed the Honda keys along with Mindy’s debit card and headed off to boat storage to fill-up the propane tank. No worries! I pulled up at Lee’s RV just before 7pm. Oops – sorry, we’re closed. Dammit – again! After a bout of swearing like a drunken sailor I headed off to Lowe’s just a couple more miles up the way. I worried that I might not be able to make the purchase without ID. Plus, I was wearing sawed off pajama bottoms and a raggedy t-shirt. Wouldn’t you know that I immediately ran into a fellow employee. J That’s just how it works. He was getting propane too. I was back at home sometime after 7pm. Felt like I had been gone forever. I attached the new propane cylinder and fired up the grill. Something didn’t seem right but at the time I didn’t know what. One thing’s for sure, the grill wasn’t getting as hot as we expected. It maxed out just over 300 degrees. And to cook a good steak you want to cook at a very high temperature to sear in the juices leaving it brown on the outside while remaining pink in the center. Mindy suggested that it reached over 600 degrees just the other day. What the …??? Frustrated, I went ahead and cooked the steak as the grill was – at 300 degrees. It took twice as long. I knew that meant they’d end up brown all through to the center, but there wasn’t anything I could do. It was already 8pm. We needed to eat. And by the way, according to Mindy, the kids went ahead and ate cereal while I fetched the new propane. It was just her and I eating the giant steaks. Sure enough, the steaks were over cooked (brown all the way through), but still, they were tasty. I grabbed the owner’s manual from the cabinet and perused the fault troubleshooting section while dining. How romantic! There it was, ‘grill not getting hot enough’. Apparently there’s a safety mechanism in the regulator that significantly reduces/limits the flow of gas at start-up. This condition is often caused by hooking up the gas cylinder with the gas already turned on. That’s it. Ours was. Bingo! The solution was simple. Disconnect the tank, let it sit for a few minutes, then reattach and test. I was eager to give it a try. After dinner I went outside and did the regulator reset. While waiting, I went back inside and enjoyed a piece of that turtle cheesecake. It was delicious! I asked Mindy if she minded finishing clean-up while I went out and tested the grill. She gave me her blessing. Within five minutes the grill was at 620 degrees. Problem resolved! While out back, I went ahead and watered the flower pots and hanging baskets. They weren’t dry, but I didn’t want to wait another day giving them even the slightest chance of drying out. Mindy and the kids started tossing the baseball while I watered. I promised to join in after I was through. I topped off the hot tub while I was watering. It was down an inch or two. By the time I rewound the hose and got out to play with Mindy & the kids it was dusk. It was getting difficult to see the baseball. After about five minutes of play I suggested we bag it for safety concerns. Everyone agreed. Bella wanted to hot tub. Mindy wanted a fire. I thought the fire sounded good. We spent the next 15 minutes getting a fire going on Mindy’s little pond-side patio. It took a little while to get it burning on its own even after using kerosene. That’s because some of the wood already in the pit was damp. I really should’ve dumped it and started anew. Kenny & Chrissy joined us by the fire along with their two girls, Lilly and Makayla. They had fun playing with the fire. But unfortunately their fun left us on pins and needles. Like we all did as kids, they were burning the tips of sticks to a firey glow so they could make trails of orange in the dark. But they were coming and going so fast we feared that someone was gonna get poked in the eye with a burning stick. We made them stop after about 15 minutes. While sitting around the fire I sipped two beers. We headed in around 1030pm. Bella & Jacob helped extinguish the fire with water using a plant watering bucket. We were all in bed by 11pm. There was a full moon under a clear sky. Good night moon!