It seems I’m not the only one who thought July 4th was a Thursday this year. It just doesn’t have the feel of a Friday holiday. From what I gather, the non-paying gig is in a condo full of divorcees out in the boonies. According to the rumor they are all rich and hot to trot, which explains the rumors of the wild nightlife out there. Known international sex playground. When I meet most divorcees, I can instantly spot the reason they were dumped. Corporate America taught me there is a reason why there are so many unmarried older women, but I won’t say anything about that. Sure, there haven’t been any hurricanes this year, but the season is here. It rained all day and Wallace is on the way, due to arrive day after tomorrow. I better tidy up around here. Most of the work I did was without sweeping up every day so I’ll be making a few wheelbarrow trips soon. And Pudding-Tat cannot get into the building any more, I must have sealed off the hatch. The weather is too cool to test the new room overnight. If it doesn’t work, I’ll do what anybody from Florida would do—install a bigger air conditioner.
The shop has been out of the news. Let me catch everyone up on that. Business has gone for a royal dump. The other two guys have close to $10,000 in repairs sitting on the shelves that people haven’t picked up because they cannot afford to pay. This is the famine time. Walk-ins have practically disappeared and I’ve begun to track my expenses more closely. I drove in today and the car seems to be working great. I drove in so I could check the equipment at Jimbo’s which I could not load up last day. No car, see. A few people have been asking for me and the only change is that Johnny D is playing at Boston on Sundays.
The last two days tuckered me out. That is an after-effect of a cushy day job; you pay for it later [in life] when you have less gumption. It will be a quiet evening at home. I’ve got some turkey legs on the stove and a pot of coffee. Nothing is likely to budge me now. This also gives me a chance to write about cooking, which I like as much as I like food and besides, this is a family show, mostly. Jose was over and he brought me a new towel bar and he’s scrounging for a closet door for me.
He works at a condo complex where people leave behind the strangest things, so his house has the best of everything. He may be able to get me a nearly brand new 10,000 BTU air conditioner. (Wallace, this is the Mexican man who we helped change his tire on the white van last year.) Anyway, he had never seen anyone use a pressure cooker before and could not believe he was cutting a tough old bird with his fork until I showed him how it worked. One trick is to infuse fresh garlic into the mixture.
I’m teaching him to play crib, which makes for good counting practice in Spanish. Quince-dos, quince-quatro. We played three rounds in three hours because of the difficulty explaining all the little rules, which crib has aplenty. The guy is too polite. I had dozed off in the chair when he first came over and he waited nearly an hour outside because he would not knock loudly. He brought a report on Tennessee and sure enough, that cat got completely spoiled during the three week vacation over here. The owners are complaining that it is not the same cat and turns her nose up at their food. Don’t worry, she’ll come around though I doubt they spend the requisite time per day combing her fur. Maybe they should invest in a pressure cooker?
