Tiny's Tantalizing Text

My first stop was at the bar I do the books for, as I had to drop off some new time cards and pick up some candy for Dad to throw out in the Parade on Monday evening. All I knew about the candy was that there was supposed to be $100 worth. Know how much that is? 3200 "Dum Dum" suckers. Got them loaded and headed to my next stop at the garage I call on to drop off some "can bags" (Iowa Recycling Law pop can return bags) and have a can of pop with them and basically catch some crap about whatever they feel like picking on me about. My next stop, I'm supposed to catch up to the Budweiser truck to pick up a keg tapper and some glasses, as well as some beer that Dad forgot to order. Considering I was 15 minutes late, I knew to drive uptown in this other town and caught him leaving a bar, but he didn't see me and continued to the grocery store where I parked right behind him. He didn't see me then either, and since I'm lazy, have a sore foot, and the other knee is sore, I wait in my truck for him to come out....and wait, and wait...probably about 10 minutes. So, he now sees me and grabs the tapper, but he's out of cups, and has his assistant put the beer I want in the back of my truck. Then he told me to go to our original meeting spot to see if they had any glasses since he forgot to put them on the truck.

I get to the other store, put my foot in my shoe and position it so the sore isn't hurting quite so bad, and hobble into the store to ask about the glasses. Of course they don't have any, so I hobble back to my truck, kick my shoe off and bend down to pick it up, at which time my back decides to relieve some pressure and pop in about 4 places. This actually felt good. Okay, now I gotta head back uptown to pick up the drugs I had ordered at the pharmacy....drive thru....God I love them. This was uneventful, and I head down to the highway to get to another drive thru for lunch. A car in front of me was waiting to make a left turn at one stoplight. He actually had plenty of time at one point, but waited until the light was about to turn red to go ahead and turn, so now I'm running late and hit a red light. I finally make it to KFC and place my order, pull around the corner for the pickup window when I see another car waiting at the window, only they're parked 4 feet away from it. Their order finally gets served to them and the driver has to open their door to grab it from the window. In the mean time, I called Dad to let him know I'm running late, but at my last stop.

Finally made it back to work at 12:15.

I made a boo boo on my Meals on Wheels job yesterday. I didn't notice any notes for people not wanting lunch, so I went on my way to pick up all but the 2 that said they'd be gone all week. When I got to the senior center, I checked my list to make sure I remembered which 2 weren't getting meals, and went inside. I told the lady in charge how many and who was getting them, then proceeded to wait for the meals to be done. I've got an 18 minute drive back, and have to be back by 11:10, only this day they didn't get me out the door until 11:00. So, I called Dad right away to let the delivery driver know that I was running late. Now might be a good time to throw in the fact that the lady in charge at the Senior Center gave me some paperwork for a couple of the meals recipients to fill out, 1 being one of the cancellations for the week. Okay, I'm back in town handing off the meals to the delivery person and tell them who gets the meals. Well, I gave the name of the person that needed to fill out the form that was going to be gone, and didn't mention one that was supposed to be getting a meal.

Well, I don't figure this out until later in the afternoon when the person who was supposed to get the meal called and told me she forgot to call earlier and tell me not to pick one up, but she was home now and if I had the meal, she wanted it. Couple of phone calls later I find out what happened and another phone call to my supervisor to let her know what happened and find out what to do, she told me not to worry about it, saying that's okay, it happens.

Last night the person I told the delivery driver to deliver the meal to called and basically chewed Dad out (on our answering machine since I couldn't get to the phone) for not having her down as gone for the week and making sure she was off the list for Friday, she called again this morning to make sure we got the message, at which time I got Dad off the hook and let her know what happened.

Can you believe it? 3 straight weeks I've remembered to do this. Now if I could only get the daily posting thing down.

Last night I was going to just sit around watching TV and waiting for Dad to make us some supper (was going to be grilled ham with some sweet corn cooked on the side burner of the grill). Well, I got home from work, shirt off, shorts on, cold pop in one hand and the remote in the other at 5:20 when the scanner lights up with a message for our Fire Department. Anybody available to help with a controlled burn, meet at the station at 6:00. Well, about 5:50, surprised that Dad isn't home yet, I put my pants back on with a shirt, grab my radio and head out to the pickup. Dad's just arriving home now, so I tell him that I'm going to the controlled burn just to see what and where it is since no details were given on the page.

Well, the burn goes off fine, although there was a time with so much black smoke I thought sure the DNR, FAA, FCC, FBI, CIA, NAACP, NCAA, MLB, NFL, NHL, PGA, WPBA, and any other interested alphabet agency would show up. Oh, by the way, the burn was just a mid-sized brush/debris pile in a hole. About 8:30 we decided any damage that could be done was already done and headed back to town. When I got home, Dad informed me that if I'd been 15 minutes later, he would have had supper without me. It was then that he was going to light the grill and side burner. Grill got lit and I went into the house to grab another cold pop. Dad came in too and went into his office. About 10 or so minutes later, he went out to check on the grill and the corn, came back into the house and told me to go get another gas cylinder. This time I left the house wearing my shorts since I didn't want to put my pants on AGAIN, even though I hate my legs, especially the one that was still wrapped.

I get to the quick mart, c-store, whatever they're called in your area (similar to Casey's, Pronto, Kum & Go, etc.), and drive by the cage where they keep the cylinders. Upon first glance, they're all upside down, which is usually the sign that they're empty. I went inside anyway and told the gal working what I wanted and what I'd seen. She decided to check it out anyway. Lo and behold, on the bottom shelf in the back, there were 2 cylinders left that were full. With my purchase made, I head back home to find that Dad decided to make the corn on the stove and broil the ham.

In the midst of all that screwing around, he asks me what we would have to do to get the Sioux City news station hooked up to our TV, since we've only had access to Omaha's since we got Dish Network hooked up on May 1st. I told him the options, and after much explaining of the easiest method, and halfway through eating supper, we hooked the original cable line back into the back of the upstairs TV. About this time, since I've had some parts to try to get this done, but haven't gotten around to it yet, I decided to experiment with it after Leno's monologue, since the part after the first commercial wasn't anything we'd be interested in.

Now, when the dish was being installed, the installer told me I would need an "A-B Switch" to be able to have the local cable and Dish Network on the second TV. I thought "no way, the Dish feed is coming in on a channel that ain't even close to what local cable covers", but didn't argue with him as I figured he'd been to classes or something and had some idea what he was doing. As an experiment, I took an ordinary 1-2 splitter, hooked the feed from both the Dish receiver and the local cable to the outputs, and a line to the TV on the input. Guess what, it worked GREAT.

Now if only fixing the phone lines that the same Jackass Dish Installer farked up was as easy, we'd be set.

My friend Ethel has a Happy List on her blog, but I just can't work with that title. So here's my version, things that make me smile.

My white calico knowing when to give me a foot rub, even though it drives me nuts when her whiskers get between my toes.
Any cute pictures of dogs and cats.
My black cat (also bestest buddy in the whole world) just being himself.
The way my dark calico complains every time I hold her.
The end of the last episode of the "Malibu Sands" series on "Saved by the Bell" when the gang walks into the sunset paired off the way I'd pair them up: Screech and Kelly, Zack and Jesse, Slater and Lisa.
Air Conditioning on a hot day.
Knowing the answer to a question before I ask it.
Thinking back to the time I met a fellow message board poster (who I have unfortunately lost contact with) at a race night in the IMCA racing capital of the world, Boone Iowa.
Knowing that someday I'm going to take my Goldwing out for a ride.

A little over halfway through my first month of picking up meals for the Senior Citizens here in town that have signed up to receive them. Thus far I have earned $160 for my troubles of driving 30 miles round trip and taking an hour out of my day, 3 days a week.

Since Dad and I have been drinking more water and less pop, we decided on Monday to check into having one of those water coolers put in at our store. I checked the prices on Monday just as we were going to close, and made the order to have it put in on Tuesday. Even with the $11/month cooler rental, it's much cheaper than buying Aquafina bottled water off the truck. I think we were paying about $12/case of 24 - 20 ounce bottles. Now we're paying $5 per 5 gallon carboy of water. I'm sure we'll kill at least one of those a week.

Tomorrow I go to the City for the third time in 2 weeks. This time I'm going for a meeting/class on how to sell Heavy Duty (truck) parts in our store. Doesn't sound like something that'd take a class for, does it? But, I'm okay with it because a) it's a day out of the store; b) they're buying lunch; and c) I get to choose from my 3 favorite fast food joints for supper (Arby's, Long John Silver's, and Wendy's). This City is the closest that any of these places are to where I live, about 60 miles. Downside to tomorrow's meeting/class is that I won't be on the internet at all, all day. I also have a Fire Department Training class tomorrow night when I return from the City, except I have to go to the next town over for the class.

I like going to KFC once in a while for one of their "Famous Bowls" and some Macaroni and Cheese. A few weeks ago I was in their drive thru when I noticed they have a "Mega" size pop. Well, since I like to slurp on a glass of pop for a long time, I decided to give it a go. My jaw hit the steering wheel in my truck when I saw the size of the jug. They definately weren't kidding when they named it the "Mega", it's a half gallon bucket filled with pop and ice. To quote Ron White, "I told ya that story so I could tell ya this one". The SECOND time I got this nice sized glass of pop, I kept the glass and have since filled it with ice and water at about 9:00 at night and drank it down before going to bed. However last night for some reason, I didn't do this. I immediately knew it when I went to bed. If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you know that I have a swollen leg (not near as bad now as before) that leaks fluid almost constantly. When I was drinking that half gallon of water before bed, I wouldn't have a whole lot of fluid come out of my leg onto the towels that I've learned to put at the foot of the bed. Last night I almost drowned. The towels were dry when I went to bed at 11:00, and by the time I woke up at 1:00 (wasn't comfortable and had to pee), when I moved my leg, it actually sounded like a splash. Needless to say, I took those towels off the bed and after relieving myself, went and got my big thirsty towel out of the drier (the laundry room is in the bathroom). Evidently, my leg was close to done leaking for the night when I got up, because the new towel wasn't very wet this morning when I got up.

I bet ya'll are wondering, since I drink that much water right before bed, if I get up 20 times for relief. Well, the answer is no. If I get up in the middle of the night, it's 1 time unless I've taken a water pill that didn't work in the time it was supposed to. I've actually made it through the night at least twice, although the last time I got up 15 minutes early because I couldn't take the pressure in my bladder. I don't know why, but for some reason, I really don't like to head to the bathroom until it's almost an emergency.

Well, now that I feel I've made some of you question your wanting to come and read my blog, I guess it's time to wrap it up.

Have a nice day and thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

I'm going to do it on my site too. Here is a "Johari" window link. Not sure what it does, or how it affects life in general, but like I said, one of the cool kids did it, so now I must. http://kevan.org/johari?name=TinyTim23C

Now, I don't know what the heck a Meme is, but it seems I was tagged by my friend Ethel to make 5 lists of 5. I guess I'll play along, since it does kinda sound fun.

5 things in my Fridge
1. Chocolate Milk
2. Co-Jack Shredded cheese
3. Pepsi
4. Ground Beef
5. Mushrooms

5 things in my closet
1. Shirts
2. Hangers
3. Dust
4. "private" DVD's
5. A puzzle

5 things in my handbag (I don't have one, so how about wallet?)
1. Minimal Cash
2. Too Many Credit Cards
3. A Debit Card
4. 2 Lists for Ethel's photo challenge.
5. Driver's License

5 things in my car (truck)
1. Favorite Stuffed Animal
2. Quilt
3. 2 coats
4. Fire Helmet
5. Fire Radio

5 People to Tag
1. Billy
2. Ninecats
3. Nuggie
4. ?
5. ?

Last week I started a new job that I can do while on duty at my present job, but it pays $20 an hour. Too bad it's only an hour a day, 3 days a week that I do this other job. The job is to leave our store at about 10:00 in the morning, arrive at the Senior Center in the next town South by 10:30, and wait for 3-5 lunches to be ready for me to pick up and bring back here for the local Meals on Wheels program.

It's kinda wierd, the ladies that prepare the dinners I actually kind of knew before going there, but didn't know they worked there. One is the mother of a friend of mine that once worked on my pit crew occasionally, and the other is an aunt of my favorite bartender/waitress at the local bar/cafe.

Most days I have time to slip through a drive-thru to pick up my own lunch, but Monday I didn't have time, plus I didn't know if the person delivering the meals that I was picking up was going to show up since I couldn't reach her on the phone. I called Dad as I was leaving the Senior Center, and she still hadn't called, so I'm going over in my head what to do if she didn't show up. Well, I get to 2 miles out of my town when my cell phone rings and Dad tells me that she's there waiting for me...what a relief. Today I had time to stop and grab my lunch, but when I returned to town, the delivery person wasn't waiting for me yet. I came into the store to see if she'd checked in with Dad, and she hadn't, so I called her home, no answer. Dad told me to give her 10 minutes before deciding what to do. Luckily, she showed up in about 7 minutes.

One day last week, I almost lost the lunch I'd picked up for myself, as the delivery person was going to grab that sack in addition to the coolers that she was supposed to.

I'll have this job until the end of August, so I'm sure there'll be more stories coming out from it.

Thanks for reading.

This post is partially inspired by Billy's post about his dad.

Back in 2001 when my sister passed away, she was living in Wichita, KS, and me and Dad lived here in Western Iowa. The day she passed, I was on my way down to visit her, and bringing our Grandmother along since Brenda was recovering from several surgeries and we were going to help out. I won't bore you with details of this trip because they're irrelevant to the story I'm trying to tell. Well, thinking back, you do need a little detail. She went in to the hospital on July Second, which happens to be 2 days before my birthday, and that summer was my first being affiliated with our local Fire Department.

The week following her funeral, Dad, his girlfried, another family friend, and I, went to Wichita to move all of Brenda's stuff back home, and to attend a memorial service that her former employer/co-workers were holding. We arrived in Wichita on Tuesday night and picked up the rental truck before settling in at the hotel. On Wednesday, we were going to load the truck with a bunch of help from Brenda's former co-workers, only Dad and I had to go over to the law firm where she had worked to take care of the loose strings and estate crap. We got done at the firm about noon and decided to do lunch with Dad's girlfriend and the other friend we had along before getting into the job at hand. After lunch, Dad brought Brenda's car out of the ramp it was parked in and told me to clean out the trunk. Brenda loved stuffed animals and had probably close to 200 in her collection, but when I was cleaning out her trunk, I found 1 lone stuffed animal, and it happened to be a dalmation wearing a fire helmet. Needless to say, that little fella rode home in the vehicle I drove (Dad's pickup, he drove the truck, his girlfriend drove her car, and the other friend drove Brenda's car). There was only room for the driver in each vehicle, as I had luggage on the passenger seat (that's what the dog sat on), Dad had our 2 newest kitties in a cage on the passenger seat of his vehicle, and the other 2 vehicles just had stuff on them. Every couple of miles, I would look over at my new friend, and each time I looked, he had turned a little ways around. It was almost like Brenda was riding along and turning the dog just to let me know she was there.

He's still riding with me, but he doesn't have quite the view of the road ahead that he enjoyed while sitting on the dash. I took him off of there so his bright red helmet wouldn't fade after so long of being in the bright sunlight.

This time we're going to explore my version of Spanish Rice. It's not what you typically would call Spanish Rice, but that title sounds a lot better than "Hamburger and Rice - Red" (because I also make a white version that I don't make as hot (seasoned hot, not heat hot).

1# Ground Beef
Sliced/Diced/chopped Fresh Mushrooms (or small jar of sliced mushrooms)
3/8" slice off of a 1/4 size pit ham, diced
1 1/2 cups water
1 small can Tomato Sauce
2 cups Minute rice (unprepared)
Finely shredded Colby/Jack cheese
Seasonings (all to taste)
Tabasco Sauce
Soy Sauce
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Cookies brand Flavor Enhancer

Okay, here we go. Start browning Ground beef in a 13" skillet. When it's about 1/3 browned and some of the fat has melted off, add the mushrooms if using fresh, otherwise wait until about 2/3 done and add with the ham. When the beef is fully browned and the mushrooms and ham are hot, add the tomato sauce, then I always rinse the can with the water just to get it all into the dish. Add the seasonings and bring to a boil. Once boiling nicely, give it a stir and add the minute rice, bring to a boil again. Let simmer until the liquid is gone, cover with cheese. Stir and serve.

Tip. I usually have a hard time stopping the eating process when I have this dish, but last night I took 2 of my medium containers (from that set that has 3 different size containers with the same size lids that come in a handy spinning rack) and filled them before having my supper. I still probably ate too much of it, but at least I didn't eat the whole thing, and wasn't in pain for an hour after supper. I had one of the containers for breakfast today and I'll probably have the other for breakfast tomorrow.