Nights Like This

I went to bed at 9pm.

I couldn't sleep.

I got up at 12am and looked for my bottle of Xanax. I take only about one pill per year and the bottle is 5 years old. Even expired, the pills probably still work. But I couldn't find it. I went back to bed at 2:22am.

I couldn't sleep. I tried not to toss and turn because I know it bothers Nuria. 

I heard the boiler start up at 3:57am.

I heard a train come through the city at 4:10am. It blew its air horn. Then there was only the sound of the boiler. Then the locomotive blew its air horn again. The second time was louder than the first, and instantly I knew what track it was traveling on.

I heard the boiler cut off at 4:32am. The boiler had run for 35 minutes. It used to run for 20 minutes. Is the problem with the boiler or with the thermostat?

I got up again at 4:45am. It's still dark. I sat down at my pc and I read a lot of news on YouTube. A small electric heater is running at my feet. I'm not even close to sleepy. The radiator just banged loudly—it's cooling down. I'd go for a walk if it wasn't 46°F outside with light rain. Sunrise is an hour away.

I hate nights like this.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. It's noon. Nuria and I are heating a frozen pizza for lunch. It's a beautiful sunny day and the temperature is 60°F. The normal auto traffic on my street is sparse, almost absent. People are in their homes or they've traveled somewhere else. 

I slept late and skipped breakfast. Soon, Nuria and I will be having lunch: pizza. The Walmart pizza is quite good, even though it starts out frozen. Afterward, my plans include chocolate chip cookies for dessert. 

Later, we'll have Thanksgiving dinner. As there are only two of us, Nuria is keeping it simple. We'll eat Smithfield hickory-smoked sliced ham with pineapple, walnut salad (apples with honey and walnuts and celery and mayo), sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and velvet cake (with cream cheese icing). We'll drink a delicious bottle of alcohol-free champagne—also called  sparkling cider. I call it a simple dinner because I don't have to put it together. But if I were living alone, I'd just make a hamburger. Better yet, I might just drive to Burger King. Their What-a-Burgers are tastier than my homemade burgers.

The aforementioned red velvet cake really does look like red velvet before the icing is put on it. You can't buy red velvet cake at Burger King, so that would be a downside of eating there. I've got ground hamburger in the fridge, and two buns in the bread box, so we'll have home-cooked hamburgers for lunch tomorrow. And, probably, red velvet cake—for the remainder of the week. 

Everyone, I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday, and let's not forget why we celebrate the holiday. Thanksgiving  commemorates the colonial Pilgrims' harvest meal that they shared with Wampanoag Indians in 1621. The Wampanoag Indians had been key to the survival of the colonists during the first year they arrived in 1620. Over 400 years later, that harvest celebration is still going. Nuria informs me that in Costa Rica, the government has announced that the country will celebrate Thanksgiving beginning this year. Most Costa Ricans know nothing about the US holiday and don't know what a turkey is, so I suspect that in Costa Rica the holiday will be less about celebrating a successful harvest that happened 400 years ago, and more about eating yourself into a coma and getting falling-down drunk. Which is fine with me. To each his own.

Store Trip

It is Tuesday morning, two days before Thanksgiving. Nuria and I made a run to Wally World to buy a few items. I had been hearing on the news that prices were going up and things might get scare, but it didn't prepare me for this:

<< This is the egg department at Walmart. The shelves are mostly empty of eggs. Due to reflections in the glass doors, the shelves appear to be filled with something. But actually, only the topmost shelves had items for sale. Normally eggs cost $1 to $1.50, and I've seen them as low as 34 cents per dozen. But the few cartons of eggs that remained were priced—well, see for yourself in the photo below.

The price is $14.80/carton, and if you look closely you can see that that price is for the store brand, "Great Value." However, the eggs in stock are "Eggland's Best," which normally are higher priced. I guess the stocker figured that for $14.80, they might as well give customers the "top shelf" brand rather than the store brand.

Thanksgiving is in two days. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I know everyone won't, and that's a shame. I've spent many—most—holidays alone, so the shine is long gone from that day. But Nuria and I will be together and I know she'll have something special for Thanksgiving dinner. For one thing, she bought a bottle of rum, which I suspect goes into some kind of cake. I bet it's called "Rum Cake" but that's just a guess. I know little about cooking. What I call cooking involves either a microwave oven or a wok. 

Try to have a nice holiday. If you feel overly lonely, go to an Applebee's and sit at the bar. Have a burger and a beer. You'll probably have company. 

Till next time. 

The Week Is Done

I haven't posted a blog lately. I've been a little busy. Nuria and I had a lot of limbs and leaves to clean out of the yard from the previously mentioned tree-cutting. The limbs had to be cut to fit trash containers. That job took five days plus two 45-gallon trash receptacles plus 15 44-gallon 7-ply construction waste bags. 

The bathroom ceiling was damaged by water from a roof leak. I repaired the damaged plaster with joint compound and then painted the ceiling. The dining room ceiling was also damaged by water from a roof leak. I repaired the damage with joint compound and then painted that portion of the ceiling. I think I've got the roof leaks fixed but I'll know for sure when the next hurricane comes through town.

So the ceiling repairs are done and I've just finished dinner. I'm listening to some mellow jazz music, which Nuria and I do every evening at dinner and sometimes afterward. The music tonight is called "Monday Jazz ❤️ Smooth Jazz Music for Starting Your Week On A High Note" and it's on YouTube here.*

Tomorrow is election day, but it's an off-year election—I think that's what they call it. It's one of those elections where you don't know anyone on the ballot. Somebody is running for dogcatcher. Somebody else is running for school board. I don't know any of them, and I don't have dogs or kids.

*Note: On Tuesday, the day after I posted this blog, the link to the music video now displays the message:  "This Live Stream Recording Is Not Available." Maybe the video is only available on Mondays? I don't know.