Yeah, dropped off the earth for a few weeks. Been busy! Or maybe lazy. Maybe a mix of both. I had another birthday come and go last week. Ain’t getting younger, that’s for sure. Had a nice dinner out with friends, got lots of birthday wishes, and some excellent gifts. So happy birthday to me and all that.
Also had a camping trip in that quiet stretch, on the weekend of the 13th. We took the motorhome out to a nearby campsite for a quick weekend “boy’s trip.” Had a great time, and the campground was quite nice. Unfortunately it cost a bit more than our “regular” spot, but that one got flooded out this winter and still isn’t fully open. For the most part we just hung out at the site and ate, and swatted mosquitos. Pretty much checks the boxes of a good trip for me.
As for this past weekend, we had a good time also. Got a lot of things checked off the “home tasks” list. Yeah, those don’t fall under the “good time” category, but it’s nice to actually get a few done. I got a big section of the yard weed-eated. (Weed-ate? Weeded? Mowed? Not sure the right word there.) That’s a nasty, dirty chore to be sure, but it sure looks better. Never got it done last year and it looked pretty sketchy all summer. Didn’t get any complaints from the neighbors, because there aren’t any, but hey, we have to look at it. We also got a good start on the garden. We tilled it up a few weeks ago, and made a few rows of mounds to plant in. Last year we had a few raised beds in there, but they were kind of falling apart so we just tore them down. Then on Saturday, we ran some drip lines for watering and got the majority of the plants in. The drip lines seems to be working out great. The last few years we’ve just thrown a sprinkler in there. It works, but it also waters a lot outside the garden. That makes the grass/weeds grow and then I have to mow them. Ohhhhh, the agony. Anyway, it seems to be coming along nicely. Just have to get a few more things planted and then start picking all our delicious produce.
After we got all that done, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to one of our favorite lunch spots, Solid Ground in Diamond Springs. (It might not qualify as our favorite if there were more than a few options nearby, but lets just overlook that part. It’s not bad, to be sure.) I have two standard orders there; The chicken sandwich, or the chicken nuggets. (Yeah those sounds like kids meals, but they’re really very good.) This particular day, I guess I was feeling a little outrageous, and actually scanned the rest of the menu. Suddenly the word “Rueben” jumped off the page at me, and I immediately went with it. Yep, I’ll have the Rueben please. Shortly afterwards, my sandwich shows up, and the confusion set it. While certainly a sandwich, and certainly on nicely grilled marbled rye, there was a thick pile of what appeared to be pickled beets in the middle. And no meat. Well that ain’t right. By the time my shock subsided and I looked up to voice my displeasure, the waitress was gone. Luckily before I had the chance to stand on the table and cause what surely would have been an unpleasant scene, Donette informed me “Yeah you ordered the Root Vegetable Rueben. Thought that was odd but whatever.” Aw geez. Guess I should have read that a little bit closer. OK, the menu item literally says “Root Vegetable Rueben.” But seriously, who even came up with that idea? Native Californian, to be sure. It really wasn’t bad, or maybe I just tried to convince myself of that. It’ll be back to chicken next time, I know that much.
