Saturday

Greetings from the screened in front porch here at the Old Homestead! The perennial bed and the annual border are looking great. It's a perfect day for softball, and whaddya know! I'll be playing softball at 4pm this afternoon.

Yesterday at work, I bid adieu to the Sandinistas and spent my first day working in Hardware.

Wuzzat?

Well, after the cabinets are finished, it's my job to put in the shelves, rollouts (formerly known as 'drawers'), knobs, backers, and such. If'n you've ever put together IKEA furniture, you pretty much have the picture. The difference is that IKEA furniture comes with instructions. The cabinets don't. So I would sorta take on a tall cabinet, installing rollouts on the left side and shelves on the right, and then re-read the specs and learn that it was shelves on the right and rollouts on the left, so I'd take them all out and put them back in again.

The hot, sweaty, former football playing, high-and-tight wearing guy with the beautiful gut that's training me (have I got it good or what?) smiled and said, 'You're fired."

I'll get it.

I get to work with powertools. Specifically, drills and a radial arm saw. And, I need to start assembling a tool box for myself. And a shop apron (with pockets for screws and such) probably wouldn't be a bad addition either.

As far as tools go, I really need to spend a day poking around here at home. My father had a good collection of tools, and my grandfather spent his life as a painter, and is pretty well off in that department, too. In fact, I have an amazing collection of horsehair paintbrushes at my disposal, and a pretty amazing collection of shellacs.

Last night, talking to Big, he pointed out that since we've met, this is the longest stretch of time we've spent apart. We'll next see each other at the GMSMA Program next Wednesday. The final program of the season is devoted to the curious interplay of SM and Sports. I'll be talking about softball. Don't get the connection? Well, it's there. Guess you'll have to show up at the LGBT Community Center on 13th Street between 7th and 8th Aves at 7:30 pm to find out how it all plays out. And Big will be coming into town from a trip to DC to be on hand. The following weekend, we're off to Fire Island, courtesy of Friend and Landlord. I'm really looking forward to showing Big the Pines. I'll be the guy in the sarong and leather vest on Fire Island Boulevard! Look for me!

Oh. And another thing. I had to buy a new glove for softball yesterday. My old glove seems to have gone the way of all flesh, turning up missing in my softball bag. While I was at Modell's in Montgomeryville, I made the purchase of some pairs of boxing gloves. I have 12 oz sparring gloves, and some lighter weight gloves for working out with a heavy bag. Y'see, I now own a heavy bag. I bought it off a guy at work (the Apple Cheek Boy, to be exact) for $20.

I think I've gotta make getting the garage cleaned out a priority. It's still loaded solid with my stuff. In boxes. If I could accomplish that feat, I'd be able to set up a welding shop, hang the heavy bag, and maybe buy some freeweights. And possibly even set up my St. Andrew's Cross. Gotta look into storage facility. Or a landfill. Either one might do.

Anyway, gotta get my day going.

---