Started out with the first football game of the season. That went well…for us, anyway. Then on Saturday there was an outdoor wedding, for which the weather was absolutely perfect (Doesn’t always turn out that way), followed by the fifty-year reunion of the Class of ‘73 (They’re the ones who collected class dues or something to put together a scholarship for a 2023 graduate. Good thought. Hope some other classes take the hint), at a venue belonging to one of the class members, very nice. Sunday was the finale for Vacation Bible School at the Garrettsville United Methodist Church. That went well. Kids remembered the Bible stories and the songs and all that, then we had ice cream sundaes on the lawn, under the shade. Big finish !!!
Monday evening was dueling picnics for me : James A. Garfield Historical Society at the South Street (Bill Phelps) Park, Garrettsville-Hiram Rotary out at Fox Hollow. Both of ‘em good; weather was still holding. Then things began to “go to hell in a handbasket”, so to speak.
On Wednesday, I was returning from Ravenna, I think it was, made the turn onto Liberty St. to go home and somewhere along there I zigged when I should have zagged, resulting in my taking out somebody’s mailbox…AND the right side mirror on my car. The mailbox was a total loss but nobody was home at the house, so I left a note ‘fessing up and left my number. Then I went home to call the dealership to see about getting the mirror replaced. Called them up then went over to see what could be done about the replacement. As it turned out, what could be done was somewhere in the neighborhood of the national debt and could be done on Friday, so that day was done for. I held the mirror on with red & black duct tape; that worked. The bat returned–twice ! Once in the middle of the night and once toward evening as I was knee-deep into some baking, which wasn’t going real well, anyway. That makes, I think, four visits from el batto grande, none by invitation. The first time, I just crawled around ( I was on the floor for this–with a hat on)opening doors so he could leave. Why do they come in anyway? There are more insects outside to eat–I think, but you never know. And why does it take them so long to realize that the door is wide open? The cats have cottoned on to that almost immediately and usually try to make a break for it.
This particular bat visit took place as the kitchen was filled with smoke from a brand-new pie recipe which was being tried out. See, I have a congenital defect which always causes me to make juicy pies that boil over in the oven. Cheesecake/custard filling went up and over the pie crust edges and down onto the foil lining on the bottom of the oven (Thank goodness I had remembered to put that in there). When I–all unsuspecting–opened the oven door to check out the progress of the pastry production, smoke billowed out; you’d have thought that pie was being baked in Hawai’i. The stove exhaust fan was overwhelmed and the smoke alarm started frantically beeping. At least I know that it’s working; it got a workout that evening. So the oven door is now closed but there is still smoke swirling about, so I opened the back door, cranked up the fan aimed outward (Also the one in the living room aimed out as well)then I frantically waved about half of the ABJ at the alarm to clear the air around it and shut the thing up. That worked–temporarily–but every time that I had to check on the pie( There was no use trying to just turn on the oven light. What could I see?), it was Chicago Fire all over again. I think that the alarm went off about four times. Luckily, I guess, the bat did not appear until about the third time, maybe the noise confused him–it did me. There were two baked , or being-baked, items in the oven, I got the chocolate one out to start cooling, but the pecan-n-stuff pie was still in there doing its Vesuvius imitation. And the bat, of course.
That’s about when the rain, thunder & lightning started outside.
Actually, I hardly noticed, as I was finally getting the pie out of the oven, putting it where it could cool and not be inspected by any of the cats. Not sure what else happened that night, but with the big trees gone, I did not worry about it too much and I had to get ready for the volleyball game on Thursday, which I went to, despite the conflict with the Summer get-together meeting of the Twentieth Century Club. Everybody got hit by the weather on Thursday but I hardly noticed.
Then I got the bill for the mirror; that I noticed.
