Bar Furious

So it's Friday morning, I'm at work, pretty much breezing through the day, figuring what it'll take to earn minimum OT and getting any open ends tied up before leaving town. I had been up a little later than usual the night before getting my things together but I had some pep in my step and the sun and warmth that greeted me on the way out of the concrete bunker made the trip north quite enjoyable, even if 5PM twin-cities traffic is a PITA.

Rolled into Coon Rapids a touch before 5 and a glimpse of turquoise in a garage behind the house let me know I had found my destination. The weekend had begun. I found Ben pounding away at a stubborn transmission still attached to a washer in the basement. Don, the proprietor, showed me around. Plenty of cool toys and not enough space at his quiet suburban abode. I threw a little water on my face, changed shirts, and we met the group of washer afficionados at Bar Abilene after a quick stop at R*bert's. Delcious food but a long wait to get our orders prepared (there were 18 of us). I was starting to drag by the end of dinner, and there was little to keep my attention. After settling our bills (and watching 16 of the 18 cough up 15 dollars each for a single drink, ugh) we took a stroll downtown to a grocery store known for their wide selection of laundry detergents and additives. No joke.

I was doing better Saturday after a short night of sleep on the living room couch. Lots to work on, including disassembly of a unit-bearing motor, as I learned they were called, and some playing around with a late 40's RCA hi-fi set that needed a little bit o' TLC. That eve was the big shindig though my interests of late have been quite muted for reasons I don't know. No matter, it was good to chat it up. En route Don, Ben, Geoff and myself stopped at a vintage music store specializing in only 78's. Also a 50's diner Supply Business. Most everything started at several hundred and only went up from there. Extremely cool place, however. Then to Matt's, a 50's era bar, for Grainbelt on tap and Juicy Lucy's- homemade hamburgers with cheese melted inside the patty. Terrific.

We were all pretty worn out by the time we got back to Don's. I bedded down and checked the speed of the vintage Kenmore box fan at my side using my finger tips. With two weeks left to get a month's worth of things completed, I resigned to returning home Sunday afternoon and using Monday vac to dig in. Don cooked up a helluva Sunday breakfast and I put together the GE fan we were working on and R&R'd the pushbutton mechanism for the RCA before getting his turntable "un-gummed". Left late afternoon for IKEA, spent a couple hours there with a list in hand, then to the open road for a quick and quiet return trip.

I slept in as best I could Monday, gathered laundry, dropped off recyclables, deposited my state check and did some grocery shopping on the way to the lodge. First was unloading the washer and dryer pair riding in the Blazer. Cleaned them up with a little surface cleaner and they look like a million bucks. Unloaded the bulk of Ikea stuff, stained the lower deck perimeter, stained the last board for the pumphouse, transferred a load of fridge items from the apt to the Coldspot, got laundry going and set to work installing steel cables upstairs for curtains with supports between every clerestory window. Measured lower window frames, changed in a fresh fuel filter on the Farmall, charged the battery, hung out laundry, began marking and cutting the new blinds with the miter saw, got dinner going, used whatever light left to bundle and cut the last two blind sets and then cleanup and put away the tools as the sun set.

That was yesterday. Today…5PM? Exhausted.