Gamy Day

Chuck picked me up at 11am and we went out to his house. His friend Dennis was there, too, but spent the whole day on the enclosed back porch, watching football. Chuck and I looked at my pics as I had brought my laptop along.

Somewhere along the way, he produced some summer sausage made by his son and wife; I think it was elk. Yummy on sesame crackers. Along about 4pm he and Dennis began the preparations for dinner -- foil-wrapped taters on the grill, grilled whole onion, moose steak, elk steak, and merlot. The moose is fairly gamy but the elk is luscious -- I somehow managed to choke it all down. Heh.

Watching his dish tv, I stumbled across my favorite program, Holmes on Homes -- it was a repeat but I enjoyed it anyhow. And then, right after that, was a new reality show called America's Best Handyman (or something like that). A bunch of guys compete in constructions tasks, get judged by Mike Holmes and the guy who has the show about turning part of your house into income-producing space, and the worst guy gets let go. The one whole challenge I saw was a 30-min. 3-part test: replace a pane of window glass; shingle a doghouse roof; install a toilet. One guy broke about six panes before he managed to get one intact, and lots of putty jobs were terrible. The shingling was pretty bad--lots not straight, nailed at the tops so that the wind could just get under the edge and rip it off (which Holmes did). And the toilet -- a fairly simple job, you'd think -- but one guy installed the bolts upside down so the water ran out onto the floor; one guy didn't set the seat down on the wax ring squarely so it didn't seal; etc. Anyhow, it was lots of fun.

On the way back to my rig about 8pm, Chuck said how much he enjoyed talking to me today as there was no bullshit and I'm so straightforward and all. Well, I said, we never had any trouble talking. He said, I don't remember us having any kind of trouble. I decided not to get into my recollections of our relationship. We did have a little discussion of his eventual diagnosis of being bipolar and being prescribed anti-depressants and what a difference it had made in his temperament. Yes, I said, I do remember you flying off the handle for no reason on occasion.

All in all, a pleasant day.