The Pittmeister's Parade Around America

I have been accused of a lot over the 12 years of my marriage. Most of those accusations involved me wasting things, and yes, I agree, I can be a very wasteful person. I waste water, electricity, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, and lots of other things. What I am accused of wasting most often is my wife's effort. Yesterday, I received a new accusation...wasting my wife's "thinking time". Let me give you some backstory: Last weekend I spent 30-45 minutes talking on the phone with my parents. When it was over, Wife asked me, "What did you talk about?" I replied, "Oh, not much. They just told me about their weekend in Blythe." or something to that effect. They cover so many topics during a phone call, it's impossible to keep track and some times, I'm not really listening. Then, yesterday, while Wife is preparing the dry curry for dinner (and making way too much), she texted me to ask if it would be appreciated by me and my parents if she ...

I had some more (humorous) thoughts yesterday regarding my impending 40th birthday party (in 12 weeks):  1. In my 20's, my most used kitchen tool was either a bottle opener (highly prized) or a pizza slicer. Today, my garlic crusher and my vegetable peeler get the most use. 2. My most used kitchen small appliances were my George Foreman grill or my blender (margaritas anyone?). Today it's my Mr. Coffee Drip Coffee maker (with auto timer) and my 7qt Crock Pot, and, depending on weight loss goals, my Breville Juicer. 3. Bed time used to be closer to sunrise. Now it's closer to sunset. 4. Washing dishes used to only be done when all the plates, cups, and glasses were dirty (even that was negotiable) and taking up every little bit of space in the sink. Now it's a regular, nightly chore done with either Netflix playing on my tablet or my wife chirping her directions in my ear... 5. Watching sports, eating dinner, and drinking beer used to be done in a bar. No...

John Mellencamp once sang, "Oh yeah, life goes on, Long after the thrill,  Of living is gone." Well, as I write this for you today, I am 12 weeks away (just counted this morning) from my 40th birthday and that's how I feel about life right now. I have made a list of the things I can no longer do without feeling any amount of guilt and they are as follows: 1. Eat fast food more often than 1x every 3 months. 2. Eat donuts, cake, or chocolate. 3. Have a bowl of ice cream (with chocolate sauce and nuts) for dessert each night.  4. Drink more than 3 beers in a night.  5. Eat ribs, brats, or prime rib on any other day except Independence Day.  6. Have a DQ Blizzard any size larger than Mini 7. Visit a pizza buffet restaurant for lunch.  8. Drink regular Coke or Dr. Pepper 9. Go out for a traditional American breakfast with pancakes/waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy. You have probably noticed that pretty much all of these have to do with eating or...

Sin Agua is Spanish for "without water". Coincidentally, that was also name of my high school alma mater, Sinagua High School.  Sin Agua is a great way to describe the week Wife and I just had in Old Mining Town. One of the drawbacks to owning an older home is the need to have to pay for repairs or replacement of things that are either worn out or were neglected and never dealt with by the previous owner(s). On the upside, having these major repairs/replacements done demonstrates what kind of neighbors a person has.  On Sunday, I was watering our outdoor plants most of the day, but turned off the water before the sun went down. Later in the evening, probably around 8:30-8:45, Wife said she heard water running and asked if I was still watering outside. I stated that I was not, so we ran around to all the toilets, sinks, faucets, and other modern water using apparatuses to determine if any were leaking...they were not. Then Wife asked if our (old) house has a water main shu...

It is hard to believe that my last post was exactly 1 month ago. We've had some more trouble with our house since then that required 2 visits from a plumber. The drain for our kitchen sink, which is also the drain for the dishwasher & washing machines was severely plugged up. It was so plugged up that water was backing up into our bathtub (which we never use btw...). The first visit cost me $150 for the service call where he ascertained that the pitch of the drain pipes was too flat as well as the connecter to the main sewer drain was insufficiently narrow, causing a back-up clog. I concede the clog was partly due to my increase in cast iron cooking and the dumping of oil down the kitchen drain. Long story short, for nearly $300 in total charges, our drains are working again.  It's only the end of April, but it already feels like summer would back in my hometown of Flagstaff. Old Mining Town doesn't have the stifling heat that Tucson or Phoenix do, but an air conditio...

Oh what a week it has been (and it's not over yet). Already we have experienced 3 minor, yet inconvenient crises this week. Sunday, March 24th : I was sitting in the front living room of our modest abode & had been hearing a rather disturbing sound. Thinking it may have been an injured cat, I finally went outside to investigate. To my surprise, I determined that the noises were coming from inside the crawl space of our house and the unmistakable odor of skunk was wafting in the air. Our neighbor informed that it was the mating season for skunks and showed some entry points with which the skunks were likely getting under our house. Though not over powering inside the house, it was still very noticeable & Wife burned some incense to counteract it. I am now trying to trap said skunk(s) and prevent them using the crawl space of my house as a love nest.... Wednesday, March 27th : Before leaving for work, I realized that a black, faux leather notebook with zipper in which I k...

Charles Dickens once wrote as opening to his novel Tale of Two Cities , "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That is what today felt like.  The day started out with a 60 mile drive from Old Mining Town (the new handle moniker for where we live) to a USFS campground at Cochise Stronghold where some good amigos from 1.5 Mile High City were encamped for spring break & a birthday trip. Wife and I had planned to travel up their together to have breakfast with these comrades, but due to a tension/stress headache, wife had to cancel...so I drove up alone! I drove up through the valley, passed many farms & agricultural areas, to have breakfast with these very close tomodachi and their two daughters (who I think of as my nieces) before they headed back up to the Great White North of Arizona. I drove 3 hours round trip to spend 1.5 hours with friends. That's how much these friend mean to me. When I returned to Old Mining Town, I have ~1.5 hours...