A little prayer for my ceiling--and a bigger one for Josh

The other night I was talking to my sister Shawn on the phone (an uncommon thing, we don't do a lot of phone calls) and she was giving me updates on family members like our brother Steve and my 21 year old niece Sophia, and the talk came around to my apartment--and she remarked how much she liked it over my last place, and I said yes I did too.  It's had its share of issues, but I love its character.  I've always been more comfortable here too.

After we hung up, I went in to use the bathroom and saw this nasty water stain above my shower head.  I took this photo, went on the Steiner website, posted it and requested maintenance.

I knew it was going to be a tricky thing.  Our bathrooms have drop ceilings for easy access to pipes.  The back half of our bathroom ceilings contain heat & cooling pipes for our own apartments--but the front half, where my shower head is, contain bathroom plumbing for the apartment above you.

The next day, Steiner contacted me and said James was on his way.  I like James, he's a trim black man, 60 years old, loves to talk but is very courteous and very professional.  He came with a replacement ceiling tile and all kinds of pipe repair tape, clamps, etc. and told me the leak looked like a small one, and I was lucky.  If it had been a more serious one, I'd have to wait for ED.  ED is Steiner's "master plumber", a larger than life character in high demand.

After James completed his repairs and installed a new ceiling tile, I thanked him and walked him to the elevator.  He said "If you see the SLIGHTEST indication of another leak in the next month or so, let us know right away.  But you should be good for a couple more years at least."   I said okay, went back to my apartment (had to use the bathroom) and saw this:

I ran back into the hallway shouting "WAIT!" just as the elevator doors shut.  I called Steiner and said the leak on the right side was repaired but now there was a leak on the left.  They said they'd get someone back out here as soon as possible.

The next morning Steiner contacted me and said that James said there might have been some residue in the pipe, and asked if it was worse.  I said yes, it was worse alright.

They said okay, they would be sending ED the master plumber, tomorrow.

So the next morning, Ed shows up with his helper in tow.  (Ed's a tall bald man with a ring of wild white hair on the back and sides of his head.  He's 67 but looks 77.)   I said "Hi Ed, you look different than the last time I saw you."  He said "How far back was that?"  I said it's been 3-4 years.  He said "Oh sure, I've lost 60 pounds since then.  I can't be carrying all that extra fat into my golden years!"

As Ed and his helper started dismantling the ceiling, hooking up large tools and barking back and forth, I went into my bedroom and shut the door.  My head and face were on fire.  I can talk to someone on the phone for hours--but being around people and noise sets my long covid into overdrive.  When I woke up today, I spent the morning with pretty bad shakes.

When Ed was finished, he knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to come see.  The ceiling looked great.  He apologized for the bathroom (the floor was covered with grit, dirt & plaster--the tub streaked with oil.)  I said it was not a problem.  He said "Are you alright?  You look shaky."  I said I had a neurological condition that's been slow to heal.  Then I said "I almost forgot, where's your other helper?"  (I couldn't remember his name, it's Josh.  Josh is 26 year old and a plumber's helper, anxious to learn the trade.)

Ed said "That's a sad story.  Josh got covid back in...January.  Came back to work a couple weeks later, ready to go.  A couple weeks after that, he got sick again.  His parents took him to a couple specialists.  They said he has something called long covid.  He told me he has a good day here and there, but mostly he stays indoors.  It's going on 3 months.  He doesn't see an end in sight."

I said "I am so sorry.  Do you have a couple minutes?  I want to share something with you."  Like I told Ed, at least I'm in my sixties, retired.  Josh is a young man, just starting out.   I'm not a religious man, but I'm praying for him.  

So far so good: Cooking chicken a new way and another look at my stove

This won't be a long one.  I just wanted to give an update on my recent vow to cook things like meat outside of my oven when possible.

For example, when I had squash soup and a BLT sandwich on Tuesday, I cooked the bacon in a skillet on top of my stove for the first time in years.  It's simpler in the oven, but this way I can contain the splatter.

What you see here is my Dash Air Fryer; it's pretty basic, doesn't have any digital settings or displays, just a couple old school knobs.  In that bowl are two bone-in chicken thighs.

The night before, I put these thighs in a Ziploc bag with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt & pepper.  Let them marinate in my fridge overnight.

I set the dial to 375F and cooked the chicken for 12 minutes on one side, then flipped them over and cooked another 15 minutes.

I used a meat thermometer which said the bigger thigh was 170F.  They looked done to me, but...

I still felt a little nervous.  I'm not a great cook and have only cooked thighs one way, in the oven at 400F for an hour (half the time covered with foil, the other half uncovered).  So I slid these back in the air fryer for another 5 minutes.  

Here they are, plated up with some mashed potatoes and green beans.

I have to say, the chicken was delicious.  The skin was crispy perfect and the meat was juicy and tender.  I can't believe I've owned this fryer for 2-3 years and it's my first time cooking raw meat in there.

As long as we're here, I wanted to show what my oven looks like after several days of regular use.  I baked some breadsticks in there the other day, warmed up a couple slices of dinner ham too.  This past weekend I roasted some fingerling potatoes and a pan of broccoli.  Gave the oven a quick wipe down Sunday night and it's still looking shiny and new.

I've been craving a juicy meatloaf, but I think I'll hold off on that awhile longer. 😏

Are my blogging days over? I'm about to find out

This morning I got out of bed, shivered at the surprise cold in the air, came out to the living room and checked my phone--it was 31F outside.  Wow, it's almost May!  

Well, that's southwestern Pa for you.  The weather will trip you up everytime.

But it's also Monday, and my scheduled laundry day, so I knew I had to get my shower early and get my stuff down to the laundry room at 8am.  These past couple weeks, I didn't get down there until 9:30 am and both times got a knock on my door from Janice up the hall at 9:  "Hey Doug, are you done with your laundry time?"  

Janice--that room is mine from 8am to noon so back off!  Geez!

Anyway, I thought that before I got crackin' I'd send an email to my friend Pen (who lives near me), just to say good morning and how about this weather.  I open my email, put "Chilly Monday" in the subject line and that infernal Copilot pops up and says "Would you like us to compose a draft for you?"

That damn Copilot, I keep going into settings and deactivating it and it keeps returning.  Normally I say something like "Drop dead" or "Get lost" but I am in kind of a hurry, so I say "Sure."

It comes up with this:

It says "I hope your morning is off to a good start despite the chilly air!  There's certainly a crispness outside today that makes a warm cup of coffee or tea even more inviting.  Wishing you a cozy and productive start to your week--stay warm out there!   Best, Doug

Now I was all prepared to roll my eyes and snort when this popped up, but I've known Pen since grade school (we grew up on neighboring farms) and she's a sweet person but kind of a square too.  So I have a feeling she's really going to like this message.  I went ahead and hit 'Send'.

But here's the thing:  Pen may be a sweet square, but she's a smart cookie too.  She graduated our class at the top of our class.  She was elected Most Intelligent by her fellow students.  So she may see thru this cyber-fluff, write back and say "Don't send me an AI generated message again."

If she does, I'll consider my foray into AI assisted writing as a failure and resume my neurotic, half mental blogs.

If she falls for this AI message and responds with something pleasant like "Good morning Doug!  So nice to get a normal good morning from you"  then I'll begin using AI to compose my future blogs.

Stay tuned!  I'll post her reply if & when I get one. 😏

9:52 am - A response from Pen

I hope you have a great day as well. Yes, chilly today and perhaps a good day to make some chili. Ever hear of adding a bit of coffee to chili? I didn't until yesterday. It sounds strange, but I might try doing it if I decide to make some. Probably the last time I make any chili until fall/winter - just not my go to when we get warm weather. Take care.

Okay, it would appear that Pen did not see thru my AI ruse--she's not a suspicious person like myself and just assumes you're normal until told otherwise.  But I've decided that I can't hand over the blogging reins to that infernal AI, so it looks like you're stuck with me!   Have a great day everybody. 😉