It was a rainy day

Yesterday was a rainy day, sometimes pouring, even some thunder, as had been predicted. That made it a good day to get stuff done, and I even had a re-run of a kitchen adventure. Weather aside, it was a good day.

Leo and I were sleeping-in a bit yesterday morning, but I was awakened around nine by torrential rain. That’s mainly because the roof over the main bedroom is quite low, with very little attic space above the ceiling (maybe I should write that as “attic” space, because I don’t think an average size person could crawl through it…). That, and the fact it’s a metal roof, makes heavy rain sound loud . But the specific thing that woke me up was thunder.

The downpour only lasted maybe 15 minutes before easing a bit, but it was DARK in the living space when we got there around 9.30, with virtually no light coming through the Solatube, that skylight kinda thing I had installed in the kitchen back in 2021. All the curtains and blinds were still closed, of course.

A few minutes later, Leo finished his dental chew stick and was ready to go outside, and the rain had stopped completely. By 10am, the time the Severe Thunderstorm Watch for our area was to begin, the sun was breaking through the cloud cover, though sometimes only meekly. Rain returned, then sun, then rain, etc., all day long.

After I was done with my shower this morning, I heard rain blowing onto the window, which made me glance at it. I thought, “I need to give the window a clean,” and then it hit me: It was the perfect day to clean the front window. It was the first time that particular thought has popped into my head since I last cleaned the window, um, “quite some time ago.”

A rainy day is really the only day I can clean those windows because the sun shines in the glass for a good chunk of the day, year round. But, it wasn’t a straightforward thing to do.

I vacuumed up the dead bugs first, and then I realised I needed to clean the blinds before I could clean the glass. I dust them from time to time, even if it’s just vacuuming them, but I can’t remember the last time I wiped them down, but some of those dead bugs, or their relatives, had left deposits. Wiping down the blinds took a long time, because, it turned out, they were quite dirty.

While I was doing that, another session of thunder and heavy rain arrived, and it got so dark that I thought about turning on a light, but I didn’t because there was just enough light. Actually, I mainly just didn’t want to stop because by then I really wanted that task to end.

The glass windows were easy to clean, though the two openable side windows either side of the picture window were difficult to open because I never open them and they were sticking a bit. I needed to open them so I could vacuum the track and seals. I opened the windows, of course. An aside: Having two openable either side of a fixed-pane window is called a Chicago window because it was first used in designs for office buildings built there. I kind of like the fact that my house has a Chicago window—even though, technically, they're supposed to be openable sash windows, not awning-style (hinged along the top) like I have. Pffft, technicalities!

After I was all done, the sun reappeared, and I could see the blinds were dully shiny again: I hadn’t noticed they weren’t before I started work on them. The glass was also gleaming, sparkly, even. I’d thought it was the outside of the window that was dirty: Apparently not. It made me glad I did the work.

I didn’t get much else done yesterday, but I’d planned to make my reconstruction of my mother’s beef and barley soup, which I first made a year ago this month, and that became my next project. It went well (photo up top).

I bought some chuck steak when I went to the supermarket this past Monday, and I bought it specifically for the soup. This time, after I rinsed the barley I soaked it in hot tap water for a few minutes while I cut up stuff, then cooked the barley in the microwave for six minutes. I drained the barley and added them to the soup, and all of that dramatically reduced the remaining cooking time once I added them to the soup.

There were more brief bursts of rain into the evening before it stopped. There were some strong winds in the evening, but they, too, disappeared as it got later, making the night—and this morning—quiet. Today became another ordinary day, but one without weather drama or post-jab blech.

So, the bad weather yesterday ended up helping me get some not-every-day sorts of things done. It turned out to be a good day. And tonight, I get to have the leftover soup for dinner. Ordinary wins are good, too.