Week 89: Tail Dragger

Tail Dragger, the name of the Hot Wheels car for this week, and one selected by photographer Phil Pekarcik himself as I completely neglected to deliver any type of car to him.

He tells me me this car was selected because it  is a modified 1941 Ford and not because of the name. Hmm. Perhaps. Regardless, the name is fitting.

I really do feel like my tail is dragging a bit this week.

I mean that literally.

I actually have a tail.

Okay, not really, but I do feel like my tail is dragging in the sense that I'm exhausted, and also in the sense that I'm behind in getting almost everything done.

As I possibly mentioned in past posts, my wife had surgery recently and has relapsed into feeling rather cruddy, meaning I've been doing most of the housey stuff in addition to the jobby stuff. In addition to the housey stuff, I'm dealing with mousey stuff - we got a whole bunch o' mice in our pantry, which necessitated pulling everything out. While the mice are now presumably gone, I have a kitchen full of canned goods, spices, cereals, and culinary odds and ends such as my blender (I don't remember the last time I've used a blender), and more, all piled up in the middle of the kitchen like that mashed potato sculpture in Close Encounters.

I need upside down Happi Time ice cream
cones - and why is there a round dial
thing on my phone?

Here is the problem. My wife has some type of secret system for the pantry, a secret so guarded and complex that, even if I could grasp it with my walnut-sized brain (which I can't), would be so outside of my security clearance as to trigger a pantry raid should I try to put the stuff away myself. What that means is: until my wife feels up to the task, we have a surreal mound of non-perishables in my kitchen.

I've compensated for this distraction by attempting to cook things based on items at my disposal (I can't reach the middle of the pile), reaching out and grabbing something like picking fruit from a processed food tree. Sure, spaghetti noodles are easy, but grab a box of lemon jello, spinach and zucchini mini rotelles and a jar of gravy and try to combine them.

Well, like I always say, just add some fresh garlic, olive oil and a can of artichoke hearts and anything instantly becomes gourmet.*

Anyway, excuses aside, I'm dragging my tail, and even though weekends don't count as much for a free-lancer such as myself, I'm still looking forward to Friday, if only for the symbolism of the end of a work week.

And anyway, like that purple and green monster at the top, you can still be a tail dragger and look sharp.





*Seriously, try that. Using one or all of those ingredients can liven up almost any meal, except probably breakfast cereal.