Estimated Schmestimated

I was diligently watching the delivery schedule on my freight shipment coming from Milwaukee. The website said the estimated delivery was Friday, October 23 and I knew my window was 7:00 - 11:00, but what I did not know was that estimated delivery doesn't mean squat in the freight world unless you pay for a guarantee on it. My waiting on Friday morning was for naught, although Mike and I did manage to move things around the shop and create some more space/openness in the cafe.

Friday was also supposed to be the delivery date on the powder coated panels, but there was an issue with one of the trim pieces so they wanted to strip and re-coat it. I suppose that's better than delivering a crappy product. I can't wait to get it back and get some pictures taken. I will likely list the Astoria for sale to see if I get any nibbles.

The time to get ready to leave town has snuck up on me somewhat. I leave for New Zealand in less than a week now and I still have to pack and pull together some last items. I think I figured how to get all of the bike stuff into a case, including two wheelsets . . . we'll see if that works out tomorrow.

Yesterday, Deb and I had the low country boil party at her house. The totals for food were relatively astounding. We had 16 lbs of shrimp, 15 lbs of potato, 18 ears of corn, and 7 lbs of sausage. It would not have been a problem if we had a few more pounds of sausage or some more corn since those disappeared pretty damn quickly. The weather held out for the party and it wasn't too windy to make use of the fire pit out back at Deb's house. In the wake of the carnage, we were only left with a couple pounds of shrimp and a good quantity of beer and good beer at that. I made use of the leftover shrimp tonight, making a shrimp and grits concoction. The grits were pretty standard cheddar grits, but the shrimp had red onion, green chili, garlic, wilted spinach and a white wine sauce. When I stop riding after Tour of Southland, it will be trouble.

I forgot to wander around with the camera during the party, but here's the shrimp waiting for their bath.


Potatoes a' plenty . . .


Seven pounds of sausage, minus a couple pieces that Dempsey safety tested for me . . .


Corn season is pretty much over, but we managed to scrounge up a few good ears . . .


I made two kinds of cornbread, cheddar and cheddar/green chili. We had to do some safety testing on those too.


What's a party without rice krispie type cereal treats?


Today the snow was back so I was relegated to other activities like couch surfing and some gutter cleaning for Melisa. I hope it is warmer in NZ, but there is a good chance it won't be.