[178] Screed City

[178]

08/08/2022 Monday. Milk Crate. Stabbin' Cabin. Worlando Beach, Wyoming.

Easy morning. Got up around 8a. G and Cousin A stayed in TenSleep. PegLeg was up. Just sitting there. Reading something. I made some coffee and looked at things. PegLeg got up at some point and went outside to work on the garden. I started making a dough for Cubby Bubbys while listening to a thing about the law. I mean, I got hungry at some point and started frying the last burrito from the flight out. I had to turn the burner off and let the thing sit while I finished making the dough. PegLeg came back in and put some beets in the oven. To make a salad later. She left. Then about 30 minutes later she came back. I asked her about setting a timer. She said: "Oh, I don't worry about it, I am old-school." I asked how long the things had been in there. I mean, it was a jerk move because I knew the answer, she didn't know, it didn't matter, she would just check them at some point. I set a timer for one hour. After an hour I was ready to start making the Bubbys. I had spent that hour eating the burrito with iceberg lettuce and shredded cheddar and sour cream and hot sauce. Then I went to work getting the baking supplies ready. I had forgotten how much time I had spent getting the baking supplies just right back in Vermont, so I was a little frustrated with my options. Not because they were wrong, but because they weren't the same. Which was whatever, I mean, It occurs to me every time I make these things what a pain in the ass they are. They kind of suck to make if you aren't in the right head space. Which I kind of wasn't. I was excited to use an electric stove to bake though. I mean, I had to take the beets out to bake them. They baked well. Very well. I made four Veggie Bubbys and six Cubby Bubbys. As well as two GF Cubby Bubbys and one GF Veggie Bubby. Those turned out like junk. I had used too much fat. They were closer to Cubby Pies than Cubby Bubbys. And the dough was grainy. Win some, lose some.

Around noon Brother Charley brought G back from TenSleep. He had to come to town to get some wood he had milled. For the job on Wednesday. There was a misunderstanding that left Charley with some extra wood. But nobody had written anything down, neither the miller nor Brother Charley, so sadly he had to eat it. The larger bill that is. I mean, it is not like he won't use it, he said. But still. nobody likes a larger bill that they weren't expecting. Consider the rental. I mean, nobody can catch a break around here.

G disappeared. Straight to their room, I suppose. Then PegLeg came in and announced she was going to take a bath. Then she took a bath. Then she came out carrying a bucket with some rags draped over the edge, and I said: "You use a bucket to bathe with?" To which she replied: "Hardee-har-har." Then G came around and announced they were going to take a shower. Even though we were about to go swimming. Teenagers, I guess. I mean, I am joking. I took a shower right before PegLeg took her bath. And I was going to go swimming as well. I mean, showers are as much ritual as they are about getting clean. I mean, by then end of it, we were all squeaky clean. G went back to their room. PegLeg took a nap on the couch. I cleaned up. Oh, I forgot, they both ate a Cubby Bubby. PegLeg ate hers fresh out of the oven. Slathered in mustard. G ate theirs a little while after coming out of the oven. They said the cheese was really good. Different than the other times. I pointed out that they are a different beast fresh out of the oven than they are frozen and reheated. I mean, I let the things cool and then wrapped them in tinfoil. Put them in a Ziploc bag. Left them on the counter. The GF ones needed to cool still.

Around 2p I went to G's room and said: "Twenty minutes!" This woke PegLeg up. She got up from the couch and announced she was going into town to wait for people. At the pool. I said: "It's so early though." And she said: "I don't want anyone to have to pay if they get there before me." Fair enough. She left. A few minutes later G was ready to go. I did a few more things. Made some iced coffee and brushed my teeth, then I was ready to go. We drove down to the pool and parked. Went inside. PegLeg was there. At the counter. I signed in. Well, I wrote down what time we showed up. 2:37. Our names were already on the roster. I asked for a key. Knowing the drill at the Worland Aquatic Center. You give them a shoe, they give you a key. I mean, it is kind of gross, for them, I don't know what else they would ask for though. I mean, you show up to the pool in what? Shorts and a shirt and a towel. Presumably shoes. And the shoes are the only thing you can part with before you go into the locker rooms, right? But still, it is kind of gross. The way they handle the shoes. Like they are covered in dog shit. I mean, I'm surprised they don't have tongs. I mean, the lady gave me a key. Locker 139. G said they didn't need a locker. They went into the ladies locker room, I went into the gentlemen’s locker room.

I had brought two pairs of trunks. The orange flower trunks and the long, brown California trunks. Not sure what mood I would be in. Turns out I was in the mood for California trunks. They are easier on the genitals. Kind of keep things in order down there. If you catch my drift. Less scandalous. I mean, I locked the locker. Took my towel and went to the showers to do a quick rinse before going into the pool. A thing I still, to this day, don't understand about going to the pool. I mean, unless you actually take a shower. With soap and everything. Like, naked. I mean, what is the point? Just rinsing off isn't going to do squat. Especially your trunks. And even more especially, the rest of your body, the hairs and the buns and the feet and the whatever. I mean, presumably you are just going to hop in the water and all that detritus is just going to slough off of you anyway. Plus more, because you will be soaking in the waters. I mean, whatever, I did as I was told. Took my towel to the chairs by the ladies locker room. Put my towel on one of the chairs. Hid my key in the towel. Took my glasses off, why I even bothered to bring my glasses, I don't know. I can't swim in them. And not only that, but I only wear them to and from the locker room. I mean, I am blind, but not so blind that I need them to walk 100 feet. Whatever. What was done was done. I slowly slid into the kiddie area of the pool. G and Little O were there already. Plus Little O's friend. I mean, we saw Sister Megan when we came in. She was wearing a Dishwashers t-shirt. Good looking shirt. I was wearing shorts and my pink flower socks. She said: "Nice socks!" I said: "Nice shirt!"

I swam around with G and Little O for a while. Then Sister Athena showed up with all six kids in tow. I mean, it's not five kids like I said before, but six. I mean, they are sheepishly got into the pool. Before long they were splashing around with aplomb. I tried to get Little R to come in. He is the youngest. He wasn't ready yet. He hung out on the edge with PegLeg. I swam back out and did some cool tricks with Little O and her friend. G floated around, saying it was cold. I agreed. The water was kind of cold. I suggested we go to the hot tub. They refused. I swam around some more. Then I went by myself to the hot tub. I sat there soaking for a while. Then Brother Charley showed up. He came and sat in the hot tub with me. Then Little O and her friend came over and soaked in the hot tub. After a while Charley suggested we go to the diving board. We all got out of the hot tub and went to the deep end. I yelled at G to come with us. They did. Then we got in line for the diving board. A mom and a teenager where sitting next to the deep end. I recognized them from yesterday. At the Blair's. They were walking across the parking lot. The teenager was very upset. The mom seemed annoyed. They looked like they were trying to cross the street for some reason, but the teenager was too mopey for them to do it. I mean, seeing them here, and now, next to the deep end. I mean, I felt bad for the teenager yesterday, today, not so much, she seemed to always be mopey. And her mom seemed quite checked out about it.

I mean, Little O did a cool jump into the pool. Then her friend did one. Brother Charley did a cool dive. I did a cannon ball and yelled: "Cannon Ball!" when I was in the air. G followed me and did a slick move. Then we all got out and did some other cool moves. Charley did a back flip and got in trouble for it. Then Little O did a cool jump. Her friend too. I did another cannon ball, yelling "Cannon Ball!" before hitting the water. G did a cannon ball. They didn't yell, but their cannon ball was better than mine. A bigger splash. Then we all got out again. I was first for some reason. I did a cannon ball. Yelling: "Cannon Ball!" beforehand. This time I was told my splash was good. G did a dive thing. Then Brother Charley did a jack knife. Which was fantastic. As we swam to the edge he whispered that he had splashed the grumpy lady and the mopey teenager. I looked over. They were moving their chairs over to the bleachers. I laughed about this. I mean, who posts up next to the diving board at the pool and doesn't expect to get splashed? Idiots, that is who. I mean, I did one more cool trick and got a bunch of water up my nose and in my eyes, so I swam over to the end of the deep end. G did a cool jump and swam over. I said we should go over and do a flip turn or two. They agreed. We almost got brained by some adult dude on a what looked like a kayak. He said: "My bad! Physics!" Then he paddled away. We snuck under the lines and went to the laps lane. I showed G my flip turn. They did one. Even better than mine. I said: "I thought you couldn't do them?" They said: "Oh, I can do them, just not well." I said: "You are better than me." They said: "Well, I mean, I guess I need to know how to breath when I am swimming, is it this?" They did some faux swimming and faux breathing. I mean, they knew the drill pretty good. At this point I was worried that I would mess up their learning if I tried to teach them anything, so I said: "Yeah, that's it exactly! You don't need my help, I will just make things worse. Let's head back." We got out and waded through the kiddie pool. Played around with Little R for a while, he was still getting used to the water. Then I suggested we go to the hot tub again. G decided this time it was a good idea. We swam over to the edge and got out. Got into the hot tub. Then Little O and her friend and Brother Charley and four of the other little cousins came over and got in. Then Brother Jade showed up. He was wearing his work clothes. He sat next to the hot tub and talked with Brother Charley. It was hard to hear anything because of all of the echoes. Eventually I got tired of trying to listen. So I got up and went back into the pool. G followed. PegLeg was waving me over. Little O wanted to go down the slide. I swam over and picked him up. We swam over to the slide. Got out of the pool. Climbed the steps. G came with us. Also some other little cousins. We got to the top. The life guard said we could go. I put Little R on my lap and asked if he was ready. He said yes. I flung us down. I mean, I am heavy and having the extra 25 lbs of Little R, I mean, we were hauling ass. When we got to the bottom I tried to hold him up so he wouldn't be pounded by the wake, but I only barely prevented him getting a full-on assault. He didn't mind. We swam to the edge. Then Little B wanted to go down the slide. He was already on top, but the life guard wouldn't let him go down without an adult. So I ran up there. Put him on my lap and sped down to the bottom. He is bigger than Little R, so he got more wake in his face. We swam to the edge and walked up the stairs. Little R wanted to go again. So I took him back up. I put him on my lap and said: "Okay, plug your nose this time." He plugged his nose the entire way down. On the bottom we hit hard. He was fine, but I got a gallon of water up my nose. We swam to the stairs and Little B wanted to go again. I took him up to the top. Put him on my lap. Told him what I told Little R, that he should plug his nose. He plugged his nose the entire time. I mean, we hauled major ass this time. He is about 15 lbs heavier than Little R. I mean, we hit the bottom with a thud. He was just fine. Because he plugged his nose. My nose was now filled with two gallons of bleach water. I had to stop going down the slide. Even though Little R wanted to go again. I got into the kiddie pool and floated around. Little R looked cold. His lips were blue. I asked him if he wanted to go outside and warm up. He said yes. We went outside and laid down on the hot concrete. For some reason he pointed out that I had hairy armpits and hairy arms like his dad. Then I told him we were brothers. He didn't seem to be able to process this information, so he just looked at me confused. When we were hot enough we went back inside.

At this point there was no more diving boards or hot tubs or slides. Everyone was starting to fade. We splashed around for a while. G said something about nip slips. That they kept having nip slips. Which was funny. Not that they were having nip slips, but that they would call them "Nip Slips," I mean, so modern. I mean, I don't know if they were asking for advice on how to not have nip slips, or if they were just telling me about the nip slips, either way, there wasn't much I could do to help them out. Either way, we splashed around for a while. Little R got cold again and wanted to go back out and lie on the concrete. I took them. It was nice and warm. Then PegLeg came out. Then we just hung out for a while. Then for some reason my lower back, with all the wetness started making farting noises. Little R thought this was pretty good. I tried to show him how to do it. He was too little to understand. But we laid there for a while, me making fart noises with my lower back, and him trying to make farting noises with his lower back. PegLeg also found this hilarious. She shot a video of it. I mean, soon it was hot again so we went back inside. G gave up on the swimming. Told me they were going to change. I said: "Okay, I think we are all done. It is late." The rest of us splashed around for a few more moments. Somebody suggested we leave. I agreed. I took my glasses and my towel and my key into the locker room. Brother Charley was already changed back. He was waiting like Sister Megan and PegLeg and Sister Megan. I went into the locker room. I mean, I didn't hear anyone inside so I took my trunks off and showered naked. Which, I mean, it is a changing room, there is nudity, but nobody wants to see it flaunted. I mean, I got out of the shower and was reaching for my towel when some dude came out of the bathroom area and saw me. I shook my dirty worm at him and did a nasty thing with my tongue. Just joking. I covered up pretty fast. But not before he got a nice show. I went to the locker number 139. Dried up pretty good. Put my shorts on. My shirt. Took my one boot and my socks and my spare trunks to the lobby. Asked for my other boot back. The girl that gave it to me asked what it looked like. I said: "The coolest looking boot you got back there." She didn't smile. She just handed me my boot like it was a live hand grenade. Holding the back tag like my boot my just explode. I said, thanks! Then I took it over to G who was sitting in a chair by the vending machines. We had a conversation about dealing with peoples shoes while I put my socks on. Then my boots. In the end we decided there was nothing doing about. It was what it was.

We went outside and found Brother Charley sitting on the ground with Obie, the little dog. She barked at me like normal. Then we waited for a few moments. Sister Megan came out. We talked about drinks. What drinks we needed for the barbeque. The consensus was that we really didn't need drinks for the kids. G decided we needed lemonade. I thought we needed some tomatoes and ice for Brother Charley's drinks and the lemonade. Plus we needed some milk. I mean, we have gone through 1 and 1/2 gallons of milk since being here. Mostly because of the coffee machine and the steamer. G and Cousin A and PegLeg have been living it up with all that steamed and frothy milk. I mean, G and I drove over to Blair's. We bought some tomatoes and some milk and jalapeños and a bag of ice. We put it all in the back of the 4-Runner. Then we started driving back to PegLegs. I got nervous that that wasn't enough ice. I mean, with Charley's drinks and Brother Jade's drinks and the ice for the lemonade. Oh! We also bought some lemonade. Which was shelf-warm. I mean, I stopped at the Maverick to get another bag of ice. There was this homeless dude posted up in front of the place. I have seen him before. Un-housed, I mean, but he has a cart and a dog. And he just pushes that thing around town. And as much as I feel for him, being unhoused, and most likely not in the best mental space, I mean, I am glad to see it. Not because of seeing him in this state, but these fuckers, these Republican Douches, who think this sort of thing only exists in California and "Liberal" cities, I mean, this is a big ol' FUCK YOU to these people. And to all Americans that are deciding to just Air B&B their rentals because it is better for them, money-wise. I mean, during what is, in actuality a housing crisis. I mean, it is a one to one thing at this point. And if it is going to take un-housed people pushing carts around towns like Worland, Wyoming to actually see what is going on in this country, then that is a good thing. I mean, I am sure, one day, in the cover of darkness, the police will come and gather all this guys belongings and take him to the edge of town and tell him to get lost otherwise he will be thrown in jail, but still, make those fuckers work for it. Because he may be the first one, but he won't be the last. The crisis is everywhere now. And try as they may to blame the Democrats, when they have to see it in their back yards, maybe they will open their idiot eyes. And as much as the solution is just to have more housing, that housing needs to be available to the poor, and not only that, there needs to be regulations on what you can do with your own housing as it pertains to renting it out of whatever. I mean, there is plenty of housing in NYC, it's just not regulated in any meaningful way. I mean, I am just as bad, I know it, I have a place in Queens and a place in Vermont, but it's not like I own these places. I am just renting as well. And we got lucky. Lucky enough that we can afford it. But if things really came down, like we couldn't afford both places, we would just keep the Queens place and forego the Vermont place. And maybe or not someone else could rent that place, but my guess is that the landlords would just Air B&B the place. So it's not like we are taking someone's rental away from them. It is just a marriage of convenience ATBMS.

I mean, I stood in line at the Maverick to buy some more ice. This guy in the front of the line looked me up and down. Then when he was leaving he did a double take on me. Smiled. And I knew I was seeing a little bit of the Worland Underground. I mean, I was surprised that he wasn't waiting for me outside. To give me his number. He wasn't though. Or maybe he was, and I didn't notice, because I wasn't cruising myself, but still, much like the unhoused guy, it is there for anyone to see, if only you looked. I didn't look. I got back in the 4-Runner. Went back to PegLeg's. Cut some tomatoes. Some onions. Some jalapeños. Preheated the oven to 350F. Had Brother Charley go out and start the grill. Then I took a box of hamburgers, a hank of American cheese and a metal spatula outside. I discovered the patties were still frozen. I went back inside to get a sharp knife. Brother Jade came out. He drank a beer while peeling frozen patties from each other. I put them on the grill. Cooking them frozen. He regaled me with the exploits of the 4H kids and the town fair. How they had a booth and nobody took leadership, so the burgers they were selling were both over-cooked and possible dangerous. But because of the rules, the kids needed to be there to help and everything was very unsanitary, but what could they do? The entire operation was chaos. And some people got some pretty sketchy food, like cheeseburgers that had cooked for a very long time. As well as cross-contamination. I mean, I am sure he was embellishing, but the whole story was funny as hell. I mean, I have been to those fairs. And to get the inside beef, how things actually go down, I mean, you may want to reconsider that cheeseburger next time. Stick to the fries. The fries are boiled in grease. You can't hurt those things.

I mean, soon there was a bunch of kids lined up for cheeseburgers and lemonade. The GF Cubby Bubbys got reheated. To zero fan-fare because they sucked. Which was to be expected. I mean, the adults finally ate too. There were all sorts of salads and chips and condiments. We talked about construction and stuff. About going canal floating tomorrow. By Manderson. I guess it isn't the river. I mean, I need to remember sun block. G isn't coming, sadly. They have a spa day planned. I mean, I guess I will bring the Cubby Bubbys. I mean, do I heat them up beforehand? I am guessing, yes, but I can't keep them warm, or can I? Maybe I can use the soft cooler I bring ice over to Stabbin' Cabin to keep them warm? I mean, speaking of ice. I got nothing but grief when I brought all that ice back with me. I mean, to no avail ATBMS. I mean, I said: "I try and try and try, and get nothing but grief." To which, PegLeg said: "Welcome to my world." I mean, we can't catch a break! None of us.

I mean, we are a family of sad-sacks. Against all odds. I mean, whatever. I didn't even take any pictures today. Woe is me. Maybe I got something I can find on my phone.

[Insert Something If I Can Find Something Photo-wise]