This time, I put on the heavy work gloves. Save a knuckle, have a chuckle. Granted, it seems less like work when it has to do with a keg o’ beer.
Those heavy-duty lines that the Boulevard Wheat runs through are an exceptionally tight fit around the nozzle and it only took a second or two of straining to recognize the potential for knuckle-busting. That was one of today’s projects – replacing the line from the keg to the spout. Clean and new. The way it ought to be.
Project completed without incident. I like the day-off chores a lot better when they go smoothly.
Like the ladder climbing.
When it doesn’t go as planned, and you’re halfway up a tall ladder, bad things can be the end result. I can’t climb a ladder in the shop without thinking of dear old granddad, who – in the middle of one of HIS projects – was suddenly not high up on the ladder anymore.
That was when my father was called into service pulling the beer handle at the Palace, my grandfather’s place in Parsons, Kansas. I have a picture of my father wiping down the counter as the beer-tender while granddad was on the mend. The similarities between our Rose District shop and my grandfather’s place is remarkable. I may have a few more bookshelves, but he has me beat handily with the pinball machines and the lovely wooden wall-sized mirrored bar back. I’ll show you a picture next time you’re in. (And one of these days I’ll post it on the website…)
Needless to say, I was thinking of G-pa Ray when I was leaning out over the edge of the ladder, trying to drill a mounting hole in the front column. Beyond the matter of keeping my balance, I always feel a little out of sorts putting a drill bit to the beautiful interior of the bookshop. (I can describe it that way, because I’m not responsible for the way the interior renovation turned out. That was the work of Mr John Skaggs, a gentleman and artist-with-wood.)
I always offer a silent apology when I drive a nail. It goes something like: Sorry, Mr Skaggs. Hate to put a nail in your beautiful wall, but I hope to have this picture here for a long, long time. It wasn’t a picture this afternoon, but an old-fashioned hanging sign that will help promote the fact that Dustin and I are now serving beer along with the other beverages at lunchtime. (I’ve had folks come in, then apologize before leaving for the MST across the street, explaining that they wanted to enjoy a beer with their meal.)
Hammer in hand: Sorry, Mr Skaggs. But it’s an attractive sign and should be hanging right where I ran in the screws, for a long, long time.
Although we had mixed feelings about the antique-y looking Pabst Blue Ribbon wall sconce (PBR, as Dustin calls it), a Friday lunch guest made a fuss over it and what a “classic” wall light it was. Go figure! The old bookcase already had a nail right where the lamp needed to be, so no apologies were required.
We’ve had such a great response to Dustin’s lunchtime Chalkboard Specials that one of our semi-regulars popped in and wanted to see the “new menu.” Right now, it’s still my trusty regular menu, with Chef-D’s daily specials written on the sidewalk chalkboard each morning. I’m hoping to convince him to add a couple of the items as a regular menu item. (They are that tasty!)
Dustin has been posting the daily special on the new Facebook page he created, and he’d want me to mention you can “Like” the page to get the daily update. As you are certainly aware by now, my days of keeping up with technology are less-impressive than they once were. As one of the earliest in Oklahoma to own a VCR (I’m embarrassed today to recall what I paid for that thing!), I have surely dropped the technology-ball where the “Likes” are concerned.
Like it or not, I suppose.
So now, I’m down from the ladder with knuckles intact and no broken bones from those gravity-surges that seem to occur while atop a ladder. Enough with the day-off projects. It’s time for some relaxation.
And laundry.
We’re open Monday in the Rose District, so…
Come visit!
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District, 122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!
