9.01.2003

 

So today is Labor Day. In past years I thought it ironic that we would observe the hard labor of the people of this nation right after sending their kinds back to school. I thought that it might make more sense to save the holiday until November or maybe late April, times when we've passed some time between holidays, rather than having the kids go to school for three days and then giving them a holiday. On the other hand, if we did that, the different weather conditions would eliminate the essence of today. In fact, we ought to just re-name Labor Day "Summer is over so everyone go outside, drink beer and grill up some burgers because you're not going to have a chance to do it again for eight months" day.

In the spirit of the true meaning of Labor Day, I therefore spent a fair amount of dinero yesterday on a new Weber kettle grill, some grill tools, beers, and other various sundry items. Sitting on the table next to me rests an assortment of buns, burgers, brats, beer, briquets and other things not starting with the letter B.

Unfortunately, outside my window, I also have a fair amount of rain. Indeed, the rain has bespeckled the windows of my new apartment all window. At times, the drops have more than speckled the corn and soybean fields around here; it has turned them into stream and pond beds.

But today is Labor Day, rain be damned. I have already done my reading for tomorrow, have already placed four loads of laundry placed into the drawers and closets, have already ripped a three-inch gash on the middle finger of my right hand opening a beer bottle (the glass just broke; I have no idea how), have already destroyed the field on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003, have already taken advantage of as much of the weekend as possible.

And now it's grill time. And if I have to grill my meat up while wearing my bright yellow rain suit, then so be it.