Wednesday 16 May 2018
The banjo retro-fitted with a new Nechville arm rest and ready for re-stringing before I record my new banjo song
MIKEY is off to Stirling and Margaret has some stuff in Glasgow.
I come out the shower and find another bleedin’ tick…on the back of my upper arm this time. I manage to find the tick remover but after 10 minutes of messing around trying to reach the blighter using a mirror I decide to leave it ’til Margaret comes home.
Another round of re-engagement messages are sent out to my email lists and a few more GDPR compliance web tweaks. Almost there, I think.
In the kitchen I make a batch of black bean soup and while it’s bubbling away bag up a job lot of sausages for the freezer.
The wooden banjo arm rest I ordered on Monday arrives in the post…I’m allergic to the wee thin chrome one I already had on there so had to find a sweat band to protect my forearm – just a couple of minutes playing without would end up with a swollen red weal and day-long itch.
Its not so apparent how to fit the new armrest, but I need to undo a couple of the hooks round the tension hoop to get the old one off. I;ce got the whole thing in pieces before I realise that there’s no need to take anything off on the banjo side of things, the two crosshead screws on the back of the rest are long enough to let the flanges out to clamp onto the rim. Doh!
Anyway, job done and the thing not only protects my arm form the chrome, but is a million times more comfortable…shoulda done this ages ago!
I take a break and sit in the sun and try and get the words to the new banjo song in my head. I plan to re-record tomorrow with a couple of small lyric tweaks and a more consistent approach which will be aided by not having to read the lyrics.
There’s still a bit of wood to be chopped so I take advantage of the sunshine and make a wee dent in the pile.
Margaret gets home and manages to remove the tick before I get on and cover some chicken thighs with a rub ready for the smoker tomorrow. Then I make a batch of Alabama White BBQ sauce…easily the best choice for chicken.
I run through the banjo song a few more times, relying on memory for the lyrics.I fumble my way through and, despite a few stutters while wracking my brain, I kinda remember the words. Mostly.
Sun’s still shining so I cue up a podcast in my search for tips on recording the new song and take a walk up the lochside.
Back home, I split a few more logs then go inside, open a beer and make some tortillas for our chilli tacos. We prefer the corn tortillas, but there’s some flour-based dough in the freezer I decided to use up. It feels OK, but has become very ‘springy’ and the results are more like little pitta breads! Moral of the story – best to make fresh taco dough. Maybe it just needed knocked back and rested a few times. Who knows…but if it did, it’s not saving any time!
Although we end up with the oddest tacos we’ve ever seen, they do taste pretty good!
