Weather guesser is an appropriate term in southeast Michigan. Yesterday’s forecast called for zero percent chance of rain until late afternoon when there was a slight possibility of scattered showers.

Donna drove over to Stony Creek Metropark (map) in the morning to meet up with some girls to rent stand-up paddleboards on the lake. She took her bike along in the back of Bill’s SUV which we still have. She planned to ride with Bill after paddleboarding. Then she wanted to shop at Vince and Joe’s Gourmet grocery afterwards, since it’s close to Stony Creek Metropark.

I had a few errands to run, so I headed out on the scooter. I rode through downtown Rochester where the roads are under construction, creating traffic jams in every direction. I went to Petsmart and bought more food for Ozark. For a little cat, she sure can eat. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a few more Vince Flynn novels. I’m hooked on the Mitch Rapp series of thrillers.

I made another stop at CVS pharmacy, then went to Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market on the way back. I’d like to know who Joe is. Around here there’s Trader Joe’s, Vince and Joe’s and also Papa Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is nationwide, but the other two Joe’s are local and very upscale.

Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market

I checked out the baby back ribs at Papa Joe’s, thinking if the weather holds out, I’ll buy them on Sunday to grill for our potluck bash. I also found a 22-ounce bottle of Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout that will go well with barbeque ribs.

I came home and heated up leftovers for lunch. Suddenly the sun was blocked out by clouds and it was dark out. I looked at the weather radar app on my phone. A line of thunderstorms stretching from the southwest to the northeast was almost on top of us! I went out and covered the scooter and picked up a few things on the picnic table. I brought them inside just as the rain began to fall. We had a real downpour! So much for zero chance of rain for the day.

Donna texted me from Vince and Joe’s – she spent an hour shopping there and said she was in heaven! It rained there and she wondered if we had rain here. By then, the storm had passed and it was sunny again.

Donna came home with a porterhouse steak. I seasoned the steak and wanted to try grilling it on the Traeger smoker/grill. The thing is, the Traeger doesn’t provide direct heat like I would normally use to grill a steak. It’s all indirect convection heat. This makes it difficult to get grill marks and any charring on the surface of the meat. It’s arguably healthier not to char the meat, but that’s what makes a grilled steak so tasty.

I had an idea. I turned the grill on high and put a cast iron skillet inside while I had potatoes baking. After a while I added the steak to the 450-degree grill.

Cast iron skillet, potatoes and steak

After cooking with the lid closed for eight minutes, I placed the steak in the hot cast iron skillet. My plan was to flip it after two minutes and try to get a little char from the radiant heat of the cast iron skillet. I made a big mistake though. After I closed the lid, the temperature didn’t rise in the grill, it began to fall. I hadn’t stirred the pellets in the hopper and as the pellet supply went down, they formed a bridge over the auger and quit feeding. My fire was out! I stirred the pellets and got it restarted, but my skillet experiment was ruined. The steak came out okay, but I’ll have to try this again and see if I can perfect the technique.

Steak and potatoes hot off the grill

Donna steamed asparagus and sauteed mushrooms and onions to accompany the steak and potatoes.

Steak under sauteed mushrooms and onions with roasted potato and steamed asparagus

After dinner, Ozark the cat amused us with her antics. She loves to bat the parchment paper toy Donna made. She also tosses and chases the little catnip-filled mouse toys I bought. I put a little dried catnip on her scratching post and she attacked it. Finally she wore down and seemed a bit dazed by the catnip.

Ozark dazed by the catnip

The weather forecast for today went from 60% chance of rain on yesterday’s prediction to 35% chance of rain by last night. This morning they say 0% chance of rain, but we know how that went yesterday. I’m hoping they got it right today so we can have guests join us for the potluck picnic we have planned. I’ll head out to Papa Joe’s and pick up the ribs around noon if the weather still looks promising.