Wednesdays were busy to begin with, what with Bible Blast and choir practice, but now Sam has Science Club meeting every Wednesday after school until the end of April. That gives us an hour between picking him up from there and when we have to be at church, in which we need to do dinner and any homework, since church runs up until bedtime. Augh!
So Wednesday nights have officially become “improvise nights” with regards to dinner. Last week, I ordered pizza, timed to arrive at the beginning of that hour. This week, it’s Lentil Chili in the crockpot. (I have no delusions that Sam and Gabe will enjoy or even try this, so there will also be salad and some leftovers available to them. Nothing terribly fancy, though, as I do want to encourage them to at least try the chili. Sam is doing his best to become a fan of beans, so he was already intrigued by the lentils, but the large amount of tomatoes and onion will likely scare him off. 
But darn it, I wanted to try this, and I get to do that once in a while!) As a side note, I find it funny that two of the five reviews mentioned adding meat or a meat replacement to the recipe – can’t have chili without it, I guess! I’m not adding any meat, but I plan to top it with a bit of cheese, so I guess that blows the “vegan-ness” out of the water. 
I’m feeling odd today. This morning, I went on my run earlier than usual; last night’s forecast was wishy-washy about whether there’d be rain this morning, so when I woke early and it was dry out, I got out as fast as I could. (Now the rain has been pushed back to noon, of course.) It was very dark and early, therefore, when I was coming down a somewhat major in-town road and saw ahead of me in the streetlamps a man, weaving wildly across the sidewalk. He was so drunk, it was patently obvious from a quarter-mile away; it was a miracle he was upright. Had I been a man…larger, stronger, more intimidating…I’d have stopped. I had a cell phone. I could have seen if there was somebody to call for him, someone who could come get him. But I’m not a man, or even a large and intimidating woman. And so, instincts buzzing, I crossed the road and turned. He called out to me: “Hey-eeeeeeeey…” in what I think was supposed to be an enticing way; I kept going.
I don’t know. Later, over breakfast, it occurred to me that perhaps I should have called the non-emergency police number. It was after 5 o’clock when I saw him, and traffic was beginning to pick up; this guy could easily have wandered off the sidewalk and in front of a car. Eric pointed out that if the police had sent somebody, the drunk would probably have been arrested. That’s not what I would have wanted; I just wished somebody could have shepherded him to a safer location, preferably with a bed and a nearby bucket. “Saint Patrick’s Day brings out the amateur drinkers,” Eric mused. I sort of hope that’s the case, and not that this guy lives like that full-time.
What would you have done?
Hey, Carrie! Do you know if the recipe calls for dried lentils, and if so, do they need to pre-soak? Thanks!
Hmmm, if it were me, I’d bring a portable meal to school and camp out in the lunchroom to do dinner and homework, then speed off to church for Bible Blast/choir.
And as for the staggerer… I would have called the non emergency line and reported his location once I was a safe distance away. Sometimes the cops will arrest someone, sometimes not. Most of the time if they come across a “cooperative drunk” the worst they will do is toss him in the drunk tank to dry out. More often they either take them home (if they are able to ascertain the location of “home”) or to the hospital if it looks like he might have medical issues.
If he’s belligerant or otherwise uncooperative, he might be arrested for public nuisance or put in the drunk tank. Cops usually have better things to do but the last thing they want is a guy passed out in the middle of the street. (Which is exactly what I found on my way home from work one night. I swear I thought it was a dead body…he looked like he tripped over the curb and knocked himself out when he hit the pavement.)
I believe dried lentils; mine were dried, and they seem to be doing fine! The amount of water is what made me think that.
Kate – but then Eric wouldn’t get dinner.
We pick him up after getting Sam.
I would have done the same thing about the stranger. The fact that he was 5 am and still drunk and upright would mean to me that he was probably seasoned. Those of us that are lightweights usually pass out by midnight and that’s usually what goes out drinking on St. P day. There was nothing you can do for him, and your safety needs to be your only concern.
I probally would have called police to. Something to keep in mind sometimes someone who seems drunk isnt they have something seriously medically wrong.
We had an incident locally here where someone the police were convinced was drunk due to behavior etc wasnt and ended up dying at the police station because of his medical problem it was something that came on really fast and abruptly. They had even taken is bac and it was 0.0 but they still assumed he was drunk due to his behavior. Just something to remember things are not always what they seem. And evven if he was arrested and drunk he was so drunk he wasnt just a hazard to himself but others to :-s
Karin – see, I did think of that at the moment (that it might not have been alcohol), especially since Eric is a diabetic and has been warned about that sort of thing. But the nonemergency number thing didn’t occur to me until well after the fact, and I felt really uncomfortable about approaching and confronting a strange man in the dark with nobody else around…
Whelp…. Im a big intimidating woman, so I would have hoisted his homely ass to a safe place.
But…… if I wasn’t a big intimidating woman, I probably would have called the non-police number. Yea, he would have spent the day in the drunk tank, but in all honestly if its not even 6am and he’s drunk as a skunk, he could use quality time in the holding tank.
I don’t know the geography, but you could do a couple things:
1. Leave dinner home for Eric and meet him at church.
OR
2. Bring dinner along, pick everyone up and find a place to camp out at church and eat as a family — social hall or empty classroom, perhaps?
Just trying to eliminate the middle step of getting home for dinner. Obviously, dinner out is an option but can be budget and waistline detrimental.
The second is the only one that would work, since we only use one car.
Actually, going home would probably be less work than packing up dinner, since school and work are closer to home than they are to church. There’s not a whole lot of making-it-easier possible, really. Only thing I can do is make the dinner something that doesn’t require much prep right up until serving.
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