The Day the Doctors Almost Died (not really)

We had high hopes for Saturday’s mission- Big Plans. Paul D agreed to take the MDz and Brn-n-Srv to the scrap yard! Sickety-SICK! We were going to fortify with a solid bacon breakfast at Hz’ to get us through the pre-dog heavy lifting, but when PD called the yard for scrapping hours the lady was totally like, “We’ll close at 11:15 or earlier if we feel like it.” Wha–?! How do you like that? Well, Ez was still fast asleep at 10:40. No time to nice around, we got up and at it!

Stepping into the cool morning, was it just the confusing late March Minnesota weather that sent the chill through your doctors, or was there something more sinister at hand? Brn-n-Srv, thinking he saw something shiny, reached down and picked up a SKULL!

We left from Hz’ house in 2 cars, PD’s loaded with scrap and Brn-n-Srv at the wheel of his friend’s car. Brn-n-Srv musta been drunk with power from  being in a borrowed All Wheel Drive Subaru, or something, because when he was leading the way to the freeway he kept going off-road! Brn-n-Srv, are you a crazy person, or what?

With just minutes before gate closing, PD honked and Ez tried to speed dial Hz as Brn-n-Srv sped past Kirschbaum-Krupp Metal Recycling.

It was close, but we made it! PD told us that there are 1,200 privately owned scrap yards in the USA. Last summer Old Sheet Aluminum was selling high at 78 cents per pound and scrappers were living rich for a while, but then prices plummeted. Fall 2008 saw aluminum prices as low as 33 cents and the scrappers were totally pissed off. Joe, the man at the weigh station, said something like, “Hey guys, that’s just the price”. We were all eager to see what PD’s earnings would be!¹

We got all of the scrap from Paul D’s car, and loaded it up onto a wheely-cart. Then we rolled it inside. When the big garage door opened, it was like the doors to the Kingdom of Oz opened or something! and then we walked inside with our scraps.

Wow, the place is nice!

PD rolled his scrap onto the floor-scale. Joe and Victor got weights on all the different metals: copper, red brass, lead, aluminum sheet and cans.

Meanwhile, some other fellas …

….were checking the valuable Hz!

JK, These dudes were all ultra-sweet!

Well, PD collected his receipt and brought it to the nice lady behind the bullet-proof glass. She gave him a code or a slip of some sort (please forgive us this lack of detail, there was just so much to see).

Obviously, we had worked up a real good appetite by this time! So we wasted no time getting to Uncle Franky’s!

Lt. Brn-n-Srv wasted no time with the antics. That guy is a laugh riot!

This place seemed totally supreme before we even went inside. Their door handle is a metal hot dog and Brn-n-Serve even tried to eat it! Outta sight!

Hot Dog Heaven! Not only does Uncle Frankie have a dog selection incredible enough to almost stump the doctors…

they were also playing the BEST song! The song that beckons summer! The song that makes you wish you could sing, makes you wish you could dance, makes you wish you could FLY!

All minds were blown, but we’re professionals and got back on the job. You should know that their pop is supplied from a local root beer brewery who’s name we forget. They have strawberry, orange, grape, pink lemonade and root beer, naturally! Ez got Grape and Hz got Strawberry.

This man was helpful and totally nice:

This man made up the dogs and was totally nice:

Quite an operation:

When our food came, we could hardly believe what a great big feast it was! We thought the table would break under all the weight. For REAL!

And then when we started eating all of that delicious food, it was MAD DELICIOUS!

HA HA HA! Brn-n-Srv was goofing with the ketchup, Classic! Course, we were all totally rolling and all of the other diners probably were really enjoying us, too!

But then it got a little out of hand when he started dripping on his new-fancy-phone-camera-computer!

That mighta been when we started to attract the attention of owner, Larry.

As Brn-n-Srv wiped up a little, Ez remembered out loud about those ten long years she put herself through hot dog learning being a waitress. She told of refillling ketchup bottles and how easy it is to drip and spill and then if you do, you can wash your hands and dab at your shirt with a wet soapy paper towel all shift long, but you will NEVER get rid of that vinegary ketchup smell! Gross me out the DOOR!

PD mentioned that the bathrooms at Uncle Frankie’s are pleasingly clean. Maybe Brn-n-Srv went in to clean up, and maybe it was Brn-n-Srv, dripping ketchup, that attracted Larry’s notice, but he sure wanted to know why a couple of doctors were snapping photos of his bathrooms!

We explained that we LOVE hot dogs! Told Larry we eat hot dogs and talk about it and write about it and take pictures of it and invite our friends because we LOVE hot dogs! Then Larry wanted to help us! He told us of his 2 other locations: Dinkytown and Plymouth. Said if we went to the Dinkytown store we would find his brother and his cousin was at the Plymouth satellite. Then he pointed out the terrific art on the wall made by Wesley Willis!

We were all SO FULL, so we were planing to walk off our dogs along the river. As we were leaving Larry gave us some more location suggestions. That guy is really something! SUPER helpful!

Totally great day! Brn-n-Srv was going to lead the way in that borrowed All Wheel Drive Subaru. We all took off down Broadway, but Brn-n-Srv was OFF, hot and fast! PD and Ez were in the dust and a little worried!

But we heard from him later in the day, when he called from the Loon to announce that he was eating a Cheddarwurst. Safe and sound! (whew!)

Footnotes
1. Upon reviewing his receipt, PD noticed that Old Sheet Aluminum pulled just 16 cents a pound, lousy! This is a recent history low! Sorry PD, that totally blows!

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March 31, 2009. Tags: Ez, grape pop, hot dog blog, Hot Dog Doctors, Hz, NE Minneapolis, Northeast Minneapolis, off-roading, scrapyard, Strawberry pop, Subaru, Uncle Frankie's, Uncle Franky's, Wesley Willis. Getting Lost or stuck somewhere, Hot Dog Dining, Lt. Brn-N-Srv, Music and Shows, Paul D, Poverty. 1 comment.