Was That Thunder?

We fell asleep last night watching Mad TV and Saturday Night Live. Both were very funny. Sometime during the night, or more accurately stated, some time during the early morning hours, a thunder storm rumbled through the area along with very strong winds. And if hearing is believing, it rained pretty hard, but when I got up there was little remnants of rain. However, there was still lots of wind. It looked like a leaf storm out the window. Trees that held tight to the last remaining foliage were coaxed into a complete drop by the strong November winds blowing from the west/northwest. Lawns that I witnessed being groomed and raked on Saturday were again covered by a blanket of leaves. My eyes opened for good sometme around 8am. A quick glance at Mindy confirmed that she was already awake. I was surprised because she’s the one that needs and deserves the uninterrupted sleep. With almost no hesitation, I sprang right from my bed, brushed my teeth, pee’d, and headed down stairs to begin my morning routine. Mindy chose to stay in bed. My first order of business was to take my multi-vitamin and make some coffee. I made Starbucks Italian Roast, one of their darkest, strongest blends. After exercising I leashed up Ykraps and headed out into the great beyond. It was surprisingly warm but very, very windy. I later learned that we were getting gusts up to 40 mph. It was cool watching the leaves sweeping and dancing around in the streets. They were flying around in huge batches, too, not as onesie twosies. There is always a day like this. A day when Autumn takes full control and leaves no mistake that the growing season is gone and well behind us. Indeed, only long cold barren days lie ahead for the foreseeable future. Upon my return I went upstairs to fetch Mindy. She was ready to get up an have some coffee. It smelt too good to resist. We shared a couple of cups of coffee, some cantaloupe, and conversation before I took off for my morning run. The morning had all the makings of a lazy Sunday. But somehow that was fine by both of us. I left for my run at about 10am. I was officially slacking! While I was running, Mindy was showering. By the time I returned from my run we were both starving, so we made a late breakfast. We made bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes. I was most excited about the pancakes, and the fact that Mindy finally agreed to make the eggs. After all, I hadn’t had pancakes in almost two years! I think she has a long held fear of eggs. You know, oosporephobia. I don' think we wrapped up breakfast until almost 1pm, NFL kick-off time. We decided to spend the next 1/2 hour or so having a euchre rematch. I can’t tell you who won, but I can tell you that he’s pretty darn good! Mindy left right about 2pm. My first order of business was a shower, and then cleaning up the remnants from our weekend. There really wasn’t that much to clean up, though. Next, I headed to Home Depot to pick-up that new mail box I spoke about. I found the perfect replacement mailbox I needed with little trouble. If this were May I might have opted for an upgraded to a more stately looking mailbox and post, but it isn’t. I decided to settle for like for like. And instead of cutting a new mounting board from all the scrap lumber I have at home, I decided to slack and simply purchase one of the pre-cut pieces sold at Home Depot. It was only another $1.49 – convenience won out over frugalness. Once done I thought that I’d head over to my Dad’s to discuss him watching Sparky while I’m out of town visiting Glenn, but I thought that I’d be smarter to spend the remaining daylight hours putting my mailbox project to rest. I’ll stop by my Dad’s one evening this upcoming week. Once home I grabbed a few tools and went right to work on the mailbox. There wasn’t much to it, a little wreck out and six new deck screws. I was done in about 15 minutes. My next couple of tasks were to trim up some additional landscaping and then tune my gas powered weed wacker that had been giving me fits recently. I figured it was worth one more crack before giving in and buying yet another one. I spent about 10 minutes digging for the owner’s manual to make sure I was doing it correctly. I once again removed the spark plug and followed the instructions for cleaning it, and testing it for spark. It seemed to be fine. After putting it back together it started in 4 pulls! Not too bad! We’ll see if it starts this upcoming weekend. After putting my weed wacker away I proceeded to add water to my hot tub. It still leaks but only about an inch every two or three weeks. (BTW: I hope the upcoming weekend is dry so that I can spend time winterizing my yard. You know, bringing in the hoses, removing all the remaining dead annuals from their pots, and perhaps even a little raking!) I feel pretty good. I accomplished the three things that were on my weekend accomplishment list. Wahoo! After making some dinner (leftover lasagna and cheesecake), I spent some time updating my blog. I worked on that until 645pm or so. I had made arrangements to spend the evening at Mindy’s house, so after dinner I readied myself for the visit. Upon my arrival I watched the last half of the movie, Stuart Little with the kids while Mindy tended to some household chores. To our chagrin, Mindy paused the movie at 8pm sharp and whisked the children off to bed. Now that’s discipline! What was even more surprising, however, was that they hardly put up any resistance. I reckon they’re used to it. I helped with the “tucking-in process” and some bedtime reading as Mindy makes it a point to do each night. It didn’t take too long. I was back down stairs by 830pm and made myself comfy on the couch. That’s all it took. Out of nowhere, I had the sudden urge for sleep. You know that urge that’s so strong you can think of little else. Well I had it! I felt paralyzed and numb with sleepiness. By 9pm I opted to lie down in Mindy’s bed, and the next thing I knew it was 1130pm. I rose quickly and headed for home. I was still feeling overwhelmingly tired. Hmmm?