Swiss Steak

Back in the saddle and back in sync. I woke at 525am sharp. I felt rested, too. I finished my exercises and walking Ykraps in record time. We were back by 545AM. That was a good feeling. That let plenty of time for a good morning meditation and for puttering about the house – both things I enjoy doing each and every day. I took notice of the morning temperature which was once again 47 degrees. And while there were breaks of clear sky when Ykraps and I walked, rain was and dropping temps were in the day’s forecast. Oddly enough, each day this week has been ushered in with temperatures above 45 degrees but dropping through the afternoon. You’d think that was an indication of a cold front moving in and a colder pattern overall, but instead, the next morning brings the same thing. Weird! I went about the task of packing my lunch and cooking my breakfast all before 645AM. And because of my early start and efficient use if time, I had more time to surf the best of the web. Most of this extra time was spent reading up on the hiring of coaches by the Minnesota Vikings. They were the first team to axe their head coach and the first to announce a new head coach. The new owners are sparing no expense and according to the press, doing everything first class. I like hearing that! I won’t bore you with all the coaching details but I will say that I am very please with the personnel that they have hired this week We will be a much better ran organization in the future because of this. I was at work by 750AM. That’s as early as I have been there in sometime. The morning was teeming with activity. I found myself dealing with several hot issues all at once. Sometime around 10AM a glance out the office window revealed a torrential downpour that rivaled any we get during the spring. I received a return call from my old dentist offering me an early appointment for tomorrow morning to address my loose crown. I accepted. As sure as I write in this journal each day, my lunch time run time came around quickly. By then the rain has stopped and the temperature had dropped to somewhere around 40 degrees. Add to that a cold stiff 20 mph breeze blowing directly out of the SW and it was done right chilly. But it was still perfect for a runner! I’ve been listening to classical music on my MP3 player that last few days on WOSU-FM 89.7. Very nice change! The afternoon was as feverish as the morning. We were busy. I needed to leave no later than 5PM sharp to ensure that I’d be at Mindy’s mother’s house before 530PM for dinner. I did. I worked the I-270 traffic like magic. I was there by 523PM. I made great time! Tonight it would be just Mindy, me, and her mother enjoying a quiet meal. We had Swiss Steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and rolls, For dessert we had pumpkin pie she had froze in the freezer from Tanks Giving. Everything was fantastic! We talked for a couple of hours after we ate. It seems that Mindy’s mother is the same age as my father and grew up in the same neck of the woods, attending the same schools. She didn’t readily recognize my Dad’s name. I’ll ask him if he knew of her next time we visit with him. We reminisced about all the old fast food places located around the Westside: Sandy’s, BBF, Green Gables, The Beverly, and George’s Coney Island. Mindy’s mother has a stunning collection of decorative rosters that blanket her kitchen and dinning area. There must be upwards of a hundred or more around the house. There big ones, little ones, obscure ones, and fragile ones. The only type she doesn’t have are live ones. We spent the last few minutes looking at more family photos. She’s done a great job of preserving many memorable family photos and has them prominently displayed about the house. As evidenced by the many photos, Mindy was a very cute little girl. After we left Mindy’s mother’s we headed to my house where we almost immediately took Ykraps on his late afternoon/evening walk. It was almost 9PM. He had to have blue balls. I was careful not to rush him as he had been more than patient waiting for me to return home from work. Mindy hung around till almost 1030PM, which is much later than usual for a Wednesday. We talked about many things. After she left I went almost immediately to bed.