Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls with Italian Sausage

I woke Sunday morning in Mindy’s bed for the first time in quite a while. In fact, if memory serves me, the last time would have been Sunday, April 2nd. That’s the weekend we colored eggs with Jacob, Bella, and Kaileigh. We got up around 8am after the kids invaded Mindy’s bed sometime after 7:30am. However, I know that Jacob came in even earlier seeking his mother’s approval for something. I generally wake feeling a little disoriented when I stay at Mindy’s. I don’t know if it’s the air, the bed, or what. But after peeing, brushing my teeth, and peeking out the window, the spider webs began to clear. My first order of business was whipping out my exercises. I put on my tennis shoes and tucked my toes under her sofa to whip out 55 sit-ups. When done, I completed 50 push-ups and then a round of dumb bells. Now it was coffee time. As we sat and chatted, Mindy offered to make some eggs. That sounded good but I had to be careful not to eat too much before my run. I am used to running on a somewhat empty stomach save for the coffee. In the back of my mind I figured I’d run from home in lieu of running the more desirable golf course trail here at Mindy’s. My mental justification was the status of Ykraps. He really needs to be walked and leaving him in wait too long is just asking for trouble and besides, he’s got to be lonely. After some eggs and some hugs I readied for home. I left Mindy’s somewhere after 10am. Once home I dropped my bag and quickly leashed up Ykraps for our morning walk. In taking to the streets I felt a little out of it still. I wasn’t sure why. After our walk I returned home to ready for my run. I wanted to get going rather than give myself any time to procrastinate. Once out the door It was obvious that the run, at least the beginning, was going to be a tough one. I felt sluggish and a bit weak. I surmised early on that it was the food in my belly. Soon, however, after about two miles, I began to snap out of it and began feeling good. By the time I had finished, I was ready to get busy with my Sunday projects. The first thing I did was get out the electric hedge trimmers and begin scalping the burning bushes that I had planted last spring. They are growing and filling in nicely and really needed a trim. Of course I can’t get out the trimmers without sculpting the Honey Suckle bushes along the pond as well as the Cranberry and Burberry bushes at the corner of my garage. All that trimming & clean-up took a little over an hour. As I was wrapping up, Mindy and kids arrived for their planned Sunday afternoon visit. I finished what I was doing then put my focus squarely on them. We planned a long awaited hike back through the woods, around the pond, and onto the waterfall. This was quite the backyard adventure but with the intended purpose of observing the water fall and what I might be able to do to raise the level of the damn 8 inches. The water level by my home is ridiculously shallow and now there are several sandbars exposed. The hike takes a little while because the growth is so thick and the path takes many turns. This was only my third trip back in twelve years. Mindy and I were back there a little over a month ago before anything began blooming. It looked much different today. Jacob was excited and wanting to move far ahead. He was fighting what we all were fighting - entanglement within all of the Honey Suckle bushes. I had the added problem of corralling Okras, who was tagging along via leash. Meanwhile, Bella pouted a few times and insisted on being carried, much like my youngest daughter Ashley might have in her youth. Along the way we discovered some bones, which Jacob was curious enough to pick up and carry along. I supposed they belonged to a deer but couldn't be certain. Too, we happened upon a dead snapping turtle that was decaying away. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of hiking through the brush we found our way to the waterfall. The waterfall sets about eight foot high and about 45' across. It looks to have been built sturdily maybe twenty or thirty years ago. Despite its reinforcement, the water is slowly eroding away at the top concrete revealing the rebar in some places. At the damn's base lie several hundred large boulders that look like they were arranged there years ago. These, if they could be lifted, would serve well as pieces for the damn. We spent about en minutes milling around and eventually found our way to the foot of the damn where the kids threw rocks into the water. Soon we left for home. After an equally adventurous trek home, I readied the tractor and trailer for toting the kids around. Mindy took the opportunity to skip out tanning while he kids expressed euphoria over tractor rides (smart move!). We first toured the yard several times and eventually moved onto the sidewalk then down the street a few times. All in all, we spent a good twenty minutes cruising around the neighborhood in and on the tractor. Once we were back we got out the baseball stuff and Jacob practiced for the first time hitting off of a tee. He's a natural. After a couple of tries, he was smacking the heck out of everything he hit. Meanwhile, Bella kept tempting fate by skootching ever closer to the pond's edge to see the baby ducks. I was worried but she insisted that she was OK. I reluctantly allowed her to proceed. Mindy arrived back from her tanning session soon thereafter. She joined us in the back yard just as we wrapped up our baseball practice. Jacob and pulled the tractor into the garage and got everything else put away for the afternoon. Soon Mindy and the kids were on their way home. I sent Mindy home with some Italian sausage that we would later be cooking on her gas grill for dinner. I figured I'd be about 1.5 hours behind for wanting to complete a few chores. I finished my laundry, vacuumed all of the downstairs including the sofa, walked Ykraps, and scrubbed the shower. By the time I was done it was time to go. It was nearly 5:30 when I arrived at Mindy's - maybe even a shade after. My first task was to get those Italian sausages on the grill. But they wouldn't take too long since Mindy had boiled them for 25 minutes prior to placing them on the grill. I addition to the sausages, we were having a cauliflower salad, and green beans. Mindy has taken many of the Adkins provided recipes to heart, unlike me who pretty much resorted to plain meat, cheese, fruits, veggies, and nuts. Probably smart too. Our dinner was fabulous and very, very tasty. By the time we finished dinner, cleaned up the dishes, wheeled the grill back into the garage, it was pushing 7pm. It was time to get the kids yet another bath. They insisted that I be the washer. Yippee for me!!! I could swear Mindy pays them to say that. They weren't as out of control as they have been many times past. I think that they were tired. We were out of the tub ten minutes after beginning, and clean head to toe. By & 7:30pm they were tucked in their beds and headed for sleepy land. Mindy and I took advantage of their early bedtime and spent some time snuggling on the sofa which eventually lead to her bedroom where we fell asleep. I woke short after 1015pm and headed for home. Once home I made a snack, read the complete story on the Vikings draft picks, and then went to bed. Shamefully, I didn't fall asleep until well after 11pm.