Four Months After Xmas, and Eight Months until Xmas

The canadian geese love to take their children on a stroll through my yard despite the high probability of being shot with b-b's. My shed posing for a picture with summer bangs. I slept late again today. In fact, I didn’t roll out of bed until nearly 6:00am. That meant I had to organize my morning a little differently if I were to remain on task. I could still feel the affects of the weekend’s yard work. I wasn’t in severe pain but instead my hands, upper back, and shoulder were achy! So, after sucking down my vitamin, I took an anti-inflammatory too. I pushed through my exercises like a good soldier and then took my morning walk with Ykraps. Today’s weather while moderately clear now, was expected to cloud over and rain later on. Once I returned from our walk, I treated myself to a hot cup of coffee that went down too well. After a short email to Mindy and a brief meditation I got right on my lunch and breakfast routine. Some where near 6:50am the door bell rang. It was my dad. I hadn’t had a visit from him since his return from Florida – almost two months I’d guess. He had received a VM from my mom asking for him to call and wanted to feel me out to see if I knew what it might be in reference to. And having spoken with my mom the evening before, I did in fact know what she had called about. She had called to fill him in on Tommy’s dilemma. Until now, my dad was in the dark beyond knowing of Tommy’s occasional insecurity with the state of his marriage. I only told him that things were progressing but stopped short of any details and instead encouraged him to call or visit Tommy. I explained that I didn’t think it was my place to gossip about it. We moved on to other topics. His visit lasted until about 7:25am, and through my breakfast. After he left I headed directly to the shower and somewhat hurriedly got cleaned up and ready for work. After a late wake-up call and unexpected visit, I still made it to work on time, although I did have to skip my morning guitar session. Once at work I easily switched into the Jim the manager mode. Happily, the morning wasn’t as chaotic as it could’ve been. A look out the window revealed less than desirable weather approaching. A check of temperature revealed it was dropping quickly. Sometime around 11am it was 65 degrees then the next time I checked it was 62. By the time I left for my run the sky had completed clouded over and the temperature had dipped below 60. During the run itself it began to rain and felt even chillier. But since the rain didn’t begin until about half way through, my body was already generating heat like a furnace, and the rain had little, if any, impact. By the time I hit the final mile it was pouring. I was wet, to be sure. When I got back to my office I saw that the temperature had dropped to 52 degrees and was on its way down even further. The rain and now cold temps pretty much sealed the deal for cutting the grass tonight, but I had anticipated that. And besides, I can’t really bitch, we’ve had more than our share of gorgeous weather lately. I worked through the remainder of the day at a much more feverishly pace than the morning. We were hopping! Still, given the busy-ness, I left for home around 515pm. I wouldn’t be headed directly home, however. I would instead be heading to Wal-Mart to do my grocery shopping that I should’ve done over the weekend. I noticed the temperature on my way to Wal-Mart had plummeted to 42 degrees and it was raining. Where did our beautiful spring weather go? I shrugged off the crappy weather and hurried into Wal-Mart. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do other than pout! I was in Wal-Mart shopping for 1.5 hours. Not only did I get my groceries but I also picked up a few things I would’ve had to travel to a specialty stores for in the past. I got a much needed new gas grill cover, a new dog brush (I’m shedding), and a new sprinkler to add to my arsenal. I didn’t rush either. Everyone knows how much I disdain be rushed! The grocery part went pretty quick. It’s a fairly routine list. I did see my step-cousin Connie and her daughter Alysia there doing some shopping. I hadn’t seen either of them in several months – maybe end of summer. I was home putting away groceries at 7:20pm and finished around 7:30pm. I was tired but still had much to do so there would be no nap. Next, I paid bills. After bills I published four days worth of blog entries, all of which had already been written. I didn’t get around to adding pics but will very soon. I called Mindy just before 10pm and chatted only briefly. I wanted to be asleep by 10pm and did a good job of getting that done.