A very dry run... a bad start but a good end

I rolled out bed at 7:30am hell bent on getting on with my weekend. The last place I want to spend my valuable weekend is sleeping in bed. Mindy asked to sleep in, so when I left the room I pulled the door closed so that any noise I made would be of little consequence. I choked down my vitamin and began exercising. I felt really good and didn’t feel any of the allergy-like symptoms I had felt most of the work week. Without a doubt, I felt well rested. When I returned form a morning walk with Ykraps I had my coffee and some quiet time on the deck. I read all about the Vikings lopsided victory over the Baltimore Ravens too. By all accounts, we gave them a butt whoppin’. My flowers front and back, were all starving for water. And for a moment I thought about watering them both before going on my morning run. In then end, I decided that it would suit me better if I ran first. That way, I could relax while watering the flowers knowing that my run was already under my belt. It was a good run too. I took my weekend route down Trabue to Hague. When I returned I grabbed another cup of coffee then set out to water the flowers. I took my time watering all the pots, beds, and baskets – front and back. It was now 10am. I decided to gush the hose against the bedroom window in hopes of waking Mindy from her lengthy summer slumber. It worked. She was downstairs at the door moments later telling me how I startled her in her sleep. Oops! For the next hour Mindy prepared our breakfast of sausage and scrambled eggs. Today’s eggs were topped with peppers, onions, and cheese. The peppers were from our garden ( chili, habanera, and bell). After cleaning up from breakfast I began rounding up our boating supplies. I sat the tools by the garage door and readied a cooler with pop, water, adult beverages, and ice. I threw in some snack food too. It was 12noon by the time we were ready to go. I had originally hoped to be floating by now. We loaded the Trooper and headed towards Lee’s RV’s to pick-up the boat. Once we attached the boat I realized that I had left the tools in the garage. I toyed only for a moment with leaving them behind and chose instead to return home to get them. After all, it’s only a little over a mile from the freeway on-ramp and I wouldn’t be bale to forgive myself if we broke down without tools on board. We went back by the house and raised the garage door to grab the tools. Mindy decided to use the restroom quickly while at home. I waited anxiously. After pulling away from the home for the second time we had only a quick stop to fill the gas tank of the Trooper at Thornton’s. Soon we were on our way. I felt all along that something was missing but chalked it up to our much later than usual start. At 1pm we finally arrived at the Alum Creek Marina. The marina was fairly crowded but not too long of a line for putting in the boat. We pulled off to the side to begin prepping our boat. As we prepped for launch, several more-prepared boaters passed us as they typically do. Still, we took our time with our usual routine of removing the top and loading our gear. You can’t be in a hurry here or you’ll forget something important. After we were all but ready, Mindy asked where I had put the cooler. You’ve got to be kidding me? I was certain that I had put it in the Trooper, but after a couple of looks, it was obvious that we had left it behind at home. How? One will never know. After the shock and stupidity wore off – well, wait a minute, the stupidity didn’t wear off. We decided to walk over to the marina store to look for a cheap styro-foam cooler, ice, drinks, and snacks. They had plenty of the latter, but only one cooler. That cooler was $50. No thanks! We walked separately back to the boat. I was frustrated and wanted nothing more than to be floating on the lake. Mindy concocted and idea that sounded reasonable. I put the boat in and go for a ride alone. Meanwhile, she’ll take the Trooper and go buy the necessary stuff to keep us content. I thought about it for a moment but decided against the pain of removing the trailer and all that noise. In the end, we drove back home to get the cooler and decided that instead of returning to Alum Creek that we’d head instead to Griggs Reservoir. Back at home, there the cooler sat right in the middle of floor. It would have bit us if it were snake. How we didn’t catch our faux pas we’ll never know. Before shoving off I asked Mindy if she were sure she wanted to go. She was, so we left. It didn’t take long at all to get to Griggs. But then again, it shouldn’t. It’s right around the corner. With little fanfare, we put the boat in and it started right away. Soon we were headed up river to our favorite spot well north of the Hayden Rd bridge. The river, while crowded, wasn’t nearly as busy aw Alum, but it never is. Still, we had to be careful since there are so many skiers up there. We anchored and sat for about 3 hours luxuriating in the sunshine and warm August air. The only down side to the river is that you can’t swim, and I was really looking forward to floating around on our new rafts with a cold drink. However, aside from that, the river was superb. Come about 5:30 we pulled anchor and crossed over for a quick stop at the old Wright family docking spot. I showed Mindy our old picnic area and took her back to the falls and pond. We didn’t stay long at all, especially after the trespassing shooting in Worthington this week. The sky was darkening to our south and the day was fading. It seemed even later than it really was. By the time we pulled out and readied the boat for home, it was 7:05pm. After we got settled in at home and had put everything away, Mindy went up for a shower. While she showered, I went and picked up a Minnelli’s pizza. We didn’t stay up late at all. While eating our delicious pizza, I had one beer and watched some football. Sometime near 10pm we went to bed.