Dis - stain

My objective was quite simple. I wanted to be up and going about my morning routine in total peace. To do this, I knew that I needed to be up well before 7:30am since Jacob and Bella generally wake about that time regardless of it being a weekend day. Too, my daughter Lindsey and lil’ Rocky spent the night, and they’re usually up at the crack of dawn. The outcome? I failed. I didn't wake until 7:40am. When I drug myself out of bed, Lindsey and Rocky were up and heading downstairs too. I went about my about my routine as always. I put on a pot of coffee then tucked my toes under the sofa and grunted my way through 55 sit-ups. As I finished my other exercises, I could see that the weather unfolding out of doors was less than desirable. It certainly wasn’t going to be a “Jimmy” kind of day – one that offers a plethora of opportunity. After walking Ykraps against a cool, damp, and gray sky, I returned for some coffee to lift my somewhat sinking spirits. By now all three of the kids were up and the house was alive with noise. I found a sliver of peace in the living room at my PC updating my Friday blog entry. I could still hear the kids running, playing, and fussing. Lindsey chimed in periodically by blasting lil’ Rocky for his antics. Mindy overlaid her much calmer, more adult like approach to corralling the kids exuberant behavior. Whatever the case, a peaceful, tranquil Saturday morning was no where to be found. By the time 9:00am rolled around, I had had all the fun I could take. I dressed for my run and off I went. But just before hitting the door, I asked Mindy if she would mind holding off on starting our Saturday breakfast for about fifteen minutes. That way I could enjoy a hot breakfast. She obliged. My run took me down the usual Trabue to Hague. Somewhat unexpectedly, I came upon my dad sitting in St. Margaret’s parking lot. Sometimes he’s very strange. And incidentally, I don’t think that I’ve seen him since before Glenn left town. But as I ran by his stopped mini-van he rolled down his window and began talking as if we had been talking for hours, filling me in on all of his recent goings on. He spoke mostly of what’s ailing him as well as what’s ailing Sheila. In fact, I’m certain he said he was on his way to pick-up a prescription for back spasms. We didn’t talk too long, though. I was in the middle of a run and another car was wanting to get around him. We said farewell and were on our merry way. When I made it back home the first thing I noticed was the sweet smell of maple bacon hitting my nose. Before sitting down for some food, I removed my sweaty shirt and whipped the sweat from my eyes. After breakfast wrapped up, Mindy hurried the kids upstairs to get them ready for a short shopping trip with their daddy. He was scheduled to show up around 10:30am to take Bella out for her birthday gift. He was taking Jacob too. While Mindy got them ready, Lindsey and lil’ Rocky rounded up all of their gear and left too. By 11am we had the house all to ourselves. We spent the next hour or so cleaning up the house. During that hour, the sky began to clear giving hope that I might be able to get in some staining after all. I checked the radar and it looked all but clear. Come twelve noon I began dragging out all of my stain stuff and by 12:30pm I was going at it full force. Given the weather & our tight schedule, I would be happy if I could just finish the pergola. I had to invent a method for straddling the hot tub to reach the cross beams of the pergola. I laid three 2x4’s across the hot tub cover then used an old door as my ladder platform. That worked well. And while this makes the third time that I have stained the deck, I haven’t done that good of a job on the pergola for it being so rough to reach. In fact, I knew that it would be a challenge when I built it so I stained the cross beams even before mounting them new. The wood was exceptionally dry and thirsty. It sucked in the stain. Half the boards were rough & splintery which made it tough to stain. Because of this, I went through several of the sponge brushes. While I toiled away outdoors, Mindy worked hard inside cleaning and decorating for Bella’s party. I felt kind of bad for Mindy because I could hear the kids vying for her constant attention all the while she tried to accomplish her goals. I could hardly believe my ears. Mindy informed me that it was already after 4pm, and I still had a little more staining to do and then some extensive clean-up. She was heading out shopping to pick-up some meat for dinner (steak). Originally, she was going to leave both kids with me, but Bella wanted to join her. As 5pm approached, I was able to finish my staining and put everything away. Despite the clear radar I saw earlier, I had to contend with a couple small cloud burst while staining. None were significant enough to thwart the project yet they were still quite an annoyance. I was happy to be done with the pergola. After a shower I felt much better. I poured myself a Columbus Apricot Ale to celebrate my afternoon accomplishment. Minutes later Mindy and Bella returned with some food. After we got everything together, it was after 6:30pm. I lit the grill on Mindy’s prompting. At about the same time, it began to rain and rain heavily. I hoped it would pass like the cloud burst earlier but it didn’t. Instead, it got worse and was joined by lightening and thunder. To continue the grilling I had to be resourceful. I dawned my running pullover and a ball cap and headed out into the rainy evening to cook our two porterhouse steaks and a few hot dogs for the kids. Each time I had to check the steaks it seemed the rain came down even harder. From a neighbor’s perspective, it had to look a little bit like a comedy watching me grill in the storm. Despite the shitty conditions, the steaks turned out remarkably well, and I even managed to burn a hot dog to Jacob’s liking. We finished our yummy dinner around 7:30pm. The Buckeye game kick-off was only 30 minutes away. Mindy took the kids up stairs for their bath & jammies while I cleaned the dinner mess. We all watched the opening kick-off together. Soon after that, however, Mindy put the kids to bed. They were tired. We spent the remainder of the evening enjoying watching the Buckeyes lay one on the Hawkeyes. I took a look out of doors during halftime only to find a clear crisp sky full of stars and a moon. Where’d that come from? Less than an hour later it was raining again. The game finished up just before 11:30pm. The Buckeyes, just as they have all season, really put the wood to their opponent in the final minutes making the game seem like more of a blowout. We went directly to bed after the game where we tuned into Mad TV. And just as she often does, Mindy snuck the remote from my grasp and killed the television once she thought I was done.