Not a Firkin Friday

I woke Friday feeling much better than I had in several days. To say I was 100%, however, would be a stretch. Still, it was nice to feel a healthful rebound coming. My day began like any other work day. I was up and at it just after 5:30am and only mildly excited about the weekend ahead. I knew that I was on-call so forgetting completely about work wouldn’t happen. And too, the weather forecast was yucky at best. Saturday promised rain and much cooler temperatures. Today was expected to hit the mid 60’s but with rain moving in. The highlight of my morning was my coffee and making tuna fish for lunch. After Mindy left for work I breezed through my morning shower and then made sure to tidy up the house so it was all but spit shined before leaving for work. That way, coming home would be an absolute pleasure. My Friday work day went rather smooth, especially for a Friday. I attempted to time my run so that I would avoid the rain. When I last checked the radar it was well to our south. But when I got out the door it rained on me pretty much the entire way save for the first ¼ mile out the door. What’s worse, I wore my MP3 player for the first time in months. The battery died as soon as I crossed the street so it served no value and it ended up getting soaked from the torrential rains. Just my luck! I was back in my office eating my lunch by 2:30pm. The afternoon was somewhat uneventful with no pressing issues following into my on-call weekend for a change. I was happy for that. I left right after 5pm. I talked with Mindy since the two of us were planning to meet at her old house to pick-up a couple of things needing transported to Gloria’s house. This might be last time either of us ever steps foot in that house since the closing on the sale is scheduled to happen next Wednesday at 4pm. Mindy was running a bit behind so I opted to stop at Old Navy to look for a new fall/winter running jacket. They always have cool, functional clothing for just such activities at relatively cheap prices. I stopped in the Hilliard Rome Old Navy. I left disappointed, however. They had nothing close to what I needed. I’ll find it elsewhere I figured. No rush. I took my time getting to Echo Park. Mindy called and was just leaving the house. She had stopped home to get the kids stuff for spending the weekend with their daddy. I arrived at Echo Park still before Mindy. I sat outside awaiting her arrival. I got involved in a work related issue that took about 10 minutes to resolve – no biggie. We loaded what we were there to get in a hurry. The weather was crappy, rainy, and cold. Before heading home where we could relax we still had to make a stop at Gloria’s to drop of the articles we picked up. I must admit that I was more than anxious to get home and get my jammies on and relax. Barley’s seemed out of the question given my week of illness. Besides, as the evening approached, my cough and sinuses flared up again. We dropped an old bed frame and a bassinette off at Gloria’s. After we unloaded, we visited for about twenty minutes. We left for home just before 7pm. Mindy had walked Ykraps before leaving for the old house, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Once home and settled, I went through a whirl of tiny tasks then went outside to grab some firewood to grant Mindy’s wish for the season’s first fire. The conditions were ideals – no kids, crappy, chilly weather. I logged onto my laptop to follow-up on a work related issue and then cracked a beer. Actually, I drank the last of the Barleys IPA I had left in a jug from my birthday party. To satisfy my insatiable hunger, I whipped up some taco meat for some taco burritos. Mindy was feeling under the weather now too. Cold symptoms had us both. Good thing we didn’t have a whole lot planned for the weekend. While woofing down my burrito, sipping a beer, and enjoying the fire Tommy called. He was wanting to hang out for a while, so we opened our evening to his company. Tommy arrived around 8:30pm or so. He enjoyed a couple of beers and shared a little of what’s been going on in his world with divorce and his other drama. He’s got a lot to sort through in the near and long term. He mentioned almost immediately that he wanted to go with us to Oregon. I thought that he might. As a matter of fact, I had checked as recent as this morning for flight availability, and as of then, our flights were still there for the same price. We checked right then from my laptop but our fares and flights weren’t available. He also mentioned that Charles may want to go and asked if we minded. I don’t mind at all but then again, it’s not my call. It’s Glenn’s, but I am also sure he wouldn’t mind. They’ll have to find their own fares and flights. I promised to keep a watchful eye on them though. As the evening wore on, several logs later, I began to fade and fade fast. While Tommy continued sharing his family drama with Mindy, I snuck off to bed. I could no longer keep my eyes opened. When my body hit the bed I was asleep within minutes- possibly seconds.