Spring-like warmth continues

Feeling well rested, I was up & out of bed at 5:30am sharp. Going to bed at such an early hour served me well once again. To stay in tune with the season, I lit the Xmas lights in both the living room and family room as I made my way downstairs to begin my morning routine. The 24 hr a day Xmas music was already playing on the stereo which we leave on most night’s anyhow. Ykraps seems to enjoy the background noise. By 5:50am I was heading out the door with Ykraps for a warm morning walk. I wore only my wooly fleece since the temp was already in the 40’s. We took an easterly walk, which is uncommon for a morning walk. 99% of the time we head west then north. And I generally allow him to lead. Today, he chose east. Probably for some of the same reasons that I like to mix up my running trail form time to time. I didn’t question it. I simply let him lead. Back home before the clock struck 6am, I found myself making our usual frou-frou coffee. I placed Mindy’s by her bedside right at 6am. I returned downstairs to read the Daily OM and to fix the day’s food. Come 7am I had lunches packed and breakfast on the island. Mindy is so spoiled! We ate our breakfast and the kids made their way downstairs. I noticed right away that Jacob’s left eye was a bit swollen and on closer observation, a little irritated. He said it didn’t itch. He has been exhibiting cold symptoms lately, too. Like most mornings, the kids were slow getting ready. Sure as it was a Monday, they were out the door by about 7:20am. I, in turn, was left behind as master of my dominion. I showered, dressed, and returned downstairs by 7:38am. I took the next 15 minutes to ready all of my work gear and then play the saxophone. I hadn’t played any tunes since last Xmas time. I shouldn’t go that long! Some of the more obscure notes fail to return to me naturally. I grabbed my handy-dandy fingering chart to recall. It comes back easily, however. I left the house around 7:55am. I remembered that I had a new guy beginning today, so I hustled out the door and ultimately onto work. The work day went well and I got my new hire introduced and organized fairly quickly. Certainly much faster than the last time. Come 12:50pm I left for my run. Today being December 11th puts us ten days away form the winter solstice. I couldn’t help but notice how low in the sky the sun plays these days. It barely seems to get 40 degrees above the horizon. Even with the low sun it was warm. It was almost 55 degrees. I was a tad on the warm side, but not too ridiculous. I was back in my office by 2pm eating my packed food. The afternoon was a bit more frantic that than the morning as I had multiple issues competing for my time. However, I managed as I always do. Unfortunately, I didn’t get out of the office until almost 5:30pm. And this was a Mindy Monday. It was almost pitch dark when I left the lot. As I pulled out into the main path out of our lot, I almost t-boned a silver Honda Accord that was flying by with no headlights on. I flashed my lights so get her attention and to help her get her lights on. But despite my efforts, she kept them off. Sadly, she was going the same direction as me taking the same turns. On a few different occasions along our way, she turned on her headlights. But as soon as she saw me she would turn them back off. I’m still not sure what she thought she was doing or proving. One thing’s for certain, she wasn’t too smart! And since she was leaving our lot, I can only assume that she’s a fellow employee. Geesh! Traffic was terrible on I-270 south. We came to a stand still a few times. The closer I got to Roberts Rd, the traffic problem became clearer. It looked to me like a cement truck rear ended a pick-up truck. A third car was involved too but they were pulled over out of the flow of traffic so I couldn’t be sure why and how. Thankfully, it didn’t appear that anyone was hurt. The traffic broke free as I passed the accident. Once I was home, Mindy took a break away from her holiday elf tasks to walk Ykraps with me. We spent the next hour or so talking about our pending holiday party and a number of other stuff. This time of year can be so busy. It’ll run you over if one allows it to. The kids showed up with Jim M a little bit after 7pm. They seemed happy to be home, especially Bella. Jacob only shows emotion after his daddy leaves. Again, understandable. Mindy coaxed them upstairs for their bath while I worked on holiday pictures and my blog. She called for my help with the tuck in process shortly thereafter. When we returned downstairs, I poured myself a glass of Spumante’ and did some internet surfing while Mindy did some Xmas cards. I joined the MNF game just after the opening kick-off. Slowly but surely I began to fall asleep. I did manage to see most of the first half. We headed to bed around 10pm.