After four beers I slept rather poorly. In fact, I woke several times throughout the night tossing & turning. At one point I thought that I might wake awfully sick. But since I was wise enough to take a couple Advil before going to bed, I simply needed to rack up a few more hours of rest. By the time I felt good enough to get up & get moving it was 7am – still plenty early for a weekend day.
I started a pot of coffee and began my exercise regiment. After the sit-ups were completed I was wide awake and motivated. By 7:30am Ykraps and I were taking our morning walk. It was cloudy but very warm. The temperature was 51 degrees. I guess the clouds held all the warmth from Friday afternoon close to the ground. It was forecasted to remain warm through mid next week but today was scheduled to be rainy.
I had the next couple of hours all to myself while Mindy got her beauty sleep. While she slept, I got caught up on my blog. It rained lightly through the early morning hours. Mindy finally joined me somewhere between 9:30 & 10am. After hanging out over coffee, I readied for a run and left around 10:30am. I took the Trabue Rd route. I had a most enjoyable run.
I was back a little after 11am. Mindy had breakfast almost ready. According to Mindy, we were having maple bacon and Mexican eggs. But I couldn’t tell the difference between these and American eggs. My first thought was that the Mexican eggs might be brown, but that wasn’t the case at all. They were white, too. However, they did taste different. They were spicy! Although, that might have been due to the onions, peppers, and salsa, not sure! :)
It was nice to have a quiet house this morning, a stark contrast to those Saturday mornings when we have the children. I didn’t say for certain, but I thought I might finally get started on the basement storage shelves. The lumber’s been setting idle down there for at least three weeks. Meanwhile, Mindy marveled about having a “tabula rasa” – a blank slate. She talked of tanning, shopping, doing the church altar, and possibly stopping at Kroger. While she showered I headed to the cellar to see about getting started on my project. I wasn’t fully committed to spending my entire day down there, however.
The first thing I did was mark lines on the block where the lower supporting 2x4s would be mounted. That went well. I checked the markings with a level. Next, I removed the fiberglass insulation from the upper half of the basement walls where the upper shelf would mount. I rolled it up and carried it to the trash. I decided to move forward and try mounting the 2x4s to the block with 3” concrete sleeve anchors. This was the part I was most concerned about. The entire project rested on this working, andi had never used this type of anchor system before. The trick was holding the 2x4 horizontally while drilling the initial hole with a wood bit. My hope was to make enough of a mark in the concrete block to indicate where to drill with the 3/8” masonry bit. It worked well.
Having never used this anchor system before I wasn’t sure how to proceed but figured it out. As luck would have it, I stripped the first anchor rendering it useless. But without losing my cool I tried another and it worked flawlessly. The anchors, once bolted in, held the 2x4s tightly against the block wall and are specified to hold/support lots of weight. I proceeded to mount the remaining framing with little to no trouble. I was very pleased.
Phase two included hanging the supporting joists via hangers, and then the outer 2x4s making the framing complete. That went surprisingly well, too. The entire framing project took me about 4 hours. I’ll chalk it up to excellent planning.
While I toiled in the cellar, Mindy cleaned the house. And in addition to the routine stuff, she did the tedious tasks like dusting & washing the bedding. She left around 3-3:30 to complete her errands. She spoke of being gone for about 2 hours. I cleaned up my work area in the basement, did some reading, & took a nap. Mindy was home by 5:30pm. We had dinner reservations for 8:30 at Mitchell’s – plenty of time.
The weather surprised us. It cleared up mid-afternoon and the sun shined brightly warming us up well beyond the expected high. At 6:30pm I jumped in the shower to groom for a night out. Mindy showered earlier so all she had to do was change clothes. We enjoyed a beer & a glass of wine before leaving the house. We had plenty of time. We left the house just after 7:30pm.
We parked a couple blocks from Mitchell’s. The evening air was much cooler after the sun faded. Mindy was a tad cool in just a dress and light sweater. And I must say, she looked stunning in her black wedding dress!
We were seated immediately upon arrival – a full 25 minutes early. We were seated in the same area we’ve sat each time we’ve been there. We pretty much knew what we wanted but took our time perusing the menu and wine list. I ordered a Columbus Pale Ale & Mindy ordered a Shiraz – no big surprise! Our waitress returned minutes later asking if one of us was a doctor as a customer had gone unconscious. Mindy retorted, no, but my brother is. He wasn’t there! ??? In the end, I was simply hopeful that it wasn’t from eating their calamari!!!
We ordered the calamari appetizer along with a bowl of lobster bisque, which we planned to share. For our entrees, we both ordered the filet Oscar. I ordered the 12 ounce and Mindy the eight. And for a side, I couldn’t pass on the jalapeño scalloped potatoes.
The arrival of our food and the attentiveness of our server was top notch – just as expected. Mitchell’s rarely disappoints! But truth be told, both of us thought that our filets were slightly over cooked. We didn’t complain. All in all, it was a very good meal. Because we we’re celebrating Mindy’s birthday, she received a dessert of her choice – gratis! Mindy selected chocolate lava cake. An older couple next to us overheard Mindy mention her b-day and wished her well. Of course Mindy saw that as opportunity to open full dialogue. And by the time I returned from the bathroom, they knew everything about one another. They wished us well on our marriage too! They were celebrating their 18th anniversary.
We left for home just before 10pm, but not before having Suzzane box up our delectable leftovers. It was an even chillier walk back to the Trooper. We were home about 8 minutes later – a quick drive. Good thing, too, because I had to pee! We secured the home then headed off to bed with our bellies full of food.
I started a pot of coffee and began my exercise regiment. After the sit-ups were completed I was wide awake and motivated. By 7:30am Ykraps and I were taking our morning walk. It was cloudy but very warm. The temperature was 51 degrees. I guess the clouds held all the warmth from Friday afternoon close to the ground. It was forecasted to remain warm through mid next week but today was scheduled to be rainy.
I had the next couple of hours all to myself while Mindy got her beauty sleep. While she slept, I got caught up on my blog. It rained lightly through the early morning hours. Mindy finally joined me somewhere between 9:30 & 10am. After hanging out over coffee, I readied for a run and left around 10:30am. I took the Trabue Rd route. I had a most enjoyable run.
I was back a little after 11am. Mindy had breakfast almost ready. According to Mindy, we were having maple bacon and Mexican eggs. But I couldn’t tell the difference between these and American eggs. My first thought was that the Mexican eggs might be brown, but that wasn’t the case at all. They were white, too. However, they did taste different. They were spicy! Although, that might have been due to the onions, peppers, and salsa, not sure! :)
It was nice to have a quiet house this morning, a stark contrast to those Saturday mornings when we have the children. I didn’t say for certain, but I thought I might finally get started on the basement storage shelves. The lumber’s been setting idle down there for at least three weeks. Meanwhile, Mindy marveled about having a “tabula rasa” – a blank slate. She talked of tanning, shopping, doing the church altar, and possibly stopping at Kroger. While she showered I headed to the cellar to see about getting started on my project. I wasn’t fully committed to spending my entire day down there, however.
The first thing I did was mark lines on the block where the lower supporting 2x4s would be mounted. That went well. I checked the markings with a level. Next, I removed the fiberglass insulation from the upper half of the basement walls where the upper shelf would mount. I rolled it up and carried it to the trash. I decided to move forward and try mounting the 2x4s to the block with 3” concrete sleeve anchors. This was the part I was most concerned about. The entire project rested on this working, andi had never used this type of anchor system before. The trick was holding the 2x4 horizontally while drilling the initial hole with a wood bit. My hope was to make enough of a mark in the concrete block to indicate where to drill with the 3/8” masonry bit. It worked well.
Having never used this anchor system before I wasn’t sure how to proceed but figured it out. As luck would have it, I stripped the first anchor rendering it useless. But without losing my cool I tried another and it worked flawlessly. The anchors, once bolted in, held the 2x4s tightly against the block wall and are specified to hold/support lots of weight. I proceeded to mount the remaining framing with little to no trouble. I was very pleased.
Phase two included hanging the supporting joists via hangers, and then the outer 2x4s making the framing complete. That went surprisingly well, too. The entire framing project took me about 4 hours. I’ll chalk it up to excellent planning.
While I toiled in the cellar, Mindy cleaned the house. And in addition to the routine stuff, she did the tedious tasks like dusting & washing the bedding. She left around 3-3:30 to complete her errands. She spoke of being gone for about 2 hours. I cleaned up my work area in the basement, did some reading, & took a nap. Mindy was home by 5:30pm. We had dinner reservations for 8:30 at Mitchell’s – plenty of time.
The weather surprised us. It cleared up mid-afternoon and the sun shined brightly warming us up well beyond the expected high. At 6:30pm I jumped in the shower to groom for a night out. Mindy showered earlier so all she had to do was change clothes. We enjoyed a beer & a glass of wine before leaving the house. We had plenty of time. We left the house just after 7:30pm.
We parked a couple blocks from Mitchell’s. The evening air was much cooler after the sun faded. Mindy was a tad cool in just a dress and light sweater. And I must say, she looked stunning in her black wedding dress!
We were seated immediately upon arrival – a full 25 minutes early. We were seated in the same area we’ve sat each time we’ve been there. We pretty much knew what we wanted but took our time perusing the menu and wine list. I ordered a Columbus Pale Ale & Mindy ordered a Shiraz – no big surprise! Our waitress returned minutes later asking if one of us was a doctor as a customer had gone unconscious. Mindy retorted, no, but my brother is. He wasn’t there! ??? In the end, I was simply hopeful that it wasn’t from eating their calamari!!!
We ordered the calamari appetizer along with a bowl of lobster bisque, which we planned to share. For our entrees, we both ordered the filet Oscar. I ordered the 12 ounce and Mindy the eight. And for a side, I couldn’t pass on the jalapeño scalloped potatoes.
The arrival of our food and the attentiveness of our server was top notch – just as expected. Mitchell’s rarely disappoints! But truth be told, both of us thought that our filets were slightly over cooked. We didn’t complain. All in all, it was a very good meal. Because we we’re celebrating Mindy’s birthday, she received a dessert of her choice – gratis! Mindy selected chocolate lava cake. An older couple next to us overheard Mindy mention her b-day and wished her well. Of course Mindy saw that as opportunity to open full dialogue. And by the time I returned from the bathroom, they knew everything about one another. They wished us well on our marriage too! They were celebrating their 18th anniversary.
We left for home just before 10pm, but not before having Suzzane box up our delectable leftovers. It was an even chillier walk back to the Trooper. We were home about 8 minutes later – a quick drive. Good thing, too, because I had to pee! We secured the home then headed off to bed with our bellies full of food.
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