Badger 5

Like many past night’s, Bella woke us in the middle of the night with her incessant moanings & whinings. I could tell that Mindy was irritated. Add to that, yet another sleep walking incident with Jacoby. This time he was fumbling with the security gate at the top of the stairs, which is what woke me. I called for him to come in our room. He was mumbling something undetectable. His mother took over form there. Our house is becoming much like a mental hospital in the middle of the night.

I woke around 530am thinking I had to go to work. What a good feeling it was once I realized that was not the case. I woke again around 630am and contemplated getting up. Instead, I fell back asleep waking for good at 8:00am. I was surprised at how long I slept, but figured that I must’ve needed it. Still, I feel cheated when I sleep that late on my day off.

I made some coffee, completed my exercises, and walked Ykraps. The streets were still wet from overnight rain. It didn’t appear that it rained all that much, however. But as dry as we’ve been, any rain is a welcome site. I logged into work upon my return. I had a couple issues needing my attention. I sipped all the while I toiled with work. It wasn’t long before the whole house was awake and bustling.

Mindy began prepping breakfast around 9am. About the same time I readied for a run. She asked if I were planning to go to church. I was not. This was Pastor Steve’s last day at Crossroads. He’s moving on. I left for my run while breakfast cooked. I ran along Trabue and Hague. I found an errant golf ball along hole number one. That happens often.

My run went very well. The weather was ideal for running. When I retuned I found Mindy in a very unlikely position under the sink. That can’t be good, I thought. Eventually she explained why. It seems water was leaking out from under the sink and onto the floor. And in this water were food particles, which implied garbage disposal issues. How they were getting out of the continued system was yet to be determined. Upon closer inspection, I found an actual hole in the side of the disposal, almost like something punctured it. I healed it temporarily with duct tape (fix number one million and one). I searched Home Depot’s webpage for disposals finding my very model still being made 13+ years later. And even more interesting were the customer feedback comments. I found one customer who bought the new Badger 5 – ½ HP model, like mine. He went on about how his original developed a hole in the side, almost like it deteriorated. The cost of the new version was $79. I figured I’d get one later in the day and try to fix it. The original lasted 13+ years. That’s not too bad. Interestingly enough, they have garbage disposals for as much as $299! Of course once you cross about the $139 barrier they’re no longer called garbage disposals. Nope! They’re called ‘food waste disposer’s’. That’s funny right there. I don’t care who you are!

Mindy and the kids left for church while I ate my French toast, did some work, and contemplated my day. After they left I tidied up the kitchen and readied for lawn chores. I was so looking forward to working in the yard. My plan was not only to cut & trim the lawn but also to trim the shrubbery and deadhead some of our summer flowers. I worked in the yard for the next 3 hours. After hauling all my clippings to the compost pile I gave the kids (Jacob, Bella, and Kaileigh) a tractor ride. They loved it! Kaileigh’s step-mom picked her up after we finished. After a quick shower I went to Home Depot. I was there for a long time not only picking up a disposal but also looking at lots of things for home future home projects. Sometimes I just want to casually walk all the isles uncovering things I never knew they carried before. Today I found 3 in 1 oil. I haven’t seen that in years. Reminds me of my dad. I got lots of ideas. I looked for just the right perennial to go in Mindy’s Lola pot. I couldn’t find anything cool at Home Depot. I decided to detour to Lowe’s before heading home. There I found the perfect plant. I bought her a brilliant orange Asiatic Lilly that would surely fill the bill.

Mindy alerted me to the fact that she would not be home upon my arrival. She was dropping the kids off at Bible School located at Crossroad Methodist Church. She asked that I start the grill. As soon as I got home I followed my orders, and in addition, I made some fresh Minute Maid orange juice and cracked open a bottle of Cooke’s Spumante’ in order to make mimosas. By the time that Mindy returned I was placing the big fat pork chops on the grill. She confiscated my mimosa, so I made myself another. We both like them quite a bit. They became standard fare in Mexico of all places.

The pork chops grilled up real nice after I placed some wet hickory wood chunks in
Foil serrated with holes. They were thick, juicy, and had that awesome hickory flavor. After dinner Mindy set out to pick-up the kids. It was closing in on 8pm. I got started on the garbage disposal project. To my surprise, I was able to complete the project before Mindy returned. What made it easy was the fact that it was the same model and therefore had the same mounting bracket. It worked like a charm and also allowed us to clean and organize our under the sink storage as well as replace the shelf liner that had been there since day one (13+ years).

Mindy put the kids to bed after I finished the project. After the kids were tucked into bed, Mindy and I got in the hot tub. While soaking we had a visit from a hummingbird. He hung around the hanging petunias for almost fifteen minutes. We were surprised that he hung out for so long and in the dark. After hot tubbing we headed up to bed. Bella began her nightly whining before we got settled into bed even in spite of warnings against such actions from Mindy earlier.