Jack Frost meets Jack O' Lantern

I wasn’t too excited that it was already 5:30am. It seemed to arrive awfully fast. Still, it is what it is, so I jumped out of bed and headed downstairs to begin my Monday morning preparation. There was a prevalent glow to the entire landscape. The moon was shining brightly above. In addition, I could see frost coating the lawn. This was our first official frost of the season.

I whizzed through my exercise routine and then turned my attention to Ykraps who was waiting patiently by the front door. We walked to the east – his call. He took care of number one and two. It was definitely the coldest it has been all season. My sack was frozen! But even in spite of the cold, it was a very beautiful morning.

Back at home I coffee’d myself and Mindy. She requested that I alter my routine and bring her coffee earlier rather than later. I delivered it even before the clock struck 6am. I returned downstairs immediately and went about the rest of my pre-run routine. I checked the results of the World Series game #4. The Red Sox swept the Rockies. Saw that coming like freight train! I donned my running clothes before settling down for ten minutes of meditation. It was 6:25am when I left out the door for my run. I wore an older jacket – one that’s a bit thicker than others. After stretching, I dashed off into the chilly autumn morning air. I picked a poor day to not wear any underwear under my running pants, and my fingers were cold enough to require me pulling them into my jacket sleeve like a turtle head. But a wise old runner I am, I knew that in few minutes I’d be cookin’ like a stove. Less than a half mile into the run I was nice and toasty.

Once again, because of my earlier than usual start, I didn’t happen upon the usual corner dwellers or peer runners. I finished early too. I was home well before 7:05am. That even surprised Mindy. She made fresh scrambled eggs along with a plate full fruit. I could’ve eaten more, but what she made was very good. She & Bella soon departed. She must’ve been grateful for having her van in the garage avoiding the drudgery of scraping the frost off the windows.

Jacob played Gameboy while I readied for work. Like always, he was eager to head to the bus stop well before we needed to. I did my best to slow him down but with little success. I met him there after starting the Trooper. I chose to leave it warming up while I joined him at the bus stop. Alena and Pat rejoined us at the bus stop. Pat & talked at length after the kids we on their way to school. I hadn’t talked with him since the prior Monday. As I walked back home I took notice of the trees that appeared almost on fire with orange, red, and yellow hues basking in the vibrant golden sunshine. Perhaps even more stirring was the fog slowly lifting up from the pond. Instead of heading directly for the Trooper I went instead for my camera not wanting to miss such a photo op.

I returned to the bridge where I snapped off a handful of pictures. Very nice! Having satisfied my creative side, I headed off to work listening to more of Dr Wayne Dyer’s interpretation of the Tao Te Ching.

I was happy to settle in at work knowing that my on-call weekend was now behind me.
I will in all likelihood take this coming Friday off in trade. And due to a trade, I’ll be on-call again after next week, but not again until Xmas.

The work day moved by swiftly. I worked straight through stopping only to grab my food from the fridge. I could hardly believe the day’s end was upon me but it was. I left at 5:15pm sharp. What a day! I didn’t bother calling Mindy on my way home. Instead I enjoyed the peaceful drive home taking in the fabulous autumn views. Once at home I smell the delightful smell of chicken baking the oven. We were having hot wings - a family favorite. Jacob walked Ykraps with me bringing his football along to toss as we walked. I play along even though I know it’s potentially dangerous both to us and the cars passing by. But without bragging, I rarely if ever drop a pass. And I’m coaching Jacob to be as sure-handed as I. J

The wings still needed eight more minutes when we got back. Jacob and I headed out back for some real football tossing. He’s beginning to catch most passes thrown his way. Just a month or so ago he had all sorts of rules and excuses. But now he’s catching balls thrown over his head and shoulders as well as sucking up my tightly thrown spirals. He’s a natural athlete to be sure.

Inside the wings were ready and it was time to chow. Bella sat at an empty plate just waiting for our bones as she always does. She insists! Too funny! She did nibble on fruit while waiting the first of many. What would strange company think seeing this smallish Guatemalan girl chomping on our used chicken bones. J Our dinner conversation began with me marveling about how Glenn and I were drinking a beer at the Keg room just the evening before and now he was likely sitting 2500 miles away at his work desk. Life moves at blazin’ speed!

Clean-up was fast. While I tended to the deed, Mindy readied the table for our annual pumpkin carving. We decided to carve two and tattoo another. We convinced the kids that it made the most sense to first plan the face on paper and then transfer the drawing onto the pumpkin in light pencil, and then in black marker. They, understandably, wanted instead to move directly to carving. Both seemed enamored with the pumpkin goop while Mindy and I did most of the scraping. These pumpkins held much less “goop” than the pumpkins did when I was a kid. Mindy separated the seeds for baking and got busy with that while I finished the carving. She coated the seeds in olive oil, garlic, and buttery salt and baked them at 400 for about twenty minutes. I’ve never eaten a pumpkin seed before. They were delicious!

After we finished our carving we added candles and sampled the art first indoors. After feeling satisfied we carried them to the front porch and took more pictures. Clean-up was a snap as we simply rolled up the plastic table cloth and pitched it in the trash. Mindy rushed the kids off to bed while I updated my blog. Mindy headed to bed just after 9pm. I stayed up until 10pm uploading and editing new pictures. I was eager for a good night’s sleep too. I took anti-inflammatory around 7:30pm. I could already feel my tight muscles beginning to ease.