Saturday, November 03, 2007

Beer Before Noon






After a decent night’s sleep I was up & downstairs just before 8am engaged in my daily exercise. It was another beautiful autumn morning as the pictures will attest. It would be a grand day for football, to be sure. Mindy was up by the time we got back from our walk – highly unusual for her. We shared conversation and coffee over the next 30 minutes or until it was time to dress for a run. It was still quite chilly so I asked to borrow the new springy fleece ear grips I found in the foyer closet. Mindy bought them on sale last year.

They fit, but were a little snug - really intended for kids - I wore them anyway. I dashed out the door around 9am. I ran along Trabue and Hague Avenue seeking a diversion from my usual trek. The ear grips worked perfectly. I will definitely look for a set except in an adult size.

I returned from my run rather energized and ready for the big game. Our game day plan called for us to go to Barley’s for the Buckeye/Wisconsin game. But Mindy was having second thoughts, apparently driven by her need to catch-up on report cards. She offered that I might go alone and then meet me there later. That was fine with me. I showered up and left for Barley’s with empty jug in hand just after 11:30am.

Barley’s was packed, just as one might expect. I recognized no one. No one, that is, other than an engineer that works in my center along with a gal pal of his. I chatted with them briefly before wandering around the place with a Double Dog IPA. Eventually, Lee informed me that Jeremy, Courtney, and Porter were tucked in a booth just west of the big screen. I found my way over that way to invade their space.

The opening kick-off was just moments later. As they often do, the Buckeyes scored on their opening drive. However, Wisconsin answered, albeit with only a field goal. The score at halftime was 10-3, us. Mindy showed up either during halftime or just after. I can’t recall for certain. She joined us in the booth and quickly ordered a St Joan’s Revenge. Wisconsin took control of the second half quickly scoring two touchdowns and taking the lead. The cheering and enthusiasm that was so prominent earlier was reduced to nervous hope. But happily, that all changed in a hurry. The Buckeyes scored three times in the next 6 or 7 minutes taking a commanding lead. In fact, they never looked back. The place erupted with each score. It was a lot of fun. The final was 38-17 Buckeyes.

Bob Imber showed up close to the game’s conclusion. He’d been at work and then also tending to some errands/chores. We hung out for another hour, me drinking ice water and Mindy drinking coffee. We again discussed our potential February ski trip plans. Mindy and I left for home at 4pm. Mindy carried my jug of IPA. I was very sleepy after arriving home. I grabbed the remote and lounged on the sofa while watching the Michigan game. Mindy headed to the grocery store. I napped for a good 30 minutes waking feeling almost completely refreshed, but also hungry and craving a Coke. Mindy arrived home a short time later with the groceries. I helped her carry them in.

She prodded me for the evening’s agenda – throwing out a number of different things to do. But both of us were wise enough to pass on an elaborate plan. Earlier thoughts of visiting the Gallery Hop were out of the question. We decided instead to head to Sherwin-Williams to get more paint chips, and then who knows where from there. It turns out that S-W was closed, something we wondered about. It wasn’t quite 8pm. We made note of their hours and moved on. Not sure what to do next, we discussed our options, both of which included shopping. But both venues were more convenient to our Sunday morning family breakfast route than they were to us then, so we simply decided to go back home. That suited me well. Even though I felt refreshed, I was tired from the day’s earlier events. Few things sounded better than lounging lazily at home watching more college football.

Back at home, I tuned into the much hyped Oregon/Arizona St game all the while enjoying a pint of fresh IPA. Mindy tinkered with her report cards a little while longer but called it an early night. I stayed up watching football until just before 10pm (before setting the clocks back). Going to bed at 10pm all but ensured that I would wake feeling refreshed for our family breakfast at Frisch’s.

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