Com-Til, Baseball, Steaks & Neighbors

It must’ve been about 3 or 4am when I woke and took two Advil for my aching head. I woke a couple more times before getting up for good around 8am. I took another Advil just after waking for good measure. Mindy asked that I bring her coffee in bed.

I completed a full complement of exercises before walking Ykraps. It was hard to get moving but once I did I felt considerably better. The weather was mixed. The skies were clouded but the temperature was plenty warm, especially given the early hour. It was already a balmy 65 degrees. And because it had rained over night, it was plenty humid.

I enjoyed my coffee and internet before entertaining the thought of delivering Mindy’s coffee. I delivered it around 8:45am. She was up prepping for a shower. She had an early hair appointment she had to get to. Bella, as I understood it, would be spending her morning at neighbor Crissy’s. Jacob, I wasn’t too sure about. I left for my run while Mindy finished primping.

I checked the radar just before heading out the door, and it looked clear despite the clouds. However, about half way through my run it began to rain. The temperature dropped too. In fact, by the time I was back home it was ten degrees cooler. Because I ached, I fired up the hot tub and soaked for ten minutes. That served as my shower, too. I was just going to get all dirty anyhow.

I slipped into my already seasoned yard work shorts along with a clean t-shirt. I grabbed a jacket, too since it was now officially chilly. The forecast, however, still called for clearing skies mid-morning. It was 10am. I expected that at any time. I gathered a few necessary items to take along with me to fetch another trailer load of Com-Til. My first stop was my dad’s to get the trailer.

I knocked on the screen door, his inside door was open. Just as I was ready to help myself, he sprung to the door citing napping as the delay. He helped me get it hitched up and watched me check the tire pressure. I will never leave with the trailer before checking the pressure. Nope- won’t happen!

Off I went. I talked with Mindy for most of the drive. She just finished a long talk with Ashley planning next week’s Olivia care. What a tangled web. I arrived at the Com-Til plant at 11am. The sign posted out front indicated the Saturday hours were 7am to 12noon. Wow! Good thing I hustled. They’re only open two or three Saturday’s each year in the first place (the last two in April and first one in May).

This time I remembered to photo the Com-Til dumping into the trailer. Cool pic! It was drizzling and cool – perhaps the first time that’s ever happened. The load cost me $16 compared to $13 last week. But this load was noticeably larger. I covered and tied the load down before driving off. You can get a ticket these days for driving with it exposed. The sky began to clear as I approached the I-71 & I-70 interchange from the south. There was nothing but blue skies looking west. I was home by 11:40am. I noticed the garage door just going down as I pulled up. That meant that Mindy just returned home too.



I left the Com-Til covered and the trailer attached while heading out back to begin removing the edge cuttings from the rear flower beds. I used my tractor and trailer to pick them up minimizing the physical impact as much as possible. I dumped the edgings on a low spot where we hope to place patio stones near the beaver damaged maple tree.

I finished up around 1:10pm. I left a few of my tools out but put everything else away. We needed to be at Hilliard Municipal Park for Jacob’s baseball scrimmage and pictures by 2pm. We left the house at 1:40pm. I needed gas so we stopped at Thornton’s. I paid $3.45 per gallon. Damn! We made it to the park just before 2pm. I dropped Mindy and the kids right next to the picture station while I went to park the Trooper. The park was a total zoo. There must’ve been have been five thousand people participating in the event. The only parking spots still available were manmade. I followed suit like so many others. I joined up with the family just as they were paying for the picture package. It looked like every team in the league was there for the same thing, and I was warned as much by neighbor Pat.

And speaking of Pat, I ran into his daughter Alanna there with her cousin. As crowded as the event was, it was very well organized. But then again, they’ve been doing this for years.

We made our way towards diamond #3 around 2:45pm. Our scrimmage time was 3pm. The entire complex is impressive. It contains the community center, the west swimming pool, several acres and ponds, as well as many well kept ball diamonds. So this is where all of my Hilliard City taxes go, I pondered. And yes, I live in Columbus, but in the Hilliard School district. I work in Hilliard so I pay my city tax to them. My ball parks!

I pulled up a chair while the prior teams finished their scrimmage. The Ray’s game started about ten minutes later. Jimaken arrived just after Jacob’s first at bat. Defensively, he rode the bench initially. I found myself becoming very aggravated wit the coach pitching. He was either hitting every kid or bouncing the ball five feet in front of home plate. After getting maybe one pitch close he’d give the kid the dickens for not swinging. Hell, the kid was better prepared to take cover! I embarrassed myself by calling for a relief pitcher. The game lasted upwards of 60 minutes, but it seemed to go faster. Jacob got to bat twice, and got a hit the first time and knocked in a run or two the second. Not bad!

We were happy to finally be heading home. Bella was not only tired, but also hungry. She wined at her mother more than once. I whispered Dairy Queen in her ear. She wanted nothing to do with it, at least at that point. But by the time we found the Trooper and were pulling out her tune changed. She asked if we could stop. I agreed.

DQ hit the spot. Everybody ordered something. Bella ordered a Dilly bar and I had a chocolate cone dipped in chocolate. Jacob had a blizzard and Mindy had a chocolate malt. We noticed a few other ball players had the same idea.


We arrived home around 5pm. I quickly changed back into my grubbies and set out to complete a bit more yard work. I got all the rest of the edgings out of the rear beds. They were officially Com-Til ready. Meanwhile, Mindy confirmed that we were planning to grill with the neighbors at 6:30pm. That left little time. I cleaned myself up around 6pm and then walked Ykraps. Mindy seasoned our steaks before heading to Crissy & Kenny’s. I grabbed a handful of fireworks just in case, and poured what was left of my Hoptopus Ale. I also grabbed my other jug of Pale Ale to take along as well.

Neighbors Mike and Teri were invited too but had other plans, although Mike said he’d be over later. Kenny did the grilling while the girls got everything else prepped. There was a mix of meats: T-bones, filets, and NY strip. I asked for a strip. Mindy, Crissy, and the kids opted for filets. Kenny and kids had t-bone. We enjoyed green bean casserole, a fresh garden salad, and a keylime baked dessert. Everything was good.

Mike showed up around 8-8:30pm. We sat around telling stores and drinking a few beers. Mindy opted to take the kids home around 9:15 or 9:30pm. I chose to stick around for a while longer. It wasn’t long before my cell phone rang. It was Mindy inquiring of my whereabouts. She wanted me to come home to tuck in the kids. The leash was short!
She called again ten minutes later using that tone that all guys despise. I bit my tongue and headed home.