Dog Walkin' Shoes

I purposefully slept in until 5:45am after struggling to fall asleep the night before. Not sure if that could be directly attributed to the Charles thing or just a simple case of insomnia. Either way, I was up and ready to get my day moving. I had to prep a pot of coffee after failing to do so the night before. Just before beginning my exercise routine I listened to a couple of VMs that must’ve come in just after I fell asleep.

Holy smoke. There was a VM from my mother that was way over the top. Scared the daylights out of me! My dad left a message as well. His news was far better. Sounds like Charles’ injuries were far less critical than first thought. Hearing that news was very uplifting.

Once again, it was a very steamy morning. The temperature was in the mid 70’s and the humidity above 80%. It was clear too. This pleased me much. After exercises, Ykraps took our walk. I wore nothing but my boxers, a t-shirt, and my dog walkin’ shoes. I was most comfortable.

Like most other days, I poured a cup of coffee and then sat down at the PC. But instead of playing, I sent Glenn a message sharing Dad’s VM. Afterwards, I read the Daily OM and checked some headlines. I wore just a pair of shorts for my run. And speaking of shorts, why do we often refer to them as a pair? Can you wear just one? I don’t wear a pair of shirts. However, I do wear and understand a ‘pair’ of socks & shoes, but in that case there are two. And women don’t wear a ‘pair’ of pant suits.

My run went well, but instead of doing four miles, I cut it back to three. I wasn’t in pain but was a little stiff. The last thing I wanted to do was push the envelope too hard. We’ll see about tomorrow. After my run I heated up a skillet then quickly threw together a lunch. While enjoying my food, my phone rang. It was daughter Courtney. We chatted for the first time since Xmas. She sounded good. She asked for some summer outfits. I agreed, and figured I’d ask Mindy if she’d mind doing that shopping.

Next, I headed up for a shower. Mindy was still sleeping. I sat her coffee on my night stand. There was some clutter on hers. There’s never any on my side. I was showered and ready to go in record time. Before heading down, I shared the news about Charles’ condition as well as the particulars regarding my conversation with Courtney. She willingly agreed to shop for her.

She came downstairs along with me just to see me off. I was driving the Trooper today, so that I could take the boat back to storage. We’re planning to go out on Thursday, but I didn’t want to leave it at home for three more days. And besides, it’s supposed to rain later this evening and overnight. Ironically, the secret to a boats’ superficial longevity is keeping it out of the sunlight and rain. I left the house a few minutes behind schedule. It didn’t take long to drop the boat. And while it’s a different route, it’s sort of on the way.

I arrived around 8:50am. Work was very, very busy. I worked hard. Come lunch time, I went to Home Depot where I bought and vast array of wall plates for the TV project. In addition, I bought some watering valves to help make sprinkling the lawn a much easier process. Lastly, I bought a new hummingbird feeder that matches the finch feeder. Our current feeder drips/leaks.

The afternoon zipped by. Mindy phoned a couple of times to update me on our evening plans. She was poolside for one of those calls. I’m glad she took a couple hours to relax at the pool and to get some sun on that pasty skin. :) The second call was from home asking me to stop at Kroger for some buns and cheese. My mom and dad were coming over for burgers. They had been at the hospital visiting Charles.

I agreed, and made a pit stop at the Hilliard Kroger on my way home. Like always, I bought a few other items too. One of those items was a dozen white/pink roses for Mindy. Hey, I know where my bread gets buttered.

My Mom and Dad were already there when I arrived home. Dad had already walked Ykraps, too, making my evening that much easier. We talked about Charles’s condition, and how it all happened. I did my best to lighten up the mood. Most of the banter was at brother Charles’ expense, but all in good fun. We were all relieved that he was going to be OK.

Dinner was good. Mindy made a salad and baked beans to complement the burgers. I offered it up, but everybody skipped dessert. Come 7:20pm my Mom & Dad departed. My Mom had a sizeable drive ahead of her, and she doesn’t like driving in the dark. Her car was at Dad’s place.

After they departed, I got the sprinkler going. Even though I offered up all of my extra tomato & pepper plants, my Dad left without them. Mindy asked how I felt about taking a walk. That sounded good to me. We took Ykraps given that he reportedly didn’t poop on his earlier walk. It was s short walk. I thought we’d go further. A dark stretch of cloud cover momentarily blocked the sun. I predicted rain, but it cleared almost as quickly as it formed. Back at home I moved the sprinkler then headed inside to update my blog. It was only 9pm. I had designs on an early bedtime after a poor night’s sleep on Sunday. I headed up just before 9:30pm. Mindy came with. I asked her to remind me to get up in about an hour to retrieve the sprinkler pump (one of the pains of watering in this manner). There was a 60% chance of storms over night, and that could ruin the electric pump.

After laying in bed for about 30 minutes, I decided to get up and address the pump right then. I was careful not to slip on the slope like I have a hundred other times when wearing my dog walkin' shoes on the wet grass. Afterwards, I wasn’t so sleepy, so I decided to read Glenn’s blog and check the Reds score. I heard Mindy call for me after about ten minutes. I answered but she didn’t hear. I didn’t wan to yell. I headed back to bed less than five minutes later. It wasn’t but 10:30pm. A good night’s sleep was still in the offing.