Flight Delay

It was quiet when I woke. It was just after 7am. I felt really good after about 9 hours of sleep. I was careful not to wake anyone, especially Olivia. I asked Mindy what time she wanted up. She said in about an hour.

By the time that I was downstairs Bella was up too. She exercised along with me and joined Ykraps and I on our morning walk. It was fun. It was sunny early on but the weather forecast once again called for more rain and clouds. We’ve been in this sunny/rainy pattern for days now. It wasn’t long after we were back home that Olivia was awake. I fetched her from her bed. She was more than excited to be up. I took her in to see Mindy & Jacob before heading back downstairs.

I got all the kids their breakfast just as Mindy made her way downstairs. We had lots of fun playing. I noticed a significant mistake while carefully observing my plasma TV handy work. I did not have the rack and center channel speaker centered on the wall. It was quite easy to observe. How I did that I still wasn’t sure. Rest assured, however, I wasn’t pleased.

Mindy soon left for her scheduled hair appointment in Grove City. She really needed a cut, too. She was beginning to look like Carol Brady with the little shag flip. She was gone for about two hours. Mindy put Olivia down for a nap soon after she returned. Once again, she went right out. Jacob asked if I would take him to the ball diamond next door to my father’s to practice hitting. We’d been talking about doing this for some time, but now it was raining, however, only moderately. I agreed to go thinking it more important to keep my commitment to Jacob.

We headed over at about 2:30pm. As luck would have it, it rained even harder. We sat in the Trooper waiting for it to at least lighten a little before setting out onto the wet field. After ten minutes or so it did just that. I pitched four different baseballs to Jacob for about an hour. He eventually found his timing and was cranking them pretty good for a little guy. During that hour, the sky changed from rain to sun and back a few times. Again, more of the same pattern we’ve been in for a few days running.

We weren’t home long before it was time to leave for Jacob’s tournament game. We didn’t wake Olivia until the last minute. This, we figured, a very good idea. The field was in surprisingly good condition for all the recent rain. Olivia was a handful running around from here to there. Mindy & I took turns chasing her around. The Devil Rays played perhaps their best ball game of the year and won the tournament game. We quipped once again that this was the season that just won’t end! They just qualified to play again on Wednesday evening.

After the game we headed back home for some dinner. We were having the roast Mindy started yesterday and reheated earlier in the afternoon. My Dad pulled up just as we arrived home. It wasn’t long before Ashley arrived too. Even though dad was there at dinner time, he didn’t eat. He said he’d already done so. Olivia acted up a bit, just as she often does when her momma’s around.

After dinner Ash & Olivia departed, as did my Dad. I learned before my dad left that brother Glenn’s flight out of Portland was delayed nearly an hour putting in jeopardy his Atlanta connector to Columbus. Surprisingly, he was slated for a short 45 minute layover in Atlanta. And because his ATL-CMH flight was the last one scheduled out, he’d almost certainly be spending the night in Atlanta. I checked the web and confirmed his dilemma. His flight left Portland 50 minutes late yet his ATL connector was still slated to depart on time – five minutes after his scheduled landing.

Mindy & I got the kids in bed a little after 8pm. Afterwards I made myself a Jack & Coke to enjoy while watching some Comedy Channel TV. I ended up dozing off for about thirty minutes. I woke around 10:30 to see that in all likelihood Glenn missed his connector. Before Mindy headed off to bed, and possibly me too, I called his cell to see what was up. He said he was on stand-by for another flight that was delayed from even earlier in the evening. He’d call back in a few minutes to let us know.

He called back five minutes later to let us know he was on it. Lucky him! He was now slated to land at 12:51am. Mindy went off to bed. She asked me not to bother waking her when we got back so that she could wake refreshed come morning. Made sense to me. I chose to use the time to write a blog entry. I used Mindy’s laptop (rare event). I finished around 12:15am and quickly dashed off for the airport. The drive went quickly due mostly to next to no traffic.

I was surprised to find the airport entry way under heavy construction. It was February the lat time I flew. The new road is very beautiful with some cool LED lighting features. I parked and found my inside by 12:41am. According to the flight board, Glenn’s plane had just touched down. Great timing! The airport was almost empty, at least in the terminal. Baggage claim was a different story. There were a few clusters of people waiting for their bags. I found Glenn in baggage claim at the help desk. After a routine greet we plucked his bag from the carousel and headed for the lot. This was perhaps my shortest trip ever.

We were back at my home before 1:30am. It wasn’t long before we cracked a beer and warmed some cold Minelli’s pizza. I drank two beers. Not sure how many Glenn had – two or three I’d imagine. Come 3am I called it a night (morning) and headed off to bed. Of course, I made sure that Glenn was familiar with his accommodations before heading off.