Kaboom

A lovely start to a Sunday.

I slept well until about 6am but really wanted to sleep longer. I tried but with limited success. Finally, at 6:25am I gave up and leaped to my feet. It looked like a gorgeous day in the making. The sky was a brilliant blue and everything was drenched in sunshine.

I made a pot of coffee then whipped out my calisthenics before setting out with Ykraps. Again, it was a steamy morning, much more like what you’d expect here in mid-July. It was 76 degrees with humidity readings in the 80% range. Enjoying the outdoors, we took a slightly longer walk and at a more leisurely pace.

Back home, it was still before 7am. I poured some coffee then took to blogging. I spent the next hour or so writing in my own and then reading some others. I enjoyed my alone time. Mindy got up around 9am, just as I went to the deck to play guitar, take pictures, and drink some coffee. We sat outside together for an hour before I left for a run.

Today was a big day, the day I planned to revert back to four miles. It’s been about three weeks, I think. I am not 100% heeled but close to 90%. This was a good day for it, as I saw it. It was toasty, and I could work up quite a lather. Hot & sweaty seems to help muscle aches. I held up fine, just as expected. But I could feel the extra mile in my legs (not my arse).

Mindy had talked of showering while I was running but she was still busy with household chores when I got back. Still dripping with sweat, I was eager to get the sprinkler going. I went out and got the pump primed and the sprinkler set up out front. Afterwards, Mindy and I went to fetch the boat. We were looking forward to getting it home and water-ready. We had a small issue with the trailer hitch assembly. It didn’t attach properly to the hitch ball. I was uncomfortable with it the way it was, so I thought it wise to stop by Dad’s to get some help and advice on squaring it up. I tried taking it off and redoing the connection before pulling out of storage but it was stuck.

Dad was out in his driveway working on both of his boats when we pulled up. Right away, Archie, my Dad’s dog, began barking his dear little head off at me. I was prepared. I had a dog treat ready for him. He ate it readily. Before looking at my trailer, Dad shared how his boat was recently pilfered. They took his trolling motor and a few other miscellaneous items. You could sense the frustration in his voice.

It didn’t take Dad long to sort out the issue with my trailer. The trailer’s braking actuator was stuck. He went for a few tools. Archie took that as his queue to bite me. And he bit me very close to the jewels. Oh, hell no! I ratted him out to dad. We took as much tension off the hitch as possible and then tapped it back into its normal position. That did the trick. We lubed all the moving pieces and parts really good before reattaching it. We headed home a few minutes later. Thanks Dad!

I pulled up the drive. There’s just enough space to have the Trooper and the boat without hanging dangerously into the street. We both went inside where I immediately warmed the quesadilla I got from Barley’s Friday night. It was delicious! I was very hungry. I wasted little time woofing down my leftovers. I poured a glass of lemonade to take back outside while I worked on the boat.

My goals were simple. Get the battery reattached, tighten the belts, check the oil, start the boat. It took about 20 minutes to get the battery reattached and the v-belts tightened. After installing the motor muff and turning on the hose I gave it a crank. She started on the second try. Not bad! The engine purred like a kitten, which was music to my ears. I let it run for a good fifteen minutes while I addressed a few other things and reorganized my tools.

I didn’t really have the time to wash & polish the boat, but it wasn’t really dirty. I’ll wash and polish at a later date. I felt really good about the boat work. Everything went as I had hoped. I made a short list of things I’d like to do to it this summer. That list includes getting an on-board spare tire for the trailer and installing a bimini top.

I moved the sprinkler about three times all the while I worked in the yard and on the boat.
And I moved it once more before going in to grab a much needed shower. The temperature was over 90 degrees, and I was hot & sweaty still stinky after my run.

By then, Mindy was all but ready to go to her mothers b-day party at Craig’s. I took a quick shower and was soon right there with her. Mindy proposed that we drive the BM’er. Sounded good to me. We put a small cooler in the trunk that contained a few cans of soda along with a partial bottle of chilled raspberry vodka. It was too hot for beer. Mindy kept the cake up front with her.

Craig & Jeff’s place is north of Home Rd in Powell. It took about 25 minutes to get there. I hadn’t been there since T.G. Day, not to mention ever being there on a ‘nice weather’ day. I was looking forward to it. We weren’t the last to arrive but pretty darn close. A few folks were hanging out under one of the few shade trees while others hung out indoors. Not only do C & J have a big beautiful home but a big beautiful piece of property, too. Mindy & I mixed a drink then headed outside to relax and drink amongst their beautiful landscape. Most impressive are the two contiguous ponds. The smaller of the two houses a large spray fountain that slowly drains into the larger. Lots of flora and fauna, too.

I took both a guided and unguided tour of their exceptional landscape where many photo ops presented themselves. In fact, I must’ve taken well over 100 shots through the afternoon. Dinner was served around 4pm. We had your standard summer fare – burgers, brats, and hot dogs. After lazing in the sunshine and resting some in the shade we retired inside to present Gloria her birthday gifts, light her cake, and sing her happy b-day. It was fun.

We hung out until 7pm. It was time to head home. After bidding farewell to all we headed off into the lovely evening sky. On Mindy’s suggestion, we took Home Rd. across O’Shaunessey Reservoir, and then south on Dublin Rd. It was an incredibly beautiful drive, especially in the BM’er with the top down.

We weren’t home but a minute when Mindy’s phone rang. It was neighbors Kenny & Crissy calling to see what we were up to. Meanwhile, the neighbors across the street were having some sort of party in their backyard complete with a disc-jockey. It was loud, but it didn’t bother me. We leashed up Ykraps and headed out for a walk going by Kenny & Crissy’s. Mindy stopped to talk. Ykraps and I kept walking. He needed to relieve himself.

Once he and I got back home I took to watering the backyard flowers, which I hadn’t done since Friday evening. I’m trying to keep everything on an every other day watering routine except the steamiest of days, when I may water daily. That took about fifteen minutes. By then Mindy was back. We sat out on the deck chatting as the sun sunk in the west. Neighbor Pat called after only a few minutes and said he was coming over for a visit. We drank a beer together and then phoned his wife Lisa to invite her over. She and Alanna soon joined us.

They had just sat down when I received a somewhat sobering call from my stoic father. Now, you have to know my dad like I do to understand, but I knew something was amiss. He’d never call so late in the evening otherwise. After a short, yet cordial greeting, he shared that brother Charles had been in some sort of explosion in his Newark garage and had to be airlifted to OSU hospital in Columbus. He didn’t have any other details but did say that he was told it wasn’t good. Amongst other things, there was mention of serious burns about the face and his eyesight was in jeopardy. Holy Crap! Dad remained calm and asked that I notify Tommy. I was a little shell shocked. After the call I did as asked. I called brother Tommy. Tommy, as it turned out, had already talked with Charles’ wife, Melissa as well as my Mom. Tommy seemed to have more details. He mentioned something about making homemade fireworks. What?

He also shared how hysterical my mother was. But, honestly, that came as no surprise to me. You don’t want to be around my mother under such circumstances. Trust me! Tommy also shared in a non-demeaning way, that Melissa tends to speak and share news in a glass almost empty spirit. His only point was that she may have slightly misrepresented the magnitude of Charles’ injuries. Still, though, the fact remained, he was life flighted out of Newark to Columbus. We promised to keep one another up to date on any new news.

I wasn’t of the phone five minutes when my Mom called. I almost didn’t answer, knowing all to well how she would be. She was hysterical to the point of frightening. She accused me of having a cold heart for not heading immediately to the hospital. From my perspective, we didn’t have any facts. My Dad promised to call once he had a better grasp of the entire drama. And besides, I had been drinking and didn’t think driving to the hospital was a smart move. I asked my mom to calm down, sit by her phone and wait to hear the actual details. I hopefully convinced her that that was the wisest thing to do, at least for the moment.

I was not prepared for this drama. But are you ever? Pat & Lisa stayed for about another 45 minutes. In all, I had two beers, but it was a school night. I had to be up at 5:30am. Generally speaking, I don’t partake on school nights. Meanwhile, Mindy insisted that I notify Glenn. I was hesitant for not wanting to cause more panic without more details. However, she convinced me otherwise. I called Glenn around 11pm our time but got his VM. Mindy left a simple message asking him to phone us when he got a chance. She made no mention of the potential peril. Afterwards, we headed up to bed. I took my phone still expecting a call from my dad with more details once he got them.

In bed, I found I just couldn’t sleep. So, I got back up and did some blogging. That often helps puts me right to sleep. Glenn returned my call five minutes later. He had already talked with Mom, so he had the story. I explained that it may very well be but that we didn’t know for sure, and were certainly missing the details. I promised a follow-up once I knew more.