Not a Single Bogey

At sunrise the sky was perfectly clear. I was up just after 5:35am. Meanwhile, I could hear the muffled sound of my Blackberry blaring that all too familiar alarm. I found it still in my gym bag, which was strategically parked on top of the washer in the laundry room.

I whizzed through my morning calisthenics then found Ykraps and headed out the door for our morning walk. We shared an enjoyable time as he took care of his business just as expected. Back home, I prepped a cup of coffee before turning my attention towards my morning meditation. I left for a run by 6:40am. After a quick stretch I set out on a four mile run taking my regular route. I felt really strong through its entirety. This pleased me much.

At my runs conclusion, I quickly began the process of preparing the day’s food – both breakfast and lunch. Again, I packed a garden salad, nuts, and fruit. And for breakfast I simply fried a couple of eggs. This would be a golf day, or so I assumed, so I moved my clubs back into the BM’er. Mindy assisted in the process by pulling the Trooper out of my way and to the curb. She also asked that I bring down her bike from the garage ceiling. She’s yet to ride it, but thought that she might today.

I left for work at 8:20am eager to get the work day underway. We were extremely busy. The entire day went by really fast. Too, we had our regular Wednesday staff meeting which did nothing to hurt the pace of the day. I skipped lunch for planning to leave a little early to make our 5:30pm tee time. As the afternoon wore on, I contacted Bob via email to ensure we were still planning our weekly outing. He wanted to, but also stated that he was really busy. It’s been that way for him since a recent workforce reduction. Later, I followed up that message with another to make certain he was heading out. It’s a 40 minute drive that I’d assume not make for no reason. I didn’t hear back until 4:55pm. By then I figured it too late. And besides, I was equally busy. As stated above. It’s a good 40 minute drive with decent road conditions. One traffic snarl can make it an hour - easy. In the end I canceled out. Bob intimated that he was still gonna try to get there. But then again, he’s a good ten minutes closer than I.

I ended up leaving work at 5:15pm and heading for home. I took the back way after seeing I-270 south at a complete standstill. Yuck! I would never have made our tee-time with that traffic. As it often does, the drive home left me tired. I felt like I needed a nap. I didn’t bother telling Mindy that I’d be coming home. I figured I’d surprise her. In fact, I wasn’t even sure she’d be home. She had talked of dining with Rene, but I figured that had changed after we agreed to meet at Barley’s after golf –around 8pm. Her van was at home. The house was quiet and comfortable. As I scurried around a bit, Mindy eventually came up from the basement completely startled that someone was tromping around in the house. It was just me – duh! She didn’t expect me home. I explained my dilemma. She walked Ykraps with me. We still planned for dinner at Barley’s, but not before I took a nap.

While I tried napping, Mindy framed a picture she ordered via the internet for our downstairs ½ bath. In fact, she’s planning an entire ½ bath décor overhaul still this week. I upped around 6:30pm and headed out to water our flowers. I watered the flowers, front and back. They were really thirsty, too, despite the heavy rain on Tuesday morning.

It took a good 30 minutes to complete the watering. I noticed yet another cotton wood brought down by the pesky beavers out back. This one was on the neighbor’s property. Too, this one had about an eight inch trunk and was about 25’ high. Geesh! Rain = beavers.

Inside, Mindy and I freshened up for an evening at Barley’s. I listened to a VM from Bob Imber who reported hitting horrendous traffic on his way to Westchester. Realizing he wouldn’t make it, he pulled the plug and turned around, but was wondering if I wanted to try to get off at Thornapple behind their leagues. The call came in around 6pm. It was too late for me to switch gears now. Mindy & I attempted to phone him on our way to Barley’s. Incidentally, this was like a mini-Friday. I scheduled Thursday off work so that Mindy & I could spend a day together, and hopefully on the lake.

Barley’s was not crowded by any measure. There was a blue Chrysler minivan in the lot that resembled Bob’s. Perhaps he was there? But inside there was no sign of him. Must’ve been someone else’s vehicle we saw. We sat at the bar. Lil’ Katy was bartending. I ordered a Droughtfire. Mindy drank wine. We were expecting our friend Rene. We didn’t order food until 8pm, her expected arrival time. We met an interesting patron, Steve, who was also sitting at the bar. He got to talking about travel and more specifically about the Florida Keys. Interestingly enough, Mindy and I had just begun to seriously consider an August trip to the Keys to see one of her teacher friends get married. Steve gave us the low down on where to stay and what to see. Equally, the only other couple at the bar said that they had just gotten back from the Key’s. How ironic is that? Steve couldn’t readily recall the name of the places he’d stayed at, but made a return after he departed with the information pulled up on his I-phone. He gave Mindy all the details. I found it funny watching him use the i-phone and Mindy scrolling info down on a bar napkin. New technology meeting old. J

Rene showed up about 20 minutes late. She brought her own mixer – Sprite Zero. She asked that Katy use it for her drinks, which I believe was Tanqueray, although I can’t be certain. Mindy ordered her usual salad. I ordered Gates of Hell wings. I can’t recall what Rene ordered. Rene & Mindy talked about love and men. I chimed in periodically. Turns out, Rene still loves her ex-boyfriend, Mayor Coleman’s son. But that came as no surprise to Mindy & I. We discussed cooking out at our place Thursday evening after boating. Rene wants to hot tub. We left for home around 10pm.

I drank a Spanish Peaks Honey Raspberry Ale before we headed up to bed.

... No birdies or pars either.