Snap!

If you look close, you'll notice that the turtle is peeing down his tail.

Like most other days, I woke Tuesday morning at or near 5:30am. However, despite being up, I was still incredibly tired. I’m not 100% sure why, but did get up a time or two to glance out towards my shed for any sign of would-be burglars. I saw none. Both times I turned on our back yard spots, which light up the yard pretty well. The only trouble was that our trees are getting so large that the view from the house is becoming more and more obscured.

I exercised and walked Ykraps like any other morning, but once we got back I decided to go horizontal on the sofa for a spell. And quite honestly, I was proud of myself for doing so. I was really sleepy. I slept for another 30 minutes before deciding I ought to get up and get my run underway. I was still a little groggy but felt significantly better.

I hit the road running at 6:50am, about 20 minutes later than usual. The sky was overcast, and rain and strong storms were predicted for later in the day. I viewed that as a good thing. We really needed the rain. My run went well. Like the past few days, my upper leg/ass was a bit stiff initially, but loosened up significantly during the run. Encouraging!

The house was all mine after the run. Everyone else remained in bed. I proceeded to pack lunch and cook my breakfast. I made a roast turkey and two-cheese omelet. Believe me, it was tasty! I only ate half saving the remainder for Mindy. I headed up for a shower around 7:45am.

Before jumping in the shower I placed Mindy’s coffee bedside. She woke despite my attempt to do it quietly. I then proceeded to shower and dress. I chose to drive the Trooper for two reasons, one being the predicted rain, and two being the need to stop at Home Depot for some larger items. It always feels good to switch back to the other vehicle after several days away. The Trooper is particularly comfortable.

Work was predictably busy. I couldn’t break away for lunch until almost 1:30pm. As planned, I went to Home Depot. I bought some large flowered Begonia’s for our last deck pot, 10’ section of plastic 4” inch corrugated drain pipe, which I will cut up and use to protect a few young trees along the stream. In addition, I bought another large bag of outdoor Miracle Grow potting soil. Believe me, that stuff is great! It not only contains fertilizer, but it also hold moisture extremely well, which cuts my watering intervals in half. Lastly, I bought a new tube of wood glue.

Back at work I ate my packed lunch while still working. We had spotty storms all afternoon, but the majority of the storms skipped around the city. This phenomenon happens often in the summer time. Storms seem to split just as they approach from the west with one half going towards Dublin/Westerville/new Albany, and the lower half towards Grove City. This leaves us just inside the west outerbelt high and dry. Mindy said we got rain but only in a few heavy spurts, but the lawn really needs a good long steady rain – an old fashion soaker!

Before leaving work, Mindy texted me a photo of a turtle. I just assumed that her and the kids must’ve found it in our yard since neither of us are big into texting or sending photos via our phones. That also reminds me, she had Crissy’s daughter all day, too. That made Bella and Makayla very happy.

I left for home at 5:35pm. We were having brats, but because it was raining, Mindy cooked them on the grill pan inside. That saved me some trouble. Mindy said that Crissy would be joining us for dinner, too, since Kenny’s out of town on business. Cool! I walked Ykraps in the rain and was a little concerned about nearby lightening strikes. Needless to say, the walk was a brief one.

Crissy arrived around 6pm, and we all sat down at the table to enjoy our summery dinner. The conversation was lively with our guests present. The kids, especially Bella, were being a bit ornery. Crissy quipped that it made her feel more normal to hear us going back and forth with our kids. We served chocolate pie for dessert. It was yummy! Crissy soon left to pick-up her son at karate. Makayla once again remained at our house. Mindy offered to bathe Makayla saving Crissy valuable time once she returned. She wasn’t gone too long.. In the meantime, I finished cleaning up the kitchen and then took out the garbage.

I spent the next 45 minutes working on my blog. After the kids were tucked into bed Mindy and I agreed to spend the rest of our evening putting our new TV stand together. I think she feared I’d let the boxes set for days if we didn’t get on it quickly. Self- assembly furniture can seem quite daunting once you open the boxes and lay out all the parts. Plus, the instructions always leave something to be desired. As a mater of fact, that was the case here. Want to test your marriage? Try putting something like this together as a team! Our attempt started a bit dicey, but once we got into the swing of things we were good. Believe it or not, Mindy wanted a kiss about half way through, but I wasn’t in a kissing kind of mood. :)

It took us about 1.5 hours to complete the job. I figured it would take far longer. Mindy was a huge help. The toughest part was getting those darn ‘cam locks’ to work correctly. Come 10:40pm we were both tired. We headed off to bed.