The Wall, Bone Fish, & Vikings

I woke around 7:30am feeling OK, but perhaps still a little under slept. I had enough scruples to choke down two Advil before going to bed last night. That act alone likely saved me from a throbbing headache. I started a pot of coffee before beginning my exercises. I was draggin’, but nothing a little fresh air wouldn’t solve. The morning air felt good and left me much more awake. It was just what the doctor ordered. Mindy planned on going in to school again today to finish getting her classroom ready while I worked on the retaining wall project. She slept in until sometime after 9am. After she woke we spent a little time together before I prepped and left on my run. She’d be gone by the time I returned. We had dinner reservations for 6pm at Bonefish. I ran 4 miles and felt good doing it. I was surprised to see Mindy’s van still at home as I rounded the corner. As I got even closer I realized that she was inside just preparing to pull away. It was already 11am. After cooling off inside, I decided to take a nap before doing any chores. I felt a little less than desirable. I plopped down on the sofa for about 40 minutes. That pretty much did the trick, although my motivation was admittedly lacking. Still, things were needing done. To that end, I got up and headed out to begin my chores. Before doing anything else, I gathered and inventoried all of the treated wood pieces I had stashed under the deck. I had plenty of 4X4’s and 3 of the 4 2X8X10’s I needed. However, one of the three 2X8’s was stretched across the inside roof trusses of my shed, still there from the building phase. I had no choice but to severe 3 inches off to allow it to come down (long story). After laying out my wood supply, I decided to cut the lawn. For the first time all year, I did the entire mowing job with my tractor skipping over only the steepest slopes. With all the dry weather, and despite my watering, the grass hadn’t grown that much anyhow. I finished mowing in less than 35 minutes. After a water break it was time to get cracking on the wall project. The first thing I did was draw a picture of my plan. Once I was happy with the concept, I measured and staked off the post locations. Before digging, I laid the 2X8s out to get a rough idea of how it might look. Seemed OK. Time to dig. The temperature was pretty warm. It was 92 degrees according to NWS. I had sweat running down my face. To help curb the sweating I brought a bath towel out to wipe off my face periodically. And because the work location was along the pond, skeeters were out and biting. I planned to dig only 16” deep. After all, I’m only building a wall to hold back dirt. Besides, the ground along the bank is saturated with large rocks. The digging was tough sledding. I hit rock after rock in each hole. Not one went easily. My arms and hands were stiff and stressed by the time that I finished digging. I cut the 4X4s next. I placed them into their respective holes then backfilled each with a little gravel. That’s where I stopped. It was nearing 4:30pm. I was tired, and needed to shower up for our date. Mindy had talked about grocery shopping while she was out earlier, but ultimately didn’t. Instead, she said she’d go Sunday while I am golfing. Mindy took a shower first. While she showered I walked Ykraps. We left for the Bonefish by 5:35pm, again our reservation set for 6pm. We drove the BM’er, too. It was very lovely out – still very sultry. We planned an early reservation on purpose. I wanted to be home in time to catch the Viking/Steelers game which started at 8pm. The Bonefish had a good crowd but no wait. We were taken directly to our table. We ordered drinks, me a Great Lakes Dortmunder & Mindy, a glass of wine. Our appetizer - calamari. For the entrée, I ordered swordfish and shrimp. Mindy ordered Chilean sea bass. Everything was excellent, equally up to par with the service afforded us by Christopher, our server. He was knowledgeable, attentive, but not pushy – perfect. We escaped for $73 before tip. Ashley phoned while we dined. We returned her call just after getting back into our car for home. She was worked up about her childcare costs and the possibility of not being able to pay again this month. We agreed to help. Meanwhile, I was eager to get home to watch the Viking game. We had plenty of time. It was only 7:15pm. I poured myself a Droughtfire soon after arriving home. It was pretty sour, actually. It’s been in the fridge for a week now. Not able to finish, I resorted to one of the high-quality bottled IPA I had on hand. Incidentally, Mindy and I were celebrating our 1.5 year anniversary today. Wahoo! She promised me a good backrub while watching the game. I had to remind her of as much. She came through and rubbed my back well. The Vikings started quickly on defense. However, in stark contrast, they started slow on offense. We had three procedure penalties on our opening offensive drive. Geesh! The Vikings defense sacked big Ben on three occasions – two back to back. I loved it. We held them to 75 total yards until mid way thru the third quarter when both teams put their scrubs in. The Steelers won 12-10 on a last second field goal, but the Vikings won the real game! I headed to bed around 11pm.