Turn About's Fair Play

I overslept just a tad. It was 5:35am when I finally rolled out of bed and headed downstairs to begin my Thursday. I’d gotten plenty of sleep having gone to bed around 9pm. I noticed that my chest didn’t feel as tight although I still had some low hanging congestion I knew that I needed to cough out. 

By the time that I finished my exercise and walk it was 6:00am on the nose. I had the sprinkler running all night long on the backyard hill – probably the driest spot in the entire yard. Before enjoying coffee, I moved the sprinkler out front to water the new grass seed. 

I spent about ten minutes meditating before dressing and setting out on a run. Today I remembered to wear a heavier wicking shirt to help ward off the cool temps, especially immediately out the door. The run went well, and like the last couple of weeks, it was dark out the door but daylight upon my return. Mindy had my scrambled eggs and fruit ready for consumption. I was extra hungry. Bella reminded me that she was heading to Grandma Sharon’s today. Mindy reminded me that her and the kids wouldn’t be home until 7:30pm or later since she was doing a reading summit after school. I figured I’d use the alone time to perhaps put the new gas grill together, or at least get started. 

Kenny had to work out of town so Crissy dropped her son Jake by the house at 7:45am. I agreed to get them both on the bus. I walked down to the bus stop with Jake & Jacob at 7:58am. We threw the football while waiting on the bus. She was there on time – 8:04am. Before heading off to work I shut down the watering. I drove the Trooper. I needed gas so I stopped at Thornton’s. Gas was $3.59 per gallon. 

Work went smoothly, although we were very busy. I left for a lunch break somewhere near 1pm. I visited Home Depot where I planned to get some fertilizer, an extension cord specifically for my air compressor, and a new plug for the extension cord that I carelessly severed last Saturday while trimming shrubs. The price of the new female plug was over half the cost of a new 100’ extension cord. I opted for a new cord instead. After check-out, and while loading the fertilizer and cord in the Trooper, I found the female plug I originally picked up underneath the new extension cord. Yikes! I had stolen it by accident.  Not sure how I would handle it, I went on back to work. 

The afternoon went on as usual and soon 5:30pm was upon me. I headed home knowing that I’d have the entire house to myself for a couple of hours. After walking Ykraps and prepping Friday’s coffee, I stretched out on the recliner for a nap. I slept for no more than five minutes, troubled by an aggressive agenda (water new grass seed, begin assembling new gas grill). After shaking off the sleepies I got busy with the watering. Assembling the grill would take more time. And honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it having put together two others over the years. Very tedious.

 I opened the box and began setting the various pieces about the garage floor in close proximity of one another. After finding the instructions booklet I quickly inventoried the parts (screws & washers) that were neatly packed in a see-through package for easy counting (nice). However, the picture diagrams meant to assist one in assembly were hardly helpful. But I didn’t get angry. Instead, I laughed it off having been through this time and time again. I just can’t believe for a minute that someone really believes this is the best way to provide instruction. With today’s technology, I would think a DVD would be more user-friendly and practical. The assemble-yourself furniture industry generally does a good job by labeling or numbering each piece to aid in the process. Charmglow could use that technique to their benefit as well. 

Somehow I managed through the inept instructions making educated guesses where the instructions fell short. Looked good to me. Mindy & the kids arrived home shortly after 8pm. By then I was ready to mount the main grill body to the now assembled frame.  I stopped after that figuring I’d get to the rest over the coming weekend. 

Mindy got the kids readied for bed quickly. I went up to tuck them in and then returned downstairs for some Thursday night college football on ESPN. The game featured USC vs. Oregon State. Wow! I had no idea.  I was eager to watch as long as USC didn’t run away with the game early. I also knew that Oregon State has a knack for knocking off USC. And that’s what happened. OSU (Oregon State) took control of the game early and then never relented, at least during the first half, which is all I watched. It was 21-0 at the half. I went to bed with a smile about my face.