A Prelude To Better Weather

For the first time in over a month it poured rain overnight. I woke wishing I had disabled the sprinkler system, especially given that I contemplated as much but forgot. I knew the rain was coming. Even though the water meter woke me once more, I quickly found my sleeping groove and drifted back to sleep. The next time I woke it was 5:30am on the button. Nice!

 I brushed my teeth and gathered my running clothes before heading downstairs. I was fully engaged in calisthenics by 5:35am. Meanwhile, the rain continued coming down and at a pretty good clip. At the time I wasn’t sure, but it sure sounded as though my run would be a wet one. My walk with Ykraps certainly was. And for some reason, he took his dear old time sniffing here and there before taking care of business. For crying out loud, Ykraps!

 I had the small purple umbrella overhead, but its small size was no match for the amount and direction of the rain fall. Ykraps got good and wet, too. I toweled him off immediately after re-entering the house. The rain ushered in warm temps. It was 60 degrees. Later, when I dressed for my run, I took that into account. I still wore my jacket but with a light-weight wicking shirt. The jacket was more to keep the rain off my upper body.

 I left for a run late, but not by much. It was about 6:40am when I headed out the door. The rain was steady through the duration of my run. I was comfortable throughout. My feet got wet after mis-stepping into a puddle or two. Mindy thoughtfully had a towel waiting for me just inside the front door. She does that often on rainy run mornings. In addition, she had my breakfast ready. After getting out of my wet clothes, I went on a turn-off the lights mission through the downstairs. She and the kids must’ve had every possible light lit. That drives me nuts. I get that from my dad.

 It wasn’t long before Mindy & Bella were heading out. So I wouldn’t forget, I got out all of the stuff I’d be taking into work for the potluck – the taco meat, salsa, cheese, and chips. Jacob headed off to his room as I headed off to the shower. In addition to the potluck, this was silly hat day at work. I decided not to wear one of my many hats, however.

 I was ready early. To simplify things, I placed all of the food stuff in a laundry basket for easy portability. I loaded the Trooper before calling on Jacob. I gave him a ride to the bus stop since the rain continued coming down at a pretty good clip. Kenny was waiting at the bus stop under an umbrella along with Jake. I offered Jake a seat in the Trooper and told Kenny to head on home. The bus pulled up a minute later.

 Gas was down to $3.05 at Thornton’s I noticed. I didn’t need any. It was still raining when I arrived at work. I carried in my laptop and back pack first. I made a return trip for the laundry basket of food. I got moderately wet. This was department meeting day. Not only that, we were having our usual Wednesday staff meeting at 11am as well. A few of my engineers suggested that I break out my salsa just after 9am. I obliged their request. A couple worried that it might be too hot. I advised that it wasn’t but warned that it is an individual thing. A few thought it much too spicy. Hmmm? I toned it down some from last year’s version. The bag of Tostitos I brought was gone in a flash. Realizing that there wouldn’t be any for the taco meat, I headed to Kroger after our staff meeting to get more. I bought two more big bags.

 The potluck officially kicked off soon after I returned. It wasn’t my return that kicked it off. Rather, the timing just happened to be in sync. I ate too much bad food. Oh sure, it was good, but definitely not good for me. I ate brownies, ice cream, tacos, and even drank full strength soda. I was full and wired at the same time.

 Mindy emailed mid-afternoon to check my status for golf and possibly dinner.  There would be no golf this evening. I didn’t even bother asking Bob. The weather was bad. The rain was just beginning to lighten but the ground was saturated. I told Mindy as much. Dinner wouldn’t be on my agenda either. I still was running on full. No golf and no dinner, but we’d still get to spend a couple of hours alone together since this was a Jimaken Wednesday.

 I got home around 5:50pm. I went through the usual paces. I prepped Thursday’s coffee and then walked Ykraps. Mindy went along with us. We followed a trail of corn left behind by Trenton, a young neighbor of ours that likes to feed the ducks. I took a brief nap on the sofa while Mindy tinkered around the house. We sat on the sofa together for a while at Mindy’s prompting. 

The kids must’ve got back home around 7:30pm. After a brief snack, Mindy chased them upstairs to get them bathed for bed. I took to my blog before and after the tuck-in process. I helped Bella read two books before tucking her in. She and Jacob both enjoy reading. That’s a good, healthy habit to build on.

After the tuck-in I spent more time on my blog only this time adding some photos to recent entries. I’ve gotten away from adding photos of late. I’ve had good intentions but… . We sat once again on the sofa together until almost 9:30pm. Mindy and I both were tired and eager to get to bed early. We secured the home and headed up. By the time we did so, the sky had cleared and the stars and moon were shining brightly – a prelude to the magnificent weather on tap for the next handful of days.