SKOL Vikings SKOL

I slept OK, but not nearly long enough. On top of that, I was once again woken up by the water meter’s noisy toil. That’s gotta stop if I am ever to get a sound night’s sleep. It was quite lovely Glancing skyward out the back door. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and hundreds of stars lit up the early morning sky. 

I completed my exercise routine in short order. In between sit-ups and push-ups I choked down three 200mg Advil’s. I was a little stiff in all the usual places after lots of grueling yard work over the weekend. After my walk with Ykraps I delivered Mindy’s coffee. It was 6:05am. Tired and at a crossroad, I decided to sneak in a rare but oft effective morning nap. In trade, I would give up PC and meditation time. I needed it. An extra 20-30 minutes of sleep sounded ideal. I plopped down on the sofa where I easily drifted back asleep. I woke more than once to glance at the clock. As expected, the time went fast. 

I went vertical at 6:35am and promptly got dressed for my morning run. It was chilly – somewhere near 50 degrees. I headed out the door at about 6:40am. By then the Advil had kicked in taking away any stiffness that might have otherwise dampened my run. I felt pretty darn good. The run did nothing but wake me up even more so. I felt fine by the time that I finished. 

Per the usual, Mindy had my breakfast and lunch all ready for the go. Jacob, I noticed, was wearing a pair of the new pants Mindy recently bought him. They were noticeably big, but his older pants are all floods again this year. He’s growing so fast. Problem is he’s so skinny. He couldn’t keep them up. After Mindy & Bella left, he asked if I would find him a safety pin to help hold them up. I simply tied them tighter. 

We left for the bus stop at our usual 7:58am. A few minutes later Crissy dropped Jake by before heading on to work. We tossed the football but not for long. The bus pulled up less than 2 minutes after our fun began. I thought about driving the BM’er but decided against it. Number one, it was chilly and number two, I didn’t want to bother with moving the Trooper onto the street. 

Work was bustling with activity. I stayed busy all morning long catching up on email after a long three day weekend. I was antsy all morning contemplating my call to Chris K from Nationwide Irrigation. I knew exactly what I wanted and expected from him, but was worried that he might not respond in kind. Strategically, I chose not to call until early afternoon. After all, I didn’t want his day to begin with a complaining customer (me). I finally gave him a call on his cell at 1:30pm just before eating my lunch. He was open to my call and concerns, but as expected, countered just a little. In the end, however, he agreed to come by on Tuesday after their daily install and correct two of the three issues I presented. The third, he explained, was not really an issue at all. This was the exposed union I found uncrimped where the shed’s electrical line was cut. He explained that they don’t crimp the small off-shoot runs. I was satisfied and felt a great sense of relief. 

The rest of the day went without incident. I left for home at the usual 5:30pm. I was much looking forward to getting home and later watching the Vikings on Monday Night Football. This time my expectations would be in check. No longer do I believe the Vikings are a serious Super Bowl threat. Even still, I very much enjoy watching my team play. Mindy already took a stance regarding dinner. She wasn’t cooking. We were having leftovers. She was drained from a weekend of running around at a feverish pace. I understood and was more than OK with that. I walked Ykraps as soon as I got home. Afterwards, I prepped the next day’s coffee and then warmed some leftovers.  I chose to have left over filet mignon and a few meatballs leftover from Bella’s party. They were more than filling. 

My goal was to be football-ready by 7:00pm. I met that goal. Everything that I wanted done and out of the way was. Most notably, I marked the two problem areas with my new irrigation system for ease of identification. Chris had asked that I removed all the flags marking the locations of all 35+ sprinkler heads and then use a few of those flags to mark the two areas in need of attention. However, I saw value in leaving them in for some time to come until I get accustom to their locations. With that in mind, I marked the two areas with wooden stakes and orange plastic reflective tape – the same system I used to quarantine my new grass areas.

 Mindy asked me to read with Bella before she went to bed. I happily obliged during the lengthy ESPN pregame banter. I was thrilled that 5 of the six ESPN analysts picked the Saints. Only Mike Ditka picked the Vikings. 

Mindy played on the laptop as the game began but kept a loose eye towards the television. I sat in the corner of the sofa. Same old Vikings. We let the Saints score right away. Not three minutes into the game and we were down 7-0. The Saints were driving for what appeared to be yet another score when a sure touchdown drive stalled after a penalty. They had to settle for a field goal try from about 40 yards. But instead of it being 10-0, the Vikings blocked the field goal, recovered, and ran it back for an improbable touchdown. I was happy, but still only cautiously optimistic. Before the half ended, the Vikings managed to score three more times- two field goals and a touchdown. They were up 20-10 at the half. But make no mistake, statistically, they were being manhandled. Of course the analysts made a big deal of that fact at the half. 

Becoming a naysayer, I expected the other shoe to drop and the Vikings to find a way to squander the lead. It’s happened a couple of times already this young season. It didn’t take too long for that to be the case. Among other things, our punt/kick-off coverage looked atrocious. The Saints finally capitalized on it by running back two punts for touchdowns. They damn near had a third if Reggie Bush hadn’t tripped at the 50 yard line on his way to another. That was downright embarrassing.  But even after giving up those two huge plays the Vikings remained within striking distance, and somehow drove down the field and tied it up with just a few minutes remaining at 27-27. Then, after New Orleans missed a 43 yard field goal with less than two minutes to play, the Vikings, aided by a blatant pass interference penalty, drove for their own shot at a winning field goal. We made it and won the game – 30-27. I was thrilled to win but honestly shocked that we were able to pull it out. It was just after midnight. I went right to bed. I was excited to share the good news with Mindy who asked how it turned out as I crawled into bed. Good night moon!

Skol Vikings! Let's win this game Skol Vikings! Honor your name Go get that first down Then get a touchdown Rock 'em, sock 'em, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! FIGHT! Go Vikings, run out the score, you'll hear us yell for more! V-I-K-I-N-G-S Skol Vikings, let's go!