Out of Sync

Our power went out sometime on Tuesday leaving our clocks out of sync. It wasn’t until I glanced at the clock in the middle of the night that I realized my bedroom clock was afoul. I woke and asked Mindy what time it was (she has her own clock beside her bed and apparently had already corrected it). It was something like 2am. I did some quick math to determine what time my clock would say come 5:30am. That worked pretty well. When I got up and headed downstairs it was 5:13am. After hitting the go button on the coffee maker I decided to sneak a few more minutes of sleep on the sofa. I woke again at 5:31am. 

I started my calisthenics but skipped both push-ups and curls in an effort to relax my extra stiff shoulders. Closing in on fifty I need to be mindful of that sort of thing. Ykraps and I left for our walk at 5:40am. It was very nice outside – clear and in the mid 40’s. It was still early when we returned from our walk. I used this time to review election results. I was most concerned with the presidential outcome, although there was little doubt about the winner when we went to bed. But second on my mind was the Hilliard school levy since it would increase my annual expenses by about $700. It passed, and at first glance, it looked like most of the central Ohio levies passed, including Mindy’s (SWCS) bond and operating levy - issue 81. I told her as much when I delivered her coffee. She acted surprised saying that it was being defeated when she went to bed the night before. That prompted me to recheck the results before leaving on my run. Mindy was right. It was soundly defeated. What fooled me was how they had it listed. They had the “NO” on top mixed in with all the other passing levies with “YES” on top. 

I let for my run at 6:30am. It was a beautiful morning for a run, probably the perfect temperature – 46 degrees. I decided to wear my running gloves, which turned out to be a good choice. I was back by 7:10am.  I alerted and apologized to Mindy about the levy snafu. She seemed only mildly disappointed. For her it would mean more years working in an old broken down school building without A/C – one of her biggest complaints.

She had fresh scrambled eggs just about ready for herself, me, & Jacob. Bella had a donut.  Soon, Bella and her mother left for school. Jacob and I carried on as we generally do. He went to his room. I cleaned up the kitchen then went for a shower. I was all ready to go by 7:50am. I spent the next five minutes checking more election results. Jacob and I left the house at 7:57am. While Jacob rushed off to the bus stop, I grabbed the rake once again to clear away the thick leaf cover from my newly established grass. I tossed the rake aside knowing I’d pick it up and put it away after the bus arrived. Jacob and I passed football with Jake for a good five minutes before the bus came and swept them up. I walked back home where I grabbed the abandoned rake, carried it through the house, and stashed it away in the garage. Next, I loaded the BM’er and left for work.

 Gas was still $1.93. This was very pleasing, although I still didn’t need any. I arrived at work around 8:25am after another lovely drive in. This was staff meeting day which always helps speed the day along. Our meeting ended at 1pm but we stayed together for an important customer call. After the meeting I promptly left for Jiffy Lube with an e-coupon i nhand for $5 off an oil change. I thought perhaps I should call and verify that they can do BM’ers but didn’t Sure enough, as soon as I pulled up the oil changing host approached my car and said “we don’t do these”. Great! Well, if nothing else, I got out of the office for a few minutes. It ended up working out because I was scheduled to join a semi-important conference call from my office at 2pm. I joined five minutes late. I was in listen- mode only.

 The day went quickly. I talked with Mindy sometime late afternoon to verify her plans since I was heading to her mother’s directly after work to demolize the lower-level back bedroom with my two brother-in-laws. This is the room that's taken on water over the years causing the studs and wood paneling to rot away near floor level. I left work at 5:35pm. It was dark by the time I arrived at Gloria’s. The brother-in-laws were already there working away finishing what I had started about two months ago. They had most of the paneling and insulation removed and loaded in their trucks. Larry left to fetch his shop-vac almost as soon as I arrived. We cut out the rotted sill plate while he was gone. When Larry returned the other left. I checked the west wall for similar water damage. Save for the corner where it meets the north wall, it appears to have escaped any serious deterioration. The carpet was another story. It had all the tale-tell signs of being wet numerous times. I talked with Gloria and convinced her that we really should replace it. 

Larry & I cut it up and loaded the old carpet into his pick-up. We spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up the room and removing most of the masonry nails still in the block foundation. Last thing Larry did was spray bug spray. That gagged all of us. When we left it was pretty much ready for the re-construction phase. Gloria relayed a message that I was to call Mindy on my way home. She wanted only to see if I wanted her to make me a grilled cheese sandwich, just like she had done earlier for the kids. No. I had designs on eating something else - leftover stroganoff – provided it was still there.

 I arrived home around 7:20pm. The kids were up getting their baths. I could hear the water running. I don’t think they realized that I was home initially. I quietly went about cleaning up my lunch containers and making something to eat. For a quick hand to mouth snack I ate triscuits and pepper jack cheese chunks. I love that snack! I spotted the stroganoff still lurking in the fridge. I heated all that was left in a bowl. While it heated I went up to greet the family. Everyone was in good spirits despite my absence. I returned downstairs to enjoy my stroganoff.

 I returned in between bites to tuck in the kids. I was still feeling the effects of breathing all the dust and bug spray from Gloria’s.  I was coughing a lot. Mindy, too, wasn’t feeling so swift and made arrangements to miss school on Thursday. We stayed up until just after 9pm when I declared it bedtime. I was beat and looking forward to stretching out in our comfy bed.