Dangling from a 'Copter'

It was 7:15am Saturday morning. I felt good and the sky was completely blue. I headed downstairs to start a pot of coffee and some exercises. I checked the temperature in between my sit-ups and push-ups. It was only 38 degrees as I exercised. But once again, the sky was crystal clear. I didn’t mind the trade off. Ykraps and I headed out for our walk. It was cool but nice. The sun was just coming up over the eastern horizon. I took my camera along just in case I spotted a good photo op. Back at the house, I sipped coffee while playing on the PC. I was expecting Courtney sometime after 9am, and Tommy around 10am. Mindy got up around 8:15am. I left for a run at about 8:45am. I t was a cool, crisp run but under lovely sunny skies. I spotted someone’s errant drive along hole number one just off the berm. I left it be. I was back at home well before 9:30am. Mindy was just finishing up in the shower. Courtney arrived a few minutes later to drop off her apartment key and address along with the key & address of her Hilliard based storage facility. I tried calling Tommy a couple of times after 9:30am to measure his ETA, but couldn’t get a hold of him. My phone rang just as I was leaving the house to fetch the moving truck. It was Tommy letting me know he was 15 minutes out. I headed to Lee’s RV’s to pick-up the truck on my own. The owner (Dennis) and his wife were on site and friendly as ever. Dennis pointed out the helicopter hovering just to our west with a body dangling some 100’ below placing new insulators on the high tension power lines crossing I-270. Said the guy’s making $300 an hour. Now that’s a dangerous job. Not me!!! I left the Trooper there and headed back home with the moving truck. Tommy was already at the house. We didn’t hang out long before we left. We arrived at the Hilliard-Rome U-Stor-It a few minutes later. Code worked, key worked. Courtney had a 10’X10’ unit packed fairly full, but not more than one truckload to my eyes. We moved some of the loose stuff aside to get to the bigger stuff first. Nothing in there appeared to be in that great of shape. In fact, the deeper we dug the more frustrated I grew. I did my level best to remain at least somewhat positive. It took us about an hour to get it all loaded up. Soon we were on the road to her new place in German Village. I had no idea what to expect short of Courtney’s brief description. The address didn’t impress me as a good, wholesome place to live, however. Like a lot of properties in this area, one house is nice while the one next door is not. Courtney’s new place, at least in my opinion, falls into lesser category. I could hear her dog barking from upstairs, something she forewarned me about. She put him in the second bedroom to keep him out of our way. I never did disturb him. We gave the place a quick once over before unloading her stuff. Given my druthers, we would’ve come in and cleaned the place before moving anything in. That wasn’t to be. We began carrying everything in. The staircase to the upstairs was L-shaped and narrow. We couldn’t get her box spring up. We tried three different times. Finally, we had to leave it in the living room. That left little room for the rest of her furniture. Which incidentally, none of her furniture was in very good shape. Mindy phoned to check on our progress. Let her know that we were busy unloading. They were just leaving for Jacob’s soccer game. I had hoped to be home in time to attend. Honestly, a lot of Courtney’s stuff just needs thrown away, but that isn’t/wasn’t my call. I simply volunteered to help get it moved. Some of the neighbors were out and about. I was a little worried. Mindy texted around 2:30pm to share that Jacob had just scored a goal. Hooray! Tommy & I finished up just before 3pm and headed back to my house. I was happy to be done and happy to have had Tommy’s help. Tommy’s always been there whenever I’ve needed help like that. Always! I offered drink/food once we got home but Tommy declined citing the need to get back home to Wally, and then onto work. I thanked him much and then we parted ways. I snacked a little then ran the sweeper in the family room. What can I say, being at Courtney’s new place left me wanting to clean and organize. I called Al, my ex-father-in-law to share a little about Courtney’s new place. We talked for about ten minutes. I talked to Mindy next. They were already leaving the soccer field. Jacob’s team won 4-1. From there they were headed to the grocery store. I told Mindy that I was taking the moving truck back and then going to Home Depot. I dropped the truck without incident. I chatted more with Dennis’wife. She must be in her 50’s and is wearing braces on her teeth. I shared that I too had braces as an adult. After settling up, I drove back to the boat building to check on my boat, and to grab the seat cushion that needs repaired. It’s the first time that I’ve been in since last October (Halloween) to see the boat – 4.25 months. I made quick work of my goal. I gave the boat a cursory once over, and then grabbed the suspect cushion and left for Home Depot. At Home Depot I picked up the wheelbarrow tire I wanted along with a new 100’ garden hose. Target was just next door. I headed there next to redeem my $10 off coupon for any bike purchase. I had my receipt from last Saturday. They granted my request no questions asked. Handed me a fresh $10 bill. Before exiting, I bought a large cherry ICEE. Yum-yum. Mindy & the kids were still gone when I returned. I wasted no time getting busy replacing the tire on my wheelbarrow. Sparing you the details, it took me about 30 minutes to get the new tire on the wheelbarrow just right. Now, moving dirt & mulch should be a much easier job with a bouncy, inflated tire. Next, I got my air compressor fired up and made sure Jacob’s bike tires were brought up to the proper inflation. Mindy came out in the garage while I worked. I asked that she take a couple HopSlam’s inside to chill them for me After finishing in the garage I went inside to shower up. Mindy headed over to the neighbors to chat. She left with a beer in hand. A shower never felt better. I walked Ykraps after my shower. Mindy complained of not feeling too well, but said the one beer took the edge off. Shelly, G.D. Kaileigh’s step-mom, called to ask if Bella could spend the night. Mindy checked with Bella. She was very excited about it. Shelly & Kaileigh were already on their way over. Shelly, Kai, and Sienna arrived 15 minutes later to pick-up Bella. She stayed for a while chatting with Mindy & me. As luck would have it, Courtney phoned to say that she was on her way over to pick-up her house key. Courtney & Shelly don’t agree on much – a natural consequence, really. We always try to offer the most sound advice to both parties when asked. Mindy & I both appreciate what Shelly’s brought to Kaileigh’s life. They left not five minutes before Courtney showed up. She was very excited about her new place and asked my opinion. Does it really matter? No. What matters is what Courtney thinks. I was honest but also held back a little. Airing my thoughts/opinions to both Tommy & Mindy earlier enabled me to do so. Courtney couldn’t stay long. She was tired from working all day. Suddenly, it was Mindy, Jacob, and me. Mindy & I were invited to Kenny & Crissy’s for a cookout but opted to stay in and relax. Again, Mindy wasn’t feeling all that well and I just wanted to chill. Jacob headed to bed around 8:30-9:00pm. We stayed up until 10pm or so, but not much later.