Four IPAs

I woke at 5:30am to another gloriously beautiful spring morning. Not only was it lovely, but it was Friday too. The only drag on my happiness was the sobering knowledge that I’d be on-call for the weekend. Because of that, I postponed the notion of getting a dump truck load of dirt delivered since I couldn’t count on having enough free time to move it. I completed my exercise regimen and then set out on our morning walk. The temperature was expected to climb towards 70. I was looking forward to that. For the time being, however, it was still a little cool – about 44 degrees. My morning moved along as planned. I played on the PC for a while and then delivered some coffee to Mindy. After a brief meditation and stretch, I left for my run. It was an awesome run under clear skies and constantly warming temps. I finished strong. Per the usual, Mindy had my eggs ready when I got home. Mindy & Bella left before 7:30am. If there ever was a day to stay home, Friday was the day. It was gorgeous! That was a nice thought, but that’s all it was. I couldn’t take it off. Jacob and I left for the bus stop at 7:55am. We enjoyed every minute of our time basking in the early sunshine. And given the lovely weather, I planned to drive the BM’er. I pulled out of the garage around 8:10am. The fuel indicator light was on, a stark reminder that I needed gas. I stopped at Thornton’s for a fill-up- 12 gallons and $23.00. Work was busy. We had a couple lingering issues to be dealt with. Come 12:45pm I forced myself away for lunch. I drove to Home Depot and simply walked around, mostly in the nursery. I checked out their mulch offerings compared to Ohio Mulch’s – same price, comparable quality. I toyed briefly with heading to Saturday’s to get my hair cut but didn’t. Maybe next week, I figured. The afternoon moved fast. I did my level best to keep on top of the issues that I knew would follow me into my weekend on-call. Adding to my apprehension was the fact that I’d be covering for my boss, too. Yikes! More work! I left for home around 5:10pm. Without any hesitation, I drove to Kroger to fetch Mindy some long overdue roses. There, I decided to buy two dozen. I got a dozen orange and a dozen dark pink. I knew that they’d look good together. Homeward bound! The kids already gone with Jimaken, Mindy was home alone and down the basement cleaning the kids’ playroom. Prior, to that it looked like a tornado went through. She was very pleased to see two dozen roses resting on island counter. I worked on my blog while Mindy continued her cleaning ways. We were planning an evening at Barley’s. We left around 7:40pm but not before I grabbed the Ale Feast ticket I found on their floor a couple weeks ago to return to its rightful owner. We got a parking spot just outside the main entrance. There wasn’t much of a crowd. Steve was there. He was wearing the EBC shirt we brought him home from Holiday Valley. Pat & Lisa Schultz called a short time after we arrived. I invited them to join us. They showed up about an hour later. We hadn’t hung out with them since New Year’s Eve, sadly. We ordered food after our first beers. Mindy ordered half a chicken dinner. I ordered a brisket quesadilla. Well after we finished eating, Rene showed up. Haven’t seen her since her birthday dinner at the Big Fat more than a month ago. Mindy drank just the one beer. I had a total of four. That’s one more than I usually have, but then again, none of them were double IPAs. I picked up the evening’s tab. Mindy drove home. We headed to bed as soon as we got in the door.