Gathering More Flowers to Plant

I slept a bit late, but hardly enough to create cause for concern, or to put me behind the eight ball. I exercised and soon headed out with Ykraps. I had some thigh burn, even more so than Wednesday morning. Most folks will tell you that it’s the second day that hurts the worst. True that! My face was sunburned too after purposefully leaving my ballcap behind for Wednesday’s golf marathon. I did so to get some sun about me since we’ll be leaving for Mexico soon enough. It used to be that I’d have a midsummer’s tan by Memorial Day. I enjoyed coffee time in front of the PC. It felt so good to relax and sip coffee. Time was moving swiftly, and by 6:05am I was up and prepping Mindy’s morning caffeine fix. After meditation I dressed and left for a run forgetting before it was too late to do my inside stretching. I still completed the outdoor variety from the front stoop. I’d be OK, but if there ever was a time when I needed to stretch, this was that day. It was mild, about 56 degrees. I rain in long pants and a winter wicking shirt. I was comfortable. What a difference running in the morning makes to attire selection. When I ran at lunch, my long running pants would have be retired by May 1 and not seen again until late October. My run went well. And while my thighs ached a little it didn’t disturb my gait. Mindy made fried eggs. Soon she and Bella departed for school and the sitter. Jacob was up in his room playing video games or watching TV. I hit the shower at 7:38am. I made it a point to dress a little nicer again since my boss’ new boss was in town. I wore dress slacks and a red polo. After a shower, I weighed myself for the first time in maybe three or four months. I’ve gained 2lbs since then. How, I have no idea weighed 169.5lbs. I like weighing no more than 165lbs. I drove the Trooper to work after deciding the BM’er was too dirty to enjoy. I toyed with the notion of driving it to the carwash on the way to work but that would’ve been too much pressure. J In fact, all three of our vehicles are dirty and in need of a bath. Priorities. Work went well. We did our usual coffee time. I shared stories about my team golf outing with my boss and peers. We hung out for a while. Come 1pm we gathered in our usual conference room to meet our new director. She seems nice. We conducted our usual weekly meeting. It ended around 2:15pm. I could’ve easily skipped lunch but badly wanted to go to Strader’s to get more flowers to complete our 2009 summer landscape. It’s not unusual for it to take four or five visits to the nursery. This year is no exception. I headed to Strader’s. It was crowded but not at full capacity like it’s been since Mother’s Day. I bought two more flats of flowers: a flat of dahlias and another flat of Ramblin petunias, violet this time. I also bought 7 spikes plants to add to our deck pots. That leaves me needing a few more vinca vines, vegetables (maters and pepper plants), and perhaps a double knock-out rose bush. I’ll get those over the holiday weekend. The lines got really long by the time I went to checkout. It was hot in there too. It was 86 degrees outside. Being inside of a greenhouse only exacerbates the heat. I did my level best to remain patient. An older women accused me of dishing her. I gestured otherwise and allowed her in front of me. I was back at the office by 3:20pm. The rest of the day moved at a decent clip. There wasn’t much left. I stayed until about 5:40pm. I didn’t bother phoning Mindy. I had no idea what we were having for dinner. I was home by 6:05pm. We were having spaghetti and meatballs, certainly an odd summer meal. We all like it though. Iwalked Ykraps in the heat. It felt like midsummer, especially given that it’s been on the cool side prior to this warm-up. I could see that some of my newly planted annuals were wilting under the sun’s heat despite being watered earlier this AM. It takes a couple weeks for their young roots to get established where they can stand being without water for an entire day. I planned to water after dinner. Dinner was tasty. I ate a big plateful of spaghetti. After dinner, I wanted nothing more than some sleep. I fought it off and did dinner clean-up. But before going out to water flowers I took a nap on the floor. That felt terrific. Outside I found the same spots in my new sod almost completely dry. Obviously those spots are getting missed by the irrigation system. Too, while watering the hanging baskets on the pergola, I happened upon some giant flying ants. I swear to Rudy, these things were 1.5 inches long. I need to spray the home’s foundation, hot tub, and deck this weekend. Watering took about 40 minutes. Afterwards, I walked over to chat with Kenny who was out watering his flowers. He was surprised some of his petunias wilted even worse than mine. I shared my knowledge about nursing new annuals along. He showed me how he repaired his backflow meter. We talked about the possibility of golf this weekend. I headed in around 8:30pm. Mindy suggested that we turn on the AC. Good call. Mindy got the kids bathed and ready for bed. I manually ran four of the six watering zones. We sat up and talked in the kitchen until about 10:30pm. We headed to bed around 10:45pm.