Home to Plant Flowers for Lunch

Tuesday started out a lot like any other work day. It was chilly but promised to warm quickly. I was draggin’ a little bit, much like the morning before. I felt like I might have a bug of some sort. The symptoms: a twinge in the sinuses, a tight throat, and exhaustion. After exercise and a walk with Ykraps I settled down in front of the PC with my morning coffee. There’s something very comforting about that time each day. I look forward to it much. I delivered Mindy’s coffee then returned downstairs to finish my pre run regimen. I did a healthy meditation and stretch before heading out for my run. I wore my fleece running jacket to combat the chill. Although the day promised the mid 70s, it was still in the mid 40s early in the morning. I was comfortable. The run felt great. It helped open my otherwise stuffy sinuses and albeit temporary, it made the fatigue go away as well. Mindy had breakfast ready upon my return. She and Bella were soon on their way out the door. It was a school day for both. Soon Jacob and I were at the bus stop with Jake. We tossed the football some. I watered the sod and flowers before heading off to work. I ran the irrigation system out front too. Work went well. It was lunch time in a hurry. All morning long, I had been tossing around the idea of going home for lunch and planting some flowers. That’s what I did. I knew that if I didn’t do it at lunch, I wouldn’t get another chance any sooner than Thursday evening. That left me feeling a bit unsettled. I arrived home around 1pm and went right to work. Right to work that is, after quickly changing into my yard grubbies. The first thing I did was plant about 20 impatiens out front where we get limited direct sunlight. Next, I potted the two remaining geraniums in the hanging baskets attached to the large ash trees out back. Lastly, and at Mindy’s request, I added 2 vinca vines to one of the hanging geranium baskets on the deck. While I was planting flowers, I spotted neighbor Mike at Kenny’s, most likely working on his heating and cooling system. I went down and talked with him for a few minutes. I was back at work before 2:30pm and finished my day just before 6pm. I stayed late since it was a soccer practice night. It took less than 10 minutes to get there, so I stopped in Darby Creek Nursery for a quick browse. I was surprised to run into Debbie Durway (sp), an acquaintance from high school. She’s married to an old buddy of mine. I had a crush on her in tenth grade. The Garth Brooks song, Unanswered Prayers, came immediately to mind. She’s likely 50 (my age) but looks 60 or even older. Sadly, more wrinkles than my own mother. I was there for less than ten minutes. It was 6:20pm and time to head across the street for soccer practice. As always, traffic heading west on Scioto Darby was heavy. I couldn’t get across. I decided to turn right then turn around. That saved lots of time. After all of that, I still beat Mindy & the kids. They arrived about 5 minutes later. Mindy did a poor job of parking (on the white line). Plus, I’ve asked her numerous times to always park on an end to protect the vehicle. She didn’t. I wasn’t pleased. After everyone emptied from the Honda I asked for the keys to readjust the parking situation. I centered the Honda in the slot she picked. It was parents versus kids’ night at soccer practice. However, we had to wait about 20 minutes for a field. Mindy gave me the dickens for giving her what she deemed a ‘disapproving look’ regarding her soccer attire. She was in a bikini for crying out loud! J Until that evening, I hadn’t played soccer even once. I felt a bit awkward at first. I asked coach for a few pointers as we progressed. I was immediately surprised at how taxing it was on my energy reserves, although I was feeling somewhat under the weather even prior to playing. I found myself grabbing my knees and gasping for air very quickly. All the stop start, this way, that way is not something familiar to my system. You might think that being a runner I would handle this easily. Not the case. Different muscles. As a buddy later pointed out, playing soccer taxes your fast twitch muscles, where running uses large muscles. Anyway, as time went on my body adjusted somewhat. I even scored a goal and injured the coaches son in a violent collision. Hey, see ball, get ball. Hell be damned! The kids were beating us 3-2 as time was about to expire. I took a pass from coach with seconds remaining and went for the tying kick/goal. My kick sailed just wide of the net. We lost. I was devastated! J This coming Saturday is the final game of the season. Coach asked that everyone come to his house next Tuesday, our normal practice night, for a pizza party. I guess we’re invited, even if I did nearly break his son’s leg. J Mindy headed towards home with all the kids. I drove alone. Mindy promised to stop for food – Steak & Shake – on the way home. I started watering flowers as soon as I got home. I watered hanging baskets and the impatiens I planted earlier in the day. Things were already drying out. We haven’t had any appreciable rain since last Wednesday. Mindy called and asked me to DVR Idol. I followed her orders and set up the DVR. It had just started. She didn’t miss much, if anything. Mindy got home with the food in short order. We ate our dinner together while also watching Kris and Adam compete for the American Idol crown. For my money, Adam’s the winner, but I also realize that he’s much more polarizing than Kris. Jacob seemed very interested and watched most from his room. After Idol we watched the premier of Glee, a new FOX show that will begin airing in the fall. This was a teaser episode of sorts. Predictable but interesting. To bed at 10pm.