Otter Creek

After an incredibly nice day off, it was time to return to work. I was up and out of bed around 5:35am for the festivities. It was Friday, my favorite day of the week. I completed a full set of exercises: sit-ups, push-ups, and curls. I felt pretty darn good. Ykraps and I headed out for our morning walk like we always do. It was still quite dark overhead, although the glimmer of daylight was apparent, especially to the east. Just a month ago it was already daylight at this hour. Time doesn’t stand still. Back at home I played on the PC all the while sipping on a large cup of coffee. I couldn’t help but notice the weather forecast, which was calling for the first summer-like conditions since late June – sunshine and mid 80s on Saturday and then 90 and sunny on Sunday. About time. We’ve had our share of rainy, cool Saturday’s this summer. It was after 6:20am when I peeled myself away from the PC and went to meditate and stretch. It was well past 6:40am when I finished both of those routine tasks. I left for my run around 6:50am. I was quite comfortable running shirtless with the temperature near 70 degrees. Mentally, I felt completely rested after having Thursday off work. I could do that every week in the summer. I finished my run and went straight for the beach towel hanging in the laundry room to wipe the perspiration off my neck, face, and shoulders. After cooling down I jumped into food prep. I ate two fried eggs and fruit while packing veggies, leftover chicken breast, and nuts for lunch. Off to the shower. My poison ivy is getting much better but still an issue. Once again I scalded it while in the shower and then applied rubbing alcohol and Benadryl gel after. I gathered an ivy relief package to-go for work. I backed the Honda onto the street so I could drive the BM’er. Why not? It was supposed to be a lovely day. I left for work at 8:15am. I was most pleased to find work calm on a Friday morning. What’s more, it stayed that way for the lion’s share of the day. I was determined to getaway for lunch. To that end, I headed for the mall at 1pm. I visited Macy’s and Finish Line. I ended up buying a wicking golf shirt at Macy’s. Not ready for a new pair of running shoes, I just looked at Finish Line. I was gone for the full hour. More importantly, I was on my feet the entire time. Back at the office, the afternoon moved by pretty quickly despite it remaining unusually quiet. Mindy and the kids spent the afternoon at the pool. I must’ve talked with her around 3pm. The late afternoon continued its quiet ways. And after seeing everything under control I left for home and the weekend at 5:05pm. It felt terrific to be heading home on a Friday a little early. The downstairs was quiet and put together when I arrived home. No sign of the Mindy or the kids, though. I got a case of the sleepies during my commute home. I quietly plopped down in the recliner hell bent on getting a short nap. Mindy eventually found me downstairs napping. She quietly went about her business until I woke from my slumber. I didn’t sleep that long. Soon after I woke we took Ykraps on his evening walk. We shared our day’s activities while we walked. Mindy commented that she turned the temperature down on the new fridge and now everything was getting really cold. I assumed the settings went from 1 to 5, and we had it set on 3, but Mindy found that it went all the way to 10, which would explain why things weren’t getting as cold as we preferred. Great! We planned to go to Barley’s but not until 7pm. Don’t want to show up too early. It was only 6:15pm. I used the time to work on my blog and went upstairs to freshen up and change clothes just before 7pm. We left for Barley’s just after 7pm. Mindy wore her ‘little black dress’. Said she wanted it to feel like a date. She looked good. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. We found ourselves a good parking spot and one fairly close to the door. There were lots of familiar faces at the bar and a couple of stools setting empty just for us. Perfect! Per usual, I asked for a Centennial. Mindy ordered the Ivan Porter. We left Tom Clark a VM on our way to Barley’s inviting him in. We hoped to see Bob & Mary Ann but they didn’t show. Mary Ann probably had to work. Steve Wonn was there, and reported interviewing with the city of U.A. for a maintenance supervisor’s job. Hope he gets it. Mindy ordered the shrimp & jerk chicken combo. I decided to wait and eat later, or so I thought. I eventually made my way outside to find neighbor’s David & Becky having dinner with her brother and his girlfriend. I sat and talked with them for a good long time. Mindy came out for a little while but soon disappeared back into the bar. I headed back in fifteen minutes later. Nephew Joe and his buddy Chris showed up. They always add a bit of flair to the evening. We made sure to invite Joe to join us tomorrow night at Club Diversity to see The Deanna Sweeney Band. I finished off my evening with a Maharaja IIPA. They had a new Otter Creek IIPA on tap tonight, too. I had one of those earlier. It was quite good. The night was winding down and I hadn’t eaten a thing. It must’ve been about 1030pm. By then, I really wanted a Cuban but Mindy wanted to head home. I acquiesced. We weren’t home long before we walked over to Kenny & Chrissy’s. I took a beer, of course. Chrissy was inside but not Kenny. She said he was out in the garage. I walked through the house to the garage. Everyone else ended up out there, too. We must’ve stayed out there for at least an hour. Chrissy went across the street to wake neighbors Kaleep & Pabena. In addition, next-door neighbors David & Becky came over when they got home from Barley’s. It was another late-night neighbor fest. Mindy & I stumbled home sometime around midnight. Sleepy, but also rabidly hungry, I woofed down a handful of dill pickle flavored Pringles potato chips. Hardly a satisfying meal, but it was bed time.