Broken Toe

I was up on time after a pleasant and fulfilling night’s sleep. And probably the best sleep I’ve had in quite a while. I did my sit-ups and push-ups before walking Ykraps. I glanced out the window and towards the sky only to be disappointed to seeing clouds. I really wanted to get a view of the slivery crescent moon and Venus with my binoculars. Thinking my plans were dashed, we headed out without binoculars. I noticed immediately that the roads were wet. It must’ve rained, albeit lightly, overnight. I was very happy to see the thin clouds moving away leaving a clear view of the moon and Venus. I could peer at them after all, but I’d have to wait until we returned home. Their beauty most likely lost on Ykraps, I still didn’t chance it. I pointed them out to him, too, just in case. :) After our walk, I fetched the binoculars and headed out onto the deck peering eastward towards the moon and Venus. I stared longingly at both for a good five minutes. Very cool! Back inside, it was already near 6:00am. Mindy asked to be up that early. I promptly poured her coffee and headed upstairs. I was surprised that she got right up. I headed back downstairs to do my thing. I played on the PC until 6:15am and then moved on to meditation and stretching. Before my run, I did a set of curls. I headed out for my run around 6:38am. By the time I set out on my run the sky was completely clear making way for yet another brilliantly sunny day with temperatures expected to reach the mid 70’s. Like most, the run went quickly and without incident. I was inside the house by 7:20am. I asked Bella how her toe was doing. “Not good”, she decried. Said she couldn’t walk. Uh-oh! Meanwhile, Mindy seemed stressed about her own day. I only asked that she get Bella up and walking before departing knowing full well that if she couldn’t do it, there’d be no chance of me getting her on the bus. At the same time, Bella was pleading to stay home. But Mindy insisted otherwise and helped her with her socks and tennis shoes, which I strongly recommended for their ability to pad her little toe. It was a dramatic five minutes but Mindy managed to get her on her feet and walking, albeit with tears. And only as a mother can do, Mindy gave her the ‘be brave’ speech before heading out the door. Before heading up for my shower, I asked Bella to continue walking around to keep her toe loose. She agreed. Cool. Off to the shower. I was a couple minutes from being completely ready to go when Bella walked in the bathroom to tell me that her foot still hurt. Looking down I noticed that her shoes were off. When I asked why, she said, “Because we’re supposed to take our shoes off before going upstairs.” UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Thankfully, she managed to get her shoe back on with little trouble. Her & Jacob headed out the door for the bus stop at 7:53am. I wasn’t quite ready and was a couple minutes behind. By the time that I got out there Bella was already in tears and walking towards me. Said that Jacob was being mean and threatening to harm her foot. Initially incensed with his apparent indiscretion, I barked at him. But Jacob recalled a much different version of the story, one that had Bella kicking him first. What? Well, knowing how that can work, I wasn’t too quick to badger Jacob much more, but did ask that he treat her with kindness, especially given her toe issue. Bella didn’t deny being aggressive, either. When the bus pulled up Bella limped aboard. I was relieved to get them off to school, but was still worried how she might act once at school. I later learned that Mindy emailed her teacher just to give her a heads up. That was smart and would help tremendously. I loaded my golf clubs into the Trooper since it was Wednesday and then drove off to work. As I exited the subdivision I decided to take a detour towards Westgate Park and the two addresses daughter Courtney is looking to rent. A couple weeks ago, I asked that she give me a heads up and time to look at any new place she might find. She did that on Monday night. I looked at both addresses (both duplexes). Neither is perfect, but both are eons better than where she is currently. I would put my stamp of approval on both. That detour left me about 15 minutes late for work, but it was worth it. The work day was busy from go. I had a team meeting at 10 and a staff meeting at 11am. Our staff meeting went long, or until 1:20pm. The final three hours were very busy. I sent an email to the Bob’s and Tom Clark asking about golf. Only Bob B replied. He and I made arrangements to meet at Phoenix. I left the office at 430pm sharp. I ran into a total stoppage on I-70 east just east of the West Broad St exit. I did my level best to remain patient. I might’ve moved a half mile after about 15 minutes. It wasn’t looking good. But lucky for me, the far right lane – the one leading to I-71S – started moving. I had a smooth, clear shot all the way to the exit ramp. Cool! Meanwhile, the other three lanes remained at a stand still. Yikes! I arrived at Phoenix by 5:05pm. Bob Bolyard was already there. Said Bob Imber wouldn’t be making it. That was fine. He and I went inside to pay and get our cart expecting to be teeing off the back nine, just as Katy had indicated when I called earlier. However, Bill advised that the back was busy with a league. Instead, he said we’d be teeing off the front nine. OK- fine! Geesh, dude! Bob and I headed up to hole #1 – a 490 yard par 5. My drive was subpar, straight, but extremely short. I hit well behind the ball. It must’ve went about 175 yards. Not to be detoured, I hit my second shot (Rescue wood) on the screws leaving myself out about 90 yards. I then hit my 3rd shot on the green and within 12’. Two putt – par. :) I bogeyed the next two holes after missing relatively easy par putts. That’s me, though. Hole #4 should be a rather easy slight dogleg right over a heather field par 4. But I hit an errant tee shot into the heather and only 100 yards from the tee box. Crap! I found my ball buried somewhat deep in the heather. I tried to hit a 3-wood out, which back fired badly, sending it right back into the heather. I should’ve known better. I decided to go ahead and take my medicine and lay out now hitting shot four. Long story short, I took an eight. Bad! Hole #5 is a par 3. I hit my 6-iron left and out-of-bounds. I took a 6. Good grief! Bogeyed 6 & tripled 7. Not good. Hole #8 is another 500 yard par 5. I hit my first nice drive of the evening about 260 yards and in the middle of the fairway. I waited for the green to clear before my second shot hoping to reach from about 230 yards away with my 3-wood. To do so I had to clear some serious bunkers. I hit the shot on the nose and landed just left of the green in the rough. I was pleased. I hit my third shot within 9’ and was putting for birdie. I got it, too! Wahoo! Hole #9 is a par 4. I hit another decent drive just off the fairway to the left, but on the side of a small hill leaving myself a 9-iron away but with a significant uphill lie. Not sure how I did it, but I shanked it left. Typically an uphill lie produces a natural draw or hook. I had to take a lost ball because it went into the nearby thick heather. So, instead of being on in two, I was hitting shot four onto the green from 10 yards. I left myself a 30’ putt. Crap. I left that putt within tap-in distance and took a 6. Some good, some bad. That’s my game. As we headed to the parking lot I realized the old dude playing in front of us was Dick Fagan, our old neighbor. I drove up to say hello. We chatted briefly before heading home. It was 7:13pm. I tried ringing Mindy but got no answer. I was home by 7:30pm. No one home. I quickly rinsed my lunch dishes, prepped tomorrow’s coffee, and took out the trash. I set the old non-working DVD player in its box on top of the garbage container thinking someone might want to screw with fixing it. Mindy arrived home five minutes later. She brought home a gyro from the Big Fat after having dinner there with Rene. The kids got home not five minutes later. Bella seemed to be getting around much better. I was just digging into my gyro. It was delicious. I was really hungry. Mindy got the kids showered while I took to the sofa. She spent a lot of time upstairs with them while I fell asleep on the couch.