Celebrating Labor

After exercise and walking Ykraps I enjoyed a cup of coffee in front of my PC. Among other things, I read a brief yet sobering synopsis on the origins of the Labor Day holiday. Quite sad. I won’t go into the details, but instead encourage everyone to research it for themselves. Bella was the first to join me downstairs. She was excited to share that she reined in another $5 from the tooth fairy. That’s right, she lost another tooth yesterday – her third in a week. I was bummed to find the morning cloudy and with rain eminent. With all the lovely September weather recently, we’ve gotten a little spoiled. But even a more immediate concern was the inability to mow the lawn which was in dire need of a cutting. It rained in brief spurts all morning long. In fact, I postponed my run until 10am to avoid/dodge heavy rains. I had nothing else planned, no golf, no projects, only yard work. But that now looked to be in jeopardy. After the rains ended I headed out for a run. The sky brightened significantly but not enough to allow the sun to bust through. With nothing else planned, I decided to work on the Trooper door/window for like the twentieth time. I’ve gotten to be quite adept at removing the door panel/trim to access the power window mechanism. I spotted the problem right away. The track was completely broken. At the time, my only interest was to get the window in a position to remain up at all times. It took some doing but I was able to rig it up. Admittedly, I am getting tired of fooling with this window. This most recent ordeal only helped to strengthen my taste for a new vehicle. I do, however, very much enjoy not having car payments. There are three current concerns with the Trooper: the window, the ABS light, and the fact that it burns oil. Realistically, and barring any other major problems, I can & should make it last another couple of years. While working on the door I had the need to pass through the garage and into our laundry room. Turned out, Mindy was just on the other side placing a load of laundry in the washer. I guess I clunked her square in the head as I threw open the door. Sorry princess! After getting the Trooper door squared away, I took to mowing the lawn. I pretty much went in reverse order. I ran the tractor first, cutting as much of the yard at first pass as I could. Unfortunately, that did little more than make a huge mess of the thick, wet lawn. I had to go over all the extra territory covered by the tractor with the push mower to give it that neat & tiddy look, and to better mulch all the clippings. I finished up by whacking, edging, and finally blowing. After finishing the mowing I overseeded some needy areas. I then trimmed the White pine out front. After carrying the clippings to my brush pile out back I was itchy all over. White Pine has that affect on me. I asked Mindy to scratch my back before I rushed in for a sorely needed shower. Our dinner plans included heading over to Kenny & Chrissy’s for a small cookout. But after my shower I badly wanted a nap. Mindy understood and allowed me to get the rest my body craved. She did her own thing. I must’ve slept on & off for about 45 minutes. I eventually joined Mindy and the kids down at the neighbors for some food and fun. Kenny had the FedEx cup golf tournament playing on the TV. I got cozy on their sofa and watched the end of it. Exciting finish. Kenny & I played a little football with Jake & Jacob. And like always, it was riddled with complaints about the quarterbacking. It started to rain as we played. We eventually headed for home. Must’ve been like 7:30pm. Mindy started the weekend wind-down process. All of us needed to prepare for the return of the business week. While the kids showered and prepped for bed, I tuned into the MNF game. This week featured a college game – Miami, Fla, vs. Florida St. given that the NFL regular season doesn’t start for another week. Mindy & I watched the first half from the sofa and most of the second half from bed. It was an exciting game – back and forth. We both fell asleep midway through the fourth quarter.