Goodbye Summer & Hello Autumn

I was up at my usual time of 5:30am. A cursory glance out the window revealed more clouds. And after completing my sit-ups and push-ups I took a quick look at the temperature to learn that it was quite warm – 67 degrees. I did my usual stuff including walking Ykraps. He’s taking much longer these days to finish his business. Not sure if his sense of smell is deteriorating or what, but he’s definitely slower. In addition, he’s making this strange ‘cooing’ sound as he walks and sniffs. It almost sounds like a muffled voice off in the distance. It took me a while to figure out that it was coming from him. He is getting old – 12 years last month. Back at the house I sipped coffee in front of my PC for a short bit before taking Mindy hers. I asked if she planned to stay home. She did not. She was going to work. Alrighty! I returned downstairs to carry on with my agenda. I moved to meditation and stretching pretty quickly. I dressed in a sleeveless wicking shirt for my run, but even that proved a bit too warm after a couple miles into it. I ripped it off while maintaining my stride. I felt much better with it off. It occurred to me then that the days of running shirtless are definitely numbered. Without a doubt, chillier weather is just around the corner. Even though it warm now, hints of autumn are all around. In fact, many trees, ash & locust primarily, are already dropping their foliage in mass. And some varieties of maple trees are already turning colors. I was back at home by 7:15am. Mindy, Bella and I sat together eating our breakfast for a short time before Mindy had to leave. She did Bella’s hair then split. I finished my breakfast and eventually headed up for a shower. The kids and I headed to the bus stop at 7:55am. Ykraps went along too. I noticed Kenny’s eye looking a whole lot better. Soon after the kids were on the bus I turned my attention to heading into work. The morning went smoothly and before I knew it, it was 1pm. I was fully committed to taking a lunch, so I left for the nearby Best Buy & Wal-Mart around 1:15pm. At Best Buy I checked out Wii accessories and games as potential Xmas gifts for the kids. I also scoped out TVs & printers. At Wal-Mart (next door) I picked up a 5-quart jug of synthetic motor oil for the Trooper. It’s been burning oil for the last year or so. I headed back to the office around 2:30pm. The rest of the afternoon went quickly. Mindy phoned on her way home. Among other things, she shared that she didn’t feel like cooking dinner, playing the sinus infection card one last time. We agreed to have Minelli’s pizza. She also reminded me that Jacob wouldn’t be home for dinner. Instead, Jimaken would be taking him to Tuesday soccer practice. As a concession for me agreeing to fetch a pizza, Mindy agreed to walk Ykraps. Lastly, she reminded me about tomorrow’s ‘late start’. All of Hilliard schools will start their day 2 hours later than normal meaning that I won’t be getting the kids onto the bus until 10am. Glad she reminded me. Just before leaving, I sent my boss and team an email informing them that I’d be working from home on Wednesday until 1030am. ***News Flash *** Autumn officially arrived at 5:18pm. Good bye summer ’09. You were quick and cool. I left for home somewhere after 5:35pm. By the time that I arrived home Jacob was already off to soccer practice with his daddy. Mindy & I agreed to order a large 4-item pizza since we had a coupon reducing the price to $11.99 (a $3.90 savings - Wahoo!). I left to fetch the pizza ten minutes later. At the same time, Mindy walked down to discuss ‘late start’ with Chrissy. I was willing to keep her kids tomorrow morning too if necessary. The pizza was ready five minutes after my arrival. And for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn’t eat a piece on the drive home. Mindy & Bella were apparently still down at Chrissy’s when I got home with the pie. I started woofing down pizza right away. I didn’t want to wait. Once Mindy gets to talking, she can be at it for an hour. She came home about five minutes later, and Bella after another five minutes. We enjoyed pizza time and talked about our days. Mindy shared that she phoned my dad and said he seemed much better today. That was good news. After pizza I went to my PC to catch up on blogging. I stayed busy until almost 8:30pm. By then Jacob was home from soccer and the kids were ready for bed. I tucked them in around 8:45pm then went back downstairs to do some reading. Mindy & I headed to bed together for the first time in several nights.