Splitting our Steaks

Mindy thought I was crazy when I rolled out of bed at 645am, but I was having trouble sleeping, so staying in bed wasn’t buying me anything. And in reality, it wasn’t but 15 minutes earlier than I typically get up on a Saturday. Downstairs I started coffee then began my exercise routine. It was a very dreary morning with thick cloud cover and light rain. I took Ykraps on his walk a short bit later. During our walk I got sleepy again. I knew then that I was going to lie back down once we were back home. We were back by 7:10am. I went to the sofa and snuggled up with a fist full of pillows and the purple throw. I was out pretty quickly. I might’ve woken two or three times but only briefly. Each time I dosed back off. I didn’t wake for good until Mindy got up somewhere near 9am when I heard her pouring coffee. I felt really good and rested. Looking outside was somewhat depressing - the rain, the clouds. The kids eventually upped and asked me to put Bolt, the DVD in. Mindy would be leaving for yoga around 1115am. I needed to be back from my run by then. I headed out for a run around 10:15am. It rained the entire time but only lightly. Mindy had a beach towel waiting by the front door for my soggy return. The kids were gathered in the family room still watching Bolt with neighbors Jake and Makayla. I could muster only a sigh when Mindy left me with a houseful of kids while she headed out for yoga. She figured to be home around 1pm. Bella and Makayla went to the basement to play and I hardly heard a peep from them again. Jacob and Jake were both inside and out. They weren’t difficult either. They tried getting me to come out and play football but there was no way I was heading out in the rain. I stayed in working on my blog. I taught myself how to embed mini-photo albums into my blog, a new, more efficient way to share pics. While doing this and that, I kept a watchful eye on the Michigan Indiana game, and a good game it was. Jacob & Jake played football out in the rain all afternoon. They kept after me as well, but I wouldn’t budge. Not me. I was bent on having a lazy, relaxing football afternoon. Just as I was starting to drift off for another nap, Mindy returned home. While I watched football, Mindy made an apple pie from scratch. She even made her own pie crust. We planned to grill steaks later and have her pie for dessert. Meanwhile, Michigan was very fortunate. They trailed late in the game but rallied in the waning seconds to beat Indiana, the team we play next Saturday night. It was just after 3pm. The Buckeye kick-off was just 30 minutes away. Those 30 minutes went fast. It was game time! Buckeyes got the opening kick-off after Illinois deferred. It started raining soon after kick-off. OSU stadium is no more than a few miles due east of our house, but even still it was raining significantly harder at the stadium than it was at home. There were waterfalls pouring out of the stands and down onto the playing field. I’m still not sure how the heavy stuff missed us. Regardless, the heavy rain changed the game plan dramatically. The Buckeyes kept running the ball straight up the gut. More surprising than the fact that they were running the ball was that they were wildly successful doing it, ripping off 12-13 yards a pop. The Buckeyes won 30-0, our second shut out in a row. Yet as good as we played, there was plenty of room for improvement. And I don’t think anyone would argue that. After the game I walked Ykraps. Tom Clark sent me text message indicating that he was at Barley’s after work. I invited him over. He accepted. And since we planned to grill steaks for dinner, we would share with Tom. Tom arrived about 30 minutes later. He reminded me that Sunday was his birthday. That’s right! I invited him to join me at the Weese memorial golf outing. I lit the grill a few minutes after Tom arrived. And yes, it was still raining. It was dark while I grilled the steaks. And just like the last time I grilled those estra-thick Rib Eyes, and even though they were crispy brown on the outside, they were still dark red in the center. I took them back out for couple more minutes on the grill. This time they turned out perfectly. Moral to the story - under cooked steak is far better than over cooked. You can always throw them back on. We split two giant steaks into three, and then Mindy gave some of hers to Bella. Jacob doesn’t care for steak. He ate something else. Mindy made garden salads too. We enjoyed the steaks and then had a piece of Mindy’s delicious apple pie for dessert. Right after dinner we tuned the TV to the Penn State Iowa game that was just kicking off. Penn State looked dominate early on but couldn’t convert that dominance into points. Consequently, the game remained close throughout. Probably around 9:00pm the neighbors came over, Kenny, Chrissy, Jake and Makayla. We watched the rest of the game together. Tom left after the third quarter and Chrissy & Makayla fell asleep in front of the fireplace. Kenny carried Makayla home. Chrissy had to get up and walk.  Oh yeah, Iowa came from behind and won. We headed for bed soon after the company departed.