What's in the Stars for You?

I was a bit more careful with my time calculations. I was up right at 5:30am. I felt extra groggy getting started, perhaps because I woke directly from a heavily dreamy state. It didn’t take long for me to come around, though. I checked the temperature after sit-ups. It was only 50 degrees. But before heading out with Ykraps I whipped out my 50 push-ups. I wore a jacket to combat the chill. It felt even cooler than 50 due in part to a stiff, gusty breeze. Gusts to 40 mph were forecasted. I didn’t bother waking Mindy, who was taking a sick day. I hoped she still planned on getting the kids up and ready. That typically takes place while I’m out on my morning run. I had plenty of time to relax, meditate, and stretch before my run. I felt really good, too. However, I worried about my knee, and how it might hold up during the run. Dressing for my run, I wore long running pants and two wicking shirts in lieu of a jacket. That worked well – not too warm and not too cold. To my surprise, I didn’t have a bit of trouble with my knee, at least beyond psychological. A mile or so into it, I was successfully able to cast it out of my mind and focus on other things. I did the full four miles. Mindy was up with the kids when I got back, but after preparing eggs for Bella and I she headed back to bed. I took it from there, but that’s how the morning typically unfolds anyhow. After finishing breakfast I headed up for my shower. Mindy asked me to stop back up to see her after getting the kids on the bus and before leaving for work. I agreed. The kids were on the bus and I was back at home by 8:03am. As requested, I stopped up to say goodbye to Mindy. She asked me to reconsider staying home one more time. I couldn’t do it. No offense, but if I am gonna take a ‘sanity-sick day’ it’s gonna be a day when I can stay home alone and accomplish a goal of sorts. I advised Mindy that she needed to do just that herself – spend a day alone. I left for the office at 8:10am. The workday was busy from go. At some point during the day while chatting with my boss, I reminded him that I had three vacation day requests still pending, and that one of them was for this coming Friday. He’s typically pretty lax on reviewing such requests in a timely fashion. He apologized and agreed to review and approve. Cool. My Friday vacation was approved! I am hoping to golf, but the forecast doesn’t look good. Rain’s predicted. I didn’t bother taking a lunch, but did take a few minutes to draft an email to ex-Kelly to discuss some Lindsey related matters. I tried calling her first (twice to be exact) but she wasn’t taking my calls, or calling me back. When I spoke with Mindy during my drive home I expressed my desire to cut the lawn. Almost on queue, it started to sprinkle (dammit!), although Mindy claimed it wasn’t doing so at home. She said that it wouldn’t present a problem if I wanted to cut the grass immediately and then eat dinner later. She was making stuffed peppers and the longer they cook the better. Plus, Jacob would be at soccer practice with his daddy until after 730pm. Cool! As soon as I got home, and after walking Ykraps, I headed out to mow the lawn. I changed into sweat pants, long-sleeved t-shirt, and a fleece. It was getting cooler by the minute and the wind was still gusting. No sign of summer whatsoever. I decided to skip whacking and edging. I’d feel good if I could simply get the mowin’ and blowin’ done. The walnut trees out back dropped a mother load of nuts this year making for tough sledding along the pond. Given the slope, it’s tough enough to cut when it’s clean and dry. I worked up one heck of sweat mowing back there despite the autumn chill. Just as I was finishing up the push mowing, neighbor Becky came over with a pumpkin beer in hand – a gift for mowing part of their property that she missed. Can’t recall the brewer but it’s one I hadn’t seen before. Everybody’s brewing pumpkin beer these days. She mentioned that David just got back form the Great American brew fest in Denver. Much like me, David’s a real beer connoisseur. Always has a different brand/style in his hand. I thanked Becky for the beer and continued on with the mowing dragging out the tractor for the easy part. After the mowing I blew off the front drive, walks, and lawn. And because the grass was so thick and long there were lots of clippings to blow and disperse. By the time I was finished, addressing my hunger was first and foremost on my mind. It was 7:15pm. Because I didn’t whack and edge, I wasn’t covered in grass clippings, which meant I didn’t need to shower before dinner. And that sweat I worked up while push mowing had already evaporated. Get in my belly! Mindy plated up some stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes for all three of us. They were delicious. I ate two stuffed peppers. Jacob and Jimaken got home around 7:40pm – just as we were cleaning up our dinner dishes. Feeling generous, we packaged up a stuffed pepper for Jimaken to take home. I can’t recall if Jacob ate one or not. Thanks to the mowing, it was already 8pm by the time the kitchen was cleaned up after dinner. Mindy mentioned feeling considerably better after her ‘hooky’ day. She headed upstairs to get the kids bathed and ready for bed. I changed into my PJs and then spent 30 minutes updating my blog. At 8:30pm I headed to the sofa and tuned into the History Channel HD to watch my new favorite show, The Universe. Tuesday’s episode took me through an in-depth look at the creation and life of stars, the Milky Way, and other galaxies - where they were and where they’re going. It was very cool. One small tidbit – there are about 400 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milk Way, alone. And, there are millions, if not billions of other galaxies out there beyond us. Mindy & I were both perplexed at the conclusions scientist were able to draw about stars, not to mention the origin of our universe, simply from studying various star clusters. Mindy had enough and headed for bed after The Universe. I stayed up to watch the succeeding program – a scientific account of the San Andreas Fault. I found it equally fascinating, but eventually became overcome with a case of the sleepies. Plus, Mindy came to the balcony and called me to bed. I joined her five minutes later.