Home on the Range

I was up on time and then quickly engaged in my morning exercise routine. Looked like another gorgeous day was in the offing. It was already 60 degrees under clear skies. I took care of my eyes in and amongst everything else. At 630am, after meditation and stretching, I stopped just short of waking Mindy after remembering she had no reason to be up early. Both she and the kids were off today for Good Friday. They planned on going to COSI sometime later in the day. It was daybreak a mile or so into my run. I ran four miles and felt terrific. Back at home I went about making my breakfast while everyone else remained asleep. I decided to spice up my breakfast a little by frying some of the leftover scalloped potatoes that I found in the fridge to have along with my eggs. Apparently the smell woke Bella who came downstairs briefly but still half asleep. She uttered something about me waking her up then headed back upstairs. I took Mindy coffee when I headed up for a shower. I was showered, dressed, and ready by 755am. Mindy shared that Bella complained that I woke her earlier with my cooking by tempting her sniffer. We both got a good chuckle out of that. I headed off to work at 815am. I already knew the work day was gonna be tough. My peers were either off on vacation or on holiday. My team and I were pretty much on our own. Things got dicey in a hurry, but I expected it. It was such a gorgeous day outside. I forced myself to getaway for lunch. But instead of going for fast food, I went to the driving range to work on my golf swing. In route, I made sure to take a closer look at the backyard tree house that caught my eye a couple weeks ago. I hope to build the kids something similar this spring. We'll see. The range was predictably crowded. Despite the lovely weather, I chose to hit from the enclosed tees. I bought a large bucket for $8 and worked almost exclusively on my irons starting from sand wedge and working up to my 3-iron. I took my time, making sure to swing properly. I moved through my short iron progression quickly making solid contact with most. By the time I reached my mid-irons I was warmed up. I was able to strike the mid-irons with far greater success than I have lately on the course, and without a single weak slice. I’d say that half of my 6-iron shots were like the “old Jimmy”. I worked down to my 3-iron making decent contact on most. Still with 15-20 balls left in my bucket I eventually smacked a few with my driver, but went back to work on my 6-iron to finish. I left encouraged, but not over-confident. I got back to the office around 2pm. I was looking forward to eating my packed vegetables and tuna. I was really hungry. I’d be on-call over the Easter weekend, but did my best to not let that detour my excitement. The weather was expected to be superb with high’s both days in the 70s. The afternoon breezed along. I felt fortunate that most of the day’s crises were well-managed and/or resolved before I left the office for home. I packed up my gear and departed at 515pm. The house was quiet and clean upon my arrival, and the kids were already gone with their daddy. Mindy updated me on the Honda. They confirmed that they had the right part in but that we wouldn’t have it back until Monday afternoon. Let’s hope so. Meanwhile, I really needed to decompress – put the work week behind me. No better way to accomplish that than to take a nap. I did so from the livingroom recliner, but not before setting up my work laptop at my desk. It took a while to fall asleep, but slept much longer than I anticipated. It was almost 7pm when I woke up. I was in a quiet mood. Mindy appeared already prepared to head to Barley’s. It took me a few minutes to spruce myself up and tend to my eyes. We must’ve headed out near 720pm. Pat Shultz stopped by on his way to pick-up the Friday night pizza. We invited he and Lisa to meet us at Barley’s. We left in the Trooper shortly thereafter. A few regulars were scattered around the bar. Amongst them, Steve Wonn and Barely Dan. We had to take stools a few seats down. They had Hoptopus on tap for the first time in a while. I went with one of those. Not sure what Mindy ordered. The Hoptopus was good. Mindy was ready to order food early on. I was not, but planned to later. When Mindy ordered food, I ordered another beer. We eventually moved to a couple vacated barstools closer to our pals. Mindy talked with Christa. Mindy’s food arrived, a brisket sandwich. It looked delicious. I picked at the large pile of beef stacked high on the bun. In fact, I had enough of that that I didn’t feel the need to order any food of my own. Mindy suggested we not stay too late. I agreed but wanted one more beer. This time I went with a Maharaja. Superb! I picked up this week’s Barley tab. We headed for home, the time still in front of 10pm. Once at home, I wanted to go hang out with Kenny for a while. Mindy, on the other hand, wanted to go to bed. She made it fairly clear that she wasn’t too excited about me going without her. But the thing is, she goes down and hangs with the neighbors a couple times each week. I rarely if ever do during the week. I poured a beer and carried another then headed next door. Sounded Like Mike & Teri were having some fun too, only outside on their patio. I chatted with Kenny, Chrissy, and Mike (not neighbor Mike) for a short bit before heading down to neighbor Mike’s with Makayla. In the meantime, I sent Chrissy after Mindy. I visited with Mike, Teri, and their friends for about ten minutes. I was really surprised to see Mindy drinking a glass of wine when I got back to Kenny & Chrissy’s. She openly shared the source of her angst with the neighbors. We hung with the neighbors until 11-1130, not that late, really.