Hot Tub's Up & Runnin' ... Again

I got up shortly before Mindy. It was something like 610am. I headed downstairs to start some coffee since I failed to prep it the night before. What can I say, it felt like a weekend to me. I opened Frankie’s pen but she chose to linger. No worries. I left her there while I made coffee. She crawled out while I rinsed out the coffee pot and sat watching me. Short on coffee, I headed to the basement for another container. I returned only to find Frankie peeing under the dining room table. I was angry. I took her out immediately, but the damage was already done. I guess my four day weekend would begin with cleaning up puppy pee. I kicked the intensity level down a notch or two heading back inside. I was determined to enjoy my time off. I did my morning calisthenics, meditation, and stretching just like any other morning. I played on the PC while waiting on Mindy and the kids to come down, and then more so after Mindy left for school. I didn’t plan to run until the kids were safely on the school bus. Meanwhile, it looked like another gorgeous day in the offing with forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures soaring into the mid 80’s. Mindy joked around about me joining her for lunch, but I had an aggressive agenda as it was. After my run, I planned to replace the hot tub heater and possibly even stain the loose deck benches. I needed to book our tee time too. Kenny and I talked about 130pm. The kids were on the bus at their usual time. Promised Kenny we’d hook up later. I headed back home to ready for my run, but took Frankie out one more time first. Good move! She did both # 1 & 2. I ran just three miles wanting to leave some gas in my legs for golf. It was an easy three miles under ideal conditions. I ran comfortably without a shirt. Take that Chris Spielman! Back at home I wasted little time getting organized for replacing the hot tub heater. I left Frankie out on the deck while I did the work. It must’ve taken about an hour to finish the job completely. It’s a rather simple task, but the tight quarters made it a bit more difficult. I was eager to fill it with water and give it a test run. It’s been out of commission since late last fall. While the hot tub filled I gathered up the stain, brush and drop cloth and got the three redwood benches stacked for staining. I had to shew Frankie away from the stain a time or two. The last time tapping her behind so she’d get the NO message. She got it! It took about 20-30 minutes to fill the hot tub. By then I had two of the benches stained. Time to power up the tub. Fingers crossed, I plugged in the external disconnect. Voila! It appeared that we were back in business. The water temp was a cold 72 degrees. It would take a number of hours to get up to the normal operating range – about 102. Another problem is a slow leak. It also has a siphoning problem that can drain it overnight. I really should’ve cleaned out the bottom as there is quite a bit of grit in the very bottom. I’ll do that after it runs good for a solid week. While refilling, I discovered that the filter is damaged too. It’ll need replacing as soon as possible, but again, only after proving it in good working order. A new filter runs about $80. I don’t want to buy a new one if the tub is toast. At that point, all I could do was wait. I finished the staining then put all of my tools and gear away. It was almost noon, and time to get showered up for golf. I forgot to mention that I made a tee time for 150pm at Phoenix. I called Kenny to confirm who’d be driving. He volunteered. Cool. We made plans to hook up just after 1pm. I made a sandwich and got cleaned up. I was ready to go by 1240pm. I took Frankie out for a backyard walk and then tidied up the kitchen. Kenny pulled up right at 1pm, but just as he was walking up the guy interested in buying his motorcycle called to let him know that they were close and on their way. He was supposed to be there around noon. Kenny wasn’t happy. I told Kenny not to worry about it. I called Phoenix to let them know that we’d be late. The buyer showed up around 130pm. And after a quick exchange of cash and title they were off on the bike and we were on our way to golf. Wahoo! We arrived near our tee time, but it was well after 2pm by the time we tee’d off. Kenny picked up my greens fees. Thanks Kenny! There didn’t appear to be anyone on hole number 1. That made us happy. By the time we tee’d off it had to be 85. There wasn’t a serious cloud in the sky either. I was putting from inside 10’ for par, but missed and bogeyed. Hole #2 is a simple looking par 3, but I rarely play the hole well, especially with my chronic iron troubles. This was no exception. I hit one into the heather between the tee and green. Damn! I hit three from the tee box just right of the green, no doubt over compensating. On in four then a two putt six. I closed out the front with a string of 5s and 6s with a par sprinkled in. I shot a 48. Not great, but not terrible either. The back didn’t start well. Somehow I managed a nine on hole #10 after an OK drive. Not sure what went wrong. Bad chipping and putting. Like the front, I strung together a bunch of 5s and 6s. And like I have all season, I struggle mightily with the par 3s averaging 5.5. My total score was 103. We didn’t finish until 630pm. I phoned Mindy along our drive home. She was keeping an eye on the Chrissy’s girls so she could run Jake to church camp. She was watching Woody too. Kenny called Chrissy. We made a pit stop at the Minelli’s drive-thru for beer. I fetched Mindy a bottle of wine too. Once at home, I was quick to head up to the shower. Mindy came in the back door just as I was heading up after confirming plans to do dinner at Barley’s. I was ready to go 15 minutes later. It was nearing 730pm. We walked Frankie out back before heading off in the Honda. We discussed our holiday weekend plans during our short drive to Barley’s. We have a family birthday party late Saturday afternoon. And Mindy plans on attending a graduation party earlier in the day while I do yard chores. Then there’s another graduation party Sunday afternoon. Mindy wants me to attend that one. All totaled, not a whole lot going on. We made plans to have GD Kaileigh over Saturday night. Bella was really excited about that. Barley’s wasn’t too crowded. It’s getting to be that time of year when the weekend crowds thin with everything else going on. Finally posted their IPA-looza 2010 date, Thursday June 24th. Wahoo! It always seems to fall on the Thursday before we leave for vacation. I ordered a Centennial and sat at the bar while Mindy ran off to talk with friend Calvin and one of his work peeps. Steve Wonn was there as was Scott & Linda. We talked some. We eventually hooked up with neighbors Dave and Becky who frequent Barley’s often too. We ordered food mid-way through our visit, me some KC wings, and Mindy a salad. My second and third beers were West Coast IPAs. I picked up the tab leaving behind a more than generous tip. We headed home around 10pm. We talked about hot tubbing but ended up visiting with the neighbors instead. Mike O. was over too. We got a kick out of Chrissy’s soon-to-be 12 year old son, Jake’s most recent antics. Chrissy apparently entrusted him with her cell phone while at a church bible study, although with strict guidelines on its use. No texting. He sent only 167 while there. Needless to say, Chrissy was furious. Mindy started to dose from the neighbors’ sofa. She asked that we head home. Mid beer, I agreed and we walked home. We headed straight to bed.