Olivia Sings to Good Beer!

Remembering that Olivia would be over around 730am, I rolled out of bed just after 630am to get the day underway. Mindy didn’t budge, but I didn’t expect her too either. I started some coffee then exercised before freeing Frankie. We headed out for our first walk in the back yard just after 645am. It was plenty warm and incredibly sticky. Way more clouds than sunshine. Ashley and Olivia showed up around 720am or while Frankie and I were busy playing on the family room floor. Olivia was excited to see Frankie. After Ashley headed off for work, Olivia and I took Frankie out for a second walk. Olivia didn’t care for the wet grass. She’s such a girly girl. We played outside and watched TV for the next couple of hours. Mindy didn’t get up until 10am. At that point Olivia and I were watching a Dora DVD, one of her favorites. After having some coffee, Mindy agreed to keep and eye on Olivia while I did my Saturday morning run. It must’ve been approaching 1030am when I finally headed out. It might’ve sprinkled a bit here and there, but all in all I stayed pretty dry. Sometime after 11am I found my way home. Mindy & Olivia were busy surfing the Kohl’s flier from the sofa. Olivia shared what she wanted to buy for her mom & dad, all of it was $9 in her world. Very cute! Mindy painted Olivia’s toe nails before heading up to take a shower. Ashley showed up to fetch Olivia around 1230pm. We hung out together talking on the deck for maybe 15 minutes before Ashley and Olivia departed. Before heading out to do some yard chores, I met Mindy in the guest bedroom to quickly go through some of the closet’s contents, deciding what was trash and what to save. She’s in the process of moving Jacob into the spare room, and then making his old room the new guest bedroom. I spent about 30 minutes helping out. Before heading out to my yard work, I headed to the garage to drill holes through an old hard drive and some old floppy discs that were in that closet. I destroyed an old laptop too. Finally free, I headed out to address some yard chores with my primary goal to cut down the wild grapevines growing quickly up through the honey suckle and stream-side walnut trees. Left to themselves, they can quickly take over and even kill a tree. I’ve cut them back several times over the years, two years ago being the last time. You can never get rid of them fully, however. Their intricate root system travels along the water’s edge and can re-grow from even the smallest remaining root structure. I disappeared into the honey suckle for about an hour. The vines are sometimes difficult to discern from the trees and bushes. The under growth is so thick that it makes navigation a challenge, too. I think I got most of them. Mindy hollered out back that she had made me a sandwich. After finishing the trimming, I headed in to enjoy half of it. Originally thinking the yard too wet for mowing, I decided that it was dry enough to give it a go, but I would have to use the push mower more than usual. I chose to push mow before trimming & edging for a change. While I mowed the lawn Mindy headed off to Target to get more organizational supplies. I spent the next couple of hours mowing, edging, and blowing. The lawn looked pretty good when I finished. Still with plenty of time on my hands, I decided to trim back some of the honey suckle growing rapidly up and around the shed. And while I had the hedge trimmers out, I contoured the lone bush growing at the base of our large ash tree, too. That thing was growing out of control. Both tasks are on my list every spring/summer. I heard a few rumbles of distant thunder as I trimmed the bushes and carted the carnage off to the compost pile. Not 15 minutes after I finished a big ol’ thunders storm moved in with the heaviest rain I’ve seen all season. It was running off our roof top like a waterfall. Glad I got the yard chores done when I did. I waited to take a shower, not wanting to risk getting injured from lightning. There was even a tornado warning to our northeast. It rained hard for about an hour. After the storm moved past, I headed for a shower. It was now 530pm. The Memorial tournament on the tube, play had just resumed after a lengthy rain delay. I was eager to watch some of it. However, at the same time, Mindy asked if we could make a quick trip to Sherwin Williams to pick-up a gallon of white paint for the closet. Said they close at 6pm. We left the house for the Grandview Sherwin Williams at 540pm arriving ten minutes later. What? A sign on the door said they were closed. Hours of operation only until 5pm on Saturday’s. Definitely not in sync with their own website. Mindy wasn't happy about that. The trip wasn't a total loss, however. With Gentile's just down the road, I suggested we make a pit stop for some good beer before heading back home. I was hoping to pick-up some of Great Lakes newest offering, Monster DIPA or Southern Tier’s newest, 2XIPA. They had neither. Said they can’t get the Monster yet. We picked up four 6-packs: a Southern Tier Hop infused wheat, Avery Stout, Two Brothers Resistance IPA, and Great Lakes Commodore Perry. Yum-yum. We headed for home discussing diner options. I wasn’t in favor of dinner out, and suggested carry-out gyros. Mindy suggested Minelli’s pizza. Sounded good to me. We both opened one of our new beers as soon as we got home. Then, while walked Frankie out back, Mindy ordered a pizza. We drove the ¼ mile to pick-up the pizza 15 minutes later. Frankie went along for the ride. Speaking of Frankie, Saturday was a banner day for her. She finally conquered going up stairs making it up both sets of deck stairs from the yard without any assistance. Still won’t go down ‘em, though. At home we enjoyed pizza and more beer. I tried each of the three that I picked out. I like the Two Brothers Resistance IPA the best. As darkness set in, Mindy & I got in the hot tub for the first time in 8 months. Felt terrific! Afterwards, we watched a PBS special about the Ed Sullivan show complete with clips of famous musical performances, many of which I remember seeing as a young child. Great throw back. Both of us tired, we headed for bed before 11pm.