Balmy

For the fifth day in a row, I was up as planned. Because it was so humid and steamy, I couldn't see out any of the downstairs windows. I wondered if it was raining or had rained. But after opening the back door to the deck I could see the star filled sky. It was awfully warm and humid for 530am – already 72 degrees. I completed my calisthenics and then took Frankie out. She & I are both getting back into our preferred routine. I’ll have it no other way. As I often do, I made my way out to the Sparky flower bed to check on the snapping turtle eggs. I’m thinking they’re gonna hatch anytime now. For now, however, they’re still covered and undisturbed. I’d have to look back in my blog to find the date when I saw the mother laying and burying her eggs. Inside I moved pretty quickly to meditation. Frankie, meanwhile, went for her toys and started barking at them. She does that sometimes. It was only a minor distraction. I was able to meditate through her unprovoked noise. During my stretch Frankie ran off with my ballcap. I had to coax the little plastic, formerly material covered button from her mouth – the one that rests at the very pinnacle. After lubing up well, I headed out for my run. It was almost 640am when I dashed out the door. It was a good run, completed in about 35 minutes. I thought that I might have to wake Mindy but I didn’t. She was already up and showered. She had a school related meeting (retreat) planned and needed to be there by 8-830am. The kids would be spending the day with Gloria. When I went to check on Mindy, she asked that I make her an egg. OK – poof, you’re an egg!  Bella was already up, too. She came downstairs with me and eventually requested a well-done fried egg, too. I fried up four in total - two for me, and one for both Mindy & Bella. Jacob, I think, was up but not yet downstairs. He cam downstairs just before I was heading up for a shower. He took Frankie out for another walk while Mindy readied everything for her school day. Mindy had a bounce in her step. I could tell that she was excited for the day ahead. The family departed while I was showering. It was a bit unusual haivng the house all to myself ahead of 8am. I was ready to go by 753am. I had golf provisions on board (clothes and clubs). I drove the BM’er. It was a gorgeous morning. The forecast called for sunshine and 90, a common occurrence this summer. I arrived at work well ahead of 830am. All told, it was a fairly quiet morning. I’ll take that! The day ran smoothly. Because the possibility of late afternoon golf existed, I didn’t plan on taking a formal lunch. Never once did I bother reaching out to my playing partners figuring they would contact me if they planned to play. I never did hear from either of them. I called my doctor’s office just ahead of 4pm to check on my h.pylori test. Still not in. And honestly, I was a little taken back at their laisser-faire attitude. The young lady on phone said she had no idea who told me it would be back today. Usually takes a while. I corrected her and shared that they said it would be back Wednesday. I suggested they call me when the result was in. But she nixed that too, citing that it always better for us to call them. What a %^&*. I took my Dexilant sometime shortly after 4pm again. I ended up at the office until 545pm. I called Mindy just before I left to let her know I was running behind. She shared how much she enjoyed her day and new principal. My drive home was peaceful and fun. It was warm and sunny – still around 90 degrees. Mindy was busy putting the finishing touches on dinner - spaghetti and meatballs. I kidded her about trying to kill my stomach. It looked and smelt terrific. She made a fresh garden salad too. The kids shared a few highlights from their day with Gloria: went to Minelli’s for lunch, made fudge. The spaghetti & meatballs was good. I was a clean platter. As an act of kindness, Mindy suggested that she would clean-up dinner thus allowing me to head out to water our flowers that were showing signs of distress. I agreed, but was also up front about needing/wanting to rest for a few before heading out. I read and napped for 20-25 minutes. The entire time I was reading/napping, Jacob was bugging his mom incessantly about getting access to the internet via his iTouch for apps. Both Mindy & I were reluctant finding it hard to see anything positive or good in his request. Instead, we encouraged him to go out and play, ride his bike, skate board, something, anything physical. He was persistent. I headed out to water taking care of the upper deck pots and baskets first. They were even drier than I assumed. I was a little surprised given number of heavy showers we’ve had already this week. I noticed that the hot tub was down about 4 inches, too. Geesh, in just 5 days. Before I was done, I had watered all the flowers out back, topped off the hot tub, and picked the ripe tomatoes. Mindy came out as I was finishing up asking if I cared to join her on a walk with Frankie. I passed. She asked why the long face. I was frustrated with our ravaged landscape, despite my effort and hard work. While Mindy, the kids, and dog were off on their walk I updated my blog through Tuesday of this week and even had time to add several pictures, too. It felt good to spend an hour or so blogging. At the same time, I decided to go ahead and add our wireless network after all to Jacob’s iTouch so that he could browse apps. His iTouch was dead so I recharged it as well. Mindy and the kids got back home around 9pm. I handed Jacob his iTouch. He was most grateful for my efforts. Remembering that there was an NFL preseason game underway on ESPN, I moved to the family room to catch some, if not all, of it. The game, Baltimore and Carolina was already halfway into the 2nd quarter. Just after halftime Troy Smith came in for Carolina. Looks like he’s in great shape. I watched the game as long as I could stay awake. Mindy headed for bed sometime after 10pm. I joined her there around 11pm.