No-no Reds - Purple Moss

For the first time in a while, I slept a few minutes past 530a. This, after tempting fate and forcing myself back to sleep after originally waking around 515a. However, aside from serving as banter for my blog, it had no influence on my day. I was downstairs and fully engaged in exercise by 540a. I checked the weather. It was 48 degrees under partly cloudy skies. The forecast, however, called for brilliant sunshine for most of the day. I planned to take my clubs to work in hopes of Wednesday evening golf. After completing my calisthenics, I sipped coffee and returned the internet. Frankie seemed in no hurry to exit her pen. Still sleepin’. I read a brief headline on the Star Tribune’s website predicting that Randy Moss would be a Viking again by day’s end. That was exciting news, although purely speculative at the time. I chose to temper my giddiness until there was official word that it was a done deal. I did my meditation, but unlike most days, instead of moving directly to stretching, I took Frankie outside. She was finally ready. Once outside, she was fairly quick to take care of business. I remembered to put the trash at the curb the night before. They came by early, and while I was out with Frankie. All their flashing lights and the noisy truck had Frankie on full alert. I was back inside and stretching by 625a. After prepping a cup of coffee for Mindy, I took the pug upstairs. Mindy was just getting in the shower. I didn’t get out for my run until 641a – only slightly behind schedule. I ran the full 4.1 mile track and felt great doing it. By the time I finished, the sun had yet to pierce the horizon, but it was getting close. I toted the trash can back to its resting spot before heading inside. Mindy had scrambled eggs ready. It was just Bella this morning, no Jacob. He was at his dad’s, sick and staying home from school. Mindy reminded Bella to come home on the regular bus then left for work. I portioned off some of my scrambled eggs to Frankie before heading upstairs for my shower. Bella was excited to wear her new Justin Bieber shirt to school. I was ready to go by 755a. While Bella gathered all of her school gear, I tidied up the kitchen and then placed the sheet of brownies Mindy bought for my work pot luck on the island so I wouldn’t forget them later. Bella and I headed out for the bus at 758a. And yes, we took Frankie along too. I gave the girls the last of the ‘stale’ bread to feed the ducks ahead of the bus’ arrival. I shared with Kenny that I planned to take my golf clubs to work just in case the guys wanted to golf afterwards. Promised to text/call with plans by mid-afternoon. Frankie & I headed back home where I loaded my golf clubs and brownies into the Trooper. I was going to continue listening to my CD book during my commute in, but on second thought, I decided to tune into ESPN radio to see if they might be talking about the potential Randy Moss trade. As hoped, they were. They made it sound as if it were a done deal. However, they qualified the trade as eminent, but not yet a signed deal. I did a fist pump, obviously thrilled with the Vikings aggressive move. I arrived a couple minutes after 830a. A peer commented about my brownies on the elevator ride up. I joked that it took more time to shrink wrap and print the Pillsbury logo than anything else. My peer and I spent a good portion of the early morning in our boss’s office jaw-jacking, some of it work related and some not. Regardless, it was time well spent. The pot luck was slated to begin around noon. The theme was a chili cook-off, which we typically have once or twice each year. Same guy’s won it three or four times in a row. Word had it that there were 11 or 12 entries this go-round. I didn’t want to make a pig of myself at the potluck, and really wasn’t overly concerned if I missed it entirely. Bob I. emailed early on that he wanted to golf Thursday instead of Wednesday this week. Because of that, I thought I might go to the driving range at lunch and get more familiar with my new irons. Before doing that, however, I took my brownies down to the cafeteria where the potluck was set-up. While down there, I couldn’t resist trying some of the chili, and also the opportunity to socialize a little. I was very careful about my portions. I might’ve tried 5 or 6 of the chilies but only in very small quantities. There were two I really liked. Earlier, my boss told me which number his was, but I am not even sure if I tried his. Before heading back to my office I talked with two folks down from our Ann Arbor, MI. office. We knew some of the same folks from years past. I took one of my brownies back to my office. Yum-yum! I left for the driving range at 1p. Out the door, I was happy to find nothing but blue skies overhead and the temperature warm, and approaching 70. The range was sparsely populated, but it is fall, a time of year when few are thinking about tuning up their golf game. I bought a regular bucket for $8. The one thing I don’t care for at Able’s golf center is their lack of target greens/ flags near the grass tee area they typically have roped off for practice. Again, my sole intention today was to spend time getting to know my new irons. Despite playing with them for 27 holes, I really don’t have a good bead on their feel and optimum distance. I started with my sand wedge and hit about ten balls. I found myself tinkering constantly with my stance, grip and ball positioning, which is never good on the course. I hit the SW about 90 yards on average, which is about 10-15 yards further than my old irons. Unlike most range trips, I moved from the SW to my new 4 iron. Even though it’s noticeably lighter and shorter, I was inconsistent with it. Some went straight, left, and right. But when struck solidly, we’re looking at about 180-190 not accounting for roll/bounce. Not bad. Like my old set, I probably felt most comfortable and more consistent with my new 6-iron. I was hitting it about 165. I reckon it a byproduct of my strong grip, but my typical ball flight with all my irons has a draw, which is great until it morphs into a runaway hook. The hook, I’ve noticed, typically appears once fatigue sets in, and when I start hitting ball after ball without too much time in between swings. And once it comes on, I can’t do much to correct it. For the last ten balls I got out my new Rescue 3. That was a mistake. I hit it poorly every time. In contrast, the few times I’ve hit it on the course I’ve gotten decent results. Gone about 45 minutes, I headed back to work. It was just before 2p when I got back to my office. I got a text from Kenny around 150p asking about golf. Responded that it was looking like Thursday instead. At 3pm I went to check on the potluck leftovers. Very few of my store bought brownies were eaten. That would bode well for Bella, who asked me to bring some home if there were leftovers. They were so many desserts available. Tons of cookies, pies, cakes, etc. I took what was left of the brownies back to my office. Lots of stories regarding the Randy Moss acquisition, which was now official. Talked with Mindy around 430p. Said Jacob was home and feeling a whole lot better. She was in the process of making dinner. Asked if I was hungry given the work potluck. Often times, I’ll pass on dinner after eating too much at one of these events. She was making those yummy flaming chicken breasts. I shared that I tempered my consumption considerably and would, in fact, be eating dinner. I also shared the VM message I received from Lindsey earlier detailing that Landon got four stitches in his head after Rocky ‘accidentally’ cracked him with a 5lb weight (dumb bell). Good grief! Mindy thought she might give her a call to learn more about the incident. I left work for home sometime just after 530p. It was a beautiful autumn evening – blue skies and about 70 degrees. Jacob looked 100 times better than he did the day before. But even more proof was the fact that he was back to his tormenting ways. Bella was happy that I brought the leftover brownies home. Dinner was up a few minutes after I got settled in. By then, I had Thursday’s coffee ready for the go and all my stuff put away. Along with the flaming chicken, Mindy reheated those fresh green beans she made on Sunday. Dinner was scrumptious. Bella headed off to Makayla’s as soon as she was done. Jacob, meanwhile, pleaded with Mindy to let him go to soccer practice tomorrow after school, but Mindy wasn’t having it. She felt it smarter to stay home and rest after being so ill the past two days. Made sense to me too, but I refrained from chiming in. Maturity! After dinner, I headed to the PC to get an update on the Red’s first playoff game. It wasn’t pretty. After 4 innings, we were losing 4-0 and had no base hits. After clean-up, Mindy and Jacob asked me to play Apples to Apples. I reluctantly agreed, preferring instead to play guitar or read. We played two games. Jacob & I each won one. Bella got home around 8p. We noticed right away that she was in a different shirt – not her new Justin Bieber shirt. I told her to go back and get it. She refused due to darkness. Mindy agreed to walk with her after a dramatic display. During our game playing, Jacob took Frankie out twice, once to pee, and the second to poop. Little wonder why she has the occasional accident inside. He stays out with her for less than a minute each time. She needs time to contemplate her surroundings as well as her next move. Mindy & Bella were home in a jiffy, only this time Bella was in her Bieber shirt. Mindy had Bella get a shower. During the break, I checked the Reds score again. Not only had they lost, but they were no hit, too – only the second such occurrence in baseball playoff history. The last time being 1956. Not a good game for Reds fans. Glad I didn’t watch. Once Bella finished her shower, we played another game of Apples to Apples. Both kids are getting far better, although Bella struggles with reading many of the words. Jacob’s only downfall is that he doesn’t know who most of the people are, so one needs to keep that in mind when submitting answers for him to evaluate. He won the final match. We tucked two happy kids into bed around 9p. Downstairs, I tuned into the Science channel and watched something like - Wonders of the Universe. Good show. Brian Cox was the host. I like him. Mindy headed to bed just after 930p. I stayed up a short while longer.