Water World

I was up on time after a really good night of sleep. The early AM sky, while still dark, presented a mix of clouds and clearing. The temperature was 53 degrees. I made a mental note to lighten my running attire a bit later. After exercise and coffee I took Frankie outside, and I am happy to report that she took care of her business fairly quick. Back inside I enjoyed more coffee and filled Frankie’s food bowl. She ate almost all of it in one setting. It was 610a by the time I got to meditation and stretching where I spent just over 20 minutes combined. I took coffee and the pug upstairs to Mindy before heading out on my run. I wore a thin, long sleeved wicking shirt under my pullover fleece. That proved much more comfortable than my attire from the day before. I ran the full 4.1 mile track, and felt really good throughout. – loose and limber. This was trash day. Before heading back inside I pulled the can back to its resting spot beside the garage. I tossed in the most recent “trash” new paper left on my driveway. We must get four or five of those each week. Never read ‘em. A waste of money on me. Inside, Mindy had my breakfast ready. Bella wasn’t yet downstairs. Jacob, however, was. We all seemed to hurry through breakfast. Bella had doughnuts once she made it downstairs. She looked cute in one of her new Justice outfits. Mindy had to remove a hidden tag from the jeans. Mindy quickly quizzed Bella on most of her spelling words. Because Friday would be a ‘no school’ day, her spelling test would be today (Thursday). Mindy left for school just after 730a. Five minutes later I headed up for a shower. Just before Jacob headed downstairs to ready for departure I heard him giving Frankie holy hell for crapping in his room. Damn it! What’s up with this dog? I had half a mind to pen her up but thought better of it. I took her out to the bus stop with us anyway. Kenny was out with the girls and Woody. The dogs barely wrestled. Not sure what was up with that. Talked about Wednesday (last evening's) golf and whether Kenny would be able to golf next Saturday, the 23rd. Nope, out of town for a NASCAR race. The bus arrived on time - 805a. I headed back home with Frankie. We didn’t bother walking around back given that she pooped in Jacob’s room only ten minute prior. I left for work in the Trooper at 815a. It was a lovely fall drive into work. I had toyed with picking up some playground mulch at lunch for use around the treehouse, but decided to push it out a week or so. I'd have to pick-up Dad's trailer ahead of time. The morning at work went well. Sometime near 10a I called the XM radio folks after getting a prerecorded message from their billing department the evening before stating something about calling to prevent our service being interrupted. I was sure they had screwed something up ... again! The young girl, Lea, was helpful but also confused. I could tell she was 'off shore'. I had to explain the entire scenario, which I thought was resolved with them this past Monday. Once we hung up we were both happy. She said to disregard any future VM's similar to that one. I made plans to run a couple errands at lunch. First, I planned to stop at Advanced Auto Parts to buy some carb cleaner to try and clean out the exhaust port on my EGR valve. According to many, the reason why my check engine light remains on. They will also do the diagnostic meter thing free of charge. To that end I left the office just after 1pm. Well, wouldn't you know, for the first time in months, the check engine light did not come on. I had to laugh. That’s just too damn funny! No sense treating a tooth that doesn’t ache. Errand number 2 was a trip to Home Depot to get the paint for the tree house trim. That went smoothly. While they mixed the desired color, I perused light bulbs checking out the latest greatest lighting technology as well as the pricing. Still don’t have dimmable fluorescents for some of our smaller feature lighting fixtures. I almost forgot about needing a new shower head for our bathroom. Once again, we’re having all sorts of water related issues/failures of late. just yesterday, Mindy pointed out that our removable shower head was leaking severely. It’s one of those that’s attached to the end of a 6’ foot hose that mounts on the end of the shower arm. I found one I liked reasonably priced - $40! That lead me to picking up a new (better) ice maker line, too. You may recall, last Saturday I discovered that it was leaking where it goes into the back of fridge during that whole coffee maker crisis. I bought a metal mesh water line, the best they have - $21. By the time I left Home Depot, I had dropped a little more than $80. Always something sucking my money away. I headed back to work just after 2pm. The check engine light remained off, by the way. Hmmm? I’ve been looking at new cars, but if I can get another reliable year out of the Trooper I’d be tickled pink. The key word being ‘reliable’. The afternoon went smoothly. Mindy called around 330p, or just after leaving school. She asked me about dinner, specifically if I wanted spaghetti. She reminded me that it would be just her, Bella, and I. Jacob would be at soccer practice. We talked for a few more minutes. I left work for home just after 530p. And wouldn’t you know it, my check engine light came on again. Now that there’s funny Clark! I arrived home just before 6pm. I shared my check engine light story with Mindy. She found it as ironic/funny as I. She was making chicken of some sort. I asked how long before dinner. 10-15 minutes, she replied. That was plenty enough time to replace the shower head in the master bath. I took a few tools, including some Teflon tape and some WD-40, and headed up. It didn’t take long to install the new shower head/hose. I read the directions just to make sure I did everything right. Good plan bringing along the Teflon tape. Recommended for the shower stem connection. Initially, the new shower head leaked at both ‘hand tighten’ only junctions. I tightened both a bit more snug, but still without the aid of wrench. Happily, the leaking stopped. Yeah! Job complete. Bella came up to alert me of dinner just as I finished. She headed back downstairs just ahead of me. I heard her giving Frankie the dickens for pooping in the livingroom. What? Are you kidding me. Twice now in one day? What is wrong with this dog? Mindy rushed in to whisk Frankie away just as I was coming down the steps. She was giving her an earful. I insisted on doing so only within eyeshot of the poop, lest she not realize why she was being scolded. At first Mindy didn’t want to but ultimately agreed. I gave Frankie a stern 'No' and tap on her snout. Mindy penned her during our dinner. The boneless chicken breast was really good, although given my druthers, I would’ve preferred her blazin’ buffalo chicken recipe. She made green beans and brown rice, too. Throughout dinner, Frankie whined from her nearby pen, and of course, Bella wanted to free her. Not until after our dinner, I declared. She needs to be remorseful and learn. Bella was also bummed because of the waning daylight. No time to play after dinner anymore. Too dark. Seizing a perfect opportunity, we began quizing her knowledge of time. She’s still struggling with hours and minutes – typical of a new 2nd grader. I finished dinner clean-up by 7pm. It was time for Bella to do her daily reading aloud. I asked her to read to me while I edited/updated my blog. We did that for the next 15-20 minutes. Jacob got home from soccer practice during her reading exercise. After finishing up the reading I prepped the hot tub with chemicals. During dinner clean-up, we agreed to hot tub. Jacob was hungry and asked Mindy to make him some nachos. Bella and I headed out and got in the hot tub while Jacob ate his nachos. Mindy joined us five minutes later, and Jacob ten minutes later. We hadn’t been in the hot tub, all four of us, for a couple of years. It was quite relaxing. Took some photos above and below water. Gotta love my submersible camera. After hot tubbing I was very relaxed. I watched some of the Thursday night college football game – WVU vs. USF. I used it more as a relaxing/sleeping aid. I dosed off in a hurry. I remember Mindy waking me to tell me she was going to bed. I stayed up for another 30-40 minutes. I used the term ‘stayed up’ loosely. 