Last of the Leaves? Hardly

Vikings uniform of the future?

It was Sunday morning. I slept in until 740am. Before I could slip away, Mindy wanted a hug and then asked me to bring coffee. It was a foggy start to an otherwise partly sunny day with a morning temperature of 37 degrees. Because it was Sunday, I skipped calisthenics. Think of it as my day of rest, sort of. I started coffee then glanced in on Frankie. She showed no sign of wanting up or out. I left her alone and headed to the PC where among other things, I checked on all the late college football scores. Later, while sipping coffee, I checked the local FOX website to see if they planned on airing the Vikings game at 1pm. Appeared not. Frankie started whining a few minutes later. I took that as an indication that she wanted out. She did. I let her frolic about before finally taking her out for a walk around the yard. Can't remember if I took Mindy coffee before or after taking care of Frankie. She was up a little later, I'm guessing by 830am. Said she and the kids were gonna go to church for the first time in a long, long while. I played on the PC for an hour or more doing all sorts of stuff. When Mindy headed to the shower I headed out for my run. It was almost 40 degrees at run time. I wore two wicking shirts in lieu of a pullover fleece. Still wore ear covers and gloves though. I was comfortable throughout the three mile run. Mindy and the kids were gone when I returned. It was warming up quickly. I made myself a turkey and cheese sandwich then attacked a couple to-do's. Most notably, I removed the front of the dryer again to address the "squealing wheel", the same one we thought we fixed a couple weeks ago. It was squeaking so loud on Saturday that I asked Mindy not to do anymore drying while we were home. This time I used some thicker white grease as well as another dose of WD-40. I took the back off and did the other, hard to reach wheel too, although the squeaking was coming from the other. I vacuumed out all the lint that's amassed inside the dryer cavity over the years too. Before sliding the dryer back into position, I cleaned the tile, wall, and woodwork really well. During an extended test run it didn't squeak even once. It was already approaching noon. I was expecting Mindy and the kids anytime. Honestly, I wasn't that motivated, but the weather was absolutely superb. I just had to get out in the yard and work on the last of the fallen tree leaves in the back yard as well as trimming back a few more shrubs. Unfortunately, I'll need to get out yet again, though, to pick-up or blow away the last of the honeysuckle leaves once they finally fall. They're only about half empty now. Kenny, I noticed, was out with his Billy Goat sucking up the last of his leaves and also cutting down his tall ornamental grasses. I like to leave the ornamental grasses up all winter long allowing their puffy plumes to flow in the winter breeze. I blew our leaves into an area about 10'X 20' and then raked them onto a tarp. I used the electric hedge trimmers on the large honeysuckle growing up and around one of our specimen ash trees. The kids, meanwhile, were out playing in and around the tree house after their return from church. I cut back some old dead honeysuckle close to the tree house. Some of it as wide as 6 inches in diameter. The kids used it to build a fort. In fact, it was boys against girls. The girls got to use the tree house as their base. I was a little worried when I saw the girls hauling rocks bigger than softballs up the ladder and then hearing them say they were bombs for the inevitable attack from the boys. I decided I better spell out what they can and can't do. They promised they that they wouldn't be dropping the large rocks on the boys. :) I headed inside around 2pm or slightly after. Mindy came out just before that and asked if I planned to put up the Xmas lights. I didn't, and don't have any immediate plans to this year. That could change, but for now, it's a no. I checked the Vikings score. They were up 3-0 a few minutes before the half but quickly went behind 10-3 at halftime after Favre threw an ill-advised interception. Sound familiar? Ugh! I headed for a shower. I didn't smell too good. After my shower I laundered my smelly running clothes. Mindy was off again, this time to Target. At the time, we had no formal dinner plans after thinking earlier that we might meet the Jumps at Barley's. Mindy said they planned to meet family members there. We didn't want to intrude. I was happy to stay home, watch football, and enjoy leftovers. That remained our plan through the late afternoon and early evening. As 6pm approached, the neighbors called and asked Mindy down. Upon her return she shared that they were going after BW3 wings and that she ordered some for us, or at least for the kids. We walked down to their place after Mindy warmed a bowl of chicken & noodles for herself. I poured us both a beer - me a Barley's Xmas ale and Mindy a Russian. Sticking out like a very sore thumb was Chrissy's new bright red Xmas tree over by the TV. She was seeking input. Kenny had a grin on his face. Looks like a hooker tree to me. The new red tree was the focal point of the evening's banter. I rode with Kenny to pick-up the BW3 wings. It was closing in on 7pm. We were gone about 20 minutes. Sounded like Kapil and Eesha were coming over too. They showed up shortly after we returned with the wings. Mindy didn't eat any. I ate about 6 or 7 of the boneless variety. While eating wings, we watched the finish of the Colts/Patriots game. The Colts trailed by as much as 17 with 7 or 8 minutes left but were down by only 3 at 31-28 and had the ball and were driving with about 30 seconds left. Looked like another of Peyton Manning's fantastic finishes in the offing. It wasn't to be, however. Instead, he threw an interception ending any hope of another improbable comeback. Fun to watch as a passive fan. We left the neighbors for home around 755pm. Mindy insisted that the kids get showers before bed. We tuned into SNF on NBC come 830pm. It promised to be a good one - Eagles/Giants. I tucked the kids into bed around 9pm. A few minutes later Mindy headed up. I stayed up until halftime. The Eagles led 13-3 at the half.