BM'er, Rain, mid 40's - Wahoo!

I was up a couple minutes early after a less than fulfilling night of sleep. I tossed and turned all night long and must’ve woken up ten different times. Never felt as though I got the deep sleep my body craves. I didn’t feel bad after waking but knew that I’d almost certainly pay later in the day. Come to think of it, perhaps it had something to do with the 8 Butterfinger eggs I devoured just before dinner Sunday evening.

Once downstairs I went to the deck door to check the sky while slipping into my exercise tennies at the same time. Cloudy, or course. I went to the living room where I whipped out 55 sit-ups. After sit-ups, I jumped into my PC chair and checked the weather forecast ahead of anything else. It was only 47 degrees with a strong chance of rain and the temperature going nowhere throughout the day. Hello March!

After doing 55 push-ups I grabbed my jacket and headed out with Eiknarf. It was a chilly walk, especially given that I was still in pajama shorts. Good thing I was smart enough to wear my fleece. She took care of business in all of about 10 minutes. Back at home I poured some coffee and returned briefly to my PC. I read the Daily OM as well as a few headlines. Time to meditate and stretch. Both went well.

Delivered Mindy’s coffee ahead of 630a. I was a few minutes behind last week’s early pace. It was 636a when I walked out the door for my run. I wore long running pants and my fleece pullover. Might’ve been a little drizzly rain but that’s it. And actually, those conditions aren’t at all bad for running. Kept me cool. I ran the full 4.1 miles spending most of my time contemplating my Trooper issue and then the overall problem with leaks currently running amuck in my life.

In the last couple months I’ve had to endure a leaky kitchen faucet, a leaky hot tub, and now a leaky transmission. Everywhere I turn something seems to be leaking. Drip, drip, drip! I'm still not at peace with my Trooper dilemma. Not sure what I’m gonna do with it, or about replacing it. The last thing I want to do is make a hasty, uninformed, and possibly poor decision. … Such is life.

I finished my run strong. Mindy had breakfast all but ready. Fried eggs. She mentioned there being an extra fried egg on the stove for me or possibly Frankie. I think she made the extra because the two others she fried for me were much smaller than usual.  I was fine with the two. Both kids were dragging behind enough for Mindy to invoke the early bedtime threat.

Mindy was working a half day so she could take Lindsey to an appointment designed to address some issues relative to little Rocky. She planned on leaving school at 1130a. She left for school near 730a. I sliced up the extra fried egg and fed it to Eiknarf who was whining incessantly for my scraps. Mindy’s created quite the monster!

I was showered, dressed and downstairs by 750a. I am such a creature of habit, I know. I packed my lunch including a salad, banana, cheese, and fruit medley. All the fruit was cut fresh on Sunday. I was thankful for that. The kids and I headed out at 757a. It was spitting a little rain but not enough to warrant an umbrella. Toughed it out.

Kenny was out with the girls. The pugs wrestled fiercely while waiting. Kenny hustled back home to get Chrissy ready for a therapy appointment. Eiknarf took a dump during our brief walk back home.

I wasn’t looking forward to driving the BM’er in the less than desirable weather conditions, but didn't really have a choice. It is what it is. I gathered my gear and secured the home. I headed out through the garage and to the waiting BM’er. It was raining heavier than it was earlier, but still light. It continued throughout the entire commute in. Of course I drove in with the top up.

I arrived at the office a couple minute late. I realized right away that I didn’t have my access badge. Dang it! I stopped at the reception desk to get a temp badge. That was quick. Trouble averted.

The morning plodded along as usual. Fairly busy, but then again, it’s often that way on a Monday when we’re catching up from the weekend. I talked with my peer about my Trooper dilemma. He gave me all sorts of pointers and advice, including how to discern what the cause of the leaking transmission fluid might be. And based on the symptoms, he shared that it may not be damaged, just low on fluid. Of course it’s a sealed system so a leak is not good. I took his advice and planned a trip to Advance Auto at lunch to get some transmission fluid. What I wasn’t yet sure of was how I would get the fluid into the transmission given that the fill hole points down, just like the drain plug. Odd configuration. Owner's manual recommends having a dealership do it.

It was raining when I left the building for lunch. I noticed how nicely the water still beads up on the BM’er. At Advance Auto, I perused their transmission fluid offerings, including some fluids designed specifically to stop leaks. I decided to bypass the fix-leak stuff and get the recommended fluid type. I bought two quarts of fluid and this small flexible hose adapter that screws onto the bottle. In theory, it could be used to squeeze the fluid into the downward facing fill hole. I picked up some windshield fluid too. We’ll need that for our family vacation next month. I headed back to the office. It wasn’t a pleasant day for a trip to the nursery.

Back at the office I enjoyed my packed lunch and a little personal time. The afternoon moved along nicely. I was busy but not overtly so. I talked with Mindy around 5p. I’d forgotten about the Lindsey appointment thing. She filled me in on the details. I had to go so I could wrap up my day. Hoped to leave work on time.

I left work around 540p. Had to pull myself away as there’s always more to do. Traffic on I-270 south was slowed to a snails pace.  I used the time to think. I arrived home around 6p. It wasn’t raining at the time but the streets were wet. It was cool, too. Never made it out of the upper 40s.  I was surprised to see dad’s minivan out front of the house. Mindy never made mention earlier.

Inside, Mindy and dad were conversing, about what I am not sure. The kids were scattered. Bella, I learned, was pouting in her room after throwing a fit doing home work with Mindy. At the same time, Mindy was put the finishing touches on our dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. Dad shared that Uncle Kenny made it home as planned from Florida. I believe it was last Thursday. I joked that it was him to blame for the sudden weather dive. Dad asked about my Trooper troubles.  I shared a little about it and then my tentative plan, which is to attempt at getting it functional enough to use as trade-in bait.

Dinner was good. I didn’t think I’d do it but I cleaned my plate. I like it, but I’ve never been able to eat a lot of spaghetti. Makayla stopped over just as we were finishing dinner to ask if we’d seen Lillian’s retainer. Nope. Said she left it in a napkin on our counter Sunday at dinner. Uh-oh! If she did, we most likely threw it away. That garbage bag was in the big can outside now. During clean-up, Mindy went out to get the bag and dig through the trash for it. It didn’t take long at all for her to produce it. Close to the top as expected. Mindy walked it down.

Bella was in her room again after throwing a fit over a comment Mindy made about selling her and Jacob if they didn’t behave. Bella’s always been sensitive to comments like that. Reminds me of my own childhood when our maternal grandmother would act like she was calling the police to come take us away for misbehaving. I remember being totally panicked. Of course we’d challenge her to the point of making the call. J

Bella assured us in no uncertain terms that she was not coming down to finish her homework. I offered that she would, either the easy way or hard way. She eventually chose the easy way (on her own accord). But once again Mindy drove her right back upstairs after making more commentary about her home work assignment. Thing was, I knew I could get her to understand without additional commentary, but I guess the teacher in Mindy wouldn’t allow her to keep quiet and let me handle it.

After more convincing, Bella finally came down and worked exclusively with me. The assignment was all about units of measure and where each might be most applicable. All she needed to do was identify certain items and how one might measure their length, size, weight, or volume. My initial example clicked just as I hoped it might. We cruised through the exercise.

Dad departed near 730p. Both kids headed to the neighbors to play. I headed to the sofa and went horizontal. The poor sleep from the night before had finally caught up with me. It didn’t help that I had a full belly. I’m thinking that I was asleep by 8p, and didn’t wake until just before 930p when Mindy asked me to tuck in the kids. I let Mindy know that I was going to bed. She said she’d come along too.

While tucking Bella into bed she thanked me for helping with her homework. She commented that I was far better at coaching her than her mommy. I just laughed, knowing all too well that it will be the exact opposite the next time. I shared as much with Mindy when I rolled into bed.

Turns out, I couldn’t fall asleep as easily as I hoped. I tossed and turned for at least an hour. I was tempted to get up and head downstairs to try and start over but fought off the urge and eventually fell asleep.