Rising Water ... my new indian name?

I slept incredibly well and didn't wake even once until 530am. Sleep felt so good that in a moment of weakness, I allowed myself to get some more. I didn't get out of bed then until almost 6am. I wasn't too concerned, and honestly chuckled a little. I knew I could recover the lost time with a bit of creativity.

Skipping brushing my teeth, of course, wasn't an option. I quickly took care of my dental hygiene then made my way downstairs. I had to prep coffee too having failed to do so the night before. I thought about skipping sit-ups and push-ups but considered that irresponsible. I did 55 sit-ups then spent a few minutes on the PC orienting/centering myself with the day ahead.

Around 620am I made the decision to skip push-ups and move directly to coffee. Not only did that save me a minute or two, but it also gave my neck & back a well deserved rest. Those muscles tense up after 55 of those everyday. I enjoyed coffee while spending just a few more minutes on the PC. I'm thinking it was near 630am when I moved on to meditation and stretching.

Both of those events went well. I was ready to head out for a run just ahead of 7am. It was once again fairly sultry and 78 degrees. The run went well. I decided just in to it that I would cut it to just three miles in an effort to grab another 9 minutes back. That helped. I was home by 735am. I didn't need to pack a lunch so that saved some time too. I still had Thursday's in the fridge at work. I fried two eggs then enjoyed them with a piece of the bakery fresh bread Mindy picked up from the Market District or Whole Foods on Wednesday. Had some fresh fruit too. All of it was very good.

Poured a cup of coffee for Mindy then headed upstairs. She woke only briefly before I headed off to the shower. Because it was Friday I didn't bother shaving. I planned to wear jeans for the first time in two weeks. That felt nice.

I was ready to go before 8am. Mindy was already up and making the bed as I put the finishing touches on my get-ready.  We headed downstairs together where we enjoyed some coffee and light conversation. She and the kids were having breakfast with my dad and then heading to Lake Choctaw to boat and ski with Tara and Doug.  Just before leaving for work, I wrapped our empty propane tank in a beach towel then stowed it in my trunk. I hoped to exchange it at lunch if at all possible. I hurried back in to ask Mindy to get a picture of my dad's knee. After Monday, he'll/we'll never see it again. Said she would.

Arrived at the office near 830am. Got settled pretty quickly. In my haste to migrate my email account the day before I made a significant mistake in the way I imported all my personal folders. I mistakenly added imported them to my mailbox, which has a restricted size limit. I couldn't send any emails. What a disaster that was. But lucky for me, an old buddy happened to stop by to say hello. When I shared my dilemma he said he could fix it in a matter of minutes. I must be living right!

I suggested he guide me rather than doing it. That way I will know how for the future. To get rid of the vast amount of imported folders, I had to delete the entre profile and then start over. And even that left empty ghost images of each folder in the new profile. I had to delete those one by one. After about 90 minutes of toil I was able to get it all squared away. Just glad I had the time I needed to address it, and also grateful that my buddy stopped by at just the right time. What the mind expects, it gets!

The morning was the smoothest I've had in a while. And the morning turned into afternoon, I decided to leave the building for lunch thinking I'd make two stops, the first being Tuttle Mall and to Macy's to look for a pair of brown casual slip-ons to replace the worn Borns Mindy bought for Father's Day last summer. They were pricey but didn't hold up or last at all. And if I had some time, I wanted to head over to the Mill Run Lowes to do a propane exchange.

It was a hot sunny drive to the Mall. I parked out back behind Macy's protecting one side of the Accord with a parking median. I headed directly to the shoe department to peruse their casual shoe offerings. I had to chuckle when  a young sales associate tried to help find me something I might like. That's akin to having a perfect stranger help me pick a beer from a vast menu. No thanks!  I assured him that I could do just fine looking over their offerings without his help.

I found a couple pair I liked, and one pair in particular that was also 50% off. I really like sales! They fit the bill, a brown suede slip-on with a somewhat rugged sole that should hold up far better than my quickly worn Borns. They are Kenneth Cole's - a popular NY designer who, by the way, has a cool product launch story. Check it out on Wiki.

I looked at some dress slacks too, and they were having an unbelievable sale. But the problem was, I didn't have the time to try on slacks and then have them tailor fit to perfection, which is what I often do when buying dress slacks. Perhaps another day.

I'd been gone about 35-40 minutes, but rather than run over to Mill Run then, I decided I'd simply stop on the way home. I headed directly back to the office instead. Once back at the office I retrieved my packed lunch from the fridge and enjoyed some quiet time at my desk.

We had our weekly staff meeting at 3pm. I spent time before and after that meeting learning what was expected of me as the on-call for our team over the weekend. As expected, lots of varying thoughts. I hit up my peers to see if they had any pressing issues I needed to be aware of. There was one in particular. I felt it better to be aware sooner than later.

I left the office for home around 530pm. I'd talked with Mindy mid afternoon. It didn't sound like she wanted or expected to go out to dinner.  And since it was my first on-call in my new role, I felt it wise to stay home anyhow. The sky, by the way, was starting to gray up slowly but surely. But it's not like there were banks of clouds moving in. Instead, it looked like a storm was forming directly overhead - boiling up so to speak. I stopped at Lowes like I planned to get propane. That was a snap. Wrapped the new tank in the same beach towel and put it in the trunk.

I took the back way home down Old Dublin Rd to Trabue. As I neared our subdivision, we got some liquid sunshine. It was very pretty - bright sun with a steady yet soft rain. Once home Bella was eager to share that she did really well water skiing. Got up and stayed up for quite a while. She was eager to show me the video on her momma's phone. Go Bella!

Mindy shared that breakfast with my dad went well and that she got the knee pictures I asked for. While I was getting out my laptop to log into work, Mindy got out a fridge full of leftovers, which would serve as our dinner. There were plenty of choices. At first I opted for the leftover shrimp with some of Mindy's homemade peach, mango, black bean salsa. But after getting a wiff of the heated leftover shrimp I thought better of it. Too fishy smelling. We ended up tossing it. So instead of shrimp, I had a bowl of rice topped with taco meat. It was yummy. After everyone enjoyed some food, the kids headed back out to play. Mindy then served Eiknarf some watermelon after she devoured her 1/3 cup of dog food. Can't believe our pug loves watermelon.

I was following up on a couple work related matters after dinner when Mindy leashed up Eiknarf for a walk. She wasn't out the door for two minutes when a heavy thunderstorm struck. And let me tell you, it rained like the dickens! Lots of vivid lightning and thunder, too. The missing element was wind. After about 20 minutes I checked the radar. For such a strong storm, it was a very small and narrow cell. Looked like it should be there and gone. Somehow, though, it persisted. At some point I sent Mindy a text stating that it was a very long walk. In reality, however, I figured she took refuge at the neighbors.

She came home a few minutes later during a brief reprieve. Meanwhile, the heavy rain started up again and continued for about another hour. That long narrow cell was working its way directly west which meant we were getting a lot more  rain than expected. Once the rain subsided Mindy called Chrissy to see if they were open to company. They were and we walked down. We took Eiknarf, wine and beer.

Kenny was just finishing up a shower. We visited for a while. I asked Kenny about Sunday golf. Sounded like he was in. Thought we'd ask Mike O. too. And speaking of Mike O., he and Teri came over about 30 minutes later. I walked home for another beer after about an hour. When I came back out of the house I found Mike and Kenny at the bridge staring into the rising water. It was about as high as I've seen it - ever.

We hung at the bridge talking for about 10 minutes. Mindy was just walking out of Kenny & Chrissy's when we were heading back inside. She was going home. I handed off the key, and she advised that she told the kids to be back in 3 minutes. OK. They were all down at Emily & Evans playing with the puppies.

As requested, all the kids came to Chrissy & Kenny's a few minutes later and headed upstairs to play. Then, about 5-10 minutes later, Mindy bursted in through the back door fit to be tied. She ripped into Bella something fierce for not following directions and ordered both kids home immediately. She even lit into Emily for not passing the word properly. Geesh! She told Bella that she was grounded. Nobody said anything immediately. Hell, I knew better. I was certain she said only that the kids were expected there in 3 minutes just as they were.  I figured we'd talk about it when I headed home, definitely not in front of the neighbors.

Mindy texted a few minutes later asking what door I planned on coming in since she wanted to lock up and head to bed. I texted back that I'd be home in 5-10 minutes. The neighbors went on about Mindy's sudden and apparent rage. Duh, people talk. As I said I would, I headed for home 10 minutes later.

I entered through the garage only to find Bella downstairs awaiting my return. She immediately shared that she and Mindy talked through the misunderstanding and that she was no longer grounded. That's good because for once, she followed directions. I tucked both kids into bed then headed there myself. Mindy was up reading from bed. We talked briefly about what occurred, me expressing what I understood her communication to be. She didn't agree or disagree. I got the impression, however, that if she could've taken it all back she would've . Good night rising water.