My Little China Doll

It was Sunday morning and I slept late. Wasn't up until a few minutes after 8am. Can't recall the last time I slept in past 8am. Been a while. The house was quiet. The wee ones were in one of the bedrooms watching TV. I assumed Bella's since she was at Emily's.

It was cloudy and warm outside - about 72 degrees. To my knowledge, it wasn't supposed to rain. I started a pot of coffee then fooled around on the internet. It wasn't long before the little kids were up. Rocky & Jacob remained asleep. I got them some breakfast and did my best to keep them relatively quiet so the others could remain sleeping. They played in the basement and in the family room. They were all over the place.

Around 845am me, Landon and Olivia took Eiknarf out for a walk. We all were in our barefeet. A fireman pulled up to the hydrant just as we were walking by. He was there to test the hydrant. Landon and Olivia quized him of his doings. He was kind and gave them a blow by blow. His last name was Kelley, usually at #2 unit but working #26. Asked if he knew Larry. He did. He asked if I knew where Mikey O'Connell lived. Of course, he's my neighbor.

Said he was supposed to fix his AC at his house but didn't show last week. Had half a notion to go by and wake him up. I pointed out his house and even encouraged him. :) We moved on as did he.

Back at home, it was too long before Mindy was up. After having some coffee she started some bacon and also planned to make pancakes. I prepared and left for a run. It was still cloudy but plenty warm. I ran the typical weekend trail -  three miles - without a problem.

At home, Mindy had the bacon and pancakes just about ready. Great timing! I had plain pancakes. Most of the kids dug up on the chocolate chip variety. The bacon was good too.  After we all had our fill, Mindy helped the wee ones get into some fresh clothes. I took them out back to play in the treehouse and swing. We played for about an hour.

We walked down to the O'Connell's so the kids could play on the trampoline. Looked like the girls had just woken up. Bella looked like a zombie. I told Mindy I don't think she'd slept. It was already after 12 noon. We planned to drop the G kids at home just before 2pm and then head to the wake service for little Lanie, Kenny's ex-wives baby girl who passed away on Tuesday.

Mindy and the kids got showers. By design, I went last. We were all set to leave the house around 140pm. Ashley called at some point and shared that we could simply plan on dropping Olivia off at Kelly's along with the boys. She was heading over there to visit. That made it easier on us. We dropped them near 2pm. Noticed Mindy's old minivan sitting out front. Courtney must've been over. Also noticed a handicapped sticker hanging from her rearview. Hmm?

As usual, both Courtney and Kelly scattered when we pulled up, purposefully moving out of eyeshot. Hilarious!  Ashley and Lindsey both came out to fetch their kids. We passed out hugs and kisses and were on our way.

We took the back way to the funeral home, Briggs, to 62 to Frank Rd to High St. The funeral home sits close to Whittier. Just a 1/2 mile from our destination, Mindy called both kids to attention in order to discuss what they might expect to see. Wasn't sure if it was an open casket or not, but she wanted to prepare them so they wouldn't be shocked. I thought it was afterwards. Bella was sound asleep and was very slow to wake, but eventually. Mindy told the kids that the baby would almost certianly look like a doll (unreal).  Having never before been to a babies wake, I wasn't sure what to expect either.

Arrived shortly after 210pm. It was packed full. We walked in with Kenny's mom. Haven't seen her in awhile. After greeting Kenny & Chrissy, we got in a long line to see Lanie, her mom and dad. I was nervous/sad. Michelle and Jason were most gracious. Michelle seemed to know Mindy right away and had nothing but pleasant things to say about us, our home and all the kids. She and Chrissy have built a relationship of sorts over the last year or so, in what once was a very tumultuous relationship.

Just as Mindy described, Lanie looked like a china doll. Her casket couldn't have been 30" long. We paid our respect and moved on. I ran into Jimmy Collins, and old high school pal and also a neighbor from our subdivision. Wasn't immediately sure of the connection. Apparently he's Michelle's uncle.

We didn't stay too long. Probably another ten minutes. Chrissy and Kenny planned to stay for the entire wake. We took Jake and Makayla home with us. Mindy had plans to cook dinner for all of us.

We arrived at home around 315pm. By then it was sunny, hot & steamy. Wasting not time at all, I quickly changed into my running shorts then headed out to power wash the deck, something I’ve had on my spring/summer to-do list since April.

I knew I didn’t have much gas left in my five gallon container and as expected, the power washer was nearly empty by design (never a good idea to leave gas setting idle for a year). I had more than enough to fill it, and probably enough for one more filling, but realized I needed to get some more gas soon. Going by past experience, I figured to use as many as three tanks of gas power washing the deck.

I decided to get started. Before starting the power washer, I moved all the smaller flower pots, chairs and other miscellaneous items to the backyard. I left the large pots on board, but planned to move them out of the way as needed. Took a few tries to get the PW started but eventually did.

Unlike times past, I started on the lower tier. The job is a tedious one, and it always seems like it’s gonna take forever. But once you get into a rhythm times seems to move along. Power washing is one of those tasks that allows you to think about other things, solve problems if you will.  It just takes a while to get the mind settled. The lower tier of the deck gets quite a bit of shade, so as a consequence, it build up a thin but tough coating of green algae or moss. Takes a little effort to power wash it off.  I’d guess it took about an hour to do the lower tier. Before moving on to the upper tier, I power washed the three plastic chairs we use on the deck. That went fast.

I topped off the fuel and was now just about out. Before starting it back up I kindly asked mindy for a favor, First, a refill of my ice water, and then asked if she would fetch me more gas. She happily agreed.

The upper tier was a much hotter job, all done in full sun. It had to be in the 90’s. The water mist felt great. The upper tier is larger and also sports a railing. Luckily, the vertical surfaces don’t get too dirty or mildewed. When doing the upper tier I always hit the stucco too. For some reason, the areas immediately perpendicular to the deck, and about 1-2’ up, tend to get some dark mildew growing on them. The power washer does a nice job of removing most of it. After finishing the upper tier, I gave the power washer a small break while I dumped out Mindy’s fountain to prepare it for a power washing. Over time, it’s built up a significant and unattractive amount of algae despite treating the water with algaecide periodically.

I laid it up on its side then power washed both sections (upper and lower). Next, I power washed the sea shells we put in it. Many were completely coated in algae. That algae is some tough stuff, but I won in the end. I put the fountain back together then refilled it. Looked like new just like the deck. After three hours of arduous work, I was ready to relax.

I carried everything I moved back up on the deck and then watered all the flowers before taking the power washer back to the garage. Covered with sweat and little bits of debris from the power washing exercise, I opted for another shower.

While I was busy power washing, Mindy was prepping dinner. She prepped a salad, red skin potato wedges, and boneless chicken breast for grillin’. We were having the neighbors over for dinner.

Dinner was quite good. I’m guessing it was near 630pm when we sat down to eat. The neighbors joined us but didn’t stay too long. I’m guessing they were outta there by 7-730pm.

As busy as our weekend was, there were a few chores needing done that I hadn’t had anytime to get to. For one, the grass sorely needed cut again, but that would simply have to wait. I also wanted to spray for weeds, but that would also have to wait until another day. I wanted to wash my new car too. That chore, I figured, I could still pull off. I headed out to the driveway with my car washing gear. I moved the Pilot to the curb to give myself some elbow room. It didn’t’ take long to wash the Accord, especially compared to the Trooper. But as you might guess, it takes a little longer than the BM’er, which I can usually whip out in 15 minutes or less.

I used this new micro-fiber towel I bought more than a month ago to dry it off. It worked OK, but nearly as well as a shami. I’ll need to buy a new shami.  Once the Accord was done, Mindy came out to chat.  I offered that we tag team the Pilot. She agreed. Before washing it, however, we tried figuring out where that unusual loud vibrational noise is coming from when tooling down the freeway. As suspected, we couldn’t pin point it with it simply idling in the driveway. I suspect it might have something to do with the add-on transmission cooler fan. We need to take it in before Mindy starts school.

With the two of us working together, it didn’t’ take long to wash and dry the Pilot. We even glossed up the tires. I thought briefly about doing the BM’er too but opted not in the end. It was getting late and the both of us were exhausted. I did take a few minutes to review the seat memory instructions in the handbook for the Accord. The first time Mindy drove it, she set it to her liking. Now, every time I get in I have re-adjust the seat. Frustrating! I figured it out and erased the position she set. Took a couple times, however.

It was 10pm in a jiffy. Even though I had bee nsucking down the water, I was crazy thirsty and craving soda pop, so I satiated my thirst with a Diet (Splenda) Coke. Nothing else would do.

I was a little stiff from all the day’s activity but resisted taking any Advil. Not really sure why. We shut the house down some time after 10pm and headed for bed. Time to return to work mode. Good night moon!