Come Back Ol' Yeller'

I woke a few times early but decided to go back to sleep. But when the pugs started raising a little hell I took that as my queue to get up and out of bed and head downstairs. I wasn’t that sure of the time given that my bedroom clock was still flashing from Saturday night’s power outage. However, before closing my eyes the night before I took notice of the flashing time. Seems to me that it was about 3 hours fast. That being the case, it was just ahead of 8am.

While tip toeing out of the room after brushing my teeth, Mindy asked that I bring her some coffee in a little while. Yes dear. I peeked down the hallway and noticed both pugs with their faces pressed against the doggy gate. I decided to free them both to avoid any more loud, obnoxious barking. Bella woke briefly saying that neither of them slept all night. I’m guessing that an exaggeration of sorts.

They were both excited, growling and wrestling the entire time I prepped coffee. I figured I’d take one out at a time otherwise they’d never tend to their business. I opted to take Woody first, since he’s more prone to accidents.

Eiknarf looked put out as he and I headed out the deck door. I walked him all about the back yard but he didn’t do a thing aside from sniff. I eventually took him around front and by his front yard and then back again. Still no joy. Finally, he peed on the fire hydrant near Pat’s cul-de-sac. He never did poop.

I took Woody inside then leashed up Eiknarf. Unlike Woody, she did both within two minutes of being outdoors. We quickly headed back inside. In hindsight, I probably should’ve walked her longer giving her a break. Back in the house I poured a cup of coffee then checked in with work. The one problem I followed all day Saturday seemed to be resolved. That was good news!

Sometime after 830am, I delivered coffee to Mindy’s bedside then headed back downstairs. The sky, meanwhile, was partly cloudy with plenty of blue scattered about. I fooled around on the computer for another 30 minutes or so before heading out on my run.

It had to be close to 60 degrees, so I didn’t bother wearing my fleece but did wear a long sleeved wicking shirt. I left the house around 930am and ran three miles. During that time the sky cleared to mostly sunny. It was nice and warm by the time I was back at home. I went for more coffee and then checked in on work again. Mindy was up a few minutes later. She quickly started on a grocery list and then headed up for a shower.

Chrissy called while Mindy showered. I expressed sorrow for their losing Molly the night before. I knew it had to hit Kenny hard. She said he planned to bury her outback by their shed later that morning, or as soon as the kids were home. I offered to help him dig.

While Mindy loaded the recycling in the Honda Pilot, I was busy carrying all the stain tools back to the basement. And since she had the overhead door open, I moved the bag of fertilizer out to the drive way so I wouldn’t have to open again a few minutes later when I was ready to fertilize. Mindy said she expected to be gone about an hour. While she headed off to the grocery I got busy fertilizing the lawn. Took no more than 15 minutes. I was careful not to lay down too much new fertilizer on or near the areas I just over seeded the day before. I had starter fertilizer in with the seed/dirt/peat mixture.

As soon as I finished fertilizing the yard I grabbed my shovel and headed over to help Kenny who I saw was out by the shed. Sure enough, he was back there digging by himself. He already had a good start. And just like the earth surrounding the nearby treehouse, it was hard rocky clay. In other words, tough sledding! I went for my spud bar. Kenny’s pretty amazing with a shovel. It made me sore watching the guy dig. No wonder his back aches! I made him take breaks and let me loosen up some of the earth with my spud bar. Heck, that took everything I had.

After about 45 minutes I spotted Ashley & Olivia walking out back. Once Olivia spotted us by the shed she came running with open arms. Did my heart some good. I took a break to head and inside and take care of Ashley. I owed her a check. They didn’t stay long, but long enough for Olivia to head out for a push on the tree swing.

After they left I walked back to the hole. By then Kenny was already done and must’ve been inside taking a break.  I headed back home where I continued my yard work, including reinstalling the rope lighting on the deck pergola. That took a little while. Mindy was soon back from the grocery. While out, she picked up some flowers for Molly’s grave and a condolences card for Kenny. The kids came running to let us know the funeral was about to get underway.

Until then, Kenny had Molly in the back of his Jeep, which he drove to the back of his yard out by the shed. By the time Mindy & I got back there Molly was already laid in the hole wrapped in an OSU Buckeye blanket. Kenny’s ex-wife was there too. That was nice. She told a couple stories about how close Kenny and Molly were.

The kids tossed the flowers over the blanket. I asked permission to snap a couple photos. Bella, Makayla and Emily asked if they could pull the blanket back and take a peek. Kenny agreed. Mindy and I walked back up to the house where I finished reinstalling the rope lights.

I had a couple more chores I wanted to get to, including trimming the ivy away from the base of all my burning bushes. It didn’t take too long since I did the same thing in spring. But it had grown surprisingly fast and thick again. I also took several minutes to pull up any spent flowers in the two front flower beds. Funny, one of the two beds hosting petunias was completely spent while the others still looked decent.

One of my final chores for the day was stowing the fountain pump, light, sensor, and shells. I headed inside around 230p-3pm calling my work outside all but done. I still needed to secure the shed and water the new grass seed but figured I’d do that later and possibly after dinner.

Call me ridiculous. I don’t care, but I purposefully avoided TV and any NFL scores. I didn’t want to know how the Vikings were fairing, good or bad. Figured I’d check later in the evening. After a shower and checking in with work I thought I might take a nap. I snuggled up on the sofa and fell asleep but only for a little bit. I got up just before Jacob left with his dad for the Blue Jackets 1st preseason home hockey game.

I also snacked on Stacy’s naked pita chips ahead of dinner, which was going to be chicken & noodles again. Mindy added more fresh noodles and had it on the stove for a couple hours cooking. She called my dad and asked if he was up for some. Offered to drive them over. She was feeling ill, likely a cold, otherwise I’m sure she would’ve invited him over for dinner.

My on-call weekend ended up being fairly uneventful. For that I was grateful, but to be fair, the weekend wasn’t over yet, either.  I spent the hour or so before dinner updating Friday’s blog entry and then went back and added some pictures to a few entries from the past week.

It was just Bella, Mindy & I for dinner. Bella commented about how peaceful it was. Mindy and I both had 1.5 helpings of the yummy chicken & noodles. First Sunday in a while that we didn’t make plans to cookout with the neighbors. Bella shared that they went to the House of Japan for dinner. Oh! That is one of Kenny’s favorite places. He deserved it big time.

I managed clean-up while Mindy ordered Bella’s birthday gifts, American Girl doll accessories. She later filled out invitations for her skating/overnight party coming up next weekend. Oh boy! Sounds like a boys night out to me. Mindy shared how busy our weekend would be - almost like not having one.

She and I walked Eiknarf together on what turned out to be an awfully nice evening, about 70 degrees under partly sunny skies.  The lovely weather wasn’t expected to last, however. Supposed to rain for the next couple of days and starting late Sunday evening.

It must’ve been about 730pm when Mindy asked me if the Vikings’ played that day. Yes. She asked if I knew if they’d won or lost. No. She must’ve checked right then. She shared that they lost. Crap! They lost in OT, and once again after leading 20-0 at halftime. Gonna be a long season. I decided to read the box score. I did my best to let it go after that. Football is all expectations based. If you’re not expecting much then you won’t be disappointed if they don’t do well. And after the last two seasons, I just don’t have it in me to get so emotionally involved only to be let down again.

Jacob returned from the hockey game just about then. He and Bella headed out to play with the neighbors for the last 30 minutes of daylight. Mindy and I walked down to check out Kenny’s deck after he spent the late afternoon power washing. Looks good, though he didn’t get finished.

As the evening wound down, I tuned the TV to the SNF game featuring the Steelers vs. Colts. Mindy had both kids get showers. I decided to make some popcorn. Bella and Eiknarf joined me for some. Without Peyton Manning leading the Colts, they’re just not the same team. They got behind quickly, and Mindy and the kids peeled off to bed.

I checked in with work and then spent about 10 minutes on my PC. By the time I rejoined the game it was halftime and the Colts were ahead 13-10. I might’ve watched for maybe another 5-10 minutes after the half. Tired, I secured the home and headed up to bed. By then, heavy clouds were moving in but the rain still had yet to begin.