The Last Soccer

After a bunch of beer the night before., I wasn't so eager to spring from bed. Lucky for me, I had the wherewithal to choke down a few Advil before heading to bed, so that at least ensured a headache-free waking come 715am. I wanted to keep sleeping, but we needed to be at Jacob's soccer game at 905am.

I started coffee then leashed up the pugs one at a time for a walk. The yard looked like snow due to the thick covering of frost. The temperature was somewhere in the upper 20s. It was chilly! Both pugs went potty pretty quickly. Can't recall which went out first.

I was feeling a little stressed given that it was already 8am and I hadn't yet ran. Mindy came downstairs just before my run and didn't seem phased. I headed off on my run bundled warmly around 815am.

I ran the usual Sunday route of three miles. It was cold but sunny. Nice, really. Mindy was in the shower while I ran. We didn't bother waking Glenn. He planned to sleep in. After my run I simply changed into a fresh winter wicking shirt and my thick casual fleece jacket and a dry ballcap. We left for the game at 850am. And here I thought we'd certainly be late. Turns out, though, we arrived a couple minutes early for a change. But by the time we located field 17A the game was just underway.

It was so cold the field was still coated in frost. Aside from a thin long-sleeved wicking shirt under his soccer jersey, Jacob was ill prepared for the chill. Many of his teammates wore toboggans, tights and gloves. They never could get the spark they needed to win. They lost 1-0 to a really good Gahanna team. Jacob didn't seem to bummed. They still had another game at 330pm - the final game of the season. Let me have a big ol' HELL YES!!

Jimaken followed us to the house so he could pick-up Jacob's home work. Jimaken also shared that he planned to take Jacob to the soccer game later that evening. Mindy wasn't too thrilled about the idea since Jacob had done nothing but run around the entire weekend (4 soccer games, Buckeye game, and now a hockey game), but opted to not challenge it.

Glenn was up when we got home. After Jimaken and Jacob departed, Mindy left for the grocery. Enjoyed some more coffee and a leftover brat. Glenn had two leftover brats. As soon as my belly was full, I headed out to cut the lawn after letting it grow a full two weeks. If I'm lucky, I'll only need to do one more cut this year - two maximum.

Before cutting, I went for my gas blower first. I blew all the fallen leaves in the rear flower beds into the grass for mulching. Out front I blew them just off the curb for picking up later. I also took down the stakes and rope protecting my new grass. It's come a long way the past two weeks.

I set the push mower as low as I have all season and cut the back first. Looked great when I finished. Did the tractor stuff out back too. After finishing the mowing I gathered all the leaves from along the curb and drug them off to the compost pile. I even tarped those matted down around the storm sewer grate. All totaled, I spent 2.5 hours in the yard. It showed too, Looks really nice. Leaf management had gone as smooth as ever. I think because we had such a gradual leaf fall until this weekend that I was able to mulch all but the tarp load from along the curb. Still more to fall from the rear red maples though, then the honey suckles along the pond. They don't come down until early/mid December.

Mindy was back from the grocery. We didn't plan any major activities for the late afternoon or evening save for Jacob's last soccer game. Glenn was off to the Indian Mound off McKinnley Rd when we left for the soccer game. He planned to have dinner with daughter Courtney and her boyfriend. We weren't invited. Mindy picked up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery. Mindy invited my dad to the soccer game and then to dinner. We met him at the soccer field. He didn't show up at Jacob's game until almost halftime. Was at the wrong Spindler Rd field - one over. It was still chilly, but nothing like earlier that morning.

Jacob's team didn't seem to have much if any motivation to win. They got beat soundly. In fact, don't think they scored a goal in either game. Jacob was not pleasant. Bella, meanwhile, was over with the team when we arrived and without a coat. Mindy wasn't too happy about that. I walked over to see if she had it wither her. She didn't, but did have a sweatshirt handy. I made her put that on at least.

The plan was for Bella to head home with us since Jacob and Jimaken were going to a Blue Jackets game. As much as she pouted about spending the weekend with her daddy, she wasn't as excited as we thought she might be to see us.

I checked the NFL finals via my Droid while at the soccer tournament. The Vikings won 24-21 over Carolina. Wahoo! That was a nice spirit lifter. We headed home for dinner where Mindy left the rotisserie chicken warming in the oven.

We chatted while Mindy made dinner sides - Bob Evan's mashed taters and cooked fresh broccoli. Watched the Seattle Seahawks/Bengals game before, during, and after dinner. Somewhat surprisingly, they won rather easily. The chicken was good. Through dinner we discussed the plans for dad's knee surgery Tuesday. Still unsure of the time. Won't learn that until sometime Monday. Yikes. He left for home I'm  guessing around 630pm.

Mindy and I walked the pugs. She and Bella went one way with Eiknarf and I went the other way with Woody.

Glenn got home from dinner with Courtney around 815pm Honestly, didn't expect him back so soon. We tuned the TV to SNF. It was Dallas & Philly. From the outset, the Cowboys had their asses handed to them. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't close. Changes coming for America's team.

Glenn said his goodbye's to Mindy and the kids as they headed off to bed. I told Glenn we'd most likely be out sometime this winter to ski, and probably not over President's day weekend. I headed for bed at halftime. Glenn peeled off to pack for home at the same time. I asked what time he wanted/needed up. 440am.