Zy-Goat

Mindy was up around 6am at the beck and call of Landon, who was hollering for his momma. He peed the bed, so Mindy took the time to get him in fresh clothes and get him off the wet sheets. She was up for at least 20 minutes getting him situated. Completely rested, I was up and downstairs by 715am.

I was up for maybe 20 minutes before being joined by Landon. By then I had started some coffee and was busy playing on the internet. Landon and I took Eiknarf out for a walk. It was a pleasant and sunny Saturday morning - about 40 degrees.

It was just Landon and I for a while. I took Mindy some coffee around 800am. Lindsey showed up a couple minutes later for a ride to work. I was expecting her. We left around 825am, or about the same time we leave through the week. The drive was a bit quicker with next to no traffic. She was hopeful that she'd be able to take her car later that afternoon when she got off work. Still needed to get it insured, though.

I stopped at Tim Horton's on my way home from dropping Lindsey at work. Bought a dozen donuts and 20 Timbits. All the kids, minus Jacob were up when I got back. Kenny called Mindy's phone asking if we would keep Makayla a bit longer while he ran an errand or two. Sure thing. In turn, I asked if he might run me to Hatfield Hyundai in a couple hours to pick-up Lindsey's car. He was more than agreeable. Cool. I headed off on my run around 930am.

I ran an easy three miles. Felt good. Back around 10am, Mindy was soon up. She planned to go to yoga. I called Kenny around 1030am. He was back and said he'd be down in a few minutes. I grabbed the Hyundai paperwork and met him at the foot of the driveway. Off we went. The 270 south traffic was almost nonexistent. Made it to Hatfield in short order. Took about 20 minutes to pay and get the car. Said they said it didn't need pads, drums or rotors. Instead, the brake cables were seized. Said they freed them up with high heat and then greased them really well. Adjusted then too.  Fixed a broken cable preventing the blower diverter from sending air to the defroster. Kenny waited until I had the paper work signed and the vehicle started.

I put the repaired brakes to the test on the drive home. They are far, far better than they were, but still not perfect. However, I am used to driving a brand new vehicle. The defroster works like I would expect. Hooray! I parked street side.

I wasn't back ten minutes before I tried calling the Progressive insurance agent that their site recommended. In fact, I tried two on the northwest side of town. Neither answered. I left a VM for one. Lindsey texted that she had a ride home. Told her the car was back and fixed.

Mindy left for yoga around 1130am. By then, I was already out working in the yard once again blowing all the leaves out of the flower beds in preparation for mowing. The only part of the yard with any appreciable leaf cover was the eastside from Trena's pear tree. I blew them back into her yard so I could mow. I blew the front to the curb and beyond. Landon joined me doing yard work while all the other kids dashed off to play either in the tree house or at the neighbors. He ended up sticking with me for the entire afternoon, too. I was surprised. I let him man the leaf blower a time or two. He thought that was really cool. 

I mowed the entire front and part of the back with the push mower. I set the blade set lower than I have all season for what I expect to be the last cut of the mowing season. After finishing up the back with the tractor, I gave Landon a ride in the trailer. He loved it. We eventually let Bella, Makayla and one of Jacob's little friends get in for a ride too. After the tractor ride, all the other kids dashed off to play once again. But not Landon. He stayed with me doing yard winterization. We transported all the deck flower pots and hanging baskets to the compost pile for dumping. We stowed all the empty pots in the shed.

We dug up the canna bulbs next. Man, there were a lot of them. I planted about 8, but we ended up with 4 Kroger bags stuffed full. We cut back all the remaining dead flowers and plants, too, but didn't touch the maiden grass. I typically leave it alone until early spring. We disconnected all the hoses and caddies and carted them all off to the shed. Next up was the deck furniture. We stuffed the cushions and patio umbrella into giant trash bags then tied them closed with twist ties. Stored them in the shed too.

Mindy was home around 2pm. She came out to chat. She was in a far better place psychologically than she was before she left. She went on to tell me a little story about her goat. After a short visit with Landon and I outside, she headed back indoors where she stayed busy vacuuming and mopping. Landon and I continued our work outdoors. My goal was to finish all winterization chores in one afternoon. The last thing I did was add fuel stabilizer to both mowers and the 5 gallon gas container still with about one gallon. 3pm we were done. We headed in to get cleaned up and then some lunch.

Ashley was coming to pick-up the boys sometime soon. Landon was filthy from all the yard work, so Mindy gave him a bath shortly after he and I finished our snack. Just as I was about to head up for a shower, Ashley, Olivia, and Kaileigh stopped over to get the boys. Figured I'd hold off on the shower until they left. Ashley let me know how bad I stunk when I gave her a big ol' daddy hug. Showed her Lindsey's car. Said it's nicer than hers.

Olivia was a unruly for through most of their brief visit. It's not too uncommon for Olivia to act out when with her momma. When Ashley's not around, she's generally much better behaved. Chrissy stopped down while Olivia was there. That made Olivia happy. She loves Chrissy. Mindy stepped out on the deck to talk to Chrissy with some privacy, no doubt about her brother-in-law passing. Olivia whined and fussed pretty much until they left around 4pm.

Once the kids were gone I headed up for a much needed shower. There was some talk about going out to dinner but that didn't really sound that good to me. We eventually settled on Mindy phoning in a pick-up order to Barley's and then going after it. She got back around 6pm. And just as we were sitting to eat Lindsey walked in. She asked about the car. I shared the good and bad news. The car was obviously back repaired but it wasn't yet insured, and probably wouldn't be until Monday at the earliest. She wasn't pleased. It's not like insurance agents sit around on the weekend waiting on folks to call.

I took the opportunity to share the information I gleaned from the BMV site regarding her driving record. As she said, it's currently clean but does show 2 violations in the last five years, which at least one insurance site asked for a five year history. She kept trying to justify the violations to both me and Mindy. I had to explain more than once that it's not us she needs to convince. I was just merely sharing what most insurance companies ask of their perspective clients. I understand her disappointment. She arrived thinking she'd be driving her new car home. But I wasn't about to turn the keys over until it's fully insured.

She hung out for another hour or so before Mindy gave her a ride to Walgreen's and then home. She was gone maybe 25 minutes. Mindy, Jacob and I watched the Oregon/USC game live from Eugene. USC took an early and commanding lead. Mindy and the kids headed off to bed around halftime. I chose to keep watching hoping Oregon would mount a comeback. At one point in the 3rd quarter, they trailed by as much as 38-14. It wasn't looking good. I started to dose when it was 38-17. I woke with about 4 minutes left and Oregon had just scored making it 38-35. Wow! Sadly though, USC marched right down the field looking like they were gonna score yet another touchdown. And from about the Oregon 8 yard line USC  fumbled and it was recovered by Oregon. The Ducks drove down the field quickly getting themselves in seemingly easy field goal range just before time was about to expire. Unfortunately, their field goal kicker missed the 37 yarder.

Before heading to bed, I watched the final minutes of the Oklahoma/Baylor game that was every bit as dramatic as the Oregon/USC game earlier. Baylor won in the final minute making Oklahoma the third top five team to lose that weekend. I headed to bed around midnight or after.