Cousin Eddie goes AWOL

I was up near 530am and downstairs a few minutes later. I glanced out back and into the sky. Socked in under cloud cover. It was a sit-up/push-up day. Completed both in a hurry. Enjoyed coffee at the PC for the next 10-15 minutes.

Near 6am, I did a brief meditation then woke Mindy by delivering coffee bedside. She asked that I turn the heat up, but I had already done so. Relatively speaking, it wasn’t that cold. It was 32 degrees, and unfortunately too warm to make snow at MRM. Supposed to be a lot colder over the weekend, though. Hopefully, they can make a lot of snow because even warmer temps and rain are coming next week. So much for a colder, wetter winter.  What’s worse, not any better in Ellicottville, either. Or for that matter, even Oregon is failing to get the usual snow fall. Approaching two weeks without any appreciable snow fall, and I don’t see any in the ten-day forecast.

With our HV trip fast approaching, we need a miracle snow storm to strike. Even though it doesn’t look good right now, a lot can change in 10 days. I need to meditate on it.

After a thorough stretch, I set out on a run near 630am wearing both a hat and gloves even though it wasn’t as cold as the previous two mornings. I ran the full 4.1 miles with no trouble whatsoever. Was back at the house near 710am. Mindy had the leash waiting by the door and soon brought the pug. She and I headed out to the west for the first time in a while. They had the freshly poured sidewalks covered in a thermal blanket and barricaded with cones. We crossed the street where she took care of her business in short order.

Mindy had my eggs ready and waiting. They were good. Jacob was wearing his DARE t-shirt to school. Mindy headed off to work and I headed to the shower. It felt good to slip into a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a comfy black sweater. It was a Jimaken weekend. Bella wasn’t too pleased, numerous times expressing her displeasure. Said she has nothing to do there. I suggested she share that with her dad so he can think of things that she likes to do.

Headed out to the bus stop at 810am. The neighbors wouldn’t be there. This was Chrissy’s Columbus State graduation day and all three kids were going. Jacob and Bella shared how lucky they were for getting to miss school. I only added that most graduation ceremonies are boring unless you’re the graduate. The bus was on time. There at 815am. Eiknarf pee’d before we headed back inside. I took a few minutes to enjoy a little more coffee before heading in to the office. Left the house just ahead of 830am.

Work was quiet. Not a lot of folks in the office. That was more than fine with me. Allowed me time to get caught up on a number of things without interruption.  Spent most of the day reading lengthy trouble tickets and summarizing into a report.  I planned to take lunch around 130-2pm and shop for a new airsoft rifle for Jacob at Gander Mountain. Thought I might make a stop at Target for birthday cards too. And since that would leave me near home, thought I’d finish my work day from there. Made little sense to go back to the office, especially when most of my peers were out.

I left the office near 2pm and drove to the west Hilliard Target. Traffic was slow but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been. I was in Target long enough to pick-up a few greeting cards and then do a little browsing. Couldn’t have been there longer than 20 minutes, though. Next up was Gander Mountain. And even though it’s just a few hundred yards south, it took a while in the ever increasing traffic.

Somehow I wasn’t paying close enough attention and ended up in the wrong store, Marshall’s I think. I realized my mistake right away in the door and quickly exited and headed right next door where I intended to be. A sales clerk directed me to their airsoft stuff. I couldn’t find anything similar to what Kenny bought for Jake, and the more I pondered the idea the more foolish it seemed to be buying yet another airsoft gun. Heck, the kid already has three or four. I left there a little frustrated that it’s two weeks before Xmas and I haven’t done any shopping. Not in the holiday spirit either.

It had to be near 3pm when I arrived home and greeted Eiknarf, who just as quickly returned to her pen for a nap. I fired up my laptop, but had plenty of time to fix some lunch while waiting for it to go through the entire boot-up process. By the way, Mindy and I made a deal earlier in the day. I would be home in time to intercept our kids from the bus (4pm), and she would pick-up Rocky & Landon from after school care. She also planned a Xmas shopping stop prior to getting the boys.

Mindy called to confirm our arrangements near 330pm Advised that I was indeed at home. And sure enough, the bus pulled up in front of the house near 4pm. The kids were quick to unload their school stuff and back out to play. I kept working until 5pm or so, when I finally set my weekend out-of-office. Mindy was home with Rocky & Landon around 5pm too. We’d have them until 745pm, or when Lindsey got off work.

Jimaken showed to get Jacob & Bella shortly after 5pm. After our kids left, Landon & Rocky kept themselves busy playing Wii. Mindy & I planned to visit CBC once Lindsey picked up the boys. Between then and 745pm we both played around online with Mindy doing some online Xmas shopping. She wasn’t too pleased to find all the American Girl stuff she wanted back ordered until after Xmas. And speaking of Xmas shopping, we planned on going shopping together Saturday afternoon, one of relatively few weekend days without kids and plans in recent weeks.

Mindy fed the kids dinner (leftover pork roast) around 6pm. Both kids are fairly well. The evening went by relatively quickly. Soon it was 730pm. With the temperature hovering near freezing, it started spitting snow/sleet. It was expected to get down near 20 degrees during the overnight. Lindsey showed up at 745pm. We had the kids all ready to go when Lindsey got inside. We quickly took care of her budget/income related stuff before they headed off. And it wasn’t too much longer then before we hit the road for CBC.

Ben & Ryan were supposedly meeting us there, and so was Tom C. I think Mindy said that she sent a note to all of our peeps via FB. We took two empty growlers, hoping to have one filled with Cousin Eddie and the other with Winter Warmer.

The parking lot was near capacity. I let Mindy out at the door before parking the Accord. I joined her inside a couple minutes later. She was already sitting at the bar with Tom Ben, and Ryan. There wasn’t a stool immediately available for me, but I was happy to stand having spent too much time on my rear while at work. I tucked the two empty growlers under Mindy’s stool. At the same time Kate was apologizing and explaining that they were already out of the Cousin Eddie. I was sure she was kidding, but she wasn’t. Heck, it’s only Dec 9. She said they had more in the brewing process and that it would almost certainly be ready by Saturday. I was bummed, but what could I do. I went with the 2^nd best option, a Bohdi.

Spent a while talking with Ben, Ryan, and Tom. Hadn’t seen Tom for close to two months. Think it was the Friday we took Glenn to Barleys in late October. We eventually ordered food. Everybody order entrees save for me. I ordered an appetizer, spinach artichoke dip.

When our CBC friend Stella got off work, she joined us too. Mindy was hoping to hook her up with Tom C. but she had another CBC server peep with her. His name is Mike. I think I had 4 beers through the course of the evening. I verified that Mindy was driving before # 3 and 4. We had just one of our growlers filled with Winter Warmer, but planned to stop in Saturday afternoon to get some of the yummy Cousin Eddie. Kate asked that we call first just to make sure. Tom C. left about 30 minutes or an hour before the rest of us. I picked up the check. Told Ben & Ryan that we’d likely see them again Saturday at Chrissy’s graduation party. Quite sure that it was near 1130pm when headed for home.

Eiknarf was happy to have us home. I took her out for a quick walk in the cold night air. Built a fire and hung out in the family room for an hour or so before ultimately calling it a night and heading for bed.