Lucy's in the Sky With Diamonds

It was Sunday morning and I wasn’t out of bed again until almost 8am. And that was after drinking only two beers at dinner the evening before. I must’ve been really tired. Mindy & Eiknarf remained sleeping while I headed downstairs to get my day started. I put on a pot of coffee then headed to my PC.

That familiar beep from the coffee maker was music to my ears. There was only one problem. Once again, the carafe only filled about halfway and the rest was stuck in the filter and leaking out over the edge of the carafe making a big mess. This is happening more frequently, and at the time I wasn’t entirely sure why.

On closer inspection, it appears that the spring loaded mechanism that allows the freshly brewed coffee to pass from the filter to the carafe was clogged with small coffee grounds. There are small holes around this button-like spring that allows the coffee’s passage. In the past I’ve only rinsed it clear. This time I decided to use a sewing needle to clear each of the 7 or 8 tiny holes. Seemed like a good idea to me.

To minimize any mess, I did it over the sink. And wouldn’t you know it, I dropped the sewing needle into the sink where it rolled round and round until it eventually fell into the disposal. Great! Now I had a sewing needle stuck down in the garbage disposal. Thinking, Thinking. I tried reaching my hand in there to fetch it, albeit carefully, but couldn’t feel it. I decided to go to the garage looking for those two really strong cylindrical magnets I found in the sofa a few weeks back. I grabbed some needle nose pliers, too.

My hope was that, one, the needle was made of steel and would therefore be attracted to the magnet. I tried it first on another needle to verify. It worked. Secondly, I hoped that by dangling the strong magnet in the disposal that it would leap to it. On my second plunge it worked. Yes! I carried on with my original plan of piercing the spring loaded mechanism clean, only this time with the stopper in the sink drain. I then rinsed it with scolding hot water. My hope was that all was now good.

It occurred to me that this only seems to happen when we use Starbucks coffee, which for some reason is often an extra fine ground, almost like a powder. I think some of the finest grounds are slipping through the filter and clogging the spring.

The crisis took about 15 minutes to resolve, and I still hadn’t any coffee in my belly. I added more water reusing the same grounds from earlier. It worked well, and the coffee was tasty. Voila!

Back at my PC, I was most curious to see the final score of the Saints/Lions game. As expected, the Saints won easily. I’m thinking that Mindy was up a little bit after 930am. She wasn’t up too long before I headed off on my Sunday run. Meanwhile, it was another sunny day with an expected high in the 40s. The biggest difference between this morning and Saturday was that the temperature dipped well below freezing over night and was still only about 30 when I first headed out.

I was hoping to take down the Xmas lights before we needed to ready for the funeral but unfortunately, our north facing roof was covered in a thick coat of frost. And because it gets no sun in the winter months, it would almost certainly remain that way until late in the day. I wouldn’t be taking any chances crawling out on the roof.

Last year our roof was capped with snow all winter and I didn’t get the lights down until mid March. I hope to get them down sooner this year, but at the same time, I am unwilling to risk life and limb on a slippery roof.

I ran the usual three miles and was back at home around 1045am. By then, Mindy was in the shower getting ready for the funeral. She said she wanted to leave the house at 1215pm. For the time being, work was quiet. For that I was grateful.

I got in the shower around 1130pm, or soon after Mindy was finished. We agreed to let Lindsey come over to the house and do her laundry while we were away. She arrived while I was upstairs getting ready. I wore all black, including my new black cashmere sweater. Felt nice!

We left the house near 1215pm just as we planned. Told Lindsey we’d be home around 3pm. By then, we figured, her laundry would be done, so Mindy could start on ours. We stopped at the Enclave to pick-up the kids from Jim’s place first. Mindy sent their funeral attire with them on Friday. However, we weren't exactly expecting to find them funeral ready, so I made sure that Mindy brought along a grooming kit to spruce them up before leaving Jim’s. Mindy also agreed to transport the kids’ dead bunny back to our place for a proper burial. I only asked that it be wrapped in an airtight bag so not to stink up the Pilot. After all, it had bee n dead now for 2+ days.

Jim had the kids dressed appropriately, but Mindy still needed to contend with Bella’s long locks. I’m guessing we were inside Jim’s place for about five minutes. Jacob hadn’t been feeling well since Saturday but said he was finely feeling a little better Sunday. We loaded their overnight stuff along with the dead bunny in the back of the Pilot and headed up Sawmill to the Rutherford funeral home on Powell Rd. Mindy & I were last there for Mark Adam’s funeral 3 or 4 years ago.

We arrived a few minutes after 1pm. Mindy had mentioned that Lucy donated her body to OSU, but what I didn’t realize was that she wouldn’t be at the wake. Instead, there were only poster boards with photos along with a handful of floral arrangements. I never met Lucy but heard that she was quite a woman. I expressed my condolences to the family members, including Grandma Sharon as well as her daughter Laura (one of Mindy’s bff’s). There weren’t many, if any, tears. Instead, most expressed joy in her memories.

I recognized lots of faces, likely from years on the Westside. However, aside from Dick & Sharon and the two girls, I only knew one other person by name. That turned out being a girl, Lisa Lust-Rector, I worked with for years at CompuServe. I later learned that she married one of Grandma Sharon’s sisters’ sons.

The first hour was an open house and the second an actual funeral service. Probably the most enjoyable funeral I’ve ever attended. For one, she actually knew both speaking pastors well. In fact, one, Mr Davis, was her life long neighbor there in Powell. He was able to give a vivid personal account of her life and memories. But the lion’s share of the ceremony was friends and family stepping to the mike to share their memories and stories. Some of them generated tears while others some laughs. I was genuinely inspired by the number of lives she touched in a positive way.

A common theme in every account of Lucy’s life was her service to others and her unique ability to make those around her feel special. In fact, reminded me much of my Grandma Wright. How will you be remembered? That thought crossed my mind countless times. I’m sure it did in others as well.

The service lasted well past 3pm. We said our goodbyes then headed for home. Agreed that we’d order Minelli’s pizza for dinner, and in all likelihood sharing our dinner table with Lindsey and the boys. The drive home made me really tired. And by the time we pulled up at the house I was ready for only one thing …a nap.

Lindsey and the boys were still there. We could hear Lindsey giving Rocky an earful immediately in the door. I think they were playing video games. I quickly put and end to that, instead, tuning our TV to the NFL playoffs. Lindsey had one more load in the dryer. She asked if we’d mind keeping an eye on the boys while she went tanning. I let Mindy decide. She didn’t care. I got Jacob a shovel and he and the others headed out to bury the rabbit. I wanted a nap, but needed to check in with work. I forgot that I turned off my blackberry at the pastors prompting. Crap! Sure enough, I was beckoned for help just about the time the service would’ve started. I had to play catch-up via my laptop. Turned out not being that big of an issue.

Mindy headed out to assist in the burial while I worked. They were outback for about ten minutes tops. Bella came in bawling first. She was very sad about her dead bunny. Mindy ordered pizzas shortly after everyone was back inside. She ordered two large pizzas. One with pepperoni and the other with pepperoni, sausage, and hot pepper rings. She ordered Jacob a chicken sandwich with onion rings.

She went to pick-up the pies while I hung with the kids and kept an eye on the football game. I threw my running clothes in the washer too. I’m thinking that we were eating pizza by 445pm, or just after the start of the 2^nd playoff game – Pittsburgh and Denver.

Lindsey got back from tanning just as we were wrapping up dinner and consolidating the leftovers to one pizza box. She didn’t want any. She and the boys stuck around to 530pm or so, but not much later. And soon after Lindsey and the boys left, Mindy readied for a trip to the grocery store and the recycling bin.

I’m betting it was 6pm when Mindy left for the store. She wasn’t gone but 5-10 minutes when Lindsey came rushing back in, this time with a dress she wanted to give to Mindy. This she apparently won at work. It was an attractive dress, a size 4. I found it interesting she wanted to give it to Mindy in lieu of her mother. Of course Kelly probably couldn’t fit in a size 8, let alone a size 4 these days. She left the dress and headed back home.

Bella had been down at Makayla’s but was home by 645pm. She asked numerous times when Mindy would be home. She was very snuggly/needy. I spent quite a bit of time with her. Jacob, meanwhile, was back on the sofa citing not feeling well again. Mindy took his temperature a little earlier and it was normal. She took it again when she got home and learned that it was 101.1. After unloading the groceries, she started making plans for him to stay home the following day. She asked Jimaken to stay home this time. He agreed and opted to come get him that night rather than in the morning. That was awfully nice of him. He planned to take him in to see Dr Craig on Monday too.

We watched the surprising end of the Bronco/Steelers game. The Broncos won in overtime on the very first play. We watched 60 minutes next. By its conclusion, it was already near 9pm. Mindy and Bella stayed up until 915pm. I stayed up later knowing full well that I couldn’t fall asleep at 930pm. However, I started to dose from the sofa near 10pm and ended up heading to bed still before 10pm. Good night full moon!