Leaping Lizards it's the Quadrennial

Thunder shook the house several times about an hour or so before my preferred wake time. As a consequence, we were soon joined in bed by Bella and Eiknarf. Mindy welcomed the two, but dispatched Bella to the foot of the bed. Despite the interruption, I slept fairly well and was up on time, or right at 530am. It's good to be back in track! I guess it just takes longer for our circadian rhythm to readjust the older we get. I was downstairs exercising in short order where I whipped out sit-ups and push-ups before 545am. Soon, I was sitting at my PC with a hot cup of fresh coffee.

There was steady rain with an occasion heavy downpour sprinkled in. I checked the radar revealing that the heavy stuff was about to move east of us. That gave me hope for at least a somewhat dry run. The forecasted high was expected to approach 70 degrees under partly cloudy skies once the storm passed.

Played around online until just after 6am when I headed to the family room for meditation. That went well. Because I was on schedule, I took care of stretching too before delivering Mindy’s coffee. Even though the radar showed the main storm past us, there were a couple heavy bouts of rain just ahead of my run. My spirits were somewhat dampened at the thought of setting out in the rain. J

Lucky for me, the rain was reduced to a mere sprinkle immediately out the door, and it stopped almost completely a few minutes into it. By the way, the temperature was around 43 degrees. I started to get a little too warm as the end neared. To combat the warmth, I unzipped my fleece and rolled the edges of my toboggan above my ears. That helped considerably.

Due to the spring like warmth, I didn’t bother starting the Pilot. Of course, I still walked Eiknarf. She took her dear old time, seemingly more interested in a walk rather than taking care of business. I had to hurry her along. She finally took care of business so we could return home.

Mindy made arrangements to have my dad see the kids off the bus so she could make her first physical therapy appointment near Grandview after school. She left for work at her usual time of 730am. I was off to the shower shortly thereafter.

As I readied for work, the sky was already starting to brighten. Was back downstairs to put the finishing touches on my lunch by 755am and then out the door with the kids at 810am. Jacob was actually out the door well ahead of me. I noticed him at the bus stop in a short sleeved shirt and no jacket.  I abruptly dispatched him back to the house to get one. He complied, albeit sheepishly.

The bus was a few minutes early again. There by 812am. Soon Eiknarf and I were heading back to the house where I paid a few bills then headed off to work. This being Wednesday, work would be in New Albany again. Weather not really an issue, I decided to take 670 east to 270 north. That worked out fine. Made terrific time. Didn’t take but about 25 minutes driveway to parking spot.

Once at work, it didn’t take long to get connected and logged on. Was all set by 915am. Our regular 10am issues call went as planned but there were no issues needing addressed, which is always a good thing. I had another call scheduled at 11am with another customer of mine as well as a 3^rd party vendor. That meeting went well too. I was very happy about that.

Rather than leave for lunch, I decided to use the time to do a little writing. I also wanted to get over to see and talk with Max, but never did. All in all, it was a fairly calm day. I left the office for home near 430p. It was nice and warm, but with one big harmless cloud directly overhead. According to my car, it was 66 degrees when I initially set out, but by the time I got home the sun was out again and the temperature reached 68. According to Yahoo, it reached 70 degrees around 3pm – fitting for what any other year would’ve been March 1. As it was, it was Leap Day – Feb 29.

Called Mindy. She was just leaving the Giant Eagle in Grandview after physical therapy. She got answers to most of her questions about the pain, healing process, and so on. Said she ran into Pat S. at the Giant Eagle. We talked briefly about dinner, me suggesting we simplify and eat leftovers – chicken & noodles. She agreed that made more sense while on the phone, but by the time I arrived home, probably 10 minutes later, she apparently changed her mind again and was busy preparing the chicken and pasta dish she originally spoke of making.

I chatted with dad some. Mindy shared that she bought me more Krave and hoped that would make me happy. Jacob quickly chimed in was a few disparaging comments for which I promptly sent him to his room, my goal to show him I will not take any smart talk at all, effectively supporting what Mindy asked me to do more of last weekend.

Dad asked if there was word from mom regarding her recent Dr.’s appointment to have her kidney’s checked. No. I only knew that she had an appointment. Ironically, though, a few minutes later I saw an email via my Droid sharing those results. Said she has 55% functionality. Sounds like they want her drinking lots of water and possibly sending her for more testing. You keep looking, you'll eventually find something wrong.

Jacob called to Mindy and me more than once asking if he could come down. Five minutes hadn’t passed. I wasn’t about to let him off that easy. Maybe if he was five. I figured 30 minutes minimum. I headed up to talk with him at 535pm, which was just a few minutes before dinner was ready. He acknowledged his mistake and promised to curtail the poor behavior. Good enough.

Bella, meanwhile, was outside playing in the woods with her peeps. They came running up to the house around 545pm, their feet very muddy.  I made sure they took off their shoes from the deck. They headed up to Bella’s room where they played until dinner was ready, which was only a short five minutes later.

This marked the third or fourth time Mindy’s made the chicken and pasta dish, and this rendition was probably her best yet, at least to my taste buds. She baked crescent rolls and made a garden salad too. Everybody seemed to like it, both kids included.

This was a gymnastics night for Bella. They were ready to depart shortly after I finished clean-up. Dad said his goodbyes to the three of them figuring to be gone by their return. Mindy planned to make a few stops while out, including a stop to get Jacob new soccer cleats, and would likely be out long enough to pick Bella up on her way back.

After Mindy left, dad shared that his hearing is going, especially in one ear (can’t recall which). Come to think of it, numerous times over the last year or so I’ve noticed him seemingly oblivious to conversation going around him. We also talked about the ever evasive basement finishing project that I still plan to get moving on. I shared how I have been working on the plans for several years now and revised them many times over. My latest version significantly simplifies the design. We went to my PC where I showed him the ever changing plans created in Excel. Dad departed just after 700p.

I had the house all to myself for more than an hour and a half. During that time I published more than ten days worth of blog postings. I thought I might crack one of my new books too but quickly ran out of leisure time. Mindy and the kids were back around 845pm. Jacob showed me his new soccer cleats. Bright and colorful. 

Mindy quickly dispatched Bella to the shower while she & Jacob tuned into Idol. It was the 12 girls competing this time. I caught bits and pieces and wasn’t impressed but with one or two. Once again, we all headed for bed at the same time – right after Idol.