Kicking off 43

Happy 43rd Craig! Oops, I meant 49th - sorry

Well, I didn’t wake-up until 535am but that was still plenty early enough to do everything I needed/wanted to accomplish. I wasn’t as psyched as I might otherwise be on a Friday since I would be on-call over the weekend. But, it comes with the territory and due to a couple trades I made, I hadn’t been on call for the past 8 weeks.

After a quick glance toward the sky I was quickly engaged in sit-ups and push-ups. It was clear overhead and the temperature hovering near freezing. The forecast was calling for the 60’s and possible thunderstorms later in the day. The weekend was expected to be significantly cooler than the past couple days.

Soon, I was engaged in meditation. That went about well as I could expect. It was already 615am, so I figured I’d better wake Mindy before stretching. I headed upstairs with some coffee. Once Mindy was up I headed back downstairs where I stretched then left for my run. The temperature right at 32 degrees, I wore full winter attire.

For all intents and purposes, it was already daybreak immediately out the door. The completely clear sky helped that along. I ran the full 4.1 miles without issue and was back at home around 710am. I started Mindy’s Pilot then walked the pug. Eiknarf took her time taking care of business.

Mindy made cheesy scrambled eggs, something she hasn’t done for quite some time. They were extra good. Eiknarf liked them too. Mindy left for school near 730am after reminding the kids to bus home as normal. Once Mindy was gone, I asked the kids to make sure and have their dad take them shopping over the weekend to buy their momma a birthday present.  I also suggested they make her a birthday card. They were both very agreeable to the task, Bella a bit more excited about it than Jacob.

It was Friday, so I wore jeans again. Downstairs, I finished putting together a lunch before the kids and I headed to the bus stop. Chrissy was out with the girls and confirmed that they would meet us at Barley’s later that evening for Mindy’s birthday celebration. Said their kids would be there, too. That’s fine. The bus arrived a few minutes early again, or about 812am. I hurried on back home where I made last minute preparations for my work day and then quickly unloaded the dishwasher. It was a Rachel cleaning day, so I didn’t want to leave any dishes on the counter.  I left for work near 825am.

Arrived at the office near 840am, and it was a good ten minutes later before I was all settled in and logged on. There were a number of urgent escalations I needed to contend with throughout the day, but also plenty of time to dedicate to preparing monthly reports as well as other proactive tasks. I heard thunder rumbling through midday. I was a little surprised when I looked down the hall and out the window seeing very heavy rain. Where had our morning sunshine gone?

The curiosity killing me, I checked MRMs webcams just to see their remaining snow pack. They were closed for the day, which was no surprise, and their snow pack, while still present, not holding up very well. Barring any unforeseen snow storms hammering us here in CMH, I don’t have any plans to ski MRM anymore this season, but I still like

 to watch how quickly they lose snow pack.

Through the afternoon, we got lots of rain and lightning, but all in all, Ohio was spared from the nasty storms that plagued Iowa, Indiana hours in front of us. Those poor folks were hit with numerous tornados from the same storm system. The office hallways were markedly quiet for the entirety of the afternoon. A lot of folks on my floor seem to cut out early on Friday’s.

I stuck around until 515pm, the last 45 minutes or so spent on the new time reporting tool.  It was still pouring rain when I left the building, but nowhere near as hard as it would be a little bit later. I made a stop at the Hilliard Kroger to pick-up some birthday flowers for Mindy. I picked up two bouquets, one, a dozen pink roses, the other a variety, including green mums and tiger lilies. As I made my way to back to the car, it was pouring rain crazy hard and the sky almost black.

I phoned Mindy once I was safely on the road. She was just about to nap in the recliner. She shared that the kids were already off with their daddy for the weekend. We talked for just a couple minutes. I headed in through the garage and placed the two bouquets of flowers on the island. I went to visit Mindy in the living room where we talked for about five minutes. Said she wanted to be at Barley’s near 7pm since she told others to be there by 730pm. Still before 6pm, that left plenty of time to take care of the few menial chores I needed to complete. In addition to chores, I fired up my laptop too. Wanted to be ready for my weekend on-call.

The time went fast. Mindy walked Eiknarf just before we left for Barley’s. And by the time we headed out of the house the rain had thankfully all but stopped. Arrived at Barley’s just after 7pm and a got a spot close to the door. For the first in recent memory, the lot wasn’t full to capacity on a Friday.

Mindy invited a number folks to join us at Barley’s to celebrate her 43^rd birthday, but there were just a handful of folks that made it in to help celebrate. Scott & Linda Pansing were there as was Calvin. Darwin & Connie stopped in for a while too. I don’t know if Connie’s ever been there before. That was nice of her to join us. A little bit later that evening Bob I, Rick C. and Grandpa Tom and Steve showed up. Not sure if she knew about the gathering or not, but former server and now friend, Tina stopped in briefly too.

Connie left around 9pm I’m guessing. She left Darwin behind to party with the rest of us. Mindy had three or four stouts throughout the evening. Somebody wanted to buy her shots but I suggested they not. Didn’t want her to suffer Saturday. J  We stayed pretty late, but I’m not sure just how late. I felt fine even after 3 or 4 beers across the entire evening. Dropped Darwin at home I know before midnight.

Mindy sent the neighbors a text asking why they didn’t show. Kenny only replied – drama. After a short time in the house we headed for bed.