Insulation Vacation

Out of habit, I woke at my usual work day rise time of 530am. However, I was on vacation, and it took only a few seconds to realize/remember that I didn't need to be up so early. I happily rolled over and went right back to sleep. A while later, I heard Mindy rise, shower and ready but managed to sleep through most of her noisy endeavor with relative ease.

I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs to exercise, just like I would any other day, work day or not. It was almost 7am when I tucked my toes under the recliner and whipped out 50 sit-ups. After sit-ups I did 28 windmills: 7 forward then 7 in reverse with each arm. Push-ups were last. I did 50 of them. Mindy & Bella were downstairs a minute or two later. Bella had a buttered bagel for breakfast. Mindy left for school around 730am. Bella played on her Kindle while I played on my PC.

Curious, and probably out of habit, my instincts told me to check work email. I resisted, however, and spent my time playing. I reasoned that what good would come of me checking on work. The only thing that could happen would be for me to see something that would eat at me through the day and possibly even the week. I did some writing for my blog while checking out all of Sunday's football scores as well as reading about the Vikings loss to the Redskins.

Bella and I headed out at 810am. Kenny was at the bus stop with Makayla. It was a decent morning, partly cloudy and fairly warm - about 54 degrees. I was already dressed in my running clothes, my plan was to run minutes after seeing Bella onto the bus. The bus arrived on time. I headed home with the dog then quickly headed out the door for a run.

I made the decision to run only three miles each day during vacation just to give my legs a bit of rest. It was an easy run. By the time I rounded the last bend for home I ran past Kenny & Mike, who were installing garage coach lights at the O'Connell's. I greeted them as I ran past.

I didn't have much if any real plans for the day, though making some progress on the basement was high on my priority list when I scheduled the time off. I fooled around on the computer for another hour listening to music then headed to the basement. My goal was to tear off the foil backed insulation attached to the upper half of the basement walls, roll it up, and secure it with duct tape. The idea being to make the block walls frame- ready. I planned to the same thing with the many carpet remnants we used to carpet the playroom area.

The insulation came down easier than imagined. I folded the 4' wide sections in half foil side out then rolled them up and then used duct tape to keep it rolled tightly. By the time I finished, my work gloves were covered in fiberglass. I'm sure that I breathed some in too. I really need to buy some of those disposable masks for such tasks. Once the insulation was done I rolled up the carpet remnants in a similar fashion. The runs wider than 3', I sliced in half.

Once the carpet was rolled up and stacked, I swept the concrete floor as well as the block walls that have spent the last 20 years behind insulation. I then fetched my shop-vac and cleaned up the entire basement, including sucking up the cob webs on the ceiling duct work. I even vacuumed the steel ibeam. In total, I spent about 3 hours in the basement, the last 30 minutes surveying all the little nuances and hurdles that I'll need to overcome during framing. There are several: the gas pipe, the AC condenser line, the kitchen sink drain pipe, the security system wiring, the electric circuit for the sump pump, etc. There are others too, but you get the idea.

It was time for Jacob to get home from school in a hurry. Where does the time go? And it wasn't too much longer before Bella and Mindy were home. Mindy asked if I wanted to go out for dinner. Suggested Barley's. Nah, I wanted to stay in. She simply reheated the chili.

Hadn't heard a word about mom's knee surgery. And sadly, I wasn't even sure where it was to take place. Mindy suggested I phone my dad. She was certain he would know. I wasn't so sure about that, and never did call him.. Later, during MNF, I sent a text to brother Tommy and my mom's friend, Denise asking for any information. Tommy responded but didn't know anything.

The MNF game pitted the Broncos and Peyton Manning against the Chargers. The Broncos looked bad, mistake after mistake and trailed 24-0 at the half. I stayed up for the entire game, though I did beg off to my PC a couple of times to play. The 2nd half was a complete turnaround from the first thanks to both quarterbacks, Manning for masterfully driving his offense down the field three times for touchdowns, and then Phillip Rivers for throwing two pick 6s. The Broncos won 35-24. Game ended near midnight. I headed to bed.