Bella on a Tractor

Was up Sunday morning at 720am and quickly downstairs making coffee. Remembered that the boys spent the night so from then on I was extra quiet in an effort not to wake the boys. Landon was awake and downstairs but only after I had time to enjoy two cups of coffee. I was in the middle of my stretch when he came down. He didn’t hang out long, and soon headed back upstairs.

I headed out for a run with everyone else still asleep. I ran three miles. It was mild for a change, about 56 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Mindy was up by the time I got back and soon up making bacon and pancakes for all the kids.

I played around on my PC until Mindy let me know that the pancakes were ready. Iate two pancakes and three or four slices of bacon. Lindsey came by to pick-up the boys at 11am as promised. I asked about her tax return again. Offered that she could use my PC to check on her TurboTax refund. She gave me some song and dance about using her supervisors account to do it. WHAT? Honestly, at that point I hoped she was lying because I didn’t think she was that stupid. Mindy had to calm me down.

After Lindsey left I headed out to the yard for more early spring yard work. My plan was to clear out a lot of the honey suckle bushes behind the shed to allow room to store a 14’ canoe should we end up buying one. Frankly, I was surprised with how much brush all that amounted to when on the ground. Holy smoke! I also had Jacob and his friend Josh help me carry old rotted logs that had been resting behind the shed since our home was built. M/I Homes trimmed all the dead from the trees as part of our closing deal and left the logs stacked out back. Nineteen years has passed since then. Now they’re mostly mulch.

God bless Bella. She willingly agreed to help me cut up t he large honeysuckle branches sprawled out over the lawn. She used both the folding tree pruning saw as well as the giant prunners. She got a real work out. She worked with me for about an hour, which was far longer than I ever dreamt she would last. Thanks Bella!

Before she ran off with friends, I let her drive the John Deere tractor around the yard all by herself. She seemed to get a kick out of that. By then, Mindy was off to the grocery store. Josh’s mom came to pick him up while Mindy was away and I was busy out back with yard work. Spent 2 or 3 hours on the honeysuckle, again, far more work than I imagined at the outset.

After picking up as much of the debris as I could and then hauling it the compost pile, I drove over the rest with my tractor effectively mulching it up. By mid afternoon, it was downright warm and sunny. Actually got up to 74 degrees. Ended my yard work around 330-4pm.

Mindy picked up some sea bass from Whole Foods but bagged the notion of full-on grocery shopping. She invited my dad for dinner too, and he accepted. I let Mindy know that Ashley was supposed to come over too with Olivia so we could give her the Easter basket we made. They weren’t staying for dinner. Instead, they’d have to leave for girl scouts before 530pm.

By the time Olivia and Ashley arrived I was showered and downstairs relaxing in our new recliners. Ashley shred stories from their recent Florida vacation. Sounds like they had lovely weather and lots of fun. She’s very excited to be getting her braces off in a week or so. Her smile looks amazing. It’s been a long road.

Ashley & Olivia stayed long enough to see dad, but left before we ate our dinner. Mindy was already in the middle of grilling when they left. Dad shared a little about the pinched nerve in his back. Been a problem for a couple of weeks but finally getting better.

I’m thinking it was 530pm when dinner was served, sea bass, grilled zucchini, & pasta salad. Mindy grilled up a wildly decorated salmon patty too. The three of us shared it. I didn’t care for it. The sea bass, however, was delicious.

We visited with dad until just after 7pm when he headed for home. Mindy and I took Eiknarf on a walk around the subdivision. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening for a family stroll. And as you might imagine, a lot of other folks were out doing the same thing.

Later that evening, the kids got showers while I relaxed & read from one of our new recliners. We headed for bed well ahead of 10pm sleeping with the bedroom window open for the first time all year. It's that time of year. The latest weather forecast was calling for even warmer temperatures through Wednesday.