Diaper Rash

I was up at 550am. The sky was clear but it was chilly. I completed Friday calisthenics then poured coffee. I delivered Mindy’s before enjoying any of my own. I was only 43 degrees and the day’s high wasn’t even expected to get out of the low 60s. Bummer!

I played around on my PC until just before 7am when I logged on my work laptop. And yes, I planned to work from home. I got busy right away, first catching up on anything I might’ve missed being off on Thursday. I sent my peer that covered my day off a message asking if there were any gotchas out there waiting and then also thanked him for the coverage.

Mindy left for school around 725am after confirming that I was working from home. I didn’t plan to run until after Bella was on the bus. Chrissy dropped Makayla by the house around 745am. She must’ve had an early appointment. Later, when I checked my personal cell phone I had a text from Kenny asking if they could drop her off.

I dressed and stretched around 8am then headed to the bus stop with the girls a few minutes later. Kayla was wearing shorty shorts and a t-shirt. I knew she had to be cold, as it was still only in the mid-40s. Bella was dressed more appropriately for the chill and gave Makayla her fleece jacket. Bella was wearing a thick, long sleeved shirt too. In the sunshine, it felt much warmer. The bus arrived around 820am, and I headed off for my run a few minutes later.

I ran the full 4.1 miles wearing shorts, a long sleeved wicking shirt and a light jacket. That proved ideal. I was back at the house by 905am. I had two back-to-back AM conference calls I needed to join. The first call had just started when I saw Chris from nationwide irrigation pull up out front. I wanted to go out and show him the damaged line, say hello, and ask a couple questions, but by the time I was able to excuse myself briefly form the call, he was already gone. Wasn’t even there for 10 minutes. I could see where he had dug and repaired the sod. I planned to check the actual repair and run the zone #5 irrigation as soon as I got another chance. I headed back inside to rejoin call #1.

Joined call #2 right after the first call ended. The 2nd went until noon. My plan was to knock off early again after working a few hours extra earlier in the week. I stayed busy with work until 1:40pm when I took lunch then headed out to mow as much of the lawn as I could in about an hour. In total, I spent 62 minutes outside and was able to complete all the push mowing as well as the tractor cutting. Headed back inside and back to work at 240pm. Actually ended up working a little longer than I wanted, but I had a few things that I absolutely needed to finish heading into the long weekend. I knocked off for good shortly after Mindy & Bella got home.

It was a Jimaken weekend, the first one of those in 3 weeks. Mindy made it pretty clear that she wanted to go to CBC. Jimaken showed up to get the kids around 5pm. Once again, they were heading out of town for a soccer tournament. Dayton, I think. Mindy soon headed up for a shower while I headed to basement to clean-up more of the sawdust left behind after Thursday’s framing event. Filled a shop-vac bag with sawdust.

Around 530pm I headed upstairs to ask Mindy to stomp when she was out of the shower. I planned to get in immediately after her. The stomp came soon. I headed up to get a much needed shower. We left for CBC near 615pm. It was still a little chilly - only 63 degrees – with clear skies but a stiff, chilly breeze.

I knew Mindy sent a text to her peeps, but what she failed to tell me was that her principal pal, Jan and her husband, Jeff were already at CBC. We bellied up next to the two of them, Mindy sitting by Jan, and me at the other end sitting and talking with Jeff. I like them both. Quite interesting. However, what I didn’t appreciate was the element of surprise. I was miffed that Mindy failed to mention that they would be there and we’d be sitting with them. To me, that’s just a common courtesy. I made lemonade out of lemons, talking with Jeff about their recent biking trip to the Florida Keyes. He was very happy to share the stories and some cool photos. We talked about it for most of the evening.

Jennifer, the manager, stopped by to chat briefly about running. Said she had an odd question she wanted to ask. Chaffing, how does one prevent and treat it.  She seemed to recall me sharing once before that I use Vaseline. That’s true. Works like a charm, and I am sure, much like it does on diaper rash. We also talked about the benefits of stretching and hydration, which I believe are paramount to any structured running regimen.

Vince and Kate were working the bar and delivered bread and risotto balls. Later, everybody wanted to order food. Jeff and I both ordered a pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and hot pepper rings. I think Mindy had crab cakes, and Jan had the salmon, I think. I kept a loose eye on the Reds game whirling in the background. They won after trailing early.

I had three beers through the evening and dinner. Had we discussed it ahead of time and I knew I was driving, I most likely would’ve cut myself off at two. When the check came I sent it to Mindy who sent it back down the bar to me. I picked up our tab but felt it was really hers to get, especially since this was her outing with friends. I planned to share my thoughts about the way the evening played out later. I’m guessing it was near 10pm when we got home, though I didn’t really check.

Mindy headed almost immediately off to bed. I could see that the O’Connell’s had a fire going. I poured myself another beer and walked down to see what was going on. It was Mike, Teri, Chrissy & Kenny along with Mike’s niece and nephew-in-law. The kids were around too. Sounds as though Kenny might’ve found the Scotty replacement he’s been looking for. Mike’s nephew is fresh back from Afghanistan and seems eager to join Kenny’s team. Rightfully so, Kenny seemed cautiously optimistic.

I hung with the neighbors for no more than 45-50 minutes before turning for home. Kenny & Chrissy called it a night at the same time. Headed for bed around 11pm. Mindy was already sound asleep.