Tractored & Whacked

I slept OK, but was in the middle of the dream when I heard Mindy’s alarm sound near 550am. In that dreamy state, it’s always hard to get right out bed. I did so, but begrudgingly. Downstairs, it took a couple minutes for me to muster the strength and energy to do calisthenics. Hey, at least it wasn’t a push-up day.

It was already after 6am when I finished so I immediately poured and delivered Mindy’s coffee. I was 90% sure that I was going to work from home, and after checking email and seeing no reason why not, I solidified my plans. To that end, I didn’t plan to run until seeing Bella onto the school bus.

For the next 90 minutes I enjoyed coffee, internet, and work. Jacob headed out near 7am and Mindy a half hour later. She said something about Leslie Dent’s father-in-law passing away and possibly heading to the funeral home sometime that evening. We had to be mindful of Bella’s gymnastics logistics though too.

Making the headlines was the escape of three women in Cleveland apparently taken into captivity 10 years ago by three brothers. Interesting story, though at the time not a lot of detail. I headed out with the pug around 750am. Back home around 8am, I spent the next 5-10 minutes stretching. A few minutes later it was time for the bus stop. Bella and I headed out at 810am.

Once Bella was off to school on the bus I headed back home and then soon out for my run. I checked work email first, however. Everything was fairly quiet. I ran 4.1 miles and was back at home shortly after 9am. Before settling into work I fried three eggs – two for me, one for the pug. If I don’t make my breakfast right away when I work from home, I find that I am more prone to skipping it completely which is never a good thing. I’ll end up snacking on junk food all day.

After breakfast it was full tilt on monthly reporting. I squeezed in a quick 30 minutes online training course too. I could hardly believe my eyes when I walked in the kitchen and saw that it was 3pm. Where had the day gone? I worked until almost 4pm, or when Bella got home. I then headed out to start on the lawn. The Toro started easily on the 2nd pull. That pleased me much! This week’s mowing went a lot faster. It was cooler too, so that always helps. It was only about 70 degrees under partly cloudy skies. And by the way, we were under that perennial spinning weather system that strikes every single May where our weather comes out of the east/northeast only to spin around and hit us again and again. However, this year’s model is much milder. Still with periods of clouds and rain, but the temps about 10-12 degrees warmer than usual. That makes it much more bearable.

I push mowed, tractored & whacked in all of about 75 minutes. By the time I finished, Mindy was home from school and the grocery, which she stopped at on the way home. The kids helped her unload while put everything away. She brought home rotisserie chicken for dinner, but didn’t plan to eat until we were back from delivering Bella to gymnastics. She asked if I would mind taking Bella that way she could continue on with making/prepping dinner and our weekly fruit tray. I agreed to do the deliver.

The drop went smoothly. Back at home, Mindy had dinner ready – rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes. Yum! Dinner was delicious. As soon as clean-up was completed Mindy asked if she could head to the viewing for Mr. Dent. She texted back and forth with Darwin. He agreed to bring Bella home from gymnastics when he dropped Lane. I’m thinking Mindy left around 640pm.

While Mindy was away, I got involved in a challenging work related problem. Near 715pm, I headed to the deck and fastened the two new pergola stringers using Dewalt driver. Awesome tool! Made quick work of it. Noticed one of those pesky wood bees drilling a hole under one of my deck benches. Sprayed the hole with WD-40. I’ve heard that kills the bees.

Reengaged in that same work issue. Darwin dropped Bella at home near 750pm. He didn’t come in. Bella was concerned that her momma went to the calling hours. She asked if she could go out and play until 830pm. After confirming that her homework was caught up, I agreed. Mindy got home around 815pm. Said it was sad, but glad she went. While she headed up to change clothes, I headed up for a much needed shower. That’s right. I went all stinking day without a shower. A hot shower felt great!

Spent the next hour or so downstairs watching something similar to How It’s Made. Popped some popcorn and shared it with Bella and the pug. Enjoyed a rare Diet Coke too. Mindy headed to bed around 9pm. Bella and I stayed up until 10pm bouncing between pleasure and work. Actually, Bella stayed up even later. She was still eating when I headed to bed. I only asked that she clean-up her mess and then turn off all the lights.