The Terrible Awful

Up around 7am again. Slept really good. Same as the day before. Slipped into my running clothes and was soon out the door. I’m pretty sure that Anita was already back from her 5 mile walk. It was cloudy with a little rain through the run’s entirety. I ran the same trail as the day before. Seemed even easier 2nd time around, though the comeback seemed longer than the run out. Once again, I was soaked head to toe thanks in part to the humidity and then the light rain.

Back at the house near 8am to enjoy coffee. David whipped up more scrambled eggs. Yum! Mindy slept in until almost 9am. I didn’t take her coffee hoping that might incent her to get up sooner. She gave me a little grief for failing to do so.

The rain eventually stopped and sunshine broke through. Mindy & Anita headed out on the lake in the matching blue kayaks. I’m guessing they were gone for about 45-60 minutes. Shortly after their return we loaded up the coolers and headed out on the lake. Having checked out the south damn on Sunday, this time we headed the opposite direction with plans to go all the way to the north damn. Along the way we took a couple jogs to go by the lot where David and family used to frequent when he was a kid. Until then, I didn’t know that he was familiar with Lake Wateree from his childhood.

Just as the weather forecasters predicted, the weather came in phases. There were periods of sunshine and scattered clouds but then equal periods of clouds and rain. At one point the skies turned dark enough to scare us enough to anchor under a bridge. We sat there protected from the rain for about an hour. And despite the less than desirable weather, we had a lot of fun. It didn’t hurt that we all had a few beverages. We got a close up view of those mud bird nests common under lake bridges. At one point Mindy put her face within a foot of one only to have a bird fly out and scare the beegeezies out of her.

Once the rain stopped and sky brightened, we pulled up anchor and headed towards the north damn. Along the way the storm clouds seemed to build up again in a hurry. Lucky for us, it never really turned into the rain we anticipated might hit us. We pulled along the shore for a pee break. There were several partial cat fish carcasses scattered about. Obviously, we were at a popular fishing spot just below the damn.

David pointed out our distant target as we made our way back towards the lake house. Not sure the time when we made it back home, but we all took a short nap. Having not showered since Saturday morning, I was more than ready. Finally got one around 6pm on Monday. Felt fantastic!

David planned to grill Ribeyes for dinner. Let the steaks come to room temperature before throwing them on the grill. In addition to the steaks, he grilled asparagus and zucchini too. Oh yeah, he threw a couple sweet potatoes and red skin taters on the grill as well. Dinner was delicious. I took only half a steak. Very tender. I was able to cut it in half with a butter knife.

More than once, Mindy shared how much fun she was having. She asked if there was any way I could work it out to where we could stay an extra day on the lake. As much as I wanted to, I really couldn’t. I needed to be home to do a monthly presentation on Wednesday.

Once again, David suggested a movie after dinner. This time it was, The Help, which was another good movie. I remember glancing over at David no more than 15 minute into the movie. He was sound asleep. He woke a bit later, however. Movie was over around 930pm.

The day’s rain storms finally moving out, all four of us stepped out on the deck overlooking the cove and lake. I was completely blown away by what we encountered, the sounds of the cove. Seemingly in unison, there were bull frogs croaking, tree frogs singing, and crickets creeking. I joked that the tree frogs were calling Mindy, Mindy, Mindy.  Sounded almost fake, or like a recorded soundtrack. In awe of what my ears presented me, I stayed out a few minutes longer than everyone else taking in the moment. Did a little star gazing, too. Inside and to bed by 1030pm.