Hippity-Hoppity

I got up for good near 740am and once again to completely clear skies. Like the morning before, it was cool until the sun got a little higher in the sky. I enjoyed coffee and internet until about 845am when I left for a run. By then it was in the low 50s but felt great with the sunshine. Ran into Brad, who was out taking care of his lawn. Wished me Happy Easter. Oh yeah! A little later into my run, I ran into Pat out doing his morning walk.

Mindy and the pug were up by the time I was back from my run. I told Mindy that the Russian neighbors had an HER for sale sign in their front yard. Hooray! I was eager to learn how much they might be asking. The sign had a number to call to get details. I called the number but didn't know the code or the specific address. Without it, I couldn't get too far. Decided to leash up the pug and take her on a walk and at the same time get the address.

Happened upon neighbor Kenny while walking the pug. Said he called the day before but there weren't any details. Don't want to sound mean, spiteful but these neighbors have only tried causing trouble for all of us on the island. Happy to see them move on. We've been nothing but nice to them. Back home with their address, I called the property lot line again. Holy Smoke. They're asking almost 10K less than they purchased it for, and that was at the beginning of the down market. They've also dumped an easy 5-10K into to it. Wow, they must want out bad! I sent Kenny a text sharing the asking price.

At home, Mindy made breakfast, scrambled eggs with feta, tomato and spinach. It was good. We planned to have Easter dinner at her mom's and we were supposed to be there around 3pm. Before any of that, however, I wanted to get some yard chores done, namely raking out the front flower beds. And if nothing else, clearing out the dead English Ivy leaves. The plants aren't dead but the foliage is. Our extended bitter cold winter killed almost all the leaves, which more often than not survive midwest winters. It's happened two other times over the last 20 years. And about the only way to rid the dead is to rake it vigorously, which is no easy task since it's so dang viny.

After a hearty breakfast I headed out front with rakes and a tarp. Mindy indicated that she'd be out to help in a little bit. I got started by myself. Yikes, the raking was even more difficult than I remembered, but once I got warmed up it got a bit easier. Once Mindy joined me, we created a little system. I raked and she cut and trimmed the barren ivy cines back and also raked the piles onto the tarp. We spent about two hours on the front beds. It was more work than I imagined. For the first time ever, it killed the foliage on the stucco wall that's been completely covered in ivy for at least 18 years. I raked the dead from the wall too, again leaving the barren vines, which some are as much as 2" in diameter.

Mindy headed in to get cleaned up while I finished up. But at least she helped me lug the tarp back to the compost pile. That took some doing. Talk about exhausting! Jimkaken dropped the kids at home around 1pm. And shortly after their arrival we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard where a little earlier we hid plastic eggs filled with candy. However, two of the eggs contained money. It took them a while to find all the eggs but with a little help they eventually found all of them. Inside they ravaged their Easter baskets, especially Bella. She was very excited.

We readied and left for Gloria's near 245pm. We had a lot to going with us. Our haul included Lindey's wedding gift, a cheese and pickle tray, and Eiknarf. The weather, by the way, was ideal, mid 70s and sunny. Can't remember a prettier Easter. In fact, the last really nice Easter I can recall was 1994, the same year we moved into my current house. It was 80 and sunny that day but then got cold and rainy the following day.

Arrived at Gloria's near 3pm. About half the family was there ahead of us. I asked Bella to walk Eiknarf before heading in. I know all too well that the excitement of being somewhere special makes her have to poop and pee regardless of going prior to leaving the house. Inside, I helped Mindy get the pickle/olive tray in order, and then after a few hellos I headed out back to play basketball with Jacob. I was fairly stiff from the earlier yard work but well enough to play a little. I didn't have much if any spring in my giddiup, though.

Soon the others arrived and joined us out back. By then I was in a full on sweat from the basketball and warmth. Took a while to cool off, stop sweating. Mindy's entire immediate family was on hand for Easter dinner, along with long time family friends, Pat & Mel. Including kids, there were 21 of us. Dinner was served around 430-5pm, best guess. On the menu was ham, chicken, a couple varieties of pasta salad, and much more. Mindy made up my plate while I washed up. Once one gets around to their seat, it's awfully hard to navigate back down the chow line to get more food. Everything was delicious.

After dinner, most trickled outside. And why not? It was lovely. A short time later, however, a small contingent headed over to see Lindey & Josh's new condo in Hardesty. Decided to make myself useful by raking and bagging up the leaves in Gloria's flower beds. Filled two lawn debris bags. Must've been around 630pm when dessert was served. I had two helpings of icebox cookies. Unfortunately, no chocolate pie. :( Headed for home near 715pm.

Still lovely as the evening turned to night. For some reason, I was still hungry even after two desserts at Gloria's. Tuned into the Cosmos on the NatGeo channel. Great stuff! Mindy and the kids headed to bed early. Mindy wanted me to come to bed then too. We made a deal, that I could watch the Cosmos from bed. I started to dose off but then woke abruptly after an hour or so. I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and headed downstairs where I played on the internet while also enjoying a bowl of Fruit Loops. Back to bed near 11130pm.