Smokehouse Brewing Company

Was up and out of bed by 6am. I noticed what appeared to be some very light frost on a few neighboring roof tops. Here it was May 16th, one day after the local frost date. Once downstairs, I actually contemplated skipping calisthenics but in the end pushed my way through. Glad I did. Took Mindy coffee near 615am and heard Jacob stirring and then getting in the shower.

I planned to work from home just as I did on Thursday. I started working at 7am after spending about 30 minutes enjoying coffee and internet. Like most days, shortly after Mindy hollered for Bella to get her feet on the floor, Bella asked what the temperature was. I quickly chimed in that it was 37 degrees and that she needed to dress accordingly.

Wasn’t expected to make it past 55 during the afternoon. At the time the skies were clear and blue, perhaps the reason for the chillier than forecasted temps. It wasn’t expected to remain that way, however. Instead, the forecast called for partly cloudy skies. Walked the pug around 745am. The woman across the street on the corner hollered out her bedroom window telling me to not let my dog crap in her yard. I held up the back of crap I had just picked up and shared that I always pick it up. She kept on, though it was difficult to understand what she was saying since the school buses were at the corner picking up the kids, Bella included. Once the buses pulled away I asked her to repeat. She went on to ask how come I don’t walk my dog in front of my own house. Of course she answered her own question, saying that I don’t want crap in my yard. I only added that I do in fact walk my dog in my own yard but that she needs the exercise. She kept talking, and finally I walked away only adding that I didn’t want any trouble.

Back home, I made sure the pug was treated, watered and fed then readied and left for a run. It was still chilly but warming fast in the brilliant mid-May sunshine. The temperature was on 44 degrees but it felt a whole lot warmer. Like I always do, I did my warm-up lap and then headed west as if to leave the subdivision. As I passed Mrs P’s. house (owner of Spiro’s) I noticed old pal, Ted Miller out front dropping off some flowers. Haven’t talked with Ted for at least 10 years, maybe longer. He still looks pretty much the same though his hair has grayed. Noticed he didn’t make eye contact either. Anyway, he shared some sad news. Seems Linda Clemons passed away within the past couple weeks. Sad, very sad. I don’t think that I’d seen her for 20+ years. Frankly, I was a little surprised that David hadn’t shared the news since he tends to stay connected to all the old neighborhood cronies via FB. I finished my three mile run with a heavier heart than which I started. All in all, however, it was a nice, easy run.

As soon as I was home, and even before digging into work, I phoned Straders on Riverside to see if they’d gotten their sod in yet. Nope, not expecting it until midafternoon, the woman said. It dawned on me that there is an Oakland Nursery on 161 just east of Riverside Dr, , or just another mile or two up the road. I gave them a call. Yep, sure enough, said they had some. My plan was to pick-up about10 pieces of sod at lunch time to sod in the same area where I planted grass seed three weeks ago, but has since struggled to germinate due to putting down a pre-emergent.

Instead of waiting until lunch time, I wanted to go right then to make sure I got the some sod. I checked in with work and thankfully everything was calm. I poured a to-go cup of coffee then hit the road. Oh, Mindy and I traded cars again, too. The tarp and gloves were still in the back from the Thursday prior when I made the first Strader’s run. Traffic was a little slow up Riverside, about 10 cars in a single file line barreling northward. Guessing it was near 930am when I pulled in the lot.

I walked inside to ask where I might find the sod since I wanted to see before buying. After all, Lowes had sod too, but theirs wasn’t properly cared for - dull and dry. The woman was reluctant to grant me passage through the store to where they kept the sod. At the time it only served as another source of aggravation, but once I walked around from the outside as she suggested I could see why.

Their sod looked nice – thick, lush and green. I headed back inside where I needed to pay first. I looked at some flowers too, since we still needed plenty more to complete our summer landscape. I bought just one little basket filler. I helped the guy load the sod being careful to spread the tarp across the back and up the side so not to mud up Mindy’s Pilot. If you’ve never purchased healthy sod, then you probably don’t realize how heavy each piece actually is. I’ll be each piece weighs 60-80lbs. I’m pretty sure that each piece is about 10-11 sq ft.
Difficult to head south from 161W. You either have to cross the river then turnaround or take this short curvy road through a business park that empties north of 161 on Riverside via a traffic light. That’s what I did. Decided to stop in Strader’s on the way back home to pick-up more flowers. I bought some verbena and then more New Guinea impatiens. Was back at home just ahead of 1030am. I put the flowers on the deck then got to work.

Joined a work related call at 11am that went for an hour or so. By the time the call was over I was starving, having not eaten even breakfast as of yet. I made a chicken wrap. It was delicious! Stayed busy with work for the next couple hours. It must’ve been around noon when the sunny skies turned mostly cloudy.

Around 2pm I headed out to see how much of the sod I could get put down in about an hour. The two small areas in question were already fairly well prepped for sod (squared edges) though definitely not perfect rectangles. I used the tractor and trailer to haul the sod to the area. Considering the weight, I transported 5pieces at a time. The sod had likely been watered shortly before I made the purchase. As a result, loading and spreading it left me a muddy mess. It went down fast, and one piece was almost a perfect fit east to west. Within 15-20 minutes I had nine of ten pieces down with just a few spots needing cut and filled with the last piece. I had just enough sod leftover to fill two spots I accidentally damaged with Round-Up a few weeks ago. I didn’t have time to deal with the 2nd of the two spots. I headed back inside to get back to work.

Sometime midafternoon the mailman knocked on the door delivering the certified piece of mail from m former doctor’s office. It was a copy of the same letter she sent a week or two prior sharing that their office would no longer serve me. Whatever, I’ve already moved on.

I worked until about 400pm. By then both kids were home. With work completely quiet and the tractor still sitting out, I headed out to do some mowing. Mowed about 85% of the yard with the tractor. And the lawn wasn’t so much as long as it was thick. All this rain and relatively cool weather has really thickened the lawn. Looks great! Finished with the tractor after 20-25 minutes. Head back inside to check on work. Still quiet on all fronts. Yeah!

Took that as my queue to head out and finish mowing with the Toro. Neighbor Carl walked over while I was mowing what remained of the front to chat for a while. As it was, he was having a few trees cut down in his yard and they’d been at it since my run earlier. Told me a sad story about one of his friends recently passing away – riddled with cancer.  No more bad news!

Mindy attended an after work event with some teacher pals. Can’t recall what they were celebrating. I’m thinking that she got home around 6pm. By then Jacob was off playing with Evan. And despite being grounded, Bella’s friend Emma stopped over. At one point I found them out front playing and hollered for Bella to come back inside. Her excuse was that she was waiting for Mindy to pull up. Sorry, you can wait inside. I wasn’t sure if she was permitted to have friends over or not. I didn’t make a big deal about it because Emma’s dad came by to pick her up a few minutes later.

I continued to working on and off until about 630pm. Somewhere sandwiched in there I finally got a much needed shower. Mindy shared that both kids independently asked if we could go to Barley’s for dinner. And when Mindy finally got a hold of Jacob via his iPhone he asked if Evan could go with us, too. It was 750pm when we all piled into the Pilot for Barley’s.

Barley’s had a decent crowd but they weren’t packed. Mindy asked for a Justin table, which more often than not requires a wait. No matter. I was determined to get a beer from the bar anyway. Just as I was walking up to the bar Mindy passed with the kids sharing that we got a Justin table right away after all. OK. I greeted friend, Rick C. who was sitting at the corner of the car then followed Mindy and the kids to the booth in the corner. I sat next to Bella with a view of the entrance. Don’t like to have my back to the door. Not really sure why.

Mindy was up talking, so I ordered both of us Fortune Teller’s. And not surprising, all three kids ordered Dr. Pepper. When Mindy got back she told Justin that she hadn’t planned on drinking any beer, having had two earlier with friends at Applebees. We went through two orders of fries and buffalo sauce before ordering dinner. I ended up going with the Reuben and onion straws, though I only ate half. Boxed what remained for home. Enjoyed a second beer, only this time a 20 oz. Centennial. It was just after 930pm when we left for home.

No more beers once at home. Instead, we pretty much headed straight for bed where we watched a couple episodes of Modern Family before falling asleep.