Big Fatting

It had obviously rained overnight and plenty more was on the way. Remained in bed until almost 9am. As a result of the weather, it was a slow start to the day. Shortly after Mindy and I were downstairs it began to storm. Enjoyed coffee and internet for a couple of hours. At times it rained so hard that the gutters were overflowing like a waterfall. I walked Eiknarf at the first break in the rain. It was still coming down but not quite as heavy.

Around 1045am I could take it no more and resigned myself to getting wet. There wasn’t any lightning or thunder in the area so it was simply a matter of getting wet while running. Blessed as I am, the rain slowed during most of my run, and I stayed relatively dry. According to the weather channel, we got more than an inch of rain.

It was noon in a hurry. Mindy made us eggs, bacon and tomato sandwiches. Hit the spot. Headed to the basement for more work on the project. My priority for the day was to box in the exposed support post and then box around the one that sticks out an inch or two from the studded east wall. I set up a make-shift work bench using two horses and an old bedroom door to support my miter saw. It’s a 10” Makita but somewhat disappointing. I’m giving serious consideration to buying a new one – a 12” compound miter saw. For the time being, I would work with what I have.

Took about 90 minutes to build both. Felt good with the results. Spent the rest of the afternoon running the two 14 ga./15amp feeds from the panel box, and then neatly marked and attached all four switch runs. When I wrapped up for the day, those two circuits are ready for hardware (outlets, switches and breakers).

While I worked in the basement, Mindy went grocery shopping. And while she was away, the kids arrived home from their weekend with Jimaken. All hands on deck to help Mindy carry in groceries. As for dinner, Mindy suggested we do dinner out with the kids, and around 6pm we settled on the Big Fat. We hadn’t been there for a long time.

Thinking we arrived at the Big Fat near 630pm. Not much of a crowd at all. We were promptly seated at a table and Mike was our server. I think he’s been there for a while. The menu appeared to have a number of new choices, but noticeably missing were the best Alaskan King crab legs in the world.  To get started, Mindy ordered a glass of wine and I ordered a Jack & Coke. They’ve always mixed their drinks strong. The kids went with pink lemonade.

We gobbled up the baked pita and green sauce. It’s always a big hit. Before and then during dinner, we went through three servings. It’s complimentary. As for our entrees, Mindy ordered the special, which was salmon based but covered in shrimp and scallops in a creamy sauce. Jacob went with the seafood stuffed flounder, which was the same dish I considered getting, but in the end I couldn’t resist the carving for a good old fashioned gyro. They’ve always made one of the best anywhere. And Bella, bless her heart, she ordered bowtie pasta in butter – no sauce. Everybody sans Bella ordered a side salad. Hands down, their produce is the absolute best – freshest ever! Always has been. The salad was terrific.

We learned from Mike, our server, that Johnny was cooking. He’s the owner’s son, as well as the restaurant GM. The food is historically better when Johnny’s cooking. My gyro was the perfect mix of meat and produce as well as the correct texture, but the Grecian sauce was different than what I am used to. That knocked it from an “A” to a “B” in my book. I tried a bite of both Mindy and Jacob’s dinners. I really liked Jacob’s stuffed flounder – spicy!

Like we often do, we ordered dessert to-go. They have some of the best chocolate cake anywhere. Mindy wanted to get three varieties: not only chocolate but the lemon and raspberry cake. They were out of the two latter, so she went with two slices of chocolate cake and then on chocolate baklava. Johnny came out to greet and chat with us for a few. Surprised us when he shared that they just recently agreed to sell their newest, more upscale restaurant at Polaris, Fisherman’s Wharf. We celebrated my birthday there last year. Moreover, he went on to share that they’re closing the Big Fat within the next 6 months. Said it was for sale too, but no takers. Hmmm? Hate to see it go. Said he was looking forward to getting out of the restaurant business, having taken only 3 vacations in the last 20 years. They typically work 7 days a week and long, long hours.

As soon as we arrived home, Mindy and the kids dug into the desserts. I changed into my PJs then headed back to the basement to get started on cutting in the electrical outlets and switches. I managed to get two of them in before calling it a night, workwise. Upstairs I shoveled in a bite or two of the chocolate cake Mindy and the kids left out on the island counter. I poured myself a beer, a Widmere’s UpHEavel IPA, and then tuned into college football – Baylor/SMU. Looked like a blowout in the offing.

Mindy and the kids were off to bed around 930-945pm. I stayed up a while longer watching more of the football game. I ate a little more of the desserts they left out, too. Headed for bed around 1030pm.

More Wire

I slept fairly late even for a weekend day, not rolling out of bed until 805am. I had a nagging headache all through the night that I didn’t address until I was downstairs where I took two Ibuprofen. Even before the coffee was finished brewing my headache was gone. That was fast!

Mindy was up within the half hour with plan to once again head into school to spend another day prepping her classroom for students next week. Her mom was supposed to meet her there to assist. It was also opening day for the buckeye football team, opening on the road for the first time in several years playing Navy. It was a noon kick-off.

Mindy left for school even before I set out on my run. It was sunny, steamy and warm – already well into the 80s with a 90+ degrees high forecasted. Though I didn’t pay too close attention to the time, I’m guessing that I headed out for a run around 930-10am where I ran three miles. Piece of cake.

At home, I made myself a wrap with the leftover pulled chicken and cheese. Yum! Shortly thereafter I left for Home Depot, needing to pick-up another roll of 14/2 w/ ground electrical wire. I planned to buy another 250’ though I didn’t think I’d need much more than about 100’, but also don’t want to run short again.

At Home Depot, not only did I pick up another 250’ of electrical wire, but I also bought two plants, both for indoors. I bought a dragon palm to replace the fern that sets in corner of our soaking tub in the master suite, and then a tiny chrysanthemum to put in our Lola pot in the bay window. Ground hog can’t get it if it’s inside. Made an impulsive purchase too. Bought a roll of 4 faux shammis for drying/polishing the car. They were on sale for $.4.99. Good deal. I didn’t realize it at the time, but they ended up being a super deal – free! While at self-checkout they wouldn’t ring up and required a ales associates intervention. And when she couldn’t get them to ring up I told her it wasn’t worth my wait to pursue a price check and to simply take t hem back. She insisted otherwise and told me there would be no charge. How cool is that?

Before home, I headed to the Klean-A-Kar just down the road and close to the Hilliard Cemetery Kroger to get a long overdue car wash. I opted for the first upgrade from a basic wash, which included underbody, and presoak. A couple minutes later my car was sparkling clean, and certainly cleaner than it’s been in the last few months. Well worth the $10. I popped around the side of the building to take advantage of the complementary vacuum, which was long overdue, too. Spent about 5 minutes vacuuming. Home by 1130am.

At home, I quickly tuned into the Buckeye game pregame then headed straight for the basement to get back to work on the wiring project. I ran a few runs before heading upstairs to catch the beginning of the game. For the next 2-3 hours I bounced between the basement, family room and deck. On the deck, I repotted the new dragon palm in the royal blue pot that the master bath fern’s been in for the last 10+ years. I planned to keep that fern and throw the 20 year old fern in the compost pile. It’s looking pretty ragged these days. By the way, it was very hot and sticky. Without checking, I could tell that it was 90+ and with high humidity. Ugh!

The Buckeyes were struggling and actually behind for most of the first half. Our new QB looked decent but we just couldn’t seem to put a solid drive together before making a costly mistake. But even though we were behind.by a few points, I never got the sense that we would lose. And we didn’t.

I couldn’t bear to place the newly potted palm on the soaking tub without first cleaning up the old fern debris. I ended up scrubbing/cleaning the entire tub and tile surround. I used the shop-vac to suck up all the dead fern leaves.

BTW, the Buckeyes eventually pulled away from the Midshipmen – won 34-17. Back to the basement where I spent the rest of the afternoon. Mindy got home from school around 2pm – I think – but quickly bolted for the Kari & Jenn’s baby shower in Pickerington. I was invited too but opted not to go. Before calling it a day in the basement, I finished pulling all the runs, including the latest addition, the run to the post, which I would eventually be boxing in, possibly Sunday. All that remained was running the feeds to the panel and then of course, tying it all in.

Near 5pm I headed upstairs for a shower. Speaking of showers, Mindy didn’t get home from the baby shower until 630p or later. By then I was resigned to the idea of staying in for the night, relaxing, and college watching football. Mindy was good with that, but also hungry. I wasn’t that hungry but did make another chicken wrap around 8pm.

We watched college football late into the evening. In fact, we watched some of the 2nd half of the Wisconsin/LSU game from bed. We actually toggled between that game and the Oklahoma St/Florida St. game. We fell asleep before either game was over, but Wisconsin seemed to have their game in hand when I fell asleep.

Outta Wire

The entire household was up and cranking by 615am. I took solace in the fact that within the hour I’d have the house all to myself. However, before everybody departed, I completed Friday calisthenics, including sit-ups, windmills and push-ups.

Expecting another warm, summery day with highs in the upper 80s under partly cloudy skies. Despite the warm forecast, it was a pleasant morning temp wise – only 62 degrees. Like most work at home Friday’s, I dug into work beginning around 7am and worked until almost 830am before setting out in a run. By then everybody was long off to school.

It was a good 3 mile run. I gave the germinating grass seed a once over before heading back inside. Coming up ahead of schedule. The package called for a 7-10 day germination period. Conditions have been ideal – damp and steamy.

Made breakfast and then engaged in work. Stayed busy until late morning. Around 11am I headed out to tractor mow the lawn. Took no more than 30 minutes. I was happy to get most of the mowing done before the real heat kicked in. I worked another hour or so before heading out again to complete the push mowing. That took no more than 15 minutes with over 90% of the lawn cut with the tractor. I didn’t bother trimming/edging. I’m trying to make that an every other week task.

Stayed busy on and off through the afternoon. Not a whole lot going on. Later afternoon, but ahead of the kids’ returning from school, I headed to the basement to run more wiring. I was careful not to spend too much time away from work, periodically running upstairs to check email and IM. Of course I had my iPhone with me in case anyone really needed to reach me. Jimaken came by to pick-up Bella sometime between 4-5pm. Jacob was still at school and soccer practice. Jimaken would pick him up from there. Bella made sure to take his already packed and ready weekend suitcase.

I wasn’t expecting Mindy home until 6pm or so. They were having a meet the principal event at her new school – an opportunity for parents and students to not only meet the new principal, but to also see the new digs. Shortly before she got home I headed for a shower. Up to that point, we hadn’t many any plans whatsoever for our Friday night. However, having said that, I assumed we’d be going out for some beers.

As expected, Mindy was home between 6-630pm. And it wasn’t too long before she was changed and ready for an evening out. Even though we were there on Wednesday, we settled on another evening at Barley’s. We hadn’t been in on a Friday for a few weeks.

Guessing it was near 7pm when we arrived. Parking lot only about 2/3s attended, but we noticed that throngs were leaving as we were heading in – the happy hour crowd. Generally speaking, this time of year - football season – marks their busy season. Sitting at one of the two community tables were Calvin and Rick C. We cozied up next to the two of them. Mindy let me know that she sent a text and FB invites to handful of folks, including John & Carolyn Rich, as well as Kelly, their daughter. She also invited Tom W., Tom C., as well as her sister and brother-in-law, who we dining at Level. Haven’t heard from Tom C. all summer.

Enjoyed a Barley’s pale ale while Mindy enjoyed another of those Southern Tier Warlock’s. She claimed to have a buzz after just a few sips.  Pretty sure that Kelly showed up before her parents. I haven’t seen Kelly since perhaps Memorial Day week, or the last time Bella was at gymnastics. And speaking of gymnastics, Bella starts that routine again next Tuesday, except this year she’s in a later class – 730-9pm. I think we’ll dread that late pick-up. Ugh!

John and Carolyn joined us no more than 15 minutes later. Been a while since we’ve seen the two of them also, but more recent that Kelly. We last were with then at CBC, I think. Always fun to hang with the two of them. A short while later Jodie and Larry stopped in. And I’m pretty sure that they enjoyed only soft drinks. They stuck around for about an hour. Aside from our community table, the bar was largely empty, which is very unusual for a Friday night. Perhaps times are changing and the crowds are going elsewhere.

I’ve been feeling like we need to find another “favorite” spot, but these things one can’t force. Instead, I just need to make sure that I’m not turning my back on the proverbial opened door. And it’s not like I’ve lost my liking for Barley’s and CBC, but rather just feeling the need to branch out.

Mindy eventually ordered food – brisket wrap. We snacked on fries and buffalo sauce earlier, and that proved good enough for me. I wasn’t there to eat. I was there to be merry – you know, celebrate Friday night and hang with peeps.:)

Through our 3 hour visit, I enjoyed three more beers, each of those ZIPAs. I had a nice warm beer buzz. Mindy agreed to drive and hadn’t been drinking for the last couple hours. Left for home just after 10pm.
At home I ate a little of Mindy’s leftover brisket wrap but then headed for bed, where Mindy already was asleep.

He, Me, and a Peer

I was up somewhere between 615-630am. By then, Mindy was had already been up for a while, this her first official day of school, though without students. I headed downstairs moving rather slow where I slowly but surely whipped out sit-ups, windmills, and curls. All that briefly took my breath away. The kids headed out at 645am, and the pug and I soon followed. Mindy left for school no more than a half hour later. Soon I was home alone.

Meditation and a stretch were next. I dressed and left for a run around 745am. It was cooler than it’s been in a while, only 61 degrees but under crystal clear skies. Low humidity too. Very nice. I ran without a shirt and was a tad cool at the outset but less than a mile later when I started to sweat I was more than comfortable. Ran 4.1 miles.

At home I fried a few eggs, tow for me, one for Eiknarf. I also packed a healthy lunch then headed for a shower. Since I was working from the office, I wore jeans and v-neck t-shirt. Can you say comfortable?
Opted to drive the BM’er, the second time that week. And speaking of the BM’er, it could really use a bath. Like most BM’er days, it was a fund drive in. Arrive near 915am.

I didn’t realize it until I was completely logged in, but apparently my boss had set up a 9am meeting for he, me, and a peer. Oops! We talked a few minutes later, he asking for my decision about running/owning that project we discussed on Tuesday. And the cold hard fact are this, I didn’t want to. In fact, the thought of owning it had been wearing on me since he asked on Tuesday. I told him as much, but also added I would do it – taking one for the team, and enabling him to keep his vacation plans. He said he appreciated my candor and was already considering other alternatives. I reiterated once more, that should those not pan out that I would do it.

I stayed busy taking care of several other tasks. A couple hours passed before my boss shared that I was off to the hook. He had it worked. I was glad to hear that. I would still be involved but as a participant, not the owner.

Near 120pm I left for Home Depot, needing to pick-up a couple things for the basement wiring project. There I bought all the switches and outlets I needed along with a few other things. Back to work near 2pm. As I was heading back in the building, my boss was heading out. I stayed busy for the remainder of the afternoon

Thinking it was close to 5pm when I left for home. Jacob had a soccer game in Grandview but Mindy said she didn’t want to go. She was home making dinner. I was home just a few short minutes when Mindy shared that a critter apparently wandered onto our deck earlier that afternoon and ate all the blooms off one of our new chrysanthemums. Dang it! Really?

I was really hungry having eaten only veggies, nuts and cheese earlier in the day. Mindy was making bowtie pasta with meat sauce. Said it would be another 20 minutes or so before it was ready. I took as an opportunity to read and nap, quickly falling asleep a few pages into my Kindle. Near 6pm when she called me to dinner. The pasta hit the spot. I had two medium helpings, the second smaller than the first. During a dinner, a knock came at the front door. It was Jacob home early rom soccer. He said the game was canceled due to a logistical issue. Mindy quickly made him a dinner plate.

Clean up after dinner was simple and fast. Mindy spent time after dinner doing school related tasks. I played a little guitar and then fooled around on my PC. I planned to watch whatever NFL preseason game was on, this already the last night of preseason games. And this year all the teams play on Thursday. The Vikings were playing Tennessee but it wasn’t scheduled to be on TV. Both the Bengals and Browns games were on. But most NFL teams play mostly rookies and all their scrubs in the final preseason game. Johnny Manziel was supposed to play quite a bit. With all the hype, I was eager to watch him. Both games were kind of boring, especially the Bengals. At Johnny football made the Browns game interesting. He played what I could call poorly but was blessed to have numerous penalties called on he opposing defense after each of his horrible throws. He did have a few good runs, but that won’t work for long. He’ll be crushed meat in the regular season after just a few games.

Near halftime I checked the Vikings score online. They were leading 10-0. Mindy headed up to bed around 930pm while I stayed up watching more football. I was up maybe another 30 minutes or so and then joined Mindy already in bed.

Barleys Daniel and Heimi

For the first time all week, I slept uninterrupted and not by coincidence, I woke feeling completely refreshed. Mindy was already up with the kids, having rolled out of bed just ahead of me. Downstairs I completed sit-ups, windmills, then push-ups. Before relaxing with coffee and internet, I walked the pug. She was eager and happy to be getting a walk early.

Back home just before the kids headed off to the bus stop, I enjoyed coffee and internet for the next 20-30 minutes. After meditation and a stretch, I got an important email from my customer expressing some rather significant concerns. Needless to say, I had to put my routine and run on hold and take care of my customer. That kind of put the kibosh on my plan to run early and subsequently leave for work early.

During my toil with work, Mindy readied and left for school. Still on her own time, getting her new class room ready for the new year. Her first official day of school is Thursday, but she won’t have kids until the Tuesday after Labor Day. I remained focused on work until 910am. It was then that I headed out on a run. Ran 4.1 miles. It was plenty warm and sunny, a little hot even. I didn’t mind.

At home, I took the time to whip up breakfast and pack a lunch. By the time I finished all of that and then got a shower it was well after 10am. It was already 11am by the time I arrived across town at my customer’s campus.

Someone moved my cheese – a metaphor of sorts. Once again, they moved somebody into my cube/desk. I had to seek out one of their managers to get a new place to work. Soon I was seated and logged onto work. Because I arrived so late, I opted to pass on a formal lunch break, and instead plowed straight on through my work day. Accomplished quite a bit. It was near 5pm when I left for home.

I talked with Mindy shortly after getting on 270 though our conversation was brief. A few minutes later when I was just south of Dublin, David called playing the Buckeye battle cry on his new Kazoo. For a few seconds, I thought it was a prank call, but it soon made sense. He was calling to share that he received the birthday gifts I had shipped to his home (kazoos, guiro, and spoons). He shared that he and Anita were heading to Ashville come morning, staying at the Biltmore and seeing Lyle Lovett the following evening.

Arrived home near 535pm. We made plans to have dinner and beers at Barleys. Thinking it was 6pm when we headed out. Not much of a crowd at all. We settled in at the bar where Daniel could take care of us. Noted that they had Warlock on tap, It’s a Southern Tier seasonal, a pumpkin Imperial Stout. We both had one. Very good, but I can only take one of those. My second was a ZIPA which I enjoyed along with 10 K.C. wings well done. Mindy had a Southwest salad with warm meat. Don’t’ get me started  She also had a bowl of the soup-of-the-day – chicken chowder. I had a few bites. It was delicious.

At Barley’s until 810pm. The kids were calling for food but Mindy asked why they didn’t eat dinner with their dad. Wanting to please, I went ahead and stopped at Wendy’s just a few store fronts down from Barleys and bought the kids some food – their usuals.

Immediately in the door, once the kids saw that I brought home food, they both gave me a big hug. Near 9pm I headed for the living room and my Kindle. I read for just a few minutes before dosing off. I woke maybe 30 minutes later, to an empty downstairs. Mindy and the kids were already in their beds.

BM'er Bumped from Behind

I slept OK but not nearly as soundly as I had hoped. Still, I was up near 620a after finding it difficult to sleep any later since Mindy was up assisting the kids and making racket and turning on lights. I slowly dragged myself from bed, brushed my teeth then headed downstairs where I was promptly engaged in calisthenics. Once the sit-ups, windmills, and curls were behind me, I felt more awake and invigorated.

Coffee and internet were next. I did that for just a few minutes before walking Eiknarf about the same time that the kids headed out to the bus stop. There must be fifteen of them at the middle school/6th grade bus stop these days, no doubt the largest contingent of children in the immediate area of our subdivision.

Back at home Mindy was already preparing to leave for school. For the first time in a really long, long time, I’d be heading into the main office to work on a Tuesday instead of the usual Tues day, drill of working from the customer’s campus. My boss requested as much. Wanted, needed my help with a project.

To that end, I didn’t want to get there too later so I pressed on with my morning routine in earnest, and was ready to head out for a run by 715am. I ran the full 4.1 miles in lovely conditions. The skies were clear and it was about 65 degrees. Nice run.

Mindy made eggs for the pug and I was pretty much ready to leave once I was back from my run. She left before I woofed down my breakfast. Off to the shower by 815am and ready to go a short time later. Planned to drive the BM’er. Why not. It was gorgeous and little to no chance of rain. It was close to 845am when I left the house.

I was fiddling with the radio at the Wilson Rd./Roberts Rd. light just before the Tim Horton’s turn-in when out of nowhere I got rear ended (bumped). The first thought that came to mind was that something was wrong with the car, but in a split second I realized I had in fact been rear ended. I glanced up to see a young woman in a white Hyundai practically in my trunk.  Dang it! I calmly got out and quickly glanced at the rear of the BM’er. At the same time the driver was asking if I and the car were OK. Not wanting to hold up traffic or for that matter, commit to anything just yet, I only suggested we pulled in the Tim Horton’s real quick where we could look at the damage and exchange info if necessary. She agreed.

We pulled in and parked, and then both of us got out to assess the damage, which from my quick glance earlier I couldn’t see anything. On closer inspection there was a very tiny scratch, that’s it. Before I could say anything the woman suggested she give me all her info just in case, almost insisting she take care of it. I let her finish but then calmly extended my hand and told her to have a nice day. Happily, no damage worth pursuing. I was just happy that one, neither of us were hurt, and two, neither of our cars were damaged. Move on!

I’d all but forgotten about it by the time I arrived and was settled at the office, which was near 910am. My boss was quick to engage me in conversation about this very big project he’s responsible for managing and wanted my assistance. However, it wasn’t too long into the process when he realized that a Six Sigma class he was slated to take to help launch the project was smack dab in the middle of his long scheduled September two week vacation. In a little bit of a panic he asked if I would be willing to take the lead on the project. Frankly, just the thought of having full ownership of the project terrified me, and for good reason. I told him as much but in the same breath shared that I would do whatever he needed me to do so he can enjoy his vacation. He told me to think about it and then let him know in the next couple of days.

Kept busy all day long. Jacob had a soccer game at one of the local MS soccer fields, so the plan was for me to simply meet Mindy and Bella there after work. It made no sense for me to drive home only to turn right around and fight traffic back into Hilliard. The game was slated to begin at 6pm. I left work near 515pm and headed directly to the soccer field. Turned out, when I talked with Mindy she let me know that the plans changed slightly. Instead of playing at the MS fields, the game was moved to the HS practice field, which as it turned out, is within eye shot of the other, though not exactly clear heading into it. In fact, I had to cell Jimaken to ask where exactly the field was. He guided me the rest of the way in. I, in turn, had to guide Mindy and Bella in. They, I could tell, were a little irritated with my directions. 

Mindy brought our black camp chairs, the same ones that had been AWOL for most of the summer. She also brought me a water and a protein bar (candy). I was hungry, so the bar hit the spot. Because there’s an A and a B middle school team, they play their games one right after the other. For some reason, the B game went longer than expected. I guess they got started later due to the field change. Anyway, Jacob’s game didn’t get underway until almost 630pm. Thankfully, where we were sitting provided shade, thanks to the school building directly behind us.

Unlike the game last Thursday, this time Jacob’s team did a great job keeping most of the action down on their offensive end of the field. And they must’ve had 20 shots on goal through the games entirety, but not one of them went in. They were either kicking it right at the goalie, hitting one of the poles, or kicking it just over or to the side. They were losing 4-0 when I packed it up to leave. Big thunder heads were moving in from the west, and I didn’t want to get caught in a storm in the BM’er. Bella left with me.

Mindy had chicken breasts in the crockpot at home and asked that I microwave a can of green beans once there. She and Jacob needed to make a quick stop for a few things at Giant Eagle or Krogers on their way home. It never did rain. I turned on the radar from home and the once scary looking storm clouds seemed to evaporate into thin air. As requested, I nuked a can of green beans. Soon Mindy and Jacob were home, and after losing, Jacob was such a pissy mood that he scampered off to his bedroom and said he wasn’t hungry.

Mindy planned to make him eat but left him cool down alone for a while. He, I guess, wasn’t having many nice things to day about his team’s efforts. He may be better than most of his team mates but my feeling is that then he should help them develop or find a way to overcome their collective weaknesses rather than complain. It’s been an ongoing issue for Jacob, year after year, season after season.

Congruent with her stated plans, Mindy headed up to insist Jacob come down and eat once we were all settled at the table. He ate, but very little. His mood did seem markedly better. Soon, he scampered back to his room to finish his homework.

Between soccer and school, his days are too long if you ask me. I mean he’s up at 6am, on the bus by 7am, and then at school and soccer until almost 8pm every night. The coach insisted he would have then complete their homework at study table which takes place immediately after school and before practice, but almost every night Jacob’s come home with spillover homework, and Algebra at that.

After dinner, I played guitar for a while and then read. And just like I hoped, I got sleepy in a hurry. I headed off to bed near 9pm. Mindy wasn’t far behind. Both of us considered ourselves way under slept since Saturday.

In the Middle of the Night

By design, I got up at 215am without the aid of an alarm, though I had Mindy set hers just in case. She disabled it once she knew I was up. She was having trouble sleeping like me. I’m guessing her issue was the Sunday hangover and being too tired. That happens, you know.

Downstairs, I poured myself a cup of Sunday’s leftover Starbucks then just as I had promised Mindy I would, I started a fresh pot so she’d have it come 6am when she got up with the kids. My plan was to head into work, come home, sleep more then get up and go through my usual morning routine, including a run. I ate half of a banana too, then left for the DR test.

I did the same testing almost a year ago to the day. Hardly seems possible. Next to no traffic that time of day (245am). Arrived a couple minutes after 3am. The customer’s contact was already there and waiting for me. We wasted little time getting situated and set-up. I activated my conference bridge then began the testing which took about 75 minutes, which was spot on with my prediction. The testing went well. I was on the road for home around 450am.

I took care of a couple emails then headed back to bed. Mindy shared that she was still struggling to get to sleep. And just as one might expect, it took a little bit of time before I fell back asleep. Next thing I knew Mindy was getting up with the kids, helping them get ready for school. She was excited to see her brand new school building for the very first time. She planned to head there sometime around 8am.

I got up from bed about the time the kids were heading out for the bus. Mindy, I think, returned to bed in effort to get more sleep before heading into school. Not really sure the time when she finally left. I poured some coffee then finally got around to calisthenics. I kept a loose eye on work, too, but planned only to be in reactive mode should I be needed. My boss pinged me at some point asking if I was coming in to the office. Before I could respond he sent another message remembering that I worked through the night.

I ended up doing more work than I hoped and didn’t head out for a run until almost 10am. By then the sun was higher in the sky than perhaps I am used to thus quickly broke into a sweat. I could feel how tired my body was. Not only did I get only a couple hours of light sleep, but that was after a poor night of sleep Saturday night too. I gave myself a break and trimmed my run to just three miles.

Home near 1030am, once I was cooled off I made some breakfast for the pug and I. As planned, I did little more than simply keep an eye on work. I never did lie down and try to fall asleep. I was way too wired for any of that. I did take a few minutes to head out and water all the deck flowers.

It must’ve been around 3pm when I decided to be constructive – literally – and headed to the basement to at a minimum, install the outlet boxes in the new family room. Once that was addressed, I moved on to drilling all the holes through the studs for the wiring. I wisely chalked lines across all the studs to keep my holes in line with one another. I had to drill a few holes in floor joists too, and one of those was somewhat tricky, in that I needed to match the hole on both sides of a double joist with a 4 inch gap between them. It was too far for my bit to reach from one through both and that was with my handy dandy Dewalt bit extension attached. I had no choice but to eye ball it and then come in the other side at a steep angle due to the next joist being too close to allow room for my small but mighty driver drill.

Mindy and the kids were home while I toiled in the basement. I thought about keeping on but last minutes opted not. I was hungry and tired. I had a lot of sawdust from drilling to sweep up too. Mindy shared how beautiful her new school building is. She gushed about it numerous times. Little wonder, she’s been in old buildings without even A/C pretty much her entire teaching career, which is now in its 21st year. She also shared just how tired she was. We agreed that dinner was going to be extremely simple. She made cream of chicken over rice while I opted for my leftover jambalaya. Yum!

Not sure what Bella had. Jacob, however, was at a soccer game, one of three this week. Jimaken was kind enough to attend and then bring him home. The players stay after school as a team, do their homework and then dine together thanks to the contributions made by the parents ($40) per family.

Didn’t do a whole lot. Manually ran the irrigation system zone #6 to water the new grass seed. Once Jacob was home from soccer, Mindy made him a couple grilled cheese sandwiches. By then it was after 8pm. I called it a night early and headed up to bed. Mindy said she’d be up shortly too. I slept for a couple of hours but once again woke around 10pm and couldn’t readily fall asleep again. I headed downstairs where I had two bowls of Fruit Loops. Headed back to bed 30 minutes later.

Spreading My Seed

Despite an incredibly late bedtime – 4am – I was surprisingly up and out of bed near 830am. More surprising, perhaps, was that I didn’t feel too bad at all. On the other hand, given all the whisky Mindy drank at the reception, I guessed she would remain in bed until 10 or 11am.

I made a pot of Starbucks coffee then played on my PC for a while. It was 10am before I headed out on the run, and at the time, I was still the only one up and awake. I ran three miles without issue. If there was any hint of grogginess before setting out, it was completely gone afterwards. I tidied up the kitchen and unloaded the dishwasher.

Mindy was finally up about the time I was getting busy whipping up some grits and an omelet. At first she wanted only some grits but ultimately opted for part of the omelet. After breakfast, I spruced up a little then left for Lowes/Home Depot to pick-up some grass seed and starter fertilizer. I stopped at Lowes first but was disappointed to find a surprisingly poor selection of grass seed. I left for Home Depot, which is only a ½ mile or so down the road.

H.D. had a better selection of seed and fertilizer. Got what I need, though spent a little more than perhaps I wanted. Between the dirt, seed, and fertilizer, I’d spent $100. Back at the house I wasted little time kicking it into gear. Before spreading any grass seed, I pulled the tractor and trailer full of top soil around and topped off the edges along the driveway as well as a few spots along the service walk back towards the deck. Satisfied that it was ready for seed, I fetched my mini hand spreader, using it first to cover the area with starter fertilizer. Next, I concocted a mixture of the new seed I bought, which was a heavy shade
Type (mostly fescues) with the Midwest blend I bought last spring, which was a combination of fescue, bluegrass and rye. And then for good measure, I threw an older, but high quality straight blue grass. I shook and stirred before applying. The hand spreader works pretty well by dispensing a fairly even coat. Took no more than 10 minutes to spread both fertilizer and seed. Once that was done I watered in softly.
Nothing left to do but care and wait for the seed to germinate.

What to do with the remaining top soil? I still had most of a heaping trailer load. It was then that I remember a few little corrections of changes I thought about making to the contour of our flower beds. In each case, it would require me adding soil to the edge of the beds to further pronounce a couple of the curves. I took my time addressing both of those areas, spreading first the dirt then tamping it into place while also forming a nice edge to look just like the existing. Looks great! Next, I fertilized and seeded the two spots. Before putting everything away, I overseeded a couple small chronic thin spots.

Still plenty of dirt remained, I decided not to just waster it, but instead dump it in a compact pile out near the compost pile for later use. I’ve already got a small pile of fill dirt (clay and stone) back there. By the time I was done, the seeded areas around the walk were already drying out. Decided to run the irrigation system on the east side zone #6. Perfect! Aside from the narrow area on the west side of the driveway, zone #6 waters all the seed.

It was another sunny, hot humid day, though I didn’t get as warm and overheated as I did on Saturday. The biting flies were much less, too. I’m guessing it was near 3pm when I got a shower, and believe me, it felt terrific. After a shower, I watched some preseason NFL though can’t recall the teams.

Because I’d be heading to a customer’s campus to carryout proactive disaster recovery testing at 3am, I planned to head to bed around 8-830pm. For the remainder of the afternoon and evening I simply relaxed around the house. And come 830pm I headed for bed watching at least part of the Bengals Cardinals SNF preseason game. As often happens, I struggled to get to sleep after dosing off a time or two earlier in the evening. Very frustrating. It must’ve been around 945pm when I got up and headed downstairs for about 45 minutes. It helped a little, and I’m guessing that it was near 11pm when I finally fell asleep, but still only lightly.

Moving 2 yards of Dirt - Celebrating Craig & Jeff

 

Congrats Craig & Jeff!

Slept in until almost 8am. Was happy to see that the weather forecast changed again and now there was only a slight chance of rain throughout the day as opposed to the 80% chance forecasted as recent as Thursday. There was some high fog in the area early on but otherwise clear sailing. The temperature was a balmy 72 degrees at 8am.

The day’s plans included me going after a yard of top soil following a run and breakfast. To that end, I enjoyed coffee and internet until about 915am and then headed out for a run. By then it was very was warm and humid. Ran the usual 3 miles.

Home near 10am, I hung out with Mindy for a while and took the pug on a walk. Near 1030am I prepared the Pilot for towing dad’s trailer. Doing so meant I had to remove the Thule bike rack and install the ball and hitch. Dad left a note on the trailer sharing that he’d filled the tires with air, something that’s bit me in the ass once before. I was there and gone in less than 5 minutes.

Pulled in Ohio Mulch off Roberts Rd. near 11am where I purchased a cu. Yard of top soil. Handed my receipt to the guy operation the Bobcat loader. He motioned to the covered stall at the far back of their premise. The top soil was very pungent. Smelt nearly as strong as the mulch. In fact, the composition of the top soil was more like their leaf compost, a mixture of soil, compost and sand. You just never what you’re going to get when buying topsoil in Columbus. This stuff would be ideal for rebuilding a flower bed, not necessarily as backfill. The amount seemed far more than what I might need, but it definitely wouldn’t go to waste. I’d find use for whatever remained after the project’s completion.

At home, I somewhat hurriedly made and woofed down a sandwich before heading out in the hot sun to moved dirt. Mindy asked if I needed any help. No, not really. Soon I was ready to get busy moving the dirt. To move it efficiently, I fetched my tractor and trailer from the shed and employed the wide coal shovel for loading and dumping. I started dumping at the walks furthest reach, at the deck stairs. I unload 4 or 5 trailer loads before bothering to tamp and compress. I was extra careful with the heavy tamper not to clip the walk’s edge. The incessant tamping left me dripping with excessively warm and dripping in sweat. The temps neared 90 with 70% humidity. Ugh!

At one point I asked Mindy if she’d fetch me some ice cold water. Ahhh! Mindy left to run a few errands sometime between 12noon and 1pm. By then it was clear to me that not only would there be no leftover topsoil, but I’d almost certainly need to go after another load. The last thing I wanted to do was a subpar job and have the topline of the soil to low against the walk. Not only would that produce a safety hazard (think twisted ankle) but also aesthetically unpleasing. I prefer to leave and edge slight above the walk.

With the first yard fully dumped, I managed to create a rough backfill and feathered edge against the entire new walk, still required more to make it look ideal. After a brief break to cool off, I headed back to Ohio Mulch for load number two. There and back in less than 30 minutes. After rehydrating it was back to work. This time I started out front, backfilling and feathering it in along the driveway giving it a finished look. That was tedious but rewarding.

Next, I dumped several loads along the service walk around to the deck to bring the edge up higher as well as keeping it feathered into the existing lawn. Before adding too much more I decided to run the irrigation zone in that narrow area – all pop-ups to make sure I hadn’t buried any of the little heads. Nope. Looked good. And while it was running, I took the opportunity to flag each head just in case I’d need to raise one or two later. Once again, the tamping and compressing was the most exhaustive process. By then I was drenched head to toe in gelatinous sweat. And I suppose it due to the pungent odor of the top soil, it attracted flies that were biting my sweaty back and driving me nuts.
A couple of times the bites were so painful that I actually shouted ouch! Mindy was home and came out to slather my back in Ava Anderson bug repellent and once again top off my ice water. The Ava Anderson didn’t work worth a damn. They continued biting me right through it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I heard one of them thank me for adding the flavor.  I finished my work around 4pm very satisfied with the look. I had one Deere trailer load of top soil leftover. I cleaned out dad’s trailer then parked the Deere trailer full of top soil in the middle back yard just in case I needed a little more to add here and there before seeding on Sunday.

I headed in for a much needed shower ahead of Craig & Jeff’s wedding reception in Powell. The reception was set to begin I think at 600pm and we agreed to pick-up nephew Joe & Rick on the way. I suggested we also drop off dad’s trailer and then stop in at the Powell Aspen Ski & Board to pick-up the kids snow boards on the way.

After a shower, I packed a cooler with some good beers just in case I didn’t care for the standard fare at the reception. Hey, it’s tough being a beer snob. Left near 500pm, dropping the trailer off at dad’s. He came out to greet us, having just headed in himself to cool off a little. It was some of our hottest weather of the summer to be sure. While there, Mindy confirmed that he was still planning to spend the later portion of the evening at our house tending to Jacob, who would be home alone while we were at the reception. Bella was spending the night with Makayla, who was having a combined birthday party with sister, Lillian. Yep, heading over around dark, or 9pm.

We stopped for gas just before getting on the freeway. Arrived at Rick & Joe’s near 520pm. While there we picked up the two black camp chairs we left when we were there for Joe’s b-day party back the last week of June. Next stop, ASBCO. Made good time heading further up I-71N to Polaris/Gemini exit. Buddy Scott met me at the door of ASBCO. Jokingly told me they were closed. Huh? Joe and Rick came in with us. Joe has a buddy from the Rusty Bucket that also works at ASBCO. He visited with his friend while we picked up our boards. Took a little bit, and while waiting we chatted with Scott. Didn’t get to talk with him at all at the big sale a couple weeks back. I asked how the April Bachelor ski trip went. Shared that it was amazing.

Both boards look awesome. The kids will love them. Now 550pm, we headed further east on Powell Rd for Old State Rd where we headed north until we intersected Orange Rd. The reception was being held at one of Craig & Jeff’s friends’ homes in a subdivision located on the eastside of Alum Creek State Park between Cheshire Rd and the damn, but closer to Cheshire Rd. We were briefly uncertain of our next turn once we were on Bale Kenyon Rd. but quickly recovered after Rick wisely programmed our destination into his GPS. Arrived at 605pm.

I opted to leave the cooler in the Pilot thinking I would come for it if the need arose. I took my camera backpack along (70D and S120). Nice house. Most homes in that area go for about 500K. The reception was for the most part, and outdoor event. The host had an incredible outdoor living area for such an event which thankfully offered plenty of shade and plenty of amenities. Though a little warm, the weather was very cooperative – clear skies and little threat of rain.

As advertised, the reception was somewhat low key, but definitely not low budget. Top shelf liquor and quality food, and as I understand it, all of it prepared by the host, who would give City Barbeque and even Barley’s a run for their money when it comes to their smoked brisket. Instead of beer, I decided to go with whisky and Coke (Crown & Coke), though I did have one rum and Coke to start. Before dinner was served, and like many others, I was sporting a pretty good buzz. But since Mindy was putting away the Crown & Coke’s too, I knew I’d better stop and resort to drinking water.

As darkness set in, the DJ and dance floor became center stage. And as I expected, the dance floor was overtaken by the Thompson clan. Me, I took dozens of photos with the 70D. Opted for auto program mode, that way I wouldn’t have to over think settings for the varied lighting.

By all accounts, a very nice time had by all. We ended up there until 11pm or so. I was a little concerned that dad was at our house with Jacob. We offered to host an after party. And initially Lindey and Josh and Rick & Joe were coming over. Josh was stopping home to pick-up his guitar first. We planned to jam!
Last minute, Rick & Joe opted out, and instead asked that we drop them at home since they needed to be up early Sunday AM. Probably a wise call. By the time we dropped them home it was nearing midnight. Truth be told, I was sleepy. Wasn’t sure how long I might last at home.

Sure enough, Josh & Lindey were already at our house when we finally pulled up. Josh shared that dad bolted as soon as he confirmed we were on our way. Mindy had been drinking whisky since 7pm or so. Needless to say, she was sporting one heck of a buzz. When she headed upstairs to change out of her dress, I half expected she wouldn’t return.

Mindy finally returned downstairs in her robe. Oh boy! Josh doesn’t care for IPA, but that’s about all I had. He tried one but complained that it tasted like grass.  He opted instead for Jack Daniels, straight up. Soon niece Lindey took to the sofa while Josh and I played guitars. Josh is pretty daggone good (he’d be real good if he took the time to play more often). He taught me a few cool riffs and a few new chords. We had a pretty cool thing going for a while. And at one point we had Mindy keeping beat on the drum box too. Had a blast! Mindy headed to bed I’m guessing around 2am. Josh and I kept at it beyond 3am. By then Lindey was awake and asserted to be sober, and by all accounts she was. She hadn’t had any alcohol for several hours. She drove the two of them home.

Once the two of them were gone, I took a few minutes to pick-up the kitchen both from us and also dad and Jacob then headed for bed myself. By then it was nearing 4am!!!

Celebrating Darwin & Connie's 27 years

Knowing that I was working from home, I slept in until almost 7am. By then, the kids were already off to school. I was slow to complete Friday calisthenics but eventually did, including the requisite 50 push-ups. I was happy to get them behind me, and was more awake than ever.

After walking the pug, I helped Mindy carry a few things to the Pilot for her teacher planning session meeting being held at a friend’s house. She anticipated being gone for most of the day. It was after 9am by the time I headed out for my run. And like most Friday’s, I ran just three miles.

As storm soaked as the weather forecast was as recent as the day before, it was only partly cloudy at the time and the weekend forecast had been revised with a declining chance for weekend rains. Cool! With all I wanted/needed to accomplish workwise, I didn’t think it even in the cards to get topsoil on Friday.

Instead, between my lunch hour and a few breaks, I hoped to get a jump start on relocating the three sprinkler heads I exposed and moved out of the way of the new concrete walk. Around 11am such a break came to fruition. I headed out to assess how much work would be involved in moving the sprinklers. I started on one of the two pop-ups on the east side of the driveway. The relocation was fairly straight forward and simple. Getting then correct height was perhaps the greatest challenge since I had to change the grade by a few inches. Finished the one in about 20 minutes.


About an hour later I headed out again, this time considering it my lunch hour and hopeful of getting the remaining two moved. The second pop-up was even easier than the first since I had experience. The rotator on the west side of the drive presenter a greater challenge. Not only did the sprinkler need moved, but I had to cut about 5 feet of the main line away as well as augmenting the grade substantially. Took me two tries, the first provided the water arc to plow directly into the landscaping. Not wanting to settle, I pulled it up and moved it into a more fitting spot that addressed all the needs. Took the entire hour but the job looked better than the original. The fallout? I was a muddy, wet mess! I hosed myself off before heading back inside. I felt really good about the job. With the sprinkler heads moved and sunk into place, I could focus my attention on dirt and seed over the weekend.

The kids and Mindy got home at 3 and 330pm respectively. I finished out the work day by 430pm and then headed out to mow the lawn. By then the weather had only improved. In fact, by midafternoon it was mostly sunny and very warm, and certainly no sign of rain. I hadn’t cut the lawn since Sunday, August 10th. Needless to say, it needed cut. That’s the longest I’ve gone all season. The front was particularly long and lush. The back suffering a little from the recent and only real dry spell of the summer.

I cut 90+% with the tractor then push mowed, trimmed, edged and blew. Did all of that in a little more than an hour. I wouldn’t call it my best work but it looked nice. I was pleased. We had dinner plans with Darwin and Connie to celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary. The kids were staying home. Originally, they were going to help watch the two young McVey’s but Jordan ended up taking care of that. Darwin sent a text asking if we could simply meet there since he was still trying to get home from a job site in Worthington. No problem. I showered up in a hurry and Mindy and I headed off for CBC around 630pm. I am pretty sure we had a 7pm dinner reservation.

Mindy and I made a quick pit-stop at the German Village Kroger, which is directly across the street from CBC. There, we picked up an anniversary and gift card for the McVey’s.

We arrived at CBC ahead of the McVey’s and took up temporary refuge at the bar. We stood for a while until two stools freed, freed by none other than KJ, the GM of 229 who was in for a quick beer with one of the chef’s. Vince and Kevin were working the bar. No Bodhi. I asked for a beer menu and quickly selected the Mongrel, a somewhat hoppy read ale. Glad I did. It was really flavorful. Kevin had some happy news to share. He finally got the teaching job he coveted at the Graham school. Prior, he was teaching at the online academy (Can’t recall the name). Graham is a very highly regarded alternative school.

Darwin and Connie showed up about halfway through my first beer. I offered my stool to Connie while Darwin and I stood. It wasn’t but a minute or two before our table became available. Vince graciously moved our small bar tab to our table. Julie would be our server.

We were seated in a booth. And if I may, my single complaint about CBC is the booths. They’re way too narrow/tight. Of course I am jaded, already having a disdain for any type of booth seating. We chatted for a while before ordering appetizers – risotto balls, asparagus fries. And just about the time we ordered entrees, I ordered a 2nd Mongrel.

Darwin and I both opted for the jambalaya while Mindy tried the special. And I think Connie had the salmon. Dinner was delicious and the company great. We had a nice relaxing dinner. We presented the McVey’s their card and gift. Seemed to like it, a gift card to Bravo/Brio. I picked up the anniversary dinner tab, too. As we wrapped up dinner, Mindy invited them to stop by the house for dessert, chocolate pie. They accepted.

It was just getting dark as we arrived home, us about 5 minutes ahead of our guests. Mindy immediately walked down to the neighbors to fetch Bella, who asked that she come get her once home. By the time she was back, Darwin and Connie were there. IN addition to Bella, Mindy brought back neighbors Bob & Theresa too. And unless I’m mistaken, the first time Bob’s ever been to our place. Theresa, on the other hand, has been over a few times past. Mindy invited them over to try her chocolate pie. Lord have mercy. She’s marketing her pie to everyone! 

Darwin and I enjoyed a Hop Nosh instead of chocolate pie. I offered Bob one too but he wanted pie instead. They stayed long enough to enjoy the pie and chat a little but not all that long. For that matter, Darwin and Connie didn’t stay too long either. They left by 10pm or so. Guess Darwin was in a hurry to get home and celebrate the anniversary.

Mindy and I were soon off to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. After 10 minutes of tossing and turning I knew that I wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon so I got up and headed back downstairs. Read about the Vikings preseason game against K.C. The Vikings won handedly, 30-12. Back to bed for good near 11pm.

Eyeballing My Needs

Up near 630am, Mindy was again already up seeing the kids off to school. I completed calisthenics and then settled in in front of my PC with coffee around 650am, or about the same time that the bus scooped up the kids. Mindy headed back to bed though she had plans to have her hair colored by nice Lindey around 930am.

I enjoyed a little quiet time before heading out for a run, probably a little too much. By the time I headed out the door it was after 8am. Unlike the past few Thursday which were almost perfect weather-wise, heavy storms were forecasted to move into the area and then remain through the weekend.

I really wanted to be at the office by 9am, but given my late start out the door, that was pretty much an impossibility. To get back a little time, I cut my run to just three miles. As much as I hated to do it, it gave me piece of mind knowing that if I hustled, I could be at work before 930am.

Back at home around 845am, I hurried through making my breakfast, packing my lunch and then a shower. Mindy was up and in the shower around then too, but lucky for her, she was already out by the time I was ready to get in.

I was off to work by 915am or shortly after Mindy headed out. I was looking forward to a day in main office. I had a number of issues I hoped to get resolved and/or under control. My boss was surprisingly absent. I later learned that he spent the morning at a customer visit in Cincy. With few distractions, I was able to knock out everything on my to-do list and then some. Heck, I was even able to squeeze in some online training, and by doing so, I completed the last class in the ITIL OSA series. Now it’s onto studying and then scheduling and passing the exam.

It must’ve been around noon when a gnarly looking storm system moved over central Ohio and dumped tons of rain along with lots of lightning and thunder. After the ominous looking front moved through steady rain persisted through the afternoon. Because of the rain, the temperature never got out of the 70s.

Stayed busy through 5pm. My boss, who made it into the office near 3pm, was still there when I left for home. I was surprised to find dad standing in the driveway when I pulled up at the house. I wasn’t sure if he was coming or going. Shared that he’d just gotten there and was looking at the new sidewalk and eyeballing how much dirt I might need to buy and move to make it look aesthetically pleasing. Just the night before at the soccer game, I asked to borrow his trailer so I could pick-up some top soil.

We headed inside together where Mindy was busy putting the finishing touches on dinner – chili, which was a big surprise but welcome, along with cornbread. She also whipped up a couple chocolate pies, one for home and another for her school gathering on Friday. Yum! The chili was superb. Lots of spices and loaded with cumin which for me is what makes it.

Dad shared that although his trailer was ready for me to come by and use anytime, heavy rain was forecasted through Sunday. Figures, but then again, not an absolute necessity to get the dirt work done this coming weekend, but instead only a desire, though a strong one. I want to get it behind me so I can focus my attention on the basement.

As good as the chili was, the chocolate pie was even better. Great job, dear! Mindy was a bit frustrated with me after I gave a less than love it reaction to her hair her new hair coloring. I didn’t say that I didn’t like it or that it looked bad, but I guess my body language must’ve.

Dad left for home around 730pm, Mindy sending him with his own small chocolate pie. She asked if he would watch the kids Saturday night while she and I go to Craig and Jeff’s wedding reception. He agreed to.

There was football on again, the start of week 3 of the NFL’s preseason - Pittsburgh/Philadelphia. I planned to watch. Like Monday night, I watched the start of the 2nd half from bed until Mindy turned the TV off when I started to dose.

Who Said you Can't Change your Spots

Once again, Mindy got up with the kids. And this time I remained in bed until almost 7am. Hurried through calisthenics so not to throw off my calendar. Coffee, internet, meditation, and stretching in the bag by 8am. Headed out from a run around 805a. Ran 4.1 miles.

Enjoyed breakfast, packed my lunch and got a shower and out the door by 920am. Arrived across town near 940am. It was monthly service review day with the customer. As soon as I was settled I began preparing for the presentation. We were set for a 1030am start. My boss showed up to part of the show. I wasn’t really expecting him to show but welcomed his attendance. The presentation went well.

Knocked out a couple more meetings before heading out for lunch around 1pm. Visited Lowes and Target. Was hoping to find spot light fixture protective washers, but Lowes didn’t have them. Next door at Target I bought some doggie poops sacks. Would’ve said hello to Mary Ann but she and Bob are on vacation at the beach.

Back to the office. Had a 3pm meeting slated at another building on campus so I wasn’t there much more than 30 minutes before packing up and driving over there. The meeting was in a familiar building but an unfamiliar floor and meeting room. In fact, at one point I wondered if I was in the wrong building or room. Nope, the others showed a couple minutes late. Still, the meeting didn’t eat the full hour, instead only about 45 minutes.

By the time I got to the Accord in the deep lot it was 4pm. I decided it made little sense to drive back to the other building so I headed for home. Our plan was to go watch Jacob’s soccer game at the middle school, and Mindy and I tentatively talked about meeting there, but because I was early, I let her know that I’d meet her at home instead. Even with that I had time to make a stop Home Depot in Hilliard and found the spot light rubber washers I wanted. While there, I also picked up a pair of the irrigation system pinch clamp pliers. They’d come in handy when reinstalling the three sprinkler heads I had to relocate to make way for the concrete work.

Got home around 5pm. Immediately headed out to replace/install two more security CFL spot lights with protective washers. Glad to have that mini project completed, checked off the list. We left for Jacob’s soccer game at 530pm. I changed into shorts and t-shirt before we left. It was hot, humid, and sunny, and somewhere close to 90 degrees.

Arrived near 550pm. Nice soccer field. Cost us $10 for the three of us to get in. I didn’t know it at the time but Mindy invited dad to join us too. He met us there a few minutes into the game. We found and sat with Jimaken and Molly, who were there well ahead of the three of us.

Jacob’s team played poorly. Not only did they struggle to get the ball down the field offensively, their goalie let more than one shot slip by. I think it was during the early 2nd half when Jacob went down with cramps in his calves. He had to be helped off the field. I had my nice Canon 70D in tow and took a few decent shots, though I failed to get a shot of Jacob sprawled out on the field and sidelines. Jacob did manage to get back into the game after the cramps abated, but his team still lost 2-1.

Because it was Wednesday, the kids left with Jimaken and Molly for dinner. Mindy & I headed for home where we ended up enjoying leftovers. I had a steak fajita. The kids got home around 830pm. With a full belly, I stretched out flat on my back on the family room floor. Fell asleep in a jiffy. I woke around 930pm with everybody already upstairs and in bed.

First Day of School - Bus Stop @ 655am

First day of school for Jacobella. And this marks a milestone of sorts in that we’ve put the walking the kids to the bus stop era behind us. His school year both Jacob and Bella will be riding the middle school bus and the pick-up time it an early 653am.

In order to ensure both kids were up and off to school on time, Mindy got up near 6am while I remained in bed a while longer. I was up around 630am though, with plenty of time to snap a couple school year beginning photos. Both kids downplayed any excitement but I could see and hear it in their voices.

And while they headed to the bus stop on their own, I soon followed with the pug just so I could get more photos as well as fostering perhaps a little embarrassment.  I’d already completed my calisthenics, so back at home all I had to do was meditate, stretch, and run.

that’s school’s back in session, looks like somebody turned the summer weather back on… finally heading back into the upper 80s and low 90s along with high humidity. Of course Mindy’s school doesn’t begin for another couple weeks or after Labor Day, but at least she’ll have A/C for the first time ever. I ran 4.1 miles on an absolutely gorgeous summer morning. Worked up a good sweet.

Left for work after a leisurely breakfast, packing my lunch and taking a shower. Arrived across town near 10am. Busy day working from the customer’s headquarters. 1pm meeting came around in a hurry. Meeting went for just short of an hour. Busily, I stuck around the office until 430pm.

Called mom on my drive home. Hadn’t talked with her in a couple weeks. She shared that she’s slated for a stress test on Friday and then provided the results are good, then out-patient surgery the following Monday to perform a biopsy on her bladder or kidney.

At home, Bella had little to share about her first day of school, but promised to share more come dinner time. She was zonked and slumbering on the sofa. Jacob was at soccer practice. Mindy made steak fajitas for dinner using the leftover steak from CBC. They were very good. After dinner, Bella went back to the sofa and promptly fell asleep. Mindy and I agreed that she might very well be down for the count. That ended up being the case sans a brief respite before heading upstairs to bed.

I headed to bed around 930pm but couldn’t sleep and ended up back downstairs after 10pm. Bella, after sleeping all evening, ended up downstairs with me. She headed back to bed two or three times only to return. I ended back in bed near 11pm.

Feeding 35

Warm and humid – 87 sunny
Ran 4.1 miles
Kids last day of summer
Work from the office
Mindy asked that I pick Jacob up after soccer practice at 6pm which is just around the corner from my office. After leaving work, but before heading to the middle school soccer field, I made two stops, one at Home Depot and then another at Lowes for a few more electrical supplies.
Made it to the soccer field just ahead of 6pm.
Briefly forgot that Mindy asked me to attend a quick parent/coach meeting.
The coach was reviewing how the season would unfold and then all the details for game days, etc. The two biggies, the kids are required to dress up on game days and that the parents are expected to supply sinner for the entire team each game day. Wow! When asked, he shared that we’d need to feed 35 kids. Whhhat? We were there until 630pm. By then I was hungry.

Dad over for dinner – grilled burgers.

MNF – Browns/Redskins. Watched 2nd half from bed.

Brunch with the Lithgo's

Slept in until almost 8am, and even then I probably could’ve slept a lot longer, but the thought of sleeping that late drives me up a wall. Downstairs I started coffee and played on the internet. We were meeting Ben & Ryan at CBC for brunch but not until noon. It must’ve been about 930am when I finally headed out for a run. Ran three miles under mostly cloudy skies and 65 degrees.

After my run and before a shower, I decided to do a little electrical work in the basement. My goal was simple: removed the 50amp/220 breaker that was used for the hot tub effectively freeing up two breaker spaces in the electric panel for 110v breakers. At the same time I removed the hot tub wiring and checked out the breaker box rail system to determine if the new tandem breaker I bought would work in our box. As it was, the documentation was unclear, so the only way to tell was by visual inspection. For it to fit, the rail would have to have slots in it to accommodate the hook clamp design of the tandem breaker. I removed the wiring and 220v breaker with the power on but was very careful.

With the breaker removed, I could see that the rail system did not have the slots required to host the tandem breaker model I bought. Dang it! I was more than a bit discouraged. I asked Mindy if she minded stopping at Lowes after brunch so I could return the tandem breaker as well as the 20amp GFCI single breaker I bought. While researching the tandem breakers I learned that we’ll be much better off going with a standard 20amp breaker and using GFCI protected outlets where required because anything on the circuit with a motor – I.E. bathroom exhaust fan and/or a fridge- can trip a GFCI.

We left for CBC near 1130am and arrived well ahead of Ben & Ryan. We opted for the same table we had the week prior with David and Anita and soon ordered drinks. Mindy went with a spicy bloody Mary and I went with a Bodhi. Ben & Ryan showed up at 1205pm. Once seated and settled, they ordered bloody Mary’s too – the same one as Mindy. Mindy ordered some pretzel bread as an appetizer.

Once everybody had their drinks, we placed food orders. Like the week before, I went with the Brew House breakfast. Ben followed suit. Mindy again ordered the chicken and waffles, and I believe that Ryan did as well. Breakfast was delicious. Stayed with just the one beer. Guessing we were there until 1pm or so. Parted company in the lot, Mindy and I off to Lowes. Ben and Ryan heading for home.

Arrived at the Hilliard Lowes near 130pm. Mindy opted to wait in the car while I headed in to return the breakers. No questions. It was any easy return. Instead of heading back to the car, I decided to look a bit deeper at their breaker offerings, possibly looking for the other QO load center tandem breaker type. Sure enough, they did in fact have the other type in stock though this model in a sealed package. I couldn’t open it to reveal the seating type but on closer inspection it appeared to have the seating type used in my QO load center. I picked up a 15a & 20a model. All told, the two of them were $10 cheaper than the two I’d just returned, but more importantly, they seemed to be the more in line with what I needed.

At home, my first order of business was to play a little guitar and then taking a nap. Together, that lasted about half an hour. With the front still off my load center panel, I popped in one of the two new breakers to make sure they fit. It fit perfectly. Yeah! And since I will need future access to the panel to run new electrical feeds, I left the cover panel off.


Upstairs, I got comfy in the family room chair watching NFL preseason football, and once again fell asleep. At the same time, Mindy headed upstairs for a nap. The kids got home around 330pm, and I am pretty sure that Mindy was still asleep. I woke a few times feeling sticky and warm. I figured Mindy mis-set the AC thermostat settings. It was set on 72 degrees, blowing, but a balmy 76 in the house. I checked the vent nearest the thermostat and realized that it was blowing air but it was warm and moist. Not good! Having been down this road twice past, the first think I did was visually inspect the AC lines to the compressor from the window. No ice build-up, which was a good a thing. But I also noticed that the fan in the compressor wasn’t running. Uh-oh!

I headed outside on the deck and tapped on the unit thinking I might jar it free. I could hear a steady humming sound as if it might be stuck. No such luck. Anyone familiar with Occam’s Razor knows that the simplest solution is generally the one. And thinking of my recent actions, I headed to the basement and to the electrical panel box where I found the A/C breaker mis-seated. It sparked as I pushed it back onto the rail and immediately I heard the compressor kick on. Relief! Apparently knocked it loose when I removed the hot tub breaker earlier that morning. Cool air was now flowing into the home. A little bit later when Mindy was up, I asked if she noticed how warm it was. Said she did. I told her what happened.

The grandsons were coming over to stay the night and spending their Monday with Mindy since base would be closed ahead of the start of the new school year. Mindy asked Lindsey to bring them around 730pm. That time came around fast. Even before Rocky & Landon showed up, our kids were barking about being hungry. Mindy had talked about grilling burgers but neither of us were hungry so we put those back in the fridge. I agreed to order the kids pizza, or more accurately stated, pay for pizza.

The kids of course wanted something other than Minelli’s, which as far as I was concerned, I wasn’t having any, so I didn’t care where it came from. They opted for Poppa John’s and Bella agreed to order it. I helped coach her, since she wasn’t sure how to do it. We reviewed the script but she got flustered once they answered so I asked for the phone. I did the order. We had a coupon for two large pizza with ip to 5 toppings each for $11 each. I ordered one with pepperoni and the other with double pep and double cheese. The woman advised that they would have to charge us more since cheese doesn’t count as one of the ingredients. What? Yep, fine print on the coupon that extra cheese will result in an additional charge of $2. Hell no! I changed it to quad pep then. What a farse.

We ended up not only with our own kids and grandkids, but all the island kids too. I didn’t mind sharing but I insisted that our four kids get to eat first since we didn’t plan to have the entire neighborhood over for dinner. Proved to be plenty of pie for all.

Headed for bed near 9pm where I watched Sunday Night football from bed.

Electric Kayaker

I was up, out of bed, and downstairs near 8am. It was a chilly mid-August morning, sunny but only 49 degrees. I stepped out on the deck and glanced at my lovely flowers on the east side of the deck. Noticed something unusual about the giant dahlias I planted from bulb – their giant blooms were lying on the ground. I stepped down off the deck to inspect only to discover that they’d been vandalized along with a bell pepper plant by some critter, and they got both of them too. I felt mad and sad seeing such beautiful flowers that I’ve nurtured from bulb to bloom all summer long destroyed in one night. I was angry about the pepper plant too, but have come not to expect much from them anymore, despite vigilant efforts to protect them from critters with tomato cages and tight chicken wire. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to pull both the cage and wire mesh away before devouring the plant down to bare stems. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Inside, I went about a quiet morning enjoying coffee and internet until maybe 915am when I segued into a run. I wore a running shirt to combat the slight chill, which felt really good. The 3 mile run was almost effortless, my mind elsewhere the entire time.

I felt a bit anxious inside, due mostly to no solid plan for the day and with so many options – perhaps too many. We could hike, bike, boat, kayak, or work in the yard or basement. The options were plenty. Mindy was up by my return and on the deck with the pug. I topped off my coffee cup and joined them. We hung out on the deck for quite a while. I showed Mindy the damaged flowers and veggies. She was sad about it too. I trimmed back the tattered remains in hopes of salvaging what we could.

Without a clear plan for the day, Mindy soon took to reading from the deck. Me, I was still suffering from option overload. It’s a difficult feeling to convey, but one that drives me batty. It must’ve been around 1130am when I decided to take charge of my happiness and declared that I was going to kayak the pond, something I hadn’t done since the first week we bought those darn things. By then it had warmed nicely into the low 70s and still under cloudless skies. I opted to launch from behind the shed, perhaps the deepest water in the entire pond save for right up against the dam. I took a bottle water and packed my phone in the waterproof bag.

I am amazed at how beautiful the pond is once behind our property near Agee island. From past experience I knew to go around the island to the west. Just beautiful as well as peaceful. And there were zero geese anywhere to be seen either. There were a couple blue heron who took immediate notice of my presence. The flew off to nearby tree branches, and largely out of sight while I paddled around. I paddled around for an hour or so, very much enjoying the tranquility. And perhaps more importantly quieting the anxiousness I’d felt all morning.

Back at the house I pulled out and washed down the kayak leaving it and my water shoes in the sun to dry before stowing. Mindy was still reading, obviously enthralled with the novel. Having eaten only a banana prior, I made a little snack and then took a brief nap. Felt nice! Waking slowly from my nap I was surprised to find that the sun was no longer shining and veiled behind thin clouds despite a sunny forecast and zero percent chance of rain. I briefly toyed with the idea of washing my Accord and BM’er, something I haven’t done for a couple months running.

However, instead of doing anything outside, I decided my time might be best spent doing something in the basement, namely starting the wiring. Without mention of my intentions, I headed to the basement with a printed copy of my wiring plan and all the necessary materials. There I spent perhaps the next 2 or 3 hours wiring all three of the lighting branches, 17 cans in all. The wiring went largely without a hitch or any swearing.  I did have to bail myself out of one minor mistake but that was solved rather easily.

By the time I was done was closing in on 5pm. It was still cloudy outside and Mindy shared that it sprinkled rain on and off. Ugh! Where the hell did that come from? She also shared that she’d all but finished the novel she’d started just that morning. As much as I like to read, that’s just something I can’t do – dedicate an entire day to reading.

I walked the pug and then took a shower. Mindy got a shower too. At some point we made plans to head to dinner at CBC. We are so creatures of habit. The only thing about dining at CBC was the fact that we made plans to have brunch there Sunday with Ben & Ryan. CBC overload!!! Thinking it was near 630p when we arrived.

For the first time in a while they had Bodhi on tap, and it was cloudy, too! Really yummy. Vince promptly hooked us up with some risotto balls. We sat next to a couple from Dayton that were in town for a bike ride and decided to check out the local beer scene. We talked with the talked with the two of them for an hour or so.

I ordered a 2nd Bodhi about the time that Mindy ordered dinner. I planned to order some food too but wanted to wait a while. Mindy went with steak. And about ten minutes after her meal arrived Vince asked Mindy how the steak was. She ordered it medium pushed towards rare, but it came with just a hint of pink in the center. Without hesitation, he went to fetch another. By then she’d eaten half, if not more. At the same time, I ordered the Cuban burrito, and then worked on the rest of Mindy’s first steak. She asked Vince to make the replacement steak to-go order while I woofed down half my burrito. It was delicious. I had them pack what remained for home.

A few months back they added a couple new CBC t-shirt colors. I really like the blue on gray and asked Mindy for one. She happily bought me one to go with the two others I already have in my closet.

Thinking it was 930pm when we arrived home, and it wasn’t too long before Mindy was off to bed. I wasn’t tired, so I cracked another beer and spent another hour or so watching the Vikings preseason game against Arizona via Yahoo. They won easily and seemingly played well. Headed for bed around 11pm.

ET iPhone Home

I was up near 630am and still a little groggy. However, once calisthenics were completed I was wide awake. Enjoyed coffee and internet for a solid hour. Also followed up on a couple lingering work issues before giving way to meditation, a stretch, and ultimately my run.

Before heading out on a run, I went to the basement to find a box for mailing David’s iTouch. I brought up the packing tape too. I left it setting on the island figuring to address it once I was back from my run. Got out the door near 8am, a bit later than I hoped.

It was a gorgeous morning – sunny and 57 degrees, chilly enough that I wore a short-sleeved running shirt. My run went well. Back at the house somewhere close to 830am. Before starting my breakfast, I boxed up and addressed David’s iTouch for mailing. It didn’t take too long. Enjoyed a couple eggs, toast and fruit before heading up for a shower. Took Mindy some coffee.

Ready to go by 915am. We enjoyed a few minutes together on the deck before I left for work in the BM’er. It was a spectacular day to drive the BM’er, sunny skies and temps hovering near 70. I exited to the west on Hilliard-Cemetery in order to stop at the post office ahead of work. Good news, no line whatsoever. About $4 to mail the small box first class. I figured it would be more. In and out in the matter of about 2 or 3 minutes. Arrived at the office shortly after 930am.

The office was well attended, especially for a Friday. Like me, one of my peers who normally works at home on Friday’s was there, too, since she also worked at home on Thursday. We laughed about it. Stayed busy through the lunch hour at which point I made a Home Depot/Lowes run. There I planned to look for and purchase tandem circuit breakers made for our current breaker box. Turned out, they were out of them at Home Depot, so I made the half mile drive from there to Lowes who did have them. Frustratingly, they actually sell two types for my make and model, one twice the price of the other. And the documentation as to which one fits my panel box was sparse. I ended up rethinking my electrical design and opted instead to purchase only one 15amp tandem breaker and then one 20amp GFCI breaker to feed both the new bathroom and kitchen. The GFCI was really pricey – about $70. The tandem breaker was about $20.

Back to work for the rest of the afternoon, and I was there until 5pm or so. By the time I left the place was darn near empty. Mindy wanted to leave the house for niece Julie’s birthday party at 530pm in an effort to be there near 6pm. Given my druthers, I would’ve preferred to have an hour to decompress from the work day. It was supposed to be a kidless weekend but Mindy wanted the kids to attend Julie’s party too, so we agreed to drop them off at Jimaken’s place after the party. It wouldn’t be a big deal. They both live up off of Sawmill Rd.

We left for Julie’s party shortly after 530pm. I wore what I had on, only freshened up a bit. Mindy made cucumber salad to take along. She also took a bottle of wine. Sawmill Rd was its usual self – heavily traveled, but we still made decent time. Arrived near 6pm. Julie & Katie were using their garage to host the food and drink – completely cleared out of the usual garageable stuff. I love the look but also recognize that it’s an impossibility in our world of stuff. Oh so we e stuff! 

The food spread was good and grew as more family arrived. There was Jet’s pizza with extra thick crust and yummy toppings to go along with all the sides the family members brought. I was careful not to eat more than enough to sustain me – one piece of pizza and a couple of the side salads. Plus, I drank only bottled water. I was banking on a stop at Barley’s later on the way home.

Once everyone was there the party moved around back to the patio where the kids played volleyball. It was a gorgeous evening, by the way, still sunny and somewhere near 80. I opted to skip the volleyball in order to not break a sweat. Didn’t want to get all sticky. Mindy partook in a couple helpings of the food and a few glasses of wine. I, in turn, stayed true to my resolve to drink only water.

We did the usual family birthday stuff – conversation, cards, gifts, and dessert. I’m thinking that it was near 830pm when we prepared for departure. Took Smoky Row to Snouffer to Sawmill to Bethel Rd. And I am quite sure that we got stopped at every stinkin’ traffic light along the way. By the time we arrived at Jimaken’s condo, it was all intents and purposes dark. I waited in the car while Mindy walked the kids in.

From Jimaken’s place we headed to Riverside Dr and then south all the way the way to Barley’s. By then I’m guessing it was near 910pm. Not much of a crowd, and only a couple of the ole regulars – Steve & Grandpa Tom. We cozied up next to the two of them. Said they were just talking/thinking of us.

Still something very comforting to me about Friday’s at Barley’s. And I suppose that’s because it’s become part of my very fabric. Heck, it’s been part of my Friday’s for some 15 years. Like I have the past few visits, I ordered a Barley’s Pale ale to start. Mindy went with only water. While Mindy chatted it up with G. Tom, I talked with Steve, sharing our chaotic thwarted burglary story as well as the many subsequent middle of the night paranoid wakings.

I ended up having a second beer, only this time a ZIPA (my new pattern). And by then I was hungry, too, so I ordered a brisket quesadilla. It was exceptional. We hung at Barley’s until almost 11pm. As we left for home I took notice of how I felt – complete. Barley’s, you complete me.  At home we were promptly off to bed.

Cockadoodledoo

I was up for work around 630am and put myself through the usual paces of exercise, coffee, internet, meditation and stretching and a run. Mindy was up before I headed off on the run since she needed to leave for her school retreat around 9am. I ran the usual 4.1 miles and was home by 945am. Before she left, Mindy reminded me that Bella needed to put in her contacts but wear them for no more than 4 hours.

I didn’t expect to be as busy as I ended up, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I worked harder than had I been in the office. I didn’t even get a break around the lunch hour to address the lawn, and since I’d be working from the office on Friday, it wouldn’t likely get taken care of until the weekend.

It was noon before I remembered that I should wake Bella. Left to herself, she might’ve slept all day. I reminded her about putting in her contacts, too, and asked that she holler if she needed help. She didn’t. Once she was up, she got ‘em in just fine.

Mindy/Jacob arranged for a friend to take him to soccer practice and bring him home. Think it was near 345pm when Jacob headed out to wait for his ride. Mindy called to make sure that Jacob got off to soccer practice as planned and then to ask about Bella and her contacts. I reported that all had gone well.

Thinking it was near 5-530pm when Mindy got home from retreat. She was excited to share that they gave her a new laptop. She was also excited to share that she saw and talked with Rena, whom we haven’t seen or heard from in a couple years. We discussed dinner and I offered that we visit Roosters. Bella wasn’t too excited but we figured Jacob would be. I was cravin’ their donkey wings! Mindy liked the idea too. We weren’t expecting Jacob home until 630pm or so.

As planned, Jacob was home from soccer practice near 630pm and after an incredibly quick shower, ready to head off to Roosters. No wait for a table. Our server’s name was Jaycie or something like that. She actually wrote it on a napkin and left it at our table. She was obviously pregnant and due sometime very soon. Mindy and I ordered CBC IPAs, but kept it just to one. Jacob, Mindy and I ordered wings. And I think that Bella ordered a burger. The kids ordered personal appetizers. Jacob loaded fries, and Bella, cheese stix.

All through dinner, and despite the kids asking her to stop, Mindy flirted with a baby girl at the table next to us. She couldn’t have been more than 10 months old. She also talked to our server about her fast approaching due date, name, and father. Like the week before at Roosters, I couldn’t eat all of my wings, instead only seven. They’re enormous. Mindy and I packed our leftovers into one box for home.

With a belly full of wings, I didn’t think I was long for the evening, but ended up watching most, if not all, of the NFL preseason football game between Chicago and Jacksonville.

Contacting Bella

I woke near 640am still a little tired after a late night and beers the night before. However, after calisthenics and coffee I felt just fine. Went through my usual routine: coffee, internet, meditation, stretching and a run. Thinking it was near 8am by the time I headed out. Ran a shirtless 4.1 miles. Felt good.

Back home I whipped up some eggs and toast and then packed a lunch. Off to the shower around 905am. Left for work around 940am. It was nice and sunny, and we were expecting a high near 80. Arrived across town near 10am and was quickly settled in and busy. Fairly quiet day from a face-to-face personal interaction perspective but not from an action perspective. Joined a couple conference calls and accomplished lots. Stayed busy, worked straight through the work day.

Bella and Mindy had eye exams scheduled with Dr. Julie, and I am pretty sure that their appointment was late in the afternoon. Talked with Mindy around 4pm. Bella got contacts for the first time. Diagnosed as near sighted. She’d have the next several days to try them out, each day wearing them longer than the day before.

I was actually home from work before the two of them. Pretty sure that Mindy dropped Jacob at soccer practice on the way to their eye exam. Jim was by to pick-up Bella around 5pm. We didn’t plan for a date night since we were out the night before. Relaxing at home was just what the doctor ordered. I played, napped and read.

Sometime that evening Mindy reminded me that she’d be at school retreat the following day and needed me to work from home to keep an eye on Bella. Until the reminder, I’d forgotten all about it. I planned to send my boss an email early Thursday AM letting him know not to expect me in the office. And since I need to be in the office two days a week, I thought I might work from the office on Friday.

Off to bed well ahead of 10pm.

The Pour / Lovetting Lyle

Up around 630am. Exercise, coffee, internet, meditation and a stretch all completed by 730am or so. About 745am when I headed off for a run. By then the concrete guys were already onsite again and it looked like they intended on pouring concrete, though the mixer truck wasn’t yet on site.

Completed a 4.1 miles run without any trouble. By the time I was back home the mixer truck was there and they were preparing to pour concrete. Rain was in the forecast but the heavy stuff was apparently past us, or at least I hoped so. By the time I enjoyed breakfast, showered and dressed, the concrete was poured and already being worked. And when I left for work it appeared all they had left to do was brushing and cutting. They didn’t mess around!

I left for work thanking the crew of about 6 guys for doing a good job. Like the day before, I asked Mindy to ping me if something came up. She and Bella had an eye doctor appointment that afternoon, and I am pretty sure that Mindy was taking Jacob to school to have pics taken and lockers assigned. However, it might’ve been Bella’s day. I can’t be sure.

My work day went day went smoothly. I stuck around the customer’s campus until our weekly staff call wrapped up around 430pm. I soon headed for home. I quickly checked out the concrete work, now completed and staked/taped off. At first blush, anyway, it looked nice. I planned to inspect it more thoroughly later. I could see right away that I’d need to get a load of top soil to build up the edge, but that’s something Tom, the owner, shared with me last May when he came out for the measure and estimate, so by no means was that a surprise. In fact, they cleaned up, spruced up better than I expected. Looked like they took care not to damage the irrigation system which runs under most of the walk on the east side of the driveway.

Mindy, Ben, Ryan and I were all heading to the Lyle Lovett concert at the LC Pavilion in the arena district. We expected them at the house at 530pm. Ben arrived near 530pm. He was alone, but anticipated that Ryan would soon show up, too. He brought a couple six-packs of beer, some milk stout and then some Hop Nosh! I enjoyed just one beer before we planned to leave. Jacob was at soccer practice and Bella off to school orientation with neighbor Chrissy. Dad was coming over to intercept both kids around 8pm and then hang out until we returned home around 11pm.

Ryan showed up around 545pm. We hung out for perhaps another 15-20 minutes before piling into the Pilot and heading down to the LC. It was surprisingly cool, by the way, especially for mid-August, only around 70 degrees with clearing skies after sprinkling on and off most of the day, Expected it to drop into the mid 50’s overnight.

Like our last LC concert, we parked in the garage across the street for $5. Good deal! We brought a few beers in a small cooler which we enjoyed from the comfort of the Pilot before heading over to the venue. We stopped at the Music Bar adjoining the LC where we all took advantage of the facilities and then Ben and I got a couple beers.

Into the LC near 7pm. We opted for lawn seats this go round, which afforded us the opportunity to deploy our state-of-the-art picnic blanket for the first time (it along with the concert tickets were my Father’s Day gift). We plopped down center stage first row of the lawn seating. The lawn never did fill near capacity but far more late arrivers than early. Also, as expected, the crowd older.

Guessing it was near 740pm when Lyle and his big band came on. He’s looking a little gray and older but sounded, played fantastic. And there must’ve been as many as 12 others in the “big band” Each of them were extremely talented and were given an opportunity to sport their wears throughout the show. During the show, enjoyed a couple more beers over the next 2.5 hours. Also worthy of mention, we ran into the same women we ran into at ASBCO the previous Saturday - the women Mindy befriended at MRM last winter. In addition, we ran into some distant neighbors at the show.

Spectacular, crisp performance. Played a really long time. Enjoyed it very much. Mindy commented more than once how much she enjoyed it too. Prior to the show, she hadn’t really heard of Lyle Lovett, but admitted that a few of his songs were familiar. And like a lot of folks, she knew of him as the guy that was once married to the “Pretty Woman”.

Got home around 11pm. Not sure about the others, but I was incredibly sleepy. Ben & Ryan didn’t hang out long, and neither did dad. He left as soon as we got home. Made plans to do brunch with Ben & Ryan at CBC the following Sunday. Mindy and I were in bed by 1120pm.