Tractoring in the Rain

 

 

I slept reasonably well, and didn't even hear Mindy get up and out of bed. However, once she threw on the shower all bets were off. Soon I was up brushing my teeth and on my way downstairs to get Friday's work day underway. Both kids were downstairs going about their school day prep while I briefly stepped out onto the deck to drink in some of the day's early weather. It was still quite warm - somewhere in the 60s - but also cloudy. Expecting significant rain for most of the day long with a high near 70. So much for cut-the-lawn Friday's.

Completed calisthenics, doing push-ups from the deck. About the time I was settling in at my desk the kids were heading out the door. I walked Eiknarf soon after she was downstairs, which would've been somewhere close to 710am. Mindy was preparing to depart as the pug and I were headed back to the house. Mindy met us in front of the neighbor's house where I gave her a goodbye hug.

At home I enjoyed coffee and internet while also digging into work. I didn't have anything urgent on my to-do list which I was thankful for. And for the first time in a few weeks, I wasn't expecting any deliveries or service men at the house either. It was 815am before I stopped working and completed a thorough meditation and stretch, and then another 15 minutes before I headed out for my Friday run.

Stayed dry through my brief 3 mile run. I was thankful for that. Poured another cup of coffee and got back to work after my run. Checked the weather radar which showed the lion's share of the storm front missing Columbus to the north, but it wouldn't miss us entirely. In fact, rain was just to our immediate south and west. With things quiet around 10am, I decided to headout and try to mow as much of the lawn as I could ahead of the approaching rain. It's been 10 days since I last mowed and the front is especially long and lush - really too long for a tractor mow to leave pretty lines but at that point I wasn't too concerned about that.

I fetched the tractor from the shed and then in almost in perfect harmony with the start of my mowing the rain started. It came down slow at first but picked up in a hurry. Oh boy! By the time I made a couple swoops up and back it became a full-fledged downpour. Great! Already good and wet, I saw no reason to stop. Instead, I rode it out, completing all the tractor mowing in the rain. The only real harm was that the tractor tires flattened the tall wet grass rather than cutting it evenly. I'm sure the few cars passing by got a kick out of seeing my hapless self out mowing in the downpour.

It took no more than 25 minutes to finish the tractor mowing. Once done, I quickly put both mowers back in the shed and headed inside. I'd have to finish the push mowing later if the rain ever stopped. Sure enough, the rain pretty much ended once I was inside, dried off and settled back at my desk working. An hour or so passed and the threat of rain did too. Looked like another swath of rain on the way, but still a hour or so away. I headed back outside this time to push mow.

Did the push mowing in record time, trying my best to clean up the uneven cut the tractor left behind out front. It was perfect but it looked decent when I finished. Despite needing to trim and edge since I didn't do it last mowing, i didn't bother at the time. I thought I might get out later that afternoon for that. But as things turned out, there were intervals of calm then heavy rain all afternoon. I never did make it out to trim and edge. I did, however, take a few minutes to blow the wet grass clippings from the drive and walks.

Joined an impromptu call with a peer midafternoon to help solve a potential problem. All in all, a calm work day, just how I like Friday's to go. No fire drills. Soon Bella and her friend, Josie were home from school. Their exit from the bus to the house was timed perfectly with yet another heavy downpour. Jacob stayed at school for soccer practice even though the regular season is over. As I understand it, there's a tournament starting next week. Not sure of the particulars.

It was after 5pm before I heard anything from Mindy. She was waiting for soccer practice to end in the parking lot at Jacob's school. I wasn't surprised that their practice didn't end as scheduled. Nothing about their soccer season had been on schedule. In the meantime, all of Bella's island friends were over and they were making lots of girly noise. Sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. They headed to the park at some point. The quiet didn't last long. Soon Lindsey dropped of the two boys. We agreed to keep them overnight and then most of the day Saturday so Lindsey could work some OT. They were very interested in what we were having for dinner. :)
Prior to the considering the rainy forecast, both our kids planned to go to the high school football game. At the same time, Mindy and I talked about taking the boys to dinner at Barley's. But that was Thursday. Soon Mindy and Jacob were home. Joey was with them too. So to sum it up, around 6pm we had about nine kids in the house. Can you hear me screaming for mercy? When that occurs I can feel the walls pushing against my very core. At one point Mindy asked if I didn't find the joy in a house full of kids. It took just a second for me to find the answer ... no, not really!

Due to the weather, the football was out of the picture for our kids. Mindy soon asked if I was still interested in taking all the kids to Barley's. Uh, no way! Told her I couldn't find any joy in going to Barley's, dropping a hundred spot on two beers and an appetizer all the while being rushed by the kids eager to get back home. IN response to my emphatic no, Mindy asked if I didn't find the joy in having a house full of kids. It took just a second for me to find the answer ... no, not really! I get it that she does. Heck, she's a school teacher. That's right in her wheelhouse. I love and enjoy kids but in controlled doses of both quantity and time.

I was resigned to an evening at home. After a trying work week, I was tired too, and wanted nothing more than to kick back and sneak in a little nap. Good luck with that! While I chilled out, Mindy ordered pizza for all the kids from Poppa John's. And while she had them on the phone I heard her make arrangements for more pizzas to be delivered on Saturday for her school event at our place. That's right, more kids! My saving grace was the fact that I'd be taking the boat in for winterization around 1045am and would miss at least part of the kiddie event. Mindy wasn't too thrilled about that and even accused me of scheduling it that way on purpose. Truth is, I have so much to do and so many things whirling in my mind at any given time, I don't have time to scheme as such. It was simply a coincidence. I was happy to have the winterization scheduled for early in the month rather than letting it linger as a dangling to-do through all of October like years past.

Like most Friday's, I wasn't really that hungry at all. Instead, I was happy to chill a few beers. I already had a CBC IPA cold, but that's was about it, so I put two others in the kitchen freezer - a West Coast IIPA and then a Victory DIPA. I ended up having just two beers - the CBC and the West Coast. The kids enjoyed the pizza but ate something less than 2 of the four pies Mindy bought for them. Somebody came to pick-up Joey around 9-930pm. Bella and her friends played in her room until 930pm when Mindy made them leave. Landon fell asleep in the family room chair watching TV fairly early. Thinking it was near 830pm. Mindy cut off his liquids after dinner saving us the misfortune of him peeing the bed.

Mindy was off to bed before 10pm. I stayed up watching college football until about 1030pm. When I headed up to bed, Landon was still asleep in the chair and Rocky was back downstairs too. Said he was going to sleep on the sofa. I was OK with that.