When in Stain...

I woke a little earlier than I did on Saturday. I was up by 8:10am. Once again, the sky looked perfectly clear. I muddled through making some coffee and choking down a vitamin leading up to completing my exercises. I was noticeably achy even after taking an anti-inflammatory and getting a back massage the night before. But it’s no wonder. Nothing does my shoulders in like raking leaves and then carrying around my heavy fiberglass extension ladder. It wasn’t long before Mindy came downstairs. She came down just as I was heading out the door with Ykraps. I didn’t think she wanted to join me being in her robe and all. Still, I checked. She didn’t. The morning was as spectacular as I had assumed. Today was much milder than the day before. It was already well into the 50’s. When I returned we made ourselves some coffee. Mindy hem hawed around about going to church, but ultimately decided she’d better go. She knew that the choir folks would be disappointed if she weren’t to show. We tinkered around the house for about an hour. Finally, at about 9:40am I dressed for a run and headed out the door just as Mindy was getting in the shower. My run took me down Trabue to Hague and then by my parents house. The garage door was up so I assumed my dad to be home and out side. I took a quick detour into their drive. It turns out that he wasn’t there, but Sheila was. She was just heading out with some garbage along with Archie. I thought that Archie was going to eat me! I think I startled Sheila. I didn’t stay long. I did ask how her back was doing. She said that it was getting better and that they thought it was muscular, which is far better than a disc related problem. A minute later I was back on the road. And fifteen minutes later I was back at home. I reloaded my coffee and went out on the deck to get crackin’ on clearing the upper tier for the final staining. I hoped to be finished prior to 1pm, finally putting to rest a project that I thought I should’ve completed last summer. By 11am I was staining away. Once again I deployed my successful two board system with a second coat on the prior two boards. I worked west to east and finished down the steps on the eastside. I had a bout a half gallon of stain remaining – enough for any touch-ups I may find later. Mindy had already returned from church but left for the grocery while I was finishing up. After cleaning up after the stain project, I moved immediately to my next job – washing the Trooper. I haven’t given her a bath in at least two months – maybe longer. I took my time scrubbing the Trooper top to bottom. Mindy arrived home with groceries just as I was using the shami to dry it off. I took a break to help carry in the bounty. When I returned to my work, Jim arrived with the kids. After finishing the Trooper I found my way in for a light snack and to catch up on the NFL scores. I saw that the Vikings were losing to the hapless Lions – great! I went ahead and took my shower so that we could leave for Gloria’s by 4pm. After my shower I logged back into the Vikings game via Yahoo’s gamecast. I couldn’t leave my seat. The good guys were mounting somewhat of a last minute comeback, although still behind. It was 17-16 after they botched an extra point try. Minutes later they kicked a field goal to take the lead. Next thing I knew, the Detroit QB threw an interception that the Vikings returned for another touchdown giving them a 26-17 lead with 1:31 left. Broadcast TV switched over to the Viking game’s final minute. At least I got to see the euphoric ending – another Viking interception. At 4pm we happily left for Gloria’s. We arrived at Mindy’s mom’s just after 4:15pm. Her brother & Jeff were there doing yard projects just as they often do. Her sister and her two children were there as well. Missing was Larry. He and Todd were on duty. Mindy and I moved some of the items that we had moved from Mindy’s old house up to the attic. In addition, we carried the kid’s playhouse to the back patio, lifting it up and over the privacy fence. Not long after, dinner was ready. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and pasta salad. Everything was simply delicious. After dinner we took a break before Gloria served up dessert. We had chocolate sheet cake with chocolate icing and mixture of raspberry Jello and bananas. I had two pieces of cake but no Jello. Yummy! Not long after finishing dessert we prepared to leave. Mindy had plenty to do at home including bathing a couple filthy children. It seems that Jim, Mindy’s ex, had failed to give them a bath all weekend. We left around 7:10pm and headed for home. I feel bad leaving when there are dishes in the sink. I feel like we should stay and clean-up. Cooking for 12-15 is not easy. Shortly after we arrived home I hit the door with Ykraps. He was more than ready to go on his evening walk. There was a beautiful sunset. While Mindy bathed the kids I checked on all the NFL scores and some of the details. I find myself in a much brighter frame of mind after a Viking victory. It’s a much different story after a loss. After tucking the kids into bed Mindy and I tuned into the Sunday Night Football game on NBC. The game pitted the San Diego Chargers against the super bowl Champion, Pittsburgh Steelers. I stayed up for the entire game save for a couple brief naps that Mindy pointed out after about halftime. She headed up to bed. I stayed downstairs watching until there was about ten minutes to go. For the final ten minutes I went up watch from bed. It startled Mindy when I turned the television on, but she gracefully went back to sleep. I watched intently. As soon as the game ended I turned the television off and went to sleep. Oh yeah, the Steelers lost!