Pre-Birthday Bodhi @ CBC

Up near 615am. Rain in the forecast, not for the Wednesday, but also on my birthday. At the time, partly to mostly cloudy with an expected high near 80. Exercise, coffee and PC time. The kids and Mindy off to school by 715am. It was near 8am by the time I finished meditation and stretching then headed out the door for a 4.1 mile run.

Back from my run by 845am and quickly off to the shower, again opting to make breakfast afterwards. Showered, breakfast, packed lunch by 930am. Off to work near 940am. Quiet morning with the customer. Near 115pm I left for lunch destined for Home Depot. There I bought a bathroom exhaust fan, insulated ducting for our fresh air intake, and another box of nail plates. Turns out, I needed more than I once thought.

Back at the office near 2pm, and by then I was pretty hungry. I enjoyed my packed food while working. Stayed busy until 430pm, which is when I packed and left for home. to the north and west the skies looked stormy, but the storm seemed to be tracking north of I-70. A lot brighter skies by the time I arrived at home. Jimaken was there to pick-up Bella. Jacob was already at his soccer game. They were planning to head there. Mindy and I didn't have solid plans for anywhere but it wasn't too long at all before we settled on a visit to CBC. Near 6pm when we showed up.

Kate, whom we hadn't seen in quite a while, was tending an otherwise sparsely attended bar. A number juicy guest beers on tap, I opted for a Bodhi, and so did Mindy. Chatted with Kate for a while. I woman that resembles Debbie Lombard was sitting at the end of the bar. In hindsight, I wish I would've ventured down to satisfy my suspicion. Mindy asked for some yummy bread.

Mindy was still battling a cold, and as such, she wasn't interested in any more beer after her first. I, however, went with a 2nd Bodhi along with an order of wings extra crispy, extra sauce. Mindy ordered the special, I think. Mindy ordered wings to take home for the kids, too. Thinking it was near 745pm when we headed home. As hungry and the kids claimed to be, they barely touched the wings. Happens a lot these days.

The next day (Thursday) being my birthday, we made plans to go to dinner at the Columbus Fish Market. As it stood, Jacob had a soccer game that was slated to wrap up around 7pm. We planned to go right after his game. Meanwhile, my birthday weather forecast wasn't too promising. Calling for rain the morning with clearing later in the day. Stormed on my birthday last year too. In fact, we even had a rainbow. More often than not, my birthday is a bright sunny day.

Basement Bleeding

I was up, out of bed, and downstairs near 620am. Before starting calisthenics, I took in a little fresh air from the deck. It was nice, mostly clear and in the low 60s. And given that it was Tuesday, that meant it was a non-push-up day. I like those.:) Headed to my PC with coffee around 635am.

I played on the internet until roughly 7am when I logged onto my work laptop. At the time I planned on working across town even though our standing 1pm meeting was canceled. However, as the morning progressed that eventually changed. Soon enough, the kids then Mindy were off to school. I played around a while longer before giving way to meditation and stretching. Think it was 750am by the time I was ready to head off on a run. Like most Tuesday's, I ran 4.1 miles. I am blessed to be feeling so good - loose, limber and fast!

Back at home near 830am, I realized that there wasn't any way that I was going to pack my lunch, make breakfast, shower and get across town before the 930am call I needed to join. I figured I'd join the call from home and then decided whether or not to head across town. The call was a doozey, lasting far longer than the 30 minutes it was scheduled for. Not only that, but I inherited a handful of to-dos as well. Already after 10:30 and I hadn't eaten breakfast or showered. It was then that I made the decision to simply work from home.

I stayed busy for the rest of the AM, taking no more than a few minutes to top off my coffee and grab something to eat. However, after a 12pm meeting that lasted about 30 minutes, I decided to take a real lunch and cut the lawn. That's right, even though it was Tuesday, our grass looked as long as it normally does on a Friday. I did the quick cut with the tractor, taking no more than about 35 minutes, though I planned to push mow, trim and edge and blow later.
I was busy with work again until 2:30pm or so when I headed out to push mow. That took all of about 15 minutes. I waited until after 4pm to put the finishing touches on my work. By then Mindy and the kids were home from school. Mindy looked tired and sick, and sounded bad, too. She was coughing (more like hacking) like an old smoker.

She said we'd be on our own for dinner, which was fine by me, because I wasn't even hungry. I ate a bowl of chicken & noodles earlier. We still needed to get Bella to and from gymnastics. I thought I might do both, but Mindy was good taking her. So while she did that, I headed to the basement to do a little work. I extended the storage room lighting circuit from the back shelving to the wash sink where for all these years we've had to rely on reflected light. Now we'd have a fixture directly overhead. I swore like a sailor when I stumbled with the ladder tripping over ski boots and totes that used to be tucked neatly on the shelving. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! And when I stumbled, my 9" pliers fell off the shelf's edge and put a handsome nick on my wrist, enough to draw a little blood.

Mindy came down while I was wiring in the circuit. Of course I had the light switch off but not the breaker. I told her that I couldn't talk and please not to flip any of the switches. :) I ran out of wiring clips while running the extension. I planned to leave about 20-25 minutes early to fetch Bella and stop at the Lowes near her gym. Mindy was already in bed when I left, though fooling around with school paper, not sleeping.

The Georgesville Lowes always looks dark and empty - almost closed even. Like I've been doing lots lately, I referred to a list I sent myself via text. I bought another ceramic light fixture, wire clips, more nail plates, and looked for insulated ducting. I bought all but the last, still not sure whether or not I was going to replace the rigid metal fresh air intake duct with the insulated variety. On to the gym.

Like most late spring and early autumn evenings, the gym was like a sweat box. Ugh! I arrived five minutes early so I watched the girls practice. However, Bella must've been done with all of her passes. I didn't get to see her do anything. Practice ended at 9pm sharp and she and I headed for home. Arrived there near 915pm. Not much else going on. To bed near 10pm.

Vacationing Peer

I was up near 615am and promptly out of bed once Mindy cranked the shower into full gear. Downstairs I quickly got going with calisthenics, completing sit-ups, windmills and finally push-ups. I did the 50 push-ups from the deck in the fresh air. It was cool and partly cloudy - only 52 degrees.

Enjoyed coffee and internet until Mindy left for school, which was close to 715am. I walked the pug between then and 730am. Next up, meditation and stretching, just ahead of my run. Got out the door near 8am. It was nice and cool, still in the 50s but sunny. It was a good 4.1 mile run.

Opted for a shower before making breakfast and lunch, just had to remember to brush my teeth and gargle after breakfast since it's outside the norm. I didn't leave for work until after a 930am call that I agreed to cover for a vacationing peer. I'm thinking that it was close to 10am when I left the house for the office.

Stayed busy all day, not for a lunch break. Jacob had soccer practice after school and Mindy asked if I would pick him up at 545pm. However, sometime during the workday Jacob sent me a text first changing the pick-up time to 5pm and then later to 530pm. I actually left the office at 445pm planning to make a quick stop at Home Depot to get a couple things.

Arrived at the middle school early, and then practice went on even past 545pm instead of the 530pm Jacob quoted. I actually dosed off while waiting. I woke with Jacob tapping on the window. At home it was taco night, a meal I am always looking forward to. And by the time that Jacob and I arrived it was ready.

Tacos were delicious. I had three and that was plenty. After dinner and clean-up I tuned the family room television to the regular season's first MNF game. As has been the case for the last 6 or 7 years, there are two games the first Monday night of the season. The first started around 730pm - Detroit and NY Giants. Mindy wasn't feeling well. She was coughing and tired. Sounded like a life-long cigarette smoker to my ears. She went to bed super early while I watched football downstairs. The Lions dominated the Giants, but just as they have for the last 10 years, they were penalty prone and always at the most inopportune times.

I stayed up until the first game ended but dosed off more than once while watching. I headed for bed near 1045pm

Yes, there are other chores too

It must’ve been around 4 or 5am when I first woke with a dull headache. I simply ignored it until 7am when I could sleep no longer, and it wasn’t like I felt fully rested. Instead, I just couldn’t sleep. Even before starting coffee, I popped a Naproxen. Fifteen minutes later any sign of a headache was gone. Heck, I only drank four beers and that was over a 3.5 hour span of time, though two of the beers were BIG beers – 10.5% abv.

While sipping coffee, I read headlines catching up on all the sure-fire negativity surrounding the Buckeyes poor showing the night before. Believe me, there wasn’t a short supply of criticism. I also checked the FOX programming schedule to confirm if the Viking/Rams game would be televised. It wouldn’t be on in our region, which was probably a good thing.

I had the house to myself for a couple hours, or until Mindy was up. She gave me a disapproving glance, apparently still miffed about me walking down to Kenny’s the night before. I clarified that she did in fact hear me say that I was walking down there. What she didn’t realize is that I was going to stay there for an hour or so. Truth is, I wasn’t sure I would. In the end I think it was more about not feeling loved, respected and appreciated. I gave her a hug and smooch before heading out on a run. Before all of that I did a through stretch.

Like most Sundays I ran three miles, and it was an easy run. After my run I was full of energy. And during my run I decided that I was going to knock out a number of non-basement tasks/chores before burying myself down there. Before even heading inside the house, I headed into the garage to get the grass seed and fertilizer. I wanted to over seed the service walk area since there are a few bare spots. Otherwise, the new grass is coming up great. I wanted to get it done since it’ll soon be too late for new grass to establish. It didn’t take any more than about 15 minutes to complete.

Next up, there was a significant low spot just one side of the new sod I put down where the ash trees once stood. I dug and peeled the sod back then built the dirt up with some of the topsoil I keep back at the compost pile. Done 20 minutes later.

I wasn’t done. Next, I watered all the seed in, and while I had the hose out, I watered all the deck flowers too. It was while shutting down the hose that I saw Mindy backing in the driveway. Hmmm? I had no idea that she’d even left since I was so busy outdoors. She’d been grocery shopping. And my big mouth sharing as much only got me in more trouble. Yeah, not realizing that she was gone was probably not the best thing to share.  Note to self!

Anyway, next up, I backed the BM’er out of the garage to give it a long overdue bath. Didn’t take long since there’s not a lot of body panels. First opportunity to use the new faux shamis I bought at H.D. Did an OK job. After pulling my sparkling clean BM’er back into the garage, I washed the Pilot. It needed a bath too, but because it’s silver, it doesn’t show it. In fact, silver might just be the best car color for hiding dirt.

Once the Pilot was sparkling clean, I topped off the air in all our car tires. That was prompted along by a low tire warning on the Accord, something that’s plagued one of the tires since it was new. It loses air pressure during large temperature swings, I’ve noticed. And while I had the compressor out, I topped off our bike tires too. Put 50lbs PSI in ‘em. Never get ‘em that high with the hand pump.

So after planting grass seed, filling a hole, washing cars, topping off tires, I felt well accomplished, at least outdoors. It was gorgeous outside too, so a rather enjoyable afternoon. Inside I made myself a sandwich then headed straight to the basement, ignoring the opportunity to check on NFL scores. Decided I wait until much later to check on the Viking game.

In the basement I made sure I had my phone and jambox so I could work to Pandora. That always makes it more fun. I worked until I had all the kitchen outlets and switches fully in, and then got to breaking off the storage room from the existing basement lighting circuit. I finished up all the wiring work around 5pm. I could smell something awfully good upstairs. Mindy was boiling down a chicken to make homemade chicken & noodles. Yum! She shared that her mom and my dad were coming for dinner – grandparents day.

I headed up for a shower. While the water was running I turned on the TV to try and get an NFL score update but to no avail. After a shower, which felt terrific, by the way, I went to my PC to check scores. Not only did the Vikings win, but the blew the Rams out of the water, 34-6! Bam! I was thrilled to see that.

Dad arrived a few minutes ahead of Gloria. I invited him to see the progress in the basement since he asked. Said he was impressed. Hey, I do good work. Just ask me.  Gloria was over by the time we headed back upstairs. Greeted Gloria with a hug. Soon we sat for dinner. Yum, homemade chicken & noodles, which is one of my favorite dishes. I ended up having two helpings.

The others enjoyed what remained of the lemon merengue pie while Jacob and I had ice cream. I had chocolate chip cookie dough. Jacob had peanut butter something or other. Dad and Gloria stuck around until 7-730pm, and they left at the same time, dad helping carry some of her things to the car.

We had a relaxing Sunday evening watching the inaugural SNF NFL game pitting the Broncos against his former team, the Colts. Denver dominated from the outset. Not only was Peyton Manning sharp, but their defense, too. Uh-oh! Look out, Seattle! I stayed up an hour or so after Mindy headed to bed, but still only through halftime. Off to bed near 1030pm.

Multilated Nuts

I popped out of bed near 730am and not so much because I felt fully rested but instead because I couldn’t sleep. I started coffee then played on the internet, enjoying about an hour or so of quiet time before being joined downstairs by Olivia. Predictably, she asked for some coffee. Mindy was up a short while later.

I headed out for a run near 9am. Ran three miles. During my run, I planned what I hoped to accomplish in the basement that day. I needed to nail mounting clips to the wire I pulled Friday, install nail plates over each stud that I’ve drilled and run wire through, and possibly even mount the plywood base to the block wall right next to the electric panel. In addition, I hoped to at least get started on the outlets and switches for both the kitchen and bathroom. Before any of that, however, I needed to make yet another Home Depot run to get supplies

And I know I’m making an awful lot of H.D. stops. Made the decision to buy as a I go rather than creating a giant project material list and buying it all at one time. It must’ve been near 11am when I headed to the basement. By then, all the kids, including GD Olivia were out playing. I took care of the wire clips and nail plates in about an hour’s time. I decided then to head off to Home Depot to get the stuff I’d need to complete the outlets and switches in the bath and kitchen.

Wisely sent myself a list via text. It’s funny how clear it is when I am at home or work but once I head inside H.D or Lowes I will draw a blank. Sometimes just walking the aisles it’ll come back to me. Moreover, there are times when I am in the checkout line and remember a couple other items I needed. Sending a text list is easy and eliminates the problem. Took my time getting those items on my list. Gone for about an hour. By the time I was back at the house, Olivia was gone. 

After a brief pause for food, I decided it was time to work on the CATV mess in the basement. To get started, I cut away enough of the foil-backed insulation that covers the upper half of the block basement wall to allow for an 18”X24” plywood mounting base. I mounted the plywood using Tapcon screws. I then spent the next two hours, first undoing the ugly nest of existing CATV wires - old splitters, and new equipment - and then remounted and reorganized the inputs, amplifier, splitters and outputs. Sounds simple enough, but it was a pain. However, having done this a time or two in my past, I had a vision of what I wanted so in the end it resulted in a very nice looking install.

One little glitch. When I cut the tie wrap for one of the CATV runs it dropped connector end first directly into the exposed power cabinet. Yikes! Nothing came of it but it got my heart racing. I carefully regained control of the wire and was extra careful moving forward. I finished my work in the basement around 5pm and headed for a shower. I nicked my hands up in a couple places drawing a little blood.

6pm or so by the time I was out of the shower fresh and clean. I was eager to watch and catch-up on some of the day’s college football action. The Buckeye game was slated to kick-off at 830pm, or so I thought. Ahead of that, I watched a little football and played around on my PC. It was around 820pm that Mindy hollered that the game was already underway. It was still 0-0 but V.T. had the ball and was driving. Not a minute later they drew first blood scoring a seemingly easy TD.

It never got much better. The Buckeyes fell behind 21-7 and looked largely outmatched for much of the game. We did, however, mount a ferocious comeback attempt and actually tied the game early in the 4th quarter, but similarly to the Mich St loss last year, we couldn’t hold on the momentum. We lost 35-21.

At the halftime, I told Mindy that I was walking down to chat with neighbor Kenny, who was watching the game on their outdoor big screen. I sat outside with he and Mike O. and watched the entire 2nd half. I headed home soon after the game ended. I didn’t take my phone with me, and Mindy was already in bed. She sent a couple texts earlier expressing frustration over me leaving for Kenny’s without consulting with her. She must’ve been dosing when I left because I did tell her I was walking down.

I stayed up a while snacking and playing around on the internet. Headed for bed near midnight.

Livy Time

 

Since I was working from home I opted to sleep in a few extra minutes. I got up for good once Mindy was in the shower. Hard to sleep through that. Downstairs I slowly progressed through calisthenics, knocking out 50 sit-ups, 40 windmills and 50 push-ups. The kids headed out for the bus about the same time I finished calisthenics. It wasn’t a few minutes later when Mindy headed out.

I enjoyed a little more coffee before prepping and heading off on a run. Of course that prepping included meditation and a stretch. And just as I do most Friday’s, I trimmed my run to three miles. Already well into the 70s, which made for a warm, sticky run. No worries. Feed it!

Stayed busy and focused on work until the noon hour when I took a break and headed out to mow the lawn. For the second week in a row, I did a quick cut, abandoning trimming and edging. Back to work near 1pm. Fairly easy afternoon. As a result, I was able to squeeze in a couple required training classes.

The formal work day might’ve been winding down, but my inside the house work was just getting started. Around 4pm I headed to the basement to get busy with the rest of the wiring (basement kitchen and bath. If nothing else, I hoped to get holes drilled through the studs. With a plan drawn up, that went really fast. Of course it doesn’t hurt that I have an awesome drill/driver and a really sharp spade bit. Didn’t even take half an hour.

We were expecting Olivia sometime around 5pm. She would be spending the night despite the fact that both of our kids were going to the Hilliard crosstown HS football game with friends. Before she arrived and before Mindy got home, I pulled most of the 12/2 wire for the kitchen and bath. Again, having an exact plan made it go relatively fast.

Later, when Mindy left to run Jacob and his buddy, Joey to the school social – an event preceding the football game – I headed back to the basement to pull the last couple runs, which included the new feed for the existing storage area lights. I had to drill one more hole up through the top plate to get from the finished area to the storage area. And damn if I didn’t nick the a ½” copper water line. Thing is, I knew it was there and thought that I accounted for its presence by coming out an extra ½” or so. Decent nick but at least not all the way through. No leak! Still, it was the last hole and the only one out of more than a hundred where there was any problem.

That was a good stopping point. I’d completed far more work than I imagined. By then it was well after 6pm and time for a much needed shower. Olivia was over with Ashley. Olivia cried when she found out that the kids were going to a football game, especially Bella. She’s told us before that she doesn’t like Bella having friends over when she visits. Ashley explained that because she’s an only child, she doesn’t like to share her friends.  Mindy and I did our best to cheer her up, and Ashley even offered to take her home and have a girls night. Olivia declined in favor of staying with her pawpaw. 

To amuse her, I took her out back to the treehouse and sewing. We swung, played hide and seek, and walked the pug. She was happy – content. The plan for Me, Mindy and Olivia to do dinner at Barley’s. Thinking we left the house near 715pm. Not a big crowd but certainly larger than the Friday prior. We asked for seating at one of the two community tables. Shortly after we arrived I got a text from Bob I. asking if it was a Barley’s night. Turns out, he, Mary Ann, and some extended family were in the back having dinner.

I enjoyed two beers during our relatively brief visit – a pale ale and then a Centennial. Mindy had a Warlock. Olivia ordered Sprite. Mindy and Olivia went around back to find Bob & Mary Ann. A gentleman soon approached, one I wasn’t familiar with, calling my name and acting as if he’d known me his whole life. Said we did camp together. This I knew had Bob Imber written all over it. Sure enough, he and Mary Ann put him up to it. I didn’t get it at the time but later learned he’s the cousin that lives in Portland, Oregon. They had their toddler daughter, Mallory in tow – a blonde tow-head who was very shy, and certainly very weary of us – even Mindy.

We’ve seen very little of Bob & M.A. this summer. In fact, save for a brief visit the week of the attempted break-in, we’ve hung out only once way back in early June. Those two just got back from the Carolina beaches – Oak Island. Heading out again, only this time to California. We chatted for a few minutes before they headed out, which was about 20-30 minutes ahead of us.

Aside from snacking on some fries, I opted to pass on a dinner entrée. Mindy and I originally agreed to share a brisket quesadilla, but all I ended up eating was a few of Olivia’s wings. I wasn’t that hungry. Mindy talked about getting the kids a takeout order, but in the end we didn’t. And the truth is, they rarely eat it when we do. I suggested that we stop at Wendy’s instead. Mindy sent them a text asking their preference. They insisted on pizza.

We arrived home around 915pm. The kids weren’t expected home for another hour or so. Meanwhile, it was an absolutely gorgeous night – calm, clear, and warm. I cracked a White Rajah then headed out front where Olivia and I hung out listening to Pandora via my phone and Jambox. She’s so daggone funny. In an instant, she had Demi Lavada (sp) programmed into my Pandora account.

Mindy ordered three pizzas before the kids arrived home, hoping to time the delivery to their arrival. Turned out, the kids arrived home shortly before the pizza showed up, which was ideal. Had to be near 1015 when the pizzas arrived. We had a housefull, Jacob, Joey, Evan, Bella, Olivia, Makayla, Lillian, Emily, and another girl, Teetee. Mindy cited how tired she was and was quickly off to bed even while the kids were downstairs enjoying their pizza.

I retreated to my PC where I enjoyed a 2nd beer and some music. I stayed up until 11pm or so.

Living @ Home Depot

Up near 615am and quickly engaged in calisthenics. Walked the pug afterwards. Planned on working from the main office and hoped to be there between 9-930am. To that end, I was careful with my free, enjoying coffee and internet until 715am, or just a couple minutes after Mindy left. Oh, Mindy reminded me that I agreed to pick-up Jacob at soccer practice on the way home from work.

By the time I finished meditation and a healthy stretch, it was nearly 740am. I was off on my run a few minutes later. It was sunny and about 67 degrees, and forecasted to be 90 degrees later in the day. Ran 4.1 miles.

Home again near 830am, I headed for a shower before making my breakfast and packing a lunch. Set to leave for work by 905am. As planned, I arrived at the office before 930am. Stayed busy enough through the day that I decided to skip taking a lunch break, even though I really wanted/needed to make a Home Depot run. Figured I would make the stop on my way to pick-up Jacob since I didn’t need to be there until 545pm.

I left the office near 5pm and made my way to Home Depot where I picked up everything on my list, which included more outlet and ceiling electrical boxes. Even with the H.D. stop, I arrived at the middle school soccer field ten minutes early. It was hot so I remained in the car in the AC. The kids were gathered in two lines each side of the soccer net doing drills with the coach. Unable to resist, I hollered to Jacob, asking if he remembered his pull-up – a gag he loves to pull on Bella. He barely acknowledged me. 

Practice concluded soon enough and he and I headed for home where Mindy had dinner ready and waiting. I guessed incorrectly, hoping, wishing we were having tacos. Instead, we were having cod and asparagus. The fish was really good. Instead of fish, Bella had a hot dog. It was a gymnastics night and Mindy was taking her there and then she and Jacob were heading to maw-maws to pick-up a pie she baked for Bella and then to the mall to return some pants. The possibility existed that she might be out long enough to simply return for Bella.

They were gone only about 30 minutes. Apparently Jacob didn’t want to go to the mall after spilling some lemon pie filling on his shorts. While they were away I tweaked the basement bathroom electrical design since I am hoping to get it wired over the coming weekend. Mindy said she was too tired to run more errands anyway.

Around 815p I tuned the TV to NBC for the inaugural 2014 NFL game. I dosed briefly through the pregame stuff, but woke just in time to see the opening kick-off between Green Bay and Seattle. I left to fetch Bella at 842pm arriving with no more than 10 minutes to spare. Not a lot of kids there for the late class, and not many other parents, either – only two others watching.

Before we left for home, I asked Bella to demo here successive back hand springs. She tried but unsuccessfully.  We chatted about school stuff during the short drive home. 915p by the time we arrived home, and Mindy was already heading to bed. I stayed a while longer watching the game, which Seattle was putting a hurting on the Packers. They haven’t lost a beat since the Super Bowl beat down.

I was up, bouncing between football and internet research, until 11pm.

Mindy's New Digs

I was up again in the middle of the night, this time from 2-3am, with my mind racing about work related matters. During that hour, I ate a couple bowls of Fruit Loops and played on the internet. Once back in bed I convinced myself that work could wait and that I was too important to fret over the small stuff. That did the trick. I fell asleep with ease and stayed that way until 7am.

Yikes! Sleeping until 7am on a work day is not what I desire. 615am is the target. I’ve simply got to stop getting up in the middle of the night. This I know. By the time I was up, Mindy was downstairs and the kids already off to school. I noticed that it was foggy. Several of our windows fogged up too after recent rains and high humidity.

While Mindy made last minute preparations before departure, I whipped out sit-ups. Before she left she reminded me that I was supposed to meet her at her new school building for the dedication ceremony. The event was set to begin at 6p but she suggested I get there earlier – 530p ish. Surprising to me, she planned to stay there rather than leave after school, come home, and then head back.

I whipped out windmills and push-ups after Mindy left. Finally time for coffee. Ahh! By then it was 720am. I enjoyed coffee and internet for 15-20 minutes before digging into work. Ended up working until almost 9am before giving way to meditation, stretching and finally my run. By then the fog cleared and the sun was out. It was close to 70 degrees. I skipped a shirt and ran the usual 4.1 miles. Felt great!

During my run, I thought lots about plumbing phase of the basement project even though I still have two more electrical circuits to run ( kitchen/bath). I’m concerned with cutting into the hot & cold ¾” runs. Even they’re the closest by far, it’s going to be tough given that there won’t be any play in the runs. It dawned on me to simply look for a couple alternatives. For more than a year I’ve been zeroed in on those two runs. If nothing else, it made me feel better. 

Back home by 940am, I decided to get a shower before making breakfast. As a result, I was showered, dressed, and downstairs again by 10am. I fried some eggs and packed a lunch. Once again, Mindy left a salad and fresh fruit packed in the fridge so all I had to add were nuts. I left the house near 1030am.

Easy drive across town, my mind elsewhere for much of the drive. In fact, at one point I looked up and was unaware of where I was. In that instant there was a sense of panic until I realized that I was indeed on track. That might be a first – to be that zoned out to not recognize my immediate whereabouts.

Arrived and settled by 11am. I spent the lion’s share of my day pulling data for my monthly report but also joined an hour long webcast, which I was multitasked during and completed a required online training course. I wrapped up my day with the customer around 415pm. Before heading southwest to meet Mindy at her school, I made a brief stop at Lowes at Easton to check out their PEX plumbing offerings. I think it’s fair to say that they have less ‘stuff’ than Home Depot, but the stop still helped solidify my approach. While there, I bought a new sago palm to replace our existing sago which looks very ragged.

I opted to take 270S all the way around to the Grove City exit, a long drive indeed, but also simple. Arrived at Mindy’s new school around 525p. The lot was near full, just as Mindy suggested it might be. Just inside the door, I found Mindy right away hanging out in the office with her principal, Marge.
After a greeting, she was eager to show me around the new school building. We ran into Karianne there with her little ones, Garrett and Sawyer. They’re cute, spunky and smart, and they love Mindy. The walked around with us for a while, me eventually giving Garrett a piggyback ride down the hall. I was starving, and in the teacher’s lounge I found a bag of pretzels on the table. Too much to resist. Garrett, Sawyer and I enjoyed some.

I was moved by the music room. They have a large collection of musical instruments that would come in handy for one of our deck based jam sessions. For the first time since kindergarten, I saw some sand blocks, which was the first instrument I played as a wee one. They have an awesome array of tom-tom drums.

From there we moved on to the auditorium/gymnasium/cafeteria combo where the actual event would be held. There, Mindy introduced me to a plethora of folks, some employed or affiliated with the school district, and some families of former students. She passed out a number of hugs to little kids. And for the first time in three of four years, I got to see Renee. She recently graduated with her doctorate in education. During our brief chat, she shared who’s she’s dating, Vonn, one of Mindy’s newest teacher peers.

Just after 6pm the big event finally got underway, emceed by none other than Dr. Wise, the school district’s superintendent. He and many others abled on and on, making sure to recognize all the individuals and groups that made the new school building possible. What he and apparently all the other speakers failed to realize is that we could hardly hear them. Something amiss with the sound system.

The event went for about 50 minutes but it really seemed longer – watt-whaa, watt-whaa, watt-whaa.  As the event wrapped up, Mindy introduced me to Dr. Wise. He praised Mindy. Off to the side and with a quick wink, I made no bones about how important it was for him to make sure Mindy gets the week off she’ll request later for our winter ski vacation. Still incredibly hungry, I made my way over to the cookie table where I partook in one of the large chocolate chunk cookies.

As we made our way to our cars, Mindy asked where we might go for dinner. She suggested Barley’s but I wasn’t feeling it. In fact, I wasn’t eager for beer at all. In fact, nothing sounded that good. We agreed to simply head for home and eat leftovers. We have plenty in the fridge still, including chicken, beef kabob, and even some chili. I called Ashley on my drive home to ask how Olivia is doing with her new class and teacher. Last week Ashley called Mindy and I to express concern over Olivia getting sad faces for talking too much in class. Olivia is considered gifted so Ashley was a little distraught. Mindy pointed out that it’s common for 2nd graders to struggle with new rules, especially talking too much, where younger grades (K-1st) almost encourage it.

Ashley said there have been no more sad faces. I asked to talk with Olivia, who was settling in to work on homework. Sounded a little sad, but quickly perked up. I gave her some encouragement and then she asked if she could spend the night this weekend. She suggested Friday. Told her I thought it would be OK but that I would need to check with Mindy and call her back.

At home, the kids were gone with their dad – a Jimaken night. Mindy and I quickly got settled and then warmed some leftovers. We both had beef kabobs, though I took the meat and made a wrap. I asked about having Olivia Friday night. Mindy agreed. While Mindy chatted with Karianne on the phone, I called Olivia back telling her that it was a date.

After woofing down my wrap, I became ridiculously sleepy. I swore off any work in the basement, having worked down there at least in some capacity for each last five days. Instead, I stretched out in the family chair and tuned the TV to Family Guy for some mind numbing laughs. The episode in question served its intended purpose. The kids were home a few minutes later, and somewhere near 830pm. Shortly after they were in the door Mindy declared it her bedtime. Holy smoke, dear. 830p? Yep, 830p.

I started watching a 2nd episode of Family Guy but then cast it aside after a brief but fulfilling 5 minute nap to instead go watch a couple You Tube how-to videos. I’m finding them particularly useful with the basement finishing project. I watched a couple more videos about plumbing with PEX. Around 930pm I headed back to the family room where I tuned into an episode of How the Universe Works. I watched until almost 10pm before getting sufficiently sleepy enough for bed. It didn’t take long at all for me to fall asleep.

Late Night Gymnastics

 

 

Three of these scary looking things were clinging to our stucco exterior today! 

Happy 55th David!

I was up early, around 4am. I just couldn’t sleep. I headed downstairs for about 35 minutes where I enjoyed a bowl of cereal. Couldn’t sleep. I took a gander outside, too. Looked like it might of sprinkled overnight but wasn’t raining at the time. There were storms moving in, but still a couple/few hours out.

I headed back to bed near 445am where I slept semi-soundly until almost 620am. By then Mindy was already up and in the shower, and the kids were downstairs having breakfast ahead of bus stop time. After checking the radar, storms were just about upon us. Crap, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t head out for a run until a clearing. As it was, there was lightning and thunder upon us along with relatively heavy rain.

Mindy and the kids left for school at the usual times. This, by the way, was Mindy’s first day of school with kids, but just a partial list – nine, I think. I ended up working from home for the next hour or so until the skies cleared a little.

I’m thinking it was around 9am when I did a meditation, stretch, and walked the pug. By the rain was minimal and the lightning and thunder out of the picture. After walking the pug, I promptly dressed and left for a run. It sprinkled through the 4.1 mile run’s entirety. I got wet but not soaked. Back home, I fired up the stove and made breakfast. I also started packing a lunch, but then remembered Mindy said she made me a salad. That made it really easy, just some nuts and yogurt and I was set.

Off to the shower near 10am and ready to head out by 1020am. By the time I left the house the stormy skies from earlier had already begun giving way to sunshine. And by the time I arrived at the customer’s site, it was mostly sunny, warm and sticky. However, according to the forecast, more bumpy weather was in the offing later in the day.

I had a couple hours to tie up loose ends before our 1pm. There was plenty to work on, including a couple hot escalations. After the three-day weekend, my head was spinning with so many irons in the fire. 1pm came around quick. Our standing meeting was mutually beneficial. Finished up just before 2pm. Spent the rest of the afternoon digging out of a small hole – a metaphor, of course.  Soon 415 rolled around, which was the start of our standing staff call. It was a short call, over by 430pm. I wrapped up a couple issues I’d been working on for most of the day and then headed for home. I called Mindy as I was exiting the parking lot. Usually I wait until I am safely merged onto I-270. She was working on dinner and busy. I let her know that I was stopping at Home Depot on my way home to pick-up a couple of things I needed to finish the post and closet wiring in the basement.

I made my way around 270 rather quickly. No traffic snarls, at least into Hilliard. I was wise enough to send myself a text with few items I needed otherwise I inevitably forget once I get there. Not sure why that it happens but it’s a common occurrence. One thing I wanted/needed is a scrap piece of plywood to extend our electrical/cable/phone panel. As it stands today, the CATV wiring looks like a birds nest in between a couple floor joists above the electric panel. I want it mounted to the wall, organized and easily serviceable. They had a 48”x39” sheet for 70% off list. I asked a sale associate how much it was. He did a quick calculation and said $6. Cool! I had him rip it in half – 24x39”. I also bought the few plastic electrical boxes I needed for the boxed in post as well as two ceramic light sockets.

In addition to picking up the electrical stuff, I also spent an inordinate amount of time looking over their PEX plumbing offerings since I am almost 100% sure that I’ll be using PEX for the basement plumbing additions. The plastic pipe and connectors are relatively inexpensive and the actual work is far less laborious. However, that said, the special crimper and cutter will run about $100. For me, however, the more attractive feature is the ease of deployment and without sacrificing quality. I must’ve spent 30 minutes looking for everything I might need.

While in that aisle, a gentleman approached that looked awfully familiar and said hey, Jim, haven’t seen you in a while. I knew the face but couldn’t place the name. Instead of pretending I simply asked. It was Ramon V., a former TWC peer. More pointedly, a tech that reported to me for a few years. He was wearing a beanie otherwise I’ll bet I would’ve come up with the name on my own. He looks good, 17-18 years removed from our last meeting. Said he gave up the CATV business and now drives a semi. I told him the one thing I remember most about him was how he loved to keep a bottle of good vodka in the freezer.  I actually tried it and found it a nifty trick. In hindsight, though, there was more that I remembered about him. For one, he was a neat nick and always very organized. I wished I’d told him that, too. We didn’t chat long. Both of us needed to move along.

Now near 6pm, I headed to checkout with my plywood, electrical outlet boxes, and new measuring tape. Saw that Mindy sent a text wondering where I was. I found that odd, having talked with her an hour earlier and sharing that I was making the HD stop. I called her on my drive home again. Said she was worried about me. Geesh. I reminded her of our conversation to which she recalled but said she expected me home much sooner. I was home two minutes later.

Dinner was ready – grilled chicken, corn-on-the-cob, and salad. Yum! Unfortunately, the corn sucked. Not her fault. Just a bad batch. Should complain to Kroger, though. Chewy and no flavor. We all agreed. No body finished theirs. The chicken and salad were just fine.

It was Bella’s first night of gymnastics since last May, and she was very excited. I offered to take her but Mindy said she needed to pay so it was easier for her to do the deed. It was implied, I guess, that I would do the 9pm pick-up. Ugh!

While they headed off to the gym (Jacob went with by the way), I headed to the basement eager to finish the zone 2 & 3 wiring of the boxed in post and then the two closet ceiling light fixtures. I did the post first, and it took a lot longer than I imagined. It took a lot longer because I hadn’t accounted for the narrow space to which I had to mount the outlet boxes. Too tight/narrow to use a hammer to nail ‘em in. Hmmm? On one side I addressed the challenge by pulling out the nails and instead using decking screws at an angle, but even that was too laborious. For the opposite end I decided to knock the framed sides out of alignment therefore exposing the 2x4” stud for nailing. Lastly, I had to create an offset for the switch to the pole sconce box. All that work took more than an hour.

I didn’t know the time but guessed it had to be close to time to go after Bella. Shortly thereafter, Mindy hollered down the basement asking if I wanted her to go after Bella. Thank you, yes! Apparently my effort to get this phase completed wasn’t lost on her. While she ran off to fetch Bella I wired in the two closet light fixtures. Those are very simple. Took no more than 10 minutes for both. I was eager to activate the circuits and test. Voila! We have success!

I had just enough time to clean-up my scrap before Mindy returned with Bella. Mindy came down to see the results and I in turn was happy to put my efforts on display. The little things …

Upstairs, Bella was very excited to share how gym went. Said she did seven back hand springs in a row without pause. Wow! Last spring she was struggling to do more than two without a pause. She was so excited, which makes me happy, too! Mindy was off to bed by 930pm. Bella and I were up a little bit longer. She off to bed about 10 minutes before me. I enjoyed a few handfuls of Cookie Crisp before heading off to bed.

Hot Wire!

Up near 815am to partly cloudy skies and warm, sultry temps. Already 74 degrees. I started coffee then played on the internet until the boys showed up around 9am. Lindsey was working the holiday. Not sure if it was mandatory or simply OT. The boys were bright eyed and bushy tailed. Predictably, Landon asked for coffee. He likes fru-fru coffee just like me.  I had to admonish both not five minutes after they arrived for fighting, and it looked like Landon was being the aggressor.

A little bit later Mindy must’ve woke and let the pug downstairs. I asked Landon if he’d walk the pug. He happily agreed to do it. Always does. Mindy was up and downstairs around 945am. Once she was up, I was free to head out for a run. And like I do on most holidays, I treated it much like a weekend day and ran just three miles. Hot, humid, sweaty run.

Home from a run near 1045am., all the kids were off playing sports in Evan’s backyard. I made something to eat and then got busy again in the basement. My primary goal was to install the rest of the outlets and switches and possibly even tie in the two junction boxes for the two circuit feeds.

I developed a pretty good routine going outlet to outlet until all ten were cut in. It was about then that I realized/remembering that there were several canned lights still needing cut in too. I did those next. By the time those were completed I decided to keep plugging away, moving on to the main switch box at the foot of the stairs that houses the switches for the 4 lighting zones. That took a little while.

Still feeling motivated, I moved on to the two junction boxes that splits the two 15amp power feeds for lights and outlets. I made sure to label all the wires inside the jct. boxes as well as on the joist. Spent about an hour addressing that. Still midafternoon, I decided to tackle cutting the two new circuits into the breaker box. When I started a few hours earlier, I didn’t think I’d get nearly as far as I had.

I was very focused working in the panel box. And since the box is effectively at capacity, I needed to move some wiring around to make room for the two new circuits. Of course I left the new tandem breaker in the off mode, but left the others on. I took extra care not to make any wrong moves. Took some doing but soon had both ready to insert for power. Success, or at least I thought. The true test, of course, would be firing up the breakers and testing the outlets. I also deployed a few CFL bulbs in can light fixtures to test each of the three lighting zones.

One by one I activated the main switch box. Success! Next, I checked each outlet with my trouble light. 8 of the 10 worked. Two did not. Oops! I forgot that I hadn’t yet completed that circuit branch with the recent boxed in support pole. Duh! I quickly turned off the breaker impacting zones 2 & 3, which that branch is part of. In addition, I still need to add ceramic closet light fixtures. Obviously, I left those two switches in the off position.

Mindy came calling while I had my hands in the breaker box. I had no choice but to shew her away with my personal safety being paramount. With the breaker box work done, at least for two of the four circuits, I decided to complete one more big step, which was moving the existing three-way switch that controls the basement lights from the top and bottom of the basement stairs into the new 4-switch box. I was careful when mounting the new 4-switch housing so that I’d have enough wire to reach. And as it turned out, there was just enough length, though I had to drill another 1 inch access hole in the top plate very close to the adjoining stud. Felt good with all I accomplished.

I spent another 15 minutes cleaning up my mess. When I headed upstairs, I was surprised to find not only my dad over, but also Jimaken. Mindy, by the way, was busy making dinner. I invited Mindy and dad to come down to the basement to see my progress. To complete zone 1-3 lighting and outlets, I still need to wire in outlets in the newly boxed in support post and then install the ceramic ceiling light fixtures in the two closets. After that I’ll move on to running the two 20amp feeds – one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. Those should go much faster. The family room alone has 17 can lights, 10 outlets, and 7 switches. That’s a lot of stuff.

During my toil in the basement, I became completely disconnected from the goings on upstairs. For example, I had no idea what we were having for dinner. Mindy, as it turned out, was grilling beef kabobs. Yum! Oh, and Jimaken was over simply to drop off Bella’s viola. She apparently left it there over the weekend.

It was near 530pm when Lindsey showed up to pick-up the boys. Mindy was in the process of grilling. Lindsey didn’t stick around long. As soon as she had both boys in hand, they departed. We still had some time before sitting for dinner, so I headed upstairs for a shower. We sat for dinner near 6pm. The beef kabobs were delicious. They’re not always as tasty as they look. Oh, she bought them at Kroger.

We had plenty of leftovers. Neither I nor dad could finish our kabobs. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Mindy was the only one who ate the entire deal. Mindy bagged up dad’s leftovers so he could take them home. Speaking of dad, he hung around for about an hour after dinner. Guessing it was near 730pm when he headed for home.

Spent the rest of the evening relaxing. My hands ached from all the wiring work I’d completed over the long weekend. In addition to achy hands, the three-day weekend was largely a blur after spending a lion’s share of each day working in the basement. I guess it’s fair to say that I made up for some of my project procrastination.

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!!!