Author: gallopingcow

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Thanks Chuck

It was a pleasantly quiet drive to work today, but the office was mostly empty. I helped Joel with a scanning issue, and Tyler was there for a while in the morning, but otherwise it was dead quiet. I came in behind Heaven, but never actually saw her at all. It was nice out, so I took Muad’Dib to Taco Bell. He was absolutely perfect, and didn’t move a muscle either time I went inside.

The afternoon dragged on forever until we made it back home for a run. He ran much better after sleeping all day. Dad caught up to us with his drone, and we visited briefly before we made it back to the house.

Summer and I had some leftovers and then watched some YouTube with Muad’Dib on the floor leaned back against the couch. He was acting so sweet, and then got super excited when we asked if he wanted to go to bed. He kept running back and forth around the couch from Summer to me and back again, until we got up.

We made the bed and all three laid back to watch The Life of Chuck, which I had wanted to see, but didn’t know much about. I thought it was beautiful, though a bit slow in the final act. Then I wrapped up and went to sleep.

He understands that narrowing is the natural order of things.

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Spring Holiday

I slept a little later than I intended, but had plenty of time to get the turkey on the smoker. We had time for some coffee and presents, and a game of Phase 10 Tiles. I managed to get some blisters on my right hand trying to chop up some wood for the smoker, and then ended up putting the disc in whole since it just barely fit. I was worried the charcoal would jam it, and it did later on. I took Muad’Dib on a run to my parent’s house for some honey, and then rode back with an instant read thermometer for Dad. On the way back, the Onewheel died on me, so Summer had to come pick us up.

I smoked the turkey and the ham, and had to dislodge the wood to keep the fire going. I had accidentally started the turkey about 100º too hot, so I dropped that down after basically reverse-searing it. The ham probably could have gone on earlier too, but they all finished right on time for me to get the turkey sliced up.

Eaddie, Eli, and Ceci were watching Stranger Things all day, but came along for dinner. We got to the airport just in time to eat, and Kevin had a bunch of family there along with our group. I didn’t feel too bad, because Julie had to run home for something too.

Dinner was a little fragmented, and we didn’t really have a clearly defined dinner and dessert time. Dad did some magic, and then flamed the plumb pudding. The alcohol didn’t all burn off though, so it tasted a bit boozy with the PGA. I chased it down with some of Julie’s over-rich chocolate cake.

The kids kept wanting to go home early, but we made them stay a while before cutting out. Then I was in a rush to get out so we could settle down for bed and work in the morning.

But now I’m sunny with a high of 75

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Let’s Table It for Now

Summer got up and made us a simple sausage and egg breakfast with toast. I started cleaning up the dining table so we would have room for cookies, and did that all through the afternoon. I tried my best not to just hide things away somewhere else, and put stuff where it actually needed to go. Eaddie left to have Christmas with Eli’s family, and Summer made some homemade dog biscuits, followed by cookies for us to decorate.

I eventually had a shower and took Muad’Dib for a run. Mom made duck soup, so I ate with them before everyone came over to decorate cookies. Noah showed up much later than he told us, and Eaddie followed. Dad came over a little after I got back, and we got to the cookies.

Dad left after we got tired of decorating cookies, and then Eaddie had Summer open up one of her presents. It was Phase 10 Tiles, which was a take on the original, except with little plastic tiles instead of cards. We played a few rounds of that, but Noah couldn’t wrap his head around the gameplay and we ended up quitting halfway through.

Noah and the girls opened presents after that, and it wasn’t long before Summer was ready for bed. Muad’Dib seemed pretty tired too. Eaddie took Noah somewhere, and then it was off to sleep.

It was like Christmas all year long.

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Sick as a Dog

Eaddie texted me last night as I was getting ready for bed, and asked if Muad’Dib could stay home from work the next day. I told her he could call in sick, and I left by myself in the morning. Just as I approached my exit, I decided to stop at Wendy’s for breakfast and was surprised at the size of their burrito. It was of fairly poor quality, but it was a decent size with two real eggs, which was nice.

I thought it would be more quiet, but everyone was upstairs. I bounced between a couple of things, but still didn’t really make any notable progress on anything. Summer went to Little Rock, so we met for an early lunch on her way back. Ortega’s has been a great way to break up my fast food week, and their all-you-can-eat is a great deal to get some variety even if we don’t stuff ourselves.

I picked up an order from Walmart on the way back, and when I got to the office, Tammy said she got permission to go home at 2:30. I was thankful the afternoon wouldn’t have a chance to drag on. I got another RMA approval from Future Motion, but of course that just means I have to ship off my Onewheel again. With the battery failures and intermittent motor disengagements, I’ve just been a little terrified to go on any serious rides.

Everyone was at the house when I got there. Summer and Muad’Dib met me outside. Eaddie had Eli and Ceci over to watch Stranger Things. I took Muad’Dib on an early run, and it was so warm that he just barely walked the whole way.

A little while later, Summer wanted to go to the grocery store. Muad’Dib insisted on going too, but he had to sit in the car. They were really busy, but there was a good flow and it wasn’t too crazy. They were out of mollases though, so Summer got some dark corn syrup for the gingerbread cookies instead.

Back at the house, I played some Don’t Starve on my phone with my new controller mount attachment. It worked really well, and I was surprised at how little battery it actually used on my phone. I played for a while as Summer bathed, and then eventually wound down for bed.

Gonna have to dock a vacation day for that.

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Not Quite Quiet

I expected fewer people at work today as the holiday approached, but after a particularly quiet morning, I began to see a few more people. It was a big day for emails as I communicated back and forth with Aptean about an open ticket, and Chris about some email filtering shenanigans, several times throughout the day.

Nothing sounded good for lunch, so I had a McRib and then rode out the afternoon. Summer had to close the lube, so I took Muad’Dib for a run as soon as we got back to town. We visited my parents just before they left to go shopping. Then I cleaned up some leftovers before Summer got home. She showered and I warmed up some pizza for her.

I wanted to talk to her and Eaddie together about their desire to have Autumn over to decorate cookies, but Summer pressed and we had it out. I didn’t feel good about the outcome, but I don’t think there was a way to. We both vented until we were exhausted, and then she went to bed. Eaddie was out with Eli and Ceci and wanted to come over to watch Stranger Things, but ended up not coming. Then Eaddie texted me and asked if Muad’Dib could stay home from work tomorrow. We had a good laugh as Summer suggested he call in sick.

Someone’s gotta put kibble in the bowl.

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Hammer and Chisel

I got up this morning and actually got showered fairly early. Eaddie had the community concert in the evening, and Summer wanted to do some shopping. I wanted to take Muad’Dib, so we went to PetSmart first to pick up some more food. Then we put him in the car while we quickly poked our heads into Belk. They didn’t have what we wanted, so we drove over to JCPenney. From there, I got Muad’Dib out and we walked up the strip. Summer stopped at Shoe Carnival, and then we walked a little further up before returning to the car.

We were pretty hungry by then, and I was actually hungry enough to eat Italian, so we tried to stop at Italian Garden. Muad’Dib got super whiney, so we let him out to run a bit first. That was my mistake, because I should have had Summer queue us first. By the time we got in the door, she said there were a few people waiting. They quoted her ten minutes, but we decided to leave. I made a quick pass downtown to see if the taco place down there was open, but they weren’t. Feeling my frustration steadily growing, I took us to the house and warmed up some pizza and other leftovers.

Summer went to the gym and I started chipping away at the dining room table. I got a little bit of stuff moved, but there was just so much to put away properly. Summer eventually made it back, and I took Muad’Dib for a run while it was a little warmer out. Mom made curry, but it wasn’t ready when Muad’Dib ran us straight there. We continued around our reverse route for a while and then turned around just a couple blocks from our house to go back to my parents’.

I ate and then we started rolling back to the house. I got to the end of the road when my board threw a charge error again, but I was able to limp it most of the way home. I did carry it for about a block total, mostly just to make it up the hills. By then it was about time to get ready for the concert. We put Muad’Dib out back and then picked up Dad, and made our way to Witherspoon.

We sat near the back with Eli’s family, and Salvadore talked to me until we finally sat down. Summer wanted to sit by Shaana, so Dad and I just sat at the end of the aisle. The music was pretty typical for a Christmas concert. On the way out, Summer had us walk all the way around the building to avoid Gerald, which seemed a bit ironic considering the heat I’ve gotten for wanting to avoid Autumn lately.

We dropped Dad off and then got back to the house so I could give Muad’Dib a bath. He did wonderfully, and even stayed in the tub for me while I fetched the blow dryer. I gave him a good vacuuming afterward and pulled off a bunch of hair. Then it was a rush to bed.

Payout for tricks!

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Blue Da Ba Dee

Summer and I got up early so we could get to Little Rock for her race. The organizers waited until the last possible minute to post the actual location, so we got stressed when we arrived at Allsopp Park and didn’t see a crowd. Summer had me make a block, but we came back and saw a few cars at the top of a hill. That ended up being the race, but it was small and informal, without any real prizes or anything. They had nachos, beer, and Fireball, and the race path was not at all paved. In fact, they had to explain symbols, marked in flour in the dirt, so that people would know where to go or when they were off course.

They finally kicked off the race and people disappeared around a corner, and I drove down the hill to Beignets & Brew for coffee and a snack. The beignets were hot and fresh, so I ordered a few more to take to Summer when she finished. It wasn’t even a full 5k, but she seemed to enjoy it. They had an assortment of trophies, probably picked up from a junk store, and basically handed them out at random. They even tried to call me up for being the partner of the best looking runner from Russellville. We had some nachos, and left shortly thereafter.

Our next stop was Park Plaza to do a little looking around. Summer picked up a couple of things, and then we continued to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. I impressed her with my perfect parallel parking after she sassed me about having the car do it. I think I actually executed it better and faster anyway. We split half of a chicken and some extra sides, and everything was delicious. I just wished the chicken was bigger. Then we made our way across town to the IMAX.

We got there just in time to get situated, but I had to swap my glasses due to some wicked glare I couldn’t get rid of. Avatar: Fire and Ash was a spectacle, to be sure. It was an enjoyable, long movie. I barely remembered The Way of Water, but I wasn’t terribly worried about keeping up with the lore anyway. We were entertained.

After the movie, we went straight home except for a stop in Blackwell. Summer wanted to get some wine for Shaana, and I picked up three more kegs of Fireball that were on clearance for less than the price of two bottles, so that was a pretty great deal. I don’t know why they were clearing them so close to New Year’s Eve, because that seems like prime time for that stuff. I grabbed a dozen tamales from the food truck outside when we left, and the girls really enjoyed those when we got back to the house.

I spent too much time dawdling after that, in spite of feeling pretty exhausted. Tomorrow will be a busy day of cleaning up, and it will only get more stressful from there.

She’s crazy!

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Simple Party

Muad’Dib had to wear his ugly sweater again all morning today since we had our Christmas lunch and Dirty Santa. He ended up sleeping for a lot of the day just because of how uneventful it was until the food got there. We had Colton’s, which could have been better just for being kind of cold by the time we got it, but it wasn’t bad. Afterward we just went around the table playing Dirty Santa. David was sat next to me, and Teisha had him start. Then it went all the way around and I was last. Shane actually got the toilet golf set that I brought, and he seemed tickled, which was the best possible outcome, I think. When it got around to me, I stole a returning “boss voodoo doll” from Scott, which had been re-gifted a couple times in previous years, along with a small handful of lottery tickets. It happened to be David who regifted that one.

The afternoon dragged on pretty awfully after not leaving for lunch. I sort of dreaded coming back home, but I guess it was water under the bridge by then. Summer and Eaddie were watching TV. I took Muad’Dib for a good run, and then I warmed up leftover pizza for everyone when we got back. The girls decorated the tree and I watched a little bit of YouTube as they finished up and went to bed. I started dozing on the couch, so I had to get up from there to go to bed myself.

…to shreds you say?

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Gumball

We finally had our staff meeting this morning, and I did my best to represent well. Afterward, we had a pretty boring call with more of the same from Aptean. It always feels like a sales call, promising more from their future plans. I bounced around a lot after that.

We took a really late lunch and I had my McRib. Then the afternoon was a bit slow and quiet. Summer had her company Christmas party, so we got back into town and I picked up some Taco John’s to eat before going.

I dressed Muad’Dib up in his ugly sweater and antler headpiece, and we went to attend at the lube. Summer was like a nervouos teen, hoping all of her friends would show up, and I just felt bad. Muad’Dib got a decent amount of attention, and then Summer made me play Dirty Santa with them, so I stole a gag gift to give out at my own Christmas party.

I was feeling pretty melancholy afterward, so I decided to take Muad’Dib to PetSmart again. They would be closing within minutes, so instead we stopped in the parking lot so he could go to the bathroom. Then we kind of cruised aimlessly toward home. I set the car to “chill” and let it go, without a destination. As we approached our side of town, a cop pulled behind me and lit me up. We pulled into the hospital parking lot where he informed me that my tags had expired. That didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but sure enough, they were. He let me go with a verbal warning, and I headed toward the house.

I didn’t notice, but after I walked in, Summer stopped to warn me that Autumn was there with Eaddie. It wasn’t until afterward that I noticed her text asking what I was doing and why I was avoiding coming home. It was completely loaded, because she could have sent a warning first. I immediately put my shoes back on and walked out with Muad’Dib, but she stopped me in the garage to express her own frustration at me as I trembled.

I let Muad’Dib take me for a walk through almost our entire route in reverse. We stopped at the basin and sat on a bench for a while to knock on the sky and listen to the sound. A stiff breeze came in as we eventually made our way back to the house and found our way to bed.

Unexpected, in the middle of a walking path.

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Miss Wednesday

All night and all this morning, I kept thinking we had a staff meeting today. We grabbed a biscuit and hashbrowns to share on the drive in, and I got everything ready to go back downstairs only to have Teisha tell me it was only Wednesday, and the meeting wasn’t until Thursday.

After that, I actually had a fairly busy day. I was feeling Subway for lunch, but Sonic had $1.50 mozzarella sticks, so we had to go there first. For some reason my phone completely dropped cellular service until I restarted it. We got our cheese sticks and then got stuck in Subway’s drive-through waiting for someone else’s sandwich to be made before we could get back to the office. We ate downstairs with Janice and Elizabeth, went back upstairs for a little while, and then came back down for cake for Charles’s birthday.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly after that. David gifted me one of the hams that was sent to the office, so I grabbed that on the way out. I was surprised to see a drizzle when we got outside, so we weren’t going to be able to run. We went to the house so I could change and grab some PetSmart coupons, and then we went to the lube to see Summer before going to the store.

Muad’Dib did fairly well in the store, and I ended up getting him one of the most expensive bags of dry dog food they had. Never in my life had I ever imagined that I might be the kind of person to pay $100 for a bag of kibble, but I spend nearly twenty four hours out of nearly every single day next to this kid. He is rarely ever out of my line of sight, except for when we have to go somewhere that he’s not allowed in, or when Summer calls him to bed, or when someone else has food, the little rat.

On the way home, I had the thought to patronize my favorite neighborhood barbecue brothers on a cold and drizzly day. I got Summer a burger, some brisket to add to my leftover Subway sandwich, and some pulled pork for Muad’Dib. I got to visit with Grant in the smoke house, and then we got back to the house just before Summer. We ate, and then she went to bed. I cleaned up a little bit, laid with her for a moment watching YouTube on my phone while she stared at two screens, and then I wrapped things up before going to sleep.

Royal indeed.