By Mike Pound

Globe columnist

mpound@joplinglobe.com

At about 10:30 Sunday morning, I decided to give my lawn mower the day off.

I didn’t give my lawn mower the day off because it had started raining, although that would have been a convenient excuse. I gave my lawn mower the day off because I decided I didn’t want to mow my lawn.

I mowed our back yard on Saturday, and I had every intention, when I got up Sunday, of mowing my front yard. But sometime between my first cup of coffee on our deck and my second cup of coffee, my intentions changed.

“I don’t intend to mow my front yard. Instead, I intend to do nothing today,” I said to myself.

Ever have a do-nothing day? One of those days when you decide to pack it in? A long time ago, when I was going to St. Xavier’s High School in Junction City, Kan., a couple of buddies and I decided we didn’t want to go to school, so we didn’t. This was despite the fact that we were at school when we decided we didn’t want to go to school. What we did was walk out of the school, climb into Brad Becker’s car and drive away. We spent the day driving around Milford Lake listening to a Led Zeppelin tape on Brad’s 8-track player (I told you it was a long time ago).

We knew we were going to get in big trouble later (and we did, by the way), but we didn’t care.

See, sometimes a man just has to unwind.

When it started raining Sunday morning, I moved off the deck and into our porch and finished reading the paper. Later, my wife walked out onto the porch.

Wife: What you are doing today?

Me: Nothing.

Wife: That sounds like fun. I think I will do that too.

I guess my wife wanted to unwind a bit too.