Last Friday was a busy day.

First, I slept in (my summer schedule ROCKS) till about 9am. Then I drove to San Saba for my last Friday make-up day, making up for the fishing trip a while back. All I had to do was give a test, and it was a bitch of a test. The inmates (loosers) were pissin', lookin' up to me and askin' "Why do you do this to us?" I was like, "That's why they call it a TEST, motherfuckers." I love my job.

Thing is, the guards knew I needed to get out of there before count. I'd earlier told them I had a medical thing to get to. So they let me out early, as soon as the guys finished their test. I was out of there by 1:30pm, rather than 2:40, and home in plenty of time to change into some shorts and get to the hospital.



Then it was like this. "Step up on this scale." Yep, still 311lbs., and my blood pressure, and my temperature, and then "Here, change into this gown. Now, sit here and wait."



I checked out the implements of destruction, all laid out for the doctor. I checked out all the little labels on the drawers, particularly the one that said "Anal Scope." Jezus...



And then I waited some more...



And then some more. In all, about fifteen minutes. Not long in retrospect.



Here's the issue at hand, there between my fingers. I've had this cyst for many years. When I first realized it was there, the doc told me what it was, and that it's not cancerous. But it's annoying as hell sometimes. I end up sleeping on it now and then and wake up with a sure neck.



In time, the procedure began. They decided to sit me in the chair and have me lean over the bench. The nurse (who took these pictures, and did a wonderful job) swabbed the area to be cut, and then shaved it. The doc then gave me a shot to deaden the area.



Long story short (and many more pictures, which are all available here), in the space of 40 to 45 minutes or so, it was mostly over. He'd cut out the offending cyst...



Which ended up looking more like a big greasy, snotty lugy to me...



And he'd sewn up the hole, giving me a few stitches inside the hole to aid in healing.



That's my doc there, Paul Gerdes, and the nurse who assisted. I never got her name. Shame too. She did a wonderful job assisting, and took some awesome pictures too. Dr. Gerdes is a wonderful physician. I really lucked out when I showed up out of the blue all those years ago and drew him out of the hat.

After everything was done, with my neck bandaged, Denise and I were off to Temple. What, me go home and rest after surgery? Naaaaaa. I had plans. I had to turn in my laundry at the dry cleaners. Plus, it was my turn to pay for dinner, and the girls knew what they were in for.



The cooks at Dynasty were in rare form Friday night. Not only was the Gen. Tso's Chicken excellent, and the Shrimp-fried-rice, but they'd also knocked out some killer fried cream corn nuggets, and those fried chicken wings were wonderful too. Top it all off with an egg roll, and you've got a meal fit for a fat hairy bastard.

After cleaning this plate I went back for more of those corn nuggets. I just can't get too many of those. Then we were off, back to mom's house for an after dinner tipple. By then, the bandage the nurse had stuck to the back of my neck was coming unstuck from my sweat, and the bandage was full of blood. We found some bandages at mom's and replaced the soiled one with a new one, but then it didn't last long ether.

No, we didn't go home after leaving mom's. We needed to go to Sam's. We wandered around there for an hour or so, picking up some essential shit. You know, a HUGE box of Ritz crackers, and a big can of coffee, and a few crates of diet green tea, and a few other things. In the end, I had to re up. Turns out mom had earlier re upped and she'd canceled the card that dad had carried around. That's the one I had. I kept it. It has his picture on it, but now I have my own, $40 later.

After getting out of there, around 9PM, it was time to head home. By the time we got there, my second bandage had come off my neck, again, from my own sweat, and it was also filled with blood. I have some pills and a first-aid kit, but it turned out that all my friggin' pills were expired! I guess I just don't get sick often enough.

I used my most recently expired Tylenol, took two, and let Denise put Neosporin on the wound and then a makeshift bandage. It all worked out beautifully. I slept like a stone Friday night, and then woke up to find the bandage still on , and the wound healing nicely.



This is what it looked like after my shower, Saturday afternoon. It'd been about 24 hours since the cutting, and the wound was healing up nicely. I told Denise it looked like she'd gotten a bit too enthusiastic in the sack, giving me a little love bite. I decided that's the story I'd tell everyone. Well, everyone who isn't reading this blog anyway.

We went out to eat Saturday night too, this time to a little German place in Lampasas. But that's another story. Anyway, I'm healin' up fine. Feel great. There's BBQ ribs in the oven as we speak, cookin' slowly, so you know we'll eat well tonight too. Denise is out sunnin' herself in the back yard, and I'm here, workin' on pictures and doin' laundry. Typical Sunday.

I hope y'all had a great weekend, and that you dads had a great day today. You all deserve it. Cheers!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads I know.

Considering the solemnity of this special day, you'll appreciate the sentiment in this little video.



Yea, that game never really went well for me ether. It's bizarre to me now, but I didn't really enjoy playing Catch with my dad. It was always something he wanted to do, to try to urge me to enjoy athletics, but I never really did. I don't know why. I was always more interested in runnin' in the woods and shooting arrows, both of which bored him to tears. We just didn't enjoy the same sorts of things, so we didn't get along.

I hear stories now about my friends and their fathers, enjoying hobbies with one another and getting along like friends, and it just blows my mind. To me, in those days, my father was my enemy. He was an impediment to me, standing in my way. And yet I loved him, and secretly yearned for his approval. So, when he belittled me and laughed at my hobbies, it hurt me all that much more.

I know now that it must have been very hard for my dad to be my dad. The world I was growing up in was VERY different from the one he'd grown up in, and nothing really worked out the way he thought it would. A saw the confusion in him when I was a kid. We'd be arguing about something, like mowing the lawn or something, usually when I wanted to be out in the woods. He'd say things about how much he and his dad got along, or how much he'd always wanted to work along side his dad, as if to ask me why I wasn't cooperating.

I guess, when it came to being the son he wanted, I failed my father as much as he did me. At least that was the way we thought about things back then. Of course, as we both got older, all of that stupid childhood shit melted away and we grew to love and understand one another deeply. He saw the work and fun I put into my life, and I guess I finally started to see and respect him as the strong, accomplished man that he was.

Now that he's gone, I miss my daddy terribly. I cry sometimes when I think about those days when I used to drive over to get him, to take him out to eat Chinese food on Friday nights. I'd roll up in front of the house and he'd be slowly hobbling out to meet me.

He'd have a huge grin on his face, waving and calling to me, saying something like "Hey sunshine!" I used to look forward to seeing him all week long. We both did. If you'd told me I would ever feel that way about him when I was a kid, I'd have told you you were crazy. Funny how things turn out.

So, all you dads out there, have a great day! I have so much respect for you. I know it's a hard job to grow up yourself, so you can bring up a kid. The thing is... Please, for me, always try to remember. It can also be terribly hard to be a son. Terribly hard.

If everything works out right, you'll both love and respect one another. But if things aren't going well, all I can say is that in time, both of you will probably grow up, and wise up, and maybe you'll be able to enjoy the friendship my daddy and I had in the end. Believe me, it's somethin' to shoot for.

Cheers!

35 years ago this weekend...

This shit scared the living piss out of me. Seriously. I didn't sleep well for about a month.



I think it's the scariest opening scene in any movie I've ever seen. Too bad there's not a better version on Youtube.

I was 14, horny as hell, sittin' in the theater thinkin' "Holy shit, what a smokin' hot chick. What a lucky bastard." And then... Damn you Stephen Spielberg. Damn you.

Friday stuff, and stuff.

I have to go to San Saba today. It's the last make-up day for the week I spent fishing in Canada. No lecture today though. Just giving them a test, so maybe I'll be able to get out a bit early. I need to, seeing as how I'm supposed to be at the Scott & White hospital in Killeen at 3:45 for an operation.

Yep, I'm getting cut on today. I've had a cyst on my neck, where my back and neck meet, for years. It usually doesn't bother me, but Denise has been asking me to have it removed, and every now and then I sleep on it in such a way that I end up with a neck ache in the morning.

The doc says it's no big deal. It's not cancer or anything. But he says it's the sort of thing that will grow back if they don't get every little bit of it. The last time I went in to see him, I told him I'd like to have him cut it out. So, this afternoon, around 4PM, I'll be leanin' over the bench in his office, or somewhere. and he'll be carvin' away. You wanna see what it'll look like when I get cut on, click on this video. I warn you though, stay the hell away from those other zit related videos. Mmmmm, nasty. And by the way, mine should be about eight or ten times the size of that kids.

Also, I know you'll be shocked by this, but I've decided to have the doctor or his assistant take a few pictures of the procedure. You know, before, during and after shots. Denise is gonna drive me to the hospital, thinkin' that I'll probably be in no condition to drive myself home after. But I KNOW she's not gonna sit in on the procedure.

Talk about a weak stomach, Sheesh. All I have to do is start to say the word PUS and she's headed for the porcelain alter. I tell ya, it's almost as fun as chasin' her around with a rubber snake. So, she's talkin' about drivin' me. We'll see. As of now, I plan to be fully conscious and eating large quantities of Chinese food from Dynasty a few hours after the fact. It's my turn to pay, so Denise and Mom both know where they're goin', and that stuff is too good to pass up.

Anyway, Y'all be cool and check in regular for the bloody pictures. I can't wait to show 'em to ya. Cheers!

Remember, Mom is about 83, and she's not good with techniligy.

Had to go to Mom's house Monday night, after getting back from San Saba. She'd surprised me earlier that morning, as I drove to work, calling me on her cell phone. She NEVER uses it. Got it the same time I got my razor, but barely knows how to turn it on, mostly because she never DOES use it, so you can see why it surprised me.

Anyway, turns out she'd dropped her cordless land line, and it wasn't working any more. People were calling here and she couldn't answer the phone. See, she doesn't know how to operate that one ether. There's a button she could push to answer calls from the base unit, but she doesn't know which one it is. Mom's got as thing with technology.

So, bottom line, I needed to go to Temple and sort things out. I told her I'd get up early on Tuesday and come over, but then I got to thinking about it. Since I'm in my summer schedule, who wants to get up early? So I called Denise, who was still at work at 8PM when I was leaving San Saba, and told her what was going on. I asked her if she wanted to make a trip to Temple. She did, so I told her I'd swing by the house along the way.

Turned out it took me about 30 seconds to fix the phone. Took the back off the battery compartment on the hand unit and pressed on the battery connection. Lights came on and everything worked. It' had simply become dislodged when she'd dropped it on the carpeted floor. Done deal. Then I cleared all the messages from her base unit, letting her listen to them all.

Most of the messages were from our cousin Sue, down in Houston. Sue calls mom every day, just about. Kind of a pain in the ass, but she's just about all the family mom has now. She'd been calling mom all day, worrying why she couldn't get hold of her. Mom had called me later in the afternoon, while I was in the library in San Saba. She told me Sue was drivin' her crazy, and did I have her number?

Turned out that all the numbers we had for Sue were old, disconnected numbers, so we couldn't call her to tell her mom was fine. This fear, that Sue would drive up to check on mom, is what drove me to decide to go ahead and go to mom's that night.

Anyway, after the drama with her land line was cleared up, Sue called again, and mom could tell her about all the mess that had gone on. We got her correct number in the process, and I made sure to put it on my phone. I checked mom's cell and we found Sue's correct cell number in there, in Received Calls. It just wasn't marked. The number that was marked as Sue's was wrong. I fixed all that, and then I sat mom down and showed her how to bring up recent callers on her cell and redial the numbers.

Anyway, after all that, mom apologized for not having anything to feed us. I told her it was no big deal, and then she offered us all a beer. We ended up sitting there, laughing, drinking a beer with mom, while she told us how much fun it had been to use her cell phone. After a while, I looked over at Denise and we mutually decided it was time to go home.

We ended up gettin' home at about 11:30 that night. made for a LONG day. But it was fun, and it's always good to see my momma.

Anyway, gotta go to work. Gotta take the scenic rout today. They're workin' on the bridge over the Colorado, just as you get into San Saba county. So I have to take the longer, twisty rout past Colorado Bend State Park. Cheers!

No rest for the weary.

Not only did I have to drive to San Saba on Friday, to make up for one of the days I missed fishin' the other week, but there was a Rodeo Parade in San Saba on Saturday. My buddy John and his family were gonna be riding mules (they raise and sell them) in the parade, and then there was gonna be a cook-out at John's place.

I'd told my other buddy Dave, who I teach with in Florence, and he'd pitched the idea that he bring a few of his horses up and that we both ride with John in the parade. Best laid plans...



It turned out that Dave had truck trouble, and couldn't haul his horses all the way to San Saba. He could have brought one, but that wouldn't have been as much fun, so we ended up just planting our folding chairs under some tall trees by the big bank in town and waited for John and them to ride by. As you can see here, he brought his son Ryan, and Ryan's girlfriend Jennifer. Denise came with me, but she's in the witness protection program.



The parade was nice. It wasn't as long and drawn out as the Fourth of July parade in Belton, but it had the same country feel to it.



One of the great things we noticed was as the floats went by, the folks in the trucks would toss candy out onto the street. The little kids would dart out into the road to pick it up. Yea, yer thinkin' "Uh, isn't that unsafe?" Well folks, this here's San Saba, and the whole thing was as safe as can be.



We even had Zorro on patrol, in a rented Batman costume. He was advertisin' a local Mexican food place called Pepperbelly's. Yep, Pepperbelly's. Remember, this is San Saba, out in the middle of nowhere, Hill Country of Texas, and folks are less likely to be easily offended. And you know, if they are offended, they get over it.



Eventually, John (far right) and his mules came near. The wagon with the yellow wheels was going to advertise the liquor store that he and his wife Elizabeth own.



But when the time came for the money shot, my camera's auto-focus pooped out on me. I had a hell of a time with my old camera Saturday. You can see in some of these shots, an unfocused haze around the edges of the shot. Pissed me off no end, and made me wish I'd remembered to bring the new one.



All I got was a clear shot of his mule's ass as he rode on, after tellin' us where to meet them after the parade.



We ended up driving out into the country, south of San Saba, and relocating the party to John and Elizabeth's back yard, which is covered by oak trees, shielding you from much of the summer heat.



I walked around and got a few pictures like this one, from a flower in one of their little ponds. It's a beautiful place, with all sorts of animals runnin' around. There were dogs, cats, chickens, guinea fowl, goats, llamas, mules and horses. And that was just a hint of the number of animals they have out there. What with bein' a full time guard out at the prison, AND runnin' the liquor store in town, now I really see why John is always so damn busy.



While we just sat around talking, I took my crock pot full of queso into the kitchen and heated it up, and Denise whipped up a batch of her Southern Comfort Punch. While we ate and drank, John got the fire going. After a while, the rest of the family arrived. The conversations became more animated, and John started heating up the corn.



Once the corn started to heat up he started cookin' the burgers. Now and then he'd draw his hand back quickly and shake it. The heat from the fire was singing his hand. I thought at the time, he needs a longer set of tongs. I told him, he needs a friggin' pool too. It would'a been nice to sit in some cool water and watch him burn himself cookin' my dinner. Not sure if he understood the subtle wisdom there.



I tell ya, the burgers and tater salad were wonderful, and the corn-on-the-cob was wonderful too.



After everyone finished eating, the conversation shifted away from what Dave and I do for a living to "Lets ride some mules." Dave really wanted to get up on one. You see that unfocused haze at the top of the shot? Man, I was pissed.



Before you know it, just about everyone was mounted up and headed for the back 40, or in this case, the back 100.



Dave was mounted up, as were Ryan and Jennifer. I wasn't dressed for riding, having worn shorts and sandals to the parade. Plus, I was red as a beat from the sun and pooped. Well, let's say I had to turn the car keys over to Denise. I was in no condition to ride, and Denise didn't want to. Hasn't in something like 20 years. Anyway, it'd been a long, hot day, and Denise and I were both ready to go home.

So, as the others explored the back country of John's ranch, Denise and I packed up the goods and headed home. It was a nice drive, seein' as how I could drift off now and then and not have to worry about runnin' off the road.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend the day. I hope that John, Dave and everyone had as much fun as I did. It was great to see their cool house and ranch, and the wonderful menagerie of critters they run. It was nice meeting Elizabeth's family too. If you want to see more shots of the parade, the people and the critters, click here. Cheers!

Fishin' stories.

Finally gettin' around to posting this stuff. It's been a busy week, and it's not over. I have to go to San Saba tomorrow, and next Friday, to make up for the classes I missed last week when I flew to Syracuse NY to go fishing with my cousin Bob and the guys.



I fly in and they drive by from Pensylvania the next morning and pick me up on the way to Gananoque, Canada. It's always great to see Bob again. You can get a great feel for our relationship from this little video.





The lake is beautiful, and the fishing is usually good.



We upgraded to a little nicer cabin this time, paying a little extra for a place right down by the water and the dock.



The food is always great too. I knoiw, you're thinkin' "hotdogs and mac-n-chese out of a box?" Yea, but it's all cooked with love! And this is just the first nights meal.



The second night we had Pike filets (from two decent sized fish the guys had caught), and more mac-n-cheese out of a box (LOVE that stuff).



The third night we had steak and baked potatos cooked on the grill, and the last night we had chili. So, as usual with anyone in my direct vascinity, we ate well!



We fish hard when we go on these trips... Up early and out on the water, back for lunch, then out again till dinner, and then out again till sunset. But in the meantime, we relax. We're probably better at that than we are at fishing. Well, I am anyway. And when we relax by the shore, there are usually critters there to join us.



This Blue Heron is a regular visitor. When it's not taking Chipmunks or Bluegills from near the water, it's wolfing down scraps from out table.



A few Seagulls even joined in on the fun. And we even had another little visitor who slithered by a few times.



We even saw this one, or one like it, slitherin' across the lake towards out dock one day.



Of course, we also love the scenery up there (click on this one, or any of the others, for the larger version). The natural beauty of the place is amazing to behold.



There's nothin' like slowly drifting down a river, lookin' for just the right spot to wet a hook.



When it comes to bringing in a good fish, there's no tellin' how many hundreds of casts can go into each catch. But in the end, it's all worth it. Now and then, the gods reward your patience.



Like last year, I didn't catch too many big ones this time. But nether did the other guys, so I didn't feel so bad. I caught enough to have a great time, and that's what really matters.



Anyway, most of the fun I derive from these trips is found in the quiet times, sittin' around after a great meal with a cigar in one hand and an adult beverage in the other, or a spare brat, solving all the worlds problems with my friends.



Eventually, sadly, the time always comes to hit the road for home. I Hate that road, but I also look forward to the welcome home I'll get from my special little lady. And then I look forward to the next years adventure. We've been coming up here for a long time, and there's no sign of it ending. In a few years, it'll all be made that much more special when Bob's Grandson (Scot's son) Gabe gets old enough to join us.



Sunday morning, after paying the bill, we drove back into the USA and back to Syracuse, where my return flight was awaiting me. Who knew the return flights would be so screwed up by this very rainy weather? I didn't get home until almost 4AM Monday morning, but that's another story.

The trip, Gananoque 2010, was a wonderful time. If you want to see more pictures and captions, click over here. Enjoy. Cheers!

Goin' Fishin'.

Time to head back up to Canada again, as I do every year (most years) about this time. Time to get together with my cousin Bob, his son-in-law Scott, and Bob's long time buddy Jim, drink some good booze, eat some good food, smoke some good cigars (maybe even a few Cubans), and see if we can catch the mother pike... Pikezilla.



We're goin' back to the same lake and lodge we always go to... Griffin's Lakeside Lodge on lake Gananoque, near Kingston Ontario. It's a beautiful place, with nice folks runnin' it. We've been goin' there for about five or six years now, so we pretty much know the lake, and where the fish are. It makes it really fun, goin' back year after year.



While the other guys use their high dollar fancy gear, baitcasting reels, with a birds nest for every eighth or tenth cast, I stick with my trusty spinner. Well, Bob's spinner. He provides the gear. I just have to show up, cigars in hand. Pretty good deal if you can get it.



I was really lucky a few years ago (this was maybe 2007 or 8). You're lookin' at the largest Pike of that trip. I went through several years where I really didn't catch much of anything, and then all of a sudden I was catching all the fish and the guys were pissin'. That felt GOOD.



Last year though, I was the only one who didn't catch a big one. It sucked, but I had fun anyway. After all, it's not just about bringin' in the big ones.



Hell, when things get slow I pull out a little ultralight rod and hit the pan fish along the bank. Maybe try dippin' for Croppy. I have just as much fun catchin' them as I do the big ones.



Well, no, that's bullshit. I do have fun with the littluns, and with a few illegal lunkers that hit the little worms I toss for the pan fish (they have a season on Large and Small Mouth Bass up there, and this ain't it). But it does suck when my luck runs dry and I have to see all the other guys bringin' in the nice fish.



One of these days... One of these days I'm gonna hook ol' Pikezilla. That bitch is gonna die and go on my wall. It's gonna be mythic... Homeric... Old Man and the Sea type shit.

But, until then, I'll just enjoy the good times, and great company, and the blessings of my life as it finds me these days. I love my cousin Bob to death. He's like a big brother to me, which is something I always yearned for but never had growin' up. But hell, now I have a hand full of close friends who fit that bill. Have I said that it's really, really good to be me right now?

So, you guys try to have a good week while I play. I'm takin' the laptop with me, so maybe I'll be able to post a few good pictures during the week. We'll see. You guys enjoy yourselves and we'll get together again on the other side of this one. Cheers.

Happy Memorial Day!

I figured this is as good a time as any to show you some old shots of my dad. Mom gave me a box of old pictures a while back, some of which I'd never seen before. Included were several official shots from the Air Force.



This one is my favorite. It shows dad the way I remember him as a kid. He was a Lt. Colonel in this one, taken in the mid 1960s.



Here he is, tryin' to look HARD, as a Captain in the summer of 1956. I think my folks were stationed in Austin then, having just moved back to the states from England. The future Priscilla Presley was babysitting my sister then, who was about two years old. Priscilla was in junior high and just about to move to Germany with her mother and step father, where she'd meet you-know-who. Cool eh?

Dad told me once that her stepfather was an asshole, and that he'd taken a LOT of money from the guy in poker parties. I tell ya, growin' up like he did, dad didn't take prisoners. Of course, I wasn't even a glint in his eye then. Won't be born for four more years or so.



This one cracks me up. It's like he's thinking "Are they gonna take the fuckin' picture or what?" By the time this was taken dad had been promoted to Lt. Col. and I was almost four years old. You can see he's aged a bit. Was it me, or the job in Bermuda?

There were also several hilarious shots of what may well have been a Memorial Day pick nick in Bermuda, where I was born.



Check out these outfits. Can you find dad there, in the golf hat and shades? They must have set up a party and shrimp boil for the enlisted guys. Dad would have jumped in and played hard. No one was more competitive than he was.



Here he is hittin' the ball. Apparently the fellas decided to have a volleyball game on the beech. I'm thinkin, that's not gay at all. Nope, not at all. Naaa, it's like that scene in Top Gun, right?



Thing is, what the hell were these guys thinkin'? Check out the one dude with his shorts all hiked up like a speedo. And all the dark socks and leather shoes... ON THE BEACH? White people, sheeesh!



Here's dad in his element. He loved golf almost more than anything else in his life. He's probably playin' with his commanding officers here, and probably taking money from them. He was a shark on a golf course. I think it was one of the great disappointments of his life that I didn't enjoy the game the way he did. But that's a long story.

Finally, I surfed through a lot of patriotic sounding stuff on YouTube before I found this video to post for the holiday. I always loved this tune.

Lets think about what our soldiers have been through over the last seven or eight years, and the generations who served before them. Let's reflect on their achievements, and lets enjoy some awesome AC~DC. Crank those speakers people. For those about to rock...



Happy Memorial Day folks, and thanks for serving. Cheers. You know who you are. I love ya.

I know at least one dude who'd shit himself if he had one of these in his living room.

Of course, his loving wife would probably make him move it to the basement, but there you go.

Yep, at least one, maybe two or three. But I'm with the guy that posted it. I think it'd be way cooler if it was an Apache gunship simulator. OK, we're all in agreement then.

Where's Waldo?

Hm, headed straight down the shitter with the rest of us. And we've got these fuckers to thank for it. Drink up!

Click on this if you need a closer look.

Check this shit out.

Rednecks will fix this shit.

One down, two to go.

I finished up classes in Florence yesterday morning. I'd given the kids their finals Monday, but had to go in to finish grading, post the grades to both the high schools web site and CTCs, and finish up some paperwork.

Thing is, the folks there didn't think I'd be comin' back. The janitor was already washin' down the white boards and cleanin' the gum from under the desks. I got myself situated there at my desk and got to work, but soon received a text message.

My buddy Dave (Willingham), who teaches down the hall, thought I was done and sleepin' in. He sent me a text reading "Slacker!" That's a little joke between us. Now and then when I get down there and see that there's a substitute in his room, that he's taken the day off, I text him and call him a Slacker.

I immediately walked over to his room, busted in and said "Like hell I am!" he laughed his ass off when he saw that I was there. He and I are thinkin' that we want to ride his horses in the San Saba Rodeo Parade on the 12th. John Hoenow, my buddy out at the jail, told me Monday that he and his wife are gonna ride mules in the parade. I told Dave about it and he said that if they can get us registered, he can drive some horse up and we'll ride. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Anyway, I got the stuff done that needed to get done, all posted, signed and finished, and was out of there by 10AM. That means I could make it to San Saba in time for the Dairy Mart to open it's doors at 11AM.



Yep, I made it there in time for a nice, calm sit down lunch (my only real meal of the day). When the proprietor brought me my usual, a jalapeno sourdough bread bacon cheeseburger and large order of onion rings, he said somethin' like "That's a hungry man." I laughed and told him this burger was a friggin' work of art. That he needs to be written up in Texas Monthly.



Here's and old close-up, just in case you're hungry or anything (Sully, this is for you). Look at the size of that bacon strip. Mmmmmm, good.

I finished eating and got out to the jail early, givin' me time to relax a bit before the convicts descended on me. That's always nice... Havin' time to take a relaxed shit and get a drink before the bum rush of rusty-assed losers forces me to go to class.

I got the class through the Constitution and part way through Federalism, and ended up getting out of Saba late, about 3PM. I stopped at a local grocery store for something to drink and then headed strait to Fort Hood. It was rainin' like CRAZY by then, at times blockin' my ability to see the road. But the rain abated by the time I got to the base and I was able to get to my classroom without gettin' soaked.

Once I got there I realized that they'd finally hooked up the Internet in my room. It's handy to be able to check my mail, both official and private, when I'm not lecturing. Of course, I have this laptop there in class with me. I like to play Freecell while I lecture. I find it slows me down. Less chance of the students getting Carpel Tunnel.

I had to finish both Fort Hood classes last night... Finish up the lectures and review the classes for their finals, which will be given on Thursday. So I was there later than usual. Didn't get home till about 10:15PM. So it was a long day. But without that drive to Florence, I get to relax now in the morning. I still get up when Denise does, fix her her morning milk coffee, and then I sit here and vegetate on this thing until it's time to drive to Saba.

It's time to go now. I've got to shower, go over to the local pharmacy to renew my blood pressure meds, and then head to Saba in time to eat before I get to the jail. That'll give me more time in the afternoon to relax at the library until my evening class.

So, Florence is over (I'll got to their graduation ceremony Friday night, but won't go back to class until late August), Ft. Hood is almost over (It'll end Thursday and then I'll have 10 weeks off from there), and I've got about six weeks left of San Saba. When the semester ends there, mid July, it'll be road trip time again.

In the meantime, next week is gonna be a whole different kind of blast. I'll tell you about that later. Cheers.