Back In The Saddle

Okay, okay, I know it's been a while since the last post. You can stop throwing things at me through the computer screen.

But a guy needs a full-time break every now and then, and let me tell ya', we've taken a full-blown two-week vacation from ourselves in the 'Ville. Now I'm back at work, sitting through another of those long marathon working days in the summer just so I can have Fridays off. And it's time to blog again.

We've been on vacation since July 10, when Jeannie and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by driving down to Natchitoches for an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast and some time with some old friends. Had a nice dinner at The Landing, pretty classy joint if I must say so myself, and I was able to keep the whole trip a surprise until we hit the 'Port. Yes, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Came back on Friday the 11th and got ready for the really good stuff -- the USSSA World Series in Southaven, Miss. Loaded everybody up on Saturday -- including Miss Abby -- and enjoyed some nice family time in the trusty Camry for the seven-hour drive to Southaven, which is just a stone's throw south of Memphis.

That started a week-long odyssey of baseball that saw Coby's team play nine games in six days -- and ending with a sixth-place finish out of 44 teams. Not bad, but we were all disappointed nonetheless. We won our first four games at the tournament before stubbing our toe with an all-around bad day against the Spiders from Franklin, Tenn., and that put us in the loser's bracket. We won three straight elimination games to make the final eight before the Spiders bit us again and sent us home with a 7-5 loss.

We came home that Saturday, deciding against spending another night in a hotel. We left Mississippi about four o'clock or so and headed home. Made a stop in Benton, Ark., just outside Little Rock, for dinner at one of my favorite places to eat on the road in Arkansas, Brown's Country Store. I've eaten there a lot on school trips and I've never had a bad meal. There's enough trans fat and cholesterol in the place to sink the Titanic, of course, but when you're on vacation you take chances.

Made it to worship on Sunday the 20th, a day we'd originally hoped to be playing for a national championship. But the Lord had other plans, and we got up with swollen eyes and tired bodies and went to church. But as always it was well worth it -- and refreshing. I'd missed the previous two Sundays and needed the toe-stepping pick-me-up.

Then came the extra week of vacation I take to decompress from the week of baseball, sweltering heat, and innumerable little human beings. Monday, I got to pay some much-needed attention to the mistress (see previous post on Yard Work), something the neighbors had to appreciate more than anything. But after that I spent much of the day catching up on video games and generally nothing nothing remotely productive.

I'd decided to take the family camping that second week, so we left for Martin Creek Lake Tuesday for a two-day camping trip. Word of advice -- it's not a good idea to go tent camping in East Texas in the middle of July.

It was miserable. First, a tent pole broke as we were assembling out shelter. Actually, it didn't just break -- Coby broke it about two minutes after I'd expressly told him to quit using it as a sword on his two friends -- Bone and PJ -- who'd come along on the trip with Jeannie, Coby, Melody, Abby and I. With my shirt already soaked and sticking to my bones because of the 200 percent humidity, I had a meltdown of sorts. After getting it off my chest so to speak, we were able to fix the broken pole enough to where we could actually use it and get our tent up.

Then came the swarm of flies. Then the nearly boiling hot lake water we went tried to swim in, thanks to the nearby power plant on the lake. Bone lost one of his favorite lures fishing, a lure I'd actually gone into the water twice to retrieve already.

Then came night time. Second word of advice -- no need to build a roaring campfire in the middle of July, either. And it doesn't scare off the biting insects.

The only good thing about the fire was that it gave us some light in the camp. We'd decided against purchasing something such as a lantern for this trip -- instead opting to take our flashlight as our only light source. Apparently we forgot that it gets dark around here.

Then there was little Abby. She's gotten pretty good about going to bed at night, but she's never done it outdoors. To say she was a little freaked out was quite the understatement. After tossing and turning with her for a couple of hours, at some point during the night, we all drifted off at varying times.

Needless to say, we didn't make it a second night. I high-tailed it back to the ranger station the next morning and got my refund. Nothing against the camp, it just didn't work out for us. Here's hoping I haven't ruined the experience for my family the next time.

Jeannie and I spent the rest of the week taking on a huge chore we'd been putting off in the new house -- organizing the garage. It was a two-day chore that still isn't quite the way we want it, but we can fit both of our vehicles in the garage now. And we did some annual rearranging of stuff inside to give us that new feeling again, so it was nice.

Now it's back to work, and I'm ready. Vacation is certainly a great time, and I'm refreshed and ready to go back to the work force. After a week in a hotel room, at a baseball park and in the sweltering campgrounds, my family is certainly ready for me to come back to the office, too.