So I’ve been home for a week now.  Are you all salivating over the prospect of lots of new and interesting adventures that I’ve had in the last seven days?

The kitten I named Hal shows off his sense of balance while checking me out.

Little tip: don’t bother.  With Scott and his mom basically hanging around the house all last Thursday and Friday, I made myself scarce at home.  Slept a great deal, watched some netflix, went out to play darts, etc. There was a bit of excitement at the house when one of the kittens that had first appeared on my deck last summer suddenly made a return – with 5 of her own kittens in tow.  I fed them on Thursday afternoon and gave them a bowl of water, which enticed them to become official squatters – when I got up to feed the cats on Friday morning, all six of them were piled in a heap on the deck.  Mama cat heard me inside and immediately approached the door, looking at me and obviously begging for food, which I provided.   I also gave names to all of the kittens and started trying to figure out how I could catch them all in order to get them fixed.  I love having yard cats, but I don’t really want to have 50 of the things out there.

By Saturday morning, however, they were already making themselves scarce.  I saw my favorite kitten, which I had named Brooks, a few times during the day; but he was obviously not comfortable hanging out on the deck by himself, and I was unable to locate any of the other critters.  I left some food and water out, but by Sunday evening it was apparent that the whole family had picked up stakes.  There’s still some water out there if they need it, as it’s been abysmally hot and dry this summer.

Also on Saturday, I took Scott and his mother to the airport, where she caught a plane back to Minnesota.  When Scott and I returned to the house, I decided to get some yard work done.  I had high hopes of cutting down a stand of privet and chipping it all into nothingness, but after trimming the holly and hydrangea around the deck and then sweeping and washing said deck, I was completely drenched in sweat, was hotter than I’ve ever been in my life, and cut the work short in order to go back into the house, change out of my clothes, and sit in a tub of cold water.  On Sunday, I didn’t even attempt to do any more lawn work.

Monday was back to real work, and it’s been going surprisingly well so far.  I had a major bottleneck (firewall issues) with a project before I left.  In my absence, one of my co-workers had managed to get that solved; so for the last three days, I’ve been writing queries like a fiend and finally making progress on a huge request that’s been on my plate for nearly a year.

I also got hit with a request from Furman’s new director of football operations, who apparently has been unable to find a lot of pictures of this year’s seniors for the annual promotional poster.  He asked me to provide him with shots of about eight different players.  So far, I’ve managed to give him seven.  Not sure that I’ll be able to get him the last guy, who went down with a season-ending injury in the second game of the season last year – when I was in Grand Rapids.  I don’t believe I ever saw the kid play.

While going through the shots for the school, I got an idea to start a new photography project, which I’m calling “Self-Portrait, 365.”  As the name implies, the idea is to try to take photographically-interesting (one hopes) pictures of myself every day for a year.  If you are so inclined, you can follow my progress in this endeavor at http://theuffp.smugmug.com/Photography/Self-Portraits/18037001_db3FJB, which will have large versions of the shots that I’ll also be posting on Facebook.

This is not so much a completely narcissistic idea as one which I hope will improve my photography skills – particularly my skills in portraiture, which are pretty bad.  I’d like someday to be able to take decent street portraits, but I’m not going to even attempt that until I’m more confident; and I figure I’ll make a patient model for myself as I learn.

Seems like a good time to wrap this up, check my email one more time, and hit the sack.

TWD

Betsy samples a fire-roasted donut on her first camping trip Wompatuck State Park, MA

So I arrived safely at home last night after about 11 days in New England.  Immediately had to scoop and fix the litter box (it had stopped cleaning itself sometime in the previous two days and had not been restarted…dammit), then said hello to Scott’s mom, who came down last week to help Scott in his recovery from his stroke (I hope I mentioned that he had one), then went to bed.

Today, I’ve retrieved my chipper from the small engine repair shop, mowed and swept the front lawn, and am currently sitting – nekked – on my bed and trying not to sweat to death.  Today being pay day, I also paid a bunch of bills and am solvent for 15 more days at least.

Now seems like a good time to bring everyone up to date on my vacation and maybe throw a few pictures into this thing.

After arriving in Cornwall, VT, on June 23rd, I spent the next week soaking up the feeling of being at home.  Betsy flew in on the 26th, so I also got to show her around for a few days.  We spent one day walking around Middlebury and buying souvenirs, another visiting Fort Ticonderoga (in New York), and got to schmooze with some of the Sheldon Museum’s big donors at a meet-and-greet on Wednesday night (the 29th, I think).  On Thursday morning, we got up early and did a brief interview about the concert and the Georgia Brass Band on a Middlebury radio station and then went back to Cy’s house to chill for a while.

Otter Creek at Falls Park Vergennes, VT

Thursday afternoon, I drove to the high school to pick up a bunch of percussion equipment for the evening’s concert, only to discover that we didn’t have a truck.  After Cy made a few phone calls, we found that the truck had been left near the concert venue, so I drove there, swapped my car for the truck, drove back to the high school, and Cy and I managed to get all of the stuff we needed into either the truck or her car.  Then it was back to the venue, where we put everything on the stage, finishing at around 3:15 – just over an hour before the band was due to show up for a sound check.  I raced back to Cornwall, showered and changed, and brought Betsy and two tubas back to the venue, where we arrived just in time for the aforementioned sound check.

The concert itself went pretty well and the audience seemed to appreciate our efforts.  Here’s hoping we get an invitation to return.

Friday morning (July 1), Betsy and I packed everything into my car and hit the road for Needham, MA, just outside of Boston, for a concert celebrating the town’s tricentennial.  For some reason, I had the time 6:00 PM stuck in my head as when we were supposed to arrive, so I didn’t make any great effort to speed my way to Needham.  We stopped for a walk at Quechee Gorge in Vermont, then poked around the gift shop for a while, then stopped in New Hampshire for lunch, then checked the actual band schedule.

We were supposed to be on the stage at 4:00 for a sound check, and there was no way I could get there before 5:00.

After calling the band director and getting yelled at, we ran into some horrible traffic, got rerouted through the middle of some suburb of Boston (where traffic was even worse), and arrived at the concert site at a little after 5:00.  We had plans to camp at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, MA – about 45 minutes away – and there was no way I could get there and get checked in before our 7:00 PM concert, so I called the park and arranged for a late check-in.  Then we had dinner with the band director.  The service at the restaurant was incredibly slow, so by the time we paid our bill, we had about 10 minutes to get back to the site, get changed into concert clothes, blow a few notes in our horns, and then start the show.

It also went fairly well, and we were graced by a double rainbow during the concert.

A headstone from the 1600s near Hignham, MA

After packing up everything up after the concert (including a lot of stuff that I hadn’t brought with me, but which I agreed to transport back to Atlanta for the band), we spent about 30 minutes at a reception that was given to the band, and then set out for Wompatuck, arriving there at about 10:30.  Got the tent set up in the dark and crashed, exhausted.

During the night, we discovered that the air mattress had a hole in it, and we woke up on the ground.  Air mattress was replaced later that afternoon after I found a Walmart.

We spent most of Saturday walking around the park, throwing my hatchet at a tree, playing cards, reading, and eating.  Saturday night, we cooked dogs over the fire and also made s’mores, which I hadn’t eaten in probably 30 years – and after having half of one, I remembered exactly WHY I hadn’t had them in 30 years.  One can only stand so much sugar….

We left the park at about 11:00 Sunday morning and drove to Collegeville, PA, where I dropped Betsy off at a friend’s house and then continued on my own to Carlisle, PA.  On Monday, I drove the short distance to Gettysburg National Military Park and spent about three hours walking around the battlefield and taking pictures.  Then I hit the road for home.

There was a possibility that I’d drive straight through and arrive in Atlanta at about 11:00 Monday night, but I hit incredibly bad storms near Roanoke, VA, and decided to find a hotel.  Hit the road again Tuesday morning and poked along, stopping often and arriving at home somewhere around 8:00 last night.

All in all, it was a nice trip.  I’ve got the rest of the week off and will be trying to get some yard work done before returning to work on the 11th.  My streak of Canadian vacations has officially been stopped at, I believe, 20 years.  Maybe I can make it up there this fall.

TWD