The past week has been frantically busy in that can’t-get-anything done way. Sort of like when you knock over a glass of milk on the table and try to dam it up with a napkin to keep from having to mop the floor. I don’t know why it is that I never have any problems with my equipment at work until right before the plane deploys and then I have breakage. Deadlines loom and still the computer refuses to boot up. And now on the morning after a long weekend, the situation has not changed. Welcome to a new week! More of the same!

Ah well, at least I have that ability to totally leave the office behind when I go home so I didn’t let it bother me.

We went to Fort Smith to see about Mel’s mom who is recovering from ankle surgery. We didn’t all need to go really, but she enjoyed seeing us and so it was worth it to force Evan to forgo his busy social schedule and go sit around grandma’s house. The sitting part almost killed him so I took him to Ben Jack’s guitar shop, an old north Arkansas institution. Unfortunately, the one we stopped at seemed to have gone out of business with no forwarding address. We went to WalMart instead which was a poor substitute. Then we watched movies at home.

I also went across town to Mel’s boss’s house to drive her car that is for sale. It’s a nice little car and I’m in the market to sell my truck. All my fellow Oklahomans are aghast at such a thing but they don’t have to park it or put gas in it or tolerate the bumpy ride all the time. Or perhaps they do after all – in their own pickups. The car is quite nice and I intend to make them an offer on it. They also invited me in to see their new kitchen renovation which was quite nice as well. In the process I got to meet the little Shi-Tsu dog who was quite friendly and well behaved. Not one bark.

The pickup did come in handy though at the Friday night football game. It was Broken Arrow’s season opener (which they lost to Muskogee) and was a standing room only sellout. As a result (and also as a result of not having left the house soon enough) all paved parking spaces were taken so I hopped the curb without hesitation to park on the grass. I could not have done this in a compact car but it was a piece of cake for the truck. Unfortunately, a truck will not help you get back out of the parking lot when gridlock occurs. That was a nightmare but I figure the rest of the games will be less popular. They always are.

Mel stayed in Fort Smith while I brought the kids back home. Evan had to work and Erin just wanted to get back to the computer. I spent some time working on a home video of Evan’s baby days and tinkered with a drawer of my workbench that had been binding up but that was about the extent of the fun stuff. We had a list of chores a mile long and after mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, and buying groceries, Erin and I were ready to just sit and watch a movie.

Evan came back from his extra-long day at the pool with sunburn which was new to him. He has quite a nice tan (if you like that sort of thing.)

But that wrapped up our long weekend. I could use more of those.