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Summer is drawing to a close for all practical purposes, even
though another month of hot weather is assured. Things change
instantly when the schools restart. We are scattered to the
winds, with two of the kids in California, one in Austin, me in
Houston, and M holding down the home fort. Although some people
still manage to live their lives anchored firmly to the place
they were born, for many others it is the quest for knowledge,
fame, or fortune that leads them far from home. It has
always been a fundamental part of our American culture.
Sometimes I wonder if it is such a good trade...
The answer for most people, of course, is to hop in the car, or on
the plane, or whatever else is available, and reform the clan on
holidays or weekends. M and I alternate weekends driving the 200
miles that separates us. On the city end, with only a day and a
half, we still manage to pack in a full schedule. Last time it was two
morning bike rides, an afternoon at the beach, a
nice candlelight dinner, and a couple of hours riding the waverunner on a nearby lake,
until a big
dark cloud swooped down on us and forced us to flee for cover.
On the other end, there are usually plenty of things around the
house(s) needing repairs to take care of a big part of that 2
1/2 days. M has been weeding flowerbeds in the evenings with
nobody around to distract her, and I have to say they're looking
better than they have in a long time.
Come Saturday, we'll be heading to the airport to fly out to
California. My old outdoor adventuring companion will join us
when his flight from the great white north connects with ours.
It will be good to see him, and for him to see the new me. If
son hasn't found a job by then, he can come along with us. We
have a general idea of the places we want to go, but will stay
flexible. No advance reservations. Some of our best vacations
have been loosely planned like this - just taking in the beauty
and bounty of this great land as it appears on the horizon.
We'll take pictures :)
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Finally a moment to catch up! I've switched computers again
so youngest daughter can have the laptop I've been using for the
past few months. She wanted one for school, and I really prefer
a full size screen, keyboard, etc., so everything was in
disarray while I was moving files and installing software
between four different computers. Very tedious, though being
able to network everything together helps a lot.
 Last weekend, son came down to visit and we had a fun weekend.
On Saturday, we went on a 12-hour fishing trip out in the Gulf,
about 60 to 80 miles offshore. Neither of us had ever done
any deep sea fishing, and it was a lot of fun. We caught
quite a few red snapper, though only two were officially big
enough to keep (over 16 inches). When we got off the boat around
7:30 PM, we headed to the apartment, a 70 mile trip, and I
filleted the fish, but we were too tired to cook. It was a
really long day.
On Sunday afternoon, we had seats just behind the dugout to see
the Astros and Expos play baseball. The new field is really
nice, and we did all the things and ate all the foods you're
supposed to at the ballpark. After the game, we came back to the
apartment and we had the snapper for dinner. Not bad.
On Monday, after work, I met youngest daughter at the new giant
IKEA store so she and her friends could find things to furnish
her room in a shared house this semester. My job was to bring a
credit card, which I did with consummate skill. I even bought a
few things for myself, since I had to walk through the maze with
them. I don't know if all IKEA stores are the same, but
they cleverly force the customer to walk through every section
of the store before they can get out. The trick is that you have
to start out by riding an up escalator, which gets you to the
start of the maze, and there is no down escalator! Oh well, it
was fun the first time. If you weren't interested in browsing,
though, it could be quite exasperating.
On Friday, I pulled a flat-bed trailer to Denton to move son's
worldly possessions back home. It is amazing how much one
person can accumulate during four years of college. When I
commented on how much stuff there was, he just smiled and
explained that this is why he has credit card debt. You try to
teach them...
Son, M and I spent a relaxing day at the lake Saturday, and I
cooked some crappie he caught for dinner. After doing chores
around the house this morning, we had lunch together, then I got
ready to head back to the city. He plans to leave for
California on Tuesday, so I gave him some traveling cash and
wished him a safe journey.
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My son asked me to go fishing with him Saturday morning, so we got
up early and made it to the lake around 7:00 AM. After trying a
favorite spot and getting no nibbles, we made our way down the
river in the flat bottom. We weren't able to go nearly as fast as
the guys in their 250 hp bass boats, but sometimes slow is better.
While scanning the bank for potential fishing spots, son pointed
to what looked like a log, except it had bumps. When he saw the
eye, he killed the motor and said, "It's a gator!"
My first impulse was to get closer to have a better look, so we
got out the paddles to approach quietly. And there it was, about 8
or 10 feet long, swimming slowly up river along the bank among the
cypress knees. We watched it for a long time, then it
finally dove under and we headed on to the next fishing hole.
Alligators usually stay pretty well hidden from humans, so it was
a real treat to see this one. In fact, in all our years
boating on Caddo Lake, I've only seen one other live one, when M
and I literally ran over a small one on the jet ski a few years
ago. We were pretty far up river away from civilization. We
thought we had hit a log and stopped, but it was a 4 foot
alligator. He wasn't hurt in the least, so we kept going.
I was afraid the decline of the water lilies would open the way
for something less desirable to grow, and it did. Unfortunately,
the plant that is taking over now is water hyacinth, a non-native
species that grows like mad, until it chokes everything else out,
including boat channels. The best way to keep it from taking over
the world is to have a severe cold spell in the winter. So, as
much as I detest cold weather, I'm hoping for just enough to do
the job this year.
My old friend, the great white egret from last summer was out
fishing along the bank opposite the lake house again. Well, I
assume it's the same one anyway. Hope his fishing luck was better
than ours.
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