Sabbatical - a rest from work, or a hiatus, often lasting from two months to a year.

Maybe it wasn't a sabbatical after all but it was a rest from things and a hiatus even if it only lasted two weeks.  I have a very high stress, demanding job.  A job that could easily be handled if it were a job like any other Office Manager's job on a 52 week schedule, but my job is a 52 week job crammed into a 42 week schedule.

So when I get that blessed 6 week break in the summer that so many non-school workers envy, I tend to go a bit stir crazy. The walls start closing in and the down time starts getting me down.  I don't like to spend money so I don't like to go shopping and there's nothing really to do other than knit and I've been known to blow the discs out in my neck from keeping my head down to knit.... I try to avoid that painful mistake.

Boredom can lead to crankiness in an already stressed home.  Illness can lead to crankiness and more stress.  So with a trip planned to go out to my Brother's ranch for July 9th, I decided it would be a good idea to go down to my sister Nita's house July 2, spend a week with her and then drive out together to Michael's.  It's a long drive from Houston to Loraine, Texas by yourself.  It's not that short of a drive from our house to Michael's either and it's much nicer to have company either way.

Here are a few pictures of us having a little down time:

We celebrated 4th of July at the home of Nita's friends where we did a little scooter riding,  

then moved on to the mini-bike (here Mark is giving Nita the do's and don'ts of riding... do wear a short dress and don't wear a helmet, flip flops are optional), 

 

 I'm next. I like going fast, cuz I wear flip flops!  

 

Then there were amazing fireworks set off within a meager 10 feet of where we were sitting by amateur pyrotechnic wannabe's.  The guy across the street was a Highway Patrolman who had evidently pulled over a Fireworks cargo truck and confiscated the cargo.  It's illegal to set fireworks off within the city limits of any town in the state of Texas.  What I thought was living in town was not living in town.  You would have thought the city of Houston was under attack for 48 hours with the type of booming going on.  Seems the city LIMITS of Houston is rather small compared to everything that is tagged as Houston. 

Nita had to work that week so I hung out at her house knitting, reading, and doing her odd jobs for her.  I did manage to run over for a visit with Jody's younger brother Danny's wife Dee and older daughter Jami Jo (and her two little kids.)  They live in Spring, a part of Houston that's not Houston at all but a town all it's own.  

Then Friday rolled around and it was time to set out on our 415 mile road trip through the middle of Texas.  

We had to stop at Buc-ee's first... I'd never been to Buc-ee's... I guess I never noticed them, since I mount the road trip with a Grande Cappuccino, and a large cup of ice, I don't need things like processed food and carbonated drinks.   To me it was the Beaver version of a Stuckey's.

 

Look they have t-shirts!  Makes me glad I don't wear t-shirts.  

 

Then we had to buy Beaver Nuggets.  We were not leaving without them!  

I have no idea what these things are or what they are made of.  Nita kept cramming them in her mouth and saying "aren't they addictive?"  Ummm no... I really don't have a taste for deep fried cornmeal/capt. crunch in a poop like shape.  I just couldn't get into them.

We drove on through the Central Texas Hillcountry, (yes, that is capitalized, because it is a sacred place) past houses, farms and fields.  Past exotic game ranches with their 15 foot fences to keep the Raptors and T-Rex enclosed and off the highways.  "Oh, look a gazelle!"  "Where?"..... screeching of tires and dust rolling from the bar-ditch. "Never mind, he's gone now."  We drive 80-85mph on the back roads of  Texas, if you can't or you're scared then stick to the city streets.

We get to Michael and Di's and I'm thinking it was a VERY good idea that I didn't come in my Miata.... it had been raining off and on for about 24 hours. The county roads were bad and Nita considered putting her Tahoe in 4wheel drive.  My car would have been in the ditch at the end of the road and that ditch at the end of the road, where the blacktop ends, about 5-6 feet deep, about the length of my car....  So we went fishing instead of sitting out the weather at the house.  Michael had driven over to Midland to pick Di up from her flight in from California. 

The first catch of the trip.....  

Big year for the grasshoppers, they were huge!!!!  I'm not really what you would call a Girly Girl.  I will shoot a snake or pick up dead animal parts off the playground but there are some things that I just can't deal with, grasshoppers and frogs are two that really stand out at this time.  But that's not a problem for Nita.... if it means that she could catch a whopper then she'll grab it and put it on a hook.

The first fish of the trip..... caught with a rubber worm.

To be continued......   It's really hot out here and I'm getting a Night Gown tan line.  Time to go in and get dressed.  I'm sure there is something around the house I need to be doing.