Starting vacation with a whimper.

This is the start of my annual leave. It makes me sound as if I only have one big block of time to take a vacation but that is far from the truth.  I am only using eight days of leave but I will be off from today until the first of November. Not really too bad when you think about it. I could have taken off some other time when I would be working less hours in my part-time job. But when you don’t work every day and you have 20 days leave on the book, it doesn’t hurt to burn some days.

Nevertheless, I love this time of year. It’s a good time to camp. This time 10 years ago I camped for a few days by myself in the Angelina National Forest. It was just after I stopped smoking and even though some might not have weathered the tobacco-less storm, my camping trip was smooth as one of those guys at big-city bus stations that sells watches. The highlight of my vacation this year will be meeting up with a friend whom I have not seen in 30 or so years. This will be in Galveston. I really look forward to seeing my friend Tere. While I am sure we both will make the journey, I just hope we are in a decent condition to enjoy it. Tere has been recovering from pneumonia. While I have some kind of knee problem now joined with a nagging toothache and just last night, a sore throat.

I have a scheduled “doctor’s” appointment tomorrow at the VA. But right now I feel kind of lousy. I think I will catch the news and then just kick back a bit. Does that  sound like a good plan? If so, you do the same. You certainly deserve it. Well, most of you do.