Reality Chic

I Love this Picture of My Granddaughter and the Cat
the Cat is Obviously Miffed at Someone Stealing one of his Go To Moves

I’m officially in mourning. My four day blitzkrieg through the ale houses of Charlotte, North Carolina and the attendant free beer offered by zealous sales reps has officially come to an end. I returned to the bosom of my empty house yesterday and the fear of long TSA lines kept me from blogging yesterday (you are welcome). I did take my life and sensibilities into my hands by making a foray into a public bathroom in North Carolina before I left. It was eerily serene and I wasn’t confronted by any politicians.

Inside a North Carolina Rest Room

The last day at the conference sported a walk through the booths of all the vendors trying to sell products. Since I’d received so much of the free beer during the week from these guys I felt honor bound to attend. As I wandered through the dozens of booths I was struck by how glad I am I never got into sales, ‘nuff said. I trailed along with the excellent boss who demonstrated his astounding range of contacts throughout the industry. I felt I was in the company of nobility and I ended up shaking a lot of hands. The excellent boss took us out for an outstanding steak dinner on our last night in town but I was really ready to return home (and dry out a little).

Booths on Last Day

We arrived at the airport three hours ahead of our scheduled flight because of all the press about the TSA lines and reports that they were bad at the Charlotte Airport. While the lines were long we were through in less than a half hour. One stalwart young TSA worker was preaching to all that would listen that the reason the TSA lines were so long was that airlines overbooked their flights and wanted some people to miss them. If I’d had time I should have questioned his obviously flawed logic but the line was moving too fast.  

Gramma Teaching her the Importance of Telephonic Communications

I’m becoming a real fan of Jet Blue who seemed to have the flying experience figured out a lot better of their older, more staid competitors. I thanked my wife and kids again for their Christmas present of an IPad as I was able to watch a couple movies during the flight and the limo ride home. I returned in the late afternoon to the empty house and a stack of mail (I’m a Contest Winner several times over!). The lawn had also experienced a spring growth spurt which required immediate attention.

Let's Go Shopping!

I still had to journey south to pick up the Wonder Pooch so I waited out the afternoon traffic by mowing the lawn. I also knocked out last Sunday’s Game of Thrones episode which my daughter has expressly forbidden me from talking about here. It seems the Wingman reads the blog and heard about the whole Jon Snow thing from me before he saw the episode. I was roundly castigated for my lack of sensitivity. Wingman continues to work his way eastward on his band’s farewell tour. They were rocking in Dallas, Texas last night.

Wingman and the Boys in Dallas Last Night

It’s weird but I felt closer to the three California ladies last night when we were FaceTiming even though I was geographically further from them in Massachusetts than I had been in North Carolina. Modern technology is strange that way. I did eventually wend my way south to Rhode Island where I found a very exuberant Buddy. His cousin Remy was serving yet another sentence in the hoosegow for a series of social infractions. My sister prepared an extremely well received steak dinner and would have even thrown in some free beer except for the whole driving back to Massachusetts thing. It was very nice to have some time to catch up with her with the dogs swirling around us. She’s bubbling over to test her newly installed pool which replaced the one destroyed last year in a storm.

Riggins and ABFA Feet

One of the subjects we discussed was the Joe Pickett novels by CJ Box which she directed me to. I sadly reported I finished the very last one currently published, Off the Grid. This culminated my epic run through Box’s excellent series of books featuring Wyoming game warden Pickett, his family, and Jack Reacher clone – Nate Romanowski. I’m really going to miss these guys as I now have to wait for Box to publish the next one. Joe and Nate are back together in this one as they’re investigating a shadowy possibly terrorist cell of activists in a remote section of Wyoming. As usual as soon as these two guys arrive on the scene major conflagrations ensue. As usual Box does a fabulous job with the set piece action and the epic finale. Most of all I liked that the book ends with both of them in better places. It will make the wait for the next book knowing they’re not suffering in some way while Box concocts their next adventure. While I wait I implore anybody with a good author to recommend to send me their recommendation. I’m at loose literary ends right now, having read everything my favorites have to offer.

Here are some of Box’s words from Off the Grid as Joe and Nate await a final confrontation with some rapidly approaching evil doers:  “Joe felt his breath getting shorter as the pickups neared. He tried to calm himself and ward off a fear so strong it could blind him, so he forced himself to think about Sheridan, Marybeth, Lucy, and April. He mentally placed each one of them: Sheridan safe at Adobe Town, Marybeth working at the library, Lucy in class, April . . . he couldn’t place April. Never could. He wondered if he would ever see any of them again. A cold chill ran down his back from his scalp to his tailbone. There were so many of them coming, he thought. And they were coming fast. He was a decent shot with the carbine and he’d used the weapon primarily to dispatch wounded game, but could he shoot accurately when it came to hit swiftly moving objects? He wasn’t sure he could provide Nate the cover fire his friend needed. He wasn’t sure anyone could.”