This weekend I’m headed up to NJ. Bud is home from Iraq on R&R. (Did y’all know he was in Iraq? Not sure I’ve mentioned it.) I’ll head up with Randy, TRgirl and Monkey on Friday and head back on Monday. I am excited to see my brother, but I hate NJ with the fire of a thousand suns.

Since TRgirl usually watches the boys while I’m away, I have to have a friend come and take care of them. Orion has to have meds twice a day and I feel bad asking people to check on them. Normally if I’m going away for an extended period I drive them out to my Uncle’s. (Bob and Steph: We have seven cats, what are two more? The boys: There are also dogs there!) (Jasper spends most of his time in Steph’s closet. Orion sits on the bench by the dining room window and yells at me for 10 minutes when I come to pick them up.) However, Bob and Steph live 2.5 hours away, so it makes no sense to drive them out there for a weekend trip.

Oh, and did I tell you I had the best time last weekend? It was in the 60s here and we hung out in Flanders’s backyard Saturday night sitting around the fire pit, having some wine, shooting the breeze. That was so much more fun than any bar would be. Well, except for when Hobbes* drank my wine.

*Hobbes is Apple’s dog and a complete alcoholic.