Thorns & Roses

Ever since my scout days, when we did treks or camp outs, we always like to have an after action critique of how the day's (or weekend's) events panned out and we named it thorns & roses. It is sort of a synopsis of the trip with the good & bad points (what did you like and what was not so good) to help learn and improve it next time. We gave everyone (scouts and adults) a chance to voice what they liked & disliked about the day's trek as long as you said one good thing to counteract any bad things.

The weekend trip was pretty good. Just got back from parking my trailer and I am tired and not looking forward to work. I have one of them blackberry things that keeps me in touch with work and it looks to be a regular circus when I hit the ground tomorrow. Oh well, at least it is a three day week for me!

Trip was good. Trailer did well. Still have minor problems with the lights, but those will work themselves out the more times I use her. This was a rally in San Antonio with my brother and my parents so it was good to go camping with them and get away from the office. We got to tour some different areas of San Antonio to include some of the old missions. The Mission San Jose was a very interesting site to explore. Try imagine living in this compound with the local Indians during the late 1700s. Was hot & dry last Sunday when we toured the site. Imagine how hot it was without a/c and running water.

This weekend was the first road trip for Grayson and I would honestly give him a B+ for his first time camping in a trailer. B+ is because he did very well in the trailer and, whenever we left for an event or dinner, he would park himself on one of the couches and sleep (or drink my scotch - I never was sure). Shadow used to sit at the windows waiting for us to return. The only points off I give him was that he had the tendency to wake up at 0400 (last night it was at 0230) and want to go out. Not that I don't mind walking the dog, but at 0400 is a wee bit early for me, especially when he wants to play or explore at those hours. For the most part he did very well during the weekend. Got properly spoiled with grandparents feeding him all sorts of exotic foods (steak, fried cod, baked potato) that we do not feed him down here. He did not have any problems in the trailer and would sleep on the couches/beds whenever we left. Towards the end, he did seem to tire of living in the trailer and did not want to go back in whenever we were out (especially at 0430), but I would still rate him highly on his ability to live on the road.

Of course, since he is off his heart worm treatment, he can go on walks and we made up for lost ground this weekend. He musta got walked 3-4 times each day (my dad liked to come take him out for a walk), so by the end of the day, he was worn out. He can catch up on his sleep now that we are back home on a normal schedule.

We drove up to Austin yesterday to visit with our son and his new digs. He is doing very well and enjoying life as a senior. This is his first year to live off campus in an apartment and it is different for him. His roommate is way neater that he is (we were comparing them to the Odd Couple) being very neat and organized. I only hope they survive the semester together. Was a good run and we left early this morning after doing breakfast with junior. He looks to be in good spirits and ready to take on the world. I no longer worry about how he will do in life. I know he will be kick a&% in any endeavor he undertakes.

Of course, after running a couple of miles and walking all over south Texas and hitting the pool for a few hours, even old dogs get tired…