Updates from Ft. Jobless

Not a whole lot has been going on in the unemployed life of your humble narrator.

A couple weeks ago we went to Scott & Jamie’s wedding in Brenham.  The reception was held at Welcome Hall.  The atmosphere and food were fantastic.  We left Maly with my Mom so Elise and I could imbibe.  I’m not going to name any names here but my wife had a few too many to the point where she stopped in mid-sentence while talking to Scott’s best man because she actually forgot what she was talking about.  Elise has maybe had a glass of wine or two in seven months.  I guess she tried to make up for lost time by having two cocktails and an entire bottle of wine to herself.

We headed back to Austin Sunday evening because I had to start my second week of that dot-com job on Monday.  My Mom headed out on Monday for the trip that she and Dad had set out on six weeks ago.  My Mom sent us home with her three cats to babysit while she’s away for two weeks.  Ordinarily we would have just stayed at her house, but I had a job to return to.

On Tuesday we went over to John & Christine’s and took the kids trick or treating in the neighborhood.

I quit my job at 10 a.m. on Friday.  That was a relief on many levels.  One being that I will no longer have to sit in traffic traveling from one side of town to another.  I drove downtown and met John for lunch.

After lunch I headed to the house where I packed, kissed Elise and Maly goodbye and headed to Mom’s house for opening weekend of deer season.  I got to the house around 10 p.m. on a chilly Friday night.

There’s a large buck that hangs around in the back of the pasture.  And I need to kill something.
I woke up at 6 a.m. and headed to the deer stand.  Oddly the temperature outside raised significantly over night.  I sat in the stand for a couple hours and only saw a few does and two fawns.

On Saturday evening I met John in Brenham so we could take one car to the A&M and OU game in College Station.  Just before we got to the stadium, we pulled over in the center turning lane to help a college kid jump start his stalled truck.  After our good samaritan deed, we were back on our way to the game.  Just as soon as we left helping the college kid, we get pulled over by a DPS officer.  I’m not going to name names but the other person in the car was pulled over for having expired tags.  And upon running this person’s license number, it was then found out that this person’s license had been suspended because of some unpaid citations that were mailed to the wrong address because this person neglected to update the address on his driver’s license.  The officer requested that this person exit the vehicle and step to the rear of the car.  This person tossed me his wallet and said, “Come get me out of jail.”

Thankfully this person made away with only a warning.  We went on to watch A&M lose by a point and some very bad coaching decisions, but otherwise going to the game was a lot of fun.

We walked north of campus to the Dry Bean for drinks and to meet up with some of John’s friends.  The game ended around 10:30 p.m., we got to the bar at 11 p.m. and before either one of us looked at a clock, it was 1:30 a.m.  We said our goodbyes and headed out to Brenham at 2 a.m.  We got to Brenham by 3:30 a.m. and then to my Mom’s house at 4 a.m.  John quickly found the guest bed and conked out.  I tried to sleep but couldn’t.  I stared at the ceiling for an hour and then decided to get up and go out to the deer stand.  A few does and a couple fawns.  No buck.

I walked back to the house and fixed the water hose that I apparently drove over when I got to my Mom’s house on Friday night.  John woke up and left for Austin at 9 a.m.  I then drove Dad’s truck out to the deer feeder in the back pasture and added corn and double checked the timer.

I watched football most of the afternoon.  I cooked a huge ribeye that I pulled from the freezer on Saturday morning on Dad’s grill for a late lunch.  Before starting the coals, I took the old coals and ashes that were left over from the last meal that Dad cooked for us the Sunday before he and Mom left for their trip to the west coast.  Dad cooked us all steaks.  I’ll always remember that meal.  I took those ashes and coals and put them in a jar.  I’m going to keep them and sprinkle them on coals anytime that I cook.

It turned into a pretty emotional ordeal.  There were a lot of ashes left over so I sprinkled some over the graves of family pets that had long since passed and were buried in the yard.  I had my Sunday service alone on the land that Dad worked so hard for and made so beautiful.

Needless to say, I was pretty delirious as I’d had no sleep in a while.  I hunted that evening and didn’t see anything.  I walked back to the house, ready to head back to Austin.  My bags were packed; all I needed to do is load up the truck and leave.  I called Elise and she suggested that I spend another night instead of trying to rush home at night on no sleep.  I concurred and fell asleep on the couch shortly thereafter.

I didn’t sleep well that night.  I woke up at 5, 5:30 and 6 a.m.  I decided I wasn’t going to hunt again.  I heard it raining at one point and that solidified my decision.

I left Mom’s house at 10 a.m. and got home in time for lunch.

Tuesday morning we went for breakfast at Cisco’s and back home so I could wash vehicles.  Later that evening we drove over to Kiker Elementary to vote.
On Wednesday I had a phone interview and then we went for lunch at Sholtz’s Garten and then to Whole Foods, the HoPot and WalMart.

On Thursday I replaced a lost lug nut on one of the Jeep’s wheels.  I replaced the burner on the barbecue grill and  attempted to replace the ignitor before having to leave for Tae Kwon Do.
Today I finished replacing the ignitor on the grill.  I got the Jeep inspected and my haircut.  Mom called this afternoon and is a couple hundred miles from San Antonio.  She is going to come here tonight and leave sometime this weekend to go back to her house with her cats.

So, a lot of busy stuff going on… just life.  The best part has been being able to hang out with Elise and watch Maly grow every day.  It’s going to be hard to go back to a job and miss out on Maly.