Ketchup...

...or Catch Up if you prefer. I've been a little slack in my reporting lately, so I thought I would bring y'all up to date with a recap of the last couple of weeks.

As you probably know, I spent the last 2 weeks in Michigan visiting with my Mom, Madison, Rufus, Chester, Jack-Jack, Shaggy and Jag while Amy and Geoff went off on a cruise. It was quiet, hilarious, gross, and great by turns. The quiet times were when the dogs were kenneled, the cats were asleep, Mom was reading, and Madison was at school. I occupied my time by photographing the fauna in the koi pond and reading, too. The hilarious times were when Madison was decorating the house for the return of her parents. Rufus, the yellow lab, is afraid of balloons. Chester, the Nova Scotian Duck Tolling Retriever, on the other hand, loves them. He leaps in the air to snap at a stray balloon, and occasionally succeeds in popping one. The gross parts involved cleaning kennels. Chester had over-indulged on the rawhide bones, and truly looked distraught at what had happened overnight. The great times were everything else. It was high spring in southern Michigan, and the trees were blooming, the tulips were up, and the azalea in front of the house exploded while I was there.

Tuesday of this week, I, sadly, had to leave to come home. A couple of observations about the nature of drivers in the various states. The less traffic there is, the better the drivers behave. If the car has a Michigan plate, the odds are about even that the driver thinks he is Mario Andretti, and takes an attempt by a car on cruise control to pass as an insult to his manhood. I played leapfrog with one car all the way from Dundee, MI to Piqua, OH where I stopped to eat. The bozo couldn't hold a steady speed to save his soul. Once I got out of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee were a breeze. The drivers were polite and few and far between. Georgia, on the other hand, is like Michigan. I think the Interstate route numbers are really a warning of the number of Idiots per mile. I-75 is right up there.

After a brief decompression on Thursday, I spent some time at the range yesterday. Two weeks had not significantly degraded my ability with the pistols. It was a good time, despite the fact that Jon had to cancel at the last minute.

I promise to be more interesting the next time.

Stay safe.