Work trip

For the next week and a half I'm going to be away for work.  I am having a couple of fun days scheduled in the middle.  This Saturday I am giving a two part lecture for a group my mother is part of.  Each month a different person hosts dinner and some sort of presentation.  As I said the lecture is two parts.  Part one, before dinner, our trip to Antarctica.  Part two, after dinner, my interesting job.  On Tuesday several family members, including the grandkids and myself, are going to "Walt's Place" which is our code for Disneyland.  Disneyland doesn't have an issue with "packing" do they? 

While others may think my job is interesting, it is my job so it's only interesting when I get to get away from the office.  When I tell people what I do they are really impressed.  They want to hear all about it.  I tell them it's mostly paperwork...  On the other hand, the trip to Antarctica was fantastic.  I'm even going to include a few pictures that I took, and you know I rarely include pictures on this blog. 

It's odd because the last few times I've traveled to southern CA I've been really uneasy, and  almost wished that I didn't have to go.  This time I don't have any concerns about the travel.  I don't know why.  What this does mean is that I don't have my guard up as much as I normally would.  I do need to be aware of my surroundings.  Most of them would be considered "safe" places, but situational awareness is a must, especially traveling with the grandkids and dog. 

I will have the extra fuel and food, we always have sleeping bags, bug-out bags, money, weapons, and just about anything needed for any situation.  I will have the computer but may not be posting each day. 

It is supposed to be hot and being away from the garden and animals is always a concern during the summer.  Army daughter is here at home but I have no confidence in her ability to water the garden or make sure the animals are doing ok.  Daughter-in-law was over for dinner tonight and she and I picked the entire apricot tree although the fruit won't be ripe for a few more days.  I figured if I left it on the tree and told Army daughter to pick it when it was ripe it would have all gone to the birds or the ants.  This way, we will be able to eat fruit the entire trip. 

Son said that he'd come over to water the garden and also make sure the animals had food and water.  I told them they could have the eggs in exchange.  I still worry about everything.  Usually the garden and animals are fine but things just seem to go wrong when we aren't home.  I remember one time when I was about 5 hours from home and a neighbor called and left a message telling me that my back fence had been broken and the steer was walking away.  Thanks for watching him go and not doing anything other than calling and leaving a message.  I got home a couple days later and put fliers up all over the neighborhood, "missing steer".  We got him back.  We are taking two 10 day trips this summer, this one and the one to North Carolina in August.  Hopefully the garden will come through this trip and I'll have a lot picked and preserved before the next trip.