Today is blog day for Thanksgiving week. I selected Monday as the day to update everyone on the Pipeline 2008 Boys Red team. This week they spent the weekend without a game for the first time in several weeks. Thereby, leaving me without an easy topic to relate. The boys left me with a void to fill with a potpourri of topics.

Bye-bye pontoon

We ended the boating season by selling our pontoon boat. We appreciated the hours we spent floating in the coves off the South River. But its size, 25-foot party barge, was a challenge for us to dock in the slip. Keep in mind that I am 70-year-old. Perhaps, if we had practiced more often, we would have become proficient.

Imho is at rest

Saturday was a sad day for us. My wife and I had to take our daughter’s cat to be euthanized. I say our daughter’s, but the cat lived with us since 2006 or so. Imho was a black cat that came into our lives when it followed Tiffany back to her dorm. She was in college and couldn’t have a cat. Mom and Dad became his caretakers. Tiffany tried to reclaim him, but pet restrictions at her rentals meant Imho lived with us almost exclusively.

Moving on

My granddaughter played soccer for the Pipeline 2006 Girls Black team. Her team played in a tournament this weekend. They made the semi-finals but lost the game in the shoot-out. Elizabeth scored on her turn, but the team came up one score short. This was Elizabeth’s final game with the Pipeline Soccer Club. She is moving to another club.

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. If you travel, be safe!

I am not a writer if what many writing blog sites tell me is true. I would agree if I didn’t know better.

The blogs tell me that a “real writer” writes every day or they suffer withdrawal. Writing is an addiction that must be fed constantly; writers never take vacations or very short one and they are unhappy the entire time, and writers are on the verge of divorce as they devote more time to craft than to their significant other. None of these are absolutes, but some bloggers make it sound that way.

I enjoy other things besides writing. I am not addicted to writing my novel, blogs, or social media posts. There are other important things in my life. Bowling ten pins with several friends in a men’s league are one of them. We have bowled together over twenty-five years in the same league. My wife and I have bowled since 1985 in a mixed league. Our partners sometimes change but she and I  remain partners as long as we are in the league. *She has put up with me since 1974.*

This year I added soccer coaching to my weeknight activities. Only one night during fall and winter but two nights in the spring. *My wife has not asked for a divorce yet.* Three seasons of the year I have one night a week free!

I claim to be a writer without reservation. I write a little most days but it is not the obsession that some articles claim it must be to be a writer. I already mentioned my wife is not ready to divorce me yet because of my writing.  We are taking a vacation that will be at least 14 days in July. I won’t be unhappy and will not suffer withdrawal.

With all of my activities which occupy my time, how can I claim to be a writer? It is because I have a three novel concept for with two written and in revision. K.M. Weiland’s software will help me outline the third. *I pantsered the first two and I am paying for it as I revise while editing them.* Sometimes I write (edit) after bowling; sometimes sitting in front of the television in a recliner across from my wife;  sometimes after soccer practice; but mostly on the weekends. Until I retire, my weekdays will be filled by a full-time job.

What brought this post into mind? I was commenting on a writing blog I had not written this day because I spent the day on our pontoon boat. We set out for a quick spin with my son on the South River and ended up out for about four hours. We set out for a quiet area west of the Riva Bridge, back to pick up a jacket because the sun went into hiding and the wind worsened. Collected the jackets and out again to a cove across from the marina. We met several other boats there and tied up together after setting our anchor. Kids in the water on rafts, drinks shared, snacks for those who had them. The sun came out and I enjoyed sunbathing. As the song says “Who said anything about skiin’? Floatin’ is all I wanna do.” It was two hours of floatin’. The only writing the entire day was in the comment I made.

The large of it, I am enjoying the FALL OF MY LIFE. I write to tell my stories. I work to get ready for retirement the end of this year or mid-year next. I bowl because I enjoy the camaraderie and challenge. Soccer coaching taxes my aging body but the boys try to keep me young.

Am I a writer? Yes, I am but more than just a writer. I am a father, grandfather, spouse, bowler, coach, and writer. *Some people say I am other things but I discount their assessment since I can’t share in mixed company.* Can you define yourself as more than just a writer? Tell me.

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I heard many conversations last week at work claiming “spring has arrived” or “spring has come.” Everyone said the rain and warm temperatures were the heralds. I won’t contest they are indications but are there more?

I was walking into work the other morning when I saw the geese had left deposits on the sidewalk. There was no sign of them this winter. Sign of spring indeed.

Last weekend I cut the grass before spreading weed and feed. This weekend, I cut the grass that put the feed to use. The green grass full of new growth weeds says spring has arrived. The co-op sold me a spray for any weeds surviving the weed and feed. Yard work starts with spring.

Bags of mulch sitting in the back of the Ford pickup is another sign. Each bag is waiting for me to spread their contents around the plants in the flower beds. They are looking forward to being empty and on their way to the recycling plant. Mulching is a spring and autumn task. Must be spring, autumn is months away.

The flowers blooming and trees leafing, the sound of geese and ducks flying north are signs of spring. But the best sign is our pontoon boat sitting in a slip off the South River. The marina finished the checkup and put it in the slip Friday. This is a sure sign of spring and the pending arrival of summer.

What tells you spring has arrived.

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