Primed for Vacation

August 3, 2006

Everyone in the Buenger household has their back-to-school haircuts, including Erin who had her trim up under extreme duress (I know, I know. Every hair is sacred, but she really did have a lot of split ends and needed a little shape up). Davis's do will have to last him until mid-October or possibly Thanksgiving. No quick trips home for haircuts for this college boy.

Erin has passed the time since our Houston trip happily, with plenty of friends, swimming, and lazing about. We'll leave Saturday morning for New Mexico (warning to burglars: in our absence the Texas Rottweiler and Doberman Club will hold their annual meeting and guard dog recertification classes at our house). We always try to find some cooler mountain air before we face the heat of late August and September. I just checked weather.com, and Ruidoso's current temperature (4:00 p.m.) is 65F. We will practice for cooler weather by stopping by Carlsbad Caverns on the way, where it is a constant 56F in the lower cavern year round.

I recently had a conversation with Davis about vacation next year, wondering to him if he would like to try to go to Poland with the group he has worked for the last three summers. (They have a forest there that they study every other summer.) I told him that he should find ways to broaden his horizons and have new experiences. He said, "Poland would be fine, but mom did you know that I have never visited a Blue state? Well, that's not exactly true. You did take me to California, but we stayed in Orange County (very Red) the whole time. If you really wanted me to expand my horizons you should show me parts of America I have never seen." Hmmm. Maybe I should plan on a trip to Boston or St. Paul.

While we are on Davis, he has a request for you Erin fans. If anyone has a copy of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" album ON VINYL that you are willing to part with (for $$) let me know. He is one retro kid and prefers "records" to CDs.

Last Sunday, I played in my last soccer game of the summer league. I got home that night (we only lost 10-1, a psychological victory because we scored), and Walter was a bit miffed. He had taken out the water left over from boiling corn on the cob and used it to water the potted plants out back in an effort at conservation, only to discover that SOMEONE had left the water running (maybe for hours) in the bathroom upstairs. He leveled his stare at me and asked, "Do you know anything about this?" "Well, maybe. . .a little. . ." I thought about lying. I thought about blaming Willie. I thought about mythological plumbing snakes. I thought of naughty house brownies who caused mischief. I thought the truth was much funnier. I was running a little late getting off to the game and had rushed upstairs at the last minute to put in my contacts (much better that eyeglasses for heading the ball, as if I had enough coordination to actually get my head on an airborne ball). I squirted liquid soap into both hands (remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness), and turned on the faucet to scrub and rinse. No water. Both hands full of liquid soap. What would you do? I took the top off of the back of the commode. Rinsed, popped in my contacts, and made it to my game with minutes to spare. End of story. Well, except for the part about not returning the fawcet to its upright and secure position before dashing out the door. How can you tell if a fawcet is on or off if there is no water dripping out?

One final bit of information. Erin saw her buddy Congressman Edwards on Friday. She walked up to him at a public gathering at the Architecture Building. I think they call that self possession or maybe poise. He called her name immediately and had a long and friendly conversation. She left happy and so did he. Nobody told her that he was at A&M on official business. No one told her that she was the only child there. No one told her that she held up the start of the entire meeting when she stopped Chet for a chat. She knew that she was happy and he was, too.