Back from vacation, and how does Bat greet me?  I lose 20% of lvl 3 reaver rep
in the 6 days I was gone and bank robbers run while I'm on, costing me 200k. 
Yeah, really inhibited my drive in playing once again.  F. U. too Bat.

Anyways, vacation was good in spite of my homecoming on the mud.  Spent Wed,
Thur., and Fri. out in the timber getting the remainder of the NE side oak
tops pulled out.  Sat., Mom and I hauled my X-mas grill down to my place and
then rested up the afternoon before church.  After church, parents and I sat
alongside the Turkey River in the Elkader City Park while we ate hot dogs and
hamburgers.  Sunday I went out to the NW section of the timber to begin
scouting and prep work there.  Sunday evening, folks and I went to Dubuque
County Fairgrounds to watch my brother race.  What luck, we got to witness his
first winning race of the season.  He started in 6th out of a field of 17, and
quickly got to the front of the pack by lap 3.  After a caution and restart
after lap 5, my brother held off two challengers for an exciting finish. 
Folks and I ran down to get our picture taken with the car and trophy.  The
side-benefit of being a sponsor after all. *grin*  Monday, Mom came out to the
timber with me in the morning.  She said and read on a log while I started my
logging out efforts.  I went back out in the afternoon and then headed back to
CR in the evening in time to catch the Heroes finale. 

Vacation was so good, that I actually felt much calmer on my drive back home. 
Luckily, I got most of the nasty program work off my back before I left, so I
didn't return to much immediate stress.  Which is good, because I'm just not
feeling terrible motivated just yet.  Weather for the 6 days off was pretty
close to perfect as it gets, with sunny weather in the mid-70's to low 80's.  

Morel hunting was horrid this year, either it was cold and wet or warm and
dry, just didn't get the warm and wet pattern.  Ground is really starting to
dry up around here, the grass isn't growing very fast already.  Which is good
news, less mowing for me!  Interestingly enough, I even saw fireflies out last
evening already.  I thought those little guys come later!  On the downside,
the hay crop just isn't doing very well for first crop.  Very short and
stunted.

Looking forward to the Memorial Day weekend.  We plan on going to the Friday
evening races at Farley to catch my brother once again.  Here's hoping for 2
in a row!  I'm hoping next week I get a chance to fire up my new grill.  

In other good news, just under 167 on my weigh in last night at the gym. 
Looks like I managed to fight off another pound on my vacation, in spite of
eating cinnamon rolls, a whole batch of cookies, and other such baddies. 
Thanks Mom!  
Tonight's blog brought to you by "Lift Me Up" Howard Jones