Forgive me Blog Father, for I have Sinned; It’s been more than two weeks since my last post.

Did you miss me? ….. sound of crickets.

Where the hell have I been? …. 2 weekends out of town on BPOE business (I am the Leading Knight of our local Elks Lodge);

First weekend we were at District Ritual Competition, our team finished 2^nd out of 7 teams, which was kind of a relief because we won District last year, competed at the State level and (for the first time in our Lodge’s 55+ year history) became the Oregon State Elks Ritual Champions, went on to Nationals in Reno and finished 7^th in the Nation (out of 2100 Lodges).

All of this stuff gets very expensive for the Lodge; imagine paying for 12 or 14 people to spend 4 days in Portland (250mi.) and the same people for 5 days (680mi.) in Reno. This year Nationals are in Orlando, Fla. so how spendy would that be (our estimate was 20 to 25 grand.

Second weekend we were at the State Elks Convention, where my lovely wife & I manned the hospitality room for 3 nights, handing free drinks and food out to high level Elks, State Legislators and the “Kings & Queens” of commerce. All in all, a very enjoyable 2 weeks.

On top of all of that, we have been trying to remodel a house my mother just bought here in town, so we can move her closer to us, she’s 84 (lives 52mi. away) and could use a little more help from her sons.

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately.

I’ll find something to rant and rave about tomorrow.