Am I having trouble getting back into my writing because of writer’s block? Pfft, please. I’m stressing out because I just plain don’t have time right now to write. As I mentioned I’m busy taking care of a personal issue that will be resolved this week. Once it’s done I’ll be free (hopefully) of personal issues for a while. I’m hopeful, but sputtery truck is having other ideas.

We took Sputtery Truck to Palm Desert and now it’s having an oil pressure issue. It stays level for the most part, but will drop when the truck idles after running for 30-40 minutes. This is new and might be as simple as an oil pump, or it might be Satan trying to take over my vehicle and make me pay for something I did wrong in another life. I’m guessing the first. On the plus side the check engine light has been off for the past couple of tank fills so it’s possible that might have run its course.

So on while on vacation I didn’t do much in the way of posting. Well, I posted, but I didn’t really post much due to being so freaking tired and crazily busy. We did so much while on vacation. We had a total of 7 rooms (6 studios and a two bedroom). The studios ran from Saturday to Saturday. The Two bedroom ran from Sunday to Sunday. So we drove out Saturday morning and came back the following Sunday. A total of 8 days in Palm Desert. The coolest day was around 101, the warmest around 107. We really had a great time spending it with the wife’s family. The kids loved playing in the pool and going and seeing the sights. Each day we’d spend at least a little time in the pool (we visited all three at the resort) and we tried to get out and do something every day.

We went up the tram to 8516 feet and looked back down on Palm Springs and Palm Desert. This is where I had my little tumble. Yes, I fell on my ass. I fell HARD! I saw stars. I blacked out for a moment. I tried to get up because I didn’t want the little ones to see I’d fallen and gotten hurt. I fell back down. I had trouble getting up. My nephew, the one pushing the table I was pulling, tried to help me up and that was not easy. I’d lost feeling in my leg for a minute and couldn’t put any weight on it. Then I got that severe pain nausea and putting my head between my legs didn’t really help. I still have the pain when I sit wrong or twist wrong. I’m sure it’ll go away. The Millican said the stars and blacking out is due to a concussion. I feel like a sports star now. Except I just fell down. On my butt. Hmm.

Another thing we did several times while on this vacation was play spoons. If you’ve never plays spoons you’re missing out a fun game. You only need three things. A deck of cards, a table full of people, and one less spoon than you have people. You deal out the cards until they’re gone. Everyone should have 5 or 6 cards when you’re done (doesn’t need to be even). The spoons go in the middle of the table (a round table works best, but any table will work). Then someone yells ‘GO’. This is when you get to look at your cards. You need to move quickly. Passing one card to your right, picking up one from your left. The goal is to get four of a kind. Once you have four of a kind you grab a spoon. OR! If you see someone grab a spoon, you grab a spoon. The one person without a spoon is the loser and gets a rousing dose of pointing and laughing at how slow and clumsy they are. Yes, everyone will get laughed at one or more times. There are a couple spoon strategies. One is to keep track of your cards and work for the four of a kind so you get your spoon first. Bragging rights are always fun. Another is to watch the spoons and just keep the cards rotating. Your watchful eye will almost always ensure you get a spoon. Another strategy is to fake getting a spoon in the hopes of getting someone else to grab a spoon and point and laugh at tricking them. Spoon grabbing can be sneaky (to see how long people keep playing until they realize a spoon is gone) or lashing out and yelling something like “PAZAH!” or something equally moronic.

Drinking is encouraged while playing spoons.

We also took a trip out to Palm Canyon. We’d (the wife, my favorite daughter, and I) been to Palm Canyon, the resort, many times but in late July or August. It’s so hot they actually close the canyon to visitors. This time we got to go in. It is great back in there and not too spendy. We took snacks and sandwiches and lots of water and watermelon. We had planned on spending as much time out there. The kids were having a great time in the pool so we figured they’d have fun playing in hot sand. Well.. Ok…we hoped for water.

We got lucky and the guides pointed us to a natural pool up the Andreas Canyon. There was a small stream and a nice little depression. At its deepest it was waist deep and got down to shin high. It was perfect for the kids. The played, chased bugs, swam, ate, chased lizards. I got to see a hawk (or another bird of prey) eating something up on a cliff. It was on the cliff, not me. I also didn’t get in the water because I was still healing from my earlier fall and didn’t want to fall on my keister again. Instead I played with rocks and built up the dam and others joined into the fun.

As a kid I used to build dams anywhere I could so this was a lot of fun, but we couldn’t stay there all day. We’d gotten there earlier enough but when we walked away from the shade of the palms and the coolness of the water we got the full blast of hot air. Wow, I didn’t think it was that much cooler but it was at least twenty to thirty degrees cooler by the water.

The family left on the 7th day and the Millicans arrived the night before. With the two bedroom we had ample room for everyone and it was great fun having them out. We spent some time at the pool, time napping (there were many naps while out at Palm Canyon) and ate much and finally went to play at one of the local casinos. It was the Morongo Casino. No, you didn’t read that wrong. The Casino is called MORON! GO! And we went and lost a bit of money. It was a rather sketchy casino. We saw a person carrying their girlfriend (we assumed) who was holding her nose as if she’d been hit. They were being followed by security. I saw two guys talking up a couple of girls in extremely short skirts and got bored and walked off. Gee, I wonder what their profession was. The guys looked astonished their negotiations failed. We also saw three people in three different places in handcuffs. Yeah, it lived up to its name. It was fun to be out with the Millicans, but next time we’ll find a better casino to attend.

Finally there was time to come home. We cleaned, packed, and hit the road. We had breakfast at Burgers and Beer. Oh hell yeah! If I wasn’t driving I totally would have had another beer for breakfast, but being that we were driving home I had to pass on a beer. I did have enough throughout the week. We took the back way through the mountains and just enjoyed the trip home.

I also read a lot during the week. I finished a number of works that I will review in the coming days. Next week will see the start of a new weekly update where I’ll speak my mind on a given topic. Have a topic for me? Send it along. I’ll also begin with my daily writing prompts as well as my daily duck. That’s right, you’ll see more from me. Got a picture (or more) of ducks, send them on over. Seen the ducks in the news? Send them on over. Got a great story about ducks? Send them on over. This won’t always be about me. It’ll be a lot of fun. If you have a writing prompt send those over as well? If you send me either I’ll be sure to send link them back to you. You don’t have to have a blog or be an author to participate. This is just for fun.

I need to get at some actual writing.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!