Published: November 02, 2009 08:15 am      

BELCHER: Time out!

Week spent away good for body and soul of this old man

It’s early Saturday morning as I write this, back in the office after a week’s “stay-cation” to re-boot the brain from a busy few months at the old newspaper place.

It is such a pretty morning! In my next contract renewal here, I’m going to hold out for a window in the newsroom to open up and enjoy some of the wonderful fresh morning air on a day like Saturday.

Yeah, well ...

But you must admit, our weather has been true “Texas” — seemingly going from summer to fall within five minutes. Think we’ve had plenty of rain, though. My backyard is more like a swamp than an outdoor getaway. Thinking seriously about some “hip boots” for our puppies, who take great joy in prancing through the mud and then running through the house, leaving little puppy paw prints in their wake. Getting them to stop at the back door and taking the boots off might be a challenge, though.

Spent some time “surfing” while away — surfing the Internet, that is. Even though I was raised just a couple of miles from the beaches of Southern California, I wasn’t much on that kind of surfing. I was more of the “wade out, wade in” kind of beach-goer, staying out of the way of those who “hang 10” for fun.

Surfing the Internet at my house is kind of a unique experience, thanks to the aforementioned puppies. They feel inclined to help. One of our little Chihuahuas likes to curl up around my feet while I’m at the computer desk; another will jump up on the bed in the room and keep guard; the third pretty much just jumps up in my lap and goes to sleep. They don’t care much about the new CNN Web site, or what’s hot on You Tube. They just like to hang out.

Then there is “Sam,” who is our “big cat” — he turned 14 this past March, and pretty much rules the roost in the Belcher animal kingdom. He likes to jump up on the computer table and demand his requisite scratch while I’m “on the Net.”

Yes, when I use my computer at home, I have both a “mouse” and a “cat” at my disposal. “Clicking” on the cat, however, does little to navigate on the World Wide Web. In fact, it kind of annoys him when I do so ...

But the best time I had last week was spending some uninterrupted waking hours with my bride of 33 years. As most working couples experience, those times can be rare, given our work schedules and the demands those jobs can present. Even with both of us home, there was plenty of “puppy love” to go around, as the pack playfully bounced from one lap to another (although they like her lap best of all — there’s more room than on my lap!)

But all that having been said, it’s also good to be back here in the Daily Sun newsroom, plugging away at the keyboard, and getting caught up with a week’s worth of e-mail — 700 plus, as I recall — and a few phone messages on top of that.

I have, it seems in going through those e-mails, lost my chance for a portion of several multi-billion dollar off-shore bank accounts gone dormant when I failed to respond in a timely manner to the caretakers of those funds. Perhaps I’ll get another such offering via e-mail soon. We can but dream, I suppose.

It’s kind of quiet in the newsroom on the weekends, with only an occasional phone call and some “chatter” on the police scanner in the background. But, come Monday, it’ll be filled with folks and more phone calls and inquiries about “this, that, and the other” that was lacking last week during my quiet hours at home.

I predict it will only be matter of time before I hear the “OK, Bob, you get to talk to this one ...” greeting that is so familiar upon my return to the building.

And I’m really kinda looking forward to it ... as long as I can have a Chihuahua wrapped around my ankles at my desk.

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Bob Belcher is Managing Editor of the Daily Sun. His column appears on Sundays.

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