Over the River and Through the Desert

This afternoon, we'll be loading up the minivan, popping in a DVD for the kids, and heading out for my wife's parents' house about 2 hours up the road. We're going to celebrate Grandpa Ernie's 93rd birthday. Ninety-freaking-three years...That is a long time for a bourbon-swilling, pipe-smoking, likeable curmudgeon to be on this planet.

I like Grandpa Ernie a lot. He's still very sharp. He follows sports rabidly and can still rattle off stats with the best of them. He's an interesting character, and who knows how much longer he'll be around.

We're also going to stop by the pumpkin patch. My parents (who also live in the same town as my wife's parents) live just a half mile or so up the road from a pumpkin farm. We've made a point of stopping by there every October for the last 4 years. It's a neat place. They sell pumpkins and bales of straw, host corn mazes, and all kinds of other autumny stuff. I hope we can pick up a good load of pumpkins this year. There are very few areas where I have a real talent, but I can carve a pretty mean pumpkin. I get one chance a year to show off my worthless skill, so I like to take full advantage of it. I carved six of them last year (the wife carved a few too), and I'll probably do at least that many this year. I've gone so far as to take the 30th and the 31st off from work. I should probably see a doctor or something.