Turkey on the road

had been looking forward to a traditional Thanksgiving this week. Sleep late. Watch some football. Enjoy a big, tasty meal. Enjoy time with the family and maybe visit my mom. Relax and enjoy taking it easy for once.

Well, I'll get to see some football, anyway.

Last Saturday, the football team I cover won its state semifinal game, so on Wednesday morning, I'll be leaving for the 520-mile drive to Detroit and the state finals at Ford Field. It's the third straight Thanksgiving I'll be spending away from home.

Yes, it's getting old. After 2004 and '05, I was really looking forward to a quiet Turkey Day. Especially with my mom in the nursing home--I wanted to spend part of the day with her.

As of mid October, our team didn't seem likely to go very far in the playoffs. But lo and behold, they came together and now have four straight playoff wins including victories over two teams that had been undefeated. Their seasons ended. Ours goes on.

This time my wife is staying home, due to her new job. But my younger son is leaning towards coming along. After all, his big brother lives down there, and we'll spend a lot of time with him on Thanksgiving--no doubt his video games will get a workout. In the last two years, we marked the big day by crossing over to Canada (Windsor), where the stores and restaurants are open on the U.S. Thanksgiving. (It's just an ordinary Thursday over there--Canada's Thanksgiving is on a Monday in October.)

The game kicks at 9 a.m. (our time; 10 a.m. in Detroit) on Friday. After it ends and I get a few interviews, it's back on the road for the 11-hour drive home. At least the weather is forecast to be nice. We're supposed to be in the low 50s this week (!!!), and they're forecasting the mid 50s down there.

Temperatures have been close to normal lately--and since October was so cold, that's nice. We haven't seen any significant snow since that storm in mid October. The only snow around now is in shaded areas, and even that may be gone after it warms up.

I really wanted to stay home this year. You know I did. But ... oh well! A few weeks back, I realized that I could well be spending still another Turkey Day far from home, so I've had time to resign myself to it.

At least I'll take my camera along, so I'll look for some unusual sights along the way. You could predict that, right?

***

I've got a few other things to write about, but my wife said she wanted to watch something with me tonight, and I've got something like 34 (at the moment) blog alerts I need to catch up with. She's still upstairs on the big computer, so ...

One is that we (my wife and I) have a big project ahead of us--clearing out my mom's house. She hasn't lived there for 14 months now, and the neighbor (a good friend of my mom) wants to buy it so her daughter and son-in-law can move in.

When I visited my mom last week, I brought up the topic, and she said it would be OK. "Like keeping it in the family," she said. (The last time I brought up the idea of selling the house, she got all emotional, and a serious discussion wasn't possible. Now she knows that she can't move back home.)

My mom and dad moved into the house about 1977, and while it isn't a big house, they have a lot of stuff in there that we have to dispose of one way or another, plus lots of stuff to simply sort through. Anybody out there interested in an organ? A John Deere riding mower? A mechanic's tool set? A pool table? Those are among the larger items there. None of which we can use or even have space for. FYI, my dad died in 1994.

This is, of course, something I have no experience with. And with work the way it is for me during fall and winter, we won't be able to spend a lot of time there (50 miles from our home) until next spring. I told the neighbor they wouldn't be able to take over the house until next summer at the earliest. She said that's OK.

The other thing is that I've fallen in love. Really.

It happened last Saturday, after the game. We had gone to the Target store in Marquette to look for some blouses and socks and other stuff for my wife. I went to the entertainment department as usual. And there it was.

I'm planning to get a new digital camera, and I've made up a short list of candidates. At the store, there was the top candidate. The first time I've had a chance to see it in person. While it didn't have a film card, there were batteries inside, so I was able to play with it a little. Nice.

It's a Canon Powershot S3 IS. A small digital with a big zoom. Make no mistake: I'd absolutely love to get a digital SLR. But they simply cost too much for me. I have to set my sights a little lower. I've been reading a lot of reviews of cameras, and the Canon is one of the final candidates.

But since that model came out about a year or so ago, I'm suspecting that a new version of the camera will come out this spring. So, for the time being, I'm going to wait. I'll be taking more looks at the Sony and Panasonic/Lumix models, too. There's a little time before I make the decision.

As long as I can remember, I've used Minolta cameras. Even way back when I got my first film SLR. The cameras I use now (both the work camera and my own camera) are Minoltas. Then Minolta merged with Konica, and it was rebranded "Konica Minolta." And earlier this year, much to my shock, Konica Minolta announced it was getting out of the camera business entirely. So I feel totally absolved of any brand loyalty.

***

My wife must have gotten mixed up with the solitaire game again. She finally came down, and we watched an episode of Stargate SG-1. No time for a movie with her new, earlier bedtime.

Now: time to start working down those blog alerts.