Sheep Guarding Llama

It is Friday and tomorrow morning we are heading down south to Waverly, New York to spend the fourth of July holiday with the extended family.  It’s the annual Doty family reunion down there.

I spent the day writing and posting, nothing special.  Most everyone went out to the movies today, so I got a bit of quiet time to get things done.

This evening we ordered in pizza and the family watched a kids’ movie in the back yard.

June flew by like nobody’s business.  I can’t believe that we are nearly into July.  It seems like just yesterday that we were in Galveston for Christmas!

Today I have SpiceCorps of Auburn to go to.  Technically it is SpiceCorps of Syracuse, but it is being held in Auburn, as it often is.

The drive out to Auburn is about an hour and a half.  I have not been in Auburn since I installed the servers at the Wegman’s there in 2005!  That might be the only time that I have ever been there.

I got down there early and met up with one of the guys at a local Mexican restaurant.  We had a nice time getting to know each other over tacos.  He’s been with NTG for most of the year but we have never met.  Most everyone else has known him for quite some time since he runs the SpiceCorps Syracuse group.

After dinner we walked over to the bar where SpiceCorps was getting set up.  This is a venue that they have used in the past.  It’s a bar but we get a private room there and it seems to work pretty well.

I am the featured speaker this evening and NTG is the sponsor of the event.  So I spoke for about an hour on career development and some other stuff.  I think that it went pretty well.

It was a good meeting and I think that everyone had a good time.

We got done probably around nine thirty.  Then an hour and a half drive back to Frankfort. So it was getting on towards bed time by the time that I got back.

I’m still at the kitchen table working today.  There is no really good space for me.  Everyone sneaked off to Utica for something today leaving just Madeline and I behind so we got pizza from Big Willy’s. My first change to get Mohawk Valley pizza in quite some time.

Mostly a quiet day.  The video game laptop running Steam is quite busy all of the time in the living room.

Tuesday in Frankfort.  My first full day in Frankfort this year.  The Grices are here and the kids are pretty much fully engaged with each other full time and barely even know that I am here.  At least I get to see them from time to time.  But they are all over the house, always playing some game and sometimes running around in the yard – which is in the process of getting fenced in.  A new, large, vinyl, white picket fence is being installed this week at the Toccos’.

I spent my time camped out in the kitchen in front of the air conditioner window unit with my laptop trying to write and post from the kitchen table.  Not the most comfortable of places but I make do.

It is Monday today, our second week back in the United States.  I got packed up this morning, spent time with dad, did some writing and posting and then this afternoon I got on the road with Art’s Chevy Malibu that I am borrowing while we are in New York and started driving out to Frankfort.

It is just under three hours from dad’s house to Dominica’s parents’ house.

I am very happy to get back out and see my kids again!  It was very nice getting some down time at dad’s house and getting to hang out just the two of us, but I really miss my kids when we are apart and I needed to get back to them.

Went out for ice cream tonight, as always happens when you are in Frankfort.  That is Francesca’s summer thing, ice cream every night (often sneaking away so that the kids don’t know that the adults are doing it.)  Nicky Doodles, tonight.

Emily and I walked up to the corner store and got beer as well.  The little place on the corner knows me.  They have the best craft beer selection in the region and are just like two blocks away.  It’s very nice.