Fish, Grandkids, Headaches, Passports

MENTAL HEALTH MONDAY

Fishing Report

Fishing my favorite--well, technically, only--bass pond is great therapy for me, as long as I'm catching fish. And I am catching fish. Yesterday's tally included several 15" bass [I lost count.], 3 16" babies *, including one that measured 16.5" [probably the biggest bass I've caught in the last few years.] Oh, & one tick.
* figurative language

Grand-kids

• Hadley the 7-year-old, weeks away from finishing 1st grade . . . Last week while I was in Lincoln, we were discussing the best way to deal with a nemesis. We decided that telling him I worked for the CIA was not a good option. Ditto having me show up, calling him out of the classroom & applying "persuasive techniques. So my 3rd suggestion was this . . . ME: "Whenever he threatens to tell the teacher that he's going to tell on you for something you didn't do, just smile & say, 'Whatever.'" Oh, & don't ever tell say 'Whatever' to your teacher." HADLEY: "That's a good point." Sometimes she really cracks me up.
• Bentley the 3-year old, whom we took with us to some graduation receptions on SAT while his parents were at a wedding . . . When I asked him how he liked the pasta at the first reception we attended, without looking up from his entree, gave me a resounding thumbs up.
• Bentley, Part II . . . While driving to another reception, we were discussing our summer, grand-kids' camping trip, which will include Bentley this year. We are staying at Two Rivers State Park in one of their camping cabooses. [You'll have to Google it yourself.] After describing the relatively rustic naturing of the accommodations, I asked him if he'd rather stay in a hotel with Papa or in a caboose with a bunch of girls. His emphatic answer? "No way!" 
• I guess you had to be there.

Cluster Headaches

I've been plagued with a cycle of these headaches off & on for a month or more, & none of the treatments prescribed by a plethora * of medical personnel have worked. This means that

• I am using my medications way too often, which is probably causing brain damage which no one is even noticing.
• My sleep cycle is being disrupted, since a headache is waking me every night, precisely at 12:40 p.m. ** . . . 
• . . . which is contributing, I'm pretty sure, to a lengthy nap every afternoon . . . 
• . . . which is leaving me a groggy mess the rest of the afternoon & evening.

Your suggestions are welcomed & encouraged.

* two 
** What's with that?

Passport Predicament

As we expected, the U.S. State Dept. sent us both a letter, rejecting our applications for passports for lack of an official seal. Apparently, having your birth certificate notarized at Wall-Mart is not acceptable. Now we don't have enough time to make the corrections in order to make a side trip into Canada this summer. Fortunately, I no longer need to work the Orphan Grain Booth at the Nebraska State Fair at the end of July, which leaves me with free time to visit Greenland, one of the places on my personal bucket list. *
* Ha! LCSBLCTC **
** Leckband Cornhusker State Blog Consulting Team Captain