We spent our weekend in Branson, for the second time this year.  I don’t think I’ve been to Branson since I was just a little ‘un, (with the exception of their emergency room) and here I’ve been twice already this year.  Not a good sign.  I really don’t have any explaination for the trip;  We just happened to have a free room, gas was cheap, and we like to go out of town on Halloween.  So we went.  In our defense, at least we didn’t do anything Bransony while we were there.  (Like that word?  Made it up myself.)  No shows, no minature golf, no go-carts…  We pretty much just read books and relaxed.  I think the highlights of the trip, for me anyway, was lunch at Lone Star Steakhouse (woo-hoo) and watching a bunch of feral cats attack the garbage sacks that somebody left outside our door.  Yeah, I entertain pretty easily.  Actually, the cats really did provide me several hours (yes, hours) of amusement.  Got to see a few pretty good throw-downs, and at one point a fox came and chased off all the cats.  I was kind of hoping for a bear or something to come chase off the fox, but it never happened.  Guess he was the top of the garbage-bag foodchain at the condos.  Oh, and I got a phone call from work, reporting “We’re having a firewall problem, and we need a hand-made quilt or a pecan roll to fix it so we called you.  Please call us back when the Andy Williams show is over.”  Ahhh, what a bunch of comedians I work with.  I guess we did spend the obligatory afternoon at the outlet malls too.  That was Friday, and it was storming so bad there wasn’t anything else to do.  Donette bought a new purse, which seemed to please her immensely.  It was… Brown.  Please contact her if you need additional details.

Sunday we were feeling rather rested from our relaxing trip, so we got up and went to the gym.  Sundays at the gym are good because they’ve got a nice brunch set up.  So, we basically worked out for about 15 minutes, showered, then ate several plates of bacon, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy.  I often question the actual health benefits of our “gym.”  Oh well, what the heck, it’s good food.  After that Donette drove up north to get Gabe from Ronda’s house, who baby-sat him while we were gone.  I was quite dissappointed to learn that he’d gone on another of his little anxiety attacks and tore her front door all up.  I thought he’d finally grown out of that phase, but I guess that’s not quite the case.  The boy just doesn’t care much for being left alone.  Meanwhile, I spent my afternoon down at the Brooksider watching football.  They had the TV’s set up on the back deck, and I intend to enjoy this weather as long as it holds out.  Martin wandered in after a while and we watched a bit of the late games, then meandered down to try the pizza at the Blue Grotto.  Donette and I have walked through there several times but never actually sat down to eat because it was always too busy.  Martin and I were able to grab a couple of seats at the bar though.  The pizza was solid, if a bit hoity-toity.  (Like the rest of the place.)  It was really very good, I just think I’m more for the Waldo style of pie.  Geez, I didn’t even see pepperoni on the menu!!