Will he ever shut up?!?!

As far as Sundays go whilst on midnight shifts, this one went well. Whilst...does anyone use that word anymore? Whilst...That's a darn fine word, yes sir.

Anyhow...After narrowly escaping the shift alive, I began this fathers day childless. Deb and Bethany were downstate with Grammy & Papa. Gotta keep those grandparents happy doncha' know. Actually, it was pretty nice to start this string of shifts with a quiet house. I've got some of the best "graveyard" sleep on this string, than I've got in recent history. A decent 7 hours each day so far. For those who have never been rotating shift workers...you never really "sleep" in the traditional sense, you kinda just "lay with your eyes closed and breath heavy" as my brother puts it.

It's a very delicate dance. You can't go to sleep to soon after work, otherwise it becomes more like a nap and you wake up after a couple hours feeling great, but then never get more than another nap later in the day...so you head off to work with a total of 4.5 hours of sleep, which is barely enough rest to ensure your involuntary functions (such as breathing) continue uninterrupted.

On the contrary, you can't stay up too late or else you catch a second wind. Then when you try to go to sleep, you lay there staring at the ceiling getting increasingly more frustrated as the clock ticks the hours away, thinking "OK, If I fall asleep now I can still get 5 hours before I need to get up"..."OK, If I fall asleep RIGHT NOW I can still get 4 hours of sleep...". Then, sure as the sun sets in the west, an hour into your sleep, it's time for Redneck Joe (neighbor across the street) to fire off an M-80, bottle rocket, or test drive that mini bike with no muffler that he's been working on for the last three years, but never seems to get running until he has no less than 7 beers in him and insists on yelling "Yeeeeehawwwwwww" as the "Ol' Girl" surpasses the 6 mph threshold. Geez...you'd think he broke the sound barrier or something.

I'm convinced, Redneck Joe will be the first hillbilly to unintentionally orbit the earth. He's the stereotypical, "You ain't gonna believe this sh**", "Hey Boyd, hand be that jug of gasoline!", Marlboro Red smoking, shirtless in a leather jacket, God Bless Hank Jr., Budweiser drinking, butt crack showing, 8 months pregnant wife out mowing the grass and unloading the firewood trailer kinda redneck. You know, card carrying!

Anyhow...what was I talking about? Oh, sleeping. Yeah, it's delicate alright, but it's been decent on this string. So I got home this morning, and knowing I wouldn't survive the hour I had to wait to leave for church without passing out, figured I'd go out for a bike ride. It was a nice crisp morning, about 50 degrees and sunny. Church was nice (I stayed awake!), seen some friends, said some prayers...I'm good 'till next Sunday now (that was sarcasm). Seen my Buddy Mark (I know you've been over to marcusthebronco.blogspot.com haven't you? You'd better!!! What the heck are you doing here!?!? Go read something with some meat to it instead of this mindless dribble. Go! Now!!!

At any rate, I'll give him a call this morning when I get off work and we'll go do something. We'll drive around in Big Red, go down some two tracks, tell some jokes, smoke a cigar and chalk it all up under the banner of "Christian Fellowship". I know that it's supposed to be "as steal sharpens steal" but with Mark and I, it's like...Cashews accompanying Almonds. We're fine separately, but curiously interesting when combined (and technically, both nuts!).

Gotta Go!
K~