Getting ready for a short break

Hey, folks. I'm getting a couple of things ready for later this week. Then I'm going to take a week or two break from blogging and such. I'm worn out and need to get away from stuff for just a little while.

I find myself trying to take the same pictures or not caring that a boat I haven't seen for a while is in the area. Adam's in school, I'm putting in more hours at work, and I need to clear some stuff out of my head.

So I'll post something on Wednesday and/or Thursday, and then it's a week or two break from blogging and Flickr and the like. But I'll be back. I'm not giving up on the Ohio River. I'll be down there, looking for that heron at one spot in particular in the morning fog. I'll be watching the sun rise and set ... checking to see if the river surface is mirror-smooth ... thinking about Point Pleasant and the cemetery in Gallipolis and how the setting sun lights up the Greenup Locks and Dam ...

And from time to time I'll think about my great-grandfather's ferry, my grandfather's boats, the steam boats my uncle worked on, the towboats a couple of my half-brothers worked on, whatever boat it is one of my nephews is on, and I'll wonder what part of the junk DNA in me expresses itself in the genes that draw Adam and me down to the river bank while his mother and siblings wonder what all the fuss is about.

We can't help it. Even if we've never worked at a lock or on a towboat or on a bridge, we're still, in our own way, river men.

So stay tuned.