(This blackmail photo reluctantly approved)
The weather has been increasingly hot (and even humid) this past few days, so I was not surprised to discover I had overslept yesterday. I woke up about 9:30, and as I had to leave for work an hour later, I hurried to the kitchen for the first cuppa Joe, and wondered idly why Karyn hadn't sent the hounds in to awaken me. As I entered the kitchen, some movement in the family room caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks at the exact same minute I saw a man sitting in one of the leather club chairs and Karyn shouting out "Good Morning, it's Uncle Nick---are you dressed?"
Well, I believe I was some kind of dressed but the instinct to cover myself up manifested itself in a hasty raising of the arms, a mild shriek (trust me, I'm NOT a shrieker, usually) and me scurrying back to the bedroom to get "really" dressed. I stood in the closet, and tried to think what to wear. I settled on shorts and a t-shirt, and re-joined the coffee klatch in the family room.
After hugs and kisses and lots of laughing I said to Uncle Nick,"I'm not gonna lie---I was somewhat surprised (uh...totally thunderstruck!) to find a man in my living room."
I didn't say it then, but later I confessed to Karyn that I thought the refrigerator had broken down, again, and the man was from GE. The badge on his belt and the weapon on his hip would have clued me in, but without coffee, I'm pretty clueless. Besides, my eyes weren't focused. And really? She didn't look awake enough to call GE...but I couldn't figure all that out in the nano-second of surprise.
So after a great visit and some photos, which Karyn says I must stipulate are "blackmail" photos, so OK, they are blackmail photos (she had only been up ten minutes longer than me), I decided I better get ready for work. I was in my closet, again, when I heard some ruckus in the bedroom. When I came out of the closet, no pun intended, I saw the gun case for the 20-gauge shotgun had been opened and the gun was missing. Now we've had this weapon for three years, under the bed, but we didn't know how to load it. So....yep, you guessed it, Uncle Nick!
Unfortunately he said the bullets were 8-shot and would just piss an intruder off; so, he recommended we pump it several times in a row and aim for the heart. Oh yeah, dayam! That would piss me off if I were the recipient! Oh my. I think Karyn will be doing that shooting!
Uncle Nick said he reads the blog all the time. I sheepishly said, well, I take some poetic license with the facts....there's some exaggeration in there.
"There's no sin in lyin' when it comes to fishin' and...now, bloggin'."Not a problem for Uncle Nick. He looked at me sternly, raised his hand, and said:
Go, Nick! Damn, we love that guy! Having said that, I suppose I ought to tell my 9 readers (yes! I've gained two in the past couple months!) just who Uncle Nick really is.
Well, "the man in my living room" is from Lake County, in Northern California, and he is indeed Karyn's Uncle Nick, and Karyn's mom Kay's brother. And Teresa's husband. And Nicole's papa. And Staff Photographer Kimberly's uncle, too. He continually tells me I'm not only a part of the family, but a welcome part. So he's also my Uncle Nick, the way I see it.
Nick Bennett, a law enforcement legend in Lake County, CA, and currently an Investigator, Senior Officer for that County, had been on a top-secret mission in San Bernardino County CA. If you know anything about The Inland Empire, as it's somewhat facetiously called, then you know it's best to keep things secret. I can't say what actual city he was in, but it involved a rather high-level and ultra Confidential background check. I didn't smell cordite, so I don't believe Uncle Nick had used his weapon, but, of course, he'd neither confirm nor deny the details of his mission. ::sigh:: Cops! But I decided then and there he could stay for breakfast if he wanted. And lunch. And dinner. Actually, he'd be welcome to live here.
Now...about that fishing and blogging...
