Holding Down the Fort

My dear wife comes home in 3 days. This will be the longest that we have been apart since we have been married. Man-o-man, I miss her something fierce.

The cats miss her too. For one, she knows what wet food each prefers. It turns out that I have been feeding them the exact opposite of their individual preferences. They have all been eating what I’ve put in front of them each morning, but as of yesterday they all have begun to turn their noses up at what is offered. The youngest of the two could stand to lose a little weight; yet the oldest two, one with diabetes and the other with renal failure, have to eat on a regular basis.

The cats also miss their couch companion. It is not uncommon to see 3 cats laying on the couch of a night as my dear wife catches up on reruns of “Will and Grace” or watches a late night session of congress on CSPAN. I’m usually hold up in the basement playing poker, reading about poker or working on an art project, but when I am upstairs, they pretty much avoid me, unless I force myself upon them. I like to pet kitties too, you know. The Dear Wife points out that I don’t spend as much time with them as she does; therefore, they’re going to stay aloof. Still, nobody gives a head scratch as good as I do. Where’s the love?

There was no love at Poker Stars last night. Again I lost to a set with AQ. No, make that to a boat. I got aggressive at the wrong time, representing Kings full with Queens. 2s full took it down. Not believing another player, I re-raised on another hand, and got re-raised, to which I had to fold. Same player later gets it all in with a lousy pairs of threes and gets stacked. Maybe I gave him too much credit, who knows.

The reason for this aggression? Probably because I let a player draw out a bit earlier. I raised the flop and was called and then didn’t fire again. Shame on me. Just bad poker.

I’m not concentrating. I’m reacting instead of analyzing. Tilting.

I miss my dear wife. That may account for part of it. I feel like I’m wandering around in a haze most of the day. I manage to get the routine chores done, set an extra task for the day (today it is harvesting potatoes), wait for the nightly phone call, and recall that there were other things I have yet to take of before I can settle in for the night and play some poker. As I write this, I remember that a neighbor called to check in on me and in her message she requested that I call her back. Excuse me a minute…

OK, one more thing taken care of. The neighbor is also a dear friend of the dear wife, and I suspect she misses her as well. I am the conduit.

Where was I? The dear wife would say that the fog is status quo. Indeed, I am like the absent-minded professor, lost in his own thoughts. It can get a little aggravating sometimes, and perhaps more than a little at other times. If anything, having to do a lot of the things she usually takes care of this past week, and spacing on other things has shown me just how frustrating I can be, and how much I depend on her.

Is this a sweet sentiment? I’m not so sure. I am aware that to some I may be coming across as a little chauvinistic.

“Have you eaten anything?” This is a question my dear wife asks me about this time almost every day. The answer is usually a negatory. Today, as every day this past week, my stomach has had to ask me that question, already knowing the answer. I could stand to lose a few dozen pounds anyway. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich I just fixed and ate should do the trick. And just so you know, I eat a lot of PB&Js and always have, regardless of whether my dear wife is around.

The protein helps clear the brain, and I think a bit about what I am writing. Perhaps what it really comes down to is that we have a rather sizable house, a lot of land and animals that demand seemingly constant attention, and to find enough time in a day to do all that needs to be done and then to find a little more time for things like this blog and poker, well, something has got to give. When we are both here, it’s a bit different. There is time for TV and poker in our lives.

It takes both of us to keep this place running smoothly, and I think my dear wife may know this better than I. After all, over the course of the last five years, I have gone away more than she has, a week to help my mother with her house and yard, to Las Vegas twice for a week at a time, weddings and funerals in my family, and she has stayed behind to attend to the ever-present responsibility that is this farm. I’m not saying that she never gets away from this place; it’s just that I do more than she does.

So, what does my dear wife suggest I do as compensation for taking care of the place for eleven days while she helps her parents to move into their new house? She tells me to book a long weekend in Vegas. And people wonder why I have chosen to refer to her here as “dear wife”…

So, I have booked a room at The Orleans for 3 days over the Columbus Day weekend. Another person I know from PA will be in LV at the same time. (Click on “Raise or Fold” for her insightful and well-written poker blog.) In the meantime, I have to start bringing my A game to the table. I owe to both my dear wife and myself.

But right now, I have to go dig up some spuds.