do you remember that song?  i don’t really remember any of it except that one line, and i think it was a sad song.

kevin’s weekend plan was to go to the Lincoln Home area and camp out with the 114th.  they were going to sleep in tents without floors.  about 10 of them were going to go.  they were going to set up camp on friday evening.

it has been raining buckets here for at least a week or so now, and friday was pretty bad.  it rained, and then it rained harder, and then it rained some more.  the ground was already very squishy, but it just got worse and worse.

sleeping in a tent with no floor didn’t sound like such a good idea to me.  plus it was going to get down in the 40’s overnight.

on friday i kept saying things like “maybe they’ll cancel it” and “have they cancelled it yet?” and “maybe you shouldn’t go tonight.”

but kevin is very enthusiastic and dedicated.  he didn’t rise in the ranks of the boy scouts for nothing.  did he rise as high as one can go?  i’ll have to ask him.  probably he did.

anyway, he said it was going to be an authentic thing and the weather didn’t matter and he was going.

at least i didn’t have to go.  instead i went to see “men in tights,” and the men were quite entertaining but they need to do more dancing.  johnny molson was particularly poignant in some ballet swan number, where he was the guy on the end in a traveling pack of guys that included matt ratz, patrick russell, and jeff nevins.  johnny sort of trailed along behind them, and the effect was delightful.

so i watched men doing ballet while my man slept in a tent with no floor.

after the performance they had a silent auction plus a great deal of free wine, which i partook of a little too much.  randy and i then stopped by the lincoln home site to see the setup.  we drove right up on the gravel road in front of the house which you are NEVER EVER SUPPOSED TO DO, apparently it’s like driving a car into a mall or something.  i didn’t realize this, plus the security gate was open and randy has a fancy little car and we just zipped in.

and there was kevin, standing outside his tent…COMPLETELY ALONE.

WHERE WERE THE OTHER GUYS?

ok, that’s not entirely accurate.  one of the other guys from the regiment, jim, was there, but he wasn’t in uniform and he wasn’t going to spend the night.  two other guys were there in shorts; i believe they both worked there at the home plus at least one was also in the regiment.

but kevin was the only soldier to spend the night.  the guys in shorts were also there, so it’s not like he was spending the night in a not so great part of town all by himself.

he texted me in the morning, and hmm, texting doesn’t sound entirely authentically civil-war-period, and claimed that he slept well.  he put his poncho on the ground and had a small air mattress, also not period-authentic but COME ON NOW, let’s not go completely crazy with this re-enacting stuff especially since the rest of the regiment clearly decided to spend the night in their own warm beds.

i took the photo above later on saturday morning, when a few guys actually showed up.  kevin said the guys “didn’t think anybody was going to be there.”  excuse me?  kevin goes to many meetings for the 114th, the purpose of which is purportedly to talk about all the upcoming events, and it would appear that saying “hey, who’s going to the encampment this week?” would be one of the first questions posed.

maybe they just sit around and drink beer during these meetings, i don’t know.

kevin came home late saturday afternoon to celebrate dad’s birthday, and he promptly took an hour nap.

his sleep must not have bee quite that restful, because he almost never naps.

other guys were spending the night on saturday, but apparently dad’s birthday was enough of a get-out-of-jail-free card to allow him to spend the night in his nice warm bed with his lovely wife on saturday night.

he went back again this morning, in time to have breakfast and was then assigned to KP duty.  shouldn’t one of the guys who DIDN’T EVEN SHOW UP FRIDAY NIGHT have had to wash the dishes?

i’m just saying.

i visited him again today and he was very cheerful, but then again there aren’t very many times when kevin isn’t very cheerful.  he’s a happy person, especially now that he’s retired.  he got home early this evening and by about nine o’clock he looked like he was going to fall over from fatigue, so he went to bed.

he’s not going anywhere this week, and hopefully we’ll make progress on putting together our pontoon boat.  by “we” i mostly mean “he,” although i’ll do what i can to help.

hopefully we’ll finish it because next week he’s going to virginia, as in the STATE of virginia, to compete in some national civil war shooting competition.

today a friend of mine, also named kevin, suggested that i dress as a man so i can go with him to some of these events.  it’s not a bad idea, and of course there were women who did just that in the real civil war so it seems logical that i do that myself, but on the other hand…

i’d rather be cruising around in the pontoon boat than spending the night in a tent with no floor.

ok then,

sunday night grace.