SELF SERVE

I figured I'd wake up this morning needing to be put into traction.  Last night when Big Bore and I returned from a shopping outing at ALCO (Monday is Senior Day 10% discount. Who can pass up a bargain?), Sweet Neighbor Girl and Trouble #1 came rushing over from their yard.

"Hey, Nancy!  Look what I got?" SNG said.  She cradled a new volleyball with lime green striped insets. "It's in my favorite color!"

I knew what was coming next, so I beat her to the punch.  "You wanna hit it around a while?"

"Sure!" they yelled. These poor kids are under the gross misconception that I am their 12-year-old oversized playmate, so who am I to blow the illusion.

We headed over to their big side yard, but not before the ball went into wayward mode.

"Keep it out of my turnip patch!" Big Bore grumbled.

So, we kept moving, then picked out a tree for the imaginary net, and started volleying.  Trouble volunteered to be the official ball chaser, which was a good thing, because there was a lot of chasing to do since we rarely kept the ball in play. SNG has just started recreation volleyball on Wednesdays and she still has a lot to learn...plus I learned from another era and have no idea what the heck I'm doing. Fifty years ago, we just pitty-patted the ball around. Nowadays, it's spike and kill...and I'm not too keen about a sport where death is the main objective.

Mercifully, the sun sets much earlier now that autumn is in full steam, so after about a half hour the "game" had to be called because of darkness. Not a minute too soon. Fortunately I didn't wake up this morning to any back pain, so it's out the door to do some playing of my own, adult kind--watering the backyard plants. Maybe by this evening I'll be limbered up in time for a return match on the VB court.