Family Reunions

Summer is when many families have family reunions.  The ERJ family is no exception.

This weekend's family reunion will bring together families from Michigan (Duh!) and Maryland.  Scions from New York and Texas are unable to attend.

Mixing rednecks from Michigan with folks from the Beltway can have interesting results.

I find many of my cousins from the Beltway to be kindred spirits.  They have to work much harder to wet a fly-fishing line or to shoot handguns or burn wood in an open fire, but they do it, by golly.  Did you know that the Isaac Walton League's Conservation Center is in Gaithersburg, MD?

Some of the other Beltway cousins....well....they see themselves as more "evolved" than us rednecks. 

A little bit of that attitude leaks into the demeanor of even the ones I like best.  I confess to having sympathies with the Tea Party.  One of today's breakfast party went into heart palpitations as they struggled to find words to express their loathing for the Tea Party.  "They would burn down everything, EVERYTHING we have struggled so long to perfect...."

Mrs ERJ believes that I regress to my late teens when I am around my family.  She may be on to something.  I was unable to resist the temptation to play up the Michigan Militia angle.  Yes, I played the part of the troglodyte.

***Note:  I have no affiliation with the Michigan Militia***

I told them that I could not speak openly as long as there were batteries in their cell phone.  I also glanced with increasing urgency at the security cameras in the restaurant.  I told them I tried to keep a balanced outlook by forcing myself to reading liberal internet sites like Fox News.

I plan to redeem myself.  One of the MD cousins shoots in a league that uses "archaic" military weapons.  He shoots an iron sighted Mosin-Nagant. He found himself in the regrettable position of running out of powder suitable for reloading that cartridge.  He had been reloading with Hodgdon's Varget but none can be had for love nor money.  I have 3.5 pounds of a similar powder (H-4895) that I can spare.  I expect that he will be receiving a gift in the next few days.

Tomorrow we will go to church, then to the lake.  We will eat too much (I am taking potato salad, Mrs ERJ is taking deviled eggs).  We will shoot handguns, rifles and shotguns.  Some of us will water ski.  Some of us will nap.  A beer or two may be consumed.

And we will catch up with personal histories.  As we get older our stories tend to be more about medical issues and less about the kids.

Sucks to get old.  Having a loving family makes it something that can be endured...even when some of them are condescending.

I just need to figure out how to glue aluminum foil to the inside of my baseball cap so I can really drive them nuts.