A staycation, a stay-at-home vacation — it's that time again for me.

The third or fourth week of November is a good time for me to take a break from work. It is between local high school sports seasons. Hopefully our winter coverage will continue to do the teams and their fans justice.

The 10 days off will also give me time to finish the yard work (after I begged Old Man Winter last week to “lay off” until I finish). I figure I have two good days of raking and hauling leaves to get the lawn looking like I want it.

So what to do for the other eight days? Well, one of those days is Thanksgiving so we're down to seven. One swim meet day and clean the cars day ... now I'm down to five.

What do you do when you have nothing scheduled?

Depending on the weather, a nice walk around town or around Ocean Point with the dog might be in order. Then maybe a nap?

I still have to get to the library to borrow “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” a book I mentioned a few weeks back that I wanted to read.

That leaves me with three days.

How about a morning and afternoon (while the wife is at work) watching some movies she doesn't like (horror)? Pop some popcorn, enjoy some Raisinets or Goobers, put the feet up ... sounds good to me.

I'm sure my wife will have me doing some indoor duties one day.

Now I am down to one.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I have to spend one day judging some categories in the Kentucky Press Association's newspaper contest.

Hopefully this spring, I can enjoy a vacation. A staycation is sometimes too organized.