Not Enough Vacation Days Blues

With the New Year has come the resetting of my accrued vacation time for calendar year 2006. I have in my possession a total of 12 days or 98 hours of vacation time in addition to 11 paid holidays. To answer your question, no, I do not work at a bank but rather a publicly owned utility. 12 days may sound like a lot when combined with the holidays and the fact that I work a 4 day-10 hour workweek with Fridays off, but I still have to be careful not to frivolously burn precious vacation days. I have a history of cutting myself short, leaving only a day or two for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year I have one major trip planned, a weeklong waterfowl/pheasant excursion on the plains and potholes of South Dakota, which will eat up 40 of my 98 vacation hours. That will only leave me with 58 hours for the remainder of the year, which really isn’t enough. You see I don’t look at a calendar and see months and days like most people. My perception of time is marked by predictable natural events that occur throughout the year. The majority of these events are both wonderful and problematic at the same time, as they are a joy to partake in but frustratingly fleeting in nature. Such ephemeral phenomena lures perpetual daydreamers and the easily swayed, i.e. me, to hastily leave work in order to pursue any number of these pastimes and therefore eat up vacation days like a Missouri democrat at a buffet.

Springtime is the most challenging period to preserve vacation days. Not only is the weather beautiful, but the Earth and all her creatures begin to stir after a winter of lethargy. Shoots of iridescent, emerald green grass emerge in pastures and tiny leaves erupt from empty limbs, invigorating restless eyes that have grown tired of the drab landscape of winter. I’ll be able to pull through the remainder of January and the worthless month that is February easily enough, but by mid-March my primal brain will be sending subversive but convincing thoughts in an attempt to set my well-anchored intentions adrift. By then the walleye will be running up the rivers and spawning; followed shortly by the seasonal rite of passage known throughout the Midwest and South as "The Crappie Spawn." Of course spawning crappie also means that turkey season is at hand which in turn elicits thoughts of delectable and elusive Morel mushrooms that can be found in secret caches along the forest floor by the trained eye during this time as well.

Wait. Why in the hell would I want to save vacation during the spring anyway? Turkey hunting and crappie fishing shouldn’t be abstained from but enjoyed as much as humanly possible. Screw trying to squirrel away vacation for the holidays! Besides, that’s why God made sick days right?