It beats digging ditches

If you've looked for me at the office this week, you didn't find me. After working 22 days in a row, I decided to take a couple days off. That's right, before Monday, I had worked every day (including Sundays) since the district tournament.
I thought this was a nice accomplishment. I mean, everybody gets a day off, right?
I visited my father and we were talking to my uncle and I told them of my three weeks without a day off venture.
My uncle's eyes lit up at the thought of all of the overtime pay I had earned.
When I told them I didn't get any overtime, he asked what, exactly, I did.
I told him I had been covering tournaments in Glenwood and Jessieville.
"Did you drive back and forth?" he asked.
"Well, no. I stayed in a hotel," I answered.
"Did you have to pay for the hotel?"
"Well, no. The newspaper paid for the hotel," I said.
"Did you have to pay for your gas?"
"Well, actually, the newspaper reimbursed me for my gas expenses."
The old geezers looked at me and started laughing.
I suppose getting paid to travel around the state and watch basketball games doesn't quite qualify as hard labor.
Most of the people in my family have done hard work in their lives. In my younger days, I've hauled pulpwood, thrown bales of hay and labored from sun up to sun down in the tomato fields.
Compared to those things, covering basketball games ain't really work.
Still, it does get tiring. No, not back-breaking tired but, after covering games, writing stories and living in hotels for three weeks, a guy can get run down. It's the kind of fatigue you feel in college after staying up all night cramming for a final.
Your brain is just mentally fried. Right now, the last thing I want to do is watch a basketball game. I'm grateful I have the freedom to take a couple days off.
But, there's no doubt. I'd rather cover games 365 days in a row than spend a week digging ditches.