Well, last night my wife and I sat down and had a long talk about the future. She agreed that I really shouldn’t go back to the dig this season. With out youngest in college, every penny counts and it was rather pricey to maintain two residences, one here and one in East Anglia. I called my old Professor afterward (he is nominally the head of the effort) and told him that I would have to sit out at least one season and possibly more. He was very understanding and told me when I was ready to come back, I would be welcome at any dig he sponsored. One of the major things that set this scenario off was the offer by the Air Force Civilian Personnel system to make my position permanent full-time. With the college expenses my retirement won’t keep up with the bills, so We decided that I would return to the workforce, at least until the Brat graduates! A local archaeologists from the Baptist University in Abilene has offered to let me keep my hand in at least on a part-time basis. Not my forte, but I guess I can learn more about Texas and Plains Indians, their culture and artifacts. Don’t know if I will ever be able to differentiate between Kiowa and Comanche flint work or pottery, but then it took awhile to learn the difference between Celtic, Roman commercial, and Roman fine dinnerware. Guess the learning curve won’t be so steep this time around. I guess you folks are stuck with me for the next few years, I’m gonna miss the “English Sunshine” (rain, rain, and more rain, interspersed with fog) , I will miss my many good British friends and the tremendous feeling of history that the Island is imbued with, but it will be nice to be home in hot and dry West Texas! – Heimdall the Watcher