This weak’s offering, I thought, should be easy because of awl the raw material available from being away for six daze. OK, enough with weird words; just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Our story begins with me getting 2.5 hours of sleep, and Jan getting absolutely no sleep; prior to our leaving home at 3 a.m. to reach Rogue Valley International in Medford by 4 to take a 5 o’clock flight. Yikes: being out that early sure cuts down on traffic, but it’s rough on your insides. Such is the life of a small-business owner.

Yes, we planned and contrived to actually be away from a Monday morning until a Saturday night. This was accomplished with blood, sweat and tears -- especially by the “News” staff. Our goal was to spend slightly more than four days visiting our daughter, Vicki; her husband, Matt; and their daughters (our granddaughters!), Natalie and Ella, in Carlsbad on the San Diego County coast.

There’s not enough room here to recount all that we experienced. So for now I’ll just brush some highlights:

We landed at San Diego International/Lindbergh Field in a driving rainstorm with strong wind. Some welcome to San Diego. Still, it was mostly warm down south, although there was some rain almost every day. We were nonplussed, sort of, upon learning that a snow storm had dumped on Illinois Valley and environs while we were enjoying mostly Mediterranean weather.

Then when we returned, after feeling the warm rays of our native land, we were bombarded with Oregon rain and snow. Some welcome back.

About the only “bad” part of the trip was that on the second leg of returning, from Portland to Medford, our 2:30 p.m. flight didn’t take off until 5:10. Oh, well, it gave us time to sit together and read in the appropriate waiting area. And we got to purchase food and drink at Portland International, where the prices for captive audiences, as at all airports, are … um … higher than you’d pay elsewhere.

I don’t want to say that the food fees were extreme, but I had to donate a pint of blood to raise the money. Just kidding. It was only half a pint.

So we’re about caught up after being away. The cats and the dogs were purringly and pantingly (two words I just invented) happy to see us return. And that really is some welcome.