Mosquitoes see in the daytime, too.

Have you ever had a weekend when you looked forward to work just so you could get a little rest?

Spending virtually the entire weekend under the sun was rejuvenating ... and as I crawled out of my chair Sunday night to go to bed, my body let me know it was going to be on strike for the forseeable future. Fulfilled exhaustion.

For Laura, there's no question it was exactly what she needed. Sunshine has always been her way of "charging her batteries." Add to that getting her toes into saltwater, and it was all but magical.

The fishing Saturday at Eddie Creek was good, it was just that the catching wasn't superior. I watched carefully for the signs of starving fish -- signs that never materialized. I never put a line in, choosing instead to sit in a bag chair and move as little as possible, trying to look like a shrub so the mosquitoes couldn't target my outline.

As I sat there with the sweat rolling down, I tried to imagine what their little compound eyes could really make out. Aren't they, after all, nighttime insects? Perhaps they're relatively blind in the full blazing light of August sunshine.

I guess no one ever told them that. I was saved by the slight breeze, a liberal application of Deet, and a cooler of ice by my chair. I think the cigar smoke helped a bit, too.

This was the end of Laura's first full week of teaching after summer break -- back to school facing a total of about 130 new eighth-graders.

Though she has talked about moving the surgery up, in the end her strategy hasn't changed. She'll get the students excited about their new schedule with her as their Physical Science teacher, then disappear briefly for the surgery. The lesson plans for the substitute have been prepared. It could be a relatively short recovery if all goes well and sentinel nodes are clear.

Clear sentinels, no chemo, back to teaching. That's the plan.

But, you shouldn't think the exertion of Saturday's fishing was solely responsible for my exhausted weekend. Sunday morning church started us off brilliantly, but then the rest of the day was spent getting things done around the house, like mowing the lawn.

My fellow Floridians, we are so blessed to have the summertime rainstorms to make the grass grow! Just keep telling yourself that.