SN:AFU

Some may be wondering what I've been up to and why haven't I been posting. Simple question and as simple an answer. The trouble is, after I give you the answer I'd have to kill you, so we won't go there.

Okay, just kidding. It hasn't been that much fun, but it's been real.

Most people are aware of Internet Explorer and Bill Gates' baby Windows. For some damn reason, neither of them likes me. (I wonder if it's cuz I write them some really nasty letters about the POS they sell?) Anyway, Mr. Gates' brainchild has been giving me fits by not opening any sites for more than three seconds before the page goes blank and I read, "Internet Explorer is unable to open this page". Gee. Really? Thanks, Bill, you dipshit. One of the letters to them was so nasty the next day the 'puter wouldn't even function for several hours. Once on the air it worked fine. (I guess no worker likes being told that if the writer was their boss they'd be fired for not doing their job and that their boss was going to hear about this situation.) I also told them I was going to write about this and am going to tell everyone I ever hear about buying a computer to get a Mac, 'cuz Windows not only sucks, it... sorry, gotta keep it clean.

There's been plenty of excitement on the web, and I'm certain most of you are not only aware of what's going on but are posting it- or someone else is writing your blogs- so I won't rehash the BS coming out of the District of Criminals or what the Dark Lord has been promulgating. (Needless to ask, but: You do have your insurance premiums paid up for the next ten years, right?)

On the home front, not a lot has changed : still waiting for summer to get here. I think news about Gorebal Warming is a few years premature to the northern hemisphere. Maybe twenty years too early, if not several thousand. At the moment, we're in a Mini Ice Age up here and everyone's suffering. Not only has it been cold, but the tundra is dry and fire danger is way up there for this time of year.

The garden isn't exactly a garden any longer, as are quite a few here. Frost in the second week of June kinda put the kibosh on things that grow green. Or rather, are supposed to. Tubers should be doing good, though.

Firewood has been growing in the yard- good thing, too, 'cuz I really think it's going to be a long cold winter, lots of snow. (Put BIG smiley face here 'cuz I hate hot weather!)

On the personal agenda, I received an Email from the regional director of Habitat for Humanity in the first week of May asking if I knew of anyone who wanted a summer job supervising crews on the area's Habitat homes. I didn't know of anyone and said so, told him if he couldn't find who he needed, to give me a call.

Two days before the deadline he Emailed and asked if I could do it. Since news has been the same since last November, I told him I could and that, in a nutshell, is what I've been up during the day. Ergo, the summer hasn't been a complete waste due to IE going tits-up for a while. Maybe it was fortuitous? (Or is the word serendipitous?)

Some of you have written and asked about my health, etc, and I deeply appreciate your concern. It's wonderful and warming to know there are people concerned about one's well-being. God bless and thank each and every one of you.

Hopefully IE is going to hold together long enough now to get a few more posts in before TSHTF.

Oh- I do have some interesting news...about my 'dream weapons' written of on the MNPrep blog... a loyal reader named Paul Emailed that if I was interested, he had a rifle I might like to look at. He described it and...yup: Shy got his 'dream rifle'. Marlin 94 in .357 caliber. She's a beauty, looks NIB though there was no box. It had a minor problem Paul told me he didn't like and was the reason he was selling it. But, 200 miles later and a quick trip to the Fleet Supply solved the problem. And, yes, Paul- it's shooting fine now. (VERY BIG SMILEY FACE HERE!) Thank you. Will be posting pix and field reports on it soon. From the initial firing I managed to keep a three inch circle at fifty yards off-hand with it, so it should be a shooter.

Again, thank each and every one of you for your patience and faithfulness.

Bless God, God bless.

Shy III