Back in the Saddle Again

I apologize for the lack of action on the blog of late. While I have been quiet, all is well. My hiatus has been partially self-imposed and partially dictated by life.

Every summer, I take a few weeks off to rest and recharge. I may be doing things but I intentionally step away from the blog for a while. I think this is important as I never want the blog to feel like a job. Sometimes, regardless of how much I tell myself there isn’t, I feel pressure to get “something” out there on the site at least once a week. That feeling can sneak in even if I don’t have any quality content to post or on which to comment. To combat this, I simply force myself to step away from time to time.

I haven’t been completely idle, however, as I did recently spend a week in “Area X,” the NAWAC’s main area of study. I left immediately upon finishing up school for the year and spent my first week of summer attempting to gather evidence to help in the documentation of a species of North American ape. Things along those lines did not go well as a major rain event kept me and my team pinned down for much of our time in X. The area is very beautiful, however, and despite a lack of ape activity and evidence on this particular trip, I never consider getting back to nature a waste of time. Area X is wild, beautiful and isolated, exactly what I need after a long school year.

On top of all of that, my oldest daughter is now engaged to be married and plans for a wedding next summer are in full swing. While I do not have much of a say in most of the planning, that is the realm of my daughter and wife, I do need to be around to write most of the checks. Any Dads out there who have had daughters get married know exactly what I’m talking about. It is a joyful time, though, as my daughter’s fiancé is a terrific young man. He loves the outdoors and even has an interest in the bigfoot phenomenon. Who could ask for more, right?

I will be getting back to posting more regularly now that I’m home and rested up a bit. I’ve got some pretty good topics coming up that I want to discuss and on which I want to give my two cents. Thank you all for hanging in there with me.

More soon…