It has been quite some time since I have done anything on this web log and I have let it languish because of several things.

1. While we were in Washington State, a hiker, a woman in her early fifties and wearing a pink jacket was shot to death by a fourteen year old hunter; a boy who mistook her for a bear. The boy had been dropped off by his grandfather who planned to return later to pick up the boy.  

The senselessness of this whole thing really got me down.  I’m neither pro nor anti gun. I don’t own one but I don’t have any objections to other people having guns. It just took me a while to get the whole terrible thing out of my mind. Terrible things happen to good people all the time and I don’t know why this one affected me the way it did. 

2. The political climate that we’re in today. There are so many things that we could talk about in this arena but this isn’t that kind of web log. I also don’t feel that I’m qualified to offer opinions on the subject.   

3. There are now almost 4 million web logs on this provider alone. When I joined up a couple of years ago, there were a shade less than a million.  They all have something to say and much of it is useless banter and I don’t want to add to it. In the last few days, I have also seen some of the most vile, vitriolic attacks by bloggers on Sara Palin and her family. I don’t know if she is a good candidate or not but I do know these people are kooks and in some cases, perverts but still the attacks made me sick to my stomach. I was ready to give up the whole idea of blogging altogether. I didn’t really want to be included in being associated with them and I still don’t.

I was pleased when Barack Obama said that families are off limits.  He was very gracious.  

4. I have also been busy with getting a second book ready to go. The book, ‘Good Times and Bad’ is at the publishers now and I now have a little bit of time to think about working on this weblog.  This book is somewhat like the first one although I can see changes in the way that I write.  There was a lot more thought went into this book and I worry that maybe I spent too much time worrying about what went into it and not enough time making it entertaining.   I read sometime back that writing is a very lonely occupation and I have found out that it is. I have also found that it’s not something that a person wracked with self doubt should be doing.  Not that I’m that person or anything.