I remember you being an excellent blogger – and independent of the Bush administration, and the GOP Establishment. Perhaps they should pass a law, that bloggers like that are not allowed to change any of the above, on their sites. I think that Mr. Claybourn would get the maximum sentence.

It’s hard to keep up the blog update-rate, year after year after year, but we need you guys to do so. Please keep up the good work.

I too escort bugs outside, except spiders. I would shotgun them if I could. The only real fear I have ever felt has been spiders and when any of my children or grandchildren were hurt. I still get bees and wasps to land on my hand and take them outside. Snakes and I have a deal, don’t bother me, I won’t bother you, except for cottonmouth watermoccasins, they are too aggressive to be allowed to live in proximity to your loved ones. It is against the law to kill them where I live. I do and will anyway.

I own a genius IQ, but have managed to keep it hidden so well, even I don’t believe it.

I have completely healed broken bones in less than three weeks, but teeth which are made of the same stuff have a serious aversion to me, hence I have only a few. Go figure.

I went to college off and on for thirty years, but have no degrees. I could never stand the dumbing down necessary to “belong”. I truly do count my college hours as wasted although my last turn was at 4.0, in one class I had actually accrued more credit than supposedly was possible.

I taught myself enough engineering to outperform our entire company’s engineering staff. Boy, was that a mistake!

My mother graduated from college at 18, my father didn’t graduate from high school, but at the time he entered the Army Air Corps he had the highest IQ ever recorded in this country. He was a romantic. He wanted to be a romantic rogue, but reality got in the way.

I cry at sad movies and displays of courage. I am not ashamed, though my family is embarrassed by it.

I have been the friend that would go to the wall for a friend, but only ever had one, who is now deceased. He was a drunk and the smartest man I ever knew, bar none. He had a fourth grade formal education, and a PHD in “angles”. I miss him. We took some awful chances together and survived them all.

I like sweet movies, I’ve seen enough of the other side of life. I am consciously hanging onto naivete. I wish I were a cynic, instead of a skeptic. A cynic doesn’t hold hope for mankind’s better nature, a skeptic thinks it could be better, but he bets the other way because of the consistency of failures tell him the odds are against it. So, he wins more bets than he loses, but regrets and resents every single one.

I guess I had better stop now, I hate being maudlin. Too late, I know.

Bee stings are easy to deal with (I used to be a beekeper). The bee leaves the sting in you, and a little black venom sack (thoughtfully accompanied by a pumping mechanism. You scrape it out with a knife or, failing that, a credit card. Scraping gives a better chance of avoiding squeezing the venom sack. Get it out very quickly and you don’t even feel the sting. Get it out after it starts hurting and you get a mild ache for maybe five minutes. Works with ants, too.

Is bungee jumping on the 380th time still enough of a thrill to be worth the fee? I’ve never gone before.

I haven’t seen it THAT many times, but I would say dozens.