Here are a few pics from our Christmas Eve Reveillon. The last of my company left today, and this is my first chance to get into here and post. I hope to post again before the New Year … AND get to do a blog run! :o)

You can view the pictures inline, along with the explanations underneath, or you can click on the first picture, and click through them like a slide show …

Dr. Hans Engel just posted his first efforts since his stroke. Please go over there and support him … he’s made amazing progress in only a few days. It’s such a relief to have him back!

Thank you for all of the kind emails and inquiries … I thought I’d peek my head out of my hidey-hole and let everyone know that I am, indeed, still kicking.

We’ve had a rather endless seeming run of really unpleasant events lately, and it’s taken quite a bit of our attention.

Before the TNT fiasco had died down, we found ourselves doing battle against what seemed like a horde of ravaging looters. My daughter-in-law inadvertently captured the attention of a group of young people who have no respect for anyone – themselves included. They spent about a week shredding her (and us) to tiny bits across several different blogs/websites which are popular among the young and shallow. They had taken pictures of us from our blogs, and were using them as their ID’s … and discussing, among other things, our “sexual habits” with our pets. People had even begun to post messages using our names, in order to keep the pot bubbling. Toward the end of that week, the harassment had risen to the level of threats and stalking. Contacting those behind the various blogs and web sites had no effect whatsoever, and in fact, made things worse, in some cases. All the while maintaining “radio silence” on our end, we spent several days accumulating all of the information on what was going on, and compiling it onto a CD, with an explanatory cover letter. We sent that information by certified mail to those who own the IP addresses from which the attacks were coming, and to the hosting companies of the blogs/websites involved; then we sent copies of the same information to the local FBI offices of all of the states which were involved. I expect that it could be a while before we’re done with this mess, but now you know what I could only hint at while it was still actively in progress.

Concurrently, my Mother-in-law was also in the hospital, quite ill. She’s home now, but I’m concerned for her. She lets things go for far too long before she goes for help, and doesn’t communicate well with us about how she feels. While we’re up at camp, we don’t see her as often, so it’s hard for me to be able to tell how she’s really doing.

Before we were done with the above situation, my daughter ended up in the hospital with Crohn’s. All in all, she was in the hospital for two weeks, and two days. The original hospital sent her to Yale New Haven for surgery for three fistulas … however, the physicians there decided to not do the surgery, and sent her back to the first place. From what I understand, the surgery will still have to be done … but they want to wait as long as possible before doing it. I’m out of my league here, but I’m concerned about her condition being even more tenuous by the time they decide to do the surgery, since the medication they’re going to put her on will hamper her immune system.

A week ago today, my dear friend and confidant, Dr. Engel, vanished from the internet for the second time in a week. The first time, the problem had been with his computer and internet connection … and I had begun to suspect that the second time was simply a repeat of the first problem. By Tuesday, however, I was getting a bit worried … and I finally gave in to my concern, and began to try to call him. It took me several days to track him down. He had apparently been sick, but was feeling a bit better, and ready to go home. He spent one night at home, and before I could send him a “welcome home” email in the morning, I received one from him: he was ill again, but with something else. That was on Friday. Those of you who are praying types, please keep him in mind. If I’m able to, I’ll pass along whatever info I’m allowed.

Finally, in the last several days, I was becoming concerned with what was happening to blogsplot.net’s bandwidth. It had gone up by quite a few gigs in the last month, and I couldn’t understand where it was all going. I began to spend some time looking over the server’s log files, and discovered that several large music web sites in China had direct-linked to my music, and that a load of individuals, mostly from “MySpace,” had direct-linked to photos and graphics on my blog, and were using it as their backgrounds, and so on. So – whenever anyone visited their MySpace blog, it would steal my bandwidth. I plugged all of the leaks, but I can see that it’s going to be a full time job keeping them corked up! If you run across a song, or a graphic, that no longer works, refresh your page … it could be that I just changed the name, and your cache is accessing it at its old location. Please be patient with me while I put my thinking cap on and try to work out some more permanent solutions … without limiting what I can include on my blog.

There’s more news … including my chef son and I taking on a new educational escapade together … while I continue with my current education. I hope the hard drive between my ears doesn’t fill up … *blink!*

Those of you who have emailed me – even as far back as a month ago – if I still haven’t responded, don’t give up on me. Your email is still in my inbox, and I’m still picking away at the unanswered emails. There are a few conversations I was engaged in with various people … I haven’t forgotten you either.

I’m going to post again before the day is over … on a more cheerful note. Someone sent me a free sample of something I seriously enjoyed … and all I have to do is tell everyone about it. Works for me! ;o)

We were gone all day today – up in Portland, meeting with some old friends. It was quite late when I finally got home, and booted up my computer.

As soon as I did, my recently installed Skype program began to beep at me. It was my daughter. My heart skipped a beat …

A week ago last Monday, she was admitted to a hospital in Groton, Connecticut – by emergency. She had been sick for a long time, and her husband finally dragged her to the ED. They immediately admitted her. She went through a week of labs, scans and all sorts of tests … met quite a few different doctors … and finally was told that she’s developed three fistulas because of her Crohn’s disease. One from one part of her large intestine to another, one into her bladder, and one into her vagina. She is very, very sick.

She had lost a lot of weight because of the Crohn’s, but is apparently swelling up like a balloon because of medication she’s been given.

She told me: “Moof … they don’t think I’m a ‘seeker‘ anymore … ”

I nearly cried.

They decided not to do the surgery at the hospital she was in, and late today, they transported her to Yale New Haven hospital, where I assume she will have surgery in the next day or two.

Her illness isn’t all she’s going through right now … as some of you know. This is an extremely difficult period for her.

Those of you who are the praying type – please, raise a few for her. She afraid, but still trying so hard to be cheerful, and accepting of whatever she’s being told, and is being done to her. Do you ever really take this sort of thing in stride? I wonder what sort of emotional violence she’s doing to herself in order to maintain her calm exterior …

I will make an update when I get more information on what’s happening.

By the way – the little pictures of the moofs in the top right corner were drawn by my daughter … she’s the creator of “moofs,” and is the one who nicknamed me Moof many many years ago.

We’re getting a lot of questions about what’s going on with Sarah and all of her blogs … we’re going to have to ask all of you to be patient for now, because we really can’t get into it publicly until we’re sure it’s OK to do so. There are bad things going on in other parts of the net, and we’re observing a temporary “radio silence.”

I promise that we’ll spill the beans as soon as we’re allowed.