I just took two years off to try my hand at minor league baseball. Oh, wait. That wasn’t me, that was some other guy. I’ve been here all along, still going out regularly, looking for plants and critters and photographing them, just not writing anything. Along with my usual proclivity towards laziness and procrastination, I’ve had to deal with an ongoing series of health problems—I won’t bore you with the details, but highlights included gallbladder surgery, stomach ulcers with Barrett’s Esophagus and a bout with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Bottom line, I haven’t felt very good for a while, I always feel like I’m writing in a vacuum and I simply didn’t want to write, mainly because I was having trouble finding anything that seemed worthwhile to say. I lost my voice.
My enthusiasm returned a while back, but the sheer inertia of not having written anything for so long kept me from posting anything. This message in particular, the one where I actually climb back from the safety of limbo, was a real stumbling block. But here it is, out of the way now and I’m going to try this process again. I have nine or ten posts already written and “in the bag,” waiting to be published. I’ll schedule them to appear periodically—I haven’t decided on the particular schedule yet—over the next few weeks, using them to fill in when I don’t produce any new content.
And so I offer you a hearty “Heidy-ho, Neighbor,” welcome back and please, please, please let me have some feedback. Tell me “Hey,” that you think crayfish are totally awesome too or that I suck, I don’t care. Just let me know you’re out there.
Actually, don’t tell me I suck, I’m kinda delicate and that would likely hurt my feelings. 
Till next time, Happy Independence Day!
