Last Friday, January 20, marked the tenth anniversary of blogging for me. It all began on Live Journal and progressed to the on-line magazine you now read.

I began blogging after reading a number of others. Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, was and is the premier blogger for the material I enjoyed reading. But the writings of a Long Island mom with close ties to the New York City Fire Department struck a chord in my heart and provoked my brain. Michele Catalano was writing about the things I wanted to write about, and she was good. Really good.

The aftermath of the murders committed on September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed, turned me into a blogger. Michele, my “blogmother”, gave me the courage to write. Her pain and anger, and the terrible loss she felt, came through in her work and it pushed me to express myself.

Michele’s blogging has evolved. Her children have grown. Her written work these days is about the things she loves, music, sports and cars. Sites like A Small Victory and Command Post have come and gone, but they affected their times in many ways. Michele is a hero from an era where we badly needed heroes.

As my on-line writing is seen in more venues, this magazine, this blog, will be the core. I hope I can continue to be honest, trustworthy and, most of all, write about what I care about for a long time.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

2011 was a year full of middle age, many of the aches and pains of an active youth without the need to actually play to earn them. Still, the lovely wife and I are grateful for our health and our lives with our kitties.

The lovely wife’s physicians continue to be pleased with her health. The heart specialist and the diabetic eye doc both blessed her for another year. Her primary car MD is also very pleased with all her numbers.

My freelance writing career is slowly improving. With the connection to Yahoo!, I’m seeing a few pieces earn some money. The military connection has brought me an additional writing opportunity that pays well but it’s only an occasional assignment.

Next year is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. There will be a lot of activities in honor of that up and down the East Coast and along the eastern Great Lakes. The Canadians are investing a great deal of money, too, and their side of the lakes will also have some great shows. If you can make one of the events on either side of the border, it should be very entertaining.

Merlin and Arthur are 9 and very mellow these days. Arthur may even find himself transformed into a lap kitty. He’s fighting it but it feels soooo good.

At 7, Pebbles is running the house. It’s a hectic life, running from window to window, defending the house from squirrels and rabbits. She is also busy keeping track of the level of dry food in the cat dish.

Sarah is our lap kitty. Age 5 and about 20 pounds, she is continuing to become more tolerant of the other cats. She still requires grooming by people since she’s too fat to reach everywhere. Occasionally trouble, she melts you with her big blue eyes when she climbs on your lap.

God bless all of you this Christmas and for the New Year.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

2010 was a very uneventful year. Not complaining, though it makes an annual newsletter tough to write.

The lovely wife’s health remains stable. Blood sugar, eye sight, heart all under control with no further deterioration. She keeps busy around the house and we try to get out once a week. The local Chinese buffet is our “date”.

She has the decorations all out and the presents all wrapped. That must mean it’s time for her to make Christmas candy and bake Christmas cookies.

Chuck has continued his budding writing career. Every month a little more income, though still more pin money than salary. One of his outlets was bought by Yahoo so his work is being seen on that major web portal now.

Chuck dug the camera out of the dust and took some senior portraits. An old friend asked and he would not refuse. He had a lot of fun and the pictures turned out great.

The four cats are all well, now. Three of the four had us back and forth to the vet for a while over the last twelve months. Sarah is still fat. A course of antibiotics seems to have fixed part of her “littler training” issues which is a great relief. Arthur is regaining some of his lost weight after some medicine to boost his appetite. And Merlin has recovered from a fighting injury to his eye which got infected but is now better. Only Pebbles has not been to the vet for an emergency, though her nerves are shot from all the ins and outs of the other kitties.

Not much new here. We hope you and yours are all well and happy. God bless all of you this Christmas and for the New Year.

Here are several other sites where we’ve written content. Most of it is unique to that site and all of it helps keep food on the table.

Paid a visit to Dr. Cutie this morning. Noticed late last week that some scratches from yard work seems to be inflamed, as well as a nasty bug bite. Over the weekend they got large, blotchy, red and the itching was nearly unbearable. Got an appointment for this morning.

Click on the image for a larger view.

I have a smaller outbreak on my wrist but this is the big one. The largest of the splotches used to be two tiny, 1-2 mm, scratches that almost looked like a snake bit. The closest blotch to that might have been a bug bits. God knows where the others came from.

I noticed the injuries on my wrist first. Again, two scratches, and a definite bug bite. I slapped the biting insect away while half asleep.

Dr. Cutie sent an Rx in for a cortisone ointment and I’ll grab it later today. Lanicane was no help at all, BTW.

Lost another 2 pounds since I began working out. BP was something like 110/60. That is progress due solely to the treadmill at the YMCA.