Happy June and Happy Summer, y’all —

Here in the Midwest, on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri, June is the “Early Introduction to Summer” month. This is when all of the new summer activities are still exciting and fun before the inevitable heat and humidity of August wear you down. But we won’t go on about that stuff yet.

Right now, it is an exciting time, with June unquestionably the month of baby deer.

Birds begin to raise their young; baby squirrels and bunnies venture out of nests for the first time; there are summer barbeques, trips to the beach, water balloons, toasting marshmallows over a campfire, charging down the backyard slippy slide, visits to the park, and so much more.

But now, changing the topic to address the obvious for those who follow along here regularly— it has been a minute, as they say. Once again, I have been a few months away from writing following yet another extensive spinal surgery, for which I sincerely apologize to faithful followers. This surgery was extensive, from top to bottom, with the resultant recovery and rehab a much longer and slower hill to climb back up to get going again.

But more about that in a minute.  We have a lot of catching up to do.

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