The Adventurist: Taking A Much Needed Break

Many of my daily readers may have noticed that my posts have been a bit sporadic over the past couple of weeks.  This is due, in a large part, from a very emotional month both on here and in my personal life.  I apologize, but sometimes that’s the way life goes.

Brief Rundown–

August 1st, news breaks that there has been a terrible climbing accident on K2.  I follow this story as it unfolds.  In the process, my dog runs away.  I know.  That was a bit random.  My family mourns the loss of our loving dog, everyone’s in tears, then we get a phonecall that the local Humane Shelter had picked up our pooch for loitering.  After our $50 bailout, everyone was happy again.

The dog comes home, but right away he isn’t acting right.  He won’t eat.  If he does, he throws up.  We watched him for a couple of days-still not eating, but puking.  We take him to the vet, get some tests ran, and sadly find out that he has acute kidney failure.  There was nothing we could do.

Most people will say that a dog is just an animal, but we all know how attached we can get to an animal.  My wife and I recieved this dog a week after we got together and he was just always a part of our family.  It was heartbreaking to watch my family and see them suffer, it was harder to see the dog wither away.

Most of you don’t know me on a personal level.  To an extent, that is good.  If you did know me, then you would also know that I am the type of guy that would wreck my truck to dodge hitting a frog hopping across the road.  (True story, but it was a near wreck.  Luckily, I corrected in time and missed the frog).  I feel it is not my place to take a life, no matter how small.  This put me in quite a predicament.  My dog was clearly suffering.  I know I made the right choice in having him euthanized, but emotionally it still lingers.  I KNOW!  IT IS ONLY A FRIGGIN’ DOG!!

Right after that ordeal, it was time to pack up my oldest daughter for college.  She is attending the University of Evansville, for Biology, with every intention of becoming a doctor.  My house quickly shrunk from 5 members (including the dog) to three.  My wife was crying, and without adding to much emphasis, I was, too.

To make a long story short, I am going to take some time, not yet determined, to clear my head of some of this turmoil and reevaluate what I am doing.  I need to play the good husband and be there.  Quick changes are never easy, but I want to make sure that I am there for my family and not preoccupied with making sure I have 3 posts up a day on my blog.  The Adventurist comes second fiddle in my band.

To my readers, I will be back, hopefully in a few days.  While I am taking some time away from here, I might try catching up on a couple of other projects in my free time–including U.S. Outdoors Today, and our newly launched forums.  So, I will be away, but not totally…

I appreciate you stopping by, and check back in, I will be back up and going shortly.  (hopefully, a bit more emotionally stable).  In the meantime, check out some of the links in my sidebar, or visit The Adventure Blog for the latest in adventure news updates.  I know Kraig will appreciate it.  I will still be checking my emails and keeping an eye on things, so don’t be surprised if something big happens, that I may make an update-other than that, I am going to enjoy my time off with my family and wish all of you a safe Labor Day weekend.