Y’all miss me?  Forget about me?  Go into some sort of Bear Feed-less coma without my random stupidity?  I mean, holy crumbs its nearly been three weeks since my last post — and that was just me rambling about sweeping a few floors.  That after I did really well of keeping up to about 1 or 2 posts a week in 2017.  So what happened you ask?  Was there nothing blog worthy that came around?  Well, no … I mean, not news bending awesome blog worthy things but I wasn’t short of things to write about.

I was just short of time.

I know, everyone gets busy, but this has been literally insane.  An insane January.  Insanuary.  Get it?

It starts with work – and we are hitting some critical times right now.  Our next Mars Rover (MARS 2020) is deep into it’s build mode; and the next big mission the Europa Clipper is just starting up.  At the same time people are needing the services of my group to get the supplies up and approved.  Tie that to the fact that we are a little understaffed – in the midst of training new personnel – and having a short number of people trained in one area, I am getting hammered.  In comparison – I did 44 audits in all of 2016, which in my 10 years of auditing came one short of beating my record for a year.  In January, I have performed or am scheduled to perform 8 audits – which is a pace of 96 audits!  Heck, the amount of audits I am scheduled to do this month for JPL is almost as many as I did for BP Alaska over my 2 years of employment.

Then there was slipping in a day back home in Prairie du Chien, WI (53821).  By slipping in a day, I mean figuratively & literally slipping in.  While in Iowa (doing an audit of course), I planned a day to run up and meet with kids from my old high school, maybe give a bit of a NASA / JPL spiel.  But then freezing rain came, and they canceled school .. and I slipped back to a chilly airplane ride home.

Plus I entered a brave new world of judging winter guard.  You loyal Bear Feeders may know that I judge marching bands during the fall band season.  Well, I thought it was time for a new challenge and to learn new things.  So I joined a group that will train me on indoor color guard competitions held in February, March, April.  It kicked off with about 10 hours of on-line training, then about 12 hours of a clinic in Irvine.  Later next month, I’ll being trailing … where I am at a show judging but only for other judges to tell me that I am not good at it.  No seriously … 20 years of fall band, and after one clinic I am saying “am I at all qualified to do this?”

Plus I joined a writing critique group – we get together every two weeks and discuss each other’s stories.  Which takes time to read their stuff and prepare my own.

Plus I went to the Santa Anita horse track, not once but twice … though only once was it cool.

Plus it got cold, plus it got hot, plus I didn’t get in any of those mud slides so quit asking, plus I am not succeeding from California so quit asking that too, plus I am at work today even though it is my regularly day off, plus I need a haircut.

And that doesn’t even mention Auggie the Doggie.

So this month has been insane.   This month will continue to be insane.  February maybe insane too.  But I am going to keep trying to post.  Not for you guys … I mean, I know you Bear Feeders well enough to know I don’t love all of you, or even like some of you.  But I do love the attention, so … be patient … sooner or later I will post again just so you lather me with just that.