Almost literally. I lost my footing and fell on Thursday, breaking my fall with my left arm, but wrenching my wrist badly enough that my arm is now all wrapped up in whole cloth from elbow to near finger tips. The general assessment is that it will be a week before it comes off. The cast, not the arm. I can type with one hand, but it’s not fun, especially when I need a capital letter every now and then. So, I’m sorry to say, taking a break is the operative term. Except for an occasional update, I’m sure, I’ll see you on the other side.

   The first post on this blog was 13 years ago today. That seems like a long time ago, and yet it seems like yesterday.

   Here’s the link: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=6

   Since WordPress itself has changed over the years, I decided to do some very minor re-formatting, otherwise all is the same as it was 13 years ago.

   Since than there have been 7,281 posts, 39,704 comments approved, and 8,956,901 spam comments foiled.

   Thanks to all who’ve stopped by, left comments, and even many of you who have contributed. I couldn’t have done this without you!

               MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

   I’m doing better every day. Haven’t used OxyContin since I was in the hospital. Had to use a walker for about a week, but have been getting around with a cane for most of the past few days. Lots of nurses and various therapists have been stopping by, and I’ve been doing the exercises they’ve given me to do, and that has helped a lot, I’m sure. My daughter Sarah leaves for home in Illinois tomorrow, and I have followup visit with my doctor on Monday, but right now, I’m doing just fine.

Back home again and with a new hip. 27 hours between getting to the hospital and leaving just two hours ago. Amazing!

Thanks for all of the good wishes and the good advice, all very much appreciated!

   I have several posts that I could have chosen from to upload today, but there’s been too much to plan ahead for, and I’ve simply run out of time. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at nine. I’m not looking forward to rehab, but as I’ve told some of you already, I’ve gone as far with this hip as I possibly could.

   I don’t know when I’ll be back at full blogging strength again, but look for short updates here every once in a while. As soon as I can!

If I’m reading Mr. Google correctly, and several sites are telling me the same thing, I’m at Stage Three of the cold I’m suffering through now. No details.

This is the first cold or similar illness that I’ve had in 20 years, and I can tell you, I don’t like it one bit. I’m doing everything all those websites say to do, but they also say that the best thing to do is to rest as much as possible and= let the cold take its course.

So, no more trying to fight my way through it. I’m going to take a few days off from the blog. (If you saw how many typos I’ve made in just typing up these three paragraphs you’d know exactly what I mean.) I’ll be back as soon as I can!