My son and his spouse were planning a trip to Africa to adopt a small child in an orphanage. He left me with instructions to access several blogs explaining the experiences of other people who had also gone to that far away continent for adoptions. Then my son and spouse set off on their momentous journey. Mrs T and I were left "babysitting" our first grandson pictured below....
Looking at the blogs I had a "I can do this moment." The rest is history as they say. The nature blog Troutbirder followed. My original goal was to provide a weekly update, to my far away son, of his father's outdoor activities. Later, when I also discovered this "hobby" was a great way to meet fun and interesting people, that goal broadened to include stories (mostly true) that might bring a smile to their faces. I hope I've succeeded. Much later, I added a second blog, Troutbirder II to be a catchall for book and movie reviews, some bad jokes, the occasional rant, and other odds and ends.
Now as we all learn passing through the seasons of our lives it becomes time to adapt. I don't do a lot of things involving athletics, exploring nature, fishing hunting skiing, canoeing the Canadian wilderness and even walking my dog 5 miles while doing photography anymore. Yikes that was an ugly long sentence. I'm sure you got the idea early on. And now I'm good sitting in my recliner watching my bird feeder, taking Miss Lily the GSD for short walks, always returning to my lifetime habit of reading and reading.....
So this is not an announcement of my finally giving up blogging or worse yet, switching to Facebook or god forbid Trumps Twitter platform. It's just less adventures in nature an towards a more gentle switch to reminiscences and other memoirs. Folktales (a.k.a.) fishing and hunting stories and bad jokes will continue. I hope you stick with me and enjoy. :)
Below Troutbirder in his new adventure venue with Simba and lots of good books close by....:)
So this is not an announcement of my finally giving up blogging or worse yet, switching to Facebook or god forbid Trumps Twitter platform. It's just less adventures in nature an towards a more gentle switch to reminiscences and other memoirs. Folktales (a.k.a.) fishing and hunting stories and bad jokes will continue. I hope you stick with me and enjoy. :)
Below Troutbirder in his new adventure venue with Simba and lots of good books close by....:)
Good luck on your new venture. sometimes we have to make a big change to get out of the rut.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do will be enjoyable to your readers. You always have something interesting to say. I love the photograph of you and Simba, who is so like my Charlie. It's the colour, you know.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sticking with the blog world, TB. Yours is one of my favorite places to visit and you've turned me on to dozens of wonderful books! Almost ten years of blogging and you're just getting started. :-)
ReplyDeletewhen i put the back down I eventually sleep LOL
ReplyDeleteYou had me worried for a bit but glad you are only stating change, not stopping. I started a year later than you and while I have scaled back, can't imagine not doing it. Will keep looking for your posts.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the new stories!! I have been blogging nearly as long as you and I find that my focus has shifted over the years as well. I think I am more boring now, but that's okay. Boring is good sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHi Mr T and Good Morning to you from Seattle. I thoroughly enjoyed this history of how you encountered the blogosphere and I feel fortunate to have found “Troutbirder.” I am going to guess that I’m just about the same age as yourself, but one thing I can say for sure is that you are right on about life and passing through the seasons. I am heartened to hear that you are not bowing out of this blogging hobby. I think you will smile to find that of all this stuff on the internet, the only thing that really gives me joy is blogging and I’m struggling with when to end my accounts at Twitter and Facebook. Those things really don’t bring much, if any, joy to me. Just lately I’m seeing things in the “real” news about some of the founders of social media sites now saying how sorry they are to have started something they think has the potential to harm society as we know it. Well, enough from me on all this. Enjoy that chair, the view of the birdfeeder, and Simba. Take good care, be well, and best of the season wishes to you and Mrs T. John
ReplyDeleteHi Troutbirder - interesting to read how you started out on the blogging lark - which is enormously educating ... as we both found out. Good for you and so glad you're not giving up - Happy Christmas time with family and friends ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteBlogs morph over time and sometimes circle back. Carry on in whatever direction seems appropriate to you.
ReplyDeleteHi! I rarely comment on any blogs these days, and I read through a feed reader, so when I read your blog, it probably doesn't show up in stats. But the feed reader tells me when you post, so I usually read at least once/week. So just commenting so that you know you are appreciated. ❤ I haven't touched my blogs in years. Just too much to do, or the blue chair (lazy boy is my friend)calls.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you began your blog adventure! Merry Christmas to you and Mrs T :) You are NOT alone in the aging...pills...pain...doctors offices seem to fill our days. I feel blessed when we don't see a Dr for a whole week :)
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about you and remember when you first started :-). I have moved on from blogging but may pick it back up again. It's just that I'm now so used to living in Tennessee that nothing seems interesting here anymore. I'm so glad you're still writing!
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