Hope you are doing well, Pete! Life has been ok at my end. Built a S&G Night Heron this spring, took it out and loved it. No major paddling adventures last year, just a bunch of lake trip. Heading over to visit Malcolm next month. He said I could drink all the Guinness I want so Linda (my main squeeze these days) and I are taking him up on the offer. Linda also figures I need to cut my teeth on some overseas travel so this will be my first big trip away from home. Work is going well, car is still running, motorcycle is good, got a new Meade Telescope last year, the big kind...it's pretty good, spotted 4 of Jupiter's moons all in a row one night but didn't have a camera mount so I couldn't get a pic. A camera mount is on my list of must-haves. The sad news is that because of the St Thomas trip (Malcolm), I probably won't be paddling to Hudson Bay. I don't have enough $$$ in the bank to miss 4 unpaid weeks of work. This bugs me a heap but I will use the time to write the book, which I got back into since Jan 01. Damned arthritis or something is causing one of my knuckles to swell and hurt a lot. I have never injured it so I am not sure what is up with that. Could it be old age? Some days it really hurts, other days it seems normal. Gotta get to the doc on this soon cuz I dowanit to affect my paddling. That's about it for now. Hope to hear from you soon.

Robert N Pruden