Well, it finally happened. I will no longer be posting on this site. I mentioned previously that I would start posting on both my site and Facebook to gain a little more readership. I have had a love/hate relationship for a while now. I have made my profile inactive twice and deleted it and started over once. I now use Google+ and Twitter almost exclusively when it comes to social media. As a result, I am directing you to follow me on Google+. It is quicker and easier to make a post about an article, or just some random thoughts. Lately, I have been writing a few paragraphs for each article I post, always forgetting I have this site.

This site will stay up and running so that I maintain some sort of non-social media presence. However, I asking you to join me on Google+ if you want to continue hearing about the Ramblings and Meanderings That Make Up My Life.

As is obvious by the publish dates on this site I haven't been doing much with it recently. However, I am hoping to change that. On Facebook I would usually post one or two articles a day about something that I found interesting, humorous, that pissed me off, or a combination of the above. Well, I recently deleted my Facebook account and need an outlet for that. Since I have more followers on Twitter (where I will be promoting my posts) than I did on Facebook I figured would start posting the articles on my site. It will take a little more time, but at least I will still be able to share. These new items will be under the category of "News" vs most of my posts being under the term "Blog".

I will probably start posting a story or two each day next week. Hopefully I'll hit a nerve with someone and spark some discussion.

I wanted to take the time to reiterate that Halloween is not an evil holiday despite what Jack Chick or some of the mainstream media might say. In an effort to try to promote that message an organization called Halloween Army was formed to encourage the spreading of a positive message about Halloween. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I feel it is important to help create fun and positive Halloween memories for children. I have this belief for two reasons. 1) The holiday was created for children as a reaction to mischief nights that occurred in the first half of the 20th Century. Children need this one day a year where "acting out" is okay. In a society where children are being faced with, and being asked to make adult decisions earlier and earlier it is important to still have this child focused holiday. 2)Children who have positive experiences with Halloween grow-up to be adults who have positive views about Halloween. I try to do my part each year with my Halloween display. Based on the reactions I get from the kids each year once I start setting it up I think it is working. Since I doubt there are any young ones who read this site, my message today is meant for adults. The best way that I know how to do that is to share the high level history of Halloween published by Halloween Army. The below information has been republished with permission

If you have been following my Twitter account or are friends with me on Facebook over the last 3 months then you know that I have been taking care of an adult outdoor stray cat and most recently a stray kitten. I started taking care of Buddy (the adult stray) in July. After about a month of feeding him it was obvious to me that I had become his primary food source. In any other year I probably would have decided to take him in as my own. However, with the arrival of a new baby just weeks away I didn't want put any more stress on my current pets, or have another pet that I would have to watch when dealing with a newborn. As a result, I started thinking about Buddy's options for the upcoming winter even though it was still in the mid to high 90's in my area.

At first I looked at dog houses and realized that most of them were too big to help retain the body heat of a cat. Then I started finding DIY winter cat shelters. During that search I came across the Alley Cat Allies site, the originator of Feral Cat Day. On their site I found a wealth of resources on how to care for stray and feral cats. One thing I noticed that they focussed on was Trap, Neuter, and Return or "TNR." Raising awareness about the TNR initiative is one of the main goals of National Feral Cat Day.