Dear friends,

An old military saying goes “no plan survives the first contact with the enemy”.  I think I will modify it and say that no plan survives the first contact with reality.  In my case my plan was to fly back home and be back at my computer by the 27th of July.  I have had to make a rather dramatic change to this plan and now I will be driving home (about 2500 miles or 4000 kilometer).  God willing I will be home by Sunday the 30th.  Until then, the blog will be in “minimal service” and run by Scott and Herb.  I hope to go back to full normal on August 1st.

One more thing: I have to report that my latest summer appeal for support has been, well, pretty much a disaster, the worst one ever, for sure :-(  Maybe it is the weather, or you guys are all on holidays, or maybe there are not enough “hot crises” out there (and thank God for that!), but the fact is that this latest fund drive has been a failure.

Okay, life is life, there are good days and bad days, no big deal.  A specially heartfelt “thank you!” to those who did send their contributions – at a time of belt tightening every dollar makes an even bigger difference!

And no worries: I won’t cut back anything or use pop-up ads – one way or another, we will survive this tougher period :-)

So, I apologize for the longer than expected “relative down” time and I wish you all a wonderful summer.

Hugs and cheers,

The Saker

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