When I was in college, one of my crowd was an aspiring jazz guitarist of considerable talent. And one of his guitar heroes was Joe Pass. Okay, I'm a few decades in coming around to my friend's way of thinking, but here's a video that shows why Pass is so revered. The fact that he's playing with the redoubtable Oscar Peterson is mere icing on the cake.

In the last two weeks, two people have told me that I really should post to the blog more often. So I guess it must be time for an update, even though I don't have much to report, and what there is is probably insubstantial if you're sitting on the other side of the screen reading.

For example, my mother has been in and out of the hospital again, draining time and energy. She's okay for now, thanks, with specialist appointments coming up to see if they can figure out what is causing these spells of hers.

The Darkest Month is over, but I don't know if my mood has changed any. My wife had me taking B Vitamin Complex, saying it might boost my mood. I didn't notice any difference, so I quit taking them. She says she noticed a difference. I started taking them again. Then we ran out. I still feel about the same as I did when this whole enterprise started.

Maybe I should save this for the other blog I never update, but a family of raccoons has again moved nearby, making attempts to pillage the goat and chicken feed, the chicken eggs, and the chickens themselves (relax, the chooks are okay, just so frightened they want to live on our front porch). The racs don't like the layer mash, which has brewer's waste in it (kind of beery smelling), but they go for the sweet feet and chicken scratch. Picked up a new set of traps at Tractor Supply over the weekend. Have capped two young racs since, and will have to dispose of a third when I get home from work tonight. If it goes like it did last year, I'll run out of the kids and pretty soon momma will blunder into the trap.

If it hasn't been finished already - I don't keep count, and just check every now and then - I'm about to complete my 50th song. Still no progress on recording it or the 49 that came before, and no progress playing out. Between mom and the raccoons, where's the time?

My son and daughter are having adventures. Son is being laid off with two months' notice by the giant corporation he works for. They're giving a generous severance and retraining package, so he's changing career course while he's still young enough for his bones to bend. Daughter is still in Russia and faced getting run out a couple of times due to changes in their Visa policy. So recently she had to step out of the country long enough to get her Visa stamped, and now everything should be spinning in its bureaucratic groove. I'd tell you more, but she has been adroitly chronicling her adventures here.

I have a work colleague who thinks I should turn one of my novels into a graphic novel. I'm poking at that idea with a sharp pencil.

Meantime, the big project on the plate is this year's Vacation Bible School adventure, which will feature a wild west theme. I haven't told any of the principals at church this, because they won't understand it, but I don't have anything on paper yet. That's because I've been working on it in my head. I'll start typing hopefully soon, with an eye toward having a finished script at the end of April/beginning of May, Mom and Raccoons permitting.

Finally there is that novel that needs a final draft and that play that needs another draft. Sheesh, you look at all of the above and tell me when that is going to happen.

So there's the update. Told you it wasn't much. Y'all sure you want more frequent updates?