Last year's honeymoon cruise to the Yucatan exceeded my wildest expectations, so we decided we had to give it another shot, but a little later in the year once the garden was sound asleep.  This evening, we'll be taking the train south, then jumping aboard a cruise ship to drift through the Gulf of Mexico, explore Mayan ruins, and experience a Mayan steam lodge.  So, for all of those people who would usually call me on my birthday, please send me an email instead --- I'll be away from the phone and having a blast!

One of our readers --- Shannon --- kindly offered to mind the homestead while we're sunning ourselves in Mexico, and once I learned the sheer quantity of firepower he possesses, we couldn't turn him down.  Mark felt better about me announcing to the world that we'd be away from home once he saw Shannon's arsenal.  Don't have a heart attack, Mom, he's a nice guy despite the guns!  Single female readers, Shannon is available and a very hearty woodchopper --- very good farm-husband material.

The real point of this post (there's a point?) is to let you know that our internet access will be spotty over the next week and a half, so your comments might languish for a while in moderation.  We've saved up a bunch of fun posts to tide you over until we return to the homestead, but my crontab syntax needs a bit of work, and there's a chance my auto-posts just won't go through --- I apologize in advance if you have to go a day without the Walden Effect.  Please do keep commenting as usual --- I love coming home to tidbits of information from our loyal readers.  Have a great solstice!