Dear Fans, Friends, Fiends, Foes and Family,

I will likely be taking down the picture site with the Plogger software and start using Coppermine, which has better spam protection, in fact I have already done it and the new URL for the photo gallery is http://herbthiel.com/coppermine/

 Last weekend was our church’s annual Father and Son Campout and it was really great.  Ben brought Trent and three of the younger boys from the church whose fathers either couldn’t or wouldn’t bring them.  You don’t have to be a member of our church to come along and nobody gets all preachy at people, but the one man is a hardworking man and also very, exceptionally shy.  I don’t know what the other one’s problem was.  Perhaps he’s afraid that, even though no one would preach to him or get after him to get back into church, his own conscience might.

 Anyway, it is always a lot of fun and this year was even greater because Ben and Trent and these few of my Sunday School friends were there.  I have been teaching so long that many of the dads are people I have known and liked since they were in my class themselves.  It’s a fine time had by all, with Ben’s home-made foam swords and boys and young men testing their skill and strength, the camaraderie of a group of men and the beauty of the Pike National Forest.  It’s this beauty I want to talk about and where the stupidity comes in.

Dear Fans, Friends, Fiends and Foes,

Before we get too far I must introduce you to my daughter-in-law, Isabel, who has taken up the art of blogging.  See her very family-friendly site at http://izaultrasounddreamer.blogspot.com .  She has nagged encouraged me to get myself in gear and actually write to all of you on a much more regular basis.  She pointed out what I had said that I need to just write something all the time, even if it is short and that it’s better to put something out here than nothing at all.

To start off with, I would like to make a special note to