Change is Coming to the Ramble

 

by Pa Rock

Tired Old Typist

On November 8, 2007, I was sitting around my lonely apartment in Goodyear, Arizona, surfing the internet when I came across some blogs.  I had written a lot over the years, and had things published in a few less-well-known magazines and small newspapers, and I had quite a pile of writing that I just dragged along with each move.    As I read those blogs, I saw them as a way to begin storing all of my accumulated writings in one place.

That night I wrote a piece about the young man who was my favored candidate for the following year's presidential race.  It was titled simply "Obama '08!"  After completing the short piece, I decided that I would learn how to post it as a blog entry.  Thirty minutes or so later, "Pa Rock's Ramble" was born.  One year to the day after that initial posting, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States!

The name of the blog came from the name that my oldest grandchild, Boone, had given me - "Pa Rock" - because he lived in close proximity to his other grandfather whom he called "Pa."  Boone was eight when I began this effort, and he has now recently turned twenty-three.  At the time I began writing The Ramble, I had two grandchildren - and now I have six, and the youngest one will soon be six-years-old.

The Ramble was not intended to become a daily effort, but it quickly evolved into just that.  I used it to post all of my old writing that I wanted saved, covered a lot of politics (including commentary on four individuals who served as President of the United States since that first effort was published in November of 2007), posted reviews of books that I read and enjoyed, did many travel pieces - and posted from places like Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Japan and Okinawa, Taiwan, Korea, Guam, and even Cuba, not to mention several locations in the United States.  I even expanded into genealogy and put much of my own family history into this space.

Today's posting of Pa Rock's Ramble is #5,472.

It's been quite a ride.  But it has also turned into a major time-eater as I search for more and more interesting things to write about and struggle to keep things at least somewhat fresh.  I do the blog in the mornings, and, of late, some days I have been stuck at the computer until early afternoon trying to piece together a daily entry.  

But I am seventy-four-years-old and there are other things that I want to accomplish in my life.  I recently made a personal decision that I was going to step away from this blog and pursue those other interests while there is still time.  I told my youngest son, Tim, the writer, over the weekend of my decision and he made one request.  He said that I should offer to let a few of my friends do a bit of "guest-blogging" before hanging it up or going on an extended hiatus.  This week I made that offer to several friends and a couple have responded positively.  

My good friend, Ranger Bob, a conservationist who has concerns about climate change, submitted several pieces, one of which will likely run in this space tomorrow, and the rest will appear over the next few weeks as I slowly back out of my daily publishing routine.   (I am pacing myself instead of just quitting cold turkey!   And I will still undoubtedly still have blogging flare-ups when the world gets so crazy that I just have to say something!)

So, effective today, expect Pa Rock to begin fading away.  As I regain control of my time, I will be focusing on some other things (primarily writing) that I want to accomplish before the sand drains completely out of the hourglass.

Thank you, patient readers, for putting up with my rambling for all these years - and for your friendship.