Blogging

Since it’s been something like 60 days since Andy Eitman last posted anything on Strike the Tent, I’ve deleted the link to his blog. If he resumes posting of any substance, I will consider reinstating the link. For now, though, it’s gone.

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My blogging software tells me the URL’s of the referring web sites when people visit this site. It gives me the last ten URL’s to visit the site. I occasionally check them just to see where folks are coming from when they visit. Tonight, I spotted a name of a site that I didn’t recognize: 110th Lancer, Chris Swift’s “tirades on cavalry and armor.”

Here’s the description from the web site: “110th Lancer is just stories about Armor and Cavalry from me, Christopher J. Swift, who spent 11 years in American Armor units. Some is historical some is just opinion.” As a veteran of the armored cavalry, Chris brings an interesting perspective to the study of cavalry operations, and is also interested in the National Lancers, which was a predecessor to the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry.

As a student of Civil War lancers, I wasn’t aware that a portion of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry was originally armed with lances, or that it had any connection to lances. I learn something new every day. Thanks, Chris.

I’ve added a link to your blog.

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My friend Mark Peters, a certified public accountant who lives on the west coast of England, has long been a member of the CWDG and who is serving as a moderator for my new Revolutionary War forum boards, is someone whose knowledge I respect a great deal. Mark regularly comments here.

A couple of months ago, Mark decided to dip his toe into the blogging waters. His original concept was for a lighthearted blog focused on wistful stuff. While his blog always made for pleasant reading, it’s not been up to the standards I expect of him. Without any prompting from me, Mark has decided to change the focus of his blog and is now discussing British history, which is a topic that has long interested me. Consequently, I have now added a link to it in my list of blogs I like, and I commend it to you.

Welcome aboard, Mark.

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Please join me in welcoming Michael C. Hardy to the blogosphere. I had no idea that Michael had launched a blog until he posted a comment here. Michael has written several excellent books, most recently, the first book-lengthy study of the May 1862 Battle of Hanover Court House.

Michael’s blog deals with his native North Carolina’s role in the Civil War. Those who know me know of my love of the Old North State, and my interest in those aspects of the Late Unpleasantness that occurred there. Michael apparently launched his blog in October and didn’t tell anyone about it.

Please join me in welcoming Michael to the blogosphere.

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Dimitri Rotov’s blog entry for today points out the launching of yet another Civil War blog, called Civil War Gazette. According to the blog’s owner, it is a webzine dedicated to telling the story of the common soldier. There is some good information there. I’ve added a link.

I’m just flabbergasted by the proliferation of Civil War-related blogs. That makes four new ones in the past week or so, and another one that I elected not to include. What’s the deal here? Why the sudden burst in activity?

Don’t get me wrong–it’s all good, and anything that spreads the word is a good thing. I’m all for adding to the body of knowledge. I’m just amazed by the sudden blitz of additions to the Civil War blogosphere.

Good luck to all.

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Blogging seems to be converting more and more enthusiasts. Just this week, I’ve learned of two more Civil War blogs that I’ve added to the links on the right.

Mark Wade has started his blog, which is called Maryland Rebel. Mark is a mainstay on the CWDG forum boards, and has decided to plunge into the blogging world. Knowing Mark, I expect good things from his blog.

The other belongs to Texan John Banks, who seems to have a particular interest in the 1862 Maryland Campaign. There are some very interesting items on John’s blog, and I look forward to continuing to enjoy his insights.

Welcome to the blogosphere, guys. Check out their blogs.

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The blogging software that I use tells me every time that a comment is posted to this blog. It’s really quite a nice feature, because it permits me to screen out unacceptable comments before they ever hit the website. It’s also quite nice, because it means that I can see just who’s visiting and leaving me comments.

This evening, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that a very old friend posted a couple of comments to the blog. We’ve know each other for 25 years now, and in many ways, we grew up together. We haven’t actually seen each other in more than 20 years, but we’ve stayed in touch over the decades, and it was really nice to see that my old friend not only found this blog, but also found indulging my rantings interesting enough to leave me a couple of comments. What a wonderful way to stay in contact with an old friend!

The power of blogging never ceases to amaze me, and the posting of the comments by my old friend serves as just another example of it.

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When I met my wife in 1991, she was a mere 23. She had a nasty surgical scar on her left knee, so I asked about it. Two years earlier, at 21, she’d had reconstructive knee surgery to replace a blown anterior cruciate ligament. She told me what an ordeal the rehab was.

Now, I was (and am) no stranger to orthopedic injuries. I’ve torn up my left ankle something like 30 times over the course of my life, including twice badly enough to have be in a cast for more than a month. If I look at it funny, it goes. I once sprained both ankles at the same time. THAT was fun. I broke my left leg playing pick-up football in 8th grade, and I’ve broken a finger playing basketball. I also suffer from severe, chronic tendinitis in my right elbow from years of playing baseball, and I’ve also suffered from acute achilles tendinitis in both legs. I pulled a hamstring playing softball 17 years ago, and it still bothers me regularly. I’ve dislocated my left pinkie finger so badly it required surgery and will never be straight again. I likewise dislocated my left big toe, and my nose has been broken. I had arthroscopic surgery on my left shoulder in March 2005, and I still can’t even think about swinging a golf club. However, I guess I’m lucky, because I’ve never had knee trouble.

Susan has more than made up for it.

In 2002, she had an accident at work, fell from an unsafe ladder, and tore the ACL in her right knee. That took another reconstructive surgery and then a second surgery a couple of months later to remove a scar tissue lesion that formed. Because it was a worker’s comp claim, it took six weeks from the injury to the surgery, and she had so much atrophy in her leg from being in an immobilizer for that long–plus another several weeks after the surgery–that her right leg is still significantly less muscular than her left and probably always will be.

Then, last Thursday night, after a very rainy day, she went to let our dogs out. We have concrete steps from our back door, and they were very slick from the rain and from the fact that the ground was so sodden that the dogs had tracked liquid mud. She went to step down with her left foot, and it went right out from under her. Her left knee caved in. I took her to the ER, and the attending was pretty certain that she’d torn at least one ligament, and perhaps more. However, they can’t see soft tissue on x-rays, so there was no way to tell for sure.

I took her to see the orthopedist yesterday. He saw a lot of wobble in the knee and is quite certain that the ACL–already reconstructed once–is gone. The only question is what else went with it. She had an MRI yesterday, and we find out on Friday morning just what happened. No matter what, she’s going to need reconstructive surgery on that knee AGAIN–the only question is just how much will need to be done. I’m hoping that the surgery can be scheduled for next week to get it over with, but that’s not up to me.

After that, of course, comes lots of painful, miserable rehab.

In the interim, in addition to my own job, my responsibilities for Ironclad, and everything else I do, I now have to worry about pretty much everything else around the house, too. On top of it all, I have a sinus infection. My point in telling you all of this is that with limited time available and too much to do, something may have to go, and that something may have to be some of my blogging activity. I regret that a great deal, but there really isn’t much that I can do about it. Please be patient with me, and I will do my level best to continue to post. Please don’t be surprised, though, if there are gaps, or if posts are shorter than what you might otherwise expect from me.

I was supposed to do a presentation on Stuart’s Ride with J. D. tomorrow night for the Gettysburg Civil War Roundtable, but I backed out of it because I didn’t think it was a good idea to leave Susan unattended under the circumstances. J.D.’s going to handle it alone–quite competently, I’m certain.

In the meantime, I will keep you posted as to her progress.

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Andy MacIsaac’s blog, First Maine Forward, has not had a new post since July 20, meaning it’s been completely inactive for more than 90 days. Consequently, I have deleted the link to it. If Andy resumes blogging, I will restore the link.

My good friend and co-author J. D. Petruzzi has decided to enter the blogging fray with a new blog called Hoofbeats and Cold Steel. JD’s first post is an interesting one, and one which I will explore a bit later today.

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Sarah of Not in Memoriam but in Defense is back after a lengthy absence. I have, therefore, added her link back in, as I promised to do. I apparently had something to do with it. Responding to my post where I indicated that I was deleting the link to her blog due to no posts in ten weeks, Sarah wrote, “The shame I felt after reading this blog entry was partially a motivating factor. So, thanks!” Given her interesting insights, I’m glad to hear that I had something to do with bringing her blog back on line.

She’s got an interesting post on Birth of a Nation. Check it out.

And welcome back, Sarah.

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