Bloggers Come and Bloggers Pass On....

Good Bye Sarge.....

I jumped on this "blogging" some five years ago, well it will be five full years this July.  Not knowing if I had the time or writing skills to embark on the journey, but determined to do the best I could to jot down my thoughts and photos...a daily diary of sorts.  Never did I imagine that within a few years I would be receiving 4000 to 5000 visits and nearly 7000 page views per month.  Nothing world shattering, but still not bad in the blogging world, especially for someone with no real agenda, and whose posts range far and wide from the insipid to the down right boring...although I admit to slacking off much of late, to baseball and personal health issues.

In the beginning.....

When I started in July of 2007, I picked out several people, some with common interests, others not so much, that were blogging, and had been successful to that point in time.  They included a photographer from New Zealand named David, a retired Air Force guy living in a trailer/camper in New Mexico, named Buck....another former Vietnam Air Force Cop from Tennessee, Mushy, a good old Texas boy going by the name Fat Hairy Bastard.  There was Lin living in New Mexico, Cookie, a retired Seabee and Cop from Upstate New York, Shrinky from across the Atlantic, living on a small island off the British Coast...The Hermit from the North Georgia woods, also from Georgia a women named Deb, Ron Simpson from Oklahoma, a re-settled farm boy from Indiana named Jerry, and a conservative from Delaware, Ohio, but living in Illinois..and who could forget "Bruno" the larger than life personality from the boot heel of Missouri, or Guy, who at that time lived near my brother Mike in Homosassa, Florida.  And then there was Sarge Charlie, a patriot, and fellow Vietnam Veteran, who spent his time between homes in Georgia and Florida, but loved more than anything it seemed, taking long cruises with his wife Bee, and family.

Where have they all gone?

Out of the small group of bloggers I started with...some still blog on a daily basis, Buck does for sure...I do most days, others like Mushy, FHB, Shrinky, Cookie, do so semi weekly or once in awhile.  Others like Lin, David the Photographer, and more, have stopped blogging, but we keep in contact via e-mail...some like Deb, Guy, Jerry, Mushy, FHB, and Ron are on my facebook page...Hermit, the Georgia Mountain Dweller, decided a little information was too much for a corrupt Government, so he cut ties with the Internet and Blogging scene altogether....and seems to have disappeared into thin air.

I admit, I don't stop by my "Blog Buddies" as I have them listed on my e-mail page, as often as I used to.  I prefer to write 4 or 5 days a week, it usually takes an hour, and then I stop by facebook for another hour or so....and then I get the Hell of the computer, too much is a bad thing.  So I sadly admit to not having checked in with fellow Vietnam Veteran and fellow Conservative Patriot, Sarge Charlie in a couple of months, when last night I decided to check in and see his latest.

To my shock and sadness, his latest post was listed as January 29, 2012>>>>

http://sargecharlie.blogspot.com/

I had last commented on the Sarge Blog a few days earlier.....Sarge it appeared had beaten his battle with cancer, but it seems the Big C has the last say...I should have known, Sarge was known for stopping by on occasion and dropping me a comment and some encouragement....

Sarge was a Christian, a Vietnam Veteran, and a Patriot....God Rest his Soul:

So what do I do now?

One thing for sure....I plan on going back and checking in on those that still blog....and over the next few days or week, telling them all, that I still consider them friends that help get me started and kept me going in this "Blogging" thing.

For those that have the time and inclination, check out the right side of my blog and make it a point to visit a few of my blogger friends.  It is amazing how much changes in a few short years....most are not doing or living the same as they were when I got started back in July of 2007...time and lives change and end, in the blink of an eye.

Photos-Sarge Charlie American Patriot, passed away in late January, I'll miss his wit and his writings....other early bloggers I "met" on line included Paul "Mushy" Mashburn a fellow Vietnam Air Force sky cop and VSPA member, The Fat Hairy One, who I met in person on a couple of occasions, this one with his lady Denise at a restaurant in Dayton in 2008, and retired Air Force goy Buck Pennington, who has moved form his camper in New Mexico to a real home, since I began blogging in July 2007...Buck and I share the love of a good cigar, and a good dark beer.