I've taken a mostly voluntary hiatus from the computer. Mostly voluntary. Circumstances have also conspired to keep me away as well. We've been BUSY!

It's been an eventful couple of weeks.

Elaine took a few well-deserved days away. That left the care and feeding of all critters to me, and of the Ola Lola's crowd to Rosa, Pichi, Miguel and me. We had quite a weekend last week but we came through it, amazingly well if you ask me. Thank you so much to our wonderful help. You guys are awesome! That said, we are all glad Elaine was back with us this weekend.

KTJ, Elaine's Thoroughbred, celebrated her fourth birthday. In horsedom, that means she is now a mare and no longer a filly.

Last Saturday, just as we were closing, someone stole my camera and underwater housing from a table in the kitchen. Don't know who or how, but we have our suspicions. Our little point-n-shoot camera that we used to take pictures around the bar was stolen from the bar earlier, probably by the same person.

I wonder if thieves ever think of the impact of their actions on their victims. They obviously must think they need "the thing," whatever it is, money a camera, whatever, more than their victim does. But do they ever think "gee, this person is going to have to replace this thing I'm stealing and that's going to cost them." Or "gee, this thing might be important to somebody." Probably not.

The actual cost to us and our friends when two cars were broken into and another car stolen was over $8,000. The punk that did it paid "restitution" of $1,100. It will cost nearly $1,000 to replace my cameras. I could have used that $1,000 to upgrade to a new camera to shoot suf photos. Now I'll just be replacing what I already have.

These actions can have an impact far beyond just the victims. When I posted on Facebook about the camera theft and later about a dive without the camera, I got these comments back:

"Since we don't get to see your pictures, in a way, he stole from us too. I enjoyed seeing your pictures."

"i want to "like" this statement - but I don't like whoever stole your camera, and I don't like that I can't see the pictures as well."

" I agree as well. I LOVE seeing the pics of the time you spend exploring underwater! It is a loss to everyone that viewed them."

"I was imagining what you saw as you described it, but it's not the same as seeing it!"

"I agree too... I enjoy your underwater pictures a lot, since I snorkle, but I don't dive, that was my way of living the under water and showing my friends... in fact I even showed the pics to one of my students that wants to be a marine biologist."

I will get another camera and I will take pictures underwater again. It's just too much a part of who and what I am. Still, mean people suck.