OK, I'm back but I don't know for how long.

I have seven people listing me as friend! Maybe that's no big deal to you, but it is to me. I'm an introvert, nobody hangs around with me. I realize that these blogs sort of develop into little communities, but every day I also see new names visiting, just random visitors, I guess. Can't figure why any would want to read my ramblings, but I'm so :) they do.

You know, as a loner, I've had some pretty funny things said to me. Like: "Don't you get lonely." Answer, of course, is "No. Not really. I like being alone." Like: "I'm so sorry for you." Answer, of course, is "Don't be. I'm perfectly happy." Like: "Have you tried getting help for that?" Answer, of course, is "Why should I? There's nothing wrong with me. You're the one who needs help, needing people so much." And my favorite, from my wife, yet: "You'll like Dave, he's a loner, too." Answer, of course, is "What are we going to do, look at each other?"

Thought about starting a loner club. For 5 dollars a year you get a membership card and a yearly newsletter telling you which club activities you didn't miss since they weren't held and how all the members would have voted to not hold them next year either, if anyone had been interested enough for the vote to be held. Who knows, in this modern age, I might make a fortune.

I grew up in the southwest and although I had a brother and 2 sisters, I was like an only child because of age differences. We lived mostly at the edge of town so there weren't many other kids around and although my nieces and nephews were around, I found they needed me for entertainment much more than the other way around. Like they would all line up every day after school to watch me jump over the 4-foot chain link fence that surrounded my mother's house. And that was with a full load of school books! Just hurtled that fence like I was a track star and it was a hurtle. Sure glad I never missed, could have been a real disaster to my face, crashing into that caliche strewn ground.

My life consisted of a lot of indoors time (the heat in NM had a lot to do with that) and I loved to read. But, surprisingly to my friends nowadays, I also liked to play outside when I could. Of course, our games there might be different from the ones most people play.

Like, during the spring when the wind and sand storms come, watching the 5 foot high tumbleweeds roll along and trying to rope them as they go by at 20-30 miles per hour. If you were really unlucky, you might catch it. As light as they are, I guarantee you that you'll join it rolling down the road rather than stopping it.

Or chasing lizards. You never catch them, but it sure provides a kid with exercise. And it isn't enough that they're faster than you, they run completely out of sight, just rubbing it in that you have no chance. Except, as a kid, you don't accept that, sure that there must be some way to sneak up on them. But there isn't. Take my word for it.

Or catching red ants. Now these aren't those little grease ants you find in your house up north. These are about an inch long and have a bite that burns for hours. There are a lot of ways to catch ants. One way is to squat on a bucket near their bed, and just pick them up and put them in a jar. Works better for boys than girls, because 1) girls aren't interested in the first place and 2) boys ar better squatters. You have to be very fast for this technique, but it does work. Another way is to dig a hole near their bed, put a jar in it, make the edge of the jar even with the ground and just wait a day. But, now that you have the ants, what do you do with them?

Basically, you let them die, fitting revenge for those times when you were careless and let one of them bite you. But, you can also feed them to the doodle bugs you've captured. Doodle bugs (their real name is ant lions) live in sand, creating a small funnel and lie in wait buried at the bottom for any creature falling in. They look like a minature version of some SF movie monster. I captured one once who actually caught and sucked dry a fly who flew a bit too close to him.

Or you can sit on the front porch and watch the dust devils across the fields. Or put playing cards in the chain link fence and shoot them with a BB gun. Or buy a gross of small paper bags at the five and dime store, blow them up, and burst them. Or run marbles down your mother's vacuum cleaner hose into lined up dominos, seeing how many you can knock down at once.

Anyway, as you can see, I had a very full life without any other humans. OK, so I did enjoy making up games for my nieces and nephews, especially the oldest, Don, who was close to my age. We would lie on the kitchen floor and throw a super ball into the legs of all the chairs and table and just roar at the funny ways it would bounce.

He was my favorite nephew and one of the happiest person I've ever known. I can remember the time we went and saw the movie "The Pink Panther". Don was actually (I mean literally) rolling in the aisle, he was laughing so much. He was absolutely hysterical.

When Don was sixteen he was helping his dad, who ran loads of hay between Oklahoma and Texas. The truck broke down and they pulled over and Don climbed underneath to try and fix the vehicle. Another truck, pulling over to let someone pass on the narrow two lane road, rammed Don's dad's truck from the rear. Don was rolled up around the dual wheels and his spinal cord was stretched.

He survived, but he was paralyzed from the neck down. Over the years he managed to get enough control so he can move his arm and with a stick tied to it manipulate buttons. He's now in his late fifties, having essentially lost his life, and yet the few times I've seen him since, he's always had a smile on his face and a joke on his lips. If only the rest of us could remember to see the good instead of the bad like Don. Oh, how much happier would the world be?