Still on vacation :-)!!! Got a few things done today around the house (it's been quite wet lately which has severely inhibited outside work). Also (dammit, dammit) went out and bought a new cell phone to replace the one I LOST within a 20 yard area- inside the house- I absolutely can not find the damned thing. I HATE getting old and senile :-( ! Can't see anymore; can't hear anymore and wet weather really settles on my joints. CRAP! OK, I'm ranting again... On the up side, I found a new dvd I had been wanting, "Company 9"- it's about the earlier war in Afghanistan from a Soviet perspective. Will watch and review.

Just finished putting my last Bulgarian medal into the gallery; still have several badges to add, but the big work is finished for that gallery. Please have a look if you get the chance. Most of the medals are not rare, but Bulgaria had a certain flare for engraving and some of the pieces are quite beautiful- even the lower medals.

The great thing about these galleries is that it's also helping in my cataloging the items I have which, should something happen to me, will help my wife in deciding what to do with all of this. Something to think about, especially when one is "getting on" in years or has a high-risk job, or both. A friend died very suddenly several years ago (I was one of his pall-bearers); he left his wife in debt; he had amassed an incredible collection of artifacts from the American Civil War (had his own museum of sorts); left no information for his wife to go on and, before any of us knew, the "big guys" from up north came down in trucks, offered her pennies on the dollar and hauled it all away. She was in a state of bereavement and debt- she did what she thought she had to do at the time BECAUSE there was no advanced planning. I'm not going to let that happen if I can help it. Nor should you.

Hopefully it will be a better day tomorrow and I can take a few photos...