Nope, despite my absence, I'm still breathing, though life was somewhat put on hold by Mum's health deteriorating to the point where she had the kind of heart attack that most folk don't survive.
Fortunately, she had it whilst at the local hospital for an unrelated matter, so the care she needed was right there.
Spent the past three months concentrating on her rehabilitation & care, so hunting, shooting & even my usual Spring visit to the US went out the window.

Hopefully this episode is now behind us, until the next one (she's 89).

Mate, you are in my thought.
Hope your mum get good care.

In our thoughts and prayers

Your Mum is in my prayers and thoughts mate. It’s been two years and I still miss my Mum. Spend as much time as you can with her...when she goes, she will be a long time gone.

Keep an eye on the heat as well mate...that won’t do you guys any favours. My daughter rang us from London last night and she was over the moon that it was 24 C.

Thanks for the thoughts & prayers guys.
Mum's improved to the point where I no longer need to sleep over & is mostly back to her independent self.
So I managed to escape to the deer lease on Monday at 01:30, arriving on the ground at 03:30.
Saw one roe buck on the drive in from the road & a sika stag doing a very quick transit across a clearing in the trees & that was it apart from the sound of something moving through the trees at one point.
Might head up on Monday afternoon & do a four hour stalk up to dusk (hunting reg's here much the same as in the US: 30min after sunset or before sunrise).
Sunset's 21:47 on Monday. so hunt until 22:17).
The only downside is it's midge (no see ums to you lot) season, though being dry & sunny should keep them to acceptable levels.

It'll beat what I did today anyway, which was raking & root pulling to prepare for grass seeding the yard at the property I'm refurbishing.

That's good news