Hello Fellow Birders,

Kathleen here, from the Birding Corner at BellaOnline,

I sat up until three a.m. last night trying to make the decision: Do I resign as editor of the BellaOnline Birding Column, or do I limp along as I have been doing, on the good graces of the owners of this site. In the end I decided you deserve more than that. This is my last newsletter.

Some of you know of my husband's attack of West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease, which last mid-August left him paralyzed in his left arm and both legs.

Forgive me for not responding to your emails in the last six or so months. When Rick took sick, I locked my front door and followed his ambulance to a rehab center several hours from home. I've been with him since, encouraging and helping where I can as he fights his way back to health and strength.

Thanks to prayer, the support of family and friends, and a wonderful medical team, Rick is doing well and daily gaining necessary mobility. We hope to return home at the end of February. He will face months of continuing therapy.

Some of you have emailed this site to tell me of your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for those kindnesses.

Please keep birding, don't be afraid of mosquitos--but WEAR REPELLENT--West Nile in its extreme form is a horrible, horrible disease.

I'm currently writing about that, in fact. If you wish to find out more about our struggle through West Nile, check out my home site at www.geocities.com/just_as_i_thought. Click on my Sunny Side Up columns, in which I talk frequently about our journey. You can also email me at kgibson@sasktel.net

Thanks again, and God bless.

I'll fly away...oh glory!

Kathleen Gibson,birding editor

http://Birding.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com