Howdy and a hearty welcome to all you new folks!

LornK, you're not alone as a female SB reader.

And I too am glad the Eastern retreats thread was started. Gotta go check how it's progressing.
To all of you, if you're looking for more great reading (aren't we all?

), please check out the writings of our own Claire Wolfe, the inspiration for this sister forum to Mr. Rawles's blog.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/wolfe_index.html - Claire's article archive on BackwoodsHome.com
http://www.clairewolfe.com/books.html - Claire's store on Amazon.com (click on Books in the right hand column to see Claire's own works)
http://www.clairewolfe.com/blog.html - WOLFESBLOG - Claire and friends blog it up
I think you'll find plenty more yummy pickings there, if you're not already a Claire fan!
Enjoy - and thanks for contributing to the ongoing conversation on The Claire Files ("TCF").