Okay, I’m not really new here. I suppose I am more of a perpetual lurker, albeit not necessarily a good one as I never noticed the Gulch Introductions. To shamelessly swipe from a recent commenter, I’m the engineer who tends to look at his own shoes.

About me – originally from California, from a family of staunch liberals and a veteran of the US Navy. I remember two main political shocks in my history. (1) I discovered I wasn’t a liberal and assumed I therefore must be a conservative. (2) I discovered libertarianism (in the back of a California voter pamphlet) and discovered I wasn’t a conservative.

Between those two events, my husband (when he was still a boot camp sweetheart) asked me to read Atlas Shrugged and it really floored me. I read it cover to cover without stopping for sleep. Since then, I’ve probably read it a half a dozen times, along with most of Rand’s other writings.

I think Atlas Shrugged might have been a litmus test, but hubby denies it.

Miscellaneous stuff:
- A newish homesteader in central Texas, trying out goats, chickens and gardens on 30 acres.
- Lived in California, Tennessee, on the beach in Florida, New Orleans. Lived in Iceland during the Reagan summit.
- I’ve loved all these places, but sad that California is what it is. My second earliest life goal was to live on the north fork of the Yuba river, writing books and panning for gold.
- My first earliest life goal was to become a nuclear physicist. That was in second grade when I was dismayed to hear “whoever heard of a lady scientist?” and promptly dismissed the idea.
- Read too much news, not enough sci-fi, and learn a lot from reading comments sections. Comments in the Gulch are quite refreshing.

So, there it is – Hi, everyone!