I really, really wanted to title this post: “Welcome to the Jungle,” and even had it written that way a few times. There were plenty of good reasons for doing that, beginning with the obvious toughness and coolness factor that comes from associating something with Guns ‘n’ Roses, and then . . . well, I guess it was mostly just that, but it was enough.

However, that didn’t exactly fit with the whole Moose and Bear theme we are trying to establish, which is more of a northern hemisphere thing. Besides, this post is supposed to be introducing the new name and theme of this blog, which is Deep Forest Outpost (not Deep Jungle Outpost, in other words). Not that it really matters, one way or another. If not for the first two paragraphs, I suspect most people would have read past the title and not thought much about it. I guess if I’m being honest with myself, I only brought it up so this would sound more like an awesome rock song and less like a Winnie the Pooh story. Of course, as a devoted fan of The Walt Disney Company, I don’t really have a problem with The Pooh – he is a bear, after all.

Anyway, as the self-proclaimed editor of Deep Forest Outpost I have taken the initiative to dole out a few assignments to The Wandering Moose, just to get her blogging career started. She has responded to my instruction and leadership with what could best be described as indifference, although there are some very good reasons for that. For starters, you all know how busy we are between full-time and part-time jobs, volunteer church callings, and family activities (and I am comfortable writing “you all know…” because I can’t imagine someone reading this who doesn’t actually know us). Then, we have the standard cleaning/dishes/laundry stuff to catch up on. When there is a minute to spare, we both have personal projects that demand some time – like the book I am writing, which, at the current rate of progress should be hitting the shelves sometime around 2026. Finally, after all of that, we like to unwind with some leisure activities – most often reading or television watching.

[Note: That is the “official” order of priority, although our leisure activities sometimes move up a level or two. Feel free to roll your eyes and wag your fingers at us for that: we have earned your scorn.]

I am certainly not trying to complain about having full schedules, as I know we have it easy compared to some (meaning: we don’t have kids). Besides, we both like to keep busy doing something, and even on nights when we watch television together, we are both often buzzing away at a personal project at the same time. Because of this, I thought last week’s slate of television would present a perfect opportunity for Amy to write a few thoughts and introduce herself to the blog universe at the same time. So I made a few assignments and dictated them to her, which she took in good humor. This lead to exactly zero blog posts.

I gave her full marks for effort, anyway. She put a few things together and will complete them soon enough, and that’s good enough for me. I understand all too well how easy it is to move a goofy personal blog down in the priority list when you are so busy otherwise. Writing is practically part of my identity, and I didn’t write much last week, either. That doesn’t make her any less excited about the new blog (at least, I hope not), it just means she will get around to her opening post soon enough.

This week may also pose a similar problem, though, as all of the same television distractions from last week will be repeating. Four of Amy’s favorite shows are nearing the end of their seasonal run: Dancing with the Stars (which we call “DWTS” as a cool, insider shorthand name – which is funny because “dee-double-you-tee-ess” is actually six syllables long whereas “dancing-with-the-stars” is only five, so it’s technically an abbreviation but verbally an elongation), American Idol (which we call “AI” for the same reason – not to be confused with Allen Iverson), America’s Next Top Model (“ANTM,” of course, which Amy says quickly and I sometimes think she is saying “Auntie Em”) and Survivor (which we just call “Survivor,” because “S” could really stand for anything). For the record, I always watch AI with her, usually DWTS, sometimes Survivor, and almost never ANTM.

Each of these shows is a minimum of an hour long, and often more. Two of them – DWTS and AI – have hour-long “results” episodes the following day, where the viewing public is told which contestant has been eliminated from the competition. That adds up to a weekly minimum of six hours of television during this busy season. Add to that two playoff games for the Utah Jazz at three hours a pop, and suddenly we have 12 hours of television to watch this week.

[Another Note: this simply wouldn’t be possible without the technology magic of our digital video recorder, which allows us to skip nearly all of the commercials and unnecessary content, and conserve quite a bit of time. We end up actually watching about 40 minutes of DWTS, 45 minutes of AI, 50 minutes of ANTM, 50 minutes of Survivor, and 2 hours of each Utah Jazz game. That’s a total time saving of nearly three hours per week.]

I bring this all up because our new blog name and theme may indicate that we are very active, outdoorsy people. While this is true, to a point, it is also true that we like watching television together, which is a very interactive process for us (meaning we have running dialogue the entire time and laugh at everyone’s expense). But, with summer approaching, we are fortunate to have these time-stealing programs nearing the end of their run and will soon have more time in the evenings for our personal projects. This should hopefully lead to more traveling, sight-seeing, reading, writing, camping, fishing, hiking, and golf; and will certainly lead to more yard work and home maintenance. I suppose we could do without the latter two (although, again, we like keeping busy), but it is the price we pay for being able to do all of the former.

In conclusion, all of this was just a round-about way of explaining why our fun family adventure blog may have a lot of sedentary content like television commentary and movie reviews. Or why I write about sports and/or music quite often. But, if you know me, you may also know that I like meandering paths and scenic routes, so making something longer than it needs to be just goes with the territory. By the way, the meandering/scenic route thing is one of my quirks that Amy often finds annoying, so if you still happen to be reading this, and are finding it difficult to not be irritated, you are not alone. Please accept my apologies.

P.S. – Just two more quick things and then I promise to stop. First: we are going to be purchasing bicycles sometime this week that will hopefully add to our summer fun. I am already anticipating a series of injury reports. Second: I have taken the liberty of adding some biographical information about The Wandering Moose to the “about us” page. Some of it is even true!