By MONTE DUTTON

So …

… I’ve quipped for months that I hoped to live long enough to see the sale of my land go through so that I could make a new start in a new place and become successful again.

It’s not as much of a joke as it used to be.

Once upon a time, I thought my plans would go through by the summer. Things were moving right along until I couldn’t. I had a medical emergency that resulted in surgery and a month-long hospital stay. That brought income to an end and left me with medical bills that my plans wouldn’t fully cover.

I figured it would be summer before the sale would go through. This was naive on my part. It took months for government approvals to run their course. First the word was that all would be complete by August or September. Then it was September or October. I’m so tired of barely making it through each month.

On Thursday I learned that developers have exercised an extension that moves the date of closing until at least the end of October, which, coincidentally, is the end of the high-school football regular season. Even while I researched my future – potential places to live, what to live in, what I’d do – I awaited money to make it all work.

I got a lot of help from old friends, not because I asked for it but because they knew I was having a hard time. At times, the timing was remarkable. I’ve been fortunate, and I plan to repay in some way the kindness of everyone. I’ve sent gifts to a good many of my benefactors. I’ve heard many an athlete and coach say they felt “blessed.” That’s the way I feel now.

At the beginning of the summer, I redesigned this website and decided not to cover local sports comprehensively. What was “Blue, Green, Purple & Red” is now “Nightrider’s Lament,” named for my favorite song. I didn’t stop writing about sports, which is what I’ve done for most of my life, but rather to stress features. I allowed the ads to expire and replaced them with ads for the books I’ve written over the past 20 years.

I just decided to change again in order to bring in some funds.

I already planned to go to ballgames this fall, though I planned to write features, which is what, in my humble estimation, I do best. My next task is to sell some ads at a reduced rate. It’s not like I don’t love writing about the Clinton High Red Devils and the Furman University Paladins. I’ll continue to push my books on the non-sports content.

For years, my site has been supported by reader contributions. If you’re interested, you can make modest contributions on my Patreon page, or you can make a one-time contribution via Venmo (@DHKSports). I guess I’m actually not too proud to beg, but I sure do hate it. I’m sure I’m going to have a difficult time sleeping tonight. The words of Harvey Korman, Hedley Lamarr in “Blazing Saddles,” occurred to me.

”My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.”

Most of my books are available at Amazon.