How comforting to know I'm not the only one. I too screen my calls, don't own or like cell-phones (though my wife has one for emergencies in travel, kids, etc), and I often "go bush" to cure cabin-fever. I'd rather know the world up close but people from a distance whenever I can. There are obvious exceptions, friends and family, but I require not only "downtime" but contemplation time too. I think more and more in rural terms as I get older, and this isn't likely to change. I don't know why, just because the phone rings, my life should stop to answer it. Such interuptions aren't tolerated by other things so much, I think. If all this makes me odd, outcast, weird or unusual in any way, then I am proud, being weird is kinda a way of life for me anyway. By the way, I WILL return your calls...eventually.