#ShareTheShutdown: Blaze readers tell their stories

Yesterday, I asked our readers to weigh in with your own experiences of how the government shutdown is affecting you, your friends, your family, etc.  As usual, y'all delivered.  You can catch all TheBlaze readers' reactions to the shutdown here.

The feedback continues to pour in today from readers across the country...

Business owner Glenn B. writes:

I am a small business owner (SBO). Received a letter from US Dept of Comm Economics & Statistics Admin of US Census Bureau. I am required by law to to fill out 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self Employed Persons. The census asks for "essential data" on demographics and economic composition of businesses in the US. went to log in to fill out the survey... Funny, [the] department is shut down and is considered "non essential."

Mary Ann in Nebraska writes:

This doesn't have anything to do with me, but my daughter works for the Federal Government here in Nebraska. She was furloughed today and had to go to work without pay. She took her lunch and some books to read, and said if they are not paying me I am not doing any work. Some wore blue jeans to work. The most important thing she told me is that the Republicans BETTER NOT CAVE TO THE DEMOCRATS!!!!!!  We agree with her!

Homeschooling mom Julie S. writes:

I was still able to get a bright pink cast on my daughter's wrist today (her lifelong goal...a pink cast) since we still have private insurance.  I was still able to homeschool my son in geometry, physical science, HTML,  the diaries of Lewis and Clark and some other topics.  We'll still have a yummy home cooked dinner which I hope hasn't been spoiled by the Krispy Kreme donuts I bought my daughter as a prize for breaking her wrist...

But... we were planning on hitting Jamestown and Yorktown this upcoming Friday for an educational field trip but since they are national parks, I'm going to have to assume they are closed.  So we are going to make do by going to the VA State Fair to look at farm animals, giant vegetables and deep fried Twinkies.  My kids are absolutely heartbroken to go to the fair rather than learning more about American history.  Oh well.  They'll reopen at some point and then I'll add Williamsburg to the itinerary just to make up for the disappointment.

Lynne V. writes:

As a cartoon I saw this AM queries: "If a tree fell in a National Park forest, and there wasn't a park ranger to hear it--would it matter?"  The answer to that is a resounding NO.

And one Army Reservist who asked to remain anonymous shared with us this email from his superiors:

If you currently have medical vouchers scheduled for this week or in the future weeks to come while the budget is under review...please watch the news and be advised that you will NOT be paid for any of the medical vouchers until the "Shut Down" is over and a budget is met.  So reschedule your appointments.  I would wait until at least 36 hours out from the scheduled appointment to reschedule, because we might actually have a budget by the date of your appointment.  So please watch the news if you have scheduled appointments and adjust accordingly.

If you have a shutdown story to share, tweet us, email us, give us a shout-out on Facebook or leave us a comment below!