Apparently after I upgraded the blog software in May it hosed the comment registration page preventing folks from signing up. I thought I had it fixed a couple of weeks ago but that does not appear to be the case. The issue was with the registration plugin I was using to guard against spam registrations. Anyway, I have deactivated the plugin and reverted back to the basic Wordpress registration page. So if anyone has tried to register in the past and could not please feel free to try again it should work now and I apologize for the snafu.
As always if you see any issues with the blog please use the Contact THF link at the top of the page and let me know.