tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77752381923356894882024-02-06T21:27:56.136-05:00Ramblings of Author Bob NailorAuthor Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.comBlogger216125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-83237008493679655402023-05-25T20:08:00.073-04:002023-05-25T21:52:35.957-04:00Unleash Your Inner Writer with "52 Weeks of Writing Tips"<p><span style="background-color: white;"> <span face="Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"" style="color: #374151; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS7eNuF2UgFjM0zYetSi6JStSFeotjxfOpjG6M7AnHc6aOMEvUkpygTm3nyFsO2DVrFJiyvpMtvUd3wJEZHfiZO1Y5GTq5UaGkMtocVqqRMqUaIJphyBeoWxIMybQVSzpYk9KrqyPHqnYEf8nZBA9BqFnU4ZiF12U9SqPEQcyscXxuUtpV5wAQ6hLg3A/s232/52weeks_sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="155" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS7eNuF2UgFjM0zYetSi6JStSFeotjxfOpjG6M7AnHc6aOMEvUkpygTm3nyFsO2DVrFJiyvpMtvUd3wJEZHfiZO1Y5GTq5UaGkMtocVqqRMqUaIJphyBeoWxIMybQVSzpYk9KrqyPHqnYEf8nZBA9BqFnU4ZiF12U9SqPEQcyscXxuUtpV5wAQ6hLg3A/w269-h403/52weeks_sm.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Hey there, fellow wordsmiths and aspiring authors! Today, I'm going to talk about my book "52 Weeks of Writing Tips" which I hope will inspire and guide you on your writing journey. I released this several years ago, but was approached by a 'fan' the other day who had just purchased it and gushed about how much she enjoyed and learned from it. She had it with her, so I was polite and made it a signed copy.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">So, grab a cozy spot, get ready to sip a cup of your favorite beverage, and let's explore this little gem together!</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">First things first, let's talk about me so you know where this is coming from. I'm no stranger to the world of writing. With a wealth of experience under my belt, I've honed my craft over the years with a passion for sharing this knowledge with fellow writers, beginning with an online ezine magazine author and weekly contributor as the poet person, then both in several writing groups and many adult college writing courses, and finally as a conference speaker and coordinator. In "52 Weeks of Writing Tips," I attempt to take on the role of a friendly mentor, providing practical advice, inspiration, and encouragement to help you become a better writer.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">What makes this book stand out is its unique structure. As the title suggests, it's divided into 52 weeks, with each week focusing on a specific aspect of writing. This format is perfect for those who prefer a step-by-step approach or want to tackle one concept at a time. You can read it cover to cover or dip into any week that catches your fancy.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">My writing style is casual, relatable, and easy to follow. I have tried to make it feel like having a conversation with a knowledgeable friend who genuinely wants to help you succeed. You won't find any overly complex jargon or complicated theories here. Instead, I offer practical tips and tricks that you can immediately implement in your own writing.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">From crafting engaging characters to building compelling plots, from finding your unique voice to overcoming writer's block, "52 Weeks of Writing Tips" covers a broad range of topics that every writer grapples with. Real-life examples, anecdotes, and exercises back my insights to encourage you to put theory into practice. I like to think of myself as a personal writing coach guiding you along the way. It's a hands-on approach that will undoubtedly help you grow as a writer.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">What I wanted to do with "52 Weeks of Writing Tips" is cater to writers of all levels. Whether you're a beginner trying to find your footing or an experienced writer looking for fresh insights, my advice is relevant and valuable. Even if you've been writing for years, you'll discover new perspectives and gain renewed enthusiasm for your craft.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">I share personal anecdotes from my writing journey, highlighting the ups, downs, and lessons learned along the way. These stories create a sense of camaraderie and remind us that every writer faces challenges. Through my experiences, I attempt to impart wisdom and encourage resilience, reinforcing the belief that perseverance is key to achieving our writing goals.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">To sum it up, "52 Weeks of Writing Tips" is a treasure trove of practical guidance, inspiration, and motivation for writers of all stripes. I hope my friendly and conversational tone makes the book approachable and easy to digest. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned pro, this book will undoubtedly become your go-to companion, offering guidance and support every step of the way.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">So, my fellow wordsmiths, grab a copy of "52 Weeks of Writing Tips," embark on this delightful literary adventure, and watch your writing soar to new heights! Happy writing!</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Here are the Amazon links:<br />Paperback: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1499323697" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/1499323697</a><br />E-book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JL58CPA" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JL58CPA<br /></a></span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JL58CPA" target="_blank">I</a>f the link is not clickable, copy and pate it into your browser.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;">Until next I ramble on...</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(69,89,164,.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></p>Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-57745353579028831522023-03-31T21:47:00.000-04:002023-03-31T21:47:56.029-04:00Good News!<p> Here it is, almost April 1st. Yup, April Fool's Day.</p><p>BUT, I'm not going to fool you. I have great news. If you've followed me long enough over the years, you know I've written a series of Amish books. My hero, Daniel, started out in book 1 wanting to go to high school, in book 2 he went to NYC, and book 3 he came home. </p><p>Now, book 4 is available. Yes! The Vietnam Voice is now available to order in paperback and/or ebook.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEktsb2Fxkxud0hFzgTeYDSbRGxRzLxgqwr9FanSz7MULFYzS4D4kjZxPud4MFmFZj21ASDIx0dBUBUzqeSKkV1PZjvUxYK4VIVHKBOQEZCO9MYgu1QjcHYFmhzDKWdHRqvtKkuSGoucGIHPx6HhzN5XwG_m51wteCRQZsIg6zHjhmOZEfyRdKf1v9A/s900/vietnam4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEktsb2Fxkxud0hFzgTeYDSbRGxRzLxgqwr9FanSz7MULFYzS4D4kjZxPud4MFmFZj21ASDIx0dBUBUzqeSKkV1PZjvUxYK4VIVHKBOQEZCO9MYgu1QjcHYFmhzDKWdHRqvtKkuSGoucGIHPx6HhzN5XwG_m51wteCRQZsIg6zHjhmOZEfyRdKf1v9A/w264-h397/vietnam4.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p>In this book, my hero, Daniel, is more of a background character. Trust me, he is not forgotten, but it deals more with his younger sister, Hannah. She has to deal with a decision. John Heffel is Amish and very enamored with Hannah. Unfortunately, Hannah is longing for the Englische boy, Jonathan Bell. To complicate matters, the two join the Army and go to Vietnam. Things happen. My beta-reader enjoyed the story.</p><p>If you are interested in a tease read, check out my webpage; www.bobnailor.com and click on books.</p><p>To order the paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Voice-Bob-Nailor/dp/1618771744/</p><p>To order the ebook: https://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Voice-Bob-Nailor-ebook/dp/B0BZRPLCY7/</p><p>BUT... hold off. (I can't believe I said that!!)</p><p>I'm going to discount the first three books/ebooks. Unfortunately, book 4 is full price. Paperback is $16.95 and ebook is $4.99.</p><p>Now, book 1 will be: paperback: $10.95 - that's as low as Amazon will allow. The ebook: $.99.</p><p>Book 2 will be: paperback: $10.95 - again, Amazon's demand. The ebook: $.99.</p><p>Book3 will be: paperback: $12.95 - I need to make 'some' profit. The ebook: $1.99.</p><p>Book 4 as detailed above - $16.95 for the paperback, $4.99 for the ebook.</p><p>AND, just so you know, I am already working on book 5 - The Family Voice. Plus, I'm also working on the final book - #6 - The Englische Voice. The series will end.</p><p>I was asked what to expect next. To be honest, I'm not sure, but I figure I will start another series. I now have a little more incentive and inspiration. The Amish have started to move in behind me. Yes, just a mere mile away. We've already noticed buggies passing in front of our house. Really cool. I've met one family who live only a bit over a mile to my east. The Garleys are very nice.</p><p>Also, I'm working on book 3 of my Barry Hargrove mystery series. This one is titled: Dragon Feast.</p><p>At times my mind runs so fast I can barely type fast enough to keep up... and I've been clocked typing at 105 wpm. That's right. I was tested and had 3 errors which meant I lost 5 words for each error. I finished at 120 wpm, but after error compensation, I was 105. Still, I think that's pretty good. I can't quite keep up with my mind, but I'm close.</p><p>Well, until next I ramble on...</p><p><br /></p>Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-56516459671784111892023-03-07T13:34:00.000-05:002023-03-07T13:34:01.975-05:00Remember Me? An Update<p> Do you remember me? Bob Nailor. That author dude from NW Ohio.</p><p>Life has tossed me several curves in the last almost four years since my last blog. First was that nasty COVID virus. I was able to avoid it when it first appeared, but then, it got me. I was rushed to ER in Bryan, then transported to Ft Wayne where they didn't think I would make it through the night.</p><p>Ha. Ha. Showed them. Two weeks later I was transported back to Bryan to a nursing home where I spent another two weeks habilitating to join society. Talk about therapy!! I had to learn to walk, go up/down steps, etc. Yeah, even throw a ball.</p><p>That was Spring. During the Summer I seemed to be doing fine and things were going along; well, almost too well. In September my doctor decided I was retaining too much water and put me on a diet and double Lasix pills. No exercise, per se, but walking (aka running) to the toilet helped to lose weight. I lost 70 pounds.</p><p>Then the falling kicked in. Between December 1 and April 15 of the next year (2022) I fell 21 (TWENTY-ONE) times. It took them that long to figure out why I was falling. Seems I had what is called "Diabetic Amyotrophy" which attacks the muscles of the legs to a point of uselessness. That's right; I couldn't support myself and I never knew when the legs would give out. People told me to use a walker for support. When my legs gave out, it was a drop, like a crumbled cookie. I had a walker, but I was down before I could even get my arms to support me. We had to let the disease run its course.</p><p>Yup, back to therapy again. I was almost to the point where I could walk on my own, my heart decided to go into a-fib. So, a pacemaker was 'installed' to give me a bionic aspect. Things seemed to be back on track. YAY! WRONG. I kept going into a-fib and the doctor couldn't 'shock' me out of it. Back to Fort Wayne and an oblation on the heart in an attempt to fix the a-fib. That did the trick, but I needed to again get more therapy. Almost back to walking on my own when my nephrologist realized my weight gain was due to water retention and any attempt to pressure the kidneys to work harder would ruin them even more. </p><p>I was put on dialysis. A port was put into my upper chest (opposite side of my pacemaker) and now I attend dialysis treatments 3X per week for 3.5 hours per session. It would have been nice to be able to do it in my own community, but there is a 2+ year waiting list to get in there; so I go to Defiance which is about a 35-40 minute drive from my home; each way. Talk about a shot day.</p><p>All during this time I have attempted to write, my Amish fan base is screaming for the next book. I wrote "The Secret Voice" as a stand-alone book. Wrong. Fans wanted to know what happened next. I wrote "The New York Voice" in hopes of satisfying my fans and calling it quits. Nope. Hence book 3, "The Amish Voice" came into existence. I had my wife read the final copy before publishing. What was her first words when she finished the book? What Happens Next? That's right, I'm now working on book 4, "The Vietnam Voice" and have outlined/wrote a little on the LAST two books: "The Family Voice" and "The Englische Voice" which definitely ends "The Amish Singer Series" - at least, in my mind. If my fans are wanting more, I will need to consider a new series.</p><p>I also wrote two Barry Hargove detective/mystery books: "The Case of Eternal Blood" and "The Babbling Sphinx" Yes, I'm working on book 3; "Dragon Feast" which I hope will be a fun read for those who like mystery/detective stories.</p><p>And, I'm also working on book 2 of my "Shiyula" series - "The Topaz" which is coming close to being done, IF I ever finish "The Vietnam Voice." LOL. Yes, I have outlines for another few books in this series, too. "The Ruby," "The Sapphire," "The Pearl," and "The Diamond." My heroine, Jewyl, will have her hands full as she attempts to regain her grandfather's kingdom.</p><p>Rumor has it I'm also working on a book of Christian meditation... AND a sequel to my best-seller on AMazon "52 Weeks of Writing Tips" entitled "Another 52 Weeks of Writing Tips." I know, so original!</p><p>Notice in the above line I said best-seller on Amazon. My big, BIG seller is my Amish series, but it's via me at fairs, book clubs, craft shows and other events.</p><p>Which brings me to a moment of realization. With dialysis happening 3X per week, I did an event in southern Indiana - The Covered Bridge - which lasted 10 days. I won't be able to do that anymore. I even question my ability to do the 4 day Pemberville Free Fair event which I really enjoy.</p><p>Yes, my life has/is changing. I can travel but I must set up dialysis sessions along the way. I was told I could even go on a 10 days cruise. Hm? I can get a cruise for $800/person, but the dialysis (5 or 6 times) at about $1K per session... WOW! For 2 people, the cruise will be less than $2K, but the dialysis for me during that time, like $6K. And guess what!? I have to pay. Insurance won't cover it because if you can afford a cruise, you can afford your dialysis.</p><p>Okay, if you stuck with me this far; thanks. I hope to return to blogging.</p><p>Until next I ramble on...</p><p><br /></p>Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-58865022394588294662019-05-07T12:36:00.002-04:002019-05-07T12:36:43.813-04:00What's Wrong With Getting an eBook for Nothing?This is a post by Jack Eason...<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: "droid serif", georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 2.3rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">What’s wrong with getting an eBook for nothing?</span><br />
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<b>ONLY EVERYTHING!</b></div>
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The fact that today’s readers of eBooks demand they must be free or on offer as part of an all you can read for x number of dollars per month package deal, is just so wrong!</div>
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Face it people, when you go to your supermarket to get your groceries, or to any other retail outlet you care to name, do you get what you want for nothing? No of course not. So why should you expect to get a book for free? I’ve heard some people claim it should be free because an eBook isn’t a real book, only an electronic file. <span style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Good grief morons, try engaging your brains for once in your lives!</span></span> These same idiots argue that they should be able to download their favourite music for free as well. I have just two words on that particular subject – Taylor Swift!!! We need someone like her to stand up for the largely toothless contributing authors of this world…</div>
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Thanks to Amazon belabouring the fact that eBooks are electronic files, the concept of never paying for any eBook written by an Indie has become the norm. How many of you feel guilty about reading that eBook you got for nothing? More to the point, how many of those free eBooks you downloaded, have you actually read, let alone reviewed?</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: #3366ff; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Doesn’t it bother you that the eBook’s author invested several months, or in some cases, years writing it? If not, it damned well should!</span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s high time you all grew a conscience and put yourselves in the author’s place for once. After all, would you go into work if you knew that you would not receive a salary for your hard work? Of course you wouldn’t!</span></span></div>
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More fool us for loving the written word, to the point where we sweat blood like you wouldn’t believe to bring you that latest book. Common decency demands that we are owed monetary recompense for all our hard work in the form of royalties, no matter the price of the book in question.</div>
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Unfortunately these days most Indies are lucky if their titles sell in the dozens per annum. Thanks to Amazon’s penny pinching change in how they pay royalties, known as KENPR or Kindle Edition Normalized Pages Read, combined with your own equally selfish attitude towards the product of our labours, if any writer thinks they will become rich these days, they’re seriously kidding themselves. We’re no different to you in that we need money to survive, but thanks to Amazon and uncaring people like you, 99.999% of Amazon’s Indie authors consider themselves lucky if they make maybe a couple of hundred dollars (US) yearly from writing.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: red; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">Remember this tightwads – authors never receive royalties from those free copies you all greedily help yourselves too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.3s linear 0s; vertical-align: baseline;">PS – </span>if you agree with me, reblog this!!!</span></span></div>
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Now, I'm adding my $.02 worth...</div>
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Would you work for one year? Two years? Even a decade? Would you do that for free? Less than 10% of authors are able to write as a livable profession... maybe that percentage is even lower.</div>
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I've considered the "free" route. BUT... My friend spent over a year writing a book, paid over $500 for editing services to make sure the book was good, and paid $150 for a book cover. He offered the book for $4.99, no sales, $3.99, no sales, $1.99, limited sales, finally offered it for free. On the two days he offered it for free, it was downloaded over three thousand times. The next day it went back to $1.99 and he sold a whopping five copies, of which two were returned. Thank you, Amazon. He has yet to recoup his expenses and he has had the book available for over a year. So you understand this dilemma better. Those three thousand books that went for free - that was over $1,000 in profit IF... IF the book had sold for $.99, and over $2,000 if the book had sold for $1.99. Instead, my friend has made a whopping "almost" $10 for the year. If he was living on that 'salary' he would be making about $.0048 an hour. Less than a half penny per hour. Need the math? $10 ÷ 2080. BTW, the 2080 is the number of work hours in a year 40 * 52 = 2080.<br />
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Now, I'm not saying that $2,000 is a killer earning to live on per year, but it would enhance the lifestyle somewhat.<br />
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I'm not against free books, they have their place in the marketing world. If you have a series of 3 or 5 books, offering book 1 for free would attract a reader with the possibility of future sales of the remaining series.<br />
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So, think twice when you grab that free book.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
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</header>Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-40511725326693732872018-11-21T08:45:00.000-05:002018-11-21T08:46:21.961-05:00How to Launch a Box Set of EbooksToday I want to share a blog of my friend, Elyse Salpeter. She explains how she released her first box set and how to do it. Enjoy.<br />
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How to Launch a Box Set of Ebooks: The Kelsey Porter Series</h1>
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by Elyse Salpeter</div>
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<a href="https://elysesalpeter.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/how-to-launch-a-box-set-of-ebooks-the-kelsey-porter-series/" rel="bookmark" style="border: 0px; color: #63724b; display: block; font-family: "Sorts Mill Goudy", "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: -6px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="November 20, 2018">Nov<span style="display: block; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 0;">20</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #bb5974; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-2853" data-attachment-id="2853" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Kelsey Porter series 1-3 3D (2)" data-large-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=714" data-medium-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=221&h=300" data-orig-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg" data-orig-size="1918,2600" data-permalink="https://elysesalpeter.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/how-to-launch-a-box-set-of-ebooks-the-kelsey-porter-series/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2/" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px" src="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=221&h=300" srcset="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=221&h=300 221w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=442&h=600 442w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/kelsey-porter-series-1-3-3d-2.jpg?w=111&h=150 111w" style="border-radius: 4px; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 0px 1px 1px; height: auto; margin: 0.25em; max-width: 100%;" width="221" /></a><br />
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Kelsey Porter Box Set</div>
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Hi, everyone. I have great news! I’m excited to announce that I have learned how to launch a box set for those of you who’d like to jump into the Kelsey Porter series. Here are the first three ebooks all together, now available on Amazon for just $7.99. Please click here: <a href="https://amzn.to/2RV8eIY" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: #bb5974; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://amzn.to/2RV8eIY</a><br />
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How did I do it? Launching a box set is actually pretty easy… though I’ll need to caveat that you DO need to actually have multiple books written. I waited to do a box set until after I had 5 books in the Kelsey Porter series published. Then what I did was contact my formatter and she made me an ebook file of the first three novels. She put it all together in one document that I uploaded to Amazon. The only difference is you don’t need the added copy at the end of each novel, as the next book is already there, ready to go. But, at the very end of the ebook, I did the amazon link and the 1st chapter of Book #4 so the readers could continue the series.</div>
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Then, I contacted my cover artist, Laura LaRoche at <a href="https://www.llpix.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #bb5974; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LLPix Designs</a>, and she created this really cool box set cover, as you can see here. She used the same “feel” as the covers of the series and I think she did a great job.</div>
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<a href="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #bb5974; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="size-large wp-image-2781" data-attachment-id="2781" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Book All Five Fixed" data-large-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=714&h=209" data-medium-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg" data-orig-size="3859,1130" data-permalink="https://elysesalpeter.wordpress.com/2018/09/16/catch-up-on-the-kelsey-porter-thriller-series-book-1-just-0-99-until-10-31-18/book-all-five-fixed/" height="209" sizes="(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px" src="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=714&h=209" srcset="https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=714&h=209 714w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=1428&h=418 1428w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=150&h=44 150w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=300&h=88 300w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=768&h=225 768w, https://elysesalpeter.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/book-all-five-fixed.jpg?w=1024&h=300 1024w" style="border-radius: 4px; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 0px 1px 1px; height: auto; margin: 0.25em; max-width: 100%;" width="714" /></a><br />
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The Kelsey Porter Series</div>
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Now, why did I do only three? Because...[<a href="https://elysesalpeter.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/how-to-launch-a-box-set-of-ebooks-the-kelsey-porter-series/" target="_blank">Read more here...</a>]</div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-20310538053706474882018-08-20T11:09:00.000-04:002018-08-20T11:09:51.204-04:00Fair FareSorry for the delay in posting. I was at the fair. No, I didn't go to a fair, I was part of the fair. I was a vendor at a street fair in Pemberville, Ohio.<br />
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It is a free street fair that starts on a Wednesday evening and ends on Saturday night. Three days and four nights of activities for the whole family. This event has been going on for 65 years. Imagine that?!<br />
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Now, exactly how was I involved? Four authors - I was one of them - shared a 10 ft X 10 ft "booth" area to hawk our books in the vendors' tent.<br />
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We thought we could "man" the booth in turns so nobody would get burned out but quickly discovered being absent meant "no sales" since most of the people wanted to talk to the author about this or that particular book. Plus, if they bought the book, and the author was absent, who would sign the copy? Hence, I found myself behind the table from ...<br />
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Wed: 6pm to 9pm<br />
Thu: 12pm to 9pm<br />
Fri: 9am to 9pm<br />
Sat: 9am to 9pm<br />
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The only time I escaped was to get something to eat or drink, even though I brought water along each day, with the 80+ temperatures and inside a canvas tent, it was very warm. There was some wind, but it usually came with rain which meant the sides were pulled down to keep us, and our wares, dry. Oh, and the other time of escape was to find a facility to get rid of the excess water that didn't sweat out. LOL. (Note: That's when I would check out what I could of the fair, seeing where I might want to eat next time!)<br />
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Now, my wife went with me to this event since it was a two-hour drive away and we took our RV to have a temporary residence. She camped, I worked. But, she attended the fair a couple of days. She played bingo, watched the pony and tractor pulls and even went to see exactly what a "chicken drop" might be. Imagine her surprise. to discover people laying down money on numbers to match the numbers in a fenced area. When all "bets" were done, a chicken was placed in the fenced area and when and where it "dropped" a load in a numbered square, that person won.<br />
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Rides were plenty, some for lovers, some for kids, some for adults, and some, well, just too twisty turny for my body to not react in a violent manner. I've learned NOT to ride them.<br />
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Food? So much food. Everything from a simple hot dog to an elaborate pork loin sandwich. There was the ever present cotton candy, caramel or candy apples, popcorn - both plain, flavored and standard caramel, blooming onions, floats, pop, nachos, corn dogs, and as I stated, that pork loin fritter which was deep fried, tri-folded on the bun and then smothered in anything you wanted to put on it.<br />
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But I was there to sell books, as were my fellow authors. We started with four, then had only three and finally, for the last 5 hours, it was just the two of us. One author got sick Thursday morning and didn't attend the rest of the event. Another author had a family emergency and had to be absent a whole day on Friday and called it early on Saturday. He did very well on sales for his limited time in attendance.<br />
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Now, I and Terry James were there practically the whole time. He sold well and even had a fan come up and gush over him. She couldn't believe her luck in meeting one of her favorite authors. Personally, I think he was a little bashful about the whole incident.<br />
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I did quite well, selling books and greeting/meeting people. I had two library people approach me to see if I would be interested in a meet/greet event to talk about and sign copies of my book(s) over the next year. I just hope I didn't scare them off with my eagerness to jump at the chance!!<br />
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Another gentleman bought a copy of "The Secret Voice" which is the 1st book in my Amish Singer series. He wanted to read it and thought maybe his wife might be interested in it. To my surprise, she was back to my booth in about ten minutes asking me if I'd be interested in a possible book club opportunity. Remember, this is all, at minimum, two hours away from my home. I said yes, I'd love to do a book club if they were interested. Imagine my surprise!! The woman and her book club are only a mere 10 miles from my residence. They were visiting friends in Pemberville. Such an opportunity to fall into my lap. I couldn't believe my luck. Now, I hope the others are excited enough to buy into the book for the club.<br />
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Overall, it was a great fair. I sold many, many books, including my latest <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBFKDTD" target="_blank">Barry Hargove and The Case of Eternal Blood</a>.<br />
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Now I need to get my butt in the chair and finish the sequel to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VW3BCA6" target="_blank">The Secret Voice.</a> It should be an easy hustle next year in Pemberville.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-80440297484244160682018-07-22T10:30:00.000-04:002018-07-22T10:30:12.792-04:00The Sanitized MonsterVampire.<br />
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Take a second. Exactly what did you visualize when you read that word? Did you see a pale, young man or woman whose skin reminded you of sparkling marble? Or perhaps your mind wandered into the sensual with a virile man or sexy woman who dredged up the secret passions of your loins?<br />
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Did anyone imagine a male or female who had no other desire than to suck all the blood out of your body before casting you aside like an empty plastic water bottle? One of the reviews of my co-written vampire novel - Ancient Blood The Amazon - stated "The book is an excellent read filled with the psycho-sexual depredations of vampires in their more traditional incarnation, but with a modern twist that keeps the reader engaged rather than bored.<br />
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Zombie.<br />
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Again, what did you imagine? Was the creature slow and mindless? Lumbering with a goal? Faster than you? Conniving? Comic relief?<br />
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In today's society we have sanitized our monsters to where they are our friends, or worse, a joke. Today's vampires don't want to drain you of your life essence. No, they want to be your friend and live a normal life within society. The same holds true for werewolves, zombies, mummies and a plethora of other monsters.<br />
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Mermaids. Those lovely creatures of the water. We all agree they are beautiful, sensual, and desirable. Yet, originally, these minions of the sea were vicious and their only desire was to see your vessel destroyed, and most likely, you become food, or die, sinking into the depths of their watery world.<br />
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Dragons. Are they fire-breathing behemoths flying through the air, destroying mankind, demanding virgin sacrifices, and squatting on the collected gold? Or, are they peaceful beasts who share their life with virtuous men, fighting evil? They've been redesigned into wyverns, worms, and other mythological creatures with and without magical powers. Are they good? Bad?<br />
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Orcs? Demons? Succubi? Werewolves? Mummies? Are they your nightmare or your buddy?<br />
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Let's go another route...<br />
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Fairies. Are they good or bad? Really? Fairies are light, beings of the fantastic. Do we approach them like Glinda, the good witch of the south, who would ask?<i> Are you a good fairy? Or a bad fairy? </i><br />
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On that note - how about witches and warlocks? Are they good? Or are they bad?<br />
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Originally, witches were hags who brewed their cauldrons for only one thing, a curse. I believe L. Frank Baum created the first "good" witch. I may be wrong, correct me, if so. Still, Halloween was filled with flying broomsticks operated by witches with their feline sidekicks. The movie, <i>Hocus Pocus</i>, gave us the evil witch, but threw in comical relief to make it a "family" movie. Considering the theme of the movie - stealing and sucking the life force out of children - if not for the comedy, could have been a very dark and scary movie... definitely an "R" rating.<br />
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Warlocks were their counterpart. Again, their magic was created to subsidize the dark. But, over time, they were sanitized into good beings who lead or helped epic adventures or managed schools.<br />
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Leprechauns are another group of creatures who have been through the mill, so to speak. Originally they were little people who, if caught, would possibly give up their pot of gold for their freedom. An example - <i>Darby O'Gill and the Little People</i>. Years later, enter "Leprechaun" (the horror movies) where the poor creature will resort to mayhem and bloodshed to retain its pot of gold. If these creatures were real, I'm sure many of them would be in therapy trying to find their identity.<br />
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Are monsters good? Bad? Indifferent?<br />
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Should we sanitize these creatures to imbue them as "fun" people? Or, should we resort back to the original design? Variety is the spice of life. Yes, but do we want a variety or do we want to strip these creatures of the magical qualities to scare the bejesus out of us?<br />
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I see nothing wrong with good and bad. What I see wrong is the going astray to sanitize them, stripping away the horror that made them what they are. I have no problem with a vampire that rips the throat out after finishing a bloody meal. I have no issue with a vampire who wants to assist the cops on the night force as a hematologist. But, I do call "foul" when the vampire is forced to drink bottled animal or synthetic blood so s/he can be around humans and control the blood lust within them.<br />
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And don't get me started on aliens. My aspect? If aliens come to Earth, they come to conquer and strip the planet. Why else would one want to leave their planet? They aren't coming because they like our flowers. They need our resources - and one of those resources might just be us!<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-27634240570161340562018-07-15T15:00:00.000-04:002018-07-15T15:00:00.398-04:00A Little PoliticsI have a friend who has considered running for a political position, but he is worried some of his "secrets" from the past will be raised and he'd rather not have them see the light of day. Personally, I think he would be great for the job, and having known him since our school days, his past should be his past and left alone.<br />
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Of course, if he had been part of some subversive group back in his college years, I'd question that, but, then again, that was forty years ago and if he hasn't been "actively" involved with that group during the last forty years, I'm pretty sure he's clean.<br />
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Did he smoke pot? Take drugs? I don't know and I don't really care. Is he or has he been taking them in the last 10 weeks? 10 days? 10 minutes? Even 10 seconds ago? Now, that would be my question.<br />
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What I think is his basic problem is a little unknown secret of exploration during the sixties. [I know he hasn't smoked pot or been involved with a subversive group, so I'm guessing at this.] Everyone slept around. So what if you woke up in a stranger's bed and the person happen to be a hooker or, even as a worst case scenario, the same sex as you. You're not sleeping around now and have been true to your wife for the last almost fifty years.<br />
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For some strange reason we, Joe Public, feel a person in politics should be squeaky clean. We place them on a pedestal, and they should shine. Even my pastor confided to me, he is a man, not a saint, and if pushed, he can get angry and cuss with the best of them. He asks forgiveness, but, as he said, he is a man. But, I digress. Should our politicians be squeaky clean?<br />
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NO!<br />
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No one man could ... not even Jesus could stand up to that type of scrutiny. Think about it. Jesus had "hoes" and men of questionable reputations, such as a tax collector, as his buddies and sidekicks. Today, over 2.2 billion people claim this same man, Jesus, as their Savior. Nobody would have voted him "Man to Succeed" back then!<br />
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So, the bottom line is simple. Can the person do the job? Is the fact that he took a "toke" on a joint back in 1968 or woke up with another guy who claims it was one of the best nights or paid $20 for a quickie at some dive while attending college - is that critical to his position?<br />
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Now, if this person has been in a political position and has been pocketing money from special interest groups for votes and/or taking drugs and/or sleeping around - yeah, time to evaluate your choice. If the person is already a political figure, I expect them to represent ME and put forth their best effort to be a figure to look up to.<br />
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My buddy seems to me to be a good choice from what I know of him.<br />
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At the present time, as I see it, most of Congress should consider themselves eligible for deployment elsewhere. Being a Senator or House Rep is a position of honor, it is NOT a career opportunity. Too many of them are there, and been there, for way too long.<br />
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I would love to see a bill passed that had the following articles of conditions for members of Congress:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Service not to exceed 2 terms, once filled, cannot serve again</li>
<li>Salary will be voted by the public, and only the public - you are a servant of the public</li>
<li>Must have served a minimum of 2 years military, this applies to both male and female</li>
<li>If a bill is passed applying to the public, it applies also to Congress - you are not exempt</li>
<li>Money will be set aside, just like the rest of the public, for your retirement - it will NOT be your salary amount - your current salary and retirement fund is our (the public's) taxes.</li>
<li>Any monies discovered taken from special interest groups (lobbyists) will result in swift termination. This is direct or indirect funding by a lobbyist.</li>
<li>Any involvement in sex or drugs brought to attention will be handled swiftly - resignation.</li>
<li>The rest of the world is awake at their jobs, therefore no sleeping in session.</li>
</ol>
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I was a little leery about the "sex and drugs" but I figure, if you're in Congress or any political office, you can keep your zipper up and your nose clean for those few years. If it happened before and/or after their term of service - I don't care. Of course, if a political member is questioned about monies taken, sex, or drugs, I still see justice being served with a proper hearing. BUT, the idea of spending $50+ million dollars "in discovery" is ridiculous. A reasonable hearing is all that is needed, not a slack-stick Hollywood production.<br />
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Also, all these so-called "junkets" to foreign countries or elsewhere to validate some obscure aspect is a waste of our money. Does the First Lady really need to shop in Paris? Or does the town mayor really need to spend five days at a convention where the rooms cost $275 or more per day? Or have an alcohol tab of an excessive amount? If the political person wants to drink, pay for it yourself! I have to, why not you?</div>
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What people seem to forget is one simple fact: Any money the government spends is YOUR money paid in taxes. The U. S. government, state government, county government, even city government, is not a company making money - they aren't selling anything... well, they sell us a lot of BS, but that's another story. Any money they have is OUR money we've paid in taxes. There is not a PROFIT margin like a corporation or company.</div>
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Back to the problem at hand - If a person wants to run for a political office, it should be about that person's ability to handle the position and if there are certain "terms" of that position, the person should be able to meet them or not run. What I am saying, if you need to be 35 and a U.S. citizen, show them your birth certificate. The fact that you got arrested for stealing a watch from WalMart when you were 19 years old has nothing to do with your ability, at age 55, to be a County Commissioner or Senator.</div>
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Some skeletons should be left in the closet - that's why they're there!!</div>
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So what are your thoughts? Am I wrong?<br />
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Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-50466853374518913372018-07-08T15:00:00.000-04:002018-07-09T10:51:47.443-04:00What Have I Been Up To?Most of the time I am fighting my weight or blood sugar. I mean, that is a daily battle, and really... Do you want to hear about it? If so, here's a little update. Finally, I think I have my insulin intake under control - for the most part. I mean, I still have minor bouts of high numbers, especially when I go off diet and binge at the Chinese "all-you-can-eat" buffets. Give me a break. Sushi? Fried fish? Fried shrimp? Fried... well, whatever? And rice? Of course my numbers are going to be out of bounds. DOH!!! Also, I've learned, if I turn just right, I can jolt my back out of place and that insipid continuous pain can sky-rocket my blood sugar, too. So, I deal with it, and on most day, I'm good.<br />
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Weight? I didn't gain this spacious 100 pounds overnight; I'm not going to lose it overnight. The faster it comes off, the faster it comes back and usually brings extra luggage and friends. I'm losing at a slow pace, a hair over three pounds over a three month period. That would mean, one pound per month. Maybe I "could" step it up a little, but, well, read the previous paragraph. Buffets? Doh?! If it ain't deep fried, it is coated in a heavy sugary syrup. Hence, when at home, I eat a lot of less carb meals, cutting corners on the carb count as I can. Sandwiches are now basically a wrap, but with lavash bread which is only 4 carbs for 1/4 section of bread which is more than enough to wrap a sandwich. Sure beats 20+ for a slice of bread.<br />
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So much for all that same-o, same-o crap about my diet, weight, and blood sugar. Big whoop! I'm controlling it for the most part. I'm happy.<br />
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So... What have I been doing?
We decided to revamp the front porch. Okay, in full honesty, we decided to revamp the whole appearance around the house. First step was getting some of the weeds under control and to do that, we decided to get rid of some flower beds. We didn't get rid of flowers, just the beds. Flowers now reside in pots and they're doing real fine and I've discovered, so much easier to weed. As I wander around the yard, checking the posies, if I see a stray weed growing in the pot - well, out it comes!!<br />
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The garden was six feet by fifteen feet. Slightly raised. To be honest, barely eight inches off the ground. It did help keep the weeds somewhat controlled, but leaning down to get to them. Uh, that was a stretch.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBATwoEIJA0kRl3HJGIUcHJ9V9ugKYqsnHXYCN_Q4kUR2fNGg2O6IhcF4sb28FspAQDQMDCiEjSja7PfV4vWyikZ2uZugw0N1Cti87AqM5ZANFllSvEuOzMZCiB4-GWY2uVs7uovVvZ_HO/s1600/garden+old+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="600" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBATwoEIJA0kRl3HJGIUcHJ9V9ugKYqsnHXYCN_Q4kUR2fNGg2O6IhcF4sb28FspAQDQMDCiEjSja7PfV4vWyikZ2uZugw0N1Cti87AqM5ZANFllSvEuOzMZCiB4-GWY2uVs7uovVvZ_HO/s640/garden+old+2018.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A new raised bed this spring. Smaller. It is - inside dimensions - four feet by nine something feet. Note I said inside dimensions. I used concrete blocks, two blocks high. So the garden is now sixteen inches from the ground and quite reachable. Weeds? Yeah, a few at the start which I was able to remove in less than ten minutes. Now, that's what I call easy gardening. This image is when I first started to put it in. Uh, two trips to Menards to lug them back in the rear of a 2014 Ford Focus, 700+ pounds, just in blocks, each load. LOL.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJahgCNnHRuc8N1YGuBcMJhyphenhyphenJQ-_TGXzgUFbCdkQX7MIleWIQpY5b1Iztg5NADnM3jEmfplqRmKCBOVBYDroQzu3SH90kbSSCFmmtva-rIy-HrJfsDeM2zlhSBcTScV2yLi5MxfwsqIFK/s1600/garden+new+start+2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJahgCNnHRuc8N1YGuBcMJhyphenhyphenJQ-_TGXzgUFbCdkQX7MIleWIQpY5b1Iztg5NADnM3jEmfplqRmKCBOVBYDroQzu3SH90kbSSCFmmtva-rIy-HrJfsDeM2zlhSBcTScV2yLi5MxfwsqIFK/s400/garden+new+start+2018.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Almost finished. Just a little more dirt. I've put in some dirt, some sand, and lots and lots of chicken crap. I cleaned out the chicken coop and well, what better place to put all that fertilizer? I let it sit for almost a month, watering it so it wouldn't be too strong.
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And, now? Here's what it looks like today.
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I have two struggling bell peppers on the extreme right with some nice looking bells. There are 2 rows of green beans and one row of wax beans. My "salad" lettuce is on the left. It is a mixture of different leaf lettuces. And, across the back, I have five (5) tomato plants. Starting from the left, it is a cherry tomato (in case you didn't notice, it is HUGE) for salads and munching, a Beef Steak for sandwiches, a New Jersey Devil which is a strange Roma-type for pastes and salsa, a Pink which will add a lighter color to the mix, and finally, on the far right, a Mortgage Maker which is a heavy bearer and great for sauces. Yeah, a lot of tomatoes going into pint and quart jars this season until the first winter frost kills them. Of course, I'll probably sneak out and grab a couple of green maters to fry up. Love them. Oh, and before I forget, I am proud to say, everything in the garden but the lettuce was grown by me from seed.<br />
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I've also been working on the front porch and side deck. Let's go with the front porch. It is "almost" done. I just need to get the LED post cap lights for the four small posts, and I also need to string rope between the posts. Since the porch is only two feet from the ground on the sides, and a couple of inches from the front flower beds, I don't need to have any railing. We love the look without. BUT, we discovered, a strong wind moves the furniture across the porch and well, in the past, the railings kept things contained to the front porch and not flipping all over the yard. Hence, we are placing a decorative rope around to at least keep the furniture on the porch during a storm.
Here's the porch, as built in 2006 when the house was going up. The only thing missing is the slapped-up white roof with no trim.
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This is what it looks like today, minus the cap post LED lights and ropes ... which are coming soon.
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And, now, some close ups. They are: front porch left side, front porch right side, my fancy corner emblem so I didn't have to miter the corners when putting up the trim, and the newly painted furniture.
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Now, a little about the furniture. Originally, the love seat was the same insipid "tan" color as the table next to it. The Adirondack chair was a lovely shade of dark army green. The other chairs were also a shade of dark moss green. I painted them all a dark blue. We put new blue and white cushions on the old rockers. And, in the near future, I will paint the tables white. Also, I plan to paint all the shutters on the house to match our new color scheme. Yup! It will be that dark blue.<br />
<br />
I'm currently working on the side deck. It is a mere eight (8) to ten (10) feet above the ground on the east end of the house. I had some of that crappy plastic trellis screwed to some of the uprights. Not really all that safe. I have since put up welded fencing and will be covering it with wood strips. When I finish that project, I'll post. Hopefully, by then, I'll also have the rest of the front porch, and shutters completed.
One neighbor asked if I was getting the house ready to sell. I informed him I was changing a lot of things around the house to make it easier for me, a seventy-two year old fart, to keep things up-to-date. I will be enlarging the "hillside" flower bed this fall. My son bought a new place and my DIL doesn't want to fiddle with all the myriad of flowers. Guess who is going to inherit them? And, in the manner of keeping it easier for me, I'll add a simple path through the new bed to make weeding easier when in the flower bed.<br />
<br />
<b>A Gardening Lesson</b><br />
<br />
Here's a gardening tidbit. When is the best time to weed? Well, of course, when the weed first emerges from the ground and has very little root... but, well, we don't tend to catch them until they are larger than the flowers. LOL. So, now to answer the question. After it has rained. If you get a heavy deluge, or really good dousing of water that seeps deep into the ground. The next day... or later that day, grab your bucket and whatever weeding tools you use and get out there. PULL... yes, PULL those weeds out. If the ground is really wet, they will literally slip out, maybe even with all the hairy little roots still attached. I did that for a mulch area, pulling dandelions, Queen Anne's lace, thistle, creeping Jenny and all sorts of other weeds out - tap root and all the little roots, too. If you get the root out, they don't tend to grow back. LOL.
I've got a little weeding to do and it has threatened to rain for the last couple of days. Even the weatherman believes it will rain. It hasn't. Each day it doesn't rain and I don't pull the weeds, they get stronger root systems and bigger. If it don't rain tonight, I will get the sprinkler out and let it run for about an hour in the morning, then again for about thirty minutes in the afternoon. Then, in the evening shade and cool, I'll sit on my little bench and pull those weeds out. BTW, if you know my luck, it will pour that night after I've watered so well.
<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-57039284405736696682018-05-27T23:24:00.002-04:002018-05-27T23:36:10.898-04:00An EpiphanyEver have one of them? An epiphany? A friend of mine likes to call them "The Epiphany" but somehow that indicates there is only one — and, for me, of late, there's been more than one.<br />
<br />
When I was dating my wife, we'd go to her brother's house for family gatherings, picnics, and swim in the pond with the nieces and nephews. Up by the house, a table sat at the edge of the large deck under the shade of a large oak tree. As I lazed in the sun on the small sandy beach area, I'd see them, the aunts and uncles, the old people, sitting at that table enjoying their coffees or lemonades.<br />
<br />
The years have passed. My brother-in-law and his wife have moved into a small trailer set a little closer to the pond. His eldest son has taken over handling the "estate" of six acres. We had a party the other day. All the family showed. The grandkids and great-grandkids frolicked in the pond, running helter-skelter here and there. I sat at the table at the edge of the large deck under the shade of the huge oak tree. I was enjoying my cup of coffee, talking with the other siblings of my wife's family, watching the kids. I was once more reminded of how the old people (the aunts, uncles, moms and dads) would sit at the table and...<br />
<br />
OMG!<br />
<br />
I was the 'old people' at the table.<br />
<br />
Sure, Uncle Earl passed. Aunt Mary went to her Heavenly reward. Even mom and dad had taken their turn visiting the Pearly Gates.<br />
<br />
But, wait, when had the baton been passed. When did I — that's right, the three of us — me, myself, and I — when did we become one of those to sit at the esteemed table of elders?<br />
<br />
I longed for the sunny beach; to allow myself to throw caution to the wind, no reservations, allow the sun to crisp my body to a golden brown.<br />
<br />
I held my hand over my eyebrow to shade my view and see the kids out in the water.<br />
<br />
NO! I'd seen my wife's dad, and her Uncle Earl do that. Not me! It couldn't be me!!<br />
<br />
I sipped my coffee, resigned to the fact — I was old. I'd moved on. No longer was I the stud lounging on the beach. My heydays were over.<br />
<br />
Never!!<br />
<br />
I stood, my bones creaking and cracking in the action. I was going to take my rightful place back in the sun. As I was about to leap off the low deck onto the lawn, I thought better of it, turned and carefully, one step at a time, made my way down the staircase and to the path to the pond.<br />
<br />
About four steps later I realized the truth. I hurt. The idea of getting down, laying on the beach, allowing the glorious sun to bathe my body...<br />
<br />
I cringed. Thoughts assailed me.<br />
<br />
1. That's a lot of white flesh to expose, not only to the sun, but to the world.<br />
2. They don't have a crane handy — how are you getting back up?<br />
3. Your six pack is more like overstuffed carry-on luggage.<br />
4. Do you really want to hear the kids, grandkids and others laughing?<br />
5. Or worse, crying for you to put on more clothes?<br />
<br />
With the sincerest look I could offer, I turned to the others on the porch deck and said...<br />
<br />
"Damn! I forgot what I was going to do!"<br />
<br />
And humbly walked back up to sit at the table.<br />
<br />
There is honor in growing old. It is a rite of passage. You are an elder to be respected.<br />
<br />
Yeah, right! That's a lot of hogwash.<br />
<br />
As Judge Thurgood Marshall stated when asked why he was retiring...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Because I'm old!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Yes, I'm old but I do believe I'd remember when the baton was passed to me. Obviously, as I have now learned, it is done without any pomp or circumstance. No ceremony. It is a simple case, one day you don't have the baton, the next day you have it. I also discovered, it does not, I repeat, does NOT come with instructions.<br />
<br />
In fact, a little head's up — very little of growing up comes with instructions. Sure, you get guidance when you're young, but when you hit a certain age, all those who are older than you, well, they have moved on, and suddenly, you are now the font of all things important, somewhat relevant, and unfortunately, more often than not, totally useless information of a period gone by.<br />
<br />
A few years ago, the matriarch of my wife's family passed. Yes, my mother-in-law, at the ripe age of 103 (one hundred and three) went to her Heavenly home. My parents had already passed. At that moment, although I hadn't realized it at the time, my wife and I became the matriarch and patriarch of our family, as did my wife's sisters and brother with their families. The baton had been passed. There was none for us to go to for advice. We now were the Oracles, the deities of information, good or bad.<br />
<br />
Epiphany.<br />
<br />
When did I get to this point? How did I get here?<br />
<br />
The answer is simple. I got here one breath at a time... and there were a lot of them.<br />
<br />
As king, my first proclamation...<br />
<br />
HELP!!<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
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Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-21443585981430304652018-01-07T19:21:00.001-05:002018-01-07T19:21:32.549-05:00The DietHappy New Year - 2018 is officially here.<br />
<br />
Now that all the holiday hoopla is over, it is time to once more relegate ourselves to life.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of 2017, I made a resolution to lose weight this year. I was just under 250 last January but during the year I was able to find a few more of those pounds I'd lost in 2016. With a little work and a major threat from my doctor, I am now down to 234. My resolution was to lose 15 pounds and by jiminy-jack, I basically did it. Actually I lost almost 25 pounds total but from the beginning of the year, I made my goal.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The doctor decided to put me on insulin and right now we're trying to see just how much insulin I'll need to take daily. They started me at 10 units, upping it every day two more units. I'm currently squeezing 48 units under my skin each day. AND, of course, we haven't hit the "sweet" spot, yet. So I keep upping the ante each day.<br />
<br />
On the plus? side - I'm no longer taking all the other diabetic meds that were costing me so much. I was able to stop buying $100+ of monthly meds - we still don't know exactly how much my insulin will cost, but we'll deal with it. OR, as I told my doctor, being on a fixed income, if it is too much, guess I'll die a very sweet guy. LOL.<br />
<br />
Here's the truly sad part to this whole scenario.<br />
<br />
Dieting and being a diabetic. I can only eat certain things and carbs are a definite NO-NO. Do you realize how much carbs are in foods? Okay, the foods we like - potatoes, rice, bread, and the list goes on. If it isn't a carb, then the sugar is too much. Cherries will basically bomb my sugar spike to kingdom come. I love cherries. Fresh fruit - I have to be so careful.<br />
<br />
Basically, if it is green or white (excluding potatoes and rice) - I can eat it. That means, I can have all I want of lettuces, broccoli, beans, onions, cauliflower, kale, sauerkraut... you see what I mean.<br />
<br />
The other day I had 5 - count them - FIVE itty-bitty little tater tots with some chicken strips. What harm could five little nuggets do? Uh, my sugar spiked up to 397... uh, that was 3 hours after eating them. I can only imagine what the number was 1 or 2 hours earlier.<br />
<br />
I can eat protein - that's meat - and almost as much of it as I want. I've learned to make meatballs that are basically almost carb free. Instead of breadcrumbs, I use shredded summer squash. Don't turn up your nose, it is really quite tasty.<br />
<br />
I also found a recipe for baked fish that makes them almost as crunchy as deep-fried but, oh, so much healthier. Imagine my surprise when I tried it on onion rings. My wife now looks forward to my Friday night fish - she loves, LOVES the onion rings. All of it baked.<br />
<br />
It is a good thing I enjoy sauerkraut, too. Sausage (kielbasa) or pork chops with sauerkraut, green pepper, onions, mushrooms. YUM.<br />
<br />
Chinese stir fry is a pretty safe bet, too. Of course, no rice allowed - too many carbs. I did try some Chinese noodles but I can do without, if necessary. Protein and veggies - how that be wrong?<br />
<br />
Now, another sad item. We did a lot of harvesting in the garden and I made a lot of stuff to fill the freezer with some quick meals. What kind of things, you ask? Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. Egg Rolls. Jambalaya. Stuffed Green Pepper Casserole. Tater-tot Casserole. Did you notice? A lot of rice and/or potato dishes... or a need to deep fry. All of those are no-no for me.<br />
<br />
I will continue on my diet and I will get my diabetes under control. The doctor did offer me a carrot on a stick - since I can stand to lose 100 pounds and still be at a safe weight, I might be able to come off the insulin, depending on how my body reacts to the weight loss.<br />
<br />
Sure, it's a long shot, but at least the carrot is hanging there in front of me.<br />
<br />
Wouldn't it be nice if I could lose possibly 50 pounds this year? Like I said last year, that is probably a blue-sky wish. Reality. Another 20, maybe 30 pounds. After all, I didn't gain all this weight overnight; I'm not going to lose it overnight.<br />
<br />
AND, if anyone has some great recipes for a dieting diabetic who can't eat eggs or egg-products, like pasta and such, please share with me. It takes so much time to search the internet. LOL.<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-27281041195936123072017-12-24T15:29:00.001-05:002017-12-24T15:37:52.397-05:00Christmas RetrospectToday is Christmas Eve Day and I am sitting at my desk watching the fine snow continue to fall. This morning was church and then my wife and I had an enjoyable lunch with friends at a local restaurant.<br />
<br />
The snow started to fall while we were in church. We walked in and the ground was clear. We came out to a light coating of white and extremely slick roads and sidewalks. Uh, "extremely slick" is being very kind - I almost fell on my dignity as I headed for the car. As we drove to the restaurant, I decided - after attempting to stop - it was wiser to continue on through the yellow light. When the group broke up to head home, I decided to go "that extra mile" and see a house I thought we'd look at later if it truly piqued our interest. I slowed up to look at the home and then attempted to turn into a driveway to turn around. My wife kept telling me "Don't hit the telephone pole" like it was my goal in life. I didn't - repeat DIDN'T - want to hit the pole. In fact, I didn't even want to go off the blacktop driveway and into the yard... but, I did. Fortunately the gravel at the edge of the driveway and the first crops of grass stopped me and I only "trespassed" about 3 feet into the yard. With luck, the spring rains should wash away all the evidence.<br />
<br />
While on the highway, cars were going faster than I wished to drive and some of them seemed to have difficulty remaining in their lane. I decided to take the back roads home with a lot less traffic. Of course, that didn't mean the roads were any better or safer. Approaching my driveway at the outrageous speed of 15 mph... Yeah, I almost overshot the driveway, finally slip-sliding my way into my driveway which is gravel. As one would expect, even it was slippery so there is this little wiggle in the tire tracks leading up to house.<br />
<br />
I'm inside and have NO intention of going outside except to let the dog out. Our dog will go out, potty and immediately return to the house. We are watching (dog-sitting) our son's dog. It is spoiled rotten, and has been raised in a fenced yard. Why do I say spoiled? You have to be outside with her while she does her business. If I tie her to the chain - 30 ft with a pole out in the middle of yard - so she has plenty of running space - she will whine and bark to come back in, totally disregarding her business. But, wait, she remembers that she had to go potty and well, SURPRISE! To avoid that surprise, I stand out there in the weather and wait for her to run off her excess energy and do her business. Sounds like a little wimpy dog, right? Wrong, this is a pit bull with muscles that exceed mine about 3 to 1, maybe 4 to 1. Plus, if she wasn't so damn lovable I'd just turn my back, but she's just a big lap dog who doesn't realize she isn't a lap dog. Maybe I should note at this time - the dog has decided turn about is fair play - if I leave the bathroom door open, she watches me. If I close the door, she patiently waits outside the door, sticking her nose as far under the door as possible. Personally, I don't think these moments should be shared, but...<br />
<br />
I've digressed. And I usually do. Sorry.<br />
<br />
Christmas. I remember as my kids got older, my parents and in-laws didn't seem as much "into" Christmas. I mean they shared a couple of gifts, but the Christmas morning hoopla was missing. Now, I have grandchildren and great grandchildren. The children are spread here and there with their in-laws spread even farther it seems. So, we had our "family" Christmas last weekend, 12/19, with all them present - all 28 of us in one house. Talk about chaos and fun. We even had 7 kids who are under the age of 3 to keep things hopping.<br />
<br />
So, today my wife and I head to church and it is Christmas Eve Day... but, it doesn't feel like any other day of the week or year. I mean, tomorrow is Christmas and we'd probably just sleep in and finally, some time during the day, decide to open the gifts we bought each other. No hoopla. No whoop-de-doo-dah. The gifts? More likely useful items that either of us could have bought any other day - jammies, underwear, socks, gloves, etc. I could have bought my wife jewelry but I've done that over the years for special occasions, birthdays and other gift days. She has more jewelry than she will probably ever wear. Some I've even forgotten I've bought for her... let's just say, when she passes, the DILs and granddaughters will each probably receive a beautiful piece of jewelry to remember her.<br />
<br />
Outside the snow is still falling. It is beautiful. The fine snow is dusting all the tree and bush branches.<br />
<br />
So, tomorrow, my #2 son who is celebrating Christmas today with his 3 children, their spouses and children are like us. Nothing to get all excited about on Christmas Day. They've invited us to join them for a day at the casino in Toledo. At first I hesitated but, again, it feels like any other day and it might be fun to do as something different. I mean, we could just sit at home... but, why?<br />
<br />
The Christmases I remember from my youth are no more. Families are no longer just living a few miles from each other. Work schedules even force employees to work on Christmas. I remember in our town, each Sunday everything was closed except ONE gas station and ONE drug store - and those stores took turns rotating as to who would be open. Come Christmas there wasn't anything open except the police, fire department and hospitals - and I think they were running skeletal crews so everyone could have part of the day with their families. Oh, and maybe the local Chinese restaurant was open. In my small mid-America "village" there was no Oriental restaurants back then.<br />
<br />
If my #3 son was still an EMT on the fire department, he'd be working today and tomorrow, a 4 hour shift. My #4 son needs to go in and make sure the furnace is going at the steel mill. My #1 and #2 sons had to work yesterday (Saturday) and of course, will be back to work on Tuesday. My #2 grandson needs to be at work Christmas night to start the week and his wife needs to handle a shift at the local carryout. My #1 granddaughter will do a shift today at the hospital and a partial shift tomorrow for Christmas.<br />
<br />
Someone told me they had a choice - they could tell their employers they wouldn't work those days. I think the employer response was simple: Work or don't bother coming back. Today there are too many people wanting good jobs, even mediocre ones, to demand too much.<br />
<br />
It would be nice to go back to the Christmases of the 50s where children believed in Santa until at least the 3rd or 4th grade. Where families got together - grandparents, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered together to celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.<br />
<br />
[SIGH] Today it is all about how many and how expensive the gifts are. Several years ago my #2 granddaughter and wife were talking about Christmas. My wife told her one year she got a new doll and a few homemade clothes from her parents and grandparents. My granddaughter hugged my wife and said "I'm so sorry, grandma. You deserved more." Today's kids seem to get so many presents they don't know which one to play with first. I remember getting new pajamas, a shirt, a collection of classic books, and a Lionel O-Gage train set that I needed to share with my brother. My hanging sock had an orange, peanuts in the shell, a candy cane and a small toy stuffed down in it. That was the Christmas just before my 9th birthday (circa 55?) and was one of the best - I loved that train set. There were no other family members. Why? My parents moved to NW Ohio in 1953 from Iowa where my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins lived. We were alone with no nearby family.<br />
<br />
Wow. I guess my parents were some of the originals who started to separate the nucleus family. I never thought of it that way until this very moment.<br />
<br />
I was taught in high school that the nucleus family started to breakup in the early-mid-50s. I didn't see or understand what it was about.<br />
<br />
The nucleus family. Back then there were neutrons, electrons and protons to make up the family. Over the years those have disappeared and there is barely the nucleus left - who can honestly say they sit down to a family meal at the table each night? TV trays in front of the boob-tube don't count.<br />
<br />
It's still snowing. Some things don't change. We'll have a White Christmas this year.<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-87192866610334194272017-12-05T15:53:00.002-05:002017-12-05T15:55:16.696-05:00Hiding ChristmasI raised four sons and as soon as the oldest one realized that Christmas presents were already in the house prior to Christmas, the game was on. With four boys ranging in age from 10 to 1, my wife and I decided we needed a better hiding place than the closet of the home office or spare bedroom.<br />
<br />
By the time the youngest was ready to start the holiday search, the eldest was a teenager with a vivid imagination of where mom and dad would stuff a present... attic, basement, garage, the dark recesses of seldom used areas. It was a test of wits and I wanted to win.<br />
<br />
We used suitcases, parent's underwear drawer, file boxes with fake names like "Dad's military" or "Grandma's Doilies" to keep the boys from rummaging through them. I even used my bowling bag as a hiding spot... uh, this one so my wife wouldn't find her present! I guess a golf bag could work, too, if you golfed. LOL.<br />
<br />
Of course, as the younger boys getting older, so did the older boys. Move ahead six years. The four boys are now 16, 15, 9, and 7.<br />
<br />
I'd like to say the older boys had matured and we only had to hide things from the younger two. Unfortunately, it is Christmas and even the oldest child can quickly revert to their youth. Our eldest was the sneaky kind. We discovered he had mastered the art of repackaging. That's right. He would open the present carefully, see what it was, then reseal it so none (mainly mom and dad) had no idea he had tampered with the gift. We thought he'd outgrown that trick but his wife caught him red-handed one year, so... As I said earlier, no matter the age, one reverts to their childhood all too quickly.<br />
<br />
But, I digress, hiding became much more sophisticated with each year since we were now dealing with older children who walked the edge of adulthood. In other words, they finally had a brain. LOL.<br />
<br />
Here are a few places that many people overlook as a hiding place.<br />
<br />
1. Depending on weight and whether you have a suspended ceiling. A-ha! You put that together. Presents like shirts, skirts, slacks, pajamas or very light-weight toys can be strategically placed on cross-bars here and there above your heads. Children (and many adults) don't usually think a place above their head in clear view as a hiding spot.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #a64d79;">2.</span> If you still have a water bed, sometimes the manufacturer will place a small drawer at the foot, several, to save money, just placed a plain or decorative board across the foot of the bed. Yes, you have drawers on the sides, but many water beds have a small empty well that can be used to hide several items, large and small. Again, a child seldom thinks of this space... did you?<br />
<br />
3. Continuing on bedroom furniture. Does your dresser have legs? No? I'm willing to bet that it then has a false bottom. With a little straining, you should be able to slide it out from the wall on one side and discover an opening to which you can slide in a present. We hid a couple of huge train sets under the wife's dresser.<br />
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4. And don't forget dad's big valet drawer and/or closet. Yes, sir, that hefty stack of drawers probably has a false bottom, too. Again, another hiding place.<br />
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5. Of course, this also holds true for any large furniture pieces in the house - think dining hutch, a desk, end table, display case, grandfather clock, etc.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Caveat: If you're using the ideas of 3 - 5, remember, brush out the slide marks on the carpet in front!</span><br />
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6. Our first year in the Washington, DC area, we rented a townhouse and in the one bedroom, it had two huge double-slide doors. You know, the type with the vents down the front. If the gift is small (thin) enough, using a small, almost invisible hook to hold the item, place it high up on the back side so when the door is opened, it hides the item between the two sections. You might be able to place a thicker item if you know your children (or spouse) isn't going to push the doors ALL the way open.<br />
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7. In our home, the hot water heater is enclosed in its own private little closet. When nobody was around, I installed a small shelf. Yes, I had my own personal hidey-hole that nobody knew about. I mean, WHO looks in the hot-water heater closet? It was a safe spot until my wife decided it would be the perfect spot to store her extension rod for her "spider killer." After that, it was still a safe child-proof hiding place.<br />
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8. This hiding place is extremely dependent on size. After the tree has been decorated and it is several days down the road, a small, discreetly wrapped in dark green package can be placed deep within the boughs of the tree, live or artificial. My wife's set of diamond earrings set in the tree from December 1st until Christmas. It was a lot of fun making her "hunt" for that gift in the tree.<br />
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Now I've not included many of the more obvious ones - basement, tool bench, attic, garage, car trunk and such. Of course, the space above the car in the garage is often overlooked. Still, a lot of the aforementioned places can be ransacked by those in search of their Christmas presents. In fact, I was thinking of using the attic in one of our houses when I discovered it was already in use by my youngest son as a "clubhouse" for him and his friends. The access was in his bedroom and thereby he considered that just an extension of his space. Yeah, attics are gamey, at best.<br />
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Now, we've used item #3, #4, and #5 for hiding things Christmas presents repeatedly. One year we told the boys they had been bad and well, we just weren't going to buy them any toys. The boys called our bluff on Christmas presents. They had searched everywhere except the sacred territory of our bedroom and was sure it was all hidden in our room. We allowed them to search the room, smug, knowing they wouldn't find anything. We had finished our shopping. And, as expected, they didn't find anything. Talk about four boys being good for the remaining time until Christmas - all of them hoping Santa would get them something, anything. I know, we're mean.<br />
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The funny thing about hiding place #6 - the bedroom was the one for the two youngest boys who were 10 and 12 at that time. They never discovered the presents hiding there. Of course, they weren't quite as serious about finding the presents as their older brothers.<br />
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Hopefully, you have found a new hiding place. If you have a good hiding place, share it with me. I'm always on the outlook for a new place.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-46051263037203383682017-08-27T23:26:00.001-04:002017-08-27T23:26:32.003-04:00Trying Something NewI've been writing this blog for several years, always trying to "capture" an essence of what I wanted to say, but always failing in the completion. Okay, not a total failure, but I've always felt my blogs were somewhat lackluster. Yes, occasionally I would have one that stood out, glistening in the sunlight, but more often than not, most of the posts were either drab, boring updates or some rant. Again, maybe more rants than updates.<br />
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Today I want to try something different. In addition to my usual mundane update and/or rant, I want to add personal items about me.<br />
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Why, you ask? Because I want you to know me, the guy who puts this all together. Sure, everyone knows I write and I cook and I have a wife, kids and grandkids. But... do you really know me?<br />
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First, my updates. I've been busy the last few weeks doing edits for my writing clients. I really enjoy doing them because I get to be on the cutting edge of what is new coming out. Plus, I feel I am giving back to the writing community, teaching others how to improve their skills as writers.<br />
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If all goes well, once more I'll be teaching a class at Terra State Community College in Fremont, OH. This one will be a shorter class, about three weeks. It is about using dialog for characterization. I'm hoping the students find it useful and helpful.<br />
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My garden is coming to harvest. I have nine (9) tomato plants with a couple of plants of several different varieties. I tried something different this year rather than the same old types as I have grown in the past. The most unusual one was the Jersey Devil, a 'Roma-type' tomato. Here's a picture of them growing and another with my hand around one still growing to ripeness.<br />
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Notice their length? And inside is basically all meat with just a few seeds. Great for salsa, stewed tomatoes and purees.<br />
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This is my wife's first batch of salsa for 2017. There wasn't quite enough to make 8 pints so Yours Truly got to do a little QC that night. And I wiped out what was left of the tortilla chips. My wife went to the store and bought two big bags so I won't run out. She has since canned 6 qts of stewed tomatoes, another 11 pts of salsa and 8 pts of tomato juice. She looked at the garden and made the following comment. "[heavy sigh] And this is only the start of the season."<br />
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I should mention she also canned 9 qts of dill pickles, 8 pts of banana peppers and I have a couple heads of cabbage - to which I will make a lot of egg rolls for the freezer. There is a bevy of green peppers and I'll be making my infamous freezer green pepper casseroles for the winter.<br />
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In addition to all this canning, we're also camping. I finally got the RV toilet repaired. It became a fiasco with always something to stymie me as I attempted the project. Let's just say, after several months (this started the fall of 2016) we were finally able to go camping, and camping we did. Almost a month of camping. A week with friends, a week alone, a week with granddaughters and another week alone. Sure, it was only for a few days each week... being honest, the first week was five nights, the week alone was four nights, the one with the granddaughters was three nights since we had other activities planned and the last week was another four nighter. We prefer to camp during the week to avoid the weekend chaos and cramped camping. With school just around the corner, camping is going to be mostly seniors until the nights get too cold. Me? I enjoy those brisk nights, sitting around the campfire, enjoying the fall in all its glorious colors. Having been involved with Scouting since I was 10 yrs old, I have no issue camping when the snow flies and have done it several times - in a tent, no less!<br />
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Oh, before I forget. I actually got back to writing my own stuff again. Last night I was able to put just a hair over 1000 words to my followup Amish novel - The New York Voice. It will still need some heavy-handed editing, but I'm thrilled to be writing, again.<br />
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Now, for the new stuff. Here goes...<br />
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My favorite color ever since I was a little kid, let's say at least a half century ago... plus a tad more, was red. I love <span style="color: red;"><b>red</b></span>. But, I've matured a lot since I was a grade school kid and my colors have changed. Not really. I still love red but it is so brash. I've learned I also love green, especially the deep forest greens. And I enjoy a good shade of blue. My wife has taught me to embrace shades of purple, more so the violet shades she enjoys.<br />
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One of my granddaughters wanted to make me something special for my birthday and asked my favorite color. I tried to explain my hesitancy to blurt out the color red, instead telling her I liked all the colors of the rainbow. She made me key chain fob. It was very colorful with red being the main color, but she did a great job blending in all the other colors and not make it look like a rainbow but have almost every color of the rainbow in it.<br />
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As with my choice in colors, my music choices are even more eclectic. One cannot point at me and say 'There goes a rock and roll man' or 'He's really into classical music.' Me? I roll with the waves of the ocean and my music is about as varied as the waves of the seas. To get you started, here's one of my favorite music groups, Brulé performing 'Spirit Horses.'<br />
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No, I am not Native American, but, even as a young lad playing "Cowboy and Indians" - yes, I'm THAT old - my younger brother always had to be the cowboy with the guns which left me the Indian. As I got older I was drawn to the American Indian mystique and enjoyed doing beading and recreating Indian headdresses. I even learned, at the "ripe" age of 15 some words of the Indians who lived in the NW Ohio area - the Delaware aka the Lenni Lenape or just plain, Lenape. </div>
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Anyway, to give you a little more insight to me, here's another piece of music I enjoy.</div>
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Now, so you totally understand what I mean by the words "I enjoy" or "love" this music. I have these songs on my computer and have had them on my computer for decades for some of them. I listen to them repeatedly - and I do mean repeatedly. I may play a song over and over - as many as a dozen or more times - before moving on to the next song. Some of my music has transferred across as many as ten different computers and laptops over time. Probably more. I kept my music list on all - and I mean ALL - my computers... even at work. My play list is now about four (4) hours long and I keep adding to it as new songs come along or I find a digital copy of an old song I just have to have.</div>
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If you have a favorite piece of music, share it with me. Maybe we'll find a common ground.</div>
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In future blogs we'll discuss my favorite foods, share some recipes, more music, what I enjoy reading and whatever I feel is necessary for you to know me, Bob Nailor - the guy, the husband, the father, the grandfather and great-grandfather, the writer, the traveler, the gardener, and more.</div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-82839478583897858982017-07-16T17:00:00.000-04:002017-07-16T17:00:32.231-04:00So Tired Of It...Who really cares? I mean, are there people out there who need to know this information and, if they don't, their lives are incomplete?<br />
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That's right, I'm about to rant.<br />
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Do I really need to know all about Brooke Shield's wrinkle erase cream?<br />
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Do I really need to discover Megyn Kelley's little off-show OR on-show secrets?<br />
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Do I even need to know what pill Mark Cuban is taking? Or why? OMG!<br />
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OR why one of the Kardashians is having a rough go of it? I know, life is so mean to millionaires.<br />
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Everyone is screaming their Internet is slow, it takes too long to load this video or that video. Really? You're going to watch a video about what pill Mark Cuban is taking so you can order it? If you want the pill, does it really matter if Mark Cuban is taking it? Does his decision decide yours?<br />
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If we could get rid of all the stupid SPAM - not the canned meat type - that is cluttering our networks, just think how much faster the Internet would be.<br />
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I'm a 70+ married white male with four children, ten grandchildren and currently, five great-grandchildren.<br />
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The last thing I need in my inbox is...<br />
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<ol>
<li>A secret date with some cougar. I'm not looking for a 80 to 90 year old woman.</li>
<li>A secret date with somebody's wife. I have my wife, why do I want somebody else's?</li>
<li>A prestigious position within the Business Women's Society or some such crap. I'm a guy!</li>
<li>Seeing naked photos of supposed "nearby" women who need to be satisfied.</li>
<li>To save $1500 on a walk-in tub. If I'm saving $1500, the tub is too expensive.</li>
<li>Be involved with a Zuckerberg venture and/or Facebook.</li>
<li>Discover ways to enhance my manhood. At this point in my life... does it matter?</li>
<li>Anything about Gwen Stephani and/or Blake Shelton. What they do is their business.</li>
<li>Any of the new diet pills and/or weight-loss fads. I'm fat; I'm happy - so leave me alone.</li>
<li>I don't need medicinal anything - drugs or pills. I'm 70+, I've learned to cope so far without it.</li>
<li>A total stranger's hoo-ha. Imagine my shock with the email that read "You Want This?" and when the email came up, it was a close-up shot of some woman's vagina. One of my grandchildren could have went to my computer and seen that since I leave me computer on 24/7 and usually have my email up, running during that time.</li>
<li>An opportunity to send somebody $5k so I can get $150 million to assist in a transaction from Africa (or Europe, South America, Far East) of an extremely wealthy spouse of a slain official.</li>
<li>And the list goes on and on.</li>
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Just think, if just the above type emails didn't clog the Internet, we could all probably run on a 56K modem - no, not really. I'm kidding. BUT, we'd all see things happen a lot faster.</div>
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<br />WHY?</div>
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ISP (that's your Internet Service Provider) wouldn't need to attempt to go through all the email coming to your email box and attempt to eliminate as much as possible before sending it on through to you. I know, I have my own domain and establish SPAM rules to eliminate a lot of email for my domain(s) I handle. You won't believe all the stuff that still manages to get through.</div>
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Spammers are smart. They use things like "Bootilicious," Booty Licious," "Bootie Licious," Booty-Licious," Bootie.Licious," and the list goes on and on with variations. Oh, and they also attempt this method "BoOtY LiCiOuS." And, yes, variations on it, too.</div>
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As it has been stated in the past, it is difficult to make something totally idiot proof because idiots are so ingenious.</div>
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I remember the good ol' days (he sighs) when I could be on the phone and send an email to the person on the other end and almost instantly they'd say "Got it!" Now, with all the way-stations and spam filters in place, it can take upwards of twenty minutes to get that same email. The sending ISP will check the mail for viruses and attempt to ascertain that it is not spam, and depending on the route taken, a couple of other places will also test the email for viruses and spam.</div>
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The sad part, if you put into your email, say to a client or customer, the following sentence:</div>
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<span style="color: red;">Yes, I said it was FREE!</span></div>
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That sentence alone could flag it as spam. You capitalized the word "free" which for some spam filters, is a flag to be counted. If your email letter gets too many flags, it is considered spam and goes into the spam box and the world may never see it.</div>
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The truly sad aspect of spam - real mail may get stopped and tossed away while the crappy spam email comes through, totally unscathed.</div>
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Some spam filters look at the content size and if the flags count up... but the text size is large, it is allowed through. Hence the emails of spam now filled with useless garbled blurbage at the end. It gets the text count up to offset the flag count. As I said, idiots are so ingenious.</div>
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What can be done? Really - nothing. Like my friend who despises the canned meat known as SPAM, even if you ignore it, it still remains on the store shelves, indicating that somebody somewhere is buying it.</div>
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I guess the same is true for all the other spam - out there in the great web of cyberspace, somebody is clicking on the link to discover the "truth" about Brooke Shield's wrinkle cream... or wanting to enhance the size of his manhood.</div>
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We all have our dreams... I dream of an Internet without spam.</div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-66885372683129819032017-06-12T12:30:00.000-04:002017-06-12T12:30:03.259-04:00SPAMAnd I don't mean the type in a can... although I am somewhat partial to that treat, especially when camping. That, and canned corned beef - not corned beef hash which looks like dog food. But, I digress.<br />
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SPAM by any other name is usually called junk mail, be it electronic or snail delivery.<br />
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Sometimes spam is fun... as I will show you later on in this post.<br />
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BUT, first, my issues.<br />
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I just received an email that promised to lower my weight by three dress sizes. In fairness, my email address of "lore" does leave some ambiguity to my true sex, but if it was me, I'd lean more toward a male name versus it being a female name. Needless to say, my wife would have a raised eyebrow if I were to go down three dress sizes since that would demand a whole new wardrobe for me.<br />
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Before going too much further, I should admit I have more than one email address. I have several. Some are used strictly for junk email where I've gone to pages that are giving something away but demand your email address to sign up for their "discreet or seldom used" emails. By stating "discreet" I was not inferring to any porn site - I meant, they promise not to bombard me with a bazillion emails. Yeah, right.<br />
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I have an email with "bob" as the contact. Now, just offhandedly, I would think most people would consider that name to be a male. Although, it could be a shortened "bobbie" for a girl, but...<br />
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Anyway, as "bob" I was offered an exclusive opportunity to join other young female executives into a very prestigious organization. I've received this email repeatedly over the days, weeks, months and yes, even years. Finally, in desperation, I replied. I was formal. I was polite. I was to the point. I wanted to know, since I'd been especially selected by a committee to join this elite group, exactly how my membership in said organization would appear, being that I'm a retired, non-executive male. Would this be an honorary degree or title? Would I be allowed to speak at engagements as "one of the girls" when they had said meetings. Of course, the fact I am over 70, male, and retired, I wasn't exactly sure how I would interact as a forceful, young female executive on her way up the corporate ladder. I was sure my insight to hair style, tasteful clothing, proper makeup and office mindset would or could be somewhat skewed.<br />
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Since my offer to accept the application and join the organization, I received ONE direct email stating the offer was designed to be general and my name would be removed from the mailing list. Since then I can honestly state, offers to join those esteemed females of the business world has lessened.<br />
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Several of my email addresses have received offerings to enhance my sexual experience. Some seem to have an idea that I might be a male and need either sexual enhancements, either in actual physical dimensions or heightened sexual enjoyment. They get deleted. Still, I did get a couple that thought I might be female and needed a way to expand my sexual knowledge and/or heighten the pivotal moment's experience by making it last longer. I'm still on the fence as to whether I want to reply to that particular email. I really worry it might be a "snagger" - somebody who spams and hopes for replies to validate a "real" email address.<br />
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About "snaggers" - almost every email has at the bottom a little quip to state if you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here and you'll be removed or unsubscribed from the list. Again, YEAH. RIGHT. So many of those emails are valid email address collectors. Valid email addresses - you reply, validates your email as real - are worth their weight in gold... and I mean it. Even a digital email address does have some weight and become a great weapon or sales point. You can sell 1000 emails for $1.00 but you can sell 100 validated emails for $100 - of course, I'm making up the values since I don't know the truth in what email addresses are worth, but I do know valid ones are very valuable. And, yes, one can buy email lists, and the validated email lists are extremely expensive.<br />
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I, at first, was clicking on those links to remove myself from that particular spam list. All it seemed to do was increase my junk email. Years ago, before I had "wifi" on the road, I was camping for a week (5 days - Monday thru Friday) and when I got home, you should have seen my email "in" box. BTW, I did have a limited spam filter working back then, too. I will be honest - I had 3 email accounts at that time. My "lore" address - which is my main account - had over 2700 emails in 5 days. The other two accounts had over 4000 emails between them. I spent a whole day deleting junk. I was reminded of the scene from "Bruce Almighty" where Jim Carrey decides to just reply "yes" to all the prayer requests. I was considering just highlighting all the mail and hitting 'delete' but that meant I may lose some real mail. I stepped back from that idea and continued to delete each junk email, saving the good emails to read later.<br />
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As you read above with the executive women junk email, I had a little fun and I could have had a lot more. Here's a couple of links to some great spam email interaction. Enjoy.<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ (African gold transfer)<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Uc-cztsJo (Mandela diamond deal)<br />
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and this one shows how to handle "unsubscribe" tactics.<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dceyy0cX6J4<br />
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For me, I have and own several domains and therefore can have as many email addresses as I want. Of course, I also have other email addresses, too. Maintaining them does get a tad overwhelming, but they serve their purpose for me. The one "junk" email address I have is the easiest one to maintain. I go in, peruse who the email is from, select all, and hit delete. This process takes maybe a whole minute, maybe two minutes. As I said, it is my junk account and I don't usually want anything to do with the emails that come to it. My other email addresses take a little longer to work through the spam but...<br />
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As I munch on my Spam sandwich, I happily delete the spam from my main and other accounts.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-23014699327946932112017-06-04T16:36:00.001-04:002017-06-04T16:36:27.059-04:00Pomp and CircumstanceIt's that time of year again - when everyone somewhere is having a graduation party.<br />
<br />
This year my wife's school honored those who graduated not only 50 years ago, but also those who graduated 75 years ago. My wife was in the 50 year bracket... I'm not THAT old. LOL.<br />
<br />
It was interesting to see the difference between graduation when I graduated back in 1965, my wife in 1967 and those who graduated today. In fact, I was noticing a lot of differences regarding the many facets of the graduation.<br />
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Hats. Boards. Whatever you want to call them - those funny square things on your head with the tassel dangling to one side. Back in the "olde" days, they were sacred, held with reverence, etc and yada, yada. Today, they are marked up with phrases, pictures, bedazzled and anything else you can think of. Today I saw phrases written in stark contrast pen, several collages of pictures, a few bejeweled and bedazzled with stones and glitter, a couple with flowers and one even had a couple of butterflies on it. To say "interesting" would be mild.<br />
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When I graduated, I briskly walked across the stage, shook hands while my other hand held the diploma, a quick smile to my parents who had their cameras ready and as I walked off the stage, I moved the tassel to the opposite side to denote my graduation. Today? No pictures allowed ... or should I say, no flashes allowed. There was a professional photographer taking a picture of each student graduating, a posed picture. Once everyone had their diploma and everyone was back at their seat, one student came forward, faced the graduation group and in unison, they moved the tassel to the other side with a small amount of hooting and fanfare.<br />
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Processional. There was some decorum in the introduction of the graduating class as they marched into the auditorium and up onto the stage. Of course, the high school (.less seniors) performed the rite of passage - Pomp and Circumstance. Eh. No critique. The band also played the music for the now graduated seniors as the left the auditorium. Oh, wait. This was new. The students, rather than walking straight down the aisle, walked across in front of the stage, criss-crossing with the opposite side and each of them met in the middle - they did a little "something" to make it unique. Some did a double-slap high-5, others did a hug, some did a butt-bump, some shook hands. Each couple attempted to be different than the couple before them. Definitely not like the stiff and staunch march I had to perform at my graduation. I think I liked it.<br />
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Graduation parties. Wow. My party was very low key. I had about 10 people there, only 4 of which were graduating student friends. I mean, almost everyone else was having family graduation parties, so I was thrilled to have a couple of friends to join my family party. We had NO family near us when I was growing up - no aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no grandparents. My mom was from NYC, my dad was from Iowa. I was raised in Ohio. I had friends.<br />
<br />
Saturday, coming through Toledo, I saw people getting ready for all the different parties. What I found truly interesting, I noticed one guy out hammering stakes in his yard to show his property lines. Here's the cool part - he was putting up "No Parking" signs and a couple of "Private Property" signs. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing there "ain't a whole lot of neighborly love" right there. The other guy who obviously was having the party, had tents, coolers, banners, and all sorts of party regalia up blowing in the breeze - in the yard, in the trees, on the house, over the garage. We are talking PARTY!<br />
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Memories. The speeches today kept repeating over and over - this is the last time you will all be together as a group. Never again will you all be together in one spot. In my head, I could hear so many of those graduates mentally thinking: Yeah, yeah, we'll all get together for our 5 year reunion.<br />
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No, you won't. Surprise! Today was your last day together as a group. Tomorrow, next month, next year, as terrible as this sounds, one of your old schoolmates will bite the dust. That's right, they'll die. Or, they'll be in surgery or overseas, or not get the notification or one of a thousand other reasons for them not to be there. How do I know? One of my classmates passed two weeks prior to our 50th reunion. I had to skip the 40th reunion due to a quadruple bypass surgery. One of our classmates has fallen off the face of the earth - we have NO contacts for him - no parents, no relatives, no siblings. He graduated and that is the last we saw him. I graduated during the Vietnam era but I can proudly say, we lost no classmates to the war. Those who have passed, have done so since.<br />
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So, to those graduating this year. You have a few distinctions that I would like to bring up.<br />
<br />
1. You are the last graduating class who was born in the 1900s.<br />
2. You are technically advanced but totally ignorant of simplistic thinking.<br />
3. You see space and the stars as locations, we saw them as points of wonder for the imagination.<br />
4. The nucleus family is no more.<br />
AND<br />
5. Like a rock star who hasn't had a hit in two months, when I pass, no one will care beyond the next day or visit my grave... this is your future.<br />
<br />
Today was Pomp and Circumstance. Tomorrow is reality.<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-15869053165981796632017-05-01T00:51:00.001-04:002017-05-01T15:30:24.157-04:00A Writing DilemmaNow exactly what could be so horrific to cause a writer to panic?<br />
<br />
I'm 70+ years old and have several novels published, both traditionally and self-published. Not to mention several articles and posts that have offered internationally. Still, I, like so many other authors, remain unknown.<br />
<br />
I'm considering not to continue my supposed writing career. At my age, I should be rocking away on the front porch, enjoying life as it passes by.<br />
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REALLY?<br />
<br />
Enjoy life as it PASSES BY? NO! <span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">NO!</span> <span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">NO!</span><br />
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I had a few days this week when I actually considered dropping from the authorial world and just enjoy life, playing with the grandkids and great-grandkids, gardening, reading, and traveling. I almost had myself convinced to just sit back.<br />
<br />
Then I decided I would step back from writing and just finish up those few novels I'd written and either never finished or needed to clean up to publish. That sounded like a better idea. It could be something I do while we are traveling and camping... or sitting on the front porch. LOL.<br />
<br />
I figured a one-year sabbatical - two years at the most - would be sufficient.<br />
<br />
So, I made a list of those novels I needed to work on... uh, all 26 (the count so far) of them. That's correct! I have 26 novels in different stages of completion. I actually may have more if I scrounge around on my laptop and backup files. This number does not include the myriad of short stories I have written. <br />
<br />
Needless to say, I don't want to peek into the sub-directory named "Future Plots" or the other one named "Ideas" for fear of what I may find there.<br />
<br />
Therefore, with the idea of not writing anymore now entrenched in my mind, I have decided that perhaps I should reconsider another avenue. <br />
<br />
I won't write any more NEW books until I have the ones already on my laptop finished.<br />
<br />
Exactly what does this mean?<br />
<br />
It means I won't be participating in any future NaNoWriMos (that is National Novel Writing Month which happens in November) or seeing a wild-flung idea/plot from some obscure news article or tidbit discovered while surfing the internet. Also, I might have to control my imagination when watching certain TV shows - like Aliens on the History channel or of that ilk. National Geographic and History channel can be great idea generators. I can't give up Giorgio Tsoukalos, Erich von Daniken, David Childress, Peter Fiebag, Robert Bauval and Luc Burgin. Nor can I give up the SyFy channel. I'll just have to control (aka lock down) my imagination.<br />
<br />
I figure if I can finish, edit and publish at least two (2) books a year - it will take me a mere thirteen (13) years to finish all those I have lurking (aka languishing) on my laptop. Even IF I were to be able to push myself to 3 books a year; it would still take over 8 years to finish them all. Exactly WHERE did I think one or two years would be sufficient?<br />
<br />
Can I control my imagination to not... repeat, NOT want to write something new for the next ten years?<br />
<br />
At the current time, I am open to any and all suggestions of how to complete the task at hand.<br />
<br />
Uh, so you have a "basic" understanding of what I've got stuffed in my laptop --<br />
<br />
5 Amish novels, one is a horror, the rest Christian and sort of a series<br />
5 vampire novels (a series)<br />
4 fantasy novels (a series)<br />
2 action adventure novels (1 is a sequel to a published book)<br />
3 epic fantasy novels<br />
1 Native American werewolf vampire detective story<br />
1 Native American fantasy<br />
1 mainstream fiction<br />
1 historical fiction<br />
1 military fantasy<br />
1 SF novel<br />
1 fairy fantasy<br />
<br />
As you can see, a very eclectic selection of stories. Oh, and the short stories are a collage of SF, horror, and fantasy... and we have NO count on those.<br />
<br />
Is this the time I should mention, I have one "screenplay" I also have in the works and not part of the counts above?<br />
<br />
HELP ME!<br />
<br />
Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<span style="color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-83762899941351159342017-03-20T14:05:00.002-04:002017-03-20T14:06:06.363-04:00A Comma's Story<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: "Gentium Basic", Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
This week I'm sharing a blog I read. I hope you enjoy it. As an editor, I see so much drama with commas, lack of or overuse of. Enjoy...</div>
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<img alt="bewilderd comma" class=" size-full wp-image-1829 aligncenter" data-attachment-id="1829" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="bewilderd comma" data-large-file="https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=700?w=591" data-medium-file="https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=700?w=300" data-orig-file="https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=700" data-orig-size="591,359" data-permalink="https://aclark2831.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/a-commas-job-security/bewilderd-comma/#main" sizes="(max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px" src="https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=700" srcset="https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg 591w, https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=150 150w, https://aclark2831.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/bewilderd-comma.jpg?w=300 300w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" />The comma stood on the corner, bleating, “Please, can someone help me? I know I belong somewhere<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff6600;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">,</span></span> but I <span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">can’t </span>quite remember where.”</div>
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Devon Taylor, copy editor, sat at the counter of the diner counter across the street and watched as passers-by skittered around the pitiful punctuation mark. They looked away determined to not notice it.</div>
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Devon (destined to become <a href="https://aclark2831.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/weekend-wrinkle-the-rise-of-the-nib/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1185d7; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;">The Nib</a>) couldn’t really blame them. Commas were notoriously slippery creatures. But there was something about this comma that made Devon think it was truly in trouble.</div>
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The editor set down the empty coffee cup and wandered across the street.</div>
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<a href="https://aclark2831.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/a-commas-job-security/" target="_blank">Continue Reading...</a></div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-83183569060741609382017-03-05T19:35:00.002-05:002017-03-06T22:44:30.532-05:00What I've Learned OR The Rainy Day is Here!I've made 70 circles around the sun. If you want a more impressive number, the moon has made over 900 cycles around the earth in my lifetime, so far. BUT... In that time, surprisingly, I was able to learn a few things. Some of them were easy, others took a little more ... shall we call it wedging with a sledgehammer?<br />
<br />
I'm retired. I spent many decades working, always giving my all to my job, fretting when I couldn't make it in due to illness and feeling guilty when I was on vacation when a big project had to be finished. A friend of mine told me "This company doesn't give two farts to the wind about you. Don't stress yourself, they don't." But I did. I actually thought the company couldn't continue without me.<br />
<br />
I was wrong. I retired. I left and went back about one month later to see how things were going. Some people didn't even realize I had retired and been gone for any length of time. Everything still stood, life continued and didn't care if I was there or not. Yeah, I was a little depressed. I felt sure there would be a myriad of questions of how this or that was done. The questions didn't come.<br />
<br />
In fact, it wasn't until about 6 or 8 months after my retirement that I got a frantic call about something failing. Seems they cleaned house over the weekend, getting rid of a lot of old equipment. They removed the sign "Do Not Turn Off" and removed the server over the weekend. On Tuesday, when the one employee attempted to print a seating chart - it failed. I got a call the following Monday as to what could be the problem since I wrote the program. Found out they removed the server which removed the program, the source code and the compiler. There was nothing I could do to help them. I'd printed out the source code with an explanation of what each line of code did for every special program I created, but it was deemed a waste of paper and tossed. They "hoped" I had a copy at home. Uh, no.<br />
<br />
It was obvious, my last place of employment, and several of the others prior, had no regard for me or my work. Unless it impacted them and/or the bottom line ($$) they didn't care. Why should I?<br />
<br />
So, again, I reiterate - Unless you own the business, don't fret about it or kill yourself, nobody cares. In other words, go to work, do your work with pride and go home and enjoy your real life.<br />
<br />
What else did I learn? Learn to pick your fights. Sometimes you don't actually get that opportunity. Yes, the opportunity to pick your fight. It seems no matter what you do, the fight is coming to you and you're going to be in the mess. When that happens, take the appropriate action. BUT, if you can avoid a fight, do so. Is it really worth the effort of fighting about whether this or that is true or false? Step back and evaluate the battleground. Give it a lot of thought. With you winning or losing, will it make a difference? Next week, next month, next year - will the outcome have some bearing on it? So, it don't make a difference, why engage? If you win, it won't matter. If you lose, it won't matter. So why even get involved? Walk away.<br />
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Another tidbit - Money. What did I learn about mone?. One never seems to have enough. When I made $1.25 an hour, I wanted to make more. When I made almost $50 an hour, it seemed I still needed more. I didn't realize until I retired the true reason for that... even though it had been flaunted in my face at one time. Each person will consume to the level of income. That is almost a universal law. When I was cut back during a company-wide crisis back in the 80s - another employee friend of mine moaned that he wasn't sure how he would survive the 15% cutback. Sorry, but I couldn't empathize with him - I'd been cut back 22.5% and when I explained my situation, he explained he had a much higher cost of living. Our friendship sort of withered during the cutback and never re-bloomed when things got better. It didn't matter how much one made, we all lived to the full capacity of our income and a cutback, whether 15% or 22.5% - it hit the paycheck. So, what did I learn about money? Try to stay within the means of your income. Actually stay within 75% of your income and avoid using credit. Yes, it is only a few dollars each month, but the number of months is astronomical in the long run. I am currently working to eliminate all debts and expenses except those needed for day-to-day living that one can not eliminate: trash removal, phone service, electric, water and other such amenities.<br />
<br />
Another fact of growing up. A friend of mine retired shortly after me and from what I can tell, he quit shaving, showered when others made faces or flat out told him, and basically vegetates in his house. He said to me: I cleaned and shaved every day, put on a fresh shirt, tied that tie and wore a suit with shiny shoes for a professional look. He decided to go feral. Okay, I retired and gave up the fancy suit and tie look. Yes, I'd worn "monkey clothes" for most of my working life with a few days of simple dressing. After retirement, I started to wear shorts and t-shirts, going barefoot when I could. I would put on long pants and a nice polo shirt when going to town. By the way, this is my year-round apparel wearing routine. Yes, I walk outside to get the mail wearing shorts, even when the snow is blowing, I just add a hooded sweatshirt or jacket. And I wear moccasins almost daily. Sunday, when I go to church, I tend to dress up - a nice shirt, slacks, socks and shoes, but the minute I get home, they get changed to shorts and t-shirt. Retirement is about enjoying life - your way - but it always means that you still need to function within society, so one does need to bathe and consider hygiene. Still, it is your life, enjoy it as you see fit... you worked for this moment, enjoy it.<br />
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Remember the phrase - We're saving it for that special time? Exactly when will that special time happen? We had "good" china, special candles and fancy clothes for a special occasion. Of course, it could anything you have that you've been saving. Why? When will it be that special moment? Use it. My wife and I have lugged special china I bought while in the Navy all over the USA with us as we've moved over the years. Always keeping it for that special meal. I think we've used it maybe 3 or 4 times - hardly worth the effort of keeping it all these years - over 40+ years! We are now considering down-sizing and it will be up for sale. Why? At this point in time, every day is a special day and we don't use them - we use paper plates for convenience. Time to clean house. We had some crystal china my wife had collected and we finally decided to use them as everyday plates. Rather fancy for a meal but we used them and finally sold them. My mother received a blouse that was expensive and she saved it for a special day. She's gone and the blouse was sold in the estate sale, never worn. If you have it, use it. You woke up today so it is a special day, make it even more special and enjoy the stuff you're saving - otherwise it will be sold at a sale. It may mean something to you, but to those who "inherit" all your fine things, it probably won't mean a thing - 25¢ blouse or 10¢ plate. Enjoy what life has given you, don't stash it away for a rainy day.<br />
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Oh, wait - that might be the magic phrase I'm trying to allude to - Forget the rainy day, enjoy it now!<br />
<br />
When it comes time to regret, you'll always regret the things you didn't do. Seldom does one regret doing what they did. They may think it a better choice not to have participated, but will they regret it? Not really!<br />
<br />
I enjoy my family, my community, my hobbies: traveling, writing, fishing, gardening and being with my wife.<br />
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It is better to have ______ and lost than not to have ______ at all. (fill in the blank to fit your need)<br />
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I see rain but I also see a bright sunny day in my very near future. I'm purging myself of all that is holding me back, cleaning house, and moving forward. In the words of Johnny Nash...<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way<br />Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)<br />Sun-Shiny day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I think I can make it now, the pain is gone All of the bad feelings have disappeared<br />Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)<br />Sun-Shiny day.</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way<br />Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)<br />Sun-Shiny day.</span></div>
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Yeah, the perfect song. Enjoy it... and remember, you are your first priority and that includes your family. The rest will fall into proper place.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-44945953414760866372017-02-26T17:00:00.000-05:002017-02-26T17:00:13.351-05:00Multi-TaskingI started teaching this week. What am I teaching? Writing, of course. I'm doing a 7 week course I created called "Sailing The Seven Cs" which is based on my segment of a how-to writing book.<br />
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I arrived at the college early so I could discuss another project with the department head and make sure I had enough time for lunch before my 1pm class. <br />
<br />
Okay, I arrived early and she was in another class. As I sat in the lounge, I was able to watch other students. That's when I say the latest (at least for me) in multi-tasking. <br />
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The young man had a small electronic notepad, Kindle or iPad and was watching the news on it. At the same time, he had another smaller electronic device he was playing a game on. He also had a set of earbuds and I thought he was listening to the game. I was wrong. I heard a cellphone ring and he pulled it out of his pocket which had the cord to the earbuds. He yanked the earbuds out of his ears and I heard music - either rap or something with a heavy beat. In my ignorance, I listen to rock and roll - basically 50s, 60s, 70s, and some 80s stuff, new age, classical, show tunes and country. I'm eclectic but just haven't gotten into rap or heavy metal and/or grunge. Anyway, he started talking to somebody, grabbed the news playing unit and the screen changed to what appeared to be another news channel. Just as quickly, he picked up an earbud, stuck it in his ear and immediately placed the other one on the speaker of his cellphone. "Listen to this!" Again, it was music but I couldn't really make it out.<br />
<br />
From what I could tell, the conversation between him and his friend revolved around the music he was listening to and the news. AND, all during this time, he also continued to play the game while at the same time, involving another student who was sitting a nearby table into the news aspect.<br />
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Sorry, but this old guy's mind was blown. How does one multi-task so many different things at once?<br />
<br />
I was visiting my #4 son's house a while back and his 6 and 7 year old daughters were watching some show on TV. I, for some reason, thought it to be an animated movie, like Veggie Tales or whatnot.<br />
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Again, WRONG!<br />
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It was Shopkins. The segments are about 60 seconds, some shorter, some longer, and then it is over and a new segment comes on.<br />
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We say our children don't stay focused on one thing for any length of time. As an adult (parent) have you watched what they watch? Just because it is a "children's" station or show, doesn't mean that it is automatically the best thing to watch. <br />
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Years ago, I was home sick and was helping my wife watch the first our grandchildren. They wanted to watch their TV shows. My wife put them on. I was amazed at the shortness of the scenes and the variance of each scene. I just sat there shaking my head in disbelief.<br />
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On the way to work the next day, the passenger riding next to me got up to leave and asked if I'd like to read the magazine, otherwise she would toss it. I agreed to read it. Inside was an article that explained how children's TV shows today are designed to keep their interest and to keep them from wandering away from the TV.<br />
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HUH?<br />
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Short scenes, voice changes, lighting variances - everything plays to the child to keep his mind occupied. In order to do that, everything is a short burst. The child won't leave the TV for fear of missing something.<br />
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Think about that!!<br />
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You go to the theater and during the movie, you want popcorn or a drink - you get up, hurry to get whatever and race back to your seat. You might miss something but more than likely, not too much and can quickly pick up the flow.<br />
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Not so with a children's TV show. By the time they've toddled to the other side of the room, they could have missed a whole episode - hence they stay put.<br />
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Is this part of the multi-tasking that I saw at college last week? Are the young children growing up in a world where everything must happen in 30 seconds, no more than 60 seconds or lose their interest?<br />
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When I was a child, I'd sit under a big tree and listen to the wind blow through the leaves or watch the wind play atop the fields of golden wheat - mesmerized for great lengths of time. Today when I attempt to show this to my grandchildren, it is a quick glance followed by "That's nice" and they move on. I could read a phrase in a book and get lost in the reverie as I pondered its meaning and how it made me feel. It could be a couple of minutes, even five or ten minutes, maybe longer.<br />
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I consider myself multi-tasking when I write, listen to music, stare out the window from time to time and sometimes chew gum. But, watching the news, playing a game, listening to music and talking to a friend on the phone and the guy at the next table? That is taking multi-tasking to a whole new height.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-13807488032882232152017-01-30T10:33:00.001-05:002017-01-30T10:33:43.030-05:00Age - The Illusive ButterflyAge. Exactly what it age? I mean, for most it is an accumulation of years... or the number of times one has traveled around the sun. For others, it is a mindset.<br />
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In reality, it is gravity.<br />
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Within my mind, I'm not that old. I can't be <b><i>THAT </i></b>old! It was only yesterday, or was it last week? I was out playing ball with my sons, hitting a few to prepare them for the summer season. The oldest just took his driver's test - yeah, that was the first of the week, yeah, I"m sure.<br />
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No, that can't be. My mind just had a relapse. Uh, my oldest son is a grandfather. Wait a minute. So is my #2 son.<br />
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OMG! I'm a great-grandfather. I'm too young for that. In fact, I was too young to be a grandfather and that was just... OMG! That was over twenty years ago!<br />
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I'd ask where time has gone but we all know - Time marches on.<br />
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Today I'm helping my wife. We're shampooing the rug and it is nothing like doing your hair. The machine isn't too heavy. Well, at least, when the young whelp at the store lifted it off the shelf it didn't seem too heavy. Somewhere between that moment and me actually picking it up to put in the back of the car - it had gained another 200 pounds. With a little effort - okay, a major effort, I was able to lift it into the back of the car. BTW, without the assistance of my lovely bride, I might add. (Insert your favorite themed music background - Tarzan, Superman, He-Man, etc.)<br />
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Sidenote: The only redeeming grace of this incident is it didn't happen at a WalMart parking lot. I rented the machine from a local grocery store. Otherwise, I probably would have seen my image on Facebook as part of the "WalMart People" slide presentation.<br />
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Continuing on.<br />
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I shampooed the living room carpet. I've never really thought of my living room as huge. Okay. It is large, about 15x21, but it isn't what I would call an awe-inspiring chamber. After getting all the furniture out of the room, need I say, there was a rest period? I started shampooing.<br />
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It is time for honesty. My living room is HUGE! Going back and forth, back and forth. I think I walked about 38, maybe 39 miles pulling and pushing that machine. Remember, it wasn't all that heavy. After the first 3 trips back and forth - pull trigger for cleaner, pull the machine s-l-o-w-l-y across the room and then push it s-l-o-w-l-y back to the starting point. Release trigger. Repeat the process without holding the trigger so the machine can suck up the moisture.<br />
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Do you remember me stating the machine wasn't 'all that heavy' at the start? Uh, that was without the chambers filled with liquid. In case you didn't know, water weighs a measly 8 pounds per gallon. I believe the chamber holds about 3000 gallons... or, at least, that much by the time I was nearing the end of the process. <br />
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It seemed the dirt coming up out of the carpet added extra weight... and the two large African elephants riding on the machine didn't lighten the load. No, wait, I was hallucinating.<br />
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Okay, the carpet looks great. A job well done.<br />
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Now, back to age. As I told my wife, this would have been so much easier back when I was 30. I laughed. Strange to think that. Actually, it would have been easier when I was 50.<br />
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Never once in my life did I ever think I would look back at an age and think how great it would be. Okay, honesty here. Yes, I did think back, but never ONCE did I ever think I'd be glad to be 50. I guess that is what your mindset is when you're 70 years of age.<br />
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Ahh... to be 60 again. Sure it would be nice to be 30 but I don't think I would want all the turmoil of being 30 in today's society. The age of 50 wouldn't be too bad, but 60, that seems, at least to me, to be a nice figure. Not too old. Not too young. Call it middle age. Yeah, I like that.<br />
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My wife, the realist in the family let me know the truth. "You're 70, honey. Get over it."<br />
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And, so I am. Gravity is taking its toll. Some days gravity doesn't suck as strongly as other days. I enjoy those days because I feel like I'm 60 and that feels great.<br />
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Like a butterfly in the yard - age flits around, letting you run up and down the scale of ages, being whatever your mind thinks and your body willing to accommodate.<br />
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On December 31st of 2016, I completed 70 round trips of our sun. I'm proud of that accomplishment. My mind and body haven't totally accepted those facts... and I don't want them to!!<br />
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Today I want to live in that illusive butterfly moment and be the age I want to be.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-74796447674398628922017-01-16T00:42:00.001-05:002017-01-16T00:42:14.535-05:00Last Chance - In More Ways Than OneFor those who don't know it ... I'm running an edit special. I'm taking "appointments" for editing of short stories and novels. Assigning them 'down the road' so to speak. If you know you will need an editor, say mid-Feb, I'm willing to lock you into a time so when the time comes, you'll have my services available... and at a reasonable price. Yes, rather than my standard $1.50/page (which by the way will be changing later on) — I'm only charging $1.00 per page. You save 30% on my editing services.<br />
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Okay, that was last chance #1 — this offer will be expiring soon. Remember two things, prices are going up and this offer won't last forever, although you can lock it in now.</div>
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Now, about last chance #2. Sort of off-the-wall. I bought me a new knit hat. Yeah, big whoop, but this one has LED lights. Again, big whoop. Let me explain. I got an LED thinsulate knit hat for the "men's" Christmas exchange this year for our family get together. My granddaughter's boyfriend got it in the 'drawing of the numbers" as we call it. He was thrilled and personally, I found a lot of uses for it around my house. I wanted one. I found this one on Amazon, costing a lot less and not quite as delicate to remove to wash the hat. This one has dual lights. I mean, it has 4 white lights just like the one I gave, but this one also has 2 red and 2 blue lights which flash red, then blue, then red and blue together and finally repeat the pattern over. I think they said it was supposedly for emergency aid. Not sure about that. I found the white lights work great when I'm away during the day and have to go collect chicken eggs in the dark. The coop doesn't have electric, per se. It has an electric cord run to it that keeps the watering dish heated, but otherwise, it gets dark, it IS dark — no lights. The chickens didn't mind the white LED light when I collected the eggs. I reached up to turn it off and the next option (red/blue) kicked in. I thought my chickens were going to start dancing. Suddenly I felt like I was in a disco. The chickens got quite vocal about the red/blue flashing lights. Now, my son came up with a better use for the red/blue lights. He says when I'm driving the roads at night, with limited traffic, as I come up to a slow poke, hit the red/blue and they will probably move to the side thinking a state trooper is behind them. Hmm? Just not too sure I want to give that option a try — my luck, I'd do it to a law officer off duty. I don't need slammer time, especially at my age.</div>
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My next last chance — I can't believe I'm actually saying this. Food. I weighed myself and was not happy with the way the scale numbers spun on the dial. I've gained weight. SO, last chance was today. I am now on a rigorous diet and exercise program. Okay, not really... well, sort of. I am watching my intake of carbs and portion sizes. Last Friday was my last all-you-can-eat fish fry... or, at least, limiting them to maybe once a month. I might be able to skip them if I do baked fish on Fridays. Again, it won't be all-you-can-eat, but it should sooth the crave. I love fish. Of course, I can basically eat all the shrimp, crab, lobster and scallops I want. Scallops are hard to get here in this locale. Lobster is too expensive to gorge on. So, crab and shrimp it is... and I love shrimp grilled or baked and who can pass on steamed crabs? Not me! Again, they are proteins so they don't have a lot of effect on my blood sugar, but I'm sure glutting on them will have an effect on my weight, so once again, it will be portion control. I'm going back to my breakfast of kale smoothies. I love them. My wife? She'll pass on the green mixture. I'm giving you my secret recipe...</div>
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1 cup almond milk</div>
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1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks</div>
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1/4 cup frozen mango chunks</div>
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1/2 cup chopped kale (I usually just put in a leaf of kale, including the stem)</div>
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2 T chia seeds</div>
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1 T honey</div>
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1 t cinnamon</div>
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1 t turmeric</div>
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juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon</div>
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some chopped ice - maybe 1/4 cup?</div>
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Blend it all together until a nice pure green silky drink. I say YUM. If you try it, let me know what you think of my special breakfast go-get'em.</div>
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Of course, my cooking habits will have to change, too. No more all these gourmet meals of decadent yummies laden with butter. I will need to streamline my cooking habits to a healthier ideal. I know it can be done. Goodbye double-stuffed twice baked potatoes. Goodbye cheesy-garlicky biscuits. Goodbye thick soups. Hello brothy soups. Hello zesty, spicy foods baked or broiled. Goodby weight.</div>
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Another last chance? I have just a few more days to order my seeds to start growing them inside before Spring arrives. This is January. If you calculate 3 weeks for a turn-around on delivery of my order(s) — that gets me into February. If it takes 12 weeks to grow the seed to put out by May 1st, uh, I'm pushing it. Twelve weeks is the equivalent of 3 months — Feb, Mar, Apr... which pushes me into May. I will be ordering my seeds tomorrow. The bigger the tomato plant going in the garden, the sooner luscious tomatoes can be harvested. The same holds true for flowers I want blooms in late May, early June — not the middle of July.</div>
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My <b><i>last </i></b>last chance to place here. I will be attending a 'get-together' soiree at Terra State Community College on Thursday, January 19th to discuss with others about my class I am teaching. Yes, I am teaching a class in writing. It will be a 6-week course and be an intense explanation about writing and handling the aspects as an author in today's publishing world. I have been working on my classes and I think I know what I want to handout at the soiree, but I need to put that together. I got a couple of days. I will be busy.</div>
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A final last chance? There is never a <b><i>final </i></b>last chance. They just keep coming and coming.</div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-68286535060658397212017-01-08T17:30:00.000-05:002017-01-08T17:30:33.576-05:00The Calendar Experience - Time in My HandsYeah, happy new years - once again it is calendar time. Yup, that time of the year. If you didn't go about collecting calendars prior to Christmas, the selections of FREE calendars is now limited.<br />
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We normally get a nice book-type calendar from our insurance company. My wife loves it, big enough to write in, yet small enough to fit in her purse. Of course, that sentence is a conundrum in and of itself. Small enough to fit in her purse - that thing is about the size of a picnic basket. Okay, I'll be honest, it is now smaller than that since we no longer have four kids to tow around. But, I digress. Yup! Nada left. I was able to get the last wall calendar and two desk calendars. Score for me!<br />
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Not that we're all that rich, but we do have two banks. Enter bank one. Nope, they didn't get calendars this year - in fact, they had to go next door to an insurance agency and get one for their wall. Hmm? Do I really want to bank here? [sigh] Off to bank number two. The wife scores two more wall calendars.<br />
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Almost all is copacetic within my world - except... I had this super really great neato calendar we got back in 2015 for 2016. So cool. It showed a week at a time, flipped the pages so I could save the information and had space where I could write down appointments and such. I loved that calendar. It stood against the window by my desk. If I gazed out the window (I do a lot of that!) I would see my calendar and know what was ahead for the week - doctor appointment, classes to teach, speaking engagements, book signings. Everything was right there. Flip a page and see what was planned for next week.<br />
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If somebody called and wanted to get together to talk and have coffee at the local cafe, a quick check of that calendar and I knew what was planned.<br />
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Putting it bluntly... I NEEDED A NEW ONE!!<br />
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I was reluctant to approach the establishment where I'd gotten the calendar before. I was there for a funeral of a friend's mother back in 2015. I'd not have the opportunity to attend a funeral there since. Could I really just saunter in, pick up a calendar and walk back out? Rather crass. I considered waiting until there was a funeral and slide in as unobtrusively as possible. Option 1 seemed the awkward, but option 2 seemed the really awkward, especially if somebody was visiting and saw me and said "I didn't know you knew so-n-so." A reply of "Just picking up a calendar." didn't seem an appropriate.<br />
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I decided the frontal attack was the best and drove to the community and parked my car. I sat there staring at the entrance. <i>Could I do this? </i>Answer? NO. I drove home.<br />
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Welcome to Arts and Crafts 101. I decided to do my own calendar. I had the supplies. I had the skills. I had the time.<br />
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I found a calendar for 2017 that was somewhat like what I wanted but it was 1 full page per week and I definitely didn't want that. I spent a whole day finding that calendar. Okay, I spent about 4 hours locating it. I spent another almost 6 hours reworking to what I wanted. In other words, it don't look <i>anything </i>like the original I found. Of course, my wife wanted one, too. So I printed out one set which only printed on 1/2 of the page in landscape mode. I flipped the pages around and re-did it for another set. Then I began the assembly.<br />
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First, I got all my items together: printed calendar, paper cutter, old calendar holders, and my handy-dandy binder system.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOhApFATOcsUwVRl-E4Er26D9akJWgzD_F0v1Q_-MRlBUSCfG1ZncG0L2O7mghQX-8Hf1QU58lhPQ7e-UlY25yB6RXXq1vLGMuNxUbX0E89V6H9jtPhZWo3wTSU7vog5V7RhlB9aH4ZNX/s1600/step1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOhApFATOcsUwVRl-E4Er26D9akJWgzD_F0v1Q_-MRlBUSCfG1ZncG0L2O7mghQX-8Hf1QU58lhPQ7e-UlY25yB6RXXq1vLGMuNxUbX0E89V6H9jtPhZWo3wTSU7vog5V7RhlB9aH4ZNX/s400/step1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I cut the pages in half to make two sets. Tedious job, only two pages at a time to cut... and with 53 weeks, plus a full calendar page with 2017 and 2018, that was 27 cuts. Yes, there only 52 weeks in a year, but there was the beginning partial week with 2016 and the ending partial with 2018. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0SAdm3QB5HIGZ3SYD7TolfvBt5F1ykiLy9qe0FRdyXJKl4_6W4XB3DH-UkYDGcruK7YPTpmNbWSxi34uuA3O_P1Wka-UCwdE3uVW80q7X4j1ppP9guPIEgFQCmzSOUBG4VwSaqa4pE5y/s1600/step2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0SAdm3QB5HIGZ3SYD7TolfvBt5F1ykiLy9qe0FRdyXJKl4_6W4XB3DH-UkYDGcruK7YPTpmNbWSxi34uuA3O_P1Wka-UCwdE3uVW80q7X4j1ppP9guPIEgFQCmzSOUBG4VwSaqa4pE5y/s400/step2.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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Now the fancy cut work for the spiral binding. Again, only a few pages. I did most 3 pages at a time, although the instructions say I can use up to 6 pages of 20# paper. In my youth, I probably would have slapped in 6 or 8 pages and slammed the cutter down, but, now in my maturity, I've learned less is more. It is easier to carry in 4 bags, two in each hand, than attempt 8 bags in the left, with another 6 heavier ones in the right and a 20# bag of dog food on the shoulder. Anyway, I cut the pages.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfZ7-MyWleuyOs84rotqzH80vVqb8XblXlFgvXw7rvfTopj0tiWobPWLk8LIRrLeeyw_v1SA4TUl4xpmnCVMIe81Lhui3OKtED34sYmjdq7eVBqgp3vuQLO5zZ4l72CvN_IxVCXuwqlum/s1600/step3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfZ7-MyWleuyOs84rotqzH80vVqb8XblXlFgvXw7rvfTopj0tiWobPWLk8LIRrLeeyw_v1SA4TUl4xpmnCVMIe81Lhui3OKtED34sYmjdq7eVBqgp3vuQLO5zZ4l72CvN_IxVCXuwqlum/s400/step3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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After cutting those cute, small square notches, I then assembled them onto a spiral holder.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCj8pr-6kTCWCasP2eE01WMip-ULeAVjr9GOGfdVIQx6XjJS09d5Enp_GAcdOlsvk3Y_6pSR5ZiXZMOwWXKiUjqBdJ-Haok17pXPh3Ms3UP1tSymGlJlgbalpkAKnexV-Wo_cs3i9Kytbf/s1600/step4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCj8pr-6kTCWCasP2eE01WMip-ULeAVjr9GOGfdVIQx6XjJS09d5Enp_GAcdOlsvk3Y_6pSR5ZiXZMOwWXKiUjqBdJ-Haok17pXPh3Ms3UP1tSymGlJlgbalpkAKnexV-Wo_cs3i9Kytbf/s400/step4.jpg" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCj8pr-6kTCWCasP2eE01WMip-ULeAVjr9GOGfdVIQx6XjJS09d5Enp_GAcdOlsvk3Y_6pSR5ZiXZMOwWXKiUjqBdJ-Haok17pXPh3Ms3UP1tSymGlJlgbalpkAKnexV-Wo_cs3i9Kytbf/s1600/step4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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And VOILA! The final product. Yes, I am rather proud of myself.</div>
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Who'd have thunk I could do such marvelous work? Even my wife was amazed at my skills. And my calendar sits proudly on the windowsill where I can see what is happening in my future... at least, when I'm not gazing or daydreaming out the window. BTW, at the present time, there are 4 deer ambling through, about 35 feet from my house. They're in the thicket, grazing. Yes, in my bio I mention I'm snuggled in a wooded acre. I am. It is so peaceful.</div>
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Until next I ramble on...</div>
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7775238192335689488.post-33301656438562834582017-01-01T05:30:00.000-05:002017-01-01T05:30:21.221-05:00Happy New Year! Some Tips to ShareAs most of you know, I fight continuously on the battle of the bulge. My stomach just doesn't want to be reduced. Now, stepping back and evaluating this information, I've come to realize some of it is my fault and some of it is caused by medications.<br />
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First, let me explain the really easy part. My fault. I love to eat, plain and simple. I love food. I love to cook and seriously get excited with flavor combinations. I'm always on the lookout for a new recipe that will test my culinary skills and tickle my palate when I eat it. Hence, gluttony will get me every time. Plus, right now, holidays are a killer. Everyone is bringing something for me to taste and well, taste I must. LOL. The second aspect of my fault is my lack of exercise. When I was exercising, I was losing weight. Uh, I fell off the wagon. No exercise means extra weight. Plain and simple. The tip here: Exercise and watch what you're eating.<br />
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Now, let me explain about my medications. I'm diabetic, stage 2. Last year, this time, my A1C was over 10 and my doctor was totally ticked. He wanted me on insulin. I fought that battle and got my A1C down to like 7.4 and I went on a strict, rigid diet, cutting my carbs and meal intakes. My doctor had me take a "diabetes learning class" and things went awry. My instructor was appalled I had cut out almost all carbs. She was adamant, I had to have carb intake. She put me on a diet that consisted of 60 carbs per meal (3X daily) and 30 carbs per snack (3X daily) and if you do quick math, that is 270 carbs a day. I tried it. My weight skyrocketed. And my sugar increased, too. So, after a couple of months of seeing this drastic change, I went back to my diet with minimal carbs. I love rice and potatoes and I wasn't about to cut that from my diet. I just drastically cut back the amount and how often. No more heaping piles of rice - a polite amount, one half cut. I got my rice hit. Same held true for the potatoes. A small serving or a very small baked potato. No longer do I search the tater pile for the biggest ones I can find. Even French fries are being limited. My tip about this is simple: You are what you eat - or if you're talking about medications - what you take - try to keep control.<br />
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But, I digress. My medications, many of them, have side effects and usually that includes, of all things, weight gain. I spoke with my doctor about that and he had a solution. I figured another pill. Wrong! He pulled a fast one on me. I take a Victoza shot every day. It helps me maintain my sugar and also dampens my appetite - somewhat.<br />
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Now, as I said, I gave up my exercise. I'm paying for that action now. I've regained about 10 pounds of what I've lost. I'm still under 250, down from the original 268 at the beginning of the year, so I consider that a good thing. I think I've maintained a 20 pound loss over the year. Yay!! My tip at this point? Keep focus and don't lose heart. It is too easy to give in.<br />
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As stated, I stopped my exercise and to say I became more fixture-like is an understatement. That has not done my heart any good. For the last few days I've been watching my #4 son's dog - a pitbull puppy and she is solid muscle. Lugging her to her bedtime crate for the night leaves me slightly wasted in my recliner. I'm not gasping for air but I can tell it wears on my heart. Having had a quadruple bypass eleven years ago - I notice my heart more, now. Tip to this? Be aware.<br />
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Other topics. My writing has languished of late. I did complete NaNoWriMo but the story is nothing like I planned so it will basically be a rewrite. I want it to be more literary than fantasy. Yes, I know I'm a fantasy writer but I wanted this story to NOT have a lot of fantastical aspects, and be more fictional. I guess that is what rewrites are all about. So my tip here: Sit your butt in the char and write!<br />
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So, with the beginning of a new year, like everyone else, I will once again attempt some new year resolutions... and like I've said in the past: Make the realistic and attainable with a definitive goal.<br />
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I'm going to lose weight. That is undefined. I'm going to lose 50 pounds. That is probably unattainable. I want to lose another 15 pounds this year. Now, THAT is a possibility. Why such a small amount? Simple. I lost 20 and struggled to keep it off. Trying to lose another 15 is going to be tough. Did you read the above? My meds make it difficult. Of course, the more I lose, maybe I can reduce some of those medications. It was a slow spiral down to this point, it will be a slow go to reach back up to the top. But I will -- WILL -- get there.<br />
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I'm going to write more this. A nice ambiguous goal. I'm going to publish 4 books. Another unobtainable goal, more than likely. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the reality to do so would involve total commitment and determination. I'd like to publish 2 books this year. I figure it will be a fight with everything else I think I may be involved with this year, but, I've set a goal... and it is one I feel I could reach.<br />
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So my final tip: Make your goals for 2017 obtainable. No reason of going into the new year with goals that you know you can't reach. It is better to save $50 during the year than attempt to put $1000 in the bank when you know you live from paycheck to paycheck. A dollar stuffed in a jar each week won't be missed, but $20 a week could mean the difference of a nice meal and no meal.<br />
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Did you set your New Year's Resolutions? Will you keep them? Share your goals.<br />
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Until next I ramble on...<br />
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<br />Author Bob Nailorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09307736243397066884noreply@blogger.com0