Trying Something New

I'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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Notice their length? And inside is basically all meat with just a few seeds.  Great for salsa, stewed tomatoes and purees.

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."

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.

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!

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.

Now, for the new stuff.  Here goes...

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 red. 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.

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.

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.'

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. 

Anyway, to give you a little more insight to me, here's another piece of music I enjoy.

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.

If you have a favorite piece of music, share it with me. Maybe we'll find a common ground.

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.

Until next I ramble on...

A Writing Dilemma

Now exactly what could be so horrific to cause a writer to panic?

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.

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.

REALLY?

Enjoy life as it PASSES BY?  NO!  NO!  NO!

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.

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.

I figured a one-year sabbatical - two years at the most - would be sufficient.

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.

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.

Therefore, with the idea of not writing anymore now entrenched in my mind, I have decided that perhaps I should reconsider another avenue.

I won't write any more NEW books until I have the ones already on my laptop finished.

Exactly what does this mean?

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.

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?

Can I control my imagination to not... repeat, NOT want to write something new for the next ten years?

At the current time, I am open to any and all suggestions of how to complete the task at hand.

Uh, so you have a "basic" understanding of what I've got stuffed in my laptop --

5 Amish novels, one is a horror, the rest Christian and sort of a series
5 vampire novels (a series)
4 fantasy novels (a series)
2 action adventure novels (1 is a sequel to a published book)
3 epic fantasy novels
1 Native American werewolf vampire detective story
1 Native American fantasy
1 mainstream fiction
1 historical fiction
1 military fantasy
1 SF novel
1 fairy fantasy

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.

Is this the time I should mention, I have one "screenplay" I also have in the works and not part of the counts above?

HELP ME!

Until next I ramble on...

Just A Health Update

The last week has been HELL... no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

My wife was sick and two weeks ago I took her to the doctor and she got an antibiotic shot, a Z-pak, an inhaler and cough syrup. One week later, she is actually worse. She gets another "different" antibiotic shot and antibiotic pills plus an x-ray. She is return 24 hrs later.  X-ray shows her lungs as clear but all indications are pointing at pneumonia. They put her in the hospital.

So, one week ago (Sept 24) they do a cat scan to validate the x-ray. Plus, they have her on an antibiotic drip in her saline solution, a daily steroid shot, another different antibiotic shot, plus a lot of of other meds.  She comes around and on Tuesday late afternoon, they release her.

During this time, I'm coming down with a hack, congestion, runny nose and... yeah, I don't feel well.

So, they gave her some antibiotic pills.  They don't want her to take them. I bought them and I'm not about to just toss them.  That's right.  I took them in conjunction with a cold/flu capsule every four hours.  Talk about coming down from that high six days later - what a headache... but I'm feeling pretty good now.  A slight hack to break up the congestion but no real phlegm - I'm good.

Of course, I have to have a blood draw during this time since I have my diabetes doctor appointment after three months to see if my new medication is helping.

When I get up in the morning, my blood sugar is running about mid-70s to low-90s.  Sometimes it will drop below 70, but only 3 times. It is running over 100 in the morning, but not that often and I know why when it is - like drinking OJ at 2 in the morning.

My A1C went down.  I was hoping for below 6.  It was 6.8 and I wasn't too thrilled until I found that my dietitian and my doctor was quite happy with that number.  Anything below 7 is considered good. Plus, my weight is now a solid 245 - I've come down 6 pounds since June's appointment.  I was lower before June but the dietitian's diet was a lot of carbs and my weight went up and up. I decided to go back to my old diet plan and my weight has dropped.  And, with me now taking Victoza, my cravings and over-eating seem to be more controlled.  I prefer small meals, light meals and about every 3 to 4 hours - so I'm getting smaller meals, but more often.  My blood sugar is doing good.

Now, back to my wife. They never really figured out what she had and decided to call it a form of pneumonia.  She is still very weak and just getting out the chair is a major accomplishment.  Like she said, "Getting out the chair is so tiring, I just want to sit back down which defeats the purpose of getting up!"  She sleeps a lot and doesn't eat too much.

I'm now the guy who cooks ALL the meals and is supposedly keeping the house clean. The chickens aren't helping - they're laying 17-20 eggs daily. WalMart is causing issues - they're selling eggs for $.65/dozen.  I've lowered the price of my brown eggs to $1 but still not selling any.  In fact, I'm having trouble giving them away!!  Last week I had 10 dozen eggs to give away.  By the time I feed the chicken, give them water, collect the eggs and get back in the house, I'm whipped. Then I need to figure out a meal and cook it.

We've been eating pretty good - having made Pork Fritters, Chicken & Broccoli, Spanish Rice, Egg/Cracker Hamburgers, Salads, Twice-baked Potatoes, Cottage Fries, Stuffed Cabbage Balls, Cheesy Cauliflowers, and Cheesy Broccoli/Chicken Rice, I even made Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Homemade Tomato Soup (I mean, using tomato juice as the base and jacking it up with spices!) and other healthy from-scratch things.  So far, I haven't stooped to potato chips and/or PB&J sandwiches, but I may consider them down the road.

I'm going to get some of the freezer meals we made a month ago and use some of them. Maybe the next day or two will be Green Pepper Casserole and another day with Egg Rolls.  I'll have to see what is in the freezer.  I know there is some shrimp and I will definitely be using that!!  Maybe a roast, too.

The garden has decided to come to full harvest. I have tomatoes on 8 plants out in garden and there seems to be more red than green.  I green peppers are going crazy with a lot of peppers.  And the green beans for the last couple of months - lots and lots of flowers, but no beans.  NOW?  There are beans on those vines that would choke a horse.  I just don't have the time to get all of it done.

I attempted to start remodeling the RV just prior to my wife getting sick.  So, the RV toilet has been off for over 3 weeks.  I just need to get a couple of pieces and put it all back together - but I need to go to an RV center for the parts and that is an hour drive there and an hour drive back.  So that is going to wait until my wife and I are back to health.  Obviously we don't need it fixed right this minute since we're not traveling.  To put it back together will only take a couple of hours - I just need the time.

Until next I ramble on...

The Tiny Home Syndrome

My wife is hooked on all those cute, quaint little homes - you know what I'm talking about. Those homes that are maybe 200 to 500 square feet in space. I think they're neat, built on a frame with wheels so they can be moved as wanted or needed.

But the prices!!

I watched a show where the couple was adamant it had to have wheels, be no more than 250 square feet in size and, this is the clincher for me, be under $110K.

HUH?

They picked one. It was cute, about 210 square feet and cost a mere $119K - just a tad over budget.

My wife thought it was perfect.  I had to give her a wake-up call.  We own an RV.  Yes, the driving kind. It is a 28 foot Allegro. Okay, a little older, it is a 1998 model but I've had it for 10 years and it suits our needs just fine.  Our 28 x 8 traveling home has 224 square feet of living space, plus it has all the "basement" storage under it along the sides outside.  I'll be honest - I spent $25K for our used RV.

We've considered upgrading to one with a slide or two and maybe a tad longer, but not over 32 feet, though.  That would give us a lot more space - almost 300 square feet.  Again, that does not include all the storage space underneath.

Even if a person considered a camping trailer or 5th wheel, they'd be further ahead and saving money rather than buying a tiny home.  Better yet, buy a manufactured home aka a trailer.

Take a close look.  A tiny home is nothing more than an over-glorified trailer that is too heavy for most vehicles to move.  They need to hire a semi.  That costs money.

An RV can be driven where you want it and it won't cost you $10K or more to move.

Have you seen some of the RVs??  They're stunning with full-sized stoves, dishwashers, refrigerators and washer and dryers.  I mean, some even have ice-makers and wine-coolers.  And don't forget the fireplaces, either.  I looked at a used RV that offered 2 bathrooms and all the counters in it, that would be the bathrooms and kitchen, were solid granite.  In fact, the 'master' bath had 2 sinks, a shower, AND a tub, not to mention a walk-in closet.  The recessed lighting and the recessed 50-inch flat screen television was awesome.  The place was magnificent with double slides n the living room.  I should note the price was under $100K... in fact, it was under $75K and was only 2 years old.

No, I didn't buy it but I wanted it.  My RV gets about 10-14 miles to the gallon and that is really, REALLY good mileage.  I calculate my trip costs at 10 mpg and usually have excess cash when I finish the trip.  That RV was heavy and only got ... as the salesman said, About 5mpg if you've got a good tailwind and going down the hill.  If you don't know RV sales code, that means, don't expect to get 5mpg too often... more likely 2 or 3 miles per gallon.  It had a 150-gallon tank.  That would mean I'd get about 450 miles per fill-up.  My current RV is 60 gallons and I can drive well over 600 miles on a fill-up.

But, I digress.  After explaining all the above to my wife, she agreed.  If we're going to downsize, we'll move into an RV and live full time that way. For $50K-75K I can have a mansion.  So why put out so much money for a dinky tiny house?

I'm including pictures of  an Allegro RV. Look at that spacious living space w/ one slide-out.

And a great bed and on the other side is a wall of closets with mirrors to get full-length looks.  There is also a nice bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet.

And here is the inside of a tiny home... looking at the entrance. Don't you love the blue "couch?"

If you look under the bed, the double doors are probably the pull-out potty.

Both of these are probably in the $60-$75K range.  Which would you want to live in on a full-time basis?

Until next  ramble on...

Aw, Crap!

Even the best laid plans go awry.  Oh, how true.

I am attempting to get a chicken coop built.  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has gone right.  The weather was beautiful and we started the project by getting the platform and some of the wood. We covered it and it has been covered more than uncovered.  My boys can only work on it during the weekends and they are limited weekends due to their jobs.  So we've had two great weekends, one they were able to get a little work done, the other they had to do mandatory overtime. Almost every other weekend has been crappy.  This weekend was no different - okay, a little different. A mere fifty miles away in Toledo, they got over six (6) inches of snow!!  We got about two (2) inches mixed with ice.  Whoo-hoo?  To finish the coop, we need to finalize the roof with shingles and finish the north wall and add one more stud to that north wall to match the south wall so we can put in a retainer wall to keep the chickens on one side and I get to have a small storage shed on the other side.  PLUS, I have to build an outdoor enclosure which needs to be all protective.  It will be a hoop-type enclosure with fencing going over the hoop and across the bottom on the floor so any invasive critters can't get to my chickens.  We have eagles from the top, and cats, foxes, opossums, skunks, stray dogs and yes, even coyotes in the area.  I've even heard a bobcat with tracks in my backyard and rumors have it that there is a cougar and bear that roam the outlands where I live - although I haven't seen them - YET.  The joke around here at the current time is:  The hens will be laying eggs before the coop is done.  Just so you understand the joke - it takes a chick to an egg-laying hen - about 5 months.  Jeesh! I hope my coop gets done before that!!

I wanted to plant my peas in the garden.  My hope was this coming week.  Obviously, with the snow and ice this weekend, my plans are going to be delayed a tad.  In fact, my hope to weed and cultivate the garden is being delayed with all the rain we've had of late.  About the time the ground gets perfect for me to work it, it rains... or snows!

Farmer Bob is getting frustrated... need I say more?

Traveling Bob wants to work on his RV, but again, the weather has not cooperated.  Who wants to go outside and work in a cold RV.  I mean, the temps have been freezing.  Yes, I could "heat" the RV but why should I do that?  April is supposed to be a nice month.  Remember?  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  April brings May flowers.  March sucked and so far, April seems like a "Ground Hog Day" rerun of March.  Come on warm weather!!

Writing Bob released a new book. Finally!  The collection of stories has been released.  Yes, the one which I had you help me decide the cover.  It did great the first few days out - reaching #35 in anthologies and even up to position 52K on Amazon.  If you're curious about this book...

http://amzn.to/25HQinV

I was asked just how scary the book was. Hm? It is not a blood, guts and gore type collection. I tend to write more "light" horror - I like to play with your mind, the psychological horror. Somebody told me it was more "Twilight Zone" type stories.  Whatever.  It deals with death and its myriad aspects, so it don't fall under the romance, western or Christian genres!

Oh, while I'm discussing crappy.  I went to the doctor and dietitian this past week. Hm? They weren't upset by my almost ten (10) pound gain.  Hey!  I was!!  Seems I'd given in to despair and given up my diet.  Too many all-you-can-eat buffets and not watching what I was eating, including all those fabulous Lent fish frys.  I'm not Catholic but I love fish frys and look so forward to the Lenten season splurge of local fish frys at almost every organization.  Especially those which offer all-you-can-eat fish!  So, there are repercussions to eating like this - and I gained almost 10 pounds.  Now I need to get back on the bandwagon and be assertive in my goal to lose some weight.  Due to the weight-gain I've noticed my blood sugar increase.  Everything is interrelated.  So I lose weight, my blood sugar will come down and with a little luck, I'll begin the spiral back up to a healthy body instead of the horrible spiral down into oblivion of fat despair.

On an up note - last weekend I had my #1, #2 and #4 sons and their families to visit me and we had a lot of fun.  I enjoyed the antics of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  The 6 yr olds kept wanting to play outside, eventho it was close to freezing but sunny.  The twins who are just learning to walk kept getting into everything and who can ignore their smiles and get upset?  The great-grandkids are still learning to sit up and attempt to crawl.  But they don't crawl - YET.

This weekend I had my #1, #2 and #3 sons and their families to vist.  The older granddaughters were a lot of fun to tease - 14 and 10.  And they had a blast in the kitchen with grandma learning how to make different things.  Let me tell you this - the drop biscuits were absolutely fantastic and they did them with grandma only giving directions.  Plus they helped me with my Farmer Bob chores, feeding and watering the chickens.  They started to name the hens - the egg-laying ones.  I told them they shouldn't but if they were naming, only name the brown chickens.  They only named a couple. Whew!  I don't want anyone making pets of these chickens.  At some point, the chickens might become nuggets and well, I don't want upset grandkids.

In case you're wondering - sons #1 and #2 live in the immediate area.  Sons #3 and #4 live in the Detroit area - about 2 hours away and all of them have jobs where they work with mandatory overtime and/or weekends.  We're always happy to see them visit.  LOL.  I love making a 7plus pound meatloaf - that is 2 pounds of ground beef, 2 pounds of sausage and 3 pounds of venison.  Now add the rest of the ingredients - over 7 pounds.  YUM! They LOVE meatloaf.

Until next I ramble on...

All The Verdicts

Let's start with last week. I wasn't here and there was no update to the voting on the book cover. My bad and I apologize. I was sick and for all practical purposes, really didn't care if I lived or died and wasn't too sure if I was dead or alive. Here comes the story...

Friday night I and my lovely bride enjoyed the company of some friends at a local fish fry. The fish consisted of piles of all-you-can-eat deep-fried fish accompanied by two types of coleslaw (creamy and vinegar,) three types of potatoes (baked, mashed, 3 cheese hashbrowns,) several types of bread/buns and a huge assortment of desserts - I won't even attempt to describe but I would say, if you couldn't find something you liked, you're just too damned picky. All this food - I call it $10 Heaven. I ate so much fish, I didn't have room for dessert.

Got home and about 7:30pm, Heaven turned into absolute Hell. My stomach turned, there was some gurgling and I had a countdown of less than 10 seconds to make it to the facility - 3-2-1. I think I made another 2 trips before I finally attempted to call it a night. During the night it was another, at least 4, if not 5 trips and Saturday was a constant race. Fortunately we have two bathrooms so one was always available for my use. Saturday night wasn't any better. I'd awake to an urge and make a dash. Do you realize how difficult it is to dash when half-asleep? And in the dark? I thank the Lord for giving me the foresight to install an LED nightlight in the bathroom. So Sunday was a total wash. I didn't even bother getting out of bed - except to run to the facility. I'd given up on attempting to eat and was just trying to exist on beef broth. Water begets water.

By midday on Monday, I thought I was on the heal. There was no longer a dual water spigot - the original pipework theory seemed to be the plan of the day.  Tuesday morning proved that wrong with a small diarrhea run but it was short-lived. Whew!

Wednesday found me feeling pretty good which meant that our trip to French Lick, Indiana was on track. Both my wife and I had received a complimentary room, so we each booked a room and took her sister and her brother and his wife with us. We had a room, they had a room. Uh, our room had TWO fireplaces!! The place was very, VERY nice and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, only wishing it was a tad warmer and the gardens more in bloom. But, it was still a fun time.

This is mezzanine (2nd floor) looking down into part of the lobby. Our room is 4 doors down hall behind us.

This is our room w/ a nice flat screen and fireplace. Huge room!

I decided to catch a couple of Zs and she decided to take pictures. Coordinated effort!!

I told you there was 2 fireplaces - the other one was in the bathroom!

Mural in ceiling above lobby and mezzanine level - so much gold leaf!

More of the murals above the mezzanine. That chandelier is about 5 or 6 feet across, maybe more. I would say it was about 25  or more feet between the two marble columns.

We each found a piece of furniture we wanted to take home.

My wife fell in love with this table and floral arrangement. Even with four sons, I don't think this table would get moved too often once it was put in the house.

As you can see, it was a very enjoyable trip and experience and we hope to get back there again, even maybe later this summer. They do have an RV park and we may take our RV next time.

Verdict with the doctor and my health. Discussed my diabetes with an endocrinologist and he has put me back on 500mg metformin twice a day which should be gentler to my kidneys. We'll see. Has it helped my sugar? Yes!! A resounding YES! Of course, he wants me to lose weight and go on a 1500 calorie diet which is probably more than I eat now with my current diet. I see a dietitian in March and we'll see what she has to offer. I also go back to the doctor about mid-March so I won't have a lot of time to institute the 1500 calorie diet.  The scales indicate that I have lost 7 pounds since I went to the doctor - and that I would call a good thing.  Of course, the medical scales can be different than mine - although I did weigh myself when I got home from the doctor to see how far off my scales were. The results were 1 pound difference... my was more.

Now, the question, by now, on everyone's tongue is: The book cover! Which cover made the cut?

There was a lot of discussion as to which one was better and each argument had its own value. The basic concern was readability. Another was the skull and teeth.  Some thought the doors disappeared or got lost on the cover. Finally, after an immense time getting all the votes from here, my different media sites like Twitter and Facebook and some of my favorite watering holes on the internet, the final verdict was...

I offer you the winner designed by Sheri McGathy of Sheri McGathy Book Cover Design

This is the winner!!

With a little luck, hopefully it will be ready for a release date in early March. My beta readers are giving me some vital and critical feedback and I'm getting the editing done. Hopefully this will be a very clean book on Amazon and I won't be seeing their ugly "flag" denoting errors within.

By the way, is anyone else getting excited?  Spring is on the way!!  In about two weeks I will be starting some of my seeds.  I may even be getting the first of my chickens to raise. We want about a half dozen hens for eggs and those we want to get early. Then I will get the other twenty-five we want to raise for butchering and Sunday dinners.  Spring is on the way!  Summer is coming!!

Until next I ramble on...

Looking At Life

Today is all about rush, rush, rush. We don't have time to wait.  In fact, I heard my one granddaughter complain because it was taking so long for the microwave to zap her food.

We are a world of "instant."

I once heard somebody say "Take time to smell the roses" to which the reply was "I did. They didn't smell all that great."  Hmm?  Maybe this person was smelling roses raised for one of those $200 bouquets - you know, maybe 4 to 6 red roses and a bunch of carnations and baby's breath and ferns.

Yes, we do live in a world where we can't take the time to sit back and just let the scents of the day assault us while we rock.

Imagine a warm day, not too hot, but definitely a mint julep or lemonade day, sitting in the shade, rocking gently in a white wicker rocker. The summer breeze caresses your face with a whispering hint of roses and you stare off into the baby blue azure tinted sky.

No, you can't.  Why?  Because you're sitting in a sterile 10 x 10 foot cubicle (if that big) slaving over a job that needed to be finished at least 20 minutes before you got it.  The boss is chewing your butt for a lousy job because his boss is chewing him for a lousy job.  As my buddy once stated - It doesn't matter where on the hill you live, you're always in the valley and everything flows downhill.

I retired in 2006 on the very last day of that year.  Due to the holidays and weather, my departure was barely a blip on the screen.  Okay, it was more like a dot too much ink on the line... like a hesitation of the pen as it draws a line.

In the years since, I have tried to find some semblance of my former lifestyle but can't.  I mean, I still do things but there isn't that urgency.  There isn't somebody over my shoulder screaming it should have been done yesterday or last week.

In fact, the last few years have seen a new vision in my sight.  Sure, I've had cataract eye surgery, but it isn't that kind of new sight.  It is more insight.  I realize now that what doesn't get done today will get done tomorrow - maybe.

I think my first trip in 2007 can sum it up.  We, my wife and I, were traveling to California with her brother and his wife (they'd retired about 10 years earlier) in the RV.  I was tooling down the highway, clipping along at the speed of traffic.  Dare I say, nearing 80mph?  The gas in the RV was being sucked out but that wasn't of consequence.  My BIL noted my speed and informed me that we had plenty of time.  We didn't need to go from Ohio to California in an afternoon.  The minimum speed on the interstate is 55.  He said we could probably enjoy the trip more at about 60-65 mph.  I put it on cruise but found my foot easing the gas pedal down to keep up with traffic.  We made California in three days.  I just couldn't get the hang of "easy does it" and "we got time" to slow myself down.  I guess I was in one of those comedy routines: 7 Days, 6 Nights, 9 Countries, 15 Cities type vacations.

We need to learn to slow down.

It is now almost 10 years later.  I've learned to slow down.  I did some mulching around the yard.  In fact, the one area, about 12 ft by 35 ft took me nearly a week to do.  I'd go out, put down the newspaper, weight it and finally get the mulch spread over it.  It was a slow process.  But, then again, I had the time.  It wasn't like there was something pressing that had to be done.  The world continued to spin each day even though I hadn't finished my project that day.  When done, it looked good.

The same has happened in my driving.  I still tend to drive my car at interstate speeds... or better, but when I have the RV and we're traveling.  Okay, I sit in the driver's seat of the RV and relax. Yes, I'm that damned idiot in front of you going maybe 50 on a back road or 60 on an interstate.  You see?  I have the time to enjoy the roses.  By roses, I mean, the scenery of the highway.  Just look at the homes and fields and wild flowers and gorgeous woods.  There is so much to enjoy.  Don't just figure the cliche is about roses - roses are the scent of life.  Enjoy them.

Maybe, just maybe, I am seeing all this beauty because I can now see some stars starting to shine in the twilight of my years.  Yes, the sun is beginning to set.  I realize this.  I know my body can't continue to hustle and bustle.  It takes more time to do things but they do get done - in time.  Maybe not in what you consider a timely fashion, but it is timely in my lifestyle.

I just celebrated my 69th birthday on 12/31.  Yes, that means, this year I will be 70.  No, I'm not old but I am no longer in the summer of my life. Those sky blue azure tinted summer skies are long gone.  I would like to say I'm in the autumn of my life. I hope that my winter will be a good one and to be honest, I'm hoping and praying winter is a long, long way off. LOL.

Until my eyes close for the very last time, I want to be able to say - I stopped and smelled the roses.

Until next I ramble on...

Year End Round-Up

What did 2015 do for you?  It is the end of another year and, as always, we tend to get a little whispy-eyed with memories of the last 12 months.

This year had it ups and downs.  There were good things and there were bad things.  Of course, we all remember those incidences which just happened... like my mother-in-law passing just prior to Christmas.  That was definitely a down thing but you can spin it as an up thing: She was 103 and had lived a very full life.  Her health had been failing, along with her memory - and that hurt, especially my wife who visited her several times a week.  It's hard when your mother doesn't remember who you are - but, she knows you, just not your name.

Of course, there was my doctor visit in November which wasn't all that great.  My blood sugar was averaging 246 for the last six months and he basically told me, fix it or die.  Again, to spin a good thing to it, I have since lost 18 pounds and my sugar has been hovering around the 100-120 mark.  That is a very good thing.  I'll be going back in January for another blood draw to see what the new results will be.  I'm hoping to lose another few pounds in the meantime.

While on the subject of weight, I'll go clear back to the beginning of the year when I was making resolutions.  What were they?  Lose 25 pounds. Publish 3 books.  So let's see what I did.

Back in June I got so sick I could barely swallow.  I lost weight - a lot of weight.  I lost a total of over 30 pounds.  Then I got well.  I found them.  I didn't have to go that far to search, either.  They were ever so quick to return - and return they did.  Okay, I didn't get them ALL back.  I was able to let some free to roam and find another home.  About 10 pounds were left on the range.  So with the doctor's colorful health report, I've lost almost another 20 pounds, so, in total, I've lost almost 30 pounds this year.  THAT I call a success.  I reached my goal of 25 pounds.  Oh, for you readers, if you find these stray pounds, their yours to keep - call it my gift, if you will.  I don't want them back so they're free for the keeping.  I'm sure they'll be good to keep you warm - not healthy, but good.

Now, to the publishing.  In April I published "The Secret Voice" which has been a great seller.  I have had to order it twice from Amazon to keep it in stock.  I even sold a copy to the young lady who helped me at WalMart when I created my new poster of the cover.  My one classmate also works there and she's been telling everyone about and well, do you have any idea what it is like to have a clerk ask if she can buy a copy?  If you go to Amazon, it doesn't look like it is selling because all the copies I sell don't reflect... and I've sold a LOT of copies.

Anyway, I published that book and was able to finally get my 2nd book published yesterday and should be available now.  "CRACKED! The Writing Mystique" is a short how-to about handling the different aspects (mystiques) of writing including character detail, active/passive voice, writing sex and so much more.  As always, I made sure to include examples so it could be easily understood.

Did I publish three books?  No.  I really feel ashamed.  I could have done so easily but I didn't and there absolutely no excuse.  Of course, I've been working on the sequel to "The Secret Voice" and, as many writers will understand, my mind has been attacked by several other plots and stories that are screaming for attention. I was just busy with other things - like family and life, I guess.

Of course, this year, my wife and I tried to do a little more camping.  Of course, with her mother's health, we didn't want to travel too far away.  Most of the time we went to the local state park just a few miles up the road and would camp there for the week, skipping out Friday morning before it got too crowded.  We did do a trip up into Michigan with our middle granddaughters (ages 13 and 9) where we got in some great fishing.  That was about 5 hours from home... not too far, but away.

My garden.  It was a good garden.  I even was able to grow some sweet corn and it was delicious. My wife canned some tomatoes, making stewed, diced, juice and even several jars of salsa which I have pretty well decimated already.  She agrees - more salsa next year.  Yes, I have already received what I call the best fiction mags of the year - the garden seed catalogs.  And, yes, I already have delusions, uh, I mean, dreams of things I want to attempt to grow this coming year.  Since I was so busy doing mulch to certain areas, I am going to have to be a little more selective in what I want to grow in containers.  I have plans for a couple of tubs.  Of course, my two hanging deck boxes I have to allocate some nice draping plants.  And the step planters, those big 24-inch pots will need some color, too.  In just a few short months I'll be starting my garden seeds likes tomatoes, peppers and just not sure what else as of now.

Also, this coming year, I want to attempt raising some chickens - about 50 for slaughter and another 5 or 6 for eggs during the summer and fall.  Of course, if winter next year is anything like it has been so far this year, those chickens might make it through the winter.  Oh, and I'd like to also raise about 2, maybe 3 turkeys.  Living in the countryside does have its perks but then again, it also has the critters that like chickens and turkeys, especially the young ones... oh, and eggs, too!

So, as you can see, I'm already getting around to my New Years Resolutions for 2016.  I'll keep it simple.  Lose another 25 pounds.  Publish at least 2 books.  Raise some chickens and turkeys.  Grow a garden.  Travel, camp and fish more.  Oh, and spend more time with my wife, kids, grandkids, great grandkids, family and friends.

Until next I ramble on...

What A Week

My buddy is retired and he is continually complaining to me about how bored he is.  How can that be since I now find my life even more hectic than when I worked.

This week is a perfect example...

Monday: Holiday celebrating Labor Day.  It should be a day of relaxing, enjoying the last of the sun fun and even getting a picnic in.  NOPE.  For me, it was my #1 son and family visiting and telling us about the cars they been looking at for their daughter since she wants a little bigger one with the baby coming.  So far, pretty normal.  He takes us to a dealership where they have a car that has piqued our curiosity — since my granddaughter doesn't want it and my son thinks it is a great car.

WOW!  It's a 2014 Ford Escape - hold on - brand new!!  Only 175 miles on it.  Seems it came in late last year, got shuffled to the back of the lot and only when somebody questioned the "mistype" on the inventory sheet did they discover it.  That's right.  The 2016s are already on the display floor and they have a brand new 2014 to sell.  They were practically giving it away.  My wife liked what she saw.

Step back a moment.  Remember me mentioning dealing on a new RV?  Yeah, that's never moved another step forward.  I'd sent 3 emails to the salesman stating I was interested and I received 3 emails stating that that particular email address didn't exist.  Hmm?  I went to the website. Yup, I had the correct domain name.  I had the salesman's business card.  I decided that if a person can't give me the right info, maybe I should step back.  Plus, he didn't want to take my old RV in as a trade.  No deal at that point on my behalf.  Yes, in my magnanimous heart, I gave up my RV for my wife's car.

Tuesday: The dealership opens at 9am, I arrive 9:30am — don't want to look too anxious.  A salesman comes out and putters around and finally ambles over to help us.  I tell him I'm interested in the 2014 for sale BUT before we go any further, can they apply the Ford family discount since my #4 son works for Ford.  He gave me a strange look and ushered into his office so he can find out.  The next thing, I'm out test-driving the vehicle.  My wife gets behind the wheel.  She is in love.  We get back, Nick (the salesman) is working out the figures and we decide to "go for it" and see what happens.  Just then, a couple I've seen wandering around the lot amble over and start checking it out.  A few minutes later, Nick comes in, the deal is done and we are buying a car.  He picks up the keys, aims it at the auto and VOILA!  The car is locked just as another couple amble towards it.  Another guy shows up at the door, Nick gives him the keys and a mere 2 hours later, we are walking out and my wife is driving the new car home.  Of course, we have to get something to eat and get the insurance company notified.  A quick visit to her brother after supper and the day is about over.

Wednesday: My grandson calls and asks if it is okay for them to start moving things into our house. So, it is official.  My grandson and his family will be living with us for a few months to help them out. Uh, that means we have to get the guest room cleaned out for them.  I guess I should mention that the big walk-in closet has been a playroom for our #4 son's two oldest daughters (6 and 5) plus a bedroom for whoever wanted to stay over.  We got to get it all moved over to the smaller bedroom which was our office and most recently, my wife's mother's room until she went to the nursing home.  So stuff had to be moved out of the office so the guest room could be moved.  We're talking total chaos and my wife and I have discovered, there has never been a need to do everything in a rush — there was always the next day to get things done.  They want to move furniture by Saturday.  HUH?  So we got hopping on that.

Thursday: The day is mostly spent on moving stuff either to our bedroom or from the guest room to the office (new guest room) or to the basement.  Whew!  The first boxes start to arrive.  The room is basically empty, just a few items remain to be addressed.  We decided we needed a break and since we wanted to go camping but with all the work to be done, we didn't go.  A little spin out to the campground to see how busy it is.  Very surprised by the number of campers.  Of course, we stopped and visited some friends and they joined us on the trip to the campground.

Friday: More stuff gets moved in and the first box of my TV order arrives.  The wall mount.  Sometime in the next 3 days, the 60 inch and 32 inch LED televisions will arrive. My wife needs a little help with the baby shower cake she is decorating.  Seems it is bigger than any board she has, so I have to find her a sheet of spare wood for the "owl" cake.  This is for my great grandson.  My granddaughter likes owls.  It just fit in the back of the Escape.  Whew!

Saturday: My #4 son and family arrive to visit for the weekend and go to the shower.  Yup!  I now have 6 adults and 5 children, ages 6 to just over a month old staying at my home.  Chaos?  Just a little but that's our family.  Oh wait, #1 son, his wife and daughter come over and #2 son, his wife and his daughter visit.  The only ones missing are #2's eldest son and my #3 son, his wife and 2 daughters. The grandson staying with us is #2's second son.  While the ladies are gone to the shower, the boys move the furniture in and then bring over a truckload of wood for a campfire.  I take the 2 granddaughters (6 and 5) over to a park for them to play and be out of the way.  We also go to the store and I get the makings for tacos.  Silly me —I thought 3 lbs of good ground beef would be enough.  Wrong!  We went through it quickly.  Next time, I use 4 lbs or if more family show, even more meat.  Fortunately, the garden was willing to offer up fresh tomatoes for the event. LOL. That night a great fire.

Sunday: Ignored the alarm and my wife - didn't get up until 11am so I missed church.  Guess it was too much excitement for me the day before. LOL.  Usual chaos as #4 and family got ready to head home and everyone else headed out, too.  You can only park 4 cars abreast in my driveway — and with my 2 cars, my grandson's 2 vehicles (car and truck), my #2 son coming on his motorcycle, his wife and daughter in their SUV, my #1 son in his truck and their daughter in her car and my #4 son in his SUV... it begins to look more like a car lot than a driveway.  Guess I should mention, my RV is up along the house, too, so when somebody decides to leave, it can get to be a tad interesting as to who has to move a vehicle. LOL.

But that's my week, and somehow, during that time, I was able to almost finish the edits on a client's book, get a chapter and a half of a new book written and watch a little television, too.

Until next I ramble on...

Updates to Updates

As we go into the third tri-mester of the year (the last four months), I thought I'd give a little update to what is happening.

Weight.  Good news, bad news.  Remember the 28 pounds I lost back in June when I was sick?  As a friend said, I found some of them. The good news is: Only half of them - so I'm still 14 pounds down which makes my target of 25 pounds by the end of the year - well, it is something I can possibly attain.  At least, I plan to make it.

Overall Health.  I'm not up to par.  I bought into the "you can't do this and that" and my sons have tried to make sure I don't do this or that.  So... now I can't do this or that without getting totally winded.  As stated last week, I bought a lot of mulch to put down.  Of course, having temperatures up into the high eighties and low nineties isn't helping, but I do a little and then need to rest.  I mean, like work for maybe 15-20 minutes and then break for 40 minutes.  It is all about bending over - pushing the gut into the lungs.  Still, I think it might be why the weight hasn't all come back... all that bending.

Mulch.  By the way, the mulch is looking good.  Of course, I didn't buy enough while it was on sale so the one area that I wanted to do probably won't get done - the swing set area.  Just as well.  I think I should put ALL rubber mulch there rather than a mixture of wood mulch with a light sprinkling of rubber mulch.  Since the rubber mulch wasn't on sale, I'll keep an eye open for it to better priced in the next few weeks.

Camping. Took the grand kids camping and now my wife and I can go alone and enjoy some quiet time at the campgrounds during the week since most families have their kids back in school.  OH! Went shopping for a new RV.  We own a 28 foot 1998 Allegro motor home.  Yes, a land-yacht. I'd like to get a "wider" motor home - not necessarily a bigger one.  Let me explain.  I want slide outs in the living area.  If my current motor home had a slide out, I'd keep it since I'm more than thrilled with the mileage I get with it.  Uh, we're talking 10 mpg and up to 14 mpg on flat interstates on cruise.  The new one I looked at would get "maybe" up to 7 mpg, possibly 9 mpg.  LOL. Sure.  I think we're going to hold off on it until maybe next year... unless the salesman comes back with a deal I just can't pass up.  (Like that's going to happen!)

Writing.  Has been stalled.  I've been doing a lot of editing for clients, so I don't have a lot of time for writing.  I've done some - a little - on my second Amish novel.  Was stumped for a while but with a little brain-storming with another writer (thanks, Elyse!), I've now got some great ideas to weave into the tale and give it depth.  With NaNoWriMo coming up in November, I have to decide if I want to attempt it yet again.  I  mean, I've competed 14 years, accomplishing 50K+ words 13 of those times. I've done NaNoWriMo since it's 2nd year of inception and only failing to complete the word count when I attempted a cookbook and my dad passed the month before.  Hint: Don't attempt a cookbook.

Gardening. The garden is coming to an end - sort of.  The corn is done and I've removed all the stalks from the raised bed.  My wife finally agreed that the green pole beans were finished, as were the wax bean plants.  Unfortunately I didn't tie-up my tomato plants - so they've sprawled all over but are doing fine.  We've canned a lot of salsa, diced, and stewed tomatoes - with more to come.  The shelves are filled with beans for the winter.  Still growing are the beets and carrots which appear might be a good crop this year.

Publishing.  I wanted to publish 3 books this year.  So far, only one book out. My Amish novel which has been selling like hotcakes at signings and shows.  On Amazon?  Not so well.  It would seem that the book hasn't sold well at all.  I've order copies twice now and figure I might have to order again before then end of the year - maybe twice!!  If you haven't checked it out - http://amzn.to/1ynQnzQ - you won't be sorry.  But, back to publishing.  Maybe with a little luck I'll be able to get out book 2 of my writing tips and book 1 in my Jewyl adventures is complete, for the most part, just some minor edits and a book cover design.  It's all about time.

Do you remember your New Year's Resolutions?  How are they coming along?  Given up?  Have you accomplished them?  Share.

Until next I ramble on...

The Facts of Life

No, it's not really about growing up or where babies come from.  Today I want to talk about facing the truth and acknowledging what is and what can't be.

Let's begin with weight and health.  My goal this year is lose 25 pounds.  For those who have kept up with me — the scale went the wrong way.  I gained 10 pounds.  Since my last checkup, I've attempted to be more systematic and actually DO exercise, not think about it.  For some dumb reason, just thinking about losing weight and working out DOES NOT LOSE WEIGHT!  Go figure.  I took a close look at my meds.  Uh, three of them claim to gain weight and one hints at the possibility of weight gain.  Again, I think salmon might have a better chance spawning upstream than I do trying to lose weight.  BUT, after a quick check.  The scale moved in the correct direction  I've lost the gained 10 pounds and another 5 pounds.  For some that might not seem all that grand, but for me, I consider that a major win.  Yeah, consider it an incentive to work out even harder.  My treadmill walks were like 5 minutes and then I was a crazy panting mass in the chair.  I've pushed it to 15 minutes and not quite so panting.  Yes, I'm sweating and exhausted, but at least I don't feel like a fish gasping in the air.  I'm gaining.  And I can go outside and do stuff, even walk the property without having to stop to rest every 30 seconds.  Amazing how fast one can go down hill if they don't keep at it.  Everyone kept telling me I shouldn't / couldn't do this or that and I believed them.  So I didn't do it.  Now I can barely do anything but I am pushing myself to get back out there.  I want to be around a little longer just so I can write that blockbuster.

Speaking of which, my latest release — The Secret Voice — is doing amazingly well.  Of course, it doesn't reflect that at Amazon { http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VW3BCA6/ }.  I ordered copies of the book (paperback) and have been selling them locally.  I now have ONE copy left to sell.  Yes, a order is going in this week for another shipment.  I requested that when people finished the book, they go online at Amazon and do a review.  Found out, they can't unless they've purchased something online from Amazon.  Hmm?  Sort of tricky, Amazon.  You don't demand they necessarily buy the book to review, they can buy a waffle iron and then comment on my book — or anyone else's book, no problem.  Doesn't make sense OTHER than Amazon wants to sell something.  I'm scheduling some book signings and trying to hit some "art" events where other book sales will occur.  This could be an interesting summer with a lot of travel.  So far, the reviews from those who I've seen since selling them a copy have been unbelievable.  They're loving the book.  One of my church members told she started the book and has barely been able to put it down and hopes to finish it this week. Guess I should mention, I'm working on another soon-to-be released book.

Moving onto travel.  Working now on the RV getting it ready for camping.  Winter storage is so weird.  I park it next to the house and my son comes over during the winter to shove the excess driveway snow in front of the RV.  My wife does a complete cleaning in the Fall in preparation of "storage" and then, come Spring, she has to go out and do a complete cleaning for us to use it.  One wouldn't think it got that dirty, but it does.  Who knew?  We're considering some changes of the inside and we were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted.  My wife isn't too keen on the light oak everything everywhere and we're tired of the dirty mint green carpeting.  We plan to lay new flooring — the laminate kind and it looks like it will be a dark walnut or mahogany/cherry hue.   Again, the oak seemed to be the stumbling block until I found an article about this couple who painted their interior.  DOH!  My wife is excited to be heading to Menards or Lowes to shop for paint and accessories.  We may even put in a new kitchen counter.  We're definitely yanking the dining area and the jack-knife couch out.  We found a recliner sofa hide-a-bed to fit into the one area.  Not sure when we'll get that, but then again, not sure when any of this will be done.  But I'm excited and it gives us something to look forward to... just like the garden.

The garden is almost all planted.  I have 5 rows of sweet corn planted.  They are 6 foot long and sort of tight in the rows.  The garden is a raised bed and the dirt has been purchased - Miracle Grow + a combination of humus/manure, sand, and peat.  Really rich soil.  So the corn should do fine even if they are being squeezed.  I have beets, carrots, peas, wax beans, pole beans, carrots, radishes, 4 types of tomatoes (Beefsteak, Roma, Rutgers and Mortgage Lifter) and garlic growing in my 4X15 garden.  I told you it was intense.  ALSO, I am attempting something new this year: straw bale gardening.  Yes, bales of straw.  I bought 2 bales and have spent the last 2 weeks prepping them for growing my vine plants.  I have cukes, zukes, cantelope, watermelon and acorn squash to plant in them.  This should be an interesting experiment.  As summer progresses, the harvest will be collected and, with any luck, stored for munching on this coming winter.

Today, after church, and after going out for lunch, we picked up my wife's school chum and we went to a local nursery to buy flowers.  I wanted geraniums but they were literally down to about 20 flats of flowers — and no geraniums.  Damn!  So I got some regular pink petunias, red petunias, purple wave petunias, and some white petunias.  I've started Sweet Alyssum in the house and have 48 plants to put outside PLUS another 300 that I'll just break into segments and shove here and there.  Anyway, I will plant the purple alyssum with the purple petunias and add the white ones for accent.  I have a big pot on the front steps which will hold the pink petunias and I'll add the red ones into the center for accent.  The rest of the sweet alyssum will be planted in the raised flower beds and those extras I know will be shoved around trees and bushes to become ground cover.

As you can see, some of my goals I established at the beginning of the year are being met.  I wanted three books out this year.  I've got one done and another in the works and a third in the background, waiting.  I wanted to lose 25 pounds and am officially down 5 pounds.  I'm feeling pretty good.

Until next I ramble on...

Stunted Stigma

I wrote a couple of writing tips about sex and how to include sexual scenes in your writing.  I was asked in a personal email if I wrote any porn.

My response was from my teen-age years.  I think it was my sophomore or junior year in high school when I mentioned to my dad that I was considering a life as an author... or a writing career.  He sat me down and gave me his fatherly advice.  His words, more or less:

Being a writer is a good trade but they don't make a lot of money. Sure there are some who make a real good living at it but, for more, it usually takes writing smut and porn, to make any type of living. If you want to write, my only request is - write what you would want or allow your mother to read.

WOW!  Talk about stunting creativity.  My days of being a porn writer were crushed. So long, big bucks and wild times.

Sure I continued to dabble in writing over the next 30+ years.  My first submission to Children's Highlights was rejected.  That was my junior year in high school and the stigma lasted for well over 30 years.  I never really submitted anything again.  Okay, I did submit a poem/story - after a lot of persuasion from friends - to a local rag in Washington, DC.  It was accepted and I saw my name in print - or rather my nom de plume.  I couldn't even bring myself to use my real name.  It was a stupid poetic story about a boy who gets pigeon crap on his head and considers himself special until the his mother forces him to wash his hair.

Anyway, would I write porn or smut?  No.  Could I?  Sure.  Would it be good?  Let's get real here. Like 98% of all porn flicks - is there really any plot or acting?  Sure, the story would be good, but then again, the story might be more plot driven than sex driven.  Would it really be porn anymore?

Why am I even considering this?  I am not about to branch out into the erotica market.  In fact, I can honestly claim that I haven't really read any hot-n-heavy erotica since my Navy days.  And I read the classy stuff - Sexus, Nexus and Plexus by Henry Miller - all banned and, of course, a few of the more colorful books the other guys had brought into the barracks and/or on-board the ship.

No, I'm still creeping along under that stigma - Can my mother read this? And will I be proud of it? So I don't write in that genre.

Until my mother's death, she had read almost everything I had written, especially the last few books which she thought to be extremely weird.  She never understood  my love of science fiction, fantasy or horror.  I do believe she would have really enjoyed my latest release: The Secret Voice. It is an Amish Christian novel.  In fact, I think she would have enjoyed Pangaea, Eden Lost - a clumsy Indiana Jones type adventure.

Well, so much for writing porn and smut.  Not my genre and I believe it will survive without me.

A little other updates.  The garden.  My tomatoes are looking great and with luck, I should be placing them into the garden in the next few days.  My peas are breaking ground finally.  Not sure why it took them almost 3 weeks to come up, but they are showing now.  I have been "conditioning" the two bales of straw and another few days and they will be ready.  So, in preparation of that, I hope to start the vine plants (cukes, zukes, melons) tomorrow in peat pots.  Also plan to put out the corn, carrots, beets, beans and whatever other seeds my wife bought that she thinks we want to grow.  My square foot gardening really pushes the limits.

We won't be going anywhere with the RV this week but will be prepping it for the following week. We plan to go out for a four day stay at the state park and make sure it can handle the rigors of a trip, just in case we decide we want to travel.  Actually, I think we'll spend more time day-dreaming about the renovations we want to do - a complete revamp of the inside.

With the weekend being Mother's Day, we had all of the four boys show up to honor my wife, their mom.  Four boys, four wives, 10 grandchildren and a couple of hopefully soon-to-be members.  Plus my one granddaughter graduated, getting her Phlebotomy degree.  A very active weekend.

Until next I ramble on...

Spring Is Here...

This week has been an interesting with many different events, some intriguing, some fun.

I started the week with a visit to my cardiologist for a fancy Cardiolite Stress Test.  Most of the stress was in the preparation and being told by others who had had the test, what I should expect.  The doctor was not going to allow me to walk on the treadmill - it would be the chemical test. I remember my mother stating that when she had it done, she was short of breath, got terrible headaches and for the most part, thought she was going to die.  My sister-in-law stated it gave her heart a weird feeling and she got a little light-headed.  A couple of other people detailed their horror stories.  To be honest, I was pretty worked up.

I went in, got injected, went back out to the waiting room for 45 minutes.  Came in, got on the table and had about 15 minutes of pictures taken.  Rather dull. Then I was taken over to the other lab and injected.  Now I had to wait about an hour.

An hour later, back in, an injection and I'm sitting there on the gurney, waiting.  I figure at some point this is all going to start and I'll have to lie down.  Nada.  Finally I ask if I'm supposed to lie down. "Are you light-headed?"  "No."  "Do you want to lie down?"  "No. I just figured when you start this thing I will have to be on my back."  Silence.  "Uh, Mr. Nailor, you're over half-way done. In fact, you just finished 4 minutes of the 6 minutes stress test."

HUH?

They had my heart racing and I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.  No dizziness.  No flutters.  No headaches.  I mean, the most excitement at that time was me getting up onto the gurney.  Ten minutes later I'm back in the photo area being re-photographed.  Fifteen minutes later - I'm headed out.  Done.

It took two days for the doctor to get back to me with the results.  I had negative results.  That had me shaken until it was explained, that was good.  Nothing showed up.  My heart was working perfectly.

What did that mean?  Simple.  I'm out of shape - REAL BAD.  Contrary to popular belief, I guess having a thought, any thought, is NOT exercise.  I need to build up my strength and stamina.  I've vegetated too much during the winter and allowed others to do for me when I should be doing it for myself.  Yes, I need to lose that weight.  So far, I haven't.

So, later that day I had to drive my wife back up to my #4 son's place since they put his wife back in the hospital.  Yes, the one who had the twins.  During her weekly checkup it was decided her blood pressure was too high and her liver enzymes were elevated.  So,mama's in the hospital, the twins are at the house and daddy has to go to work.  Yup.  Grandma to the rescue and grandpa is alone with the dog.

On the bright side, it has allowed me to get my butt outside and do some work.  I worked on the garden and have my peas planted.  I re-transplanted my tomato plants into bigger 5" pots.  They were in 3" one.  I could have probably moved them to the garden but the thought of trying to cover them if we get a late frost just seemed like so much work.  I now have moved my mini-greenhouse to the side deck and the plants are doing well outside.  I've opened the ventilation and they are hardening off.

Today (Sunday) I bought two bales of straw to start rotting so I can grow veggies in them this year.  Trying new stuff constantly.  My raised garden will have corn this year - a very small area of about 4ft X 6ft, about 50-60 plants.  Yes, intense gardening and I have super great soil.  The bales will have my vining crops - cukes, zukes and cantelopes.  Can't wait to plant the rest of the garden - pole beans, carrots, beets and of course, the tomatoes.  Did I mention that my garlic from last year which I thought had died, came up and I've now got about 20 plants growing?  Well, I do.

My novel, "The Secret Voice" is doing well and I got a great 5-star review on Amazon.  Hoping to get more as time passes.  Now working on next book - Another 52 Weeks of Writing Tips.  Yes, on the heels of last year's super-seller, I'm putting out another one.  This will be my second book to be published this year.  I'm hoping to have it finalized either later this month or definitely by next month.

The RV has languished beside the house with my wife being up north helping to care for the twins.  But that should all be a thing of the past as we prep for weekday camping expeditions and get away to the local state park during the week.  Imagine!  For $50, we can camp for four days and be away from the hubbub of country living.  I know it doesn't make sense, but it reality, it does.  It feels good to be camping, away from the house and everything.  No TV, no house phone, no internet (OMG!) - just relaxing, watching the lake, enjoying the campfire and well, for me, writing which I find relaxing.

Summer is coming... need to take grandkids camping. LOL.

Until next I ramble on...

Life Update

A friend sent me an email asking how my resolutions have been coming along since we are now about 25% of the way through the year.

Let's start with the worst case.  Weight loss.  I was thrilled when I found my weight down to 252 lbs and decided to push forward with an aggressive attack to really melt those pounds off.  Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way and I wasn't tracking my intake as well as I should have. Lent started and around here that means fish fries.  Yup, the deep-fried fish - all you can eat - type dinners with all the trimmings which include scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, and of course, battered deep fried fish.  Oh, and of course, diet pop to wash it all down.

A couple from church told us about a buffet in a nearby town that included seafood. Yes, we had to check it out.  It was a night of protein gorging.  I had fabulous crab legs which I dipped in hot melted butter, frog legs, deep fried shrimp, boil shrimp, huge crab cakes, battered deep fried fish, broiled fish, and steak.  Again, it was all-you-can-eat and I made sure I ate a lot.  I skipped over the mashed potatoes, French fries, baked potato, buttered corn, mixed veggies and the salad bar.  Fortunately, it was only one night seafood gorging.

My youngest son's wife is expecting twins and we've needed to travel up to Michigan which threw us off our regular eating habits in favor of fast food or carryout.  In fact, we are down to the wire on delivery and my wife is staying with them in Michigan and I'm bouncing back and forth to take care of the dog and keep the rest of house under control.  It is Spring and the critters are coming out.

So, what was has the verdict been on my weight?  How many pounds have I lost?  ZILCH!  I gained.

That's right, I've gained over 10 lbs and am now attempting to place that spiral on hold and get the weight going the other way.  Another friend suggested I do portion control, eat more fruit and veggies and lay off the fast food and fried foods. I can try but when you're on the road, traveling, fast food seems to be the way of the road. One doesn't normally stop at a restaurant when making a dashing trip. I guess I can cut up some celery for the road.

Moving on, publishing books.  I have been a little side-tracked with clients and doing some editing. Still, I now have less than 10 pages of final edits to go and my next book will be done and ready for publishing.  Yes, that's right. With a little luck if I can get the cover completed in another week, I should have my novel - The Secret Voice - ready for publication.  Two weeks top.  So that means one book of three done.

Now, looking at my goals and where I stand, I figure 3 books equals 1 every 4 months.  I'm on target with my publishing goal.  My hope to lose 25 pounds would be about 2 pounds each month for for 3 months, I should be down 6 pounds.  Hmm?  I'm up 12.  So I'm behind about 18 pounds. Not good.

In my favor, Summer is coming and I'll be outside more.  My wife has a goal of camping every week for 3 to 4 day from May through October IF the week will be good weather.  I jokingly asked her if it was forecast to rain, we wouldn't go camping.  Her reply: We on Monday morning and come back on Friday morning - 4 nights. IF one of those days/nights could rain - we can enjoy it.

That means, if the weatherman says we got at least 2 days of foul weather in the week, we will stay home that week.  Actually, I'm sort of looking forward to it.  We usually stay at the nearby state park and during the week, it isn't all that crowded.  Come Friday, the campers come wheeling in and it becomes a veritable madhouse.  I prefer the quiet weekdays.

I've got most of my garden planned for 2015 and already have the tomato seeds started finally. Right now I have 4 seeds of each: Beefsteak, Rutgers, Roma, and Mortgage Lifter.  Will I plant all 16 plants when they come up.  I doubt it.  I'll give a few of them away to my kids... or I may keep them. I can honestly say the stewed tomatoes, tomato juice and - OMG! - the salsa my wife canned last year was fantastic.  The salsa - well, there is only 1 qt left and I'll probably eat it this week sometime.  I'm also considering, in addition to the raised 4x15 ft bed, will be trying bale gardening.  That's using bales of straw to plant things in. It could be interesting.  We'll see if the crocus come up over the next few weeks of where I want to put the bales.  If not, then I will do the bales.  If they do come up, then I will have to evaluate the situation.  Last year's show of crocus was pretty pathetic.

At the present time, no chickens.  Waiting for the twins to be born. Maybe later or next year.

Until next I ramble on...

Plans Awry!

Remember when I made my resolutions back at the beginning of the year?

CRAP! Things just don't seem to be going the way I want.

A refresher for the new people.  I wanted to publish 3 books this year.  I wanted to lose 25 pounds.

First things, first.  I've gained weight, not lost weight.  The scale is going the wrong way.  It doesn't make sense.  I've been trying to work out on the treadmill and some times on the stationary bike.  Okay, somewhat in my defense, this past week things got out of hand and I wasn't home for almost 8 days and therefore couldn't work out, but still...  One would think if I were to gain a little weight, it would be nominal.  I'm pushing TEN pounds.

I'll be so glad when summer gets here and I can be outside and more mobile.  Right now with all this cold weather, all I want to do is hibernate in a chair with a blanket to keep me warm.  I can see I will need to be a little more aggressive in my exercise and really put forth an effort to lose the weight.  As I see it, I now have almost 35 pounds to get rid of.  I reaffirm, I will lose the weight.

As to the publishing effort.  I intended to have my Amish book finished and ready to publish by the end of February.  The book is coming along with the final edits but is currently on the back burner since I need to do some editing for clients.  I am currently in the throes of editing for one client and have been forewarned that another project is coming in sometime after the 1st of March.  Uh, that would be now.  I also have a 3rd edit project coming but unsure of the exact date of its arrival.

Of course, getting a new laptop with a new operating system has given me a little curve to deal with since I need to figure out how to get my old stuff to work.  A slow process, for sure.  But I think I've got it all under control now.

Hopefully I will be able to get my Amish book out by the end of March, end of April for sure since I have to deal with people over in Shipshewana, Indiana and will need the hard copy by May 1st.

And, speaking of springtime events.  I've got to get my buns busy and get my tomatoes planted. I'd hoped to do it this week but that didn't happen.  I will get those seeds started this week since I want a nice sized plants to put into the garden in May.

Oh, and if things go good, I think next weekend I will be purchasing my clutch of chicks, at least 15 of them, for butchering later on.  Got to get the freezer stocked.

Today was a snow day.  We got about 5 more inches.  Yay!  What that means is simple. My son was over to plow the driveway and once again more snow has been pushed in front of the RV.  No, I don't have any plans to travel any time soon but I want the snow to melt away so I can get to the RV and get measurements so I can finalize plans for the conversion we've got planned for the coach.  I need to get the square footage of flooring, space available for the new furniture and whatever else I think I can pull off.  I found a 55-inch LED screen on sale for a great deal but my wife informed me it was TOO big - there was no way she was going to sit in front of a huge screen.  I think I might have a better chance with a 32-inch LED screen.  I really need to get inside the RV and get the measurements so I know where I can place things.

To make matters worse - I've had three ideas hit me over the head for novels and I've got the outlines written down.  If you know anything about the Muse, she doesn't like to be put off and is now shoving flaming matches under my toenails in hopes I will begin work on them.  I can't.  I have too many other sticks in the fire - including getting the fire pit out in the yard finished with an in-ground brick circle to hold back the gravel area.  Somebody suggested I build a "tree house" out near the fire pit and have a suspension bridge from the upper side-deck to it which would carry the electricity and water for the tree house.  As soon as I find the buried treasure chest with all the money necessary, it will be done.

Until next I ramble on...