Sorry 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.
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?!
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.
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 ...
Wed: 6pm to 9pm
Thu: 12pm to 9pm
Fri: 9am to 9pm
Sat: 9am to 9pm
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!)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
Overall, it was a great fair. I sold many, many books, including my latest Barry Hargove and The Case of Eternal Blood.
Now I need to get my butt in the chair and finish the sequel to The Secret Voice. It should be an easy hustle next year in Pemberville.
Until next I ramble on...
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Monday, August 20, 2018
Sunday, August 27, 2017
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.'
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.
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...
Monday, May 1, 2017
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...
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...
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Doing Nothing
We went camping a week ago and had a great time. While I was sitting there, near the awning, and in the shade of a lovely maple tree and by the firepit, I had an epiphany.
Doing nothing while sitting at a campsite and doing nothing while sitting on your front porch are two totally different forms of relaxation. Actually, one is relaxing, the other is more of 'taking a break' event.
What do I mean? The answer is simple.
When I sit on my front porch, doing nothing, relaxing (or so I think I'm relaxing) I tend to let my mind wander to different things like...
Of course, I do have a 'busy' lifestyle on my Saturdays. LOL. I have my 18 hens which are now giving us a daily total of 10 eggs. I'm expecting that number to increase over the next couple of weeks to an assured even dozen or more every day. I'm discovering, much to my wife's chagrin, my hens enjoy watermelon. They really enjoy the red fruit but most of the time they get the rinds which I cut up into small 1.5" X 3" pieces. This way, everyone gets a chunk to peck at. They still like their grass and leaves. My wife swears I'm spoiling them since they hear me come out of the house, yell "Here, chick, chick, chick" and they all come running like little raptors from Jurassic World. She can come out and call them and they ignore her. Maybe it's because I give them treats and she usually comes out to collect the eggs. Okay, we'll call her the meany. LOL.
Regarding the 'ranch' as we have it. We're thinking of downsizing. That's right, going smaller. Do we, a 'maturing' couple need a home of 1840 square feet AND a basement of the same size? I've been looking at lakeside cottages in Indiana. My wife is enamored with tiny houses - and these cottages, even though they are year round - are only about 700 square feet. BTW, I am talking by the lake, not on the other side of the road or a couple of blocks from the water. I want to have some beach area and a dock for a pontoon. I will be able to go fishing as often as I want. Yes, I know I will have to give up some of my farmer aspects like the chickens, but I can still do a little gardening. Of course, I could be just daydreaming. We'll see.
What else do I have planned? I don't know. I guess I will need to go camping and just let my mind wander as I sit by the campfire. Heaven knows I can't think on the front porch... too much to think about what to do around the house. I won't have time to think about what I want to plan.
Until next I ramble on...
Doing nothing while sitting at a campsite and doing nothing while sitting on your front porch are two totally different forms of relaxation. Actually, one is relaxing, the other is more of 'taking a break' event.
What do I mean? The answer is simple.
When I sit on my front porch, doing nothing, relaxing (or so I think I'm relaxing) I tend to let my mind wander to different things like...
- Moving the yard
- Weeding the garden
- Taking care of the chickens
- Trimming the bushes
- Running the weed-whacker
- Cleaning the shed
- and the list continues...
When I sit in my chair at the campsite, doing nothing, relaxing, I tend to do... well, nothing. I relax. I enjoy the breeze and the heady scents of other campfires, listing to the birds, watching and talking to other campers as they walk the campground, passing by my RV. I let the mottled sunlight caress my face, I might snooze, daydream about a writing project or just let my mind wander.
Did you notice the difference? I'm retired, I basically run my life like 6 Saturdays, 1 Sunday.
BUT, it was a shock to realize that when I'm camping, I actually do relax more than I do at home when I attempt to do nothing.
Of course, I do have a 'busy' lifestyle on my Saturdays. LOL. I have my 18 hens which are now giving us a daily total of 10 eggs. I'm expecting that number to increase over the next couple of weeks to an assured even dozen or more every day. I'm discovering, much to my wife's chagrin, my hens enjoy watermelon. They really enjoy the red fruit but most of the time they get the rinds which I cut up into small 1.5" X 3" pieces. This way, everyone gets a chunk to peck at. They still like their grass and leaves. My wife swears I'm spoiling them since they hear me come out of the house, yell "Here, chick, chick, chick" and they all come running like little raptors from Jurassic World. She can come out and call them and they ignore her. Maybe it's because I give them treats and she usually comes out to collect the eggs. Okay, we'll call her the meany. LOL.
Regarding the 'ranch' as we have it. We're thinking of downsizing. That's right, going smaller. Do we, a 'maturing' couple need a home of 1840 square feet AND a basement of the same size? I've been looking at lakeside cottages in Indiana. My wife is enamored with tiny houses - and these cottages, even though they are year round - are only about 700 square feet. BTW, I am talking by the lake, not on the other side of the road or a couple of blocks from the water. I want to have some beach area and a dock for a pontoon. I will be able to go fishing as often as I want. Yes, I know I will have to give up some of my farmer aspects like the chickens, but I can still do a little gardening. Of course, I could be just daydreaming. We'll see.
What else do I have planned? I don't know. I guess I will need to go camping and just let my mind wander as I sit by the campfire. Heaven knows I can't think on the front porch... too much to think about what to do around the house. I won't have time to think about what I want to plan.
Until next I ramble on...
Monday, April 11, 2016
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...
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...
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...
Monday, January 4, 2016
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...
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...
Monday, December 28, 2015
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...
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...
Monday, October 19, 2015
Camp Eats
As one adult Scout leader said to me: You're cut from a different piece of fabric when dealing with meals while camping.
That may be true. I am not your typical hot dogs, hamburgers, and PBJ sandwiches dude when fixing a meal while out camping. Sure, for a day hike, make it simple: PBJ sandwich with potato chips. It's a light load on the back and the peanut butter is a great protein pick-me-up.
BUT...
When at the camp, make a meal. In the past, I've taught several Boys Scouts how to cook some tasty meals like Faux Red Wine Roast, twice-baked potatoes, spiced carrots and for dessert, Hawaiian baked apples. And, yes, it was done out in the open, over open fires and/or coals.
Just because you're camping, doesn't mean you have to give up healthy and/or tasty meals. There is absolutely no reason to resort to hot dogs or luncheon meat sandwiches as the fare of the day. Don't think I'm a snob, either. Of course, I know boys, and they enjoy hot dogs - I just don't plan on those being the meal each time we go camping. They learned how to bake a pizza in a cardboard box, do up stir fry and sometimes, create their own meals with just some given raw ingredients.
Let me move on. That was a few years back (almost 2 decades!) when I was involved heavily into Boy Scouts. Today, I am an avid RV motorhome camper. That's right. After several years - nay, decades, of sleeping in a tent, on the ground, I advanced to a popup camper for a short length of time for a few summers and then I retired.
My first purchase was a 28 foot Allegro motorhome. It was a used beauty with 19K miles and 8 yrs old. Now, nine years later, it has over 80K. Some may not think that to be all that much, but one must realize, it is a "shared" amount of travel. My brother-in-law bought a small motorhome the year before I bought mine. We often double up. In other words, one time we will take his, the next time, mine. The four of us enjoying a trip together of 1, 2 or even 3 weeks while traveling this fantastic and beautiful US of A. We've been to almost all the states in the last 9 years except the New England states above NY and the 3 extreme NW states - Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Oh, and Hawaii. By the way, he has almost 80K miles on his camper, too.
Last week my wife and I went to a local state park and just enjoyed the cool autumn weather, changing colors and the less hectic campground of summer's youth. Of course, we still have our certain lifestyle commitments. My wife had her church ladies' Wednesday afternoon card session. Since we were only 11 miles from home - but it seemed much further - she headed back into town for the social event.
I took that day to be my own special time and did some editing and writing.
My mind wandered. It was 1pm. I pulled out a bag of shrimp and a package of bacon from the freezer to start thawing. Supper was brewing in my mind. I grabbed a couple of spuds and peeled them. A quick dice into cottage fries and they were ready to go into oil for the first crisping. I decided to try a new technique I'd read about - pre-frying, allow to cool, then re-fry them for a crispy outside. Here's what they looked like after the first oil dip.
It is now 4pm. The potatoes are cooling. The shrimp and bacon have defrosted. I cut the bacon in half and wrapped up some shrimp. I was a little ticked since I didn't have any ranch dressing to coat the shrimp or even some bleu cheese to stuff them before wrapping them up. They were generic shrimp with bacon. Oh well, here's what they looked like. Remember, it is a small oven so I couldn't do all the shrimp. It was a 1 pound package of about 30 shrimp - 16 got wrapped.
That may be true. I am not your typical hot dogs, hamburgers, and PBJ sandwiches dude when fixing a meal while out camping. Sure, for a day hike, make it simple: PBJ sandwich with potato chips. It's a light load on the back and the peanut butter is a great protein pick-me-up.
BUT...
When at the camp, make a meal. In the past, I've taught several Boys Scouts how to cook some tasty meals like Faux Red Wine Roast, twice-baked potatoes, spiced carrots and for dessert, Hawaiian baked apples. And, yes, it was done out in the open, over open fires and/or coals.
Just because you're camping, doesn't mean you have to give up healthy and/or tasty meals. There is absolutely no reason to resort to hot dogs or luncheon meat sandwiches as the fare of the day. Don't think I'm a snob, either. Of course, I know boys, and they enjoy hot dogs - I just don't plan on those being the meal each time we go camping. They learned how to bake a pizza in a cardboard box, do up stir fry and sometimes, create their own meals with just some given raw ingredients.
Let me move on. That was a few years back (almost 2 decades!) when I was involved heavily into Boy Scouts. Today, I am an avid RV motorhome camper. That's right. After several years - nay, decades, of sleeping in a tent, on the ground, I advanced to a popup camper for a short length of time for a few summers and then I retired.
My first purchase was a 28 foot Allegro motorhome. It was a used beauty with 19K miles and 8 yrs old. Now, nine years later, it has over 80K. Some may not think that to be all that much, but one must realize, it is a "shared" amount of travel. My brother-in-law bought a small motorhome the year before I bought mine. We often double up. In other words, one time we will take his, the next time, mine. The four of us enjoying a trip together of 1, 2 or even 3 weeks while traveling this fantastic and beautiful US of A. We've been to almost all the states in the last 9 years except the New England states above NY and the 3 extreme NW states - Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Oh, and Hawaii. By the way, he has almost 80K miles on his camper, too.
Last week my wife and I went to a local state park and just enjoyed the cool autumn weather, changing colors and the less hectic campground of summer's youth. Of course, we still have our certain lifestyle commitments. My wife had her church ladies' Wednesday afternoon card session. Since we were only 11 miles from home - but it seemed much further - she headed back into town for the social event.
I took that day to be my own special time and did some editing and writing.
My mind wandered. It was 1pm. I pulled out a bag of shrimp and a package of bacon from the freezer to start thawing. Supper was brewing in my mind. I grabbed a couple of spuds and peeled them. A quick dice into cottage fries and they were ready to go into oil for the first crisping. I decided to try a new technique I'd read about - pre-frying, allow to cool, then re-fry them for a crispy outside. Here's what they looked like after the first oil dip.
That meant, I had some shrimp left over. I knew my wife enjoyed when I'd do up my Easy Lemon Shrimp - so, I decided to make some of it. I thought my wife had a lot more pots and pans in the RV than I was finding. I assumed she had taken them in to clean and just forgot to bring them back out. So I had to improvise. Normally this is done in a skillet, I had to microwave them. I should have put the butter on the top to allow it to melt down over the shrimp, but, well, we learn as we go when one decides to cook by the seat-of-his-pants.
Did I mention I discovered some sweet corn? Yup! We'd found a little roadside stand and bought a half dozen. We had company coming to visit for supper the next night, so I knew I could sneak 2 ears away for this meal.
We had estimated my wife's return to be around 6-6:15pm. I had everything on the stove or in the oven with a finish time of 6:15. My wife pulled into the parking spot at 5:40pm. Definitely ahead of schedule but I didn't get flustered. I had cleaned the RV, taken out the trash, lighted a couple of candles and had a meal cooking that wafted on the air to tease and torment nearby campers. At 6:15pm, we sat at the table and enjoyed the meal with a couple of slices of buttered "everything" Italian bread. For those who don't know what "everything" bread is: think everything bagel topping but on bread. That's right: garlic, onion, poppy seed, sesame seed, cracked pepper, coarse salt. Mmm.
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| Cottage fries to left, bacon wrapped shrimp at top, lemon shrimp bottom right. |
Need I say this meal was... YUM!!
Of course, my wife loves me and she would have been thrilled with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Why? Because she didn't have to make the meal. Still, she loves her seafood and thoroughly enjoyed this meal.
By the way - clean up was very simple. The oven pan was covered with aluminum - trashed the aluminum foil. The lemon shrimp was done in one dish in the microwave. The corn was boiled in a pan. The fries were done in a small skillet with ONE cup of oil. The dishes were paper plates. So I had a few utensils and a couple of pans. 10 minutes, the kitchen was clean.
Oh, and the following night we made an old Boy Scout favorite - foil packs. Yup! That's a hamburger smothered with sliced potatoes and your choice of vegetables and condiments. Me? I had sliced carrots, celery, onion, soy sauce, mushrooms, Worcestershire sauce, green peppers, salt and pepper with some pats of butter. It is all wrapped up in aluminum foil and baked on coals in the fire. We started in the fire since I'd spent most of the day creating a great bed of coals but the rain forced us to finish in the oven. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'd saved some grease from the bacon I'd had for breakfast and put some of it on my raw hamburger to "flavor" it. My foil pack was absolute heaven.
Our company had never had foil packs and enjoyed the fun of creating them and even more fun opening and eating them.
Camping can be about hot dogs but with a little flair, it can be a lot more fun.
Until next I ramble on...
Monday, September 14, 2015
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...
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...
Monday, September 7, 2015
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...
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...
Monday, August 24, 2015
Camping Lights
Today, camping is something completely and totally unrelated to those tent days.
Over the years I've camped "under the stars" using just a sleeping bag made up folded blankets until I could afford to buy one. I've camped in those old Army canvas tents. Even the newer nylon ones.
As I matured (aka got old) I found that the ground didn't give as much as it used to when I was young. In fact, it don't give at all.
In come the popup campers. Shortly after getting married, we got a popup camper. My wife was insistent it had to have "solid" walls on the sides. Don't ask me why!! We bought a Palomino and it was great with an inside stove, frig and two slide-out beds and a large amount of storage. She loved the fold-up cupboards. And, yes, it had snap walls that created the illusion of solid walls.
But this was supposed to be about lights. I'm getting there.
It was about this time in history, mid/late 70s that I noticed campers were getting a tad more sophisticated. Electricity seemed to be more readily available.
Lighting up the campsite, at first, was using the Coleman lantern which, after you pumped it up and got the filament ignited - cast light at least 20 feet away. In the Boy Scouts, about 4 of them and you had the area well lighted.
We finally moved away from the popup camper and got us a driving unit. Yes, the RV, the Land Yacht, as my one friend called it. A simple RV - 28 ft long, sleeps 8 somewhat comfortably dependent upon size. Everyone loves it since tooling down the highway, it is so easy for a person to amble back to the restroom and doesn't have to bother the driver to stop at the next available gas station. Of course, most of the passengers get very upset if I decide to get up to use the rest room. For me, it is still about finding a place to pull over and stop. Of course, it doesn't have to be a gas station.
Again, about the lights. Well, my RV has a 16 foot awning. It needed lights! My first lights to buy were simple. Plain lights, 10 of them. Wow! So impressive. Next time out, I found a string of cool stars in red, white and blue. Definitely, that was an upgrade. Still, I wasn't satisfied. I discovered a string of pink flamingoes - 10 of them. Unfortunately, even though I was excited, my wife and our camping buddies, well, they weren't as excited about them. So, I finally settled on a string of bamboo lanterns.
Sure, they looked good. In fact, all of them looked good but... well, I wasn't satisfied.
I discovered LEDs. In fact, I found a string - 16.4 feet long - consisting of 300 LEDs and the great thing was ... they could be almost any color I wanted them to be. They flashed. They faded. They were fantastic!! I was in Heaven. Oh, did I mention there is a remote control so I can change the colors on the fly and decide if they will flash or fade in their rotation. Here's some images. Yes, I know it is daylight. In the dark, they really stand out.
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| Let's make the lights red - my wife don't like this color... (I think she associates it with some district. LOL) |
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| This is with the lights on blue... |
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| And now they're green... |
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| Press a button - orange... |
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| Here is what purple looks like... |
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| And here they are - turquoise... |
Yes, my lights were noticed by other campers - mostly kids who thought the rotating colors were cool. One young lad brought his dad back to show him and they asked where I got them. I wasn't going to keep it a secret. I bought them on Amazon and the price was very good. How do I know? Another camper talked with me and she was very upset with her husband because he got his lights at a certain camper store and paid over $200 for them last year. Uh, I paid about $27 for mine. What is really nice is the fact they are LEDs and don't use too much electricity and don't get hot.
This Halloween, the campground we go to on a regular basis will be having their bash. It is worth the trip just to see how the campsites are decorated. I can only imagine the meters will be spinning so fast, you'll never see the marker on it. They (the campers) decorate the trees, put out those blow-up Halloween decorations and it is just unbelievable. We were leaving on Friday morning and some of the people had come in on Thursday and started decorating. I couldn't believe it. Ghosts, goblins, witches, haunted this and that - I was going to be quite the show. They even have a contest for the best decorated campsite. THEN, the kids go Trick-or-Treating. Imagine, 200 campsites and probably most of them are participating. We wanted to join in the festivities this year but the two weekends are already booked full... over 2 months away!! Next year, for sure!!
This Halloween, the campground we go to on a regular basis will be having their bash. It is worth the trip just to see how the campsites are decorated. I can only imagine the meters will be spinning so fast, you'll never see the marker on it. They (the campers) decorate the trees, put out those blow-up Halloween decorations and it is just unbelievable. We were leaving on Friday morning and some of the people had come in on Thursday and started decorating. I couldn't believe it. Ghosts, goblins, witches, haunted this and that - I was going to be quite the show. They even have a contest for the best decorated campsite. THEN, the kids go Trick-or-Treating. Imagine, 200 campsites and probably most of them are participating. We wanted to join in the festivities this year but the two weekends are already booked full... over 2 months away!! Next year, for sure!!
I've been moving all my outdoor lights at the house to LED. Here's my simple glass ball globe that I have outside. I change the color of it with the holidays. At Halloween, I put orange string of LEDs in it. At Christmas, a multi-color LED string of lights. Valentine gets red and of course, St Patrick's Day gets green. This is what the Christmas globe looks like.
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| The colors are muted due to camera, but in real life, there are points of different colors. |
Yes, I love to play with lights. I got some ideas of other things to do - it just takes time to get all the kinks worked out.
Until next I ramble on...
Monday, August 17, 2015
A Needed Vacation
Retirement! One doesn't realize just how exhausting being retired can be! Think about it —
Sure, I don't have to go to work every day, but still, I must decide what I am going to do to fill my day and make it an exciting event. Trust me, waking up in the morning is great (that means I'm still breathing!) but there is more to retirement than just sitting on the front porch, rocking.
The garden needs tending, the flower beds seem to sprout more weeds than posies and well, if I don't go get the mail at the end of the lane each day, who is going to do that? Plus, the lawn needs mowed, the dog wants to go out and there are those constant doctor appointments one must make and attend. In a hindsight thought, going to the doctor can be a good thing since it proves you're still kicking.
But, it is the little things that make retirement worth the wait. Imagine the excitement of a broken/leaking waterline? Or the phone ringing? Who could it be? Remember, with retirement comes a very dubious honor: pallbearer or mourner.
If your name didn't make the "obit" column, there's a great chance today is going to be a fun one!
Hold on a minute.
Remember? You work 50 weeks a year … okay, take away another 2 weeks for sick time, another 2 weeks for holidays and extraneous non-work days — I could continue but that isn't what this blog entry is about. Out of each year, at least 2 weeks — that TWO weeks, could be more since I was up to 5 weeks when I retired — that is dedicated to that family favorite: VACATION or HOLIDAY for my non-US readers.
Yes, when I worked, I took vacation. It was a my get-away moment; that time when I grabbed the family and escaped to some idyllic locale and vegetated.
BUT, YOU'RE RETIRED. IT'S A FULL-TIME VACATION!!
You're wrong. Strangely enough, being retired can appear and seem like an eternal vacation. My joke is 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday. If it wasn't for Sunday and going to church, I'd lose complete count of time.
Just like a person who works full-time, a retiree needs a break from … well, being retired.
I did just that. I just got home from a week in the wilds of mid-Michigan's southern section. I realize that sounds a little silly but let me explain. My wife's sister and her husband have a small place on a private lake. It is down in a valley. To get a better idea of ownership, think of a pie with the lake being in the center. Each slice of pie gets a portion of lake and then anywhere from a minimum of 10 acres to over 25 acres. They have about 250 feet of shoreline. Being a private lake and "ruled" by the owners, there are no motorboats allowed. Electric motors only. The water is pristine clear. The wildlife is amazing: loons, eagles, beavers, deer, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks, of course. Would you believe bear? Yup! Got them, too. I saw the tracks of one AND the night camera picture, catching one in a berry patch.
A perfect place to sit under the shade of an oak tree and look out on the lake, listening to the wind whisper through the leaves and nearby pines. What could be better? Being on the lake, fishing. I had two of my granddaughters along and we spent many hours on the pontoon, fishing. Caught some nice bluegills and a couple of bass. The girls are hooked on fishing. They enjoyed catching small bluegills in the ponds at home but to catch the monsters we pulled from the depths — WOW! Our first day fishing was astounding! We caught enough for a great fish fry and the next couple of days brought in enough for us to bring some frozen fillets home. As you can see, the fish were nice sized.
No Internet and we barely had cell phone service. My sister-in-law has a land phone and finally took the plunge for DISH TV since they live up there 6 months of the year. Meals were simple. Okay, we did have a couple of "big" meals: the fish fry and then a wonderful pork loin roast dinner.
I took my laptop along and was able to do a little editing and writing — very little. I was relaxing, getting away from the frenzied life of retirement.
I might just have to make another trip up there real soon, maybe next month.
Until next I ramble on...
Sure, I don't have to go to work every day, but still, I must decide what I am going to do to fill my day and make it an exciting event. Trust me, waking up in the morning is great (that means I'm still breathing!) but there is more to retirement than just sitting on the front porch, rocking.
The garden needs tending, the flower beds seem to sprout more weeds than posies and well, if I don't go get the mail at the end of the lane each day, who is going to do that? Plus, the lawn needs mowed, the dog wants to go out and there are those constant doctor appointments one must make and attend. In a hindsight thought, going to the doctor can be a good thing since it proves you're still kicking.
But, it is the little things that make retirement worth the wait. Imagine the excitement of a broken/leaking waterline? Or the phone ringing? Who could it be? Remember, with retirement comes a very dubious honor: pallbearer or mourner.
If your name didn't make the "obit" column, there's a great chance today is going to be a fun one!
Hold on a minute.
Remember? You work 50 weeks a year … okay, take away another 2 weeks for sick time, another 2 weeks for holidays and extraneous non-work days — I could continue but that isn't what this blog entry is about. Out of each year, at least 2 weeks — that TWO weeks, could be more since I was up to 5 weeks when I retired — that is dedicated to that family favorite: VACATION or HOLIDAY for my non-US readers.
Yes, when I worked, I took vacation. It was a my get-away moment; that time when I grabbed the family and escaped to some idyllic locale and vegetated.
BUT, YOU'RE RETIRED. IT'S A FULL-TIME VACATION!!
You're wrong. Strangely enough, being retired can appear and seem like an eternal vacation. My joke is 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday. If it wasn't for Sunday and going to church, I'd lose complete count of time.
Just like a person who works full-time, a retiree needs a break from … well, being retired.
I did just that. I just got home from a week in the wilds of mid-Michigan's southern section. I realize that sounds a little silly but let me explain. My wife's sister and her husband have a small place on a private lake. It is down in a valley. To get a better idea of ownership, think of a pie with the lake being in the center. Each slice of pie gets a portion of lake and then anywhere from a minimum of 10 acres to over 25 acres. They have about 250 feet of shoreline. Being a private lake and "ruled" by the owners, there are no motorboats allowed. Electric motors only. The water is pristine clear. The wildlife is amazing: loons, eagles, beavers, deer, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks, of course. Would you believe bear? Yup! Got them, too. I saw the tracks of one AND the night camera picture, catching one in a berry patch.
A perfect place to sit under the shade of an oak tree and look out on the lake, listening to the wind whisper through the leaves and nearby pines. What could be better? Being on the lake, fishing. I had two of my granddaughters along and we spent many hours on the pontoon, fishing. Caught some nice bluegills and a couple of bass. The girls are hooked on fishing. They enjoyed catching small bluegills in the ponds at home but to catch the monsters we pulled from the depths — WOW! Our first day fishing was astounding! We caught enough for a great fish fry and the next couple of days brought in enough for us to bring some frozen fillets home. As you can see, the fish were nice sized.
 |
| Corra with her bass |
 |
| Corra with one her many bluegills |
 |
| Hailey with her bass |
 |
| Hailey with one of her four bluegills |
 |
| A very proud ME with one of my many bluegills - no bass! Notice the size - just a little over 10 inches!! |
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| Some of the fish in the scaler - getting ready to filet. |
No Internet and we barely had cell phone service. My sister-in-law has a land phone and finally took the plunge for DISH TV since they live up there 6 months of the year. Meals were simple. Okay, we did have a couple of "big" meals: the fish fry and then a wonderful pork loin roast dinner.
I took my laptop along and was able to do a little editing and writing — very little. I was relaxing, getting away from the frenzied life of retirement.
I might just have to make another trip up there real soon, maybe next month.
Until next I ramble on...
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