All The Verdicts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the winner!!

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

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

Until next I ramble on...