Archived Messages from 8/13/01 to 8/16/01

I absolutly love korlrabi, years ago, out next door neighbor planted half her garden to it, and she had a MAJOR garden. Come harvest time, we got bags of the stuff. We always just peal it and eat it raw with a bit of salt, but I understand you can use it most any way you use cabbage.

Jerry Ericsson 8-16-2001 22:50
Hi all,
MEL,
Where he hits her is suposed to be an accident. My first draft had him really hitting her but I couldn't see letting her leave with him after that. The acid in the bathroom was a 'red herring.' When I put it there, I didn't know where it was going. The main point was that she was married to a man who had to relocate (military intelligence? not allowed to tell anyone.) often and she hated it. Once they get on the road, she remembers why she puts up with it.--- The fact that I have to explain it means it needs work. She's also stupid for having a pet.

MARY,
It was an excellent subject. Thanks a lot.

MEL, (again)
I just read your duckie story. It's great. Really loved it. The only thing I would change is the yellow feathers. It should be fuzz. Baby ducks don't have feathers. Got to watch techinalicalities. (which I probably spelled wrong.) Good old Tody had a walk through. Yaaa!!


JERRY,
The husband said she had three weeks notice but I could have given that character a couple of months notice and she still wouldn't have been ready. Almost a psychosis about packing and moving.


Rosemary--last time I promise 8-16-2001 22:22
whoops. forgot. TEEKAY, are you gonna share your letter to the editor with us? HMM? You can submit it under IMA or somebodeez. We won't tell. Hee hee

Mel 8-16-2001 21:16
JERRY: I like Rosemary's ending for your story too - hee hee! If you must be mean to him, that is! I love warped humor. <-)

MARY: Never had kohlrabi but I think I'm coming over to try some, sounds delish the way you've fixed it...mmmm...'course, garlic and butter make anything taste good, probably even mushrooms (yechh!). :-)

Mel 8-16-2001 21:14
*Yet another post from me with no writing content whatsoever*

Have any of you guys ever tried kohlrabi?

My neighbor sent a bunch of it over here a few days ago and I didn't even know what to do with it. I ended up peeling it, grating it then sauteeing it in butter with fresh garlic and a diced vidalia onion. I think I have found my new favorite vegetable.

Back later if I come up with a moving shortie.

Mary 8-16-2001 21:07
**Teekay**

JERRY: Loved your story, but I found the end confusing too. Because of Alfred the cook I began to think it was a spooky story and the ending made me wonder if he were a dead, eaten away type of ghost and that's why the recuers were pointing guns at him, coz they were freaked out, but it didn't really sound like that was the case.
And then I wondered why the rescue people were going to kill him.
I think ROSEMARY's ending is pretty cool, where after all he's been through they go and land on top of him :-D

ROSEMARY: Your story was great too. For a story that makes no sense??? It certainly made sense :-)

Got my letter to the editor published in the Sydney paper today. I used a different name coz you just never know who you might offend and who might decide to come find you and hack you to pieces.
It's the best fun. I've only just discovered it. It's sort of like the notebook, but on paper.
For someone who never read the paper it's the first thing I buy in the mornings now.


Have a great day all.

Teekay 8-16-2001 21:05
*Mel*

Shorties busting out all over... (To the tune of 'June is...') :-)

JERRY: I liked your shortie, 'though I see what Rosemary means about the ending - he's been wanting to die then a glimmer of hope at a possible rescue, but the rescue turns out to be death...come on, give the guy a break! Or maybe they're coming to get a fresh stock of the critters beneath the sand...and then leave him there...again, or something, I don't know! Something's missing anyway...but the rest of it is really an intriguing read.

ROSEMARY: I liked your shortie too, but it twisted and turned a few times - I thought she was gonna make a ghostie of herself in that closet before her husband came in! Then he hits her and a moment later sh'e still loving him - I'd swat her again, if I were the author! His job is a real curiosity hook for the reader - could you do more with that? He just comes off sounding like a mean person...is that all he is?

Okay, now that the critic jury is done with yours, here's mine to pick apart - heh heh! :-)

A BIT OF FLUFF
(again, for Rosemary, whose friends I'm borrowing for this shortie, and for my Tim, who helped me name them)

"ACK!!! Time to waddle! The whole flock's flappin' out front! WHAT are you still doin' in here, Dilly?"

Dilly hopped off her suitcase, noting with satisfaction that it was now firmly closed. She peeked at her brother from beneath her fluttering lids. "All packed."

Dally sashayed closer to his sister and scrutinized the small bag. The bag suddenly twitched sideways. "ACK!! What did you pack in there, Dilly?!!?" He flapped to the suitcase and popped it open.

Out sprang Toady! With a grunt of disgust, the big brown toad jumped beyond Dilly's grasp and disappeared into the shadows.

"Poop." Dilly prepared to reclose her suitcase.

"Oop. Wait a minute, Sis." Dally ventured a closer look into the bag. "Say! What's this?" Before Dilly could stop him, he scooped pieces of grain into his mouth.

"Hey!" Dilly whined. "That was my snack for later!"

Dally gulped. "Not any more." He peered once more into his sister's bag. "Oh no, tell me this is not what I think it is."

Dilly fluttered in front of her brother and tried to snatch the yellow feathers from his grip. "They have nostalgic value. They're all I have left of my babyhood."

"Hrmph. Oops..." A sudden gust of wind plucked the feathers from Dally and swept them into the night.

"ACK!!! DILLY!!! DALLY!!! Time to go!"

"Um, sorry, Sis."

"Well, you were right. I'm not a baby anymore. So, no prob, Bob." Dilly closed her case and waddled with it to the yard.

Dally, right behind her, cried "Hey! Your bag is empty now! Don't you want to leave it here?"

"No," Dilly yelled back to him. "I'm gonna fill it with souvenirs from our trip to town."

Dally stopped in his tracks to ponder that remark for a moment. "Hmm. Better make it croutons."


END of story. Now I'm going to duck for cover.

Mel 8-16-2001 21:02
Rosmary - that works too. Guess your are right, I should have hinted at that, you know how it goes when your writing, it seems that it should be perfectly clear to the reader, it is so vivid in my head, but I can understand where you are coming from. I did like your shorty too, but you did leave me wondering what sort of transfer he was getting with that short a notice?

Jerry Ericsson 8-16-2001 20:23
JERRY,
I didn't really get your ending. Maybe a description. If your character were worried about enemies or war, he should have mentioned it earlier( I went back and did notice it was a transport ship, but is that enough warning?) but without giving away the end. I'm not sure. Below is my feeble suggestion.


Day Five Hundere Nine: They saw my fire! As I write this last entry in my journal, a rescue barge is dropping from the sky. It's coming, it's coming. Good Lord, I've got to run. It's landing here. "Not right here guys. Not right h-----."



Rosemary--again--again 8-16-2001 20:09
Well, it's certainly been busy here. ;-}
Brace yourselves and JERRY, take aim, here is my shorty.

---------------MOVING DAY--------

Gloria's nose dribbled as she pulled the old hardback suitcase down from the top shelf in the closet. She flung it on the side of the bed and fumbled with the latches. "They can't be locked," she mumbled to herself. A fluid sniff didn't releive the runny nose problem.

"Aren't you packed yet? We've got to go. Now!" Albert's voice grated on her nerves.

She dumped the contents of three dresser drawers into the case, pulled skirts and blouses off their hangers and laid them on top of the other contents. An extra pair of loafers nestled in the corner. As she ran toward the bathroom, she could hear the van's engine start.

"Oh Lord," she moaned, wiped her eyes before picking up the contents of the medicine cabinet shelf. "I don't want to leave. How can I get him to let me stay here?" She looked at a gallon bottle of muratic acid sitting in the back of the linen closet and wondered.

The bedroom door slammed open and hit the wall. Albert looked at the open suitcase and said, "That's all your stuff. Where's mine?"

"You'd better get to it if you're in that big of a hurry." Gloria dumped the toothbrushes and other toiletries into a side pocket of the old case.

His arm swung across his chest as he reached for the closet door and caught her across the shoulder. She fell across the bed and hit her head on the bedside table. Through the pain, Gloria wondered if she just kept still and held her breath, maybe he would think she was dead and go on without her.

Albert cursed under his breath and pulled her up by her arms, scooped one arm under her legs and carried her out to the van. The side door was open and he dumped Gloria uncermoniously onto the bench seat. He stomped back into the house, closed her suitcase, then grabbed a couple of large trash bags and loaded them with everything he could reach that would fit.

Finally, everything was loaded and Gloria could feel the van moving. Suddenly, she heard whining from the back yard. "Wait! We can't leave Mutzy to starve. Let me call someone to come get him."

"You've known about this move for three weeks. I warned you we had to leave." He turned left on their street and headed for the freeway. "You refused to believe me. You always refuse to believe me." He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and threw it to her. "You know the drill. No hints, no code. You tell Sussie to go get Mutzy and hang up."

Gloria's hand shook as she dialed her next-door neighbor's number. Sussie didn't like Mutzy and would probably turn him in to the dog pound, but there wasn't anyone else.

Her mother had warned her not to marry a man who was here one day and gone the next. A man who was vague about his profession, a man who had no relatives or a past. But, nooo, she had to fall for his mischevious blue eyes with thick black eyelashes and brows. His patience with her little foibles, and she ablolutely loved to run her hands through his thick curly black hair. More important, he loved her so much, he would never leave without her.

She took a deep breath as she heard Sussie pick up the phone. "Hi Sussie." She didn't have to put extra panic in her voice. "It's Gloria. We've had an emergency and have to be gone for a while. Please take care of Mutzy for me." Before an indignant Sussie could reply, Gloria pressed the power button and closed the small phone. She leaned over the front seat and slid it into albert's top pocket.

Gloria leaned her head against her husband's shoulder and said, "It's just that I really hate it when you get transferred."-----------------END-----------------

I think I'm really getting better at stories that don't make any sense.
bye,

Rosemary again 8-16-2001 19:50
Aw, come on, what's wrong with the ending? I am open for suggestions for a new ending. Post above.

Jerry Ericsson 8-16-2001 19:26
Howdy paadners(phonetically)

JERRY,
I loved your story. Read with bated breath right up til the last paragraph.---Now,---you go back and fix the ending and I'll help donate toward the postage for you to send it off.

MEL,
Thanks for the honor. I had a feeling that joke might cause a rash of a certain type of humor.

I hear screeching outside my window. My sister must have let the geese out again. They like my front yard.

I think I'll try a shorty for tonight. Haven't really done any writing lately.
Bye,

Rosemary 8-16-2001 17:37
Here is my shorty for tonight:

Day seventeen. Thus far, I have found no other survivors from our escape pod. Fifteen of us were in the pod when it was ejected from the transport ship Titan. I can only hope and pray that they too were able to open their parachutes when we were close enough to the surface as I did. I have spent the previous sixteen days preparing a shelter, and searching for food and water. Water is no problem, as it flows in streams across the surface of this dismal moon.

Food, however, is a problem. There appear to be edible plants, and I have been eating my fill, but they are few and far between. I have seen small animals swimming in the streams; they look much like the fish I used to catch back on earth. I shall try and form some sort of net for catching them from the remnants of the parachute.

Day twenty. They are fish, and they are truly tasty. I never liked fish, used to say that I loved to catch them for others to eat, but these fish are the very best fish I have ever had. They look a lot like earth fish, except for the color of their skin, it is the strangest hue of pink, much like the salmon I used to eat from a can on Fridays.

Day fifty. I found the escape pod today. There are no other survivors, they were still strapped in their seats, maybe they didn’t know that one must escape from the pod before it impacts with the surface. I buried them in a common grave, then took some of the plastic that was intact on the pod and carved the names of those I knew, then placed it over their grave. Should anyone ever find this moon, they will know who lies beneath the surface.

There was a silver lining to my digging the grave; I discovered small animal-like creatures live just under the surface of this planet. When skinned and cooked over a low flame they proved to be quite tasty. They taste a bit like chicken (now where have I heard that before?).

Day one hundred seventy-five. I located this log near that grave, must have dropped it when I went to visit it some weeks ago. Strange how one’s mind changes with nobody to talk to. It felt good knowing there were bodies beneath the sod, almost like talking to a friend.

Day two hundred. I must attempt to write in this log more often. I think I am loosing my mind. When I woke up this morning, Alfred, the cook who was on the escape pod was seated near the fire. Well what was left of him, it seems that those little animals who live beneath the sod also find us tasty. I must have dug up the grave and brought Alfred back with me. I shall return him to his grave today, but you know just having his body present made the loneliness a bit easier to cope with.

Day three hundred ten. A starship passed near this moon last night. I tried to light a rescue fire, but by the time I had the blaze going enough to be seen from that distance, it was gone. Now I will have to spend many days’ collection dead plants to burn just in case another ship passes by. I returned to the escape pod and rummaged around the survival gear. There was a survival gun on board. I brought it back to the cave I have been using for shelter. I know that there is only one reason for me to have it, that being to end my life should this loneliness get much worse.

Day four hundred seven-teen. I have dug my own grave, being dead is so much more inviting then another day here, alone. I shall place this log next to the grave, and then take my own life.

Day four hundred eight-teen. There is a safety device on that gun; it will not allow me to use it to take my own life. I shall have to find another way.

Day five hundred. It has been so long since I have seen another human. I talk to myself now regularly, just to hear my own voice. I have searched this entire moon; there are no cliffs high enough to jump from. The foliage is not strong enough to hang myself from. All the plant-life appears to be edible, as I have tasted them all in search of a poison. I even tried laying in my self dug grave to await those little creatures who live beneath the sod, hoping against hope that they will eat me, that would end it. It appears they are frightened of me because I am warm, as when they come close to me, and detect the heat, they scurry away.

Day five hundred seven. I have tried to stop eating, but to no avail, when I awaken from my sleep, the remains of the meal I have eaten in my sleep lay beside me.

Day five hundred eight. I saw a light in the sky, probably another ship, I light my huge signal fire, but they must not have seen it.

Day five hundred nine. They saw it! As I write this last entry in my journal, a rescue barge is dropping from the sky. It has landed now the doors are opening. I see my rescuers coming toward me. Why do they have weapons? Is the war still going? Why are they pointing them at me?


Jerry 8-16-2001 15:20
#Mel#

Okay, people, you can slow down the influx of jokes now, before I split my funnybone, hee hee! DEBRA, all I can say is EWWWW, GROSSS!!!! ;-] JERRY, um, thanks, I think, for that little old lady joke (haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!) 8-] ROSEMARY wins for JOKE OF THE DAY! :-) TEEKAY, it's okay, don't rack your brain - you need it for other things, hehe.

JERRY: Lovely description of Fall activities, sigh. I'm ready!! :-)

TAYLOR: Have fun experimenting with POV! :-)

GS: YES! :-) We Geneseo students nicknamed a whole quad of dorms "Cuylerville" after that neighboring town. The dorms each had other, official names, of course, many Indian names.

EVERYONE: I found a website today that is WONDERFULLY refreshing, in case anyone else out there suffers from the blues or lack of inspiration... go to www.fulllifeonline.com
(that's three l's in a row) - check it out! :-)

Mel Full Life Online 8-16-2001 15:08
Mel,

There is a town called Cuylerville about ten miles west of Geneseo. Maybe your dorm Cuylerville was west of the Tundra.

GS

gariess 8-16-2001 13:20
I have some toliet humor too.


Two girls walk into a greasy spoon diner. There's the chef standing there with no shirt on, and a mixture of grease and crumbs in his chest hairs.

They sit at the counter and ponder if they should leave, finally they order a hamburger.

The chef takes the hamburg and slaps it onto his chest flatens it out and throws it onto the grill.

"Oh that's gross!" Screams one of the girls.

"Really," states the waitress.
"You should be here in the morning when he makes donuts." She says matter of factly

Debra 8-16-2001 11:22
Hugh?

8-16-2001 8:18
set a little task for myself...something to try and enhance creativity

which is to write several shoties from a POV of an animal, while basing the animals personality on people I know
Already asked my friends if they dont mind me doing this
The keep asking...What am I? What am I?
Most of thems jotted down, this is gonna be fun

taylor 8-16-2001 3:57
JERRY: You beat me to it. I hot footed it back here to tell that very joke, wondering all the while if I should or not. Thank you for taking the pressure off of me. hehehe

Mary 8-16-2001 2:29
**Teekay**

JERRY: Funny joke. Should I be admitting that? It was a shocker.

MEL: I've been racking my brain, but still haven't come up with a joke. I've heard heaps, but can't remember any of them.
Oh, here's one that I found funny ages ago:
I too wish to offend no one.

Nope, decided against it.
It's good to see that my brain does actually pull me up and save me from myself - sometimes.

Teekay 8-15-2001 23:53
**Teekay**

YAAAAY some more posts

MARY: Sorry about thinking your post was MEL's. Now that explains why you can get away with not doing laundry everyday. I was wondering how with 5 kids MEL wasn't doing at least 2 washes daily.

ROSEMARY: HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA. I love bathroom humour. It's toilet humour I draw the line at. And I'd never heard that one before.

JERRY: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Well your sense of humour isn't entirely gone (re: packed ducks ).
No snoring in our house last night. I think we were both so tired from the previous night that we slept like logs

Teekay 8-15-2001 23:46
Has anyone noticed that I am talking to myself here in the notebook? There are those days when it happens, today is just one of them.

Jerry 8-15-2001 23:34
For those of you who never attended the Jerry Ericsson school of spelling, cucues mean cucumbers, you know those things that look like a small zucchini, sort of like a huge dill pickle before it got pickled.

Jerry 8-15-2001 23:32
Ok, I have this joke, I hope it offends none, and brings a smile to many.

A little old lady had always wanted to join a local biker club.

One day she goes up and knocks on the door.
A big, hairy, bearded biker with tattoo's all over his arms answers.

She proclaims, "I want to join your club."

The guy was amused, but says she needs to meet certain biker
requirements in order to join.
The biker asks; "Do you have a motorcycle? "

The little old lady replies "Yep... my bike's parked over there , " and points to a flamed black Harley chopper in the driveway.

The biker asks, "Do you drink?"

The little old lady replies, "Yep, drink like a fish.
I'll drink any man in your club under the table."

The biker asks, "Do you smoke?"

The little old lady replies, "Yep...smoke like a chimney. At least 4 packs of cigarettes and three joints a day and a couple of cigars in the evening, while I'm shooting pool."

The biker is very impressed and asks, "Last question . Have you ever been picked up by the fuzz?"

The little old lady thinks for a minute and says, "Nope, but I've been swung around by my nipples a few times!"

Jerry 8-15-2001 23:29
You can sure tell summer is nearing it's end, by the lack of posting on this wonderful site. Everyone is taking this last opportunity to get out in the sun, get out in the fresh air before that wonderful white icy snow begins to fall. Before the leaves fall from their trees, before the bear finds his cave to hibernate, before we learn all over to turn INTO the skid. Ah yes, the garden goods are ripening, we are enjoying the fruits of our labor in the sod. The caucus are all sliced, and in vinegar, slowly becoming pickles. The pint jars are filled with string beans, and the tomato's are now red, and so full of juice, natures nourishment, it won't be long before our cupboards are filled with salsa, tomato juice, V8 juice and the likes. We already have several ice cream buckets filled with choke cherries, to make jelly and syrup, our plum bushes are heavy with plump plums, just turning from green to a lovely purple. The corn is as high as an elephant's eye, it's ears now almost ready to be harvested, for that wonderful sweat corn on the cob. Fall is such a wonderful time of the year, I can hardly wait.

It won't be long too before all the little kiddies will again trek off to school to learn all the things taught, but alas no teaching of the Golden Rule. Our winter coats have come out of the box and are ready for cleaning and another year of protecting us from that horrible cold that is just around the corner.

Damn - A bank robbery just north of here, now that's something new. We suffer from those maybe once every five or so years. I think it is the fact that most who try end up with a bullet of some sort somewhere in their body before they are captured. It does have a shock effect when someone thinks to try to do that horrible deed.

Jerry 8-15-2001 23:02
Yep, heard that one before too, but I laughed the first time, and laughed again this time, even though it was predictable.

What do ducks pack? Well the ones I have known pack those little squares of bread, what do you call the, mixed with some sage, oh and their giblets, makes a wonderful stuffing.

Ok so I have also lost my sense of humor.

Spent most of today our wedding anniversary hauling tree branches from our daughters back yard to the local dump, she is cleaning up years of neglect on the home she bought, that one for a thousand dollars. The old lady that rented it for the last twenty years refused to have any type of maintenance done on the place, except that she did allow the landlord to come in and keep the weeds mowed. It was once a wonderful yard, with lots of trees, lilac bushes all around, huge flower beds, a quaint garage in the rear of the yard. Now the bushes have taken over, killed most of the trees, which stand like skeletal guardians of some mystic land. She bought one of those little tree saws and went to work. What took her two hours to cut, took us that long to haul out. I think the fellow who guards the dump grounds was getting tired of waving us through. Well we only hauled for two hours, then went home and got cleaned up. At four PM the daughter dropped by with ice cream treats for our helping her clean her yard, then she and the wife took off for her house to do some other chores. At a bit after six, they called, and I met them downtown for our anniversary dinner. Now as I type, my wife and daughter are in the dining room playing cribbage. I am so tired that I fear I shall be asleep shortly, just driving that many trips to the dumps has tired me out. And to think, I used to be able to march twenty miles, then participate in war games, sleep for two hours and march twenty miles back. Those indeed were the good old days.

I still remember our third anniversary, the first we were ever able to celebrate, you see on our first anniversary, I was at Oakland Army Replacement depot on my way to Vietnam. I called the wife and wished her happy anniversary from a pay phone, had to cut it short as my plane was loading. On our second, I was stationed in Nam, had a few friends in other units, one of whom had a friend in Saigon Overseas Switchboard. He arranged it so I could call home using Official U.S. Channels, had to be collect from Oakland Overseas Operator, but I called and wished her happy anniversary from Nam. Our third found us stationed in Fort Bliss Texas. I planned on taking her out to the Heinz German Restaurant, but when we got there, there was no room, and since I had never in my life made a reservation, I learned that they are required if you wish to dine over the normal dinner hour. Well we drove around for a couple of hours, and I finally pulled into a Der' Weinersnitzle drive in restaurant and bought us each a hot dog with sour kraut. I have never, to this very day lived down that anniversary. Hey, I figured with a name like that, it had to be German right? Anyhow that was thirty years ago today, and I shall never again be so young, or so hungry. Had prime rib for supper, the potatoes were horrid, I ordered hash browns (First mistake) what I got looked like they had been sitting in a vat of lard for a week, then pulled out and slapped on the grill for a few seconds, melting the outer grease and leaving the lard in the center. They tasted even worse, despite the ketchup I smothered them with. Well I wasn't that hungry anyhow, and the prime rib was great.

Oh you were talking of snoring earlier, seems I did snore last night, the wife so politely informed me on the way home from the restaurant that she had to sleep in the spare room last night, as she simply could not get me to stop snoring. I told her she should have waken me, but she said since I was so very tired from lack of sleep these past few days, she would rather leave the bed then disturb my rest. What a gal. No wonder I fell in love with her oh so many years ago.

Jerry 8-15-2001 21:29
Thanks, Rosemary! I needed that!!! :-) Hee hee - I had heard it before too, but it was time to hear it again. As for what ducks pack, well you'll just have to tune in tomorrow for shortie-night, heh heh.

Mel 8-15-2001 20:45
Hi everybody,

MEL,
Okay, you asked for it.
I heard this joke on the radio and if I don't leave more than half of it out, it might cheer you up. :0>

Seventy year old lady enters doctor's office. It's a regular checkup and afterward she says, "I just thought I'd mention that I have been having a lot of flatulance. It doesn't bother me and there is no odor and no smell so it doesn't bother anyone else, but it happens hundreds of times a day."
The doctor says, "There's probably no problem but let me give you a prescription and you come back in two weeks and we'll see if there has been any progress."

The old lady stomps into his office two weeks later. Madder than a wet hen. "Doctor, this medicine is awful. I absouletly will not take it another day." She throws the pill bottle across the room. "It hasn't helped with the gas problem. In fact it has made it worse. It smells terrible now. I can't stand to be in an enclosed area with myself."

The doctor says, "Now, now. That was just the first step. You must keep taking those pills." He retrives the bottle and gives them back to her. "We've cured your sinus problem and now we have to work on your hearing."

TAAA DAAA

I know, it's gross, and I normally don't like bathroom humor but that one really tickled me. The DJ said it was an old joke and some of you might have heard it, but what the heck.

MEL,
I giggled for a long time about the vision of a line of ducks with small bags all packed waiting to be taken off into the great unknown. What in the world would ducks pack?
Grasshoppers? mud? spare feathers?
Bye

Rosemary 8-15-2001 20:38
Um, Teekay, that was MARY's "what no kiss?" :-) And actually, most of the NB-ers post during my late evening, i.e. your daytime, so since it's only 8 P.M. here, check back in a few hours, when the muses drag out the shears and cut free from the duct tape. :-)

meanwhile, i've lost my bushy-tailed demeanor, sigh. i think it's the blues comin' back, drat. anyone got a good joke or two?



Mel 8-15-2001 20:06
**Teekay**

Now I'm positive the notebook has come to a grinding halt. It's 9:45 AM now and only 2 posts during the night. What is going on????

MEL: I so relate to your post. Especially the "What no kiss? What if there's a car accident?"

JERRY: I have never seen a house with a basement. Not in real life anyway. I think it would be great to have one.

Well, I'm off to playgroup this morning.
I stared at the trees for long enough yesterday and a story idea came to me.
It never ceases to amaze me how once begun a story begins to expose itself.
It's sort of like seing something in the distance and the closer you move toward it, the more obvious it becomes.

Sound wierd?
Yeah, thought so.
Guess I'd better do some laundry when I get home :-)

Sure hope there's some more posts when I get back.

Teekay 8-15-2001 19:51
You know the wife used to tell me the same thing, we had a very deep basement. Now deep basements are great if you happen to be in a tornado, or if it is very hot outside, as it is cool and relatively safe if your house is taken by a tornado. The problem is that there are a whole bunch of steps going up and down, and like most homes, the washer and dryer were down there. I felt sorry for the wife having to climb all those steps, and when we found that we would be moving home, the first thing on the list of homes was a main floor laundry room. Well when the time for searching for a new house came, the wife had to stay up there and work, while I came down here, accompanied by our daughter, and began the search for homes. The one we are living in now was selected ONLY because it has the main floor laundry room. It is a nice home, and the wife was very happy to see the little laundry room, in fact she was overjoyed. Now laundry day begins with a smile. Only problem is that she uses the kitchen floor to sort cloths, now it isn't a real problem, but I do have to step over them when I go for my Saturday morning coffee.

Jerry Ericsson 8-15-2001 18:28
TEEKAY: I used to love to do laundry...I don't know what happened, but somewhere along the line I just quit doing it. Now 'laundry day' falls on whatever morning that my husband dares to speak to me before I have had my first cup of coffee and says, "Is it so much to ask for a clean towel?" My usual response goes something like this:

"How dirty could your towels possibly be? You use them after you are clean, right? Is it so much to ask for a first floor laundry room? I don't think so. There, you see hon, its all relative. If I didn't have to descend to the bowels of this house to wash undirty towels you might not have to wait so long..."

This is the point where I am usually talking to his back as he shakes his head and walks out the door to head for work. Then I say, "What? No kiss goodbye? You will be sorry if you get in a car accident and die without kissing me goodbye."

Then he comes back, kisses me and comes home later that night to clean towels which he is generally very grateful for. Soooo...TEEKAY, I think you are on to something when you say laundry can keep you sane. It is quite an outlet for displaced aggression and, at least in my house, leads to nice kisses.

Oops, grandpa is here...back later to check in.

Mary 8-15-2001 11:11
**Teekay**

MEL: Hi there. I was beginning to think the notebook had come to a grinding halt.
It's no longer 12:39PM here, it's now 10:45PM and I'm headed for bed and hopefully not another night of the snore bores.

And you could be right. I might just be totally insane thinking all the while that I'm totally sane. There may be absolutely no need for me to do the laundry at all WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE :-D

Teekay 8-15-2001 8:43
^Mel^

G'mornin' You-All! :-) Am feeling a bit brighter-eyed and bushier-tailed this a.m., 'though could have used still more sleep (I'm a glutton for soft pillows and quiet in the house!). Maybe I'll be able to accomplish some WRITING today - ooh, be still my heart. Ms. Muse, I'm preparing my lasso, ya better run...

JERRY: HAPPY W.A.!!! :-)

ROSEMARY: Yeah, I saw 20 ducks, all packing their bags, lining up for the drive into town...just a matter of time. Thought I'd say my "fare thee wells" while I was thinkin' of 'em, heh heh! :-) Um, pass me some of your excess energy, will ya? :-) Chasing my kids, hubby, the cat, AND my muse is wearing ME out, hee hee. :-)

TEEKAY: Oooh, what an intriguing thought, "laundry keeps me sane." Hmmm, umm, then either I'm saner than I thought (I have TONS of laundry) or else...your theory doesn't work! Heh heh! You'd better keep a notebook in the laundry room, just to be on the safe side. Re: snoring husbands...Tell Mrs. Thingamybob that she ain't heard nothin' yet till she's heard my hubby dive-bombing snores into my ear!!! Every time he does that, I'm sure he's gonna crash-land us both, the bed will break through the floor, and we'll end up two floors down, on top of the family pc in the basement...or maybe we'll keep a-goin' and land on YOUR doorstep - heh heh! :-) "Oh, good morning, Teekay! Are we in time for breakfast? Er, supper??" Hee hee...

It's a reflective kind of day... MARY has us all packing up for the big move... hmmmmmmmmmm.............

Write well, y'all! :-)

Mel 8-15-2001 8:37
SHORTIE NIGHT THEME: Moving...as in packing up all your crap and getting the hell out of Dodge. Good luck.

Mary 8-15-2001 1:53
**Teekay**

JERRY: Read your story. I liked it, but you really ought to have edited it first up. I agree with what HEATHER said, I did think that it might end that way, but I like the way it did, but yeah, maybe a little character build up would get us more involved.

And one other thing that sticks out in my mind is that the meathooks in the bedroom is a bit unbelievably wierd. Can you work around that somehow?

I loved: “Looks like you didn’t bring enough courage for all night.”

and: “You wanna share the wealth with that second bottle?” She asked with a chuckle.”

All in all you've inspired me and I'm going to take my trusty pen and paper outside and stare at the trees for a bit while waiting for inspiration to strike.



Teekay 8-15-2001 0:36
Hello everyone: Finally got my computer back and have my fingers crossed that I can get all my software reinstalled correctly and other elements in place. Early as I can I will archive the Notebook and get us down to an acceptable size. So, stay tuned and I will get things running correctly probably no later than tomorrow.

Jack Beslanwitch 8-15-2001 0:33
**Teekay**

ROSEMARY: Well huge thankyou's to you! When I typed in what time it was here, this distant memory from this morning of my daughter saying "Mum, pick me up at the back of the school at 12:40, okay, don't forget 12:40."

I gathered the toddler and raced to the car only to find that either a pteryodactol or a large swallow had pooed on the drivers side windscreen and had set like cement, so I had to spend a moment or two gauging it off, so all in all, thanks to you, I was only 10 minutes late.
I was still subjected to a certain amount of child abuse from irate daughter though.

Teekay 8-14-2001 23:18
**Teekay**

ROSEMARY: I haven't a clue what I accused you of either, so you can either resent it or be flattered to bits by it :-D.
Life is what you make it and it's all in the attitude and blah blah blah.

Well seing the soy drink gives you cause for a big healthy burp on completion I fully suggest that you stick with it and to hell with having to run circles about the farm to get rid of the energy.
I think the burp was a farily crucial point and should have been included in the initial post, otherwise how do you expect people to make an informed decision given only half the imformation?

The time here is 12:39 PM.
OHMIGOD gotta go and pick up my daughter!!!!!!

Teekay 8-14-2001 22:39
Me Again,
The !! was mine. I was trying to see what the time difference between here and the notebook was.

Seems 8:35 on the notebook is 7:35 here. It used to be a 2 hour difference. Probably doesn't matter, because by tomorrow I'll forget which way the difference is. The point is, the Notebook was unchanged for so long I wondered if it was broken or had my post shocked everyone into silence.

TEEKAy,
I'm not sure what you accused me of, but I think I resent it. :-P My soy shake is not nearly that healthy. I don't like banannas and forgot about bran so it was just soy power, powdered milk, ice water and strawberry syrup. A new gadget, the Thunder Stick fuzzes it all up and doubles its volume.
I have noticed a tendency to burp afterward.

Have I missed the Shorty theme?
Gone again


Rosemary 8-14-2001 22:30
**Teekay**

TAYLOR: Surfers Paradise. Sounds great. I haven't been there, but I used to live in Cairns and I just adore what I have seen of Queensland.
Have a wonderful time.

Teekay 8-14-2001 22:29
**Teekay**

Oh yeah, and still on the 'exploring snoring' subject, he has the hide to tell me that he has to put up with my snoring.
Of course I say, "I do not." Then he says, "Yes, you do." Then I say, "Do not." And he says "Do so, I'm just not mean enough to wake you up." And I say, "Rubbish, next time it bothers you I want you to wake me up." And he says "Okay then I will."

But, he hasn't woken me up yet and we have that conversation fairly regularly.

Honestly, sometimes the conversations we have would put a kindergarten class to shame.
But sometimes we have really interesting discussions like how the holocaust was similar in its atrocities as to what Judism did in the name of religion back when Christ was born.
Yes, it's these little golden nuggets we find within each other which keep our love alive
and then he has to go and snore!

Teekay 8-14-2001 22:27
**Teekay**

JERRY: Ah your poor wife. I always think it would be a good idea to record hubby snoring, but I only think to do it when his snoring wakes me up and then I never feel like getting out of bed and hunting down a tape recorder and a blank tape.
There was one point during the wee hours when I yanked the pillow out from under his head (hoping the fall may break his neck perhaps?) and he goes:
"hunh? What the....? Was that you?"
No it was a ghost DUH! No, I just thought that,what I really said was:
"yes."
And he said:
"What did you do that for? I was awake."

Yeah, right.

Teekay 8-14-2001 22:16
****TAYLOR****

teekay: Im off to surfers paradise for the week

On snoring: I have been told I don't snore, but I do have the habit of talking in my sleep...

I am far from disheartened about my story, I sent it off and it did not get accepted...It did come back in the reply paid envelope I sent them so they must have seen it...cover sheet gone...But as I said, that story is not sitting on the shelf and wandering whether to send it off again

This thing is funny though: I am actually looking forward to my first rejection slip in a way

taylor 8-14-2001 22:15
Teekay - Snoring - my father could wake neighbors for miles around, and always denied that he snored. When I came home from Nam, I brought one of those new fangled cassette recorders, the portable kind and one night after dad had passed out on his bed, I put it in his room and recorded thirty minutes of his sawing logs. We played it back to him at regular intervals, whenever he denied snoring.

Sadly, that snoring is something I happened to inherit. Now the wife has yet to resort to recording it, but I have had comments on the volume of it from neighbors several blocks away. I have considered trying that de-snore stuff they advertise on TV, but I doubt it would do any good. Besides it does give the wife and kids something to talk about after I am gone. To this very day, when the family gets together at moms, the subject of dad's snoring comes up, and mom, without hesitation, brings forth that tape, and we all sit in awe listening to that familiar snore. You see, Dad passed away in 1972, but through that tape, he lives on. So snoring is not all bad, now is it?

My wife has a handle on my snoring though, at least she did have until recently when she quit working, there was always that, hon you have to quit snoring, I have to work in the morning! Now, it is just a poke in the ribs, followed by a gruff quit snoring. There are, however those rare days when my wife cuts loose with some of that female snoring, you know the kind, those just audible snores that ever so gently keep you awake. Now it doesn't bother me a bit to poke her in the ribs and tell her she is snoring. The only problem is, she denies it. "I wasn't snoring, I was awake when you poked me!" I wonder what I did with that old tape recorder?

Heather WHAT DO YOU MEAN PREDICTABLE! Just kidding, aren't most ghost stories predictable? I know it needs some work, like I said, this is just the first draft that I threw together the other night while watching television, and visiting with my wife and daughter. Yep, and I can rub my head and pat my belly at the same time too.

Jerry 8-14-2001 21:35
**Teekay**

TAYLOR: Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot that they didn't enclose a rejection slip. Sounds a bit strange.
But it's probably one of the things ROSEMARY said, not a lot else it could be.

Blame my husbands snoring on my halfwittedness.

Teekay 8-14-2001 21:13
**Teekay**

Hi All;

TAYLOR: Ah, the dreaded rejection slip. Embrace it, it is validation that you are indeed a writer.
A holiday sounds great. Where are you headed for in Queensland?

MEL: The laundry in my attic is 'real life', take out the laundry and I'd be this glassy eyed dreamer who wanders about aimlessly trying to remember where she last left her notebook. I guess it's the laundry that keeps me sane.

JERRY: I sympathise. I too was awake at 5AM listening to my husband snoring fit to burst. While regularly turning his head into different positions I devised this cute little story it went something like this:

JUDGE: "Mrs. Thingamybob, you stand before this court today charged with the most heinous of crimes. The acts wrought upon your husband are such as have never before been dealt with in this enlightened day and age. How do you plead?"

MRS THINGAMYBOB: " But your honour, the man was snoring and he wouldn't stop and there was nothing I could do to make him stop, and I just couldn't take it any more."

JUDGE: "Snoring you say?" And this is where she gets up and belts her gavel on her table and yells, "Why is my time being wasted like this? What is this woman doing in my courtroom? Case dismissed!"

Well, it was sort of cute at 5AM.

I haven't read your shorty yet, but I will a bit later.

ROSEMARY: I think I'd give up the shakes. I went through this healthy phase, I go through them fairly regularly, probably about twice a year, and I was drinking soy milk with bran mash and a banana. It was so totally foul that I had to close my eyes and hold my breaath to drink it, but there was no disguiseing the horrible slimy lumps going sown my throat. It was the shortest health fad I've ever had.

Feeling drained today, i think it's from living 2 lives instead of one for the past while. Going to have a guilt free rest and recoup my energies.

Have a great day all.
Or a good sleep, whichever you need or desire.

Teekay 8-14-2001 21:08
!!

8-14-2001 20:35
Greetings all,
I've been getting around so well lately, I decided to stay home today and get some rest just in case I might need it.

MEL,
On Randall's typo, I thought the original 'our poor wifey' was more interesting---.

Sounds like there should be a warning on dill pickle jars. "Do not sip juice at night. Hazardous to your family's sleep." (Crazy computer listed hazardous waste, but not hazardous. Strange.)
ABOUT DUCKS,
I think you didn't finish my post. I mentioned that there were about 20 ducks left. It's going to take a few more trips before we'll even be able to tell the difference.--- At the rate my backyard dog is going through the adolescent chickens, their number is going down too. It's his territory, he's just thinning out the stupider birds. I guess. Makes my sister crazy. I used to bury the dead birds next to plants and bushes for fertalizer, but between my knee and the sheer volume of dead chicks, the trash man is getting mystery garbage bags.

That proverb about smell and taste is a real insight. A trueism. Bet if we tried, we could get a real list going.

LITTER,
The castle looks and sounds great but the lack of moat Monsters is critical.

TAYLOR,
Could you tell if they read the story? Did they use your SASE? Maybe the address was wrong and it was just returned. If they read your ms. and returned it without anything enclosed; I think that is very unusual. Perhaps it was a place that does not accept un-agented ms. Good luck and keep trying anyway.
A local writer's club has a contest every December. The writer with the most rejection slips wins a $100 bill.

ALL,
I've been having soy protien shakes in the morning and the excess energy is wearing me out. Should I give up the Shakes?

Bye


Rosemary 8-14-2001 15:36
Sleepy, my god so am I! I have been dozing most of the day away, and today is the wife's birthday! She is going to skin me alive, I can tell. At lunch, she tossed me a plate with a sandwich on it. It woke me up when it hit my chest, then I heard "Since you aren't taking me out for lunch, here's your sandwich!" All I could say was "Yes dear!" Guess we are going out for supper. Right now she and our daughter took off in the daughter's van, the gift our daughter gave us for our 32nd anniversary (tomorrow) is one of those small windmill's. She put it together for us, well almost when she got to the wind part, the company seems to have put too small a bearing in it. No degree of pounding, hammering pushing could get it through that little hole. Well anyhow they are taking it back to the lumbar yard where she purchased it to see if they happen to have one that fits right.

The day started out bad and got worse. I woke up at 5:00 AM with such a pain in my back, I thought I would have to go to Hospital, but a bit of exercise and a half hour soak in a hot tub of water got me moving, sort of. Hit the pill bottle and took all I am allowed, then put my tens unit on, and sat in my recliner. That's about all I remember, until the plate hit my chest. I think the wife understands, but I can see where she is just a bit disappointed. We had planned on going camping over her birthday/anniversary, but when she checked in with her Dr. in Rapid City, he was out and will be back tomorrow, so we have to stay home and await his call to tell her what they are going to do next with her knee.

Guess it's just one of those days, must go now, as I hear the daughters van pulling up in the driveway.

Jerry 8-14-2001 15:35
Jerry - Phantasium is indeed still open for story contributions.
However, I found your recent story a little predictable and the characters lacked emotion. It fits the bill just fine, of course, but will need work to be included - I thought it was an imaginative idea, and could be rewritten and turn out fabulous! Don't worry!

Well, these last few days I've written more or less a page per day, but I have added more dimension to dialogue, etc., and edited... so the final count means I've written a page more per day than I've cut. My total word count is just under 35,000 words (a hair's breadth under!) so this is great news for me. I'm half way there!
Just that thought has me eyeing the time until I can write tonight!

May your wits be razors
and your confidence rock;
but when it comes to rejections,
let's find them soft.

Heather 8-14-2001 15:34
Oh yeah - now I remember! VIV: 'Dropsy' is what people used to call Epilepsy. Just as 'Consumption' was what people called Tuberculosis. The 'nickname' given the condition is more of a description of how it seems to affect the person rather than a name that simplified a complicated terminology. I suppose over the years since 'Dropsy' was no longer used to describe a person's seizures (since it's really not politically correct!), it has metamorphosed to mean clumsiness, or the inability to grasp objects without dropping them (of which I am afflicted rather often). Of course, the official term for this affliction is called 'Griswoldese', after the Griswolds, of the various 'Vacation' films by National Lampoon. Chevy Chase would be proud.



Heather 8-14-2001 15:26
Jerry:

Absolutely!


But getting there is where we lose our minds and everything else you mentioned.

Debra 8-14-2001 15:16
ROSEMARY: sigh. "fare Thee wells"... it's a "TYPO's RULE" kind of day...

Mel 8-14-2001 15:07
RANDALL: I DID correct that typo, I DID!!! um, "YOUR poor wifey..."

Mel 8-14-2001 15:05
--mel zzz---

yo. i'm in sleep-mode. two nights little sleep. am working while dozing even now.zzzz. saturday a.m. was COOL and refreshing but heatwave lingers in the evenings. sigh. i still wish for (don't look, Tina...oh yeah, she's away, so i can say it...) AUTUMN. :-) hubby and i celebrated 23 years together Sunday eve with dinner at a Chinese restaurant. my fortune was loaded with omen. it said: "Don't wait too long." hmmmmm.......

VIV: Sounds like my muse could use some of your borage; she needs some oomf - heh heh! Oww! Mom, she hit me-- BTW, I get dropsy a lot too. Not a pretty picture early in the a.m. when stiffness cramps the back and hips, and oops, there goes that, way down there... good thing no one else is awake yet to see me do the stiff bendover-thing...!

HEATHER: Just the way I like to see a garden, one flower after another, each in its season. :-) Your garden sounds beautiful (or it will be when enough rain hits!) BTW, I think helping each other with query letters here is a great idea - bring yours on! We'll be nice. ;-]

JERRY: My 11-year-old is asking about family heritage these days - he informs us that the American Indians originally came from Asia...um, I think I heard that somewhere too but it sure messes with the mind... I enjoyed your latest ghostie! :-)

RACHEL: My 13-year-old is also bigtime into RPG: Baldur's Gate or Diablo 2 on the net, when he's allowed, Final Fantasy on the PlayStation, when he's allowed, and the rest of the time, his Gameboy's glued to his hands. I don't complain; he does his housecleaning chores more thoroughly than all his siblings combined, and sometimes does more! :-)

RANDALL: hee hee -- our poor wifey! Hmmm, dill pickle juice... wonder if I had a sniff of that the night, years ago, I dreamt I opened my mother-in-law's fridge and there saw a teeny tiny Tarzan-man, swingin' from the bars of the shelves...and not far behind him, also swinging, a round-headed, fuzzy, green monster with bead eyes, and it chasing the little Tarzan-man! I was horrified, of course, but before I could move, they both dropped to the bottom of the fridge, into a meat grinder. I slammed the door shut. I did NOT want to see any more. End of dream. (Sounds like a dill pickle juice dream, doesn't it?!) <-]

LITTER: Ohh, I LOVE secret passages!!! Even the cramped stairwell within the walls of the House Of Seven Gables in Massachusetts where slaves used to hide.

TEEKAY: Okay, so explain what the dream-laundry is doing in your mental attic!! I do, however, know what you mean by having to scrub before you can glitter, heh heh! Hoo boy, housecleaning is NOT funny.

ROSEMARY: Ohh, fond fare tee wells to your little ducks... :-) I expect you'll have more again next Spring?? BTW, I too love the smell of coffee but can't stand the bitter taste. Or how about vanilla extract? Or baking cocoa? New proverb: Do not judge a taste by its smell (scent?).

MARY: Pymatuning? I think I camped there once, oh about 30 years ago! The name sounds extremely familiar! :-) Um, not meaning to be a nag, but is there a shorty theme this week?? My muse, you know, I have to round her up and corner her, and then there's the duct tape ceremony and well, every scream shoves inspiration a little farther from my itchy fingertips...just need some advance prep time - heh heh!

JON: My French is rusty, but I understood your post, mostly. Um, what are "faitsneants?" I'm not sure I want to resemble one of those, unless it's a good thing, of course!

TAYLOR! Hiya! :-)

HOWARD: (((HUGS))) my blood-brother. Poem-trade good medicine to heal your wound. Peace. :-]

EVERYBODY: pleasant dreams and mounds of writing-time!

Mel 8-14-2001 15:01
Debra - Haven't we all made it as writers. From what I've seen posted on these pages, it is apparent that we are all writers. Now all we have to do is convince the world what we write is worth reading, right?

Jerry 8-14-2001 14:59
Jerry:

Isn't that when we've finally made it as a writer?

Debra 8-14-2001 13:31
Jingles - We do have things to loose, our money, our status as writers, our composure, our manuscripts, our patients, our minds.

Jerry 8-14-2001 13:26
****TAYLOR****

Sorry for my absence, been so busy lately hardly had time to scratch myself, with gym, gym programs, spiritual group, writing

Unfortunately I received my short story back, it wouldnt have been so bad, but I didnt even get a rejection slip...
At least that story hasnt been sitting on the shelf wandering....received it back today...Onto next one anyway

Changed my mind going off to queensland in October....a trip before I save up for the big one...AMERICA!!
New computers going great

See everyone again soon hopefully
Write On! if you have nothing to write, write anything
Goodbye

taylor 8-14-2001 8:45
Did I hear that the deadline is approaching for our little ghost story collection? I know it is very soon.

Heather, when is it? I have one that I would like to offer, I will post the first draft, see if you think it will fit in. I think it will.

Just Hanging Around
By Jerry Ericsson

“Are you sure this one is haunted?” He asked, as he pulled the half pint of Calverts from his back pocket.

“Well that’s what they say, hell everyone in this neighborhood knows that.”

“I’m not from this neighborhood, you know.” He replied, passing the bottle to her.

She wiped the top of the bottle on her shirt sleeve, as if he had some sort of germ or something. He looked at her as if she were nuts for the precaution.

“Well how much farther is it to this haunted house anyhow, seems like we’ve been walking for hours?” He complained as she handed the slim flask-shaped bottle back.

“Just over this hill, then across Timber Creek.”

“How long’s this one been vacant?”

“Oh from what I hear been thirty years since anyone lived in the place.”

“Thirty years?”

“Yep, thirty years ago tonight, the last tenants of that house left. Seems there was a couple lived there for about a month, they had a son about seven I think. Anyhow one morning the boy woke up and found both parents hanging in the upstairs bedroom, from some sort of hooks they say.”

“Dead?”

“Hell yes dead, from what I hear, the kid is still in the looney bin.”

“Anything else?”

“You bet. This place is in the top ten of hauntings in this area.”

“Well tell, do tell.”

“This old place was built about a hundred years ago, seems this buffalo hunter, and was only home a few weeks a year. Well one year, he never came home. His wife fearing the worst, hung herself in that very same room.”

“Ok, well two hangings, that does put a bit of psychic energy.”

“Three, if you count both parents, and that lady, then there was that criminal who escaped from the Pen. He holed up in that house, and the authorities found him about three weeks later, when the smell got bad enough that folks passing by on the road began to complain.”

“Hung?”

“Yep, hung it that very same room, from that very same hooks.”

“Well I’ll be dammed. It is sounding better and better.”

They finished climbing the hill, and both were panting like an old steam engine.

“Time to take a break, and catch my breath.” He said, as he walked to a nearby rock and sat down. He took the bottle out again, and took a healthy swig, then lit up a Camel. He drew in the smoke, and let it out puffing little smoke rings into the still almost stagnant air. She found another rock, and accepted the bottle. When she finished taking her sip, the bottle was nearly empty.

“Looks like you didn’t bring enough courage for all night.”

“Got another in my jacket pocket, go ahead and finish that one off, I don’t need the extra weight.”

Done with their break, they walked down the hill, the sun had finished its trek across the sky, and dusk was upon them. In the dull glow of the full moon, the saw the creek, the last obstacle in their quest for fear. He backed off, just a yard or so, then ran and lept across the creek, which was full from the rains in the past few weeks.

“I think it narrows a bit down stream!” He shouted across the water.

“No need, I can do anything you can!” She shouted back, then ran with all her might and lept. If the bank had been just a few inches closer she would have made it, but as it was, he had to reach out and grab her, or she would have taken an early bath.

“Thanks, I didn’t realize how long your legs were.” They both laughed, then resumed their quest for adrenalin.

By the time they arrived at the old house, the full moon that had so generously provided them with light for the trip had hidden behind the massive thunder heads that rolled in. The house looked uninviting. It was even more so with each flash of lightning. The old house stood there, where once was a large porch, just perfect for sitting in a rocker on hot days was now just a pile of wood, the roof having caved in long ago. They began circling the house, seeking an easy entrance.

“One of the windows was open a couple of days ago when I was scouting this place out.”

As they came around to the back of the house, he noted that one window seemed darker then the rest, the shutter having fallen off or having been pulled off by spirit hunters long ago. The rain began, first just a few drops, then a bit faster, then a downpour. He crawled through the window, it’s pane of glass long gone, then turned and helped her in. She stopped and in the flash from the lightning, took her shirt tail and wiped the rain from her glasses. She wanted to be able to see these spirits, clearly.

“I brought a candle.” He said.

“Great! No sense frightening off the ghosts with electricity.”

He pulled the old candle from his jacket pocket, then struck a farmers match on his front tooth, it flared, then began burning. He lit the candle.

“You look frightening enough without the match.” She commented with a chuckle.

“Me frightening, you should see yourself, after being drenched with rain, you make the perfect witch.” He said between bouts of laughter.

“Well we are wasting time down here, lets find those steps and get up to that haunted room.”

They began their search, it didn’t take them long to find the long narrow stair case that led to the second story of the huge three story house. Quietly they made their way up, testing each step first before putting more weight on it, old stairs have a nasty reputation of breaking and sending the ghost hunter through to the basement in many cases. They knew more then a few ghost hunters who spent weeks in a cast, having broken legs and arms in just such a fall. They made the climb without incident. It was difficult to listen for sounds of spirits, with all the noise of the thunderstorm that raged outside.

When they arrived at the top of the stairs, they took another break, he sat down on the top step, she joined him. It was tight quarters, but she didn’t mind, not really, she kind of liked her fellow hunter, even though they had met only yesterday.

“You wanna share the wealth with that second bottle?” She asked with a chuckle.”

“Sure, why not.” He said, reaching behind himself and pulling the second half-pint from his hip pocket. He broke the seal, then screwed off the cap and passed it to her, giving her the first drink. He watched, as again, she wiped the neck of the bottle before drinking, when she was done, she wiped it again. He felt a bit better, knowing she always wiped the neck, it kept him from taking it personally.

When he got the bottle back, he took a healthy drink, the bottle was now half empty, or was it half full, he could never decide.

“Well time’s a wasting, what say we find that room before my candle burns down.”

“Why not?” She replied, getting up from the floor. Arm in arm they walked down the old hallway. They could see by the lighting flashes that the plaster was nearly all down from age, the lightning showed the skeleton like structure of the old place.

“Well this is the place.” She announced as the came to the room at the end of the hall.

“Humm.” He said, as he held the candle high, those must be the hooks.” he commented pointing to the two meat-hook like structures sticking out in one corner of the room. He was amazed at the fact they were shinny, almost new looking in this delapidate old house.

“Those are the ones.” she replied, they backed against the opposite wall, and began their vigil waiting for a ghost to appear. He removed a couple of sandwiches from his fanny pack and passed one her way.

“Thanks, these storms always make me a bit on the hungry side.”

He handed her the open bottle again, and she finished it off, then handed it back. He stood up and threw the bottle out the window just opposite the hooks.

“Good shot!” She said, with a nervous giggle.

“Well it is nearly midnight, isn’t that when the ghosts are supposed to appear?”

“That’s what they say, have you ever wondered who they are?”

“I quit wondering that years ago.”

They waited, and thirty minutes after midnight, they gave up.

“Well time to go.” She said, as she got up and began walking for the door.
“Hal, are you there?” she called.

“Hal, HAL”

She turned and there on the hook were two bodies, swinging from the hooks. She looked again, and all she could see, as her brain began to black out was an empty doorway just across from where she hung.

Jerry 8-13-2001 23:11
Teekay:


I know! heeeheeeeeheeee!

Debra 8-13-2001 15:32
Jerry:

Me either!


How about this? Did you ever wear a long t-shirt to bed with just underpants underneath and somewhere along the line in the morning forget and go outside only to find it a bit windy?

Me either!

Debra 8-13-2001 14:03
Jack! Good site! Went there and found a lot of information I needed. Looking forward to hearing from you and maybe a picture of a wreck. Lucky guy! Enjoy a great vacation.

Tina: You too! Manitoba. Wow! That sounds neat. It's on my list of I want to visit places. I think there's a lot of empty space there. That's why I want to go there. I want to stand in a place where I can only see land for miles and miles around and no houses and no people. I want to be the ONLY person for miles around. Then I'm going to yell and yell crazy things because no one will hear. I am going to twirl around and dance like a kid again. Drive far away from your relatives and do that for me if there's empty space there.

Jerry, I understand your feelings exactly. I've felt itchy crawly "you ring my doorbell and I'll squirt you with my garden hose" for the entire week.

YOu know what you wrote about Arlington actually sounded decent. Read it to my husband and he laughed.
Washington on the other hand...nope. Actually Japan right now is good training!

I hate to say this but the gun free society doesn't work so well in Japan either. They just don't report rapes (fault of the woman) and crime in general. Usually though, the criminals are pretty creative. Kitchen knives are a big one in murders and rapes. I think next they will have to take away all kitchen utensils and give us plastic knives in their place. I will love cutting carrots with those! Someone will figure out a creative way to use it to commit murder. Sarin gas took out more folks than a gun in Tokyo, a kitchen knife was used on a bunch of school aged kids. They guy got 14 of them and a teacher. Cut them down like little bunny rabbits. A girl was beaten to death...stomped. And a Korean worker was recently stomped but the culprit won't be found because he is foreign. I carry a nice big umbrella with a heavy steel point because women get attacked at our station near school. My friend was mugged. The newest sport is attacking older men. A gang of youth decends on an older male and beats on him until he is unconscious. This new sport is called papa-bashing. So when you hear a Japanese say in a smug way that they have a crime free society and no guns...snigger. It's a lie.

Viv 8-13-2001 11:58
Just found this site, I hope it is legit. I have been searching for a site like this for a couple of years now, and one of the stupid SPAM emails had it at the bottom. It supposedly removes you from SPAM email lists. Somehow, someone somewhere sold my primary Email address to some stupid SPAM list, and I have been receiving all sorts of junk email. I had a special email address just for that kind of crap, and any time I had to fill in my email address, I used that one. I have no idea how they came up with my primary, and if I find out, God help the optimization who gave it up. Anyhow, I put both my email addresses with this opt-out list, now I just have to wait and see if I get more or less SPAM. Oh how I hope it is less. The most recent emails I have been getting are offering me UNLIMITED CREDIT, and YOU ARE ALREADY ACCEPTED for a gold card! Also the HOMEOWNERS REFINANCE NOW! I should apply for all of them to see if they give credit to a person going through bankruptcy.

Jerry Removeyou 8-13-2001 9:51
Just a note, I received an offer to work at home from an online writers orginization I belong to. I am not all that good at HTML, and this job involves both writing and editing their web pages. It is open to anyone world wide, the orginization is located in England. It pays 7 Pounds an hour, with an average 70 hours per month. Anyone intrested, click on the link below, I don't know enough HTML to do anything like this.

Jerry Writer Editor wanted 8-13-2001 9:32
Hello, Notebookers!

I'm back from a couple of weeks in France, where, besides other entertaining things, I attended the divorce ceremony of Jon and Pussycat (her full name). This took place in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, with the presence of Mr Chirac, the French President, and got full coverage of the world's media, as you may have noticed if you still watch TV or read newspapers. Now the happy divorcees only speak French and drink champagne, as you may also have noticed if you read their posts. Hope this happy period (a true honeymoon) lasts some time. Their 13 children, who took to the streets and are faithfully following their parents' example of being different to be true, are also very happy and send you greetings.

I missed you all and thank the generous people who remarked my absence. I also thank those who sent me e-mails from all parts of the world, including the Moon.

By now everyone must have already ordered and read S* and written all the short-stories necessary to complete the one thousand pages of our next project, "Saints and Sinners", which we still hope Jack will launch in the near future. So everything is all right and we will be rich and famous soon. I am reading intensively and brushing up my French, so that I can understand Jon's and Pussycat's fabulous posts. I will not have so much time for the Notebook as I wished, but count on me to go on being your most faithful reader.

Americo 8-13-2001 8:59
Hey, People! You GOTTA know about this--a must-know, must-have event! This conference for us newbees is gonna accept manuscripts to publish at the event! I registered and entered their contest to boot. Donne know 'bout you, but i'm way serious about being published. check 'em out www.gardeniapress.com you don't, you lose.

Jingles 8-13-2001 8:37
I can't believe this! My second post was chewed somehow and a whole great lot of it didn't show up! But the beginning did, and then a repeat of the message to Teekay. HUH? HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN????

There's no way I can re-do it. *SIGH*
Anyway, Viv, there was a reply to you that got maimed and hacked, but I'll try again tomorrow... after all that I'm winded!

:o)

Sorry folks, your smirk of the day is a goner.

Heather 8-13-2001 5:22
Hello friends!

TEEKAY: It's not the same cottage/cabin, but it is right across the road from the lake, and (whew) NO mother in law.
I think I'm going to have far more fun for some reason. Can't figure out quite why... :*O

Jerry - you're funny when you're mad! (Uh, did that make you mad?) :o) Another hug for you. (((Hug)))

Hope everything goes well for you Jack, and for Fran as well.

Tina, it indeed sounds like a wild ride! I hope you will have the time of your life.

Pussy! Est-que je puis allez... (uh, on second thought)

Ah, this is already too long to even attempt an apology!
'night!
Off to write I plod...


Heather 8-13-2001 5:18
Hello friends!

TEEKAY: It's not the same cottage/cabin, but it is right across the road from the lake, and (whew) NO mother in law.
I think I'm going to have far more fun for some reason. Can't figure out quite why... :*O



Heather 8-13-2001 4:28
Hello everyone: Sorry that it somehow slipped my mind to archive before my computer went in, but in addition some of the software necessary to handle things did not get backed up. Hopefully, will have my main computer back tomorrow and I will have time to at least archive things here. They are up to 700 k. Sorry in the extreme that life has been keeping me somewhat sidetracked.





Re the beginning of the fantasy, it is indeed a way of dealing with the death of my cousin. I am not sure the actual character will take on full characteristics and personality issues of Bud, but the broad outline lends itself to the story. I will probably work shop it first at a local writing group I have been scarce from for a couple of years, but plan to go to in preparation for possibly applying to attend next years Clarion West. We will see.





Fran and I went diving, first in a pool that went quite well. We were testing some of our equipment in preparation for the live aboard dive trip we will be doing in Fiji starting around September 13 and going through September 30. Our second attempt was at Mukilteo with drive suits, but after several snafus including Fran's tanking deciding to become dislodged from her BCD, her regulator seems to have malfunctioned and she was getting water in with each intake of air. We will be trying again this Thursday, hoping to give it a good try to get some more experience in before we head to the sof coral capital of the world and our first experience of drift diving.





At any rate, hope that my main computers is back, I have high speed internet access (dial up sucks big time)and I can begin working on the fantasy story again. I have the first opening prologue done. Still trying to decide if I am using a short story pacing or novel pacing. I tend towards the latter, but would prefer to encapsulate this story at around 15,000 words, no larger than 18,000. We will see. BTW, I got the address below wrong, it actually is Writers Cramp and the URL is http://www.forwriters.com/writerscramp.html and that is indeed the local group I used to attend here in Seattle.

Jack Beslanwitch http://www.forwriters.com/writerscramp.html 8-13-2001 4:00

Teekay, thanks I needed that. It has been one of those days, seems everyone forgot that I was disabled for a reason, the list of "fix this next" was nearly as long as my arm. I tried to do most of them, but had to quit, then explain to those who should know better that I am limited in what I can do. Anyhow it all came out in the wash, and I am much better now.

Just saw the advertisement for American Pie II, I think they had a camera in the wife's apartment that day, the 4th of July, 1969, when my in-laws first decided to drop in unannounced. The never knocked of course, and this being a few months before our wedding, we had just finished one of those wake up sex things. We heard the door open, and there we were both naked as jay-birds. Well it only took me a second to pull on a pair of pants, and the wife put on a robe. Now this was the very first time I ever met my future in-laws, and it was frightening to say the least. You see my mother-in-law, God bless her soul, was a very LARGE woman, over six foot three, and weighed in at nearly three hundred pounds. She ran everything on the farm, it was like first thing in the morning, she would give orders to her husband, a stoop shouldered little Norwegian with just that little crown of hair left on his head. He would give the obligatory "Yes Dear" and go about his daily chores on the farm. Anyhow, after the first bit of shock, we settled in at getting acquainted. Luckily it was hot that day, so I had an explanation why I just had pants, no shirt or anything on. Oh they knew exactly what was going on, but they played dumb so as not to embarrass the wife. I think she knew that they knew, but I never asked. Funny how things like that stay so enprinted in your mind, while other things you would rather remember are fuzzy images one could never bring to light. Anyhow we topped that day with a picnic at the lake, and that evening, her dad, her brother and I sat down and drank about a case of beer before I had to go home. (My folks thought we had broke up or something, as I hadn't slept in my own bed for nearly a month.

Jerry 8-13-2001 0:46
**Teekay**

JERRY: I get that feeling about once a month. Thankfully it only lasts for about 21 days.

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))))) 2 U, it sounds like you need them.

Teekay 8-12-2001 23:56
Did you ever get that feeling, you know the one, where the next person who gets in your way, the next person who crosses you, the next person who slams a door in your face is going to GET IT? That feeling where you want to turn and slam your fist through the wall, where windows are no longer safe in your presence, because you will throw that damn phone through it the next time it rings? That feeling where if the dog is laying in your path, you will simply kick the little bastard out of the way rather then stepping over him? That feeling where it is damn lucky you don't have a gun, or that next damn sales man, or JW who knocks at your door will not be long in this world?

Me either, I was just wondering.

Jerry Ericsson 8-12-2001 23:47
So long, farewell, I'm off to see the wizard...

Actually, we're heading off eastward to Manitoba. We'll be gone until the 22nd or 23rd. Yes, the car we're driving has air conditioning. As much as I love the heat, I don't like driving in it all day. :-}

Doubt I'll be able to check in. Most of my relatives don't have the internet.

Should be an interesting ten days. We're camping all the way, and will be attending both a family reunion and my father's burial ceremony. I'm expecting a wild emotional ride.

See y'all next week!
TTFN

Tina 8-12-2001 21:37
**Teekay**

Hi All,

HOWARD: I think that maybe you've taken an extra dose of your pain medicine.
Should I or should I not be flattered at your 'Just 'cause it's you' post.
Please explain as am waiting to experience the appropriate emotion :-D

ROSEMARY: Daddy Warbucks! That must've been it. Warbucks - Starbucks - Starbucks - Wallbucks. Yup, silly me.
The going rate of any coffee here is about $2:80 upwards, so I imagine once converted that would be about $6:00 for a Starbucks coffee.
That's probably why it hasn't made it over here, we simply don't have the population to support the asking price.

HEATHER: Your garden sounds absolutely gorgeous.
And vacation at 'the cottage'. It sounds so pretty and sweet and sunny. Like those movies from the 40's and 50's after they've coloured them.
Have great fun.
Is this the one with the log cabin and the lake (and the Mother in law?)

ROSEMARY: Yes he is Italian and no, thankfully he doesn't read the notebook. I think he'd be mortified at some of the things I write. And I'd probably be mortified if he read them, especially that last one.
He's such an innocent :-)

VIV: I admit riposte, but not ripost.
And as you have nothing to back up your allegations shall we just say that you are
W-R-O-N-G!!!!! and we'll put it down to your bad mood.

LITTER: I'm so glad to hear Dot's books going ahead. It is one of the more memorable things I've read.
I laughed so much while reading it.

AMERICO, PUSSY, JON: Welcome back from.....France? The south of? Snow drop beaches and forget-me-not sea?

Well, it's Monday, and before I can even consider writing I have to clean up this total pigsty that has become my home over the weekend.
I feel like a Monk who has to clean toilets or something.

I will glitter amongst the stars on higher planes, create beauty and vision, turn a thought into a work of art,
but first I've gotta mop the floor!

Have a good day all.

Teekay 8-12-2001 21:02
Viv - To tell the truth, the city (well county, when we lived there it was not incorporated as a city) was nice. We lived a block from Four Mile Run Park, and it was a wonderful place to cool off, with a beautiful stream running through it. There were warning signs to stay out of the water because of pollution, but we went wading all the same. I was stationed at Fort Meyer VA, with the Old Guard, and that was an experience. We did all the ceremonies for the White House, Congress, and that lot. We also did all the Army Burial at Arlington National Cemetery. It was exciting, as we were there during the bi-centennial, that being 1976. The only thing I didn't like was the school system, we looked into it when our son was about three months from starting, and found that there had been three killings on the school grounds within the last school year. That was enough for me to volunteer for Recruiting duty. (Recruiting duty was the ONLY way you could get released from the Old Guard short of serving the required three year term.) We lived in an old four story walk up garden apartment, on the fourth floor. Even back then crime was a real problem, on night we heard screaming in the grassy area between apartment buildings in the complex. I went to my window to look out, and there was a man trying to rape one of the ladies from the next apartment. As I was reaching for the phone to call police, the window in the next apartment came open, the screen fell to the grass, and a black hand with a .357 magnum in it barked three times. The rapist gave up his mission and fled into the trees that bordered our apartment complex. I saw the fellow from that apartment the next day, and told him how happy I was that he took such quick action. His response "What action, what gun, man, what the hell you been drinking?" with this, he winked and went to his car to drive in to work. I understand firearm ownership is still legal in Va. However DC now has some of the strongest anti gun laws in the US.

Litter, sounds like a plan, maybe some day when our financial health is recovered and we are both able to travel comfortably (if we ever get that way that is.)


Jerry 8-12-2001 18:32
Bon soir!
Moi, je parle aussi le fran¨ais, la langue de ceux qui ont du charme.



Pussy 8-12-2001 17:32
Hi Peeps!

Thanks for the positive comments on the Carberry Tower Primer site. The main site is still at the building stage, but everything is ready and awaiting the full size pics to be uploaded and installed. I should warn you that a lot of the photos you have not seen yet are people centred as the site is a record of this years festival as well as a sort of promo for Carberry.

I’m reading the notebook backwards now, to see who is due a reply, so if I miss anyone out I apologise. Just repost anything you have asked of me…

JERRY – I had a look at the Gardenia Press thing as well – I just must rush to send my manuscript off to be critiqued for a mere $225… Really cheap, huh? Somehow I don’t think I’ll be availing myself of their services anytime soon.

TEEKAY – You must have had a dream of Carberry during the festival. The building houses about 100 guests, plus some staff, each week during the festival, and the campsite between 100 and 150. When those of us ‘above the salt’ are at breakfast or evening meal the house showers and bathrooms are open for use by the campers. As you can imagine, during wet weather the house, which is carpeted throughout, gets covered with a blanket of mud and grass. The house is not ‘revered’ as an ex-Royal residence but used as a big family house. It sometimes seem incongruous that this noisy messy bustle is going on while artworks dating back 500 years, and worth up to tens of thousands of pounds each, look down on us in disdain, and as children play ‘chopsticks’ the Grande Piano in the main sitting room …

ROSEMARY – No moat I’m afraid, but there is a ghost. Camping is normally kept for the weeks of the festival as there is plenty accommodation inside, but if anyone were to turn up with a caravan or a camper, they would not be turned away. Oh, and there is supposed to be a secret passage, which is quite possible as the walls are 8ft think in places, especially in the original keep.

JERRY (again) Leave your camper at home, enjoy some time sleeping in one of the Turret Rooms, maybe the one that the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret slept in? And, yes, it is a great source of inspiration to me and others, in fact it was there some 10 years ago that I felt compelled to write. That’s another story.

MEL – I could live there too, nearly did once or twice…

RHODA – you are welcome. (for the pics) Also, you can run any Scots dialect past me at any time. My main email address is below.

TEEKAY – Dot has dropped out of circulation of late – family probs. Far as I know, Porncop will still happen but has been suspended for now.

HORWAD – sorry to hear about your latest physical setbacks but glad to see you are still in good spirits.
I’ve probably forgotten someone or something, but it’s back to turning 100+ pics into web pages… Groan…

Ciao for now,

Litter


Litter Carberry Tower Pics 8-12-2001 17:04
Whatever Teekay! You got me laughing. Put up your dukes and come out swinging. What’s fun is I can always count on getting a rise out of you. Riposte away …or don’t!

Hey Heather! Your post wasn’t boring at all. Not to someone who is into gardens!
I love the idea of bulbs. Our ground is much too wet to try that unless you like a water lily in a bucket of water.

Have you heard this old poem about the foxglove. I learned it from my grandfather who was a country doctor: The foxglove leaves with caution given/another proof of favoring heaven/ may happily display/ the rapid pulse can regulate/ the hectic flush will moderate/ and blessed by Him whose will is fate/ may give a lengthened day. Uh, if you have high blood pressure trouble… see your doctor. My grandfather called it Dropsy, not high blood pressure. Dropsy could be something different. I have the dropsies about once a day, I dropsy some pencils, a few glasses a couple of spoons on the way to the silverware drawer.

On the query, could I help at all? I could at least read it and tell you if it made me sit up and take notice. I’m not in a kind mood so I could be very likely a realistic critic. I won’t say it’s good unless it is…and I’ll word it tactfully if I have to say the opposite.
You did it for me, so I will do my best!

Ok Jack….I’m waiting to hear more of that story. You started in really well and got me grabbed. Now I want to hear what happens to the beggar next. It really sounds like something I’d get if I got Kipling to write. I love Kipling. Go for more. Can you please give us perhaps another little scrap of a line or two on that??? I know from all this silence it has you completely caught in its spell.


Jerry: Hey cool, you MADE a Texan. Not bad. Tell me, how’d you like Arlington VA, That’s another place we get threatened with occasionally. Is it really as bad as some folks make it sound? Are prices within a human level? I know it’s been a long time, but you like it there?

Rosemary: Hey we have Starbucks here too. It’s in Shinjuku and Hon Atsugi. I like the smell but not the prices! You actually toured that plant. Neat. Now, tell me about the bathrooms. Are they as wild as Sony Headquarters in Hon Atsugi Japan? Now those are some wildly engineered bathrooms. Ought to be in a museum.

What’d they show you on this tour? Man, I never get to see anything good…just a stupid conference room and yes, the same plate of stale rolls and little paper cups of coffee. Ugh. It’s not real coffee…it’s instant. You don’t want it anyway. And the rolls…well two cockroaches I know swear by them. They say they are absolutely the best thing since sliced bread. You know, I'm exaggerating about never getting to see anything good, I've been in those bathrooms. That’s a treat for sure and for certain. Maybe I need to do a whole article on bathrooms. The Japanese must have some pretty weird toilet training. I'm going to have to check out that with some mothers who live around here. They produce folks who love building intricate bathrooms. What this makes me think is they might have some secret that makes the whole proceedure very entertaining so that the kids just want to build better and better bathroom equipment when they grow up. Interesting observation. I hope I didn't offend anyone but you know you think of the strangest things late at night and it's 4:24. Whoever wrote about her 12 year old daughter...my 19 year old is scaring me. Nice I have this site to retreat to before she turns me grey.


Viv 8-12-2001 15:32
A calm Sunday to all who are having a Sunday.

HEATHER,
An idea came to me as I read about you writing longhand but couldn't remember where you had left off. If it is not convenient to go to the computer and backtrack, you might consider just writing scenes that you know you will need, or think might come in handy later. Then, when back at the computer, you can work them into the text at the keyboard.

I do almost none of my writing longhand because I keep scratching things out and changing words. Then I can't read the mess.
ABOUT the query letter, I've been told it should be only three to four paragraphs long. So, one page sounds just about right, not short at all.


TEEKAY,
I do hope your husband is either Italian or does not read the Notebook. ;0)

MEL,
I just got back from selling six of your duckies. (Only have about 20 left.) Usually we exchange them 2/to/1 for chickens or whatever seems useful, but today I was alone and stood there hemming and hawing because we have too many of everything and she asked if $5 each would be okay. I said okay. We didn't know she would give money for them. I'm $30 ahead. Have to split it with my Sister. I'll wait a couple of weeks and take her some more if she has sold what she has. Looks like she's getting overstocked to me.

Enough of that for now,
bye.

Rosemary 8-12-2001 14:47
REMIND ME NOT TO POST WHEN I'M TIRED!

OH, YEAH,

BORING BABY

and incoherent, as well!

Teekay - laughed heartily 'bout the Italian!!!!

WHoooooo hooooooo!

Heather (again again) 8-12-2001 14:00
Well, now I've bored you all for certain! Guess it was my turn to double post! I tried to catch it before it posted to add a welcome back to Jon, Pussy and Americo!
Ach,
I've blurred even my own vision with so many words.

Fare thee well, my beloved friends,
on your voyages over the great white page.

Heather 8-12-2001 13:50
Hey everyone!

VIV - don't worry about it! The water restrictions aren't so bad for me - I'm out there with the watering jug anyway, and our lawn is the greenest on the street because the kids have been running through the sprinkler so much (just after supper, or early in the morning, because we've had water restrictions for months already - alternate day lawn watering....) Until the water ban, of course. Before the ban, on the days we weren't supposed to water we were at the pool, the river, etc. The kids and I benefitted by both cooling off, and the lawn and flowers got watered at the same time. Hee hee. You can tell who has kids on this street!
I don't start seeds in August or September because the cold will kill the plants before they're large enough - it starts getting cool here by the end of September. In the early fall I plant a lot of bulbs - like tulips, crocuses, lilies, irises, snowdrops, etc.; but they don't come up until after the snow melts in the spring (the earliest sprout in April). Eventually I won't have to keep planting more bulbs - they come back every year - but we've only had this house for two years, and I'm still building up the gardens. I'm a bulb fanatic, anyhow!
I'm cultivating Japanese irises and pirate lilies for groundcover in between the taller irises in one front garden (with a dappling of white climbing roses, foxgloves, hosta, columbine, a patch of lily of the valley and so forth) - that's one garden, and those plants come up after the huge show of tulips and other bulbs planted underneath the summer perennials. In the front I have a shade garden as well (also full of bulbs beneath), and then there are the back gardens.... the goal is to have flowers all through the season - when one show of flowers dies off, another is just coming into bloom...

Well, the query will wait another day or three.
I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to post it after all! It's a little unusual, I think, to start off a query with a question. The query is very short - one page, if that - and packs as much punch as I have so far been able. The aim is to have the editor sit up and take notice. Of course, all queries are aimed that way, so mine has to be fresh, direct, different.

Anyhow, I've written another thousand words since Thursday, but plan to get back tonight or tomorrow for more. Next week I'm off for vacation at the cottage, so I will only be able to write longhand. I haven't been writing it out longhand lately, but it'll be a nice change. Once the manuscript got to a certain size, I'd go up to write longhand and forget where I left off exactly. Then I'd re-read or print it out, and be sitting at the keys - well, it was just natural to start writing it directly by key.
I've got lots of notes jotted while I was at work. One long page I've got from work dissects human motivation and the factors involved. Need to know these things! I have that hand-written page by the monitor.

God, I feel boring.
Am I putting you all to sleep?


You are getting very sleepy
and you are about to embark on a fantastic streak of inspiration and writing. Full steam ahead!
To the wheel, helmsman! To the wheel!


JON! AMERICO! PUSSY! GOOD TO SEE YOU BACK! :oD


Heather 8-12-2001 13:48
Hey everyone!

VIV - don't worry about it! The water restrictions aren't so bad for me - I'm out there with the watering jug anyway, and our lawn is the greenest on the street because the kids have been running through the sprinkler so much (just after supper, or early in the morning, because we've had water restrictions for months already - alternate day lawn watering....) Until the water ban, of course. Before the ban, on the days we weren't supposed to water we were at the pool, the river, etc. The kids and I benefitted by both cooling off, and the lawn and flowers got watered at the same time. Hee hee. You can tell who has kids on this street!
I don't start seeds in August or September because the cold will kill the plants before they're large enough - it starts getting cool here by the end of September. In the early fall I plant a lot of bulbs - like tulips, crocuses, lilies, irises, snowdrops, etc.; but they don't come up until after the snow melts in the spring (the earliest sprout in April). Eventually I won't have to keep planting more bulbs - they come back every year - but we've only had this house for two years, and I'm still building up the gardens. I'm a bulb fanatic, anyhow!
I'm cultivating Japanese irises and pirate lilies for groundcover in between the taller irises in one front garden (with a dappling of white climbing roses, foxgloves, hosta, columbine, a patch of lily of the valley and so forth) - that's one garden, and those plants come up after the huge show of tulips and other bulbs planted underneath the summer perennials. In the front I have a shade garden as well (also full of bulbs beneath), and then there are the back gardens.... the goal is to have flowers all through the season - when one show of flowers dies off, another is just coming into bloom...

Well, the query will wait another day or three.
I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to post it after all! It's a little unusual, I think, to start off a query with a question. The query is very short - one page, if that - and packs as much punch as I have so far been able. The aim is to have the editor sit up and take notice. Of course, all queries are aimed that way, so mine has to be fresh, direct, different.

Anyhow, I've written another thousand words since Thursday, but plan to get back tonight or tomorrow for more. Next week I'm off for vacation at the cottage, so I will only be able to write longhand. I haven't been writing it out longhand lately, but it'll be a nice change. Once the manuscript got to a certain size, I'd go up to write longhand and forget where I left off exactly. Then I'd re-read or print it out, and be sitting at the keys - well, it was just natural to start writing it directly by key.
I've got lots of notes jotted while I was at work. One long page I've got from work dissects human motivation and the factors involved. Need to know these things! I have that hand-written page by the monitor.

God, I feel boring.
Am I putting you all to sleep?

You are getting very sleepy
and you are about to embark on a fantastic streak of inspiration and writing. Full steam ahead!
To the wheel, helmsman! To the wheel!



Heather 8-12-2001 13:47
Oh, merde! Pas d'accents dans ce site...

Jon 8-12-2001 7:21
Bonjour!

Je suis allˇ en France mais j'ai retournˇ au Portugal, pour lire vos messages et rigoler un peu. J'ˇcrirai en fran¨ais. Maintenant je ne suis plus votre empereur mais simplement le roi des faitsneants. Au revoir!

Jon 8-12-2001 7:16
Howard - I had assumed room temperature. Glad to see you are back amongst the live posters.

Speaking of Texans, I made a Texan once, my Daughter was born in El Paso Tx. Of course she was, really made in Tacoma Washington, the product of a surprise visit by my parents, forcing me and the wife to share this little dinky narrow roll-a-way bed in the living room. But she was born in Texas, that makes her an official Texan, as I understand it. She has been after us ever since to go back there, just one time so she can see what it looks like, all she has are the pictures we took of her and her brother while we lived there. We moved to Arlington Va. when she was three, and to Minnesota when she was four, then to South Dakota when she was five, another town in SD when she was six, then up north to North Dakota when she was seven. She grew to the ripe old age of eleven when we moved farther north, always in persuet of more money. No wonder she has no roots. Any way, I ramble on, it is late and I hear the bed calling, I must go. Good night to all, I long ago tired of watching meteor showers, used to see them all the time when I worked nights on the PD. On quiet nights, I would drive out to the fair grounds (security check you know) and just sit in the car watching the show, smoking Kools and drinking coffee from the old steel thermos that the wife filled for me each night before I went to work. Ah those were the good old days. Oh, had the shock of my life yesterday, went to see my doc for my regular check up, and he advised me to INCREASE my salt intake, seems my blood pressure is to low? Did I mention that before, it looks familiar.

Jerry 8-12-2001 1:40
Hello All! You guys are like a breath of fresh air.

Pymatuning Lake Festival today, we had lots of artery-clogging grub and winged, multi-legged friends. Stayed late for the surprisingly impressive fireworks display and now we are home. Hubby is tucking in the chillins then we are out to the patio to see if we can spot any flaming stardust.

I have just enough time to wish you all well, laugh at Randall's post, have sympathy pains for Howard, grin wickedly at Teekay's Italian and see where my Fantasy Football players are after the games today. Hope none of them got hurt...I actually have a semi-decent team this year if I don't lose any of them. (Crossing fingers)

I hear steps creaking...time to get the wine. G'night all.

HOWARD: It is a touch too cloudly here too, but I don't really mind. Hugs and 'feel betters'. ;-)

Mary 8-11-2001 23:20
I'm Baaack,
TEEKAY,
Starbucks is a fairly expensive coffee house that sits on almost every corner in the U.S. I thought it was world wide by now. If you are inclined to spend $3.50 for Iced frapachino(?) you'll love this place. I get dizzy inhaling as I go by. Love the smell of fresh ground coffee. Too bad it never tastes as good as it smells. (My opinion.)
P.S...I think you were thinking of Daddy Warbucks from Little Orphan Annie.

VIV,
I've been on a tour of the Sony plant. Very nice setup. Except, it was early morning and they herded us into a conference room to wait for the tour guide and whouldn't let us have any of the coffee and rolls that were waiting for the next meeting.
Your friends might like it here. There is a fairly large oriental community because of the military bases.

Geepers HOWARD,
that sure sounds painful. I really hope they won't have to operate on my knee. Can't quite figure how that will keep me from writing, but I'll think of something.

I showed my ghost Granny story to a friend and she asked me three times if I wrote it myself. I'm going to have to think about that for a while.
Bye,

Rosemary 8-11-2001 22:58
TEEK - Just 'cause it's you -- what do you bait your breath with, he asked with bated breath, waiting for the other shoe to boot.

VIV -- I used to grow borage in my garden - it's a really nice but very different salad green. Also attracts bees and butterflies. It does tend to self-seed, though, and can get out of hand. It's nowhere near as bad as mint, though. In a very less-than-lucid moment I planted a sprig of mint in my garden. Now, three years later, it's growing all over the place!
I dug the remainder of my garlic today. It did very well, and I'm pleased with it. I think I'll triple my planting this fall, and mayhap make a buck or two on it next year.

No lizards around here to speak of, but we do have some fairly large garden snakes, and once in a while we get a milk snake passing through.
My mother was picking blackberries in our back lot yesterday, and thinks she saw a bear at the other end of the patch. It's possible - there's one around.

Too cloudy to see the meteor shower, so I'm going to bed.

g'nite!

howard 8-11-2001 22:42
**Teekay**

So why not go back and delete it I hear you say. well the reason for that is simple.

I have the wordpad open so that I can respond to each post as I come to it, and sometimes I think of things and put them in and then go back and put other things in between them, and, once I've completed my post I then cut and paste it into the notebook.
So sometimes I forget what I've put in.
Were I wise I would go back and check.

I have just validated myself for the benefit of any riposters out there who are feeling the urge.

Teekay 8-11-2001 22:30
**Teekay**

ALL: I apologize for the Italian thing. I meant to go back and delete it after thinking better of it, but I forgot.
Sowwy!

Teekay 8-11-2001 22:06
**Teekay**

VIV: Okay now, I want proof of my riposterishness!
C'mon, c'mon, show me your proof, for were there ever one so foul as a riposter for a riposter to be is to be kin with the very dregs at the bottom of the on sale dictionary pile.
Besides, I'm the first to admit that I don't know much (read: anything) about grammar, so I'm not likely to go pointing the finger at anyone else, and as for the spelling thing, well after the incident with RACHEL I am very conscious in regard to that as well,
so come on, money where your mouth is girly, where is your proof????????

DEBRA: You are the sweetest thing :-)

MEL: Got a bit of brain fry I see :_D (oops, put my nose on crooked) feels good doesn't it? Brain fry I mean, not a crooked nose.
This is my dream interpretation and it could be boring, so I'll give you a minute to get either !/ some pillows
or
2/ some caffeine.
Okay, ready?
Right, the house I dreamt of was actually myself and the dream means that after all these years I have finally come to accept myself, warts and all for who I am.
The End.
I didn't say it was long, just that it might be boring.

Your interpretations were good, but if you ever have a dream you want interpretated, why for the small sum of only $4678:00 I can do it for you. And it might even be right :-D

HEATHER: YAAAAAY you're baack. I anxiously await your email with baited breath aquivering ;_) (having a bad nose day.)

ROSEMARY: You went out and ordered salad???? Where is your sense of adventure? What is starbucks? I've heard of Daddy Starbucks, is it the same sort of thing?

TINA: If you haven't already put the address in the book, do you want to email it to me?
Thanks, and if noone claims it by Friday I'll post it back.

RACHEL: That is so fantastic that S* is being distributed to so many places!!! Still feeling a shade green with envy :-)

RANDALL: That is sooooo funny. I think it warrants breakfast at MacDonalds for your wife though.
Your dream means there is an opportunity coming your way, don't be afraid to face it.
That will be $4678:00 thank you :-D
Move over Freud!

TINA: HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I was wondering who RINA was. It sounded like she'd been here before.

ALL, I have no Indian in me at all, but when I'm really good, sometimes I get a bit of Italian.

Okay, that's it. Of to the in laws for Sunday family get together.


Teekay 8-11-2001 22:03
Hey Randall! That was a great story about the Lizard and your wife. I love the way you write.

Viv again 8-11-2001 21:26
Actually, that last one was from me :-)

Tina 8-11-2001 21:25
Randall, I'm sore!

You see, my hubby dreams the way you do, actively. He has not yet been chased by a little green lizard, but a response like yours would probably result in a similar action from me! I love lizards, just not at two(ish) in the morning, and not in my bed.

Just stopping by, time for dinner...

Rina 8-11-2001 21:25
Rosemary: AAAAAAHAH! I UNDERSTAND! You have a Sony plant there in San Antonio. My friend Megumi went there with her husband and they plan to become Texans. They were working on all kinds of weird things when they left. Saying yehah with the right "texas" accent. The best one was the father saying "How-dee, ya....all" and bowing at the same time. I tried to help as much as possible but I figured some Texan was going to get a real belly laugh, and that most Americans are kind enough not to hurt feelings for differences. Hey, we have enough differences that a bow combined with How-dee..ya....all isn't going to probably lift an eyebrow.

The enthusiasm was very infectious. They were given boots and cowboy hats at the Atsugi Sony plant as a going away gift. I think they aren't coming back. They had a nice son and they wanted to raise him in San Antonio. If he works his career right, he can pull it off. That kid will be a Texan through and through. They even want him to go to "the college that makes Aggies."

Anyway, that's how the sushi got into your Target! Boy, those folks know their market.

You know we are looking at moving to America this year. We keep looking at all the places we might be placed. We'll have to go and take whatever job they have where-ever they have it. We're terrified but it's the little information like Sushi in Target that tells me we're going to be ok. So THANKS Rosemary for that gem of information.

I don't know if borage will grow in your garden. Mine is watered too much all the time. Here it's the sort of climate where stuff molds from too much water most of the time, but it does get dry sometimes. September is dry. I usually start plants in August because everything grows rampantly. You throw a seed out the window it will sprout, Kudzuu covers everything, shoes in your closet mold, and fungus grows between toes if you aren't really careful. Great time for athletes foot and seeds!

Heather, I'll send a little water your way. Our rivers are having flash flooding now. I didn't read your post carefully enough. I'm sorry about writing about your garden in my post. Maybe you can start all the seeds for the fall in your kitchen by the sink now! I know that's sneaky but you can dump those little left overs of water on them easily that way. I lived in Colorado as a kid. Every summer they had water restrictions and certain days for watering. I'm so sorry I wrote that! No wonder you feel out of sorts.

Personally, I'm a little grumpy as well. I'm ready for a vacation somewhere but there isn't any money to go anywhere. Lots of time, little money. Got to choose treats that don't cost anything. The seeds and planters at the 100 yen store were a good deal for us because they gave us a summer project. Learning the names of the plants and how they have been used historically is kind of interesting. We hit the library a lot because it's airconditioned.

Viv 8-11-2001 21:23
*howrad*

RANDALL - Please! It still hurts when I laugh!

ROSEMARY -- I'm still here, just moving as little as possible in this beastly heat. This pillow/harness I'm wearing on my side doesn't help a bit! Doc says another month, then therapy. Gonna need more than just physical therapy after another month with this thing! Moan, grumble, whinge, gripe, carp, foo foo.

MEL -- I'm Mohawk/Onondaga way back there somewhere. Sent you a note about it.

JERRY -- You forgot room temperature.

ALLA REST -- See Rosemary above...
:-)

howard 8-11-2001 21:07
RANDALL

Hi everyone:

Glad to be back..............

Had a bad night. Wife all upset, barely speaking to me today. Asked her if she wanted breakfast this morning, but had to retreat as her eyes were brown chambers of rage.

"Yes dear," she glared at me from the couch. "How about a cold wenie sandwich with mustard and peanut butter chaser!"

Women, huh? Not my fault I have vivid dreams. And a fondness for wenie (or Franks as some people call ‘em) and mustard snacks just before bedtime. Ah, I use a spoon full of PB to clean the mustard taste out of my mouth. Doesn't everyone? I always nuke the wenie, even a guy like me will draw the line at a "cold" wenie sandwich. I'm not totally without class, er taste. I often sip a little dill pickle juice, that'll prime the dream factory big time! Lay down, enter sleep and hold on Bubba, here come the giants!!!!! Better than LSD!!!!

Dreams are big with me. I would relate a few here, but... perhaps some other time. The novel I'm working on came out of a dream. The most fantastic one I've ever had. But last night was a dilly.

We were peacefully sleeping when a tiny green lizard entered my dream. He/she was a small one, I believe they call ‘em Geckos? They are harmless, see one or two a week in the yard. Our boy often captured the occasional lizard and brought it inside. That is until my wife found out that a reptile was in the castle! Who ever said the truth will set you free, never held a lizard inches from a woman's face and said...."Mom look, I caught a lizard."

For whatever reason (pickle juice perhaps?) a lizard came into my dream...and was chasing me...as I lay in bed. Debbie is well acquainted with my thrashings at night, usually touches me or asks if I'm dreaming. Sometimes works, often only delays. The bad thing ‘bout my dreams, I usually get right back into the darn thing. Which is okay, if it's a good one, and not so good if it's a bad one. There is no telling how many miles I've fled, scrambling from immense giant humanoids or F5 tornados or raging floods. But I've never had to flee from a green lizard.

As usual Debbie shook my arm. "Randall, are you dreaming?" (Again!!!!!)

More than half-asleep, I mumble. "Lizard in the bed."

For the ordinary woman, the transition from horizontal to a vertical position in a water bed usually requires more than 1/10 of a second. To turn on every light in our bedroom requires at least 30 seconds, more so if the dog is sleeping in the floor at the foot of the bed, which he was.......Debbie was in action quicker than a Marine could shout, "Incoming!" Our Silky Terrier was snarling after she stepped on his paw, the small Mexican dog we have was barking loudly. I roused from one heck of a dream to the sight of my lovely spouse stripping the top sheet away with one hand while holding a kitchen broom with the other. Her pose was striking, gown askew, face contorted, the broom held as a Samurai warrior in the heat of battle.

Well it took a while to sort things out. All explanations fell of deaf ears. My bride of 20 years huffily gathered her pillows and with the shaken dog clan close behind headed for the couch. I was forced to re-make the bed. (After checking for green lizards... you never know.) The mumbling from the couch was faint in my ears as I eased back into a dream of tiny green lizards, cold wenie sandwiches and dill pickle juice on ice.

A Day in the Life, as the Beatles so aptly described.

Randall

randall 8-11-2001 18:58
Rachael:

How true that is. I have a tweleve year old girl who gives me a hard time most of the time. She plans all her free time to be away from home. I'm trying to get her to cool her jets and she doesn't want to hear it.

I love her even while she is giving me the run around.

It wouldn't matter what she did. I hope I don't have to find out.



Debra 8-11-2001 18:55
Mel - What they used to tell us about being indian (back when we were kids) is: "If you ain't got enough blood to get a check, you ain't an indian!"

Jerry 8-11-2001 18:18
Hi there all,

VIV,
This was a new SUPER Target. The first in San Antonio.(that I know of although another one is almost ready a few miles away.) It has a big deli section including a Sushi chef standing there making the stuff. I don't think they were making up much ahead of time. We also have Super KMarts and Super Wal Marts. Suposed to be one stop shopping, and it is if you're not too careful about your prices.
About your herbs, I never heard of trefoil and don't exactly know about borage, although it sounds vaguely familiar. Would they grow here?
This morning, I transplanted some baby cacti that I started from seeds. I know..why would anyone ever do a thing like that...the seed kit was a gift. Suposed to be all different kinds of cacti plants but the babies all look the same. (do they say that about humans?) My sister says they are probably all prickly pear which is a pest plant here.

Good to see Heather back. It's been a rough summer on most of us and sounds like the northern group is already coming out of it. We have about two more months give or take a week.

CHRISTI, YOOHoo,
someone needs to nudge that girl. She should at least say hi once a month, preferably more so no one will worry. Not that I would ever do anything like that. :oP No...Not me.

Better go, got books to read.


Rosemary 8-11-2001 13:40
Out of ciriousity, I went to that gardinia press website advertised below. I did find it interesting that the first page says authors pay nothing, but digging a bit deeper, I find that there is a reading fee of $65.00. They accept credit cards, or checks, but NSF checks incure an additional fee of $20.00. That was as deep as I read, but I would guess that deeper research could show more charges. Makes on wonder at the statement that they don't charge the author, and if in fact they have ever published any matierial. I recall seeing a 60 minutes program dealing with a simular program, where the head of the outfit kept all the money and only published one or two novels, which were so poor that they never sold any copies, except those that the publisher required the author to purchase as part of the deal. I guess one should look carefully at publishing houses before becoming involved. Just goes to show that it can be a cruel world out there and we need to be carefull.

Jerry Ericsson 8-11-2001 11:29
*****Rachel*****

Hi all :o)

I have some more news about "Shadows in a Dream". It can now be ordered from: http://www.barnesandnoble.com

My mother ordered and read S*. She loved the book. She tells me that it was hard for her to seperate Emma from me, but that she did do that. Her husband loved the book, but when Emma got up to adventure he needed to stop reading. He was unable to seperate Emma from me. He however very much enjoyed what he read.

This has been a very busy summer in our house. We have had Sebastian moving like a wild man (big smiles). Our home is more baby safe every day. We have had one of our foster sons need to move. That means that I will soon have somebody new in my home. My eldest foster soon will soon be thirteen. For all those who have a child or have ever spent time with a child this age, you likely know what that means (laughter). He is all that (winks). He is Sir Brilliant. He is Sir Know All (oh yeah) He more than anything knows that an adult could never know more than a thirteen year old boy. He is also very into R.P.G. Sometimes I wonder if he is a little too into R.P.G. My eldest bio son continues to roll along with very few problems. He has always been quite an easy child. My daughter is as always a little on the demanding side. I think we should have said no to her more when she was young (grins). We tried that 'never say no' approach. I wouldn't use that again.

Debra - I don't know if girls are so easy or boys are so hard. I have the feeling that personality is personality. Slap it on a boy or a girl and it will likely be about the same. Besides, it doesn't matter how our children behave we will love them no matter what (smiles and hugs).


8-11-2001 11:04
Hello!

Viv, I'll pass on your address, thanks! I don't know when she'll contac