Archived Messages from to August 18, 2001 to September 7, 2001

What a glorious day! The hot air is all gone, replaced with that crisp fall stuff. Just saw two kids walk by, must be from different families, one was wearing a parka, the other in shorts! It has been raining now for about three hours, boy did we need that everything was so brown, maybe it will perk the grass up a bit before the snow flies. Oh did I mention it was snowing in the Black Hills this morning?



Jerry 9-7-2001 17:05


Uh microsoft 9-7-2001 15:55
*****Rachel*****

Mel - Big smiles and hugs to you :o) Days are busy right now. These young years are so wonderful. Yes, they yap our ears off, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Okay, maybe there are the odd moments when I would have them all be silent. Those times don't come along very often.

Take care you.

9-7-2001 12:00
MEL: Thanks! I don't think it sucks to have to pay though because it increases the quality of websites. If it weren't for those fees I would have submitted my site before it was even finished and then worked on it as I went. The internet would be even more full of half-assed sites if nobody had to pay anything. I am even semi-glad that Yahoo! raised their price...I just wish I hadn't waited that one extra day. Snooze ya lose.

Mary 9-7-2001 11:01
Hi everyone!

JACK: Good job on the video! You always choose such nice music. Also, thanks for your help with the search engine question.

HOWARD: How are you feeling? I am sure you will be doing the funky chicken in no time.

LITTER: Hi!

HEATHER: Did I miss something? Where are you?

CHRISTI: Hi Hon! Whatcha doin'?

TEEKAY: How are things on your side of the world?


Mary CeltiCreations 9-7-2001 10:45
^Mel^

Hi, guys and gals! What wonders a good night's sleep can do for an otherwise-zombie! :-)

VIV: :-) To "write short quick stories that exhausted people can enjoy" - that's a nice goal, Viv! And lots of potential readers for that too!!!

RACHEL: I've been too exhausted lately to stay up late or get up early, even to write, more is the woe! Am trying to find a happy medium (now, where'd she go?!)... Yes, my littlest one is also a major 'chat factory' (so are her brothers!).

BEN! Welcome back. WOW! Lots of forward-motion writing - good for you!! :-) Titles - I was gonna check the library's BOOKS-IN-PRINT online for your titles to see if they were already used, but I haven't been able to get into the computer program for BIP yet. Still, "TAROT..." is more likely to be unique, I think. Good luck selling your mss! :-) Wish I were to that point, but not nearly ready... And for you and your family, (((puppy HUGS))).

HOWARD: Glad your shoulder is healing...start therapy yet? Hope it's do-able for you. re: GREEN PRINTS - have you got a new subscriber card or a phone no. or address for them? I'd like to get a subscription for our library-books-by-mail program. We have several gardeners/garden lovers among our at-home patrons. While you're looking for that, if you stumble across HIERO #3, I'm ready... :-) I am so enjoying Lanier's trilogy!

TINA: Thanks for the hug; I needed that!! I'd read for you, but I gotta finish a few crits first - will let you know when I'm ready to read. Your shorty was right on target with the style of children interrupting conversation! Ha! You must know some kids personally (or be an overgrown kid, Peter-Pan style, heh heh!). Back-up muses are nice ; sometimes my 11-yr-old helps me brainstorm, especially helpful when Ms. Muse is on strike (she has her own Union of One - usually gets her way, too). BTW, I now have two of Howard's HIERO books for the book exchange - interested? Or are you into LOTR just now? If you want the HIERO books, just email me your snail-mail addy and I'll send them to you. BTW, how was THE DIVE? Didja do it yet?

JOHN: Belated (?) Happy Wedding Anniversary! :-)

ED: Your new site looks good! :-)

ALLEIN: (((HUGS))) for you and your friends. How utterly sad.

JERRY! (((HUGS))) for your rough childhood.

MARY: Congrats on the website award! :-) I think it "sucks" you have to pay anything to anyone for weblinks, commercial, domain, or otherwise. What a rook!!! >-{

JACK: Australian pages are really nice at first scan - thanks for the armchair trip! :-)

DAI, BRIAN, and any other newbies - HELLO and WELCOME! :-)

UNIDENTIFIED LURKERS: Front and center! Hello!!

EVERYONE ELSE: HIYA! :-) Been missing you guys all week. Glad I'm back; now I've gotta go have a weekend, hopefully an UNEVENTFUL one after last weekend's mess! I may or may not get to check in before Monday - tons of laundry, groceries to get, housechores...and chasing Ms. Muse somewhere in the weekend. I'm gonna duct tape her to the bottom of my feet!!!

Mel 9-7-2001 10:30
Well, for your viewing pleasure, here is my first attempt at filming underwater. It is outtakes of Fran trying to get her buoyancy correct. She is still having some dizziness in the evening. The point about blood pressure is something I will pass on to Fran. As it happens, I am fighting a bit of a cough and chest congestion. This is hoping that it goes away by the time we leave. The interesting part was that I had no problem while I was underwater. We were going to transfer the camera over to Fran so she could film me, but did not happen.

Jack Beslanwitch Fran in the pool 9-7-2001 6:29
This is such a great site! I found it surfing. Was wondering if anyone's read Lit Life yet by a new writer named Kurt Wenzel. It's fiction and great especially if you're a writer, since it's focused on the publishing industry and set in both Manhattan and The Hamptons. Really fun and blows Chabon and that new one called "About the Author" out of the water! Gotta check it out if you're in publishing at all. Let me know if you guys have read it.

bookworm33 9-7-2001 5:47
*Tina*
Eddie, I've known a couple people who have that kind of story. Fiji sounds like a great place for the adventurous type.

Mel, ((HUGS))

Here's my kinda longish shortie...

When the bus pulled up to the stop, Marilyn scanned the people inside for familiar faces. She only spotted Shelley, and wondered where Joanne could be. She should’ve boarded five stops back. Before she could wonder for long, the doors swung inward and Lia tugged on her arm, anxious to climb on.

“Yes, sweetie,” she agreed, following her five-year-old daughter up the step. Lia handed the driver their pass, a duty she gleefully performed.

“Hello, Mr. Glen!” she bubbled before heading for her favourite seat.

“Hi Lia,” the driver replied, nodding at Marilyn with a smile on his face from Lia’s contagious joy.

The bus pulled away from the curb as Marilyn took her seat beside Shelley, with Lia just in front, on the seat by the window. Lia had already removed her pink backpack and placed it carefully on the aisle seat.

“Hey, Shelley, where did Joanne get to today?” Marilyn asked while she got comfortable.

“Dunno. She didn’t call and say she’d miss today.”

“Not like Joanne to miss the Thursday Afternoon Coffee and Bagel, and never two weeks in a row.”

“Mommy, there’s a taxi!” Lia piped up, excitedly pointing out the window.

“Uh huh,” Marilyn agreed, looking over at her daughter. To answer Shelley’s curious look, she added, “We took a taxi on the weekend, and now she’s pointing out every one she sees. Maybe Jo is sick?”

“I talked to her last night, and everything seemed alright. She didn’t mention anything, anyway.” Shelley grinned. “Maybe Drea slowed her up. It can take so long to get that girl ready. She’s so easily distracted!”

“Well, if she just missed the bus, she’ll be along later.”

The bus stopped at a light. “One, two, three, four… five! Mommy, there’s five of those pretty trees!” Lia reached over and tugged her mom’s sleeve. Marilyn looked out the window and saw the flowering crab apple trees.

“Yes, they’re very pretty Lia.”

“What kind of tree are they?”

“They’re crab apples.”

“Crabby apples? Are they mean?”

“No, it’s just a name, hon.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can you eat them?”

“I don’t think so. They don’t taste good.”

Lia turned back to the window, stretching her neck to see something up high.

“Last week she said she couldn’t get out because Drea was ill. Maybe she caught her bug,” Shelley mused.

“Drea was sick? She didn’t say anything when we went over
on Saturday. I hope Lia didn’t catch it.” Marilyn looked at Lia, still peering happily out at the street flowing by. Lia loved Thursdays, when she could ride the ‘adult’ bus with her mom. She’d watch the world going by from the time they got on until they reached their stop at the school, and talk continuously through the trip. She loved the bus ride to kindergarten as much as she loved school.

“Mommy, look at the doggy!” Lia fairly bounced in her seat, but stayed sitting.

“Drea catches every cold that comes along,” Marilyn shrugged. “She’s always sick.”

“Mommy, look at the dog!”

“Okay, hon! Yes, he’s pretty!”

“Joanne’s a bit of a hypochondriac. If Drea is really sick even half as often as Joanne thinks, I’d be surprised.”
Shelly obviously didn’t approve.

“Mommy what’s a hypadrac?”

“Hypochondriac. Someone who thinks they’re sick all the time, even if they’re aren’t sick,” Marilyn answered automatically. “Was Drea at school yesterday, Lia?”

“Uh huh,” Lia replied absently, looking back out the window.

“Of course, something just might’ve come up.” Shelley shifted on the seat uncomfortably.

“I’ll call her later, if she doesn’t show up. Lia, our stop is next,” Marilyn warned her daughter. “Grab your bag.”

“Can I push the buzz yet?” Lia’s eyes shone hopefully.

“Wait… okay, push it.”

Lia’s little hand pushed the button, and she looked up at the ‘Stop requested’ sign that lit up.

The bus pulled in to the curb, and Marilyn held Lia’s hand while they stepped onto the sidewalk. Shelley followed, and the bus pulled away. The trio headed for the door to the kindergarten room.

“Drea isn’t sick, mommy. She was okay yesterday.”

“Oh?” Marilyn replied, amused by Lia’s concern.

“Uh huh. Drea said that her mom couldn’t pick her up from school yesterday. She said the auntie Joanne stayed in bed all day, crying.”

“Oh?” Shelley and Marilyn exchanged concerned looks. “Did she say why, hon?”

“She said she had to go to bed early, before her dad came home. But she heard them have a fight.”

“Auntie Joanne and uncle Steve had a fight?”

“Uh huh. Drea heard them talking, and auntie Jo told him to stop betting, and uncle Steve got mad and yelled at her.”
A bell rang, and Lia pulled away from Marilyn’s hand.

“Bye mommy!” Lia ran for the door with the rest of the five-year-olds. Marilyn saw Drea’s trademark pigtails among the bobbing heads, and looked at Shelley. Her friend couldn’t wipe the shock from her face.

“How about we get our coffee to go, and go see Joanne?”



Tina 9-7-2001 3:54
Jack - I have been experiencing dizziness myself. It finally got bad enough that I went to the Doctor to complain. He did a through examination, then gave me a cure. Not one that cost an arm and a leg at the pharmacy, seems my blood pressure was too low. I am taking two blood pressure meds every day. He said not to stop taking them, just start eating salt! What a wonderful prescriptions! Now my food tastes the way it did when I was young and active. After several weeks now, the dizziness is going away, only happens now on rare occasions.

Jerry 9-6-2001 22:37
Jack,
Your coming trip to Fiji has awoken many memories for me.
I spent three days on the the Singatoka river back in the early 70's.
The map showed the road running alongside the river all the way down. The map was wrong. at times the road was over 50 miles from the river course. Our support truck was often this far away from us. We were shown how to build rafts from the bamboo stems alongside the river by 'Joe' and left to build our own. (All of our guides were somehow called Joe) The raft was a simple six pole construction with a raised seat about 2 thirds of the way down towards the rear. Most of the time the 'floor' of the raft was under water. The seat was extremely important for keeping dry.
On the second day we stopped alongside a steep bank which showed signs of travel up and down to the river bank. After a short time a young head appeared over the ridge line to covertly inspect these barefaced intruders. We were eventually invited up to the 'Village hall' and afforded all of the hospitality of honoured guests. We were fed and watered, offered dry clothes and entertained royally thru the late hours. I was honoured to be (As we all were) the recipient of the 'grog presentation'. Grog is a slightly narcotic substance made from pounding the bark of 'Gava' thru a sacking filter into a half coconut shell and beautifully offered on bended knee to the visitor. Ceremonial clapping and nodding takes place while the visitor embives of the liquid in one attempt.
During this ceremony the fires are piled high and the wonderful Fijian sung harmonies fill the air. The flames climb high as the grog begins to take effect. The voices of the singers penetrate deeply. The dark night seems to fade away as the atmosphere thickens and these wonderful people work their magic on you hour after hour. It is a magical place. Jack, try to get away from the 'civilised' coastal regions and get up into the hills. Try to see the 'real' Fiji. You won't regret it.
Ed

Eddie Ed's Writing Life 9-6-2001 21:55
-mel-

Tired...been a terribly stressing week, husband's been seriously ill, sleepless nights... I'm ready to try another dimension now.

MORNING BITS & BITES

Pre-dawn birdsong reached my ears as I stretched within my sleeping bag. Most campers around our pop-up were still sleeping soundly. Then I heard the footsteps and voices of a father and young child heading for the campground outhouse.

"Daddy, a bug bit me."

"Bite him back."

"I did. I ate him all up."

That was enough to arouse my family for our own breakfast, no bugs allowed!

(a true story, from a camping trip in the 1970's)


I will answer posts tomorrow. G'nite. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

mel 9-6-2001 21:55
VIV: My site only costs money because I own my own domain and I am a commercial site. I am sure you won't incur any costs with yours...rest easy. :-)

Mary 9-6-2001 21:26
Jerry,
I know the scenario.....shop assistant does not bother to even go for eye contact....the script plays out on auto (They all look the same to us) ......Then wakes up suddenly!
Either that or you are shrinking fast!
I have the same problem frequently (I wish)

Eddie Ed's Writing Life 9-6-2001 21:26
Eddie- Thanx! That will be helpful information for me!

Jack- Isn't it funny how you always get second thoughts right before you jump into strange new waters? I always have to really work to jump into anything new...this website for me is full of sharks and what if's.

Hope Fran's dizzy spells go away your diving waters are clear and the sharks, mantras, moray's, and lion fish are all on vacation and feeling laid back. They're fun to shoot with a camera, but not so nice if your feet or hands get in the way!

Viv 9-6-2001 21:23
Mary:
You scared me. You said it cost money to make a website on Yahoo. I am doing it for teaching so I HOPE NOT. The place I have mine says it's free.

Mine is pretty awful yet. I'm not impressed at all. I think I'm going to have to try something else because this form is very constricting but nice if you don't have the time to do more. I'd like to do more but for a test class...MAYBE it will do.

I have to skip the shortie this week. The website and the classes are going to need a little more concentration, plus I'll start up teaching again....sigh. Vacation seemed short this time.

Viv 9-6-2001 20:45
Eddie - no, really she did, then busted out laughing with the rest of us.

Jerry 9-6-2001 20:25
While I was looking I found this too.
Try it out

Eddie Zdnet - Writers Word processor 9-6-2001 19:05
BTW, The file size shown on the page is wrong...it is under 1 meg to download!
Ed

Eddie 9-6-2001 18:56
Just for you (All)
How many times have you been typing into the message box here at the notebook and got stuck on a spelling?
Having to open Word and type in the word is a pain, admit it.
Click the link below to get a FREE spell checker that will run in the background (If you wish) so that you can spell check on the fly.
.....Don't mention it
Ed

Eddie Webfree - Spell Checker 9-6-2001 18:55
Jerry
Do I detect a little bit of wishful thinking there? ;¬(
I wonder where everybody is?
If everybody is writing that is going to make me feel soooo guilty.
2 fdisks' in 48 hours and everything is up and running good this time. The first re-build just went tits up from the get go. Second time I got a really good build and it's running really well now. Funny thing is...it was the Microsoft applications (Office, Frontpage etc. that gave me all the problems. (You listening Mr Gates?)
Any how, this build feels good for about six months (Hopefully!) so I should get some work done for a while.
Later,
Ed

Eddie Ed' Writing Life 9-6-2001 18:39
Strange thing happened last week. We went to Walmart, a 90 mile trip, and I found Quake II on sale for $9.00. I love the original quake, so I couldn't pass up this bargain. When we went to check out the lady at the cashier CARDED ME! Wow, did I feel young. You see, you must be over seventeen to buy this game and being 50, it made me feel young if just for a few seconds. I think she was just being kind, but my wife cracked up. So did the cashier when she saw my DL.

Jerry 9-6-2001 14:20
Well guess I am out of the dog house. Things were just a bit tense yesterday after I cancelled the camping trip. One of those things where everyone said something like "it't OK we don't need to go if it is ggoing to be that hot." When all the time in the back of their minds they were thinking "you bastard, and when we were so looking forward to camping!" So yesterday was a bit tense, but after living through the heat sitting in front of our small air conditioner, they relented and all is forgiven today. Ah life, what would it be without emotions.

Jerry 9-6-2001 13:45
Hi everyone. Top o'the mornin' to ya.

JACK: Would you mind answering me a small question with your experience as a webmaster? If I am already listed in a search engine's directory but I have changed my meta description and/or keywords on one or more of my pages, should I resubmit the site to refresh those changes in their directory or is it done automatically as their spiders are crawling around? Also, if I do resubmit them, is there a time consideration so that it doesn't appear as if I am spamming the engine? (Even unintentionally?) Thanks for your time! :-)

Mary 9-6-2001 10:43
Well Dai, if I had a quarter for every time one of my characters went and did something unexpected...
It's nothing unusual for that to happen; I think it's a sign of complex characters, and knowing them well in your head. No matter how much you plan something, suddenly a character will go and do their own thing, without your prior consent. I find that it's usually a good thing. It keeps my writing fresh and unstilted. But it can be frustrating when your characters show such disregard for your plans ;-)

TTFN



Tina 9-6-2001 10:17
Thanks for the great welcome everyone, a bit overwhelming. So far no men in epauletted shirts and jangling keys (security) have come for me. So, I might have got away with it, hopefully. Just a qick comment, when I started writing this story, i seemed to have a definite idea of what i wanted to write, but the story has taken on a life of its own and totally changed from my original idea. Is it just that i am so inexperienced at this or is it commonplace. I have written song lyrics/poetry for years but have never come across this. Thanks again all, for the welcome I will no longer just be a silent observer maybe i can gain some more divine inspiration from you.

Dai

Dai 9-6-2001 7:18
Thanks for the great welcome everyone, a bit overwhelming. So far no men in epauletted shirts and jangling keys (security) have come for me. So, I might have got away with it, hopefully. Just a qick comment, when I started writing this story, i seemed to have a definite idea of what i wanted to write, but the story has taken on a life of its own and totally changed from my original idea. Is it just that i am so inexperienced at this or is it commonplace. I have written song lyrics/poetry for years but have never come across this. Thanks again all, for the welcome I will no longer just be a silent observer maybe i can gain some more divine inspiration from you.

Dai

Dai 9-6-2001 7:18
Wellllll, got up this AM and turned on the radio, anouncer said be prepared for the hottest day of the year. After a short conversation, we decided not to go camping in the heat and wind.

Glad we didn't got up to 103 winds up to 30 MPH. Maybe next week.

So since I didn't go camping, I decided to work on my computer see if I could get Norton from saying I had a virus named Explorer.exe. No matter what I tried it didn't work, so I gave it the old fdisk and format. I have enough put back on now to use anyhow. Sure glad I backed up everything, but this putting everything back ever few weeks is getting old. Maybe I should be a bit more careful.

I did start a shorty, but lost it when I formated. I backed up my docs before I did the shorty. I may try and remember what I had put together, but maybe not. With the heat came my hayfeaver. Ever had a sneeze so bad that it hurt. Did that about an hour ago, still sore in the back. May just go to bed.

Jerry 9-5-2001 22:14
Dai,
Welcome
Welcome,
(I always repeat myself when I've had a beer or two!)
I loved that little story about your email to yourself.
It could be worse - You could be on close personal terms with the whole fifty of them! (Meybe there are only twenty of them)
I bet you never meant to give that much of yourself away to that BLOODY LOT!
Never mind......At least you don't have to be there much longer.

WHERE IS EVERYBODY ??
Bye,
Ed


Eddie Eds' Writing Life 9-5-2001 21:15
Brian,
As long as this 'Literary Agent' asked you for no money up front then I would go with him.
If, on the other hand, he asked you for money to procure his services, then you should be still running!
Welcome to the Writers Notebook.
You can't get better advice and learning.
Ed

Eddie Eds' Writing Life 9-5-2001 20:36
Hi all. I'm here - just super busy and not able to keep up with everyone. I do skim the posts, though, and I'm half-way keeping track.

Have a good rest of the week!

Hallee 9-5-2001 14:35
Viv - Sorry, I haven't been around much. I did copy the translations - thank you. Thank Hana for me. They're great. :)

Dai - Welcome. :)

Allein Peachick's Gallery 9-5-2001 14:22
This probably wouldn't sting so much if they hadn't just raised the price YESTERDAY!!! GRRRRRRR!!!

Mary 9-5-2001 12:44
Here is a perfect example of being damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I have waited until I couldn't find anything more than a speck of dust wrong with my website to submit it to Yahoo!. I obsessively agonized over every little thing to make sure that the editors couldn't disqualify me over something lame. This morning I finally decide to fork over my $200 and submit my site. I go to the page to enter my data and VOILA...they have raised the submission review fee to $300!! I am now going to go pound my head on the toilet and try to figure out how to make another $100 before they raise the price again. Sighs. Sometimes I wonder about the obstacles I run into and what I am doing wrong in my life to deserve them.

Yet another lesson learned.

off pouting...

Mary 9-5-2001 12:43
@:@Rosemry@:@
Morning To Each and Every one of you,

DAI,
If you can't make a disk copy of your beginning manuscript real fast,(listening for heavy footsteps) don't worry. Very few of us can leave the beginning 1/4 of a novel the same. Usually it is the most re-worked section of any work. It is also the most important part of your manuscript. If you don't catch the reader in that part, no one will ever read the rest of it.

BRIAN,
Welcome. I don't know this person's name but be sure to do careful research about him. I have heard that one of the main signs of a bad agent is if you have to pay him anything up front. Even his expenses are suposed to come out of the earnings from the work he has sold for you.

The fact that he contacted you, (barring facts that we don't know,) is the most suspicious part. Of course, he could be new, trying to get started. Maybe you have friends in common and he heard about your writing.
Just be careful. A lot of hopeful writers have been taken for their hard earned money with nothing in return.

JACK,
I obviously am no expert and this is just a suggestion, but you might have Fran's sinus'es(?) checked out. Mine ocassionally cause a little dizziness when I lay down or lean back in the evenings. If I take my sinus med. it doesn't happen.

I just want to know who gave TEEKAY permission to leave us for a whole month. This looks to be a slow month and we need all the posters we can get. That goes for HEATHER too!
[Insert a bunch of silly happy faces here]

You people with a real life have put us too low on your priority list. My opinion. Maybe I'm getting out of control?
Better go now.



Rosemary 9-5-2001 12:34
Hello Everyone:

This is my first time using a bulletin board like this, so please bare with me.

I am a sci-fi & fantasy writer. And, as I am sure many of you know it is very difficult to find representation when you are just starting out. Well, I have been fortunate enough to be contacted by a literary agent by the name of: Donald P. Kng out of Whitefish Bay, WI.

Before I go jumping over into the abyss, I was wondering if anyone out here has had or has heard of any dealings with Mr. King. Good and bad.

I would like to find out everything I can before making any kind of decision.

Thank you for all of your help.

Brian 9-5-2001 11:25
TINA: Yep, the shortie night theme is "An Overheard Conversation"

Mary 9-5-2001 11:19
Dai: When you look back on this later, you will laugh. Your first published work and you didn't even get paid! Unless of course, you count the two week vacation you are going to get as a fringe benefit. Ah well, not much you can do about it now, just enjoy your time off if you get the boot.

Mary 9-5-2001 11:18
*Tina*
A much better morning!
Thanks Jerry. No, nothing too serious. It hit so hard and fast that I'm actually wondering if it wasn't food poisoning at all. I've heard that some pesticide sprays on vegetables can make a person nasty sick, so maybe it was that.

Jack, every time I start thinking, 'maybe I should sell my dive gear, I never seem to use it anymore', you pop in with diving stories that get me fired up again. (sigh) have enough fun for me, too, 'kay?

Dai, welcome! Yup, you've definately got the bug. That's some security system, if you can't even e-mail yourself a text file.
This place can definately be inspirational. In the last year since I found it, I've learned more and written more and been more satisfied and confident about writing than I'd ever been before.
So, what kind of novel is it? 4600 words is a good start, it must of been kicking around your brain for awhile?

John, Alexandra and Julia, hope you're still around! Are you back from Rome, Ruth?
Mark, how's that course going? It must be nearly done (I think it's been 6 weeks or so).
Goodweed, you popped in and left again. Hi you.

Is there a shortie theme yet this week?
Time for work, I'm outa here!

Tina 9-5-2001 10:37
Where are my manners?

Dai - Welcome to our little group. Another voice in our great debates and story telling is always welcome. Sounds like you have been lurking for so long, you allready know all of us. Now you can tell us all about you.



Jerry 9-5-2001 9:25
Tina - hope it wasn't anything serious, it is hell to be sick.

Jack - be careful with both types of sharks. We would hate to see anything bad happen to you or your lovely wife. Sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can have a terrible effect on one, especially in a politically charged situation such as is going on in Figi. I recall those terrible photo's of the US Service man's dead body being dragged behind a pickup truck in Africa several years ago.

I understand the possibility of being attacked by a shark are about as likely as winning the power ball lottery, but you have to figure, someone has to win it. I am sure that poor lady laying in a hospital in Virginia Beach is thinking the same thing right now, what with her boyfriend dead, and she missing a good chunk of her behind. From what I understand the reason that the press is paying so much attention to the shark thing, is that they think we are getting tired of the Condit thing.

Jerry 9-5-2001 9:21
Hi, I'm reasonably new to this posting message lark so bear with me, just thought I'd tell you what I just did. I have been reading your messages for months, and your collective advice has inspired me to 'try' to write a novel/short story. After weeks of planning, research etc, i started writing it in work in my lunch hour. Well 4600 words later, I decided to e-mail it to my home PC as I resigned from the job and just working my notice period. So I emailed it, but forgot about the Office's Email Security text checker, which checks for 'unauthorised' words. As my 'story' contains a few 'unauthorised' words, its been quarantined and sent to all department heads for auditing and checking. Help.....does this mean by virtue of about 50 people reading my unfinished work mean I am a published author. I better start clearing my desk now rather than in 2 weeks time.I sense Security coming for me....

Dai 9-5-2001 9:00
Viv: We are planning on doing a pool dive this Thursday to test out some equipment and try to do some filming with the ikelite housing. If I succeed I will try to digitize and post the video here. At the very least we should be able to get some pictures of Fran and I being suitably underwater. Only main troubling point is that Fran is still having some dizziness, especially in the evening. We will see how all of this turns out, but I will have my laptop with me and have definite plans to get some writing down, particularly drawing from our experiences being in the south Pacific and diving and all the rest. I have plans of being much more extensive than what I accomplished with the Australia page, albeit we are going to be much more restricted in the area we are visiting than we went to Australia. In that case went from Melbourne to Uluru(Ayres's Rock) to Cairnes and down to Sydney. The dimensions of our travel while in country in Fiji will be much more restricted. Only question mark is probably the political equation. The individual that sponsored the coup a year ago was elected to be a member of parliament while still in jail. Or, I believe that is what I heard on the radio on NPR earlier. Throws new wrinkles into things. At the very least I will probably get insights into a country in ethnic turmoil. And most definitely we will get a chance to see some beautiful sites while diving. The only thing that gives me pause is the fact that we will likely encounter sharks. Definitely will get pictures if so. With all the hype going on here on the news about the deaths and the attacks, some of the reality of the situation is getting lost. Including the fact that shark attacks are actually down and the probability of being the victim of a shark attack is so low that it is six times more likely that you will get struck by lightning than bit by a shark. We do not even taste good once they realize what they are biting. The interesting bit of info I got recently was that they navigate by electrical fields. That is the reason they end up eating things like license plates and such since metal in salt water gives off an electrical field. Has some interesting possibilities for SF stories. At any rate, catch everyone later. Been a bit overwhelmed by a commercial contract.

Jack Beslanwitch Australia Pages 9-5-2001 7:19
Hi all!

Not much to say, but since it's so quiet here I feel bad about lurking!

Gave me and my husband food poisoning tonight. Just mild, but I wish I knew exactly what caused it, the meat or the soup or the rice. We're both exhausted now.

As far as writing goes, my new idea for 'Freeborn' is slowly taking shape. Had plenty of time to write last weekend, and it feels SO good! Not the exhilerating rush of ideas flowing faster than my fingers can type. No, it's the satisfaction of effective editing and much improved plot lines.

Speaking of 'Freeborn', if anyone has spare time (I know, I know, spare what? Time? hahahaha) and feels like doing some reading... a big chunk of my story needs input. Not necessarily the line by line typo and grammar editing, but more of the overall are the characters developing the way I want them to and does the plot develope in a logical, understandable way without being boring/predictable kind of input. If anyone is interested, just drop me an e-mail.

Okay, I'm off to bed now. So tired my eyes are shutting involuntarily.

Sleepytime...
soft pillow...
zzzz

Tina 9-5-2001 1:39
Finally, the floodgates opened and I'm putting the classes in correct order. It's funny, suddenly you can do it again after you hit a stopping point. I've been at the computer since 7:00 and it's now 2:00. Time for a break.

Mary, I really really want to hear about how you loaded the wav. files onto your website. I also want to hear if they were wav. files or MP-3 files which are supposed to take up less space and download easily. I'll attempt to understand but have a lot of patience because I am so slow to catch on. It takes hours of hands on time before I have it on my computer and in my brain!

Heather and Allein: Haven't heard from you all lately. Heather did you get Mr. Bill or should I start to wring my hands. I insured the package so I can put a trace and also claim any damages.

Allein: scroll down down down because the translations are here. I hope they are good enough!

Jerry: My best wishes that your computer is back up and in business shortly. There is nothing as frustrating as a broken computer.

Jack: Have fun in Fiji and hope you get some great pictures. Take it easy!


Viv 9-5-2001 1:10
MARY - Your webpage is SUPER! I really enjoyed it, and I'm not done visiting it.

I got separated this morning from the harness/pillow that I've been wearing since the shoulder surgery. Should start therapy soon, but I'm not looking forward to it. Right now it hurts like crazy, and I can't lift my arm at all. Doc says it'll get better.

At the risk of redundancy, I'll repeat my recommendation for anyone at all interested in Celtic/Druidic/Arthurian legend to read "The Pagan King" by Edison Marshall. It's long out of print, but well worth the effort to locate a copy. Marshall also wrote "Earth Giant" (Hercules), "West With the Vikings" (Leif Ericcson), "Journey to Xanadu" (Marco Polo), and others, all re-tellings (in first person) of well known legends.

Also, for those gardeners among us, beg, borrow, buy, or steal a copy of "Green Prints." It's a quarterly magazine about gardening. Not "how-to," but personal articles related to gardening experiences. The writing is excellent, and the editorial staff is bent on keeping it that way. I've been a subscriber for several years now, and plan to continue for as long as possible.



howard 9-5-2001 0:06
I wonder, what does that say for us? Or maybe it should be what does that say about the rest, they must have very busy lives, and we on the other hand, must have too much time on our hands.

Jerry 9-5-2001 0:04
JERRY: Looks like it's just me and you fella. It is very disconcerting to come back to the Notebook after a whole day to find that the last person who posted was yourself.

HEATHER: Did you get my email? Sorry it took so long for me to respond, but your pictures were delivered into my 'Bulk Mail' folder and I only open that once a week because it is usually just SPAM. Sorry sorry...please forgive me. BTW, you don't need to send me all of your pictures now if they aren't ready, but if you could tell me how many there are, that would be good. I just need to know how many pages to format, that's all.

I could just dance, dance, dance right now. After ten days of feeling like a complete loser-idiot, I finally figured out how to get my sound files to play on my website. I knew how to get them to the site, I just couldn't get my html to work right and play them. Sighs. What a relief because my Gaelic pages are complete except for the sound files and if I couldn't figure that out, I would have wasted all the time I spent on those pages. Now I am in for a few days of ftp hell, then I should be good to go.

Hopped online tonight and opened my email to a nice surprise. Someone read one of my poems,that had been posted for a shortie night a while back, and told me how much they really enjoyed it. Made me feel pretty darn good.

LITTER: I put an itty-bitty thank you at the bottom of one of my web pages for you. My heart says that it should be font size 72 and blinking in all different colors, but you are a little more understated than that. (winks) How is your site coming?

Off to run the sweeper and fill the dishwasher, then I can sit here uploading files to my heart's content without feeling guilty.

Later.

Mary CeltiCreations 9-4-2001 22:41
Ok, so I'm talking to myself now. I posted the last post early this AM, and nobody has posted since. There seems to be an echo in here.

Norton cleaned off the viruses, but left my computer extremely ill. Every time explorer runs into a script, or I guess I should say the wrong script it freaks out, flashes the NORTON VIRUS screen then shuts down explorer. I am left with my wallpaper and nothing else. There is nothing I can do but reboot! This is going to be the ultimate test for GO BACK, in a few minutes I will tell it to go back to a working version. Hopefully it can find one, but it is scary as it will probably put those stupid viruses back where they were. This could be one of things that is insurmountable. I am now burning a CD with everything I care about on this machine, earlier today I copied all my MP3's all 987 of them that took five CD's but I have them. Would have taken 4 if my daughter wouldn't have started messing with the machine that has the burner on it and locked it up, thus making another coaster for my collection.

If this doesn't work, then it is time again for that horrible command FORMAT C: /U!

Just as well, since I installed partition magic, and tried to use that on this machine. Partition magic told me that I also have an invalid partition, so it needs FDISK first I guess. That too is my fault, as I didn't frisk it when I installed it, and it's prior owner had this hard drive in his MAC.

At any rate, format or not, we are going on what will probably be our final camping trip tomorrow, right after meeting with our new insurance lady. Found her when mom lost her insurance through some screw up at the bank and couldn't find anyone who would insure her house as the former agent had things so screwed up that it appeared on the computer that mom was turning in frivolous insurance claims, and might have been guilty of insurance fraud. Now I know mom, and I know she didn't do any of those things, in fact we got into what turned into a rather heated argument with that idiot who sold her the insurance, nearly got thrown out of the bank, now that would be a new one for me. The complaint has been filed with the insurance commissioner, and this nice lady actually listened to our story, and believed what we said, then sold her insurance on her home for less then she was paying the idiot.

Well I found her to be a very nice lady, and the fact that my insurance agent refused to sell insurance to mom based on that mistake, I think it is time I say farewell to him, you know the old adding, screw with mom and your screwing with the whole family.

Jerry 9-4-2001 20:46
The virus that attacked my machine didn't come via email. I have received a bunch of those email viruses too, and never open them. No this one came in a downloaded shareware program called Galaga. I love those old games and I never pass up one of the new re-makes of them. Guess that is my downfall.

Just received my weekly update from the North Dakota Supreme Court. I still subscribe to their site to keep in touch with the legal system. Once bitten you know. Anyhow they are concerned with the fact that several of the good folks of North Dakota have suffered identity theft. This has cost them their reputation and their credit rating. These thefts have taken place over the internet mostly, although I guess it can also take place over the phone or when criminals get access to your garbage, either from your garbage can or at the local dump. I guess the local dump is out of the question in many local's but it would be possible here, as the dump is open daily to the good citizens of our fair town so they can dump tree branches or lawn clipping and that sort of thing. I know there are several scroungers who are there daily going through the dumps for copper wire, aluminum and that sort of money making things.

But I digress. The link below will take you to a US Department of Justice site on identity theft, and I would suggest anyone who uses the internet read the material, it is a real eye opener and they give great advice on how to avoid identity theft. If they can steal the identity from the ultra conservative folks who live up here, they can steal it from anyone.

I am off to update my Norton Anti-virus files.

Jerry Identity theft 9-4-2001 11:01
Jerry,
Over the last couple of weeks I have been under continued attack via email. The subject of these emails is usually SBDcat. A short message in the body of the email requests advice and there is an attatchment called something like SBDcat.zip.dat. The files are unusually large for a virus (About 400kb) The worm virus is hidden amongst zipped files which look fairly innocent. I isolated one email a few days ago and checked it out. Norton picked it up but then I update my Virus Definitions fortnightly. If you get an email like this do not, under any circumstances open it. Don't even save it for scanning, just delete it right away and empty your re-cycle bin.
Has anybody else had a similar email over the past few weeks?
I ask this for a good reason. If we all have each other in our address books and somebody has opened one then it will do the rounds. I do not have any notebookers in my address book for this reason.
Be careful,
Later


Eddie Eds' Writing Life 9-4-2001 7:23
Jerry: Do not feel to bad. Over the six years and more that I have been on the internet, most of the time I have had no encounters with viruses. But in the last seven months I have been inundated with countless instances, all caught by Norton. Unfortunately, Windows XP has part of Norton incapacitated, but I can generally spot the offending email and usually avoid opening anything that looks even remotely suspicious until I have checked it. The new Norton 2002, which I have on order, will handle both XP and knock out the kind of viruses that steal your email list and then send the virus off to everybody on the list. Of course, that is given you are using Outlook or Outlook Express for email which I am not. I have been a Eudora user from day one. Oh, well, blathering on again. BTW, I have some feelers out on a potential technical book project. We will see. And wish me luck. Nothing will happen until after I get back from Fiji.

Jack Beslanwitch 9-4-2001 7:06
Forgot to mention - like a good little computer owner, I subjected my computer to a virus scan. The main reason was not the fact that it has been quite some time since the last but the fact that Norton Anti virus has been popping up saying that there was a virus in EXPLORER.EXE. Now Explorer.EXE is in truth the whole control over windows. Well the scan said that out of the 56 thousand files on my system, 7 were infected with Back Orifice virus. They were all quarantined, and hopefully my computer will now behave itself. Shame on me for downloading those files that contained the viruses, and shame on me for not doing my virus scan as regularly as I should.

Jerry 9-4-2001 1:02
What a wonderful life story, oh unnamed one.

Had a super labor day, topped it off with a trip to Walmart, just me and the wife. Found bargins galore, now if I just had the money to take advantage of them. I did buy some more CDR's as they were dirt cheap, as in 9.90 for 50 of those silver little wonders.



Jerry 9-4-2001 0:57
20's Tri-weekly
40's Try weekly
60's Try weakly
80's Try *what* ?

9-3-2001 22:53
*****Rachel*****

Allein - I've been thinking about your friend. I can not find words to express what I feel. I came so close to not having Sebastian. I hope that her heart and mind can heal. You are good to stand by her. I send you hugs and very warm thoughts.

Take care you.

9-3-2001 22:43
*****Rachel*****

Mary - I think I'll like the book well enough. I'm working on being a little more romantic, or as I say morantic (grins). I think I'm likely one of the least romantic people to ever draw breath. I'm a tad on the realist side (grin/wink). I know, it's hard to believe (merry laughter). I am not very comfortable with romantic writing. I tend to back away from it. I would rather kill off a character than deal with a romance. It's only in the last couple of years that I've developed any sort of knack for romantic sorts of writing. Some people might think I'm romantic, but that's only becasue they can't see how I pick apart every little thing that enters into my mind (wink).

Gezz, I better go. I have two little girls to get off to bed. I can't say how excited I get about 7pm or so. I find that I am looking very forward to sitting down and not having a little girl talk non-stop at me. these little ladies are chat factories. I am sure I never talked so much at their age. In fact I know I didn't. I didn't talk at all at their age.

Ciao for now.


9-3-2001 22:18
RACHEL: "Outlander" isn't really a romance, so you should be able to get into it. I don't personally read romances either, but I am totally hooked on this series. I am not saying there isn't any romance in it...but the story line doesn't revolve around the love interests.

JACK: Actually, I did put the http:// in there. The only difference I have seen is if I TAB into the entry box, it will attach to webwitch. If I click into the box, it doesn't. Maybe that is a coincidence, maybe it isn't. I have no idea, but thought I would mention it.

Mary 9-3-2001 20:28
VIV: Thanks! I am sure that your site will be great because it really matters to you. People can tell when they visit a site whether any heart went into it or not. If your heart is in the right place, and you are careful about the way you construct your site, people will be happy. Good luck. Here are some things to make sure you site does NOT do if you want to make it visitor friendly and likely to win awards.

Broken images and links. Make sure all your images display properly, and your links actually go somewhere.

Spelling and grammar misteaks.

Slow Pages.

Stupid Java applets. If it doesn't have a real purpose get rid of it. They are annoying.

Colored text on a colored or patterned background to the point where it is hard to read the text.

More than 1 ad banner per page.

Your entire site is on a single page. Books have more than one chapter - so should your website.

Extraneous content. Don't put up an animated gif just because it looks nice. "Perfection is when there's nothing else you can remove."

And the #1 way to annoy your visitors:
Music. It takes forever to load. It crashes browsers. I hate music on websites unless there is a stop button (which I instantly use) or better yet, a button you have to press to get it to play in the first place.

Sometimes a list of things you shouldn't do is better than a list of things you should. C-ya.

SHORTIE NIGHT THEME: An overheard conversation.


Mary 9-3-2001 20:23
*****Rachel*****

Mary! Way to go :o) I'm having a B-day soon. My mum gifted me early. She wanted to put a gift in my hands. It has been some years since she has been able to do that. She lives far from me. Anyway, she gave me the book 'Outlander' I look forward to reading it. I'm not usually into romantic stuff, but I bet I'll like it. How could I not, it's from my mum (she's so cute)!

9-3-2001 20:23
When adding a link remember to use the http:// at the beginning. My suspicion is that is what sabotaged the link. Also, it might be one of the features of the update that I plan to implement sometime soon that it will obviate this issue. We will see.

Jack Beslanwitch 9-3-2001 20:20
Mary- congratulations! You deserve it though, your webpage is absolutely beautiful. I can't get into the URL though, and that's disappointing. If I could see the criteria I could use them to keep in mind when I created my webpage. I'm trying Yahoo's virtual classroom but I think I still have rather fuzzy ideas on what I want to create. The good thing is I have all day today except for my two hours of writing time, which I'm starting now and hoping does not get too interrupted.

Viv 9-3-2001 19:22
Huh! That's never happened to me before. I have noticed that it has happened to other people here and never knew why, but now I really don't understand it. My link attached itself to 'webwitch'. Go figure. Hope this one works. ;-)

If not, no biggie.

Link 9-3-2001 2:27
Hi guys. Hope you all enjoy your Labor Day, for those of you who observe it. Big picnic at my house at 4pm for anyone interested. Four whole bbq'ed chickens, 6 dozen ears of corn on the cob, s'mores, sparklers, watermelon and pretty much anything else you can think of. Watch your plate...the dog is sneaky.

I got a wonderful Labor Day present today! My website has won its first AWARD. This is so cool! I wish I had done this a year ago. VIV: I wish you all the luck in the world because once you get into the swing, it is addicting and rewarding!

Mary WebAwards 9-3-2001 2:24
Rosemary - I guess I don't mind that they banned bat hunting in Texas. The scary part is that there must have been some folks who were hunting bats, or why else did that law get passed?


As far as growing up in an alcoholic household, it did do me some good. First off, when as a police officer, I had to deal with a drunk, I knew exactly how to deal with them, which buttons to push to get them to cooperate and so forth. It got so bad that when any officer was having trouble with a drunk, they used to call me to see if I could "talk some sense into the ass hole!" Another thing, when I arrested some little criminal who had just pulled a burglary or some such thing and they started crying about how tough they had it at home, I could shut them down real quick, knowing that there aren't many around that had the upbringing I had.

Even when we moved into town, off the farm things didn't get much better. The first house we moved to was an apartment of sorts, but not really. What it was was a fairly small house that was inhabited by a very old man who lived on cigars. His two back rooms became our living room/kitchen, and mom and dad's bedrooms. The girls stayed with Grandma Hay, and I got to share another spare room on the other side of the house with this transient type guy who was washing dishes at the same cafe where my mother was a cook.

Well come Christmas time that year, the celebration was a huge drunken binge in the back room of the cafe, followed by the usual horror of riding home with dad at the wheel, drunk as always. Well we made the trip home, it was a blessing that we had moved to town in that respect. After some more partying in the living room of our house, everyone went to bed. About an hour after we went to bed, Dale (the dish washer) shouted at my dad, and dad kept telling him to shut up and go to sleep. Well after a few minutes of that, Dale turned on the lights, and I sat up in my bed. When I looked over at his bed the first thing that went through my ten year old mind was "wow look at those red sheets, I wonder if he got those for Christmas?" then when my eyes cleared a bit, it was obvious what had happened, he slashed both of his wrists, then changed his mind and was calling for dad to come help him. When I shouted to dad to hurry up and get over here, he did. Now dad had been around for awhile, and he knew what to do, he took the belt off my jeans, and his belt and made two turniquit on Dale's arms, then had mom call the cops. Well mom had to run across the street to the neighbors who had a phone, and made the call.

That was my first contact with the police, and I thought they were neat guys. They took me out to sit in the car, while one of the others took care of getting Dale fixed up and out in the ambulance. Then when I went back in the house, I had to go back to that bloody room and sleep. Mom was worried about that, so she scrubbed the bed down with Lysol, and took the sheets. I don't think I got more then a few minutes sleep that night, and as I recall it wasn't that good of a Christmas. The only good part was that the folks felt bad that I had to go through that, so Dad bought me an electric train, first real nice toy I ever got.




Jerry 9-2-2001 23:17
TINA: Just posting my email for you.

Teekay 9-2-2001 21:58
Hi all,

BEN: welcome back :-).

TINA: Please email me your address so I can send 'Contact' back.

I'm going to be away for a month or so, so please try not to forget me okay?

Be well all.










Teekay 9-2-2001 21:57
JERRY,
We need to get the soapbox ready. As of yesterday, it is illegal to hunt BATS in Texas. :oP

Why would anyone hunt bats? How many bats does it take to make a good batch of bat soup? Is that with or without wings? Do you put batter on deep fried bats? Or are they crunchy enough without?

I obviously don't have enough to do.

HALLEE,
Looks like our wet weather went your way. And after all that puffing you did. In the last 4 or 5 days, we have now had about 7 inches of rain. (at my house, more in other places) Mostly it soaked in real well. Filled up the cracks and washed off the trees.

Everyone have a good holiday tomorrow,
bye.


Rosemary 9-2-2001 21:27
Alien; It is my belief that sometimes, a sweet child is born to teach us. A tiny baby is so close to the spiritual world, we can't help but feel that wonderful feeling of absolute innocence and trust, given freely, and with no strings attached. That is how we all should be. Sadly, we learn coruptions as we strive to survive in this harsh world. Mortality teaches us cyinicsm if we let it.

Babies are blameless, and if taken back into the spiritual world, really had nothing more to learn in this mortal plane other than to recieve a physical body and touch the lives of the parents. If you are Christian, then remind your freind that she will again meet with that child, though not in the mortal plane.

Take comfort in the knowledge that life is a form of energy, and as we all know, no matter the religeon, energy can neither be created, nor destroyed. It only changes forms.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


Goodweed of the North 9-2-2001 20:26
***Rosemary**
Morning whenever you are,

JERRY,
I hope you are keeping all these memories safe. That story about your dog sounded like one for the Chicken Soup books. Excellent.
I'm sure it reminds all of us who had upraisings that could have been better of some moment in the past. My Parents were alcoholics also. Things were the worst when I was about 10 to 14 years old. They had drunk friends that I hid from, cats that were shot, fights that we shivered through. There weren't any drunk relatives so I don't really think I had it as bad as you but those memories are painful.

ALLIEN,
Only time will help your friend. Just be there for her. My husband died 23 years ago and people still tip toe around mentioning him. I know this is completely different, but I'm just saying that not many people know how to give or accept sorrow.

OKAY, We need cheering up. :-P-- My assignment for a writing group was the dreaded POETRY. I don't do poetry, I don't even like music. I think I must have been between schools when poetry was taught. But below is my attempt.
ALL POETS, either skip this or grit your teeth.

POETRY
How do we start rhyming?
Are there a certain number of words per line?
What do we do about timing?
Does it really have to be mine?

They said, "Syllables can be tools."
Do they have to be long or short?
Are there specific rules?
Will I wind up in court?

Harmony is crucial, they said.
What if I'm tone deaf?
Or is that just in music for the dead?
Do I need a treble clef?

Is this poem worth at least a dime?
I looked at others, and I just can't see.
Now they tell me it doesn't have to rhyme.
Back to prose for me.

Byeeeee,


Rosemary 9-2-2001 12:42
Allien - so sorry to hear of your friends loss. About the funeral, I think I would go if I were you. Funeral's aren't for the dead, but for the living, and at times like that people need their friends the most. I was never so aware of this until last year when our neighbor lost his son. Now this was very different from your situation, their son was twenty six and living with them. Anyhow, when the funeral came around, we went, just to support our neighbor's who have been so very good to us since we moved in. A couple of months later when everything had settled down, our neighbor and his wife came over and told us how very much it meant to them just to have us there, and I wasn't even sure they saw us, as like most funerals, they sat in the first row, and we, not being family sat on the other side of the church near the back.

Ben, sorry to hear of your loss, I have lost so many pets in the many years I have haunted this old planet. I recall the first, it was a little cocker spaniel that loved me more then any animal has a right to love a human. He used to protect me in that nightmare house we called a home. Should any of the drunk friends that regularly gathered at our house even act like they were going to grab me, he would be right there, snapping at them. Then one day he was gone. We looked all over the farm for him, we searched the neighboring farm land, even went back to our old farm to see if he went home, but we never saw him again, or at least that fall. When winter came and the ice was on the lakes and ponds we found him. He was frozen in the top of one small pond. Dad went out on the ice and broke his little body free, then brought him home where we had a proper burial. When dad got him out of the ice, it became apparent what had happened, there was a rope around his neck, tied to a stone and a bullet hole in his head.

It wasn't until our Christmas party that we found out who did that horrible deed. Do you recall my earlier description of Clarence, the one-eyed filthy uncle for whom I worked when I was young? Well he was the one who killed my pet. At that Christmas party, as we celebrated the holiday, and the return of another of my uncle's from Vietnam, Clarence let it slip about the dog. He said he caught that damn dog over in his yard breeding his bitch, so he took out his .270 and shot him dead. Well when dad heard about that it took several big men to hold him off the top of old Clarence. When Clarence left, it was with a split lip, black eye and rubbing his ass where Dad kicked it.

As happy as I was to see old Clarence get his ass kicked, it didn't bring skipper back, and I never had a dog that was so attached to me since.

Yes, loosing a dog can be nearly as hard as loosing your best friend, in fact sometimes it is the same thing.

Jerry 9-2-2001 11:09
Allein,
Sorry to hear about your friend. All you must do is be there for her. Sadly, I have been in that situation. You do get really fed up with hearing the same old words. That is no fault of your friends or relatives at all, it is so difficult for everybody at these terrible times. I think the least worse thing that I heard was, 'Just pick up the phone and call me if you need anything'.
Having said it though, you must mean it.

Ed

Eddie 9-2-2001 9:48
Sorry to take up space folks but I promised Allein. "And a promise is a promise no matter how small." Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss.
Allein- here it is:
This is Hana’s translation of Allein’s songs!

Dear Allein,
I’m so sorry that this took so long. Thank you for being so patient and kind.
Sincerely,
Hana


Meg:
Broken by life
Not sad at all you,
Not hot on guys
A simple little life

Muses:
Hey, this is great!
Koishi* is beautiful
Even if this is a lie
Honey, is sweet
What I say is
Think now and then act later
*Koishi is an untranslatable word. Maybe it is a nickname? All I can come up with is “child stone”.

Meg:
Which one is good, do you suppose?

Muses:
The one broken by life, of course.

Meg:
The easiest to unstand is
Life is difficult
Impossible to kiss,
The soul is crucified,
Can’t cry anymore

Muses:
It’s okay the sky cries
Your feeling are safe
Baby, soon now
Boys will cloud up your head
You are an adult now
So hurry up now

Meg:
Which one is right?

Muses:
Hey look that one is like ice

Meg:
Hey wait Koishi* (see above) that is what you are called?
Leave me alone,
I don’t want to see you

Muses:
This is not right!

Meg:
That is true, I won’t say I’m in love.


Ariel:

Look please
Isn’t it wonderful?
But if you look carefully,
The girl child has nothing of her own

Look please,
See, what are these numerous little trinkets?
A strange story,
That will never end

How is this used?
Oh how I want to break this unintelligible cycle
If you look from here,
Twenty (things)
But I still want yet more

I want to go to the human’s land
Humans are so strange
Dancing… is this it?
Legs

To walk with legs,
I would give anything, anything at all
To go there at all…but where is the boy?

Hey you,
Sparkle sparkle,
Flowers smell sweet,
That kind of perfect world is what I want

If I could give anything
I would give it all
Just to be there right now,
But still

My body is not like yours,
And it will never change

A sweet,
A sour,
Moment for us all

On a good day
I will come to you
I will marry you,
And we can have a big family

But still I am trapped in this body
Burning (ship?)
World
One at a time,
How I wish I was there.





Viv 9-2-2001 8:02
Jack: Programming on the old C64 now that is going a long way back

I dont use tarot cards, but a couple of times I open my mind up to maybe channel a story...Doing one like that now

taylor 9-2-2001 7:17
Ben: I also like the Tarot Cards and Tea Leaves. Another thought, depending on the nature of the story, is to employ one of the hexagrams from the I Ching. You might even throw the coins and generate a hexagram specific to the story if you are at all knowledgable about such things. I happen to be somewhat proficient with either Tarot or I Ching. I prefer the Morgan Greir deck myself. And, yes, I am an Episcopalian or Episcopagan. As it happens, one of the early things I did with a computer was a computer simulation of both a Tarot Card reading and an I Ching reading for the Commodore 64. Long Long ago in a galaxy far away.


I am sad to hear about your puppy dying.


Take care everyone. I will probably archive and repost the Notebook sometime in the next day or so. This should wipe out the scripting error. I realize now that once the log file is established with the database of the messages, to alter things I have to handle it a slightly different way. The easiest is to just start over.


Still trying to get ready for Fiji and also trying to establish the Workbook again before I leave and hopefully with enough time to beta test and finalize it. Especially since I will likely be without the internet while in Fiji.




Jack Beslanwitch 9-2-2001 6:20
Ben -I took a vote at my house and we like the title Tarot Cards and Tea Leaves. We thought we'd pick that book off the shelf and take a look at it. There is the danger that you will offend some heavily Christian folks who associate Tarot Cards with witch craft, but I think it makes it sound more interesting. What about the rest of you? What do you think.

Allein: That is a tough tough situation to be in. I would not have wanted to try to comfort a friend who lost a baby because there IS NOT any comfort anyone can give. Still, to have someone to sit beside you in such a horrible time is much better than sitting alone. You did all the right things! You said the right things. The first time I encountered a woman who'd lost a baby I said, "Well, you are young, you'll have another."

Open mouth, insert foot. She whirled on me and said, "I wanted that one!"

Wrong answer. I eventually learned how to say the right answer...I'm sorry.

What grace and poise you showed in such a tough situation. It's wonderful you knew exactly the right thing to do!

Viv 9-2-2001 4:45
Allein, huge (((HUGS))) for you and your friend. I know it's so very hard, but you being there for her, now and on Tuesday and after that is part of being a friend. It will be heart wrenching, and very little will seem to help her right now, but be there anyway.
My prayers for her and her family, and for you.

Tina 9-2-2001 2:34
Hey guys, bad news. My friend lost her baby last night. He wasn't even a month old - it's so unfair! People are supposed to die when they're old - with accomplishments and a life lived, not when they're babies with hopes and dreams infront of them.
I went down and tried to help them pack up the stuff so she wouldn't have to do it, but it was too sad packing up the clothes he was never going to wear, the crib he won't sleep in and the toys he won't get to play with. I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child.
I saw my friend and hugged her and told her I was sorry. I was nervous because I really didn't know what to say - what do you say to a parent who just lost their child.
My friend, Pete, was really distrought about it - he was mad because he did everything he could to try and save the baby, but it was too late.
The funeral is Tuesday but I'm not sure I'll go because I'm afraid it'll be too sad to see that small casket there.
I'm going to try to do some writing to get my mind off of it.

Allein 9-2-2001 2:13
Well Laura, I finally sent you that crit. If you haven't received it, let me know and I'll try again. I sent it to your go.com address.



Tina 9-1-2001 22:04
Hi All,
I promised that I would go through all of my work and sort out the mess that it was in. Well, I have made a good start. I began at around 9am this morning and have just finished (it's just after midnight)
I have collected some of it together and given it a new home on the site shown below. I hope everybody finds something there that will interest them.
Thank you
Ed

Eddie Eds Writing Life 9-1-2001 19:05
VIV,
As long as you avoid technical and scientific details, just setting your story in the future safely makes it sci/fi. Most of my sci/fi writing is character and plot driven with a sprinkling of futurestic items like plastiform or jetpods. Reading Sci/fi for a lot of years probably helps. There may be a book of terms somewhere. I have thought about hunting for one but haven't gotten around to it.
It's fun to streach your mind.
Good luck and have a great time.
Rosemay

Rosemary 9-1-2001 17:36
*****Rachel*****

John - What a romantic sweetie you are! My word, your wife must just melt.

Happy anniversary to you both :o)

9-1-2001 14:49
Another song-poem in honor of our approacing 11th wedding anniversary,our 17th year together.I woke up this morning

To the scent of a spring day

And the light that was shining

Was the light from my lady....



Chorus: She's like a flower in the spring

full of joy, which she brings

to me






She is the star in my garden

a Cinderella full of sunlight

I'll keep her safe and warm

From anything that might harm her

With my floral serenade

To the love that God gave

To me




Refrain : It takes a lot of work

to make a flower like her last

Just keep sprinkling on the love

But don't you do it too fast

slow's the way to caress

This little flower Princess

My

Little

Flower

Princess

Repeat !st verse and Chorus





John Breslin 9-1-2001 14:32
Hi All!

I'm typing one handed today; i'm dog sitting for my i-laws and the pooch is on my lap demanding attention. Such fun! She's a sweetie.

So sorry for your puppy, Ben. Pets shouldn't ever die.
It is good to see you here again. Sounds like the summer has been productive. I'd offer to read, but as Hallee and Laura can attest, I'm horrendously slow at getting back crits these days.

(Side note: I'm still working on them!) -[

Alexandra and Julia, welcome!

Our gas is sitting as high as it's ever been, at .80cents/litre. While I don't believe for a second that the recent increases are justified, I think in the long run it will force people to give more consideration to the efficiency and economy of their vehicle. We North Americans like our SUV's and and other wasteful vehicles, so the sooner we realise that Europe is way ahead of us on gas efficiency and hybrid and electric vehicles, the sooner we'll push our dealers and manufacturers to go that way. I'd love the irony if higher gas prices were to lead to lower consumption of fossil fuel. I have no sympathy for the oil industry. hahahaha
I recently read that the American military is switching to hybrid and electric vehicles on their bases, and large universities are as well. That should help encourage and educate and familiarise people with these new vehicles.

Had a wonderful new idea to twist up the plot of 'Freeborn' It means lots of rewriting... again, but it will be great in the long run.
My hubby is great. Every time I hit a snag, I discuss it with him and he gives me wonderful ideas. My backup muse is wonderful!

Time to go to work! See y'all!



Tina 9-1-2001 11:27
*****Rachel*****

Ben - Sorry about your puppy (hugs to you).

Julia - When I saw your name I thought instantly about the screen Julia. I am sure you get that too often and would rather not hear it (smiles). So, you can't get the words right. That sounds like a writer (grins). What I suggest is that you kick back for a few days. Read a magazine, a book, take a bath strictly for relaxation. Go for a walk, think of everything and anything other than your story. It is likely that when you return to the writing things will just flow for you. If they don't, well, er, uh, um... I think that a little time and distance from the writing will get you exactly what you want. Not too much time or distace though, okay ;o)


Take care all.

9-1-2001 11:27
Hi Ben- Good luck on publishing those stories. I hope you get it! Sorry about the pup.

Hey Jerry! We're kind of broke big time. My husband is smart but we do a lot of dreaming about computer things. Mostly we don't buy but salvage parts from old computers. Luckily he is smart enough to canabalize old junk and make it into something that will run. Right now we have the pieces from my older daughter's computers minus the motherboard. I'm definitely going to try out some little speakers he found that don't have power and see if my computer can make them go.

Mel- Thank you for the critique! I'm going to try to see if I can gather all the loose ends and have some fun with that science fiction story! How funny! I'd say I was the LEAST qualified to do science fiction because I really don't have a good handle on science at all! What fun if it turned out I could actually write something interesting.

Rachael- my daughter has long curly hair and no bangs but she pulled some curls down in the front, snipped them and now with a few curls hanging over her brow she doesn't look naked at all! In fact she looks kind of pretty.

Jerry- I got a laugh out of your friend's predicament with the eyebrows & sweat. My daughter licked that a long time ago! She wears antipersperant on her brow! She decided last summer that a sweaty face was a fashion no-no so she started putting deoderant on her face!!!! Too bad your friend didn't have my daughter around to consult. She has all the kids in the neighborhood going around with a stick of deoderant in their pocket on hot sunny days. They whip out the "stick" when they feel an urge to sweat!

I have to say I enjoy teenagers. They think of interesting ways to abuse fashion ideas.

Viv 9-1-2001 11:18
BEN,

Good to hear from you again. I too am sorry about your puppy. It is so hard to lose a pet.

HOWARDLINK,

You lucky guy! And it is all you easterners who complain about the price of gas and how all of us Texas and Oklahoma oil companies are stiffing you. Well, while you guys back east are paying discount prices, we are paying $1.68 a gallon. Actually I think the reason we are paying higher is that a refinery in Louisiana or someplace caught fire and is out of commission and the area where the refinery was is buying the gasoline that is normally supplied for this area.

EDDIE,

Strange thing is that while your petroleum costs are so high, I found taking a cab much cheaper in Edinburgh and York than what you can get one for here. No doubt there is a trade off because your petroleum prices finance your very efficient mass transit system. I would really prefer it the way you have it, because you can live most places in the UK and not have a car. Try that here. I am sure you noticed how spread out everything is here when you visited. In this part of the country, a car is independance, because you can't get anywhere without one.

I have a Ford Windstar van that is getting 10 miles a gallon in town when the air conditioning is running. When I was in Britain, I saw few SUV's, and many smaller, more fuel efficient cars.





Rhoda 9-1-2001 10:12
The shoulder is healing nicely, thanks - a few more days in this harness, then I can start therapy. It still hurts, but it's a different kind of hurt.

Gasoline prices? Right now it's $1.42/gallon here in this part of NY State, and just down into PA it's in the $1.30s. I still remember my outrage back when it reached $.50 (fifty cents!) per gallon back in the late 1960s. I also still remember pumping gas for $.29 ( and less) in 1959.

I quit smoking when cigarettes were $.50/pack. They were $.15-$.20 per pack when I started smoking. I remember when I started working in IBM we had cigarette machines that sold for a quarter a pack, and each pack had 4 new pennies just inside the cellophane, so they were $.21 total. Also remember guys who had their workbench drawers full of shiny pennies. I don't think there were ever enough pennies to cover a funeral, though.

Hearken all ye Celtic buffs - check out the Chiff&Fipple website! It's for tin whistle enthusiasts, but has all sorts of links to Celtic music and information.

And for those into Arthurian legend, try "The Pagan King" by Edison Marshall. It's a great read, and it's definitely not Disney!




howard Link 9-1-2001 9:41
felt like dropping in

Ben: Sorry to hear about the puppy



taylor 9-1-2001 7:06
I Know that you have probably worked this one out, but on the Tank Full of petrol I multiplied when I should have divided. So:
My $17.00 for a tank of gas in the US should have converted to £12.14 - Not £23.**
Ed

Eddie 9-1-2001 6:15
BEN

Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in...

Hey, Teekay, saw your message earlier today. I tried reading the posts earlier too, but I'm so far out of the loop, I just let 'em slide.

I cleaned up five of my major stories, (14,000-17,000 words each, and one lonnng one of 26,000). I feel good about them, real good. Trying to choose a title's the hard part though; I was thinking of either THE DAWN PATROL, or TAROT CARDS AND TEA LEAVES--any opinions? I plan on sending them out as a collection because I've always had a problem with word restrictions, and the market for selling long stories like mine are limited to the Alice Munro's of the world. So, if I can get a bite with them as a collection, I might be able to sell stories to magazines after. Kind of a back-handed way of getting in, but worth a shot I think. What've I got to lose? I found a publisher here in town that looks interesting, and have a few others lined up for when I get the ms. back. Hope to be sending them out soon, but I want someone to read them for me, just for an outside opinion. I was thinking the local librarian might be a good choice. Then again, school starts next week, and I might give them to one of the teachers.

On a sadder note, our puppy died last weekend.

I'm still working, but it's so day to day, and week to week, I don't even think about it anymore. Why bother? I'll just have to go out and get two or three jobs to make up the difference.

That's it for now...it's back on my head I go.

Ben 9-1-2001 5:20
Viv - It didn't show up again! Damn Hotmail - it was probably sent to a junk mail filter because it doesn't recognize the address. Why not post it on the notebook and I'll just cut and paste it into a Word file - that way I'm sure to get it. Good luck to Hana on her exam.

Allein 9-1-2001 3:38
Will the world promise good tidings????
I can't get my story right!

Ahh well, why am I complaining? I DO know thatfrustration isn't the key to getting goals perfect, so why insist?

Roses blossom beautifully -i don't. People shine successfully -I don't. I've been trying for 9 months to get my story running. Up to one of the final chapters, but I can't word the Big Revelation properly to get readers interested. GRR!

Anyone willing to help? Email me.

Julia Roberts 9-1-2001 2:59
Doesn't Look Like much of a trouble. After all Wuthering Heights is great to its excellence but i've got to say, not very much of promises. Where in the world's greatness is Joel Mackie?

While winners know time is precious, how do they know what is right. Life may be troubling but it certainly fails to greet me! Graciousness, time flys by!



Alexandra 9-1-2001 2:50
Oh, by the way, you all have got me thinking. Maybe I will tackle writing a novel, what the heck, it might turn out ok after all. Maybe some day I may even send it to some publisher in hopes of a sale.

Well I can dream about doing that anyhow. I do have several story lines floating around in my skull, might be nice to give them life.

Jerry 9-1-2001 0:09
Back in the 60's many young men wore long hair to protest what ever it was they thought they were protesting. Our neighbor's son was the opposite. He was sort of an early skin head without the racial stuff. Yep, he shaved his head one day, then came to help us work on building grain bins. The boss tried to keep him inside, as he didn't bring a hat and it was HOT. Well that day he got quite a sun burn anyhow, when he got home his folks gave him particular hell over the hair cut. In anger, he took his razor and shaved off his eye brows. Boy the next day, inside that grain bin catching bolts with a pliers and putting the nuts on them while someone on the outside was spinning them with an electric wrench got to be work. The work and the heat got him to sweating. It wasn't long before he was screaming in pain. You see those wonderful eye brows serve to deflect that sweat from the forehead down the side of the face, away from the eyes. Without them, he was getting the sweat, filled with the dust and dirt that comes with construction work. That was his last day on that job. A few weeks later found him working the milk truck delivering milk bottles around town. At least the dairy gave him a white cap, and sitting inside the van that had to be kept cool to keep the milk and cream good, he barely broke a sweat. The only problem, we were making good money on the bin construction, while he was working for pennies. Just goes to show you that one should think before they shave.



Jerry 9-1-2001 0:07
Me again (aka Rachel)

Mel - Last night I decided that I just had to write. There really was no good time. Kiddies, kiddies every where (glad that other people have that). In the end I stayed up to write. I got some good writing in. I could have done more, but I decided that I wanted to get to bed. Late nights and I do not agree well with each other. I need my sleep.

Later :o)

8-31-2001 23:27
*****Rachel*****

Viv - I had a friend who plucked her brows right off. It started out well enough. The next thing she knew she was almost out of brows! She shaved what was left. It was pretty weird. She had one of those very round, long foreheads. She kind of needed brows to break it up. I recently had a plucking incident (grins)! I hardly ever pluck my brows. They just kind of grow nicely, so I leave them alone. Anyway, I decided I wanted to try a new brow shape. Only trouble is that I forgot about this scar I have in or I guess under my right eyebrow and how I'm lucky that the brows grow the way they do, or I would have a hole in them. Well, a simple little pluck and presto! I was reminded of the hole. Right now my bangs are doing the curl under right at the brow thing, so nobody noticed. I made a point of showing Dan, he laughed. He didn't laugh till he knew I was cool with it. I took a look the other day. The hole is gone again. My brows are back to their own shape. I think I'll just leave them alone (merry laughter).

8-31-2001 23:20
**Rosemary**
One quick note,

VIV,
I noticed you kept refering to your story as a 'romance' and I remembered an excellent beginning to a sci/fi story with a posibility of romance on the side. I thought I had missed something so I went back and read it again. Same impression. This story can have some romance in it, but the other lines of plot are just as important if not more.
THIS is of course, just my impression. Still great writing.

Bye,
PS--Printerwise, I have a HP710. I find that it does just about everything except make coffee in the morning. It is not a morning machine. ;o) It prints, faxes, scans, and copies. The copy feature us not one you would want to use for a large job but comes in handy when the copy store is 15 miles away. I got it the same time I got the rest of the computer about two years ago. I think it was about $200 after rebates. Should be less now and more updated versions available.

Bye again

Rosemary 8-31-2001 22:20
Viv - Your husband has a good head on his sholders, that would be my choice too if I had the bucks. My last job we had a HP 870EX or something like that, anyhow it was a super printer and had ports to plug in both a mac and a pc. That was super, as I used the PC and my boss (who couldn't even find the power switch on the pc) used the mac.

Jerry Ericsson 8-31-2001 21:49
Eddie - WOW - I won't complain again! As far as smokes, I think they are going for around $30.00 a carton, don't know for sure as I quit those horrid things about five years ago. On the plus side, my doctor says my lungs look almost like a non-smokers. I really enjoy this lady doctor, even if she does lie about things like that a bit (or at least I suspect she does).

Jerry Ericsson 8-31-2001 21:47
Jerry- showed my husband the site with the computer stuff and he got very excited. Thank you. We're going to get a couple of speakers for 5.00 and then continue looking for a printer. We want to find a Hewlett Packer??? Oh well, I'm not the person who does the computers around here as you can tell.

Mel- Those cow jokes really were funny! I somehow find cow noises something that tickle my funnybone. On the self criticism on the longy-shortie, don't fuss. I want to get so I can write short quick stories that exhausted people can enjoy. I think that is a upcoming market if the recession holds. Looking at the price of gas in England, I think novels will be selling there as more folks go nowhere!

Don't let me upset you with my self-critique. I liked what you had to say. Quite frankly, when I wrote that romance thingy, I had no idea where it was going. I was just having fun sticking those descriptions on a page. It was a Dali style exercise. In itself, it's not good for much. I can have more fun with it though and If you want more, I'll write more because that idea is an easy one. I had a solution to what the kid had done before I even fell asleep that night. So, I'll write another bit just for fun.

What I'd love to be able to do is write short stories though. Those are really hard to get right. Everything has to fit together. I think they are good practice for writing longer things because you don't have a lot of latitude for mistakes. What I love to see is a clear quick story that sets a mood. I try analyzing what it is that makes that story click and catch me. I can do endings, but my beginnings and middles are very weak. I have one I'm trying to fix. I wrote it for my husband for our Anniversary. True to form, he read it, sort of tossed it aside, then went on to other stuff. What would be really fun would be to PUBLISH that sucker and then spend the money on getting the main computer in this house up and running. NOW that would be an anniversary present, right out of a romance novel. Unfortunately, just as my story is titled...reality bites. He got a card and the story in rough draft form.

You know my daughter just finished her first try at plucking her eyebrows. It's a interesting result. She's so cute right now. She came in with one eyebrow that went up and the other that went down and said, "Wow, I can't get them to match." Then she came in again with one that went up and another shaved completely off. Next she finished the job. Now I have an eyebrowless daughter.

Viv 8-31-2001 21:13
Jerry.
$1.89 a gallon!
A few years ago when I was in the US I paid $0.95 a gallon.
I was astonished at this wonderful cost for petrol.
Over here I pay £0.85 per litre! That works out at about $6.30 per gallon. This price is set to rise shortly. I can fill my tank for about £45.00 ($63.00) Last time I was in the US I could get a tank full for $17.00 (£23.00)
What about cigarettes?
I can get a pack of 20 for £4.50 ($6.30) A carton of 200 costs £45.00 ($63.00)
You lucky lucky B********
Ed


Eddie 8-31-2001 19:35
Rosemary - Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. I'll give the suggestion to the wife, but the main reason we are giving them away, is that the relatives who don't have gardens are begging for them. This year, mom tried growing tomato's in her flower bed, but they never amounted to much. My sister did the same with like results. I think their problem was that the plant's don't get enough light, combined with the fact that we have our garden professional tilled, and this year upgraded the soil by having a load of aged farm yard soil tilled in. Also they don't seem to tend them as much as we do, and they water with city water that is full of chemicals. We have our own well, so use fresh uncontaminated water that helps a lot.

You can send us some of that rain back though we are drying out now, I mowed the lawn that we have watered, but left the rest as it is going brown on us. The weatherman is saying we might get some tonight, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Hope all have a wonderful labor day weekend, I know we will as our son is coming home for a visit and we haven't seen him since his wife miscarried.

Jerry 8-31-2001 19:10
Rosemary - Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. I'll give the suggestion to the wife, but the main reason we are giving them away, is that the relatives who don't have gardens are begging for them. This year, mom tried growing tomato's in her flower bed, but they never amounted to much. My sister did the same with like results. I think their problem was that the plant's don't get enough light, combined with the fact that we have our garden professional tilled, and this year upgraded the soil by having a load of aged farm yard soil tilled in. Also they don't seem to tend them as much as we do, and they water with city water that is full of chemicals. We have our own well, so use fresh uncontaminated water that helps a lot.

You can send us some of that rain back though we are drying out now, I mowed the lawn that we have watered, but left the rest as it is going brown on us. The weatherman is saying we might get some tonight, I will keep my fingers crossed.

Hope all have a wonderful labor day weekend, I know we will as our son is coming home for a visit and we haven't seen him since his wife miscarried.

Jerry 8-31-2001 19:10
I know, PROOFREAD BEFORE YOU POST! Sorry for the typos.

Jerry 8-31-2001 19:00
“Now Mr. Anderson I see on line twelve you already have one loan against your home.”

“Ah, yes sir.”

“What other collateral can you offer?”

“Ah, well there is my truck.”

“Truck, you mean that beat up old pickup you drove down here? That thing looks like it gets what, fifteen miles per gallon?”

“Twelve highway, six in town.”

“You surely don’t think we will give you a loan against such a vehicle.”

“But it is paid for, and look, it is only seven years old.”

“What else do you have?”

“Well, there’s the cabin down by the lake, that’s worth around fifteen thousand bucks.”

“Yes, but the lake is eighty miles south of here, if we gook that and you defaulted, who would buy that from us?”

“How about my wife’s little Buck.”

“Now really Mr. Anderson, do you expect us to give you such a large loan based on that little outfit, it’s only worth around half what you are asking for.”

“But I have to make the trip, I need to get my eyes examined so I can see.”

“Look, we can give you seven thousand dollars against all four items, your house, your wife’s car, the cabin and that old pickup truck, how about that?”

“Ok.”

“Should we make that check out to you, or the gas station?”

“The gas station I guess.”

“Beth will have those papers ready for you soon, and the check will be sent to the Amoco Station downtown. You should be able to get about a half tank in that little car, if you drive economically, you should be able to make that round trip.”

“Thanks.” Mr. Anderson said, as he got up to leave the bankers office, “Thanks a lot.”


Yep, gas prices are way up in this neck of the woods, $1.89 and rising, it won't be long before it happens.

Jerry 8-31-2001 18:59
Another sad couple of days, 7 dead in Iowa, now another assault on a citizen by the ATF. When I watched that house burning, I couldn't help but think of Waco and Ruby Ridge. Granted, the fellow in the house was no saint. No, he was being arrested by the ATF for firearms violation. Now it seems when the ATF goes after anyone lately for firearms violation there is a death, sometimes more then one. I only hope that our new President will take a good look at this case, and do some house cleaning. I know that had I been the Sheriff in LA County during this incident and the ATF came to me requesting back-up I would have sent them packing.



Jerry 8-31-2001 17:05
The Afternoon of a large drying out city,

JERRY,
I'm sure you know this, but just in case,---You can dip those ripe tomatoes in boiling water, peel them, then drop them in zip lock bags and freeze them. They are then excellent for anything you would use canned tomatoes for and the taste is even better. If you want to save time later, you can chop them up, add seasoning, whatever. But I found tomatoes and Okra were the two easiest vegetables to freeze.
Right now I really envy the great seasons you have up there. But in a month or so, I wouldn't want to be there for about 5 months.

MEL,
Thanks so much. It is just as great to have someone hate your work (when it is suposed to be hated) as it is to have praise heaped upon it. (I heard that somewhere)
That Shorty was a try at a clasic way to write sci/fi. Take a current event and run wild with it.
That one was a combination of stem cell research and cloneing and too much government interference. (and I had just watched Kelly Rippa on All My Children have a baby. Just to see if she can act.--I still don't know.) Honest, people, I don't watch soaps. :o#

Thanks all for a very productive Shorty night and JACK, have a great time in Fiji. Avoid sharks.
Bye

Rosemary 8-31-2001 14:13
As one who has no time nor talent for gardening and canning, I just want to say, JERRY, I'M SALIVATING! Look at this, drool all over my workspace...you lucky ones, to have all that fresh garden nicely packed for Winter Feasts!!! :-D Yummmmmmmmmmmm

Mel again 8-31-2001 13:26
Haven't read the page yet, but will post now, and catch up later today.

It’s more then falling leaves that make this time of the year special, oh no. It is the harvest; the reward for all your hard work in the yard and garden. The past week or so have been filled with more action in the kitchen since Thanksgiving Day.

First came the canning of garden produce, in particular to our garden it was the ample harvest of green beans. Our pantry shelves are now lined with jar after jar of these delicious morsels.

Then the chokecherries ripened on the trees that separate our yard from our good neighbor Jon. Way back when we first moved in, Jon in his welcoming visit told us that since those chokecherry trees were on the border of the property line, he would let us have the harvest every other year. This was our year, so joining the jars of green beans are jelly jars filled to the brim with that sweet jelly, along side those jars rest the chokecherry syrup that we love so much on our pancakes.

Last year our plum tree failed to produce, you see a lilac bush had rooted itself alongside the plum bush, and was squeezing it out. Well my wife likes the wonderful smell of the lilac, but our driveway is bordered on the east by huge lilac bushes standing well over ten feet tall, so this little bush was chopped down. So too was the plum tree, just a couple of scraggily sprouts remained after her assault with my manual hedge clippers. I just knew that this was the end of that plum tree, could it take such abuse and come back. You bet it can, and it came back in spades. The tree grew back to six feet high, then bushed out like never before. It produced more fruit then I have ever seen on one tree. Now plum jam and plum syrup joined the rest in the pantry. The other plum bush in our yard is full but has yet to ripen.

Oh but is sad, as we see then end of the sweet corn that grew in the middle of the garden, the cucumbers are still producing, today we made relish, and there must be twenty jars of dill pickles on the pickle shelf in the pantry. The tomatos are now ripening, and we have way more then we can eat, so have been giving them away. The wife has already made her famous tomato juice, tomato salsa, and canned tomato’s.

Yep, come winter, we could be snowed in for a month or more, and never want for food, thanks to our little garden and all that wonderful rain that blessed us all summer. This last month, however has gone with little to no rain, but this is a good thing for both the farmers who need to get into their fields and harvest their bumper crops, and the gardener who needs the warm dry weather to properly ripen the garden goods. We will miss the garden lettuce, the radishes and onions that have graced our table all summer, but can remember this wonderful growing year each time we open one of those lovely jars.





Jerry 8-31-2001 13:20
Oh, rats. I forgot to include in my cat-poem the time when Mad Max launched himself from the back of a recliner into the middle of our Christmas tree (our then-seven-yr-old son had hung on the tree, unbeknownst to us, a dog-biscuit ornament) - Max's great leap knocked the whole tree to the floor. 8'/

Mel 8-31-2001 13:15
**Mel**

Lunchtime, yea! Oh, what a week. The eldest daughter who's been living her bizarre life elsewhere is coming home for a few hours' visit tomorrow...The hubby's breathing problems earlier in the week have led us to find a new home for our cat, as we know allergies are involved bigtime. Sigh. Oh well, the cat deserves a little tribute:

MAD MAX

Pet-store kitten
We were smitten
Five years ago.
First-time home,
touched the floor -
Scared no more,
All felt right -
Tail-up delight!

Tore thru the house,
right up the drape!
Really part ape,
that Mad Max.
Once, in the kitchen,
curiosity-driven,
caught in the fridge -
Had a COOl Cat. 8-]

Drinks from a faucet,
from toilets or dishes;
Strange feline,
his drinking wishes!
Mad Max,
Gone to live
in another home,
where allergies have no urge to roam.

Shadows in the windows,
fleeting touch...
G'bye, li'l puss,
We'll miss you much.


ROSEMARY: :-) Thanks. I had thought of *P* too... Your shorty was--!!!!! Shocking! Wonderful! Horrible! Oh, I liked it but I hated it! :-) Good writing, with a fantastic, terrifying plot twist. ;-] And you hooked me, as a mother of five, all natural births; the one thing I wanted most, each time, was just to hold the newborn in my arms. A new mother ACHES for that until she holds her new little one in her arms for the first time - must be WOMB-Withdrawal or something, ha! You hit on target, anyway! :-)

ED: Wow! "By our Lady" sounds so formal, uplifting, and mannerly, whereas "Bloody" just sounds downright earthy, vicious, and SO to the point, heh heh! So, submit your shorty a bloody bit late. We're waiting. (*tapping toes, drumming fingers, deep sighs, counting spots on the walls, counting blades of grass in the yard...soon it will be snowflakes...*) BTW, enjoyed a few of your website stories (didn't have time yet to read them all). :-) Jack Dooley is a priceless treasure!!! Well written, Ed! You should get that boy published, if you haven't yet.

RACHEL: Yup. Similar stuff at my house: I get nicely settled with my mss. and stuff at the diningroom table...pretty soon, along comes a kid--and sits, talking a mile a minute. Next thing I know, another kid's there, sitting, talking (to me, of course), and then another, and another. Pretty soon it's feeling like a regular family reunion. I get up to make popcorn. We scarf the snack, they're still sitting and talking. Finally, I go turn on the tv or do some laundry...the kids finally scatter...and so has my muse. Sigh.

VIV: :-) Thanks. That moo-ving stuff, Anita and I are just swapping some writing cows (just becows we wanna, heh heh). I felt your shorty was the beginning of a much longer story, thus my cry for MORE! Good characters and plot hook (what DID Paulo discover from the little girl??) - it doesn't matter that your shorty wasn't so concise if it's part of a larger story.

JERRY: :-) Thanks. The same to you, fella, for your shorty! Nice photos. :-) Thanks for sharing!

JACK: Fingers, toes, writing implements, all crossed for luck for you, Jack! Take your time - the end products will be well worth it! :-) Ah, Fiji...never been. Enjoy! (Another undersea video would be nice, hint! hint!)

JOHN: Yup. Tabs don't work on the NB. Just use the enter key on the keyboard to start a new line or to skip a line (at least that's how it works for me).

Any of you Christians out there, check out a beautiful, inspirational website at: www.reata.org for an "Interview With God." VERY nice.

A good writing day to y'all!!! Report in, if you haven't and update the rest of us on what you're writing, pretty please? You're my inspiration to keep chasing my bloody elusive muse!!!

mel 8-31-2001 13:08
Hi Jack! You know, you sound like me...loads of guilt over loads of projects. Hope you'll sit back and look over the site...it's chugging right along and all the people are happily writing. We're passing stuff around to each other to critique as well. What you've set up here is doing great. It's the work of genius. I've looked over other sites but I'm turned off by the contribute or die atmosphere.

Creativity isn't pushed, that's like overwatering a seedling and expecting it to grow. Learn while you do your client's work, then apply it to the site when you get back from Fiji.

What you have to remember is you had a big loss this year. Take time out to enjoy Fran, look at the autumn sunshine, and smell the change of seasons in the air. Pack slowly and think about the adventures you'll have in Fiji. Get rested up for the big trip. These trips take a toll in themselves. Long airflights are not good for your body, so don't start off exhausted. The guys who do the environmental work in the Pacific area have a policy, before a business trip they take one day off to rest, and when they return they take another day off to rest. Why? Three of our guys had fatal heart attacks because they tried to get everything done before a business trip. We were loosing all the working staff to heart attacks until this policy was created.

So please take it easy. We need you to archive the site and we're going to be tickled when you have the time to get your "dream site" launched. But until then, please relax. Great is good enough, and we like you and this site just as you are.

Rosemary: I'm so tickled that you think that this romance I cooked up between midnight and two is good. I actually AM going to keep it going. It's fun and a wonderful escape. Today in a traffic jam I came up with the answer to what the child had done wrong. Now all I have to come up with is a possible solution to her "problem".

Allein: Hana sent you another translation. This time she saved a copy and says she sent one to me. I'll send it to you as well! It's going to make it to you...I just hope it's ok because she's still inexperienced. Pray for her on the 10th (which is our 9th) She's taking level 2 of the translator's exam. If she passes that she's probably going to pass the BIG MAMA which is the translator's exam in December on the 2nd. If she passes that....well, then there's another one...and another...until she makes it to level one. It's a long uphill climb to get good at Japanese. I think it's a lot like climbing Mt. Fuji. If you actually make it to the top, what a view. What is lucky is she's only 14. Young enough to fail and still have an opportunity to learn more.

Viv 8-31-2001 10:01
Hello everyone: I have the scripts and files I plan to use filed away on the back burner. Along with that an upgrade for the script that is used for Notebook that presumably will fill some holes and bugs that occasionally crop up. However, I am desperately trying to take care of a paying contract before I head to Fiji and that is taking up a lion share of my time. Part of that project will involve taking care of a Workbook script similar to what I plan to use that my client wants implemented on another site. So, as part of a way to reduce the cost on the client, I can concentrate on doing the Workbook first. But not sure when I will have enough the main site taken care of so I can work on this. I have all the login and password requests filed away and probably should note that I will be sending out to everyone when I get things up and running. The only way this will work effectively is if I can implement a more robust login and password situation. Keep your fingers crossed and pass some prayers/energies in my direction so I get things done for my client and the Workbook without too many snafus. Take care.




Jack Beslanwitch 8-31-2001 8:30

Got called over to mom's tonight, seems they were short two for six handed pinochle, and since learning that version nobody wants to play 4 handed anymore. Well at least my team won the game! A good time was had by all.

Just watched the last part of a night line type show, they were amazed that one person could down a fifth of whiskey in one day, hell I remember dad used to open one after breakfast, and another around supper time, but he had years of practice.

Jack - how's the workbook coming? Just asking, not that I have anything ready to post or anything.

Jerry Ericsson Photo's of my life 8-31-2001 0:27
As Ronald Reagan would say "There he goes again!" When i pasted this onto this board all the spacing got compressed making this one unbroken piece. It did have a lyric type spacing before transfer.I'll get the hang of this format eventually. sorry...

John Breslin 8-31-2001 0:05
And how about another song? I wrote this after my cousin, a Marine, described to me his work in body disposal while in Somalia ..........Sitting at the dinner table Just the other day Two fat pork chops lookin' at me prepared in my favorite way when i overheard the newsman on the television say "feuding clans have got the roads blocked no food will get through this day" chorus: And the childrens pain falls at night in our minds like rain their wide eyes transmit shore to shore a message we can't afford to ignore So boys from Gulfport, Mississippi are building roads in Kismayo California girls prepare the runways at old Mogadushu They'll spend their Christmas in Somalia to stop the crying in the night but here, my chops have gotten cold and I've just dropped my fork on the floor..... Repeat Chorus:


john breslin 8-30-2001 23:59
I'm so sorry for the triple post. How it happened is a mystery. again, so sorry for the inconvenience.

John Breslin 8-30-2001 23:28
Thank you Mel and all of you for your feedback. A little attempt at humor here.......I wanna be in La Cosa Nostra*** The people who made burgers out of Jimmy Hoffa*** They even kill Presidents I've heard it said*** Give one the finger when you're driving*** You might end up dead***Pow!!! _______

John Breslin 8-30-2001 23:25
Thank you Mel and all of you for your feedback. A little attempt at humor here.......I wanna be in La Cosa Nostra*** The people who made burgers out of Jimmy Hoffa*** They even kill Presidents I've heard it said*** Give one the finger when you're driving*** You might end up dead***Pow!!! _______

john 8-30-2001 23:24
Thank you Mel and all of you for your feedback. A little attempt at humor here.......I wanna be in La Cosa Nostra*** The people who made burgers out of Jimmy Hoffa*** They even kill Presidents I've heard it said*** Give one the finger when you're driving*** You might end up dead***Pow!!! _______

8-30-2001 23:24
Hi again quickly.

VIV,
Your story was an excellent beginning to a novel I would love to read. The possibilities of characterization on just those few characters is mind boggling. The atmosphere is set and I am waiting and expecting.

Thanks for your kind words. Shows you what TV can do for you. I have never been in one of those places personally. With or without a government agent.
NYTOL,
Rosemary

Rosemary 8-30-2001 22:56
Just a note, anyone looking for a CHEAP printer, check out the link. I have purchased quite a bit of stuff from these guys and never been disappointed.

Oh and I do have to comment, we have a great bunch of shorties tonight, best participation in a long time, and such wonderful tales.

Jerry Cheap printers 8-30-2001 22:56
Rosemary, Mel: The nicest thing happened this morning. I was excited and apprehensive as I checked into
our Notebook. Those wonderful words were there. It wasn't too silly, someone wrote that they liked it.

Rosemary: Yours was a work of art. It's just what a shortie should be, very short, and creates
a fast shiver that runs down your spine. Your descriptions of the birth room were exact. I've
been there, seen it, as so many women have. But I'd forgotten the sterility, and the colors, the ice
chips. You didn't run the descriptions on and on, just touched on memory cells 14 years dormant.

Mel: I even like the title Daisy Day. The mix of the old table set for an anniversery dinner,
juxtaposed against the allowed day off that is taken by tube travel is great imagery. I was glad
they got to marry. I was ready for a happy ending for that couple. I'd have been mad if he'd been
sucked into that tube alone...which tells you I got caught up in a nice read.

Thanks you guys! Oh and Mel, you gave me a real chuckle. While my daughter was copying down Allein's
e-mail addresses, I caught a little flicker of your writing. "Okay, girls, back to the barn! Moove it! heh heh :-)"
I got a little giggle there, but then my eyes moved up and I saw a bit more of what you'd written. "Of course,
the best stuff is more concisely written, has purpose and drive...Are you calling those things "structure?"
I just call them good style." I absolutely agree. That's why I'm not really satisfied with my shortie. It's not.
Not consise at all and there were a lot of details I left unanswered. Would have been better if I could have written
it consisely. What I'd ultimately like to get these shorties down to is a quick blast of emotion type deal.

Mary: Thanks to your last two themes I have a short story (romance) finished and ready to edit and that chunk I stuck in the
notebook to "deal with"! Thank you. After a long dry spell, my fingers are back dancing on the keyboard. Yes!
The notebook proves it's worth once again.

Allein: Hana will try again tonight. She groaned but realizes the value in doing this. Maybe Yumiko will come over.
She's our very good friend. We share a lot of ideas. Even our DOGS get along well. She brought a huge list
of Kanjii for Hana to memorize. I think the two of them will pass that translator's exam in fall. They are both
taking it. Yumiko needs to re-up her level 1&2 (the highest level one can reach), and Hana's going to try
the 3&4. These are the beginner's levels but are quite difficult. If she manages them at such a young age she'll be
able to write it on a college application. Your work is actually helping her improve and it's her first written
translation assignment. She's ALWAYS getting yanked aside for spoken translation. Everyone here goes, "Huh?! Haaaannna,
help!"

Yikes! I'm late. I have to go in to work today. Yaaargh! And it's raining...of course.

Viv 8-30-2001 21:12
*****Rachel*****

Eddie - I love your stories.

All - Know what I forgot? I forgot how exhausting little kiddies can be. Yikes! It is never easy to get out of the house. With these guys it is even more of a trick. Then there is hair to braid, faces and hands to keep washed. Questions and questions and more questions. They are such little explorers. My other children think that they are sweet and cute. They also think that they should stay out of their rooms (grins and laughter). Today I sat down to write. Want to talk about a silly idea. The two girls came to my side and began to identify each letter I put on the page. I decided to draw instead. Then they wanted to draw. Yikes and double yikes. so that will be all about that. Just wanted to yap for a moment.

Till later my friends

8-30-2001 21:06
I almost forgot.
ALL NEWBIES (The rest of you old timers talk amongst yourselves for a bit) If you wish to read some of my work go to the site linked below. I find that I really get a feel for people by the style and content of what they write.
You will find young Jack Dooley here, and lots of other stuff..
Later,
Ed


Eddie The Writers Retreat 8-30-2001 20:53
Mel,
BLOODY,
I believe it is anglo saxon, derived from the oath :
By our Lady!
It sounds a likely derivative to me so I think I'll stick with it.
I am trying to squeeze out a shorty for tonight but the house is crowded as usual so don't hold your breath.

Rachel,
Thanks you for your kind words, and well done once more.

Ed


Eddie 8-30-2001 20:46
*****Rachel*****

Eddie - Know what? Shadows in a Dream had many different faces. It changed and moved with each person who came in and went out. It could have been many different stories.

Anita - Thanks you :o) I know how hard it can be to keep up with the posts.

Hop - I don't allow my kiddies any unsupervised net time. I'm pretty strict about it. Maybe in the fall I'll let him go on more. I think that once we have the PC set up with the internet that I will be more interested in allowing some unsupervised net time. I guess he is almost 13 years old. Yikes! Still, I don't want him to turn into some square eyed mush brain who can't and won't look away from the computer.

Later :o)

8-30-2001 20:35
Hi there all,
A good bunch of shorties showing up.

VIV, I love it and want to be there when you do another installment.

MEL,
Neat combination of romance and future. It would be very easy to make that story into a GHOSTIE for *P*.

JERRY,
Great to know how much fu