Writers Notebook

Hawrod,
Yeah Kazaa really went downhill after about 4 months.
I just found this one tonight. It looks pretty good up to now. You will find the FS software on the site. It's called 'Satalite'
See link

eddie Audio Galaxy 5-25-2002 19:33

Debra,
Shame on you for encouraging Taylor to spill the beans on this page!!!
I don't want to know just yet.

Eddie 5-25-2002 19:30

Eddie:

Shame on me for missing..........or?

Debra 5-25-2002 18:56

EDDIE -- A search on google.com turns up several pages of hits for "mp3 file sharing" I was using kazaa, but that got a bit "iffy" -- started getting porn grabage along with some of the files.

howard 5-25-2002 18:34

You Know, I really miss Napster. All the CopyCats on the net right now just don't hack it.
Anybody know of any really good ones?
Ed

Eddie Simply Writing 5-25-2002 17:07

Randall
Very poignant prose. I have sent four out into that same world. They make their way as best they can. Just be there for him without being judgemental. You will be appreciated. Your hard work and personal sacrifice will pay off.
Ed

Eddie 5-25-2002 15:37

Eddie: Ok Ok... I get your point. No more mention of that show from this end

Taylor 5-25-2002 12:50

Randall

Morning!

Rhoda...my birthday is in July. I will be 29, and if you believe that I've some ocean front property in Arizona I would like to sell! :-)

We attended Sean's HS graduation last night. They were in a massive, domed, concrete roofed building, the local "coliseum." Halfway through the ceremony my wife adroitly pointed upward, "There are cracks in the roof!" Yes there were! I spent the last half of the ceremony looking at my son sitting below the cracked edifice and an eye cocked at the ceiling. As if I didn't have enough on my mind! I swear if I had detected any indication that the roof might have collapsed I would have leaped over the balcony falling 20 feet to the floor below, raced across the stage, elbowed the HS principal aside, gathered my son up and carried him to safety.

"DAD! Put me down! You're embarrassing me!"

Perhaps I've seen the twin towers collapse too many times.

Anyway...there were 280 students graduating. Fodder for the world to chew on. In my jaundiced view that is. They appear awful young, big minds in so small bodies. Mostly Whites, but a lot of Blacks and Mexicans and a few Orientals. An Oriental boy was ... Valedictorian ... that spelled right? He gave a great speech about how the choices were "yours to make." Good speech, but probably wrong my young graduate. Oh you can make all the choices you wish, but life, nay fate, dictate the final choice. You may choose to stay away from booze but an alcohol crazed idiot might ram your car at an intersection. You may disdain drug use, but a drug crazed fiend break into your home with a knife or gun. You might pick a company such as Enron Oil to work for, only to be given a paper shredder a few years down the road and told "Shred these documents! Quickly!" Positive individual actions do not translate well into negative group choices in our society. "401 K? Ha! That's down the drain for sure. Shred faster!" It seems the negative aspect of group choice is increasing while individual choice grows less and less important.

But go ahead and make your choice graduates of 2002. At this interval of your life intersections of choice are plentiful and wrong decisions often appear to be golden opportunities. Rhoda will be quick to point out that there is one choice that never fails and that is God. I agree.

Sean handled the graduation just fine. Afterward he attended "Project graduation" a HS sponsored allnight party with snacks and music and dancing. He came in at five after they served breakfast and went to bed. At times like this when thinking of my children, I look back to when they were tottering around the house as infants. I have a picture of Sean wearing one of my ball caps ... in diapers ... and a grin on his face.

Sean wants to be a military policeman in the AF. The recruiting sergeant told him all military policemen do a tour of duty in South Korea. (Sigh) Sometimes choices are easy to make but hard to live with. Oh no, mine not his. Because my wife and I chose to have Sean, to introduce him to the world, to nurture and love him ... and all, much too soon the world will have him. Now the choices are his to make and I pray the world will appreciate the fine young man it is getting.

Randall

Randall 5-25-2002 12:43

Welcome Allen Bell! Sounds pretty promising to me when someone takes the time to write a note and clip it to your manuscript.

Viv again 5-25-2002 11:49

Thank you Rhoda! I especially enjoyed that calorie free unbirthday cake. I needed that.

Viv 5-25-2002 11:46

Debra,
Shame on you girl.

Eddie 5-25-2002 10:33

Taylor,
NOT HERE!
Go to email or you will be in a world of trouble!
Sheeeesh!

Eddie Simply Writing 5-25-2002 10:33

Rhoda,
I feel left out :¬)

Eddie 5-25-2002 10:31

Taylor:

Finally:

I got home late due to, well let's not go there, I missed the finale.

Pleae tell me what happened to the sister. Can she get here baby back and are they are couple.

I turned it on to see they laying next to each other. He looked fantastic and that's all I saw.

Help!

Debra 5-25-2002 8:36

HAPPY UNBIRTHDAY !!!

to HOWARD, TEEKAY, TAYLOR, ELAINE, AMERICO, RACHEL, VIV, MARY, CHRISTI, JACK, LITTER, RANDALL, TINA, ROSEMARY, and anyone else I missed who has not had a birthday this week.

I don't want anyone to feel left out.

Rhoda 5-24-2002 22:56

Cant remember which one this is off but it goes

Mulder: "Do you think he does it because he gets off on it?"
Scully: "No I think he does it because you get off on it"

And when right click it sounds like a filing cabinet opening

Taylor 5-24-2002 20:45

I have X files desktop theme on my computer

Yes I am a fanatic
Yes I think Doggett is no Mulder
Yes I still watch it

Taylor 5-24-2002 20:42

**Teekay**

OOps. I mean, JERRY'S birthday isn't till the day after tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW JERRY!!!!!!!!!!

Teekay 5-24-2002 19:33

**Teekay**

Not to be a stickler for detail but.....

it isn't HALLEE'S birthday and JERRY'S birthday isn't till tomorrow.

WHAT THE...............??????

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW JERRY.

Teekay 5-24-2002 19:22

Hi,

I am a 41 year old male recently disabled with fibromyalgia and rheumotoid arthritis. I have dreamed for years of writing, so now is my chance. I have alot of time to dedicate to it.
I have wrote letters to the editors, small articles in local free papers. I recently sent a short story into a magazine " Night Terrors" and they turned it down but the editor clipped a hand written not saying, " Needs work, needs to be longer, your writing shows potential , please submit to us again." is this a good thing?
Please email me so if I do not get a chance to hit the message board I can get feedback and make some writer friends.....allen_bell@writermail.com

Allen not sure yet 5-24-2002 19:21

EDDIE -- you should have had them by now - sent them a while ago.
I don't have any of the ones you mentioned...

I do have the last couple of episodes on vhs, but I understand it's a different format than you have oysotp. You definitely won't like lfslxx hhtes #$sjdt tjyrja lfsitdn sjdjt 4536364 T*$&3 6--oi !
But I won't spoil it for you!

:-)

howard 5-24-2002 17:28

Howard,
Almost forgot.. New mail notification is the only one don't have... AHEM...
Did I mention my email address?

Eddie 5-24-2002 17:12

Howard,
The X-Files theme is only on the web preview. I forgot to cancel the 'Loop Forever' option in Microsoft FrontPage when I uploaded it. I use the theme.wav as my start up system sound only. I have the full set of X-Files sounds set up on my comp:

Start up; X-files theme
Empty bin; "They're systematicaly destroying all the evidence"
Exit Windows; They're shutting us down Scully"
Critical Stop; " I cut the main breaker"
Question; "What are you going to do?" (Scullys' voice)
Windows Deafault sound; "Status Unexplained" (Moulders voice)
Program Error; "As of right now I'm re-opening the X-Files" (Skinners voice)
Asterix; "Deny everything"

Geeky I know, But I love it.

DON'T tell me about the finale! We are still waiting for it over here. We are only on about 7 of Enterprise right now. (Archer was in the detention camp with what's is name from Quantum leap (The one who talks to Ziggy) Playing the camp commander)Funny how everybody recognised Malcome in that episode, must be the eyes.

Eddie 5-24-2002 17:09

ELAINE -- Congradulations! I hope speling isent a big part of youre grad their for sophmore honers! ;-)

ANONYMOUS POSTER -- I saw that too. Scary.

EDDIE -- Credit where it's due, I always say. Thanks for the link! They've got some good stuff there.
Also, the "Cool Tips" Ebook at www.boogiejack.com has some really good stuff too, for free.
I like your desktop -- X-Phile are ya? Me too, although I thought the finale rather sucked (to use the vernacular). Dunno if I could stand the theme all the while the desktop is displayed, but I do have an xfile.wav file that announces my mail.

howard 5-24-2002 16:22

Howard,
Thanks for those great words on my site. It makes it all worthwhile when somebody appreciates it.
Later,Ed

Eddie Simply Writing 5-24-2002 16:05

That's :¬(

My Desktop 5-24-2002 15:56

Thanks Elaine for the birthday wishes.
Any windows freaks out there, heads up. Check out the link for a look at my desktop. I'm using Windows98 on this machine. I posted a link a few days ago to the site where you can download the stuff to play with.
Its at http://www.wincustomize.com
Ed

Eddie My Desktop 5-24-2002 15:55

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to EDDIE, HEATHER, CHRISIE, HALLEE, and JERRY! It might be belated, but I've just finished school. Big breath: I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have school any more!!!!!! My examines are all done and I'll know if I've failed sophmore or not in a couple of weeks. Vanguard is going to start in approxiametly 2 weeks!! AHHHH!!
Oh and HALLEE, 'till Niagara Falls' is a goodbye that a friend of mine started. We and the band went to Niagara Falls last year. Then she sent me a letter this year with a sign-off, 'till Niagara Falls', and I had to use it. How is everyone else? I'm so relieved to be finally out of school. I can't wait to start marching. I just hope that my shoulders and back can last till midway through July.
Well, this was my little note to y'all, I have catching up to do in the NB yet, but I'll try to be quick about it.
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 5-24-2002 15:23

"It doesn't matter who dies," the Palestinian boy
told the American journalist, "just as long as
they're Israeli." His father, sitting nearby, didn't
try to dissuade him. Instead, referring to suicide
bombing, he told the reporter, "If [my son's] time
has come, he will die . . . But at least he will die
for a cause. I will live the rest of my life being
proud of him."

What makes these words remarkable isn't the
intoxication with death and killing. It's that these
words weren't spoken in a refugee camp on the West
Bank or the Gaza Strip. They were spoken in a café in
Falls Church, Virginia, a twenty-minute drive from
the White House. And the dad and son weren't recent
Palestinian immigrants but the child and grandchild
of immigrants.

While not all of the Palestinian-Americans
interviewed by NPR's Barbara Bradley volunteered to
blow themselves up, every one defended and justified
the actions of suicide bombers.

5-24-2002 12:42

A belated happy birthday Jerry. Liked your latest ghost story! Scary! You are getting to be quite an expert. Hope you enjoy your vacation.

Carol: Thanks. Posted one off to you...half a one. Not enough, but a little.

Viv 5-24-2002 10:31

oops - forgot to put my name - that was from me. :)

Hallee 5-24-2002 10:18

Happy
Birthday, Jerry!

5-24-2002 10:17

Happy Birthday Jerry! Have a great weekend!

howard 5-24-2002 8:00

Alot of Birthdays this month
Happy birthday Jerry

Taylor 5-24-2002 7:48

Jerry,
Happy birthday tooo yoouuu
Happy birthday tooo yoouuu
Happy birthday dear Jerryyyyy
Haappy birthday toooo Youuu

Eddie Simply Writing 5-24-2002 3:13

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thought I was going to have to put up a neon sign announcing my Birthday this year. I know it's not nice to promote ones self.

We will be heading out for the campground bright and early tomorrow, so I shan't be posting again for a few days, but will be enjoying my family and the campgrounds, the lake, and maybe, if the weather cooperates, a bit of that game with the wood mallets and wood balls, where you knock them through the wire loops, can't recall the name, but I do love the game. We did make a special mallet for me, as my six foot one frame just doesn't bend as much as it once did, so I needed a long handle. An old broomstick seemed to do the job nicely, but I do get a few strange looks when I use it, from the folks walking by.

Americo - It seems that the world goes by cycles, always has and probably always will, at least till we blow it up some day. I fear you are right about the present trend in your neck of the woods. As has been said, we hear so very little of what is happening there, the news wants us to keep up with happenings in the Middle East where the trouble is all stemming from, but fails to keep us up to date with anything else in the world. Sort of like they were with the Vietnam war, the Korean war, and almost any other war that you can think of that's been happening lately, seems we have had our fair share.

Maybe you folks are right, maybe we are a bit quick on the trigger. I don't think we were this time though, that attack on New York was simply too shocking, to horrible not to retaliate in some way.

I know, I know turn the other cheek and all that, but I recently heard that interpreted a different way, seems that in the middle east if you turn the other cheek you are not inviting another hit, but giving the striker a put-down of some sort.

True the U.S. Seems to have a big head most of the time, we are right, and if you don't believe that, just ask us and we'll tell you. But way down deep, we are sort of nice folks, it's just our leaders that are a bit on the pushy side. I think it comes from the small pay check that those folks who serve get, it used to look like a big check, at least to we, the minimum wage earners, but when compared to many other professions that most of those in Congress or even in the White House, the pay is very small indeed. With such small pay we don't incite the really smart, really good leaders, their all CEO's and such with big business, leaving the real nut cases in politics.

Jerry 5-24-2002 0:25

I didn't do it!

5-23-2002 23:21

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERRY!!!

MARY,

I hate shorties because I have a terrible time doing things like poems and short stories. But it is a worthwhile exercise and I enjoy reading everyone else's shorties, so I will try.

RANDALL,

Congratulations to your son on his completion of high school. It sounds like you have great kids. It is this time of the year that I DO NOT miss Texas, though I think Louisiana will be bad enough if not worse (hot and humid, what can be worse?). Here in Tulsa it has been mild, sort of like northern Michigan. Today it was overcast and in the low 70's. Tonight we had a nice thundershower. The flowers are much prettier than they were last year at this time when it was so dry. I am enjoying this weather, because it is not typical and I feel that every mild day is indeed a gift from God. The hot, uncomfortable summer will be here soon enough.

Rhoda 5-23-2002 23:13

Happy Birthday Jerry!!!!

~~Mary

5-23-2002 22:51

Ok, here it is...if there are any volunteers to take over shortie night, please feel free to do so. However, if nobody else wants it, I will continue to offer up a weekly theme. Unless Jon offers up a theme, in which case his theme over rides my theme and you should all still write about whatever you want and post it here. LOL

Please, write something and post it on Thursday nights!!!

Mary 5-23-2002 22:50

Fifty One years ago, on the 26th of May 1951 my mother gave birth to a son, not more then a mile from where I sit. When I was born, the nurse (knowing that dad wanted a boy, and that they already had two girls) jokingly told dad via phone (he was in the Palace Hotel across the street from the Hospital) that he was the father of another girl.

Dad went to the bar for a drink, then came over to the hospital, when he entered mom's hospital room, mom asked if he would like to look at his new son. Dad's reply was "your still on drugs, didn't they tell you it was another girl?" It took mom nearly twenty minutes to convince him that I was indeed a boy, he was very happy when he learned the truth. He was, however very angry with the nurse for playing such a trick on him.

This is, after all a very small town, where everyone knows everyone else, and knows almost all their busiess, at times, they know more then the folks it happened to.

I think my son solved my computer problems, at least after taking his advice, the machine seems to be running right. I decreased the speed of the video card, from 4X to 2X, and added two more cooling fans to the system, one on the case and another on the VIA processor. Thus far, the machine hasn't locked up again, or given me cause to reboot and the advice was given at eight o'clock this morning.

When they are young, we expect our kids to listen to us, when we are old, we should learn to listen to our kids.

Jerry 5-23-2002 22:39

EDDIE -- Brilliant! I am awe-stricken!

EVERYBODY -- if you haven't checked Eddie's site, do so, and prepare to grovel.

BTW -- it's not "shot-peppered" -- that leaves the hide useless for banjo heads.

Reminds me of the old story about the Englishman, the Frenchman, and the American who were captured by a remote tribe in South America. They were condemned to die, but the chief, being a civil man, offered them their choice in the matter, even to the extent of allowing them to do the execution itself. They were told that their death would not go wasted, but that their skins were to be used to make royal canoes for the chief's family.
The Englishman chose to fall on his sword, cried out "God save the Queen", and did so.
The Frenchman, not to be outdone, also asked for a sword, cried "Vive la France!" and bravely fell on it.
The chief turned to the American and asked "Do you also wish a sword?"
The American said "Nawww -- gimme a fork!" They did, and he proceeded to stab himself wherever he could reach, then turned to the chief and yelled "Go ahead, you SOBs -- lessee you make a canoe outta that!!!!"

howard 5-23-2002 22:14

Randall

Hi!

Hello to Americo and Jon. Glad to see your up and functional. Not much to say guys. I've been hauling my camper to work this week. I park it behind the store and at dinner fix a quick bite to eat and take a short nap. It seems to make the afternoons easier. My wife is worried. She thinks one day I'll just keep going, ending up in southern Utah north of Monument Valley or western Wyoming above Yellowstone or northwestern Montana just below the Canadian border.

Well, never thought a whole lot about it really. Well, it's a thought! :-)

My son graduates HS tomorrow. Then the Air Force in July or so. Sadly, now I will have to give the devil his due, my soul. I worried over Sean more than Sara. Sara has finished her freshman year in college. Wants to be an international banker. Why? I haven't the foggiest idea. Probably wants to work with money I suppose. Really wild, my daughter he banker. Weird, because bankers like school yard bully's are my mortal enemy.

Jerry ... it's mild and dry in Texas, now. All to soon it will be hot as hell down here though. I'll shoo some dry air up there if you'll shove some cold air down here. :-)
My friend in Utah tells me they have already began water rationing in most irrigation systems south of the Salt lake Valley. Great.

Gotta go.

Randall

Randall 5-23-2002 21:20

***The not so evil *R ***

EDDIE,

Do they still play crickett in Britain, or has it been pretty much replaced by soccer and rugby? It was mentioned in an article I read today and I just wondered.

AMERICO,

What is going on over there? I am interested, and I don't know if we are getting good coverage by our news outlets who don't tell us much about Europe anyway. Are your neighbors and friends more right-winged than they used to be or is the right-wing thing a lunatic fringe that is growing? And why is it that Europe is so prone to dramatic swings? Traditionally your main stream politicians make our more liberal Democrats sound conservative. Then when you do have Conservatives, they sound like what would be considered members of the Klu Klux Klan over here, hateful and very extreme.

Someone explain this to me. If you don't wish to cover this on the Notebook, e-mail me if you get time. What I would like to know is that if the hearts of Europeans are really changing.

TINA,

Thank you for sharing those sayings. They were very funny.

MARY,

You have done great with the shorties. I personally see no need to replace you unless you want to take a rest.

Rhoda 5-23-2002 20:53

Eddie: Haha there.

Americo: Welcome back from this side of Australia to

How is everyone doing?

Taylor 5-23-2002 20:09

**Teekay**

AMERICO: Welcome back. You have no idea how much you missed me.

Teekay 5-23-2002 19:42

I'm just tired, not thick. another URL slip. This one is ok.

Eddie Simply Writing 5-23-2002 18:05

Rhoda,
Thank you for the birthday wishes.
And thanks to everybody who wished me a happy birthday.

Taylor,
You must be more careful how you phrase some of your wishes. Just what was it of boba fets' that you wished to get hold of? :¬)
Ed

Eddie Simply Writing 5-23-2002 18:02

Americo,
Good to hear from you again. Where have you been all this time? So Beckham is once again kicking a ball with his rapidly healing foot. Did I ever mention that I supervised the foundation underpinning and piling on the house next door to his when he lived in Manchester? (Pre Victoria days). I used to talk to him most evenings before leaving site for the office. Whay Haay!.....NameDropping rules OK. Nice house even back then, (Gated, cameras etc.) Probably £750,000 worth at the time. Nice if you can get it.
Jon,
Watch out, somebody has an eye for shot peppered cat around here.

Jerry,
Ahh, breathing, yes I remember it still. Hold halfway through the out cycle and squeeze gently. (Two of the five marksmanship principles) The only thing I regret is that it was NOT DUMB animals I had in my sights. War is bad and I was just a kid really. (Don't ask)
In a lighter vein, I also competed in the British Army marksmanship competitions at Bisley. I have several trophies.
Complaining about spam is good, somebody must have heard me, only two today! Those poor girls, still trying to get through college on our handouts for their visual favours.
Sorry about the bad link in my last post. Here is the good one.
Later everybody,
Ed

Eddie Wincustomize 5-23-2002 17:57

Hi all!

Just found these at the skydiving site I go to. Fun!
PUNS FOR THEIR OWN SAKE

* *A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.

* *Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

* *A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

* *Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

* *If electricity comes from electrons... does that mean that morality comes from morons?

* *Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.

* *A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

* *Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

* *Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?

* *Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

* *Sea captains don't like crew cuts.

* *Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

* *A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

* *A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

* *Without geometry, life is pointless.

* *When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.

* *Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

* *Reading whilst sunbathing makes you well-red.

* *When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.

* *I submitted ten entries into a Best Pun contest. I was sure I would win, but, unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

* *Since "Pro" is the opposite of "Con", is Progress the opposite of Congress?

And a thought... Jack! We could use that archive any time ;-)

Tina 5-23-2002 13:44

Mary,

you did a good job in your time. A warm thank you is your severance pay.

Any volunteer to replace Mary as shortie-night Minister? Perhaps some fresh blood. There are promising new faces in the forum. Welcome to all of them.

A* is hereby appointed Minister for sports and games. Ah, it's the World Soccer Championship soon. And on the 5th June the USA will be playing Portugal. I will be delighted if the USA wins ...

Congratulations on the birthdays of Eddie, Christi, Hallee and... no, Jack's birthday will be only on the 27th.

Kisses to all and everywhere.

Jon 5-23-2002 12:57

Jerry,

You might have a good point there. Hitler, Mussolini, Franco in the past... And you can add Le Pen, Haider and other fascist leaders now. Europe is going to the extreme-right again. Not a good sign.

Red carpet for Jon now, please.

Americo 5-23-2002 12:51

Jingle bells, Jingle Bells - the end of May and it's snowing.

GOD How I miss Texas.

Best get the water in the Camper so we can go camping, hell, think I'll even put the sled in so we can go sledding down the snow banks!

Jerry 5-23-2002 12:07

Americo - so glad to see you (and Jon) back amongst us.

I still believe that gun control involves proper breathing, and a gentle squeeze applied to the trigger, so as not to pull the sights out of alignment.

You good folks in Europe can feel absolutely free to control you guns any way you please, after all, you folks are the "civilized" people of the world, who have produced such great minds as Aristotle, Socrates, and many others, such as Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and so many others. Why it's just plain as the nose on your face that you good folks have no use what-so-ever for guns, in fact I'm in favor of a total ban on guns in Europe and Asia, just not here.

At any rate, it is refreshing to see you back among us.

Oh and JON - My vote goes to Mary for headmaster of shorty night, simply because she is here more often then you are, thus gives much more attention to the chore.

Jerry 5-23-2002 11:59

Not exactly "Bump in the Night" but close enough.

/ I saw the Light
/ By Jerry Ericsson

I’m sure it happens to everyone from time to time, that feeling that there’s something moving around you, just out of your field of vision. You know, like there’s a dog or child moving, but when you look there’s nothing there. It happens to me a lot, mostly at night when I’m going to put the dog out, or to the bathroom, things like that. It used to happen even more when we lived on the farm and a bathroom trip meant a quick walk in the dark to the out house, a flashlight your only companion. What ever they are, they love the shadows.

I’ve always written it off as imagination, just my mind playing tricks on me as I’m sure most folks do, that was until the night I caught one of them.

I was walking through the kitchen in the dark, the only light was that coming from the dining room, enough to find my way, the dog at my heals all excited about his last trip outdoors for the night. I got that familiar feeling of movement, but this time, I turned fast enough to see it, for just a second, long enough to grab it.

I can’t tell you what it was, there simply aren’t words that adequately describe it, but I must try before it gets me, as I know it shall eventually.

It wasn’t an animal, or at least as we know animals to be, yet it was alive, I think. When I made contact with it, I knew it was solid, physical not spiritual, or at least that was my thought. It fought like a wild animal would when captured, it made a noise; a quiet sort of scream that I know was only heard by me, the dog didn’t bark, didn’t see as far as I could tell, as he sat by the door impatiently waiting for me to let him out.

As it fought harder, I could feel my grip slipping, it was as if the thing grew inside my enclosed hand, kept getting larger and larger, forcing my fingers apart, forcing my had open, forcing me to let it go.

I held tighter, my fingernails digging into what ever it was, until I felt the moisture of what was probably blood, or some sort of bodily fluid, if indeed it had bodily fluids, it was quickly apparent that I couldn’t keep my grip, as the force against my fingers grew until I knew that I had to let go or my fingers would break from the force.

The second I let go, it was gone, or maybe turned invisible or something, at least it appeared to be gone. I looked down at my hand, it was pure white, as if all the blood had been sucked from it, my hand tingled with the pins and needles feeling that one gets when his hand falls asleep. There were traces of some sort of green fluid on my fingernails, and everywhere the fluid was burned as if it were covered with acid. I rushed to the sink and ran cold water over them till the fluid was gone, the feeling began to return, and the burning went away.

Although I was a bit shaken from my experience, I continued with my mission, much to my little dog’s relief, and by morning I had convinced myself it was just a waking dream of some sort, although I have never had such a thing, I have read about them on the internet, and know that they exist. That’s what it must have been, after all there are no such creatures as the one that I encountered, or dreamed that I encountered that night.
I thought that way until the next night, everywhere I turned, I had that feeling that something was moving, all around me, just outside my vision. Then they began touching me, every time they made contact it was as if all the heat from that part of my body was gone, it felt like icecicles stabbing me in my side, my back, and my legs.

I let out a short scream, but I knew it would do no good, well I thought it would do no good, but I forgot about my little dog, when he heard my scream from the pain, the freezing pain, he came running, barking snarling, his teeth biting what appeared to be thin air, yet within seconds they were gone, drips of green fluid spotted the floor. My dog ran to his water dish, and within seconds, he had emptied it.

It took a second to figure out that he had attacked them, chased them from my kitchen, my house.

I refilled my hero’s water dish with milk from the fridge, it’s a rare day indeed when Renn get’s milk.

When I awoke the next morning, my hero lay dead at the foot of my bed. I don’t know for sure, of course, but I think they got him, took him in his sleep it’s the only way they could get him. The question that keeps running through my mind is why.

Why did they take Renn, and not me? Was he defending me again when it happened? I guess I’ll never know, but I do know that I shall miss my little dog as long as I live. If things keep going the way they are that may not be very long.

Since that morning, I’ve had all the lights in the house on, hoping that it will keep them away. No shadows, even my bedroom at night, although it keeps me awake.

I haven’t slept now in four days, but they have left me alone. It’s the lights; I know it’s the lights.

There’s thunder in the west, a storm is approaching. What will happen if the lights go out?

“Don’t make much sense to me Sheriff, how about you?”

“Far as I can tell, the poor fellow was out of his mind, or nearly so, must have died from fright. Doubt that we’ll ever know. It’s just a guess but I bet he had a heart attack when the power went out.”

“Let’s get his body loaded and get out of here, this place gives me the creeps, and that note that he left, why it’s just plain nuts.”

Jerry 5-23-2002 11:36

Sorry 'bout that - I've forgotten how to display the native code for the @ character -- or any other character for that matter. Back to the ref books for me!

howard 5-23-2002 10:25

Been reading up on how spammers harvest Edresses. Many of them use "spiders" that crawl over web pages (like this one) and look for Edresses. They grab anything that has username@address.com, and use it.
I just learned one trick to avoid most of that: change the @ to its equivalent hex code (@) The spiders don't recognise that code (yet) and will pass right over it.
Mine, for example, is htuckey@stny.rr.com
It works if you click on it, but the automated spider is only looking for the @ and doesn't see the @

howard 5-23-2002 9:37

Mary: I am a Star Wars fan... But theres only one thing I would love to get hold of:
Boba Fett's helmet

Taylor 5-23-2002 8:50

Check the following link for some excellent web and general computer tips, including a free Ebook (100 Cool Webmaster Tips) that shows some ways to hide your Edress from spammers.
Also look for a link to computer tips.
There's lots of neat free stuff there!

http://www.boogiejack.com/

howard 5-23-2002 8:17

*** The evil *R

Happy Birthday to:

EDDIE, HEATHER, CHRISIE, and HALLEE! (Did I miss anyone?)

Ditto, on the Spam. I get about 25 a day, and some of it very bad. Some of it isn't even in English. I don't know how many appeals I have had to help some poor unfortunate victem in Nigera by transferring money to a bank account. There is some legislation in the House of Representatives pending that is designed to stop some of this, but I cannot see that it would help that much considering that much of this is in other parts of the world other than the United States.

Writing? Oh, but the spirit is oh so willing, but the body is aching. I have been finishing my garden and have been trying to keep my house clean. I enjoy the gardening and am so proud of my flower beds. It is a shame I must leave them next month. We have found a house near New Orleans in Luling. It is 45 miles from my husband's work, but we could not find anything suitable anywhere else. We close on June 16th and plan to move there the first of July. The three kids are home from school, and they have had a great day. I really like having them around. I only wish Frank were here, because the single mom thing I do during the week is getting old now.

JON,

Good to see you back, you naughty kitty. Glad to see AMERICO.

Even though I am busy, I have had the opportunity to do some writing. I am almost 100 pages into the novel. I do have to work faster. I was hoping to finish in six months and already I have gone nine.

Rhoda 5-23-2002 1:25

JON: I will be expecting severance pay.

Mary 5-23-2002 0:21

Mark, your right of course, that's what the wife keeps telling me. Now if I could just get a refund....

Jerry 5-22-2002 23:53

AMERICO -- Welcome back!

JON -- Duck!

howard 5-22-2002 23:29

I've been getting that spam from my own address too -- and some of it is downright repulsive.

I'm also developing an intense disliking for cats. Someone has apparently dropped off a litter of them behind my barn, and they're all over the place. There are at least five, maybe more, and they are beginning to make me angry enough to commence firing. Haven't had to do that in a while, but when it comes to a choice between enjoying the sight of goldfinches or smelling cat pee all over the place, I'll go with the finches. We're starting to hear reports of rabid cats in the area too, so I think it's time. Besides, I need at least one decent hide for a banjo head.

howard 5-22-2002 23:21

{In the days before telemarketers} We had gone to the funeral parlor for my Uncle Bob's wake. Home not more than five minutes when the phone rang. My Dad got it.
"Hello."
-- Hi, is Bob there?
"Uh, well." He hesitated. Bob often lived without a phone, so people looking for him would call one of the other Lenihans in the book. "Uh, Bob passed away."
-- Oh, uh, I'm sorry.
"Thank you. Good night."
He hung up the phone and stared at it for a few minutes. I asked if he was OK.
"That guy didn't say Bob Who. That couldabeen a wrong number."

HEATHER -- wasn't it a year ago we all sat here and swapped "Where was I when I turned 30" stories? Gosh. The farther away it gets, the harder it is to remember. Write it all down, so it'll all be there for you when you get old. I write quips about women to help me remember what to do with one.
Happy bird day two ewe. You animal.

HALLEE -- I was gonna ask, does this guy wear a uniform? But I see he does. I sense a pattern here.
Speaking of patterns, nice web site. Front Page 2000?

LITTER -- sending porn to yourself, eh? Check your palms.

JERRY -- I haven't counted, but it sure seems like you've been through a lot of $25 eBay transactions and you still can't keep a machine. Man, if you'd slap the next $25 into a can and save up for a real PC you'd be better off. Look at cyberpowerpc.com. I don't need the OS, (I have XP, win2000, win98, and Mandrake 8.2) so I got a basic computer and loaded my own system. Complete hardware for under $500 (no monitor, of course). Bought one for work in January. Set it up, loaded it with all the apps we use on the job, put it at a Care Manager's desk and it has run without a hitch since. Since January you've talked about computer glitches once a week.

CHRISTI -- 54 ?? Wow, you sure don't look it.

More later,

Mark 5-22-2002 22:48

On the spam thing, I still get a bunch of it, but the porn has abandoned me thank God. I don't miss it a bit. I am getting all sorts of investment crap, don't know what they expect me to invest, but it's fairly easy to trash it.

What I normally do is to go to the properties of the message and copy the header of the message then send it to:

abuse@whaterver the address is. It works some of the time, as I get responses from many of my abuse reports. Of late however they say that the spammers have found a way to counterfeit the header also, so there's not much they can do about it.

Your right though about responding to their un-subscribe stuff, I think most of them take you to some research place that gathers the names and sells them to other spammers.

Spam is joining the telemarketers and JW's in the line of most hated entities on the face of the earth.

DEATH TO SPAM MERCHANTS!

Write on

Jerry 5-22-2002 21:44

HALLEE - When I married the wife, we had known each other for exactly six months. Thus far the marriage (which everyone thought might, just might last six months) has lasted over thirty two years.

Happy Birthday to Christi, Eddy, again to Heather, and to JACK, I believe yours is just around the corner.

Still fighting with my computer, I may be responsible for the dang damage myself, I was just reading on the proper way to fit the heat sink (Most important with Athlons) and it appears I didn't follow the advice that I just read back when I assembled/reassembled/re re assembled the machine.

My processor may have suffered from my neglect, so all that I've been bitching about is my own damn fault.

Well not the weather, the weatherman on tonights news said there was a sever thunderstorm watch for the east and central part of the state, a blizzard warning for Montana, and high wind warning for our part, now the stuff in Montana usually gets her rather quickly, personally I would rather have the thunder, but I guess that's what I get for living in God's Country. (Haven't decided which GOD that is, but folks here about keep saying that it's where we live.)

Jerry 5-22-2002 21:38

The spam we all get nowadays is so nasty that I am even thinking of giving up the Internet. There is no use changing one's address. Spammers soon discover the new one.

I have been reading my early posts and thinking how naive I was. I believed that man was intrinsically good and reliable. Gradually I found out that there is a little monster in each of us. Let me get back to my innocent days and try to guess the mischievous elf that hides in some of the Notebookers, starting of course with A*, my neighbor. Hope no-one becomes offended.

A*— can't suffer fools gladly, forgetting that he is also a fool.
H*— can't dissociate the old Bible from contemporary History, being rather unjust to Arabs and Palestinians.
R*— idem but making a serious effort to see clearer in the Episcopalian blindness.
E*— unable to recognize that English soccer sucks if compared with Iberian one.
G*— this son of a mixture of the best bloods in History (Portuguese and Irish) has inherited the humor, but not the coolness of his ancestors.
JE*— an extremely sensitive man, cannot see that gun control is absolutely vital for the preservation of the species, including his own.
J*— he would be perfect were it not for his incredible procrastination.

I cannot see any evil in people like Rachel, Allein, Christi or Heather, though the latter should refrain from some words which disfigure her pretty face.

And by the way, Mary is fired from her task as Minister of the shorties-night. I will take care of that myself again, if and when the Notebook recovers the splendor of yore.

PS. I am the only one without any defects at all, sheer perfection, as you all know... (ellipsis)

Jon 5-22-2002 21:35

Correction:

http://81.9.8.41/

5-22-2002 20:24

Litter,

I also got an email apparently sent from me!

I discovered it came from a Casino (North-American?) with the following URL:

http://81.9.841/

No www. in the address.

There should be a law against these nasty people!

Heather: congratulations on your birthday!

Americo 5-22-2002 20:21

Whaddya mean it's too late? It's never too late.

5-22-2002 19:27

ATTENTION:

54 years ago a very special event occured. It would have been documented and declared the world over, but no one could find a pen at the time, which is a bit of a shame really.

However, we, the chosen few have come into personal contact with this being of light and love and for that we are truly blessed and grateful.

All, let us raise our voices and our glasses to CHRISTI *hic*
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTI!!!!!!

5-22-2002 19:26

Anybody like 'Skinning'?
Go to the site below to get Windowblinds, ObjectBar, IconPackager, Winstyles etc

Eddie WinCustomize 5-22-2002 17:10

Yes, the porn spam thingy is really getting out of hand lately. Every bloody day now.
You know, it really makes me livid! My family share this computer and for a while there I was thinking that they were thinking......that I was... Well the same thing is happening to Sharon, one of my daughters and her husband so we complain collectively now. Before, I just deleted it and hoped that nobody else saw it, now we just routinely delete it as it comes in. There has to be something that honest people can do about this. The abuse adds. are useless. Oh, and DO NOT follow the 'Unsubscribe' link. They will just collect your email address and you will get even more of the stuff.
Later,
Ed

Eddie 5-22-2002 17:08

CAROL -- I just got a copy of "The Pocket Muse" too. It looks interesting.

MARY -- Hysterical? I was hoping the drugs would calm me down so it didn't show...

howard 5-22-2002 16:31

CAROL: Thank you for that. :) I am an Army brat, so I'm not too unfamiliar with it all. And - Gregg is National Guard, so it's just until this whole thing is over.

Hallee 5-22-2002 14:13

Okay - I got through half of it - now I have to get some work done. Hahaha - maybe I'll finish getting caught up later.

Jerry: In April you said something about the IRS sending you a good letter for once. Congratulations. :)

Howard: Thanks for the telecommunications site for the writers. That looks incredibly interesting.

Jack: Congratulations on all of your weight loss!

Heather - are you still practicing your southern accent? Give me a call sometime - this Georgia high school graduate/Floridian who is marrying an Alabamian from South Carolina will help you. (wink)

Elaine: What is the significance behind, "'Til Niagra Falls"?

Mel: Sorry to hear you've had such a sick year in your household. Hopefully springtime will shoo all those nasty bugs away.

Randall: Sorry to hear about your father-in-law and the subsequent problems.

Rhoda: I went to New Orleans for my 30th birthday in March. It was the first time I've ever spent any time in Louisiana. It is a beautiful state. Also, I've spent the last several weeks helping someone edit a regency romance. I've never delved too much into historical, and had a blast doing it. She has 4 more books spun off from secondary characters that she's working on editing right now. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the stories.

Rosemary: Wow! Congratulations on your weight loss!

Rachel: Congratulations on selling your house. Have you found a new one yet? Oh - and did we get a score on your exam yet?

Hallee 5-22-2002 14:10

Hi All :)

Well, today's my big day. The first appointment with the rheumataligist (I'm going to have to learn how to spell that my memory!). I'm a bit nervous, but I've armed myself with research and knowledge so hopefully I can ask and answer any intelligent questions.

Hallee -- A big Congratulations and warm hug!! I met my husband in February, we were unofficially engaged by April, officially by May and married in October. The only reason we waited was that he wanted a job before he would set the date. And since I was the only daughter of the family, an elopement was out of the question. :) We've now been married for 21 years. Be prepared for some rough times as a military wife. It is not easy to have a spouse in danger or being parted from one for long stretches of time. Have faith and trust in each other and you'll do just fine. The one rule I've lived by is: No matter what we say, no matter what we do, the truth is we love each other and would never willing hurt one another. Since men and women do think slightly different, it's a good thing to keep in mind. What a word means to us, can have a slightly different meaning to our spouse. Ok, enough advice from me. :D Besides, that's the sum total of my marital advice. The rest is up to you to learn. hehehehe Oh what fun!

Taylor -- I recently got a copy of The Pocket Muse. Here's a trick from that little book on writer's block. Using your Search and Replace buttons, change the names of your characters (no, it's not permanent, just for fun). Ie. Change Frank to Brett, change Mary to Samatha. Anything that feels completely opposite of the personality you now have. See what ideas you get from your new perceptions.

I was going to address a couple other entries, but now my back button ain't a'workn. Pooh! I remember there's a couple of belated birthdays out there, and a future one to Jerry. So Happy Birthday! to those I missed. Dang this memory!!!

On my own writing front, the limbo between awake and asleep last night provided a couple of nifty scenes for my current piece. Including a mystery I had been trying to figure out. Yippee! My hummingbird character now has a name - Eep. Heheheh I like it. Sounds like a name a hummingbird would give himself. I think I'll have fun with his character.

Have a great day everyone!!

Carol 5-22-2002 13:23

Hi guys.

TINA: Hi! Good luck with your financing...that can be tricky.

HOWARD: You are hysterical.

LITTER: I got a porn spam thing today but I don't think it was from you. The 'from' address was: MAILER-DAEMON-UNDELIV.... Seems these jerks are getting quite clever, I even opened this one, thinking it was a message I had sent that didn't make it and I wondered which one it was so I could resend again. No attachment though, it just had some porn link in it, but I don't remember if it was the same as the one you stated here. Probably not. How are you anyway???

HEATHER: I am beading away girlie...just taking a break.

Any Star Wars fans out there? I have over 400 vintage, factory sealed Star Wars items listed on eBay. They are getting bids like I can't even believe. Email me private if you want the privvy on this stuff before it goes up.

SHORTIE THEME: Thing that go bump in the night.

Mary 5-22-2002 12:58

Hello guys!
Just posting to let you all know that I'm not dead (yet) and I have two days until school ends. Have to go study for semester finals!
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 5-22-2002 12:33

LITTER -- Sounds like the KLEZ virus (or a variant of same). It's nasty. There's a fixklez exec available for free from www.symantec.com that's supposed to help clean it up. Good luck!

howard 5-22-2002 12:08

Hallee,
Anita and I were married 'in a big rush' for the exact same reasons. That was back in 73 when I was in service. The security problems in Northern Ireland were the 'inconvenient war'
Good luck.

Eddie 5-22-2002 10:54

Heads-up people!

Apparently I have been sending porn email spam. I have, apparently, sent the spam to myself???

I have not, and never would, send anything of this nature (Porn and/or spam)

Since my machine has been checked as clean by Computer Associates most up to day anti-virus program, and that failed delivery address are all from 'Yahoo' I am presuming that the addresses were probably harvested for Yahoo Groups or from someone who knows a lot of people with Yahoo email addresses.

Anyway, I have NOT turned into a porn baron, should any of you have the misfortune to receive this spam -- it refers to the following link (the bit after the www has been left out to disable the link) which is

'terra.es/personal8/drunk chix/...' (looks like a Spanish company?)

You should be able to filter your email if you have a problem like this. I'm off to filter mine now.

Oh, the emails are being sent from an address which, at the moment, I have set up only to receive mail. (My 'co.uk' address)

Cioa,

Litter

Litter 5-22-2002 9:49

Hi everyone!

Yes - it seems kind of fast. We've been together since January. So, by the time we get married - it will be only six months. But, the second we met - we clicked - in a big way. I cannot describe it accurately. If he wasn't getting deployed, we wouldn't be moving this fast. But, the rationale is that if something were to happen to him, I would be his wife in the Army's eyes instead of basically nothing. And, if something as simple as marrying him before he leaves instead of when he comes back helps ease his mind on certain things, I'm happy to do it. Because I know, without a doubt in my mind, that until him I didn't even know what being in love meant, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him. The timing of this whole war sucks - really - haha.

So, I hope that helps clarify a little. The people who interact with us on a daily basis and know us are just thrilled to death. Apparently, we're perfect for each other and this marriage was pre-ordained. (grin) (Including my parents, which kind of shocked me. I expected at least one lecture - but they're actually ecstatic about this whole thing.)

Today I'll catch up on the postings. Have a great day all!

Hallee 5-22-2002 7:00

Congratulations Hallee! Wish you all the best

Jerry: Hope the weather eases up for ya soon.

Tina: I agree with you about the dialogue of Attack of the Clones... And most of time the actual plot seemed a little thin, but the couple of subplots looked interesting.
Wander how the 3rd prequal is going to tie it all together

Happy Birthday to all whos having one, cant remember who. I haven't been on much lately.

OH I NEED A CURE FOR WRITERS BLOCK!!!!!
I've only written a line in my novel since Friday... And I thought that I had reached the easy part to write. But words just aren't coming for it!
I'M GOING TO CRY ABOUT IT!

Taylor 5-22-2002 2:57

Terriably windy day today. Had to drive the wife up to see her eye doctor, a twentyfive mile drive each way in the wind, ghusting around forty miles per. When we got home there was a message on the machine, "HELP DAD!" it was my daughter, the wind caught her storm door, broke it in half. When we got there, she had it taped shut with duct tape (Always teach your kids the value of duct tape!).

I used my little electric screwdriver to remove the door, and using parts, re-enforced her back storm door so it could withstand the wind.

Went home and right to work on this damn machine. Finally got it to accept windows, had ME almost setup when it crashed again. This was a bad one, I had to resort to Linux again to square away the hard drive, but it crashed during the install.

That may have been a GOOD thing. I left the Linux partition on the hard drive, and used a little ll gig partition to install windows 98. It's working again, windows 98 running without a glitch. I was thinking it was the hard drive, now I believe it more strongly then ever.

Have to hint to the wife, my BIRTHDAY is this Sunday.

We are going Camping for my birthday, down to the lake, just thirteen miles south of there, but a world away when it comes to living. May get a chance to write a bit over the three day camporama, hope so. Think I'll take my little old 486 laptop along.

Well it's late, and I must be off to bed, tomorow is another day, just watched the Discovery special on the collapse of the twin towers, and the attack on the Pentagon is on right now. Too damn depressing to watch both so close together.

Nite all

WRITE ON

Jerry 5-22-2002 1:24

Happy Birthday Eddie, and Christi too!

Just saw Episode 2. I won't post a spoiler, but I loved it! Except that Lucas needs to get better at writing dialogue. A few scenes were overwrought. Funny how every movie I watch also gets its script analized. Must be a 'writer' thing.

Still no news on my business loan. I'm getting very very anxious/impatient/frustrated.

Blue Skies!

Tina 5-22-2002 0:55

Hallee:

You know "ughmm" I wasn't going to bring it up, but since Christi did.

ta yaaaaaah!

Kindda quick.

Please details!

Debra 5-21-2002 23:07

No, I'm not until November 16 -- reverse the date and you've got my age on my next birthday!

howard 5-21-2002 22:27

~Christi~

I thank you, dearest TEEK
I sure thank you, dearest TEEK
I'm one whole year older
Now my bladder does leak!

HA ha ha ha! Just kidding--it doesn't ... yet. Thank you, sweetie! You the best.

Happy Birthday, EDDIE, and congrats on the computer programming! It's strange how many of us have birthdays in May and June. Aren't you next, HOWARD?

And CONGRATULATIONS to HALLEE!!!!!!!! How EVER did this happen so quickly? You must dish. You must!

Christi 5-21-2002 22:20

Oh Hallee:

Married?

Wow!

I hope you both enjoy a long and happy marriage!

Debra 5-21-2002 21:00

Happy Birthday

Hallee, Heather and Eddie:

I just love birthdays.

I hope yours' is the best one yet!

Debra 5-21-2002 20:59

**Teekay**

HALLEE: Congratulations. I have to say though, you're certainly full of surprises.

Teekay 5-21-2002 20:40

**Teekay**

HALLEE: I don't wish you a happy birthday after all as it was not your birthday, but if it was I would.
Onya EDDIE.

Teekay 5-21-2002 20:38

**Teekay**

CHRISTI:

A PEA BIRD DAY 2 GNU;
A PEA BIRD DAY 2 GNU;
A PEA BIRD DAY DEER CHRISTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII;
A PEA BIRD DAY 2 GNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY GIRLY.

And a a pea bee lay ted bird day to HALLEE and EDDIE.

Teekay 5-21-2002 20:13

Thanks, Tina! And best of the best of the best of luck on that biz loan.

Heather 5-21-2002 19:09

Thanks, Eddie!

Hey, if I were going where no one has gone before, I'd wonder why someone named a star 'Eddie French', and who exactly was Eddie?
Did they write your name across the surface of the star, too? ;oD

Heather 5-21-2002 19:08

Of course I did mean Heather for the birthday wishes. Hallee for the happy occasion of her engagement. All the best Hallee and happy birthday Heather.
Later,
Ed

Eddie 5-21-2002 17:28

Happy birthday Hallee
My birthday too last Saturday!
I got a Star!
My very own star, named after me. I wonder if the register will last?
Imagine the Enterprise orbiting a planet around my star in hundreds of years time. Would somebody wonder who Eddie French was? Would they look me up?
Well, we can but dream.
Later,
Ed.

BTW
I finish my exams in three weeks time. I'm almost a professional computer programer! I'm seriously considering staying at Uni to complete my degree course.

Eddie 5-21-2002 13:51

Wow Hallee! Congrats! All sorts of happiness wishes being sent your way right.... now!

Heather, I missed your B-day too. Happy happy!

Waiting for the phone call about my business loan. I'm way more nervous and anxious about this than I was about jumping out of a plane.

Blue Skies!

Tina 5-21-2002 12:03

HALLEE,

Congratulations. I hope this guy is worthy of you and that you two will be very happy.

Rhoda 5-21-2002 10:46

Hi all.

I'm getting married next month! WOW. It's like I'm living one of my books. (Good thing I don't write the ghost stories like Teekay - lol)

Okay - back to work. I'll catch up on the posts as soon as I have time.

HEATHER: I missed your birthday. :( Sorry. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hallee 5-21-2002 10:25

Ha ha ha! My bathroom is on the main floor, and my bedroom is upstairs. I run straight up the stairs and around the bend at the top, and there's my dresser. I'd say there is about a thirty foot sprint in there somewhere. ;oD

Heather 5-21-2002 7:34

HEATHER -- Sounds interesting! How far apart are your shower and dresser? :-)
BTW -A belated Happy Birthday! Dunno why, but I completely overlooked it.

JERRY -- I was talking with an acquaintance from my old job at IBM (before I retired) and she said that they're moving away from the individual servers concept, and towards LINUX on mainframes to do their processing. I've got an old version of it around here somewhere -- will have to try it.

howrad 5-21-2002 7:10

THANKS EVERYONE, for ALL the birthday wishes!
I couldn't feel luckier if I was bathing in Jasmine leaves and betting on horses!
Uh, never you mind what I just said.

Seems the keys aren't helping this brain kick in.

Perhaps later!

Love to all, and all a great morning! :oD

(Why do they insist I wear this silly white jacket anyhow?)

Heather 5-21-2002 6:14

Howard, the next time a telemarketer happens to catch me between the shower and my dresser, I'll have to remember some of your terribly creative ways of getting rid of them so I don't make puddles on the hardwood!
Somehow or other I get calls right when I'm absolutely in no state of mind to think up something on the spot.
I'm also not very good at coming up with anything interesting to say on the phone - I suppose I've trained myself to think while I type.

Egads, this post is really not showing much promise, is it?
I'm about bored to shreds.

Mark, your comment didn't slip by me unnoticed! Not that anything else would...
;o)

Tina, you brave soul, you!
I'd rip that cord before the plane took off. Yup, I'm all sea and sand, but not too comfortable being more than three feet above it.
I get the heebie jeebies just putting up Christmas lights over our porch! If the lights have to be higher than 8 feet, forget it. That's Wayne's job!
(I'm Taurus to a fault, I suppose.)

Rocks 'n' soil, 'n' good ol' grass beneath my feet, I'm happy. The barer the foot the better.

Fresh manure and all that compost,

Heather 5-21-2002 4:14

Well there is always punishement for those who screw with the telemarketer gods.

I was doing a defrag of my computer today, since I had uninstalled XP and returned to ME for about the tenth time.

The display didn't look exaclty right, I like the display with the little boxes, not the lines, so I clicked on the properties button, no big deal right, this is a 1 gigahertz machine, it should be able to handle those two simple things, a defrag and showing the properties right?

Nope, it locked up, I had to press the reset button.

WARNING NEVER PRESS THE RESET BUTTON DURING DEFRAG!

I can't fdisk, low-level format didn't fix it, couldn't get my norton tools to load, my tech tools wouldn't touch it. I was about to give up when I thought "LINUX"!

I am now running under Linux, it loves this little 20 gig hard drive, lots of room for all sorts of fun things, but I do miss Windows. I even tried to install windows as a second OS on this drive, no way, it keeps reporting the boot sector has failed.

How can this be? When it runs Linux so well? I don't know, all I know about Linux is that its fun to play with, but as a second OS, not primary, I want to play my dang games!

Guess I'll have to watch Ebay and see if I can come on a deal for a new hard drive. The wife is going to kill me.

My birthday is Sunday, maybe...

Oh, and I don't have a spell checker for Linux, well not one that checks this box like I do in windows, so excuse the misspellingss.

I do sort of feel sorry for that poor imigrant who was just trying to earn her keep, after all she isn't on the public rolls, so should be appreciated, just not by me.

Jerry 5-20-2002 22:32

TEEKAY --- Thanks! :-)
-----------
I was scared to death of my grandfather for the longest time. I remember he had lost the end of his left thumb (at the first knuckle) in a punch press in the machine shop where he worked. He never went to the hospital, just wrapped it up in a rag and went back to work, and it healed up just fine. There was a stub of bone sticking out the end of it, and he used to grab us kids when we were misbehaving, so that the bone would grind into our arm or wherever, and it would really get our attention!
He had a wolf/husky mix named Lobo, that he kept in a run out back, and grampa was the only one who could get near him, until I made friends with him. I just barely remember when I was about four, that I would reach through the cage and pet Lobo's head, and scratch his ears, and he'd lick my hand. Once in a while grampa would let me into the run with him and I'd play with him.
One day we had a picnic in the back yard, with all the aunts and uncles there, and I went over and reached into the run to pet him. One of my great-aunts screamed and reached in to "rescue" me, and Lobo near took her hand off. He wasn't around too long after that. I still think about him. It about broke grampa's heart, but he was afraid that Lobo might really hurt someone, even me, so he figured he had to get rid of him.

howard 5-20-2002 20:51

**Teekay**

HOWARD: I think you must be reading the wrong bible, I shall send you the proper edition.

Teekay the X telemarketer 5-20-2002 19:53

At the risk of taking you into complete hysteria, there's more...

"Hello, Mr. Tuckey, this is Todd Hendley with a courtesy call from Chase bank. How are you this evening?"
"Oh, pretty good, I gue...Todd Hendley?! Any relation to Bill Hendley, from Raleigh?"
"Umm,, no, I don't th..."
"How is old Bill? Haven't seen him in years!"
"Umm, I don't thi..."
"You wouldn't believe some of the stuff we got into! Did he ever tell you about the road apple fights we used to have on the school lawn?"
"No, Mr Tuckey, that's not wha..."
"Oh, you've gotta have him tell you that story -- it'll knock yer socks off! And the one about the midget and the St Bernard too! Well, gotta run along -- tell old Willie-boy I said hello!"
"Umm errr ..."
click

And my mother lives right up the road from us, and we get the occasional magazine-sales call for her:
"Hello, this is --- from -- subscription services. May I speak to Helen Tuckey?"
"I'm sorry, Mom is no longer with us."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that..."
"Oh that's okay, she's in a much better place now, and I know she's happier than she ever was here."
"Oh, it's so good that you're able to look at it that way..."
"Yes -- I just hope this guy lasts longer than the last two!"
click

howard 5-20-2002 16:47

ROTFLMAO!

Tina 5-20-2002 16:09

TINA -- I've got several stock ways to deal with them, depending on my current mood.

1) The caller starts his/her pitch, and I stop them cold, and tell them I offer a Telemarketing Evaluation Service. I will be happy to listen to their pitch, and then write up an evaluation of content, delivery, and effectiveness quotient, and will send it along with my standard $75.00 fee to their billing address. All I need is that address and a supervisor's approval. They usually hang up right away, but I've actually had a "supervisor" come on the line to ask if I really offer that service. I told her "Of course I do!" (As of right then I did, anyway) She said she'd keep me in mind, and hung up.

2) An Olan Mills representative called to make me a special family picture offer. I immediately began hyperventilating, and yelled "Pictures! Pictures? Are you trying to get me killed???!!!"
"But, But..."
" Haven't you ever heard of the Federal Witness Protection Program!?"
"But, but...I didn't..."
"You didn't what?" (I was really into it by now) "You didn't what? Do you realize that now I've got to move all over again, change my name, and my family too, and..."
I think she was crying when she hung up.

3)Phone rang while we were eating supper. I answered it (the cordless phone) and heard "Hello, this is a courtesy call."
I said "Can you hold for just a minute?" and put the phone down in the middle of the table, and went on eating, and resumed the interrupted conversation.
Several minutes later I picked up the phone, and the person was still there! I asked if she was getting the idea that we were enjoying our evening meal. When she said yes, I asked if she had anything to add to the festivities.
She said "No," and hung up.

4) But I think my best one was a call from New Yorker Magazine. I had just awakened from a nap, and heard this guy say "Hello, Mr Tuckey? This is Fred Phillips from New Yorker Magazine. How are you this evening?"
I answered in a weak voice, as if gasping for breath, "Are you bringing my medicine pretty soon?"
He said "No, I'm not calling about medicine, I'm..."
"But you said you'd bring my pills, and I need them."
"No, Mr Tuckey, I'm not calling about your pills, I.."
(weaker, more gasping)
"But I need them now, and you said (cough, gasp) you'd bring them this afternoon. I haven't had my pills for two days now, and I can't (gasp) get along without (hack) them! I'm... I'm... o god..." and I dropped the phone, and disconnected it before he could hear my wife's hysterical laughter.
It was only later that I remembered that I had submitted a poem to New Yorker magazine, and this may have been an editor calling to accept it. Never did hear any more from them.

howard 5-20-2002 15:49

Howard, I love that solution! Can I borrow your line? Can I huh huh huh? Telemarketers have never posed a Big problem to me, but canvassers drive me crazy. They always manage to call while I'm cooking dinner. Without fail. Even if I was partial to their cause, uh, hello, but my dinner is burning and my veggies are turning to mush. I way prefer it when they send out info in the mail.

And Jerry, while perhaps a bit extreme, I bet you said exactly what we've all wanted to say at times.

Tina 5-20-2002 11:33

JERRY -- I get those calls too, and tend to handle/abuse each one differently. Got one on Friday, asking for "Misterr Turkey, please?" I said "ain't no R in that last name," and got a sort of apology. Then she went directly into the written script they read to you. Was gonna hang up, but the evil persona on my left shoulder whispered in my ear, and I let her go through the whole thing - maybe a minute or two of reading. Then she asked what I thought (or something like that), and I said "Oh, I'm sorry -- wasn't paying attention -- could you repeat that?" After a few seconds of mumbling she hung up.

howard 5-20-2002 11:13

I knew I went to far when I heard the heavily accented voice on the other end crack and sob, but damn it, I deserve some privacy, and there aught to be a law that keeps those telemarketers from calling one after 9:00 PM.

My wife looked at me like I was plum crazy, and maybe I was just a bit, but this was the second night when those annoying calls came, the night before we had five count em FIVE calls where there was no-one on the line. Some telemarketers computer checking for live callers, then after picking the dead receiver up five times, the sixth had some stupid survey taker, I was probably a bit easier on that one, I simply told them that, having hung up on me five times, I felt they deserved no less then to be hung up on and then hung up on them.

But the one last night, it was the first time the phone rang, but I was in the midst of fighting with my computer (I won), the wife was watching the news, our dog was whining to go outside, and some stupid telemarketer who had yet to master the English language called, wanting to speeeek to a Mr. Ericessersson, it was just the wrong thing to say to me at the wrong time. I totally went off on them screaming into the phone, questioning their ancestor, and the maritial status of their parents, before hanging up on them.

I don't wonder what it was that she was trying to sell, never let her get that far, but when I heard the sob on the other end, I knew I went to far.

I do hope that they got the message though, don't call my number unless 1.) You can speak English, 2) you know me personally, and 3.) You aren't trying to sell me anything, I buy what I need, when I need it and have no interest in magazines, insurance, or any thing else that your company happens to be selling.

The wife thinks I should "take a pill" or something, she may be right.

I did get another motherboard for this machine and it seems to be working much better, if your interested in a piece of crap motherboard, I have one for sale on Ebay, but I do declare it such in the add. Hopefully some kid looking for a bargain, who don't mind having to use USB keyboards and mouses, will take a liking to it and bid.

The new one is a bit slower then the other, and is truthfully a much cheaper, poorly made, but it does work, and I got it new for 25 bucks shipping included, so didn't expect much from it. It does run my 1000 MHZ chip well, but the front side bus is only 133 MHZ instead of the 200 MHZ of the old one. You can notice the decrease in speed, but it's still about three times faster then my old computer, and this one seems stable, it even allowed me to install XP, something the other refused to do. It took the old RAM that I thought was bad in the other MB and loves it, it must have been the MB all the time that was giving me such trouble. Adding up what I have invested in this new machine, I could well have purchased a "bare bones" machine for two hundred bucks and I would have been money ahead, and that poor immigrant who was just trying to make a buck working the late shift telemarketing would have had a much better night last night.

I do love the high speed internet, we are getting it for the same money we were paying for 56K, but are now going 256K. Here you had to either pay for an extra line, or limit your internet access to times when your not expecting calls, and with Mom calling several times a day, we opted for the second line. So we were paying for a second line, plus the phone company had a 6 dollar charge for access over their lines to the main server some sixty miles away, and the internet company charge all added up to a few dollars more then we now pay the phone company for DSL, and the speed is great. Now if I could just afford their 512K or 1Meg connection...

Jerry Ericsson 5-20-2002 9:28

TINA -- that sounds like fun! Dunno if I could do it, though. Something about "why anyone in his right mind would jump out of a perfectly good airplane..." I do intend to go for a sailplane (glider) ride this summer, though. We have an active glider club here in Endicott, and just a few miles to the west (in Mel's stomping grounds) is Harris Hill -- glider capital of the east. It's only $45 for a ride here, and it's one of those things I've been "gonna do as soon as I get a round tuit." Got one the other day, so I'm gonna do it.

Any X-philes out there watch the finale(?) last night? I was disappointed, really. I mean it was nice to see Mulder back and all, but the whole thing was a bit too cereberal if you ask me. And Reyas and Doggett just drove off into the sunset without so much as a hint as to their fate. I'd kind of like to see a spin-off wrapped around those two.
No, I didn't miss the "messages from beyond" theme, but I gotta believe Carter could have come up with something better than that.

MEL -- I think I'll get back into that "Heiro" sequel. Looks like Lanier isn't going to do it, and I've got some ideas for it. You're right about Amibale -- whoever instructed him has got to be at least close to that "power" in the south. And did you know Luchare and Villah-Rhee are both pregnant!?

howard 5-20-2002 7:43

**Tina**
Okay, Okay, I'm guilty of lurking. I have no defense.

Actually, I was waiting to see if y'all would hunt me down like you do Teekay. (sad low voice... No body loves me, everybody hates me, think I'm gonna eat some worms...)

Well, okay, that's not true. I've been rather down on myself the last few weeks. I'm trying to start up my own business, create my own job, but have been fighting tooth and nail for financing. It got rather depressing. I still haven't secured the financing, but things got better over the weekend.

I went SKYDIVING again! Wooohoo, yeehaw, hoot and holler! Oh yeah baby! It took almost 7 months to get in the air again, and it was wonderful! Yesterday I did my very first freefall, where I pulled my own chute (before, my instructor opened my canopy for me). I have never, ever had such an amazing experience. I have a serious case of PermaGrin, to the point that my cheeks hurt. Some day this week, when I can get a wee bit objective, I'll try and get it down in words, but what a chore that will be! How do I put that feeling of floating 4000 feet above the Earth, able to see snow capped mountain ranges in every direction but without walls and windows interfering, into words? But I'll try.

I'll be jumping again next weekend, weather permitting. Can't WAIT! In the meantime, I just hope I get the good news about my business. If not, I have to pound the pavement. Pennies are too tight for me to be unemployed while I wait for some loans officer to decide my fate. Expecially now that I have an expensive hobby to pay for :-D

On the writing end of things, I had a nice querry letter drafted up, and now I can't find it. Not on the computer, just handwritten. It was the only draft that I liked, and now I can't find it. Bummer!

Now I'm exhausted. My adrenaline has been in overdrive all weekend, and I can hardly stay awake. Doesn't help that as the adrenaline wore off, a head cold moved in.

Blue Skies!

Tina 5-20-2002 1:13

Christi: Thanks for the OK. As I mentioned, it will have to wait until after next weekend and getting this contract done and my Rescue Diver Certification.

The other issue is that things are getting a bit big here. I will be archiving sometime in the next day or so, so get your comments in about the writing life and I will include them in the archive. Take care.

Jack 5-19-2002 18:41

~Christi~

HIYA, GUYS AND GALS! I woke up in the BEST mood today. It surely had nothing whatever to do with the fact that I took in a double feature yesterday, seeing both Spiderman and The Clone Wars (movies are definately NOT books, unless we're talking about Fellowship of the Ring). I dunno. I was bored with them. Spiderman was by far the better movie, however.

I love coming here and seeing all my friends, even though I've not kept up very well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER! It was fantastic talking to you and TEEKAY on chat the other day.

HA HA HA! I loved your stories about your grandpas, HOWARD and RANDALL! My grandma has a story about starting up a fire as a youth, which turned into a blazing inferno at the top of a mountain. She and her brothers slunk off and hid their heads in the sand, never telling anyone they were the ones who started it. Crikey!

JACK, Congrats on the weight loss and the diving! As for Flash, I don't have a flashplayer, as my phone lines out here only support a sorry 28.8 connection speed, but that's my problem, not yours. :D If everyone else is amenable, I can deal with the longer time it will take me, no problem. :P

TEEKAY, Hurry up and get out of that bog hole, will ya? Sheesh! By the time you guys come around, I'll be down there, clamering for a way out, and I'll be all by my lonesome. :(

CAROL, Hope hubby is okay. Hugs for you.

DEBRA, Hope doggie is okay too!

MEL, Between you and HEATHER, the posting are brilliant! Love to see em.

Hey, RACHE, How's the little guy? Seems like he was born only yesterday!

BONITA, Sorry about your experiences, and thanks for the heads-up. I wish you luck, and hope you get your disks and your money back.

Wishing you all a writerly day. May your words flow like lava down the mountain, and be as steaming hot to boot.
I'm off to try to put a dent in the manuscript. TA-TA!

Christi 5-19-2002 14:12

Verybelated Happy Birthday Heather.

Greetings all and sundry.

He comes, He lurks, He goes!

Litter 5-19-2002 8:17

Randall

Hey!

Thanks Howard...

I'm not surprised at your Grampa's story. The old-timers did a lot more interesting things than we realized! They had no TV or radio or media outlets and had to improvise at all levels, work and leisure. There is nothing as frustrating or rewarding as working with mules and donkeys. I know a woman in town who rides her mule every weekend and loves it. My great grandfather, George Kiser of Mason County was known as a "Mule man" and rode cattle drives into Oklahoma.

Speaking of fire ... My grandfather said one time he and his brother caught a buzzard. They wrapped a cotton cord around one leg, about six feet long. At the loose end they attatched a coal oil soaked corn cob. Lit the cob and released poor Sir Buzzard. Pa said the last they saw of the poor thing he was spiraling upward up to escape the heat below.

Yes, it was cruel but the rest of the story confirms that Sir Buzzard paybacks are a bitch. The cotton rope burned in too eventually, (as it was suppose too) and the flaming corn cob dropped into a neighbors very dry, weed covered pasture. Pa said his family, young and old, boys and girls and adults and cousins and uncles and aunts spent the rest of the day and well into the night fighting a rip roaring blaze with water soaked toesacks, brooms, axes, hoes and shovels.

Pa finished the story and rolled a Bull Durham cigerette. In the silence I asked if fighting fire was hot work?

"Not near as hot as my bottom was after my father finished with me the next day." he replied with a grin.

Randall

Randall 5-18-2002 16:20

Bertha does remind me of a story my grandfather always told on himself -- and knowing him, I almost believe it.

He used to plow with a mule, and mules are known for their stubbornness. He'd exhausted just about every way he knew to get that mule to move, but it would stop, mid-furrow, and just stand there in the hot sun. He tried the carrot-on-a-stick method, but that only worked until the mule decided that it didn't really like carrots anyway.
So one day grampa got fed up, and came up with the ultimate mule-mover. He took a torch with him, wired to the plow handle. It was only a short (too short, it turns out) stick, with a kerosene-soaked rag tied to the end of it. He figured that would get the mule moving in a hurry.
Well, sure enough, the mule got halfway down one furrow and stopped. Grampa went through the usual routine, slapping with the reins, throwing clods, but nothing worked. So he untied the torch, gave the mule one last warning, and when it still didn't move, he applied the flaming torch to the mule's backside.
Unfortunately for gramps, mules are known for their prodigious exhaust. Yep, the surprised mule broke wind, and as you may also know this "wind" is comprised of methane gas -- highly inflammable. A ball of flame rolled back at grampa (I told you the stick was too short), and completely singed off his eyebrows and some of his hair. The surprised mule took off, dragging the plow, and didn't stop at the end of the field. By this time the plow was on its side, and the mule headed for the back forty at a record clip. That was the last time gramps tried that trick!

howard 5-18-2002 11:57

Bartleby did a few things we know of, but "pop right up" is something only Heather could make him do.

Mark 5-18-2002 11:46

RANDALL -- !! "Allowing you to post?" "Texas Bozo?" You never heard it here! Oww contrary, mon frer! (Or however that French lingo goes) Bertha is more than welcome here!

HEATHER -- My mistake -- "Bartleby" is indeed at bartleby.com, just do a search and he pops right up.

howard 5-17-2002 22:34

Randall

Hey TGIF!!!!!!!!

Howard ... (Sheepish Grin) you old fox! I should have known you would not allow the "tail" to slip by! :-) This may wrap up the Bertha the Donkey tales (Grin)... I want to thank you for allowing me to post and bless you Carol for the kind words. Heather, self-doubt should not be in any function a writer performs. :-) In my humble opinion. Look, I know there people who read my stories and mumble (shout!) "What an idiot! This guy cannot write. Texas Bozo! Who cares about a stupid donkey anyway?"

So what? As far as I know, Jack places few limitations on what we write here, so . . . let me read some of your writings....

There must come a point in a person's life when they cannot let self-doubt control their actions. Right? Write on! Let your fingers loose, free the mind, heck with everyone else ... Kick Out the Jam's MF! (Ah, an old 60's hard rock song.

SPIRITS OF WATER VALLEY CEMETERY

"So dirt lane riding became our preferred way of exploring. Bertha I believed, even enjoyed these excursions, pulling our buggy in a pasture was undeniably hard on her. Her bag of tricks was severely limited when in harness. No sudden stop, head lowered, or running under trees would affect us now. Trotting down the road she had the habit of turning her head trying to look at us around her blinders and trotting sideways. Probably scheming how to jettison that iron monster behind! Leaving the barn lot sometimes required a gentle touch of the whip. But believe me when she sensed we were returning home ... hold on! She would gallop like a horse as rapidly as we would allow or could stand, because better than rocks, even a sandy road has rough spots. An iron wheel buggy with no suspension and iron seats is definitely "road sensitive!"

One morning we were really rolling, heading home with Bertha at a gallop. Pa was plowing in his field, watching us cruising along. I don't know what happened, one of her harness straps broke allowing both staves to drop. Lodging in the sandy lane these wooden poles somersaulted our buggy, Randall, Darrel, up and over depositing us all three in one jumble of dust, sand, harness, buggy ... disarray. Bertha wasn't concerned with our welfare, a quick look backward, (If I may be permitted, a small departure from known facts. I distinctly heard a chuckle as Bertha sped away.) In a flagrant disregard of our well being she high tailed it home dragging harness behind her. Probably not aware in her donkey brain of what had occurred only reflecting on how much corn awaited. Pa lifted his plow hurrying to the accident scene. He found us okay, no major injuries, only small damage to our buggy.

Ma-Maw was preparing lunch when Bertha arrived at the barn gate and started to bray. Seeing the remains of harness hanging from Bertha, she hurried outside worried that something terrible had happened. She just started to look for us when we arrived with Pa on the tractor, towing our buggy behind. I'm sure they were both concerned then, later in life though the incident was related with much laughter.

Along with touring Darrel and me around the countryside on our buggy we used Bertha to plow our grandparent's garden. Basically the same harnesses were used, just substitute plow for buggy, walk for ride. Ma-Maw's garden was about one-half acre in size, too large to prepare with a shovel (heaven forbid) but difficult for a tractor to maneuver. Although Jimmy Schooley, my grandmother's nephew, once used his six-wheel John Deere for this purpose. It was a back in and plow out scenario though. Bertha was ideally suited for plowing, she was in top physical shape after hauling Darrel and me all over the country. Irascible as ever due to her mind reading prowess, we would have to locate her, usually farthest from the garden as possible. Catching her required a bucket of corn, the skill of a Middle East diplomat and dumb luck. Shaken properly in a bucket, corn usually sufficed though.

Bertha was like a banker. You had to make her believe she wasn't needed to catch her. Bankers are similar. One has to prove they don't need money to get money. Except a banker's ears are shorter! Hooking her to the plow, when finally captured, involved much subdued cursing, fast stepping, rapid dodging and extreme patience.

Making her plow sometimes involved a subtle taste of whip applied lightly to her buttocks. Once she realized her immediate fate was sealed she participated adequately. Ma-Maw's garden contained several fruit trees and keeping Bertha from them required constant vigilance on our part. Bertha was always alert when plum or peach fruit were within biting distance. I guess she considered ripe fruit a "perk" for her labors.

We eventually evolved a plan which made plowing with Bertha easier. Darrel or I would walk ahead with something she liked, biscuit, cornbread, or corn. Then one of us would navigate the plow as she pulled. This worked great. Bertha was extremely stout and had no problem pulling the "Georgia stock," plowing deep rows. We would plow several rows, then feed her a biscuit, switch jobs and go on. Nothing succeeds in any kingdom like bribery. Parts of the garden were shaded by oak trees. Bertha and kids would linger there, drinking homemade grape juice or consuming syrup soaked biscuits that our grandmother furnished.

To visualize this garden plowing means capturing only one segment of our total experience. There were also a variety of smells present, leather harnesses, donkey hair and sweat, peach and plum tree fragrances, freshly turned black soil, Ma-Maw frying chicken and an incredible smell rarely experienced today ... fresh air. A plowed garden of good black dirt has an aroma that could be addicting. It has a fresh new odor, a smell of new life. Film could have captured the visual aspects, only being there could capture the aroma though. What a video camera could have visually captured, but alas, video technology was many years away.

Those of you who know of donkeys and mules have realized what was going on with Bertha the Donkey by now. She had Darrel and I trained, we were used by her as much as we were using her! Her training of Randall and Darrel probably started within minutes of first greeting us as children. Being born a donkey is not the same thing as born stupid. None of God's creatures has been so underrated, intelligence wise, as a donkey.

Early one summer morning after our chores were done, Darrel and I decided to give Bertha a bath in Pa's dirt tank. We led her to the water carrying Ma-Maw's bath soap, scrub brush, even some old perfume we had liberated. Pa told us to carry a curry comb to brush her mane and tail afterwards. He must have got quite a chuckle watching us lead her toward the water.

There was no afterwards.

When arriving at the water hole, only then did Bertha fully understood what was about to happen. Understanding that she was to be bathed she became the legendary immovable object. Nothing we did could move her one inch into that tank. No way was she going to let herself pushed, pulled, or led into that water, soaped down and washed. Period. After much pleading, pulling, pushing and swearing (after carefully scanning for adults) we finally gave up and returned home. Adding insult to injury, she had the gall to stand at the back fence gate braying for biscuits. Her bathing was composed of rolling repeatedly in a dusty area, not bathing in water."

Okay that's basically it on Bertha the Donkey. I mention her several more times in "Spirits" and will wrap this up this weekend.

Happy evening!

Randall

Randall 5-17-2002 20:40

Jerry and others: I have been somewhat swamped with contractual work and still have a week to go to get done with this stage of things. As soon as that is done I am doing my Rescue Diver certification course over next weekend. And the Monday following all of that, May 27th, I turn 50 :-) . Hopefully, there will finally be time and opportunity for me to sit down and get things squared away to make the Workbook work as I have envisioned. Actually, I am looking at a possibility of using a growing knowledge of PHP and Flash to create a login/password system that I have a demo of in my documentation. From that it is only a question of what kind of workbook script I use behind the password protected area. It would appear I have something that works in that regard as well, but is related to Flash. Hope nobody has a problem with having the Flash player on their system and I will pursue this tact if I hear back that it is OK. It is also gives me the opportunity to play around and add some animations in while I am doing the other.

Also, just for everybody's edification, I just completed my 73rd dive and I have lost 44 pounds so far or, rather, in about thirteen weeks give or take one. Please accept my sincere apologies for either being too depressed or too swamped or too clueless technically to get the Workbook flying again. Hopefully, this time I will be able to make it work. I have some things I would definitely like to workshop and hopefully I can make this happen. Take care everybody.

Oh, tomorrow Fran and I will be doing a dive at Saltwater Park as part of Dive for The Cure, a group dive where we pay a bit and do a dive and help in a fund in memory of one divers child who died of cancer.

Jack Beslanwitch 5-17-2002 19:49

Heather - what ever became of our ghost story thing? Just wondering, haven't heard a word (discouraging or otherwise) for quite some time now.

Jerry 5-17-2002 19:04

Thanks guys!

Actually, I was thinking just the opposite. I have some amoxicillian here still good, and Pepper seems to have a bladder infection.

So I'm going to give him a little twice a day for five days.

I hope this fixes it.

I don't have the money right now for the vet visit and the medicine too.

Debra 5-17-2002 17:54

Debra -knew that, in fact years ago, there was a fellow in a small town I used to work that would see his doctor, then go to the "Bottle and Vet" shop to buy his medicine. He was a farmer and couldn't afford the high prices of the drug store, just got the same stuff from the Vet shop, (he got a bottle once in awhile too, but that's a different story) and treated himself.

He claimed the vet supplies were better and worked faster then any that he ever got at the drug store. Said the ones that the drug store sell you are twice the price for a watered down version of the same stuff he got at the vet supply shop.

He was still alive and going strong last I saw him, guess he was probably right, but I think I'll stick with the watered down version from the druggist.

Had a nice shorty all written last night, went to post it and CRASH!!!! didn't even have it saved, and I don't even want to think about trying to get it back from my brain. Maybe next week.

That was a short summer, back to the fortys again, the weather man is talking of the year when there was no summer but that was nearly fifty years ago, who knows maybe we have another in the making. Hope not.

Jerry 5-17-2002 17:15

Hi All :)

Debra - it can very well be the same medicine. However - I'm not sure to what level the medical companies have to be precise when making the medications for dogs or cats. Even though some of the medications for dogs may be the same and cost less, you should be very aware that you are taking a chance if you take it. I've found through the years that dogs can get just about any illness humans do -- except for colds, they go right straight to pnenumia (sp??). Dogs can have thyroid problems, epilepsy, kidney stones, bladder infections, irratible bowel syndrome, they can get all the same cancers we can. Is it any wonder that I treat my animals like humans knowing that their bodies can and do suffer just like ours do? Randall very aptly has given a distinct personality to Bertha, facial expressions and all. How wise he is to know the language of another species, even more so to appreciate it.

Elaine - study hard and pass those tests! Just as we have our daily cleaning, children, jobs and what-not to enrich our lives, you have your learning experience. Teekay was right on with her poem. I've got to jot it down and post it nearby! With the appropriate name upon it of course. :)

Randall - You have been brightening my days lately. I come to the site for a break, coffee cup in hand and find a Bertha story. What a wonderful way to take a break! Thank you dear man for sharing these stories here.

Mel -- Whooppee! What a wonderful thing to hear. But then, we all knew you were a writer already. :)

Today has been a good day so far. The aches and pains are minimal. It's funny. When I'm aching, I'm limping. Then I have a day without the pain and my instincts keep me limping. I really have to watch that bad habit.

Even better -- I actually wrote today! Three nice, full pages. Hey, for me, that's good! :)

Heather -- thanks for the hugs. :)

Smile just once today.

Carol 5-17-2002 17:02

Hey guys

Someone just told me that the Amoxicillin that docs give to humans is the same stuff given to dogs.

Can that be?

Debra 5-17-2002 16:13

HEATHER -- Yes, it was Herman Melville, and the bartleby.com site is name after the character, but the story is not there. You can read it at http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/bartleby/
if you're so inclined.

howard 5-17-2002 15:37

MEL -- Congrats! Knew you could do it!

ELAINE -- Study hard! Pray too!

HEATHER -- Have you ever read "Bartleby the Scrivener?" by Herman Melville, I think. It's a great story. You can probably find it on www.bartleby.com, along with a goodly number of other great stories.

howard 5-17-2002 15:28

GO SNOOPY!

me again 5-17-2002 15:06

Elaine, you don't have to apologize for not posting! We know you're in highschool. Wow, I can still remember highschool..... ;oD

Mel, congratulations!!! Those are the kind of comments that stick to the ribs and give a tickle every so often! More of those, please!!! :oD

Scrivners.... Oh, my. That was the name of the oral surgeon who brutalized my jaw once. Dr. Scrivner. The minute I saw that nameplate on the door....*SHUDDER!*
But it didn't bring to mind any Bards, playwrights, or scribes, that's for sure.

Heather 5-17-2002 15:05

YES!!! My boss just complimented me on a letter I wrote informing our state correctional facility librarians of a controversial budget. She said I have a flair for writing. YES!!! I AM A WRITER!!!!! (*doing little Snoopy dance on TOP of doghouse!!!*) :-)

Um, Hi, everyone!!! I'm high...

Mel 5-17-2002 14:03

Sorry for not posting earlier. It's the last week before the finals and you know how teachers can be... I really wish I had more time to write right now but, homework's waiting as always. I just can't wait for summer.....
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 5-17-2002 11:44

sages and scriv'ners and scribes
oh my!

:-)

howard 5-17-2002 6:43

Howardaward

*giggle*

Heather 5-17-2002 6:14

TEEKAY, I absolutely adore that last line.
You should immortalize that somewhere non-internet, for safe-keeping!

A voice whispers, "Print it out.... Print it oooouuuuut!"

Heather (one more time ----sis boom bah) 5-17-2002 6:13

*ahem* Oh. Sorry. I forgot to add that I walked a lot too, where I wasn't looking. :oD

Heather 5-17-2002 6:11

If this is a pissing contest over whose childhood mode of transportation was the scariest (or crappiest)
I won't win, but I might place somewhere around 5th or 6th!

I had the all-attitude, banana-seated roll-bar-handled kill-yourself-at-any-speed warped frame bicycle. The spokes were mean and nasty, and bit my toes on occasion, when I felt the sudden need to stand on the front forks whilst heading downhill...
The seat liked to flip up and smack into anything flat (including me)
The handlebars could be trusted to give suddenly under weight on said downhill pass
The chain has often felt like eating kid hamburger.
It rattled. It belched rubber. It scared me.
I never did tame that thing.

Howard, an award???
Really???????
Teek, I'm flabbergasted meself!

F*CK! There's that self-doubt opening up. I think the NB is my true safety net. If it wasn't for all of you.....

*cough*

I refuse to think about the alternatives.

Heather 5-17-2002 6:09

I think we have a shoo-in for "best line of the year" award!
It's HEATHER's "and a map with a hole in the spot where you're standing."
No doubt about it!

Another good "tail" (no I didn't miss that) RANDALL!

All I had to ride when I was a kid was an English racing bike with two flat tires and a busted chain, and an old plow horse that didn't even have a name. I walked a lot, when I wasn't reading.

howard 5-16-2002 21:40

Randall

Teekay my friend....

"How tragic not to recognise the fact that common life is what gives birth to great art."

Without a doubt lady! Without a doubt!

Randall

Randall 5-16-2002 20:51

Randall

OH BOY!

Howard...on rereading my post earlier in the week...about "impress" I realize something not intended crept in. We all write on the site for various reasons. I love to tell my hokey tales ...cause I have received some positive feed back from the beloved folks on this site.

As I love quotes...perhaps one by Edward Abbey is valid here...

"Like any writer, I'd rather be read than dead. Like any serious 'author' I'd rather be dead than not read at all."

I enjoy reading you guys tales and follow the interaction between varient personalities with glee. Though I don't often comment on what has been written I still enjoy the site!

I'm still chuckling over Mel's post yesterday!

Perhaps a short tail in the continuing saga of Bertha the Donkey.

The Spirits of Water Valley Cemetery

"And then one summer Darrel and I arrived for our summer stay to find Pa had acquired a two-wheel iron buggy from his friend, George Miller. I believe it was an early horse drawn cultivator, but was converted that summer to a donkey powered buggy. Pa had his harnesses from days of working with horses and mules stored in the barn. He gathered them together, reworked some, oiling or replacing defective leather straps on others. Pa located some good straight young trees and we cut two for staves. Later at home he attached them to the cart for supporting the harnesses. We pulled the wheels and Pa liberally greased the axles, attaching them with new pins. Everything was accomplished except painting which was not done, to the end our buggy remained a rusty red color. Finally all was ready, finding Bertha to introduce her to our new mode of transportation was our last obstacle.

Bertha the donkey was wandering through the pasture as all these preparations were made unaware her existence was to take a drastic change. She would roam free until we needed her, reluctantly allow herself to be caught. Sometimes this task alone could be a chore. When approaching we learned to hide the halter behind our back, walking nonchalantly by, if she saw it, the race was on. She was a sucker for corn shaken in a gallon tin bucket though. There were few times when she would not fall for the "old corn ploy." Once without corn we substituted small rocks and shook them in our bucket. She fell for this only once. And for several days we could not catch her without much difficulty. Pay back time.

I don't recall her expression as she was being placed in harness or while the buggy attached to her, but it was probably one of stubbornness. I don't believe she was singing the "Hallelujah Chorus." Probably sputtering in Donkey lingo. "What the...! Why this, is preposterous! You think I'm pulling that iron monster? No way!" If she had known what turmoil awaited in her future, a wagon load of corn wouldn't have enticed her. No prison wall would have slowed this panic-stricken donkey's headlong flight.

Bertha the Donkey had several very readable facial expressions.

Curiosity, "What's in it for me." Eyes wide, brow raised, head high, ears erect.
Stubbornness, "I'm not moving, period!" Brow furrowed, head down, ears turned to the side.
Preposterous, "I'm not pulling that iron monster again!" Galloping away!
Laughing, "Got you then didn't I?" Ears forward, eyes twinkling, head slowly nodding.
Sadness, "Is this all the corn I get? " Ears down, eyes downcast, head down, brow furrowed.
Anticipation, "Thank the stars were headed for the barn!" Prancing like a foal!
Extreme delight, "More corn bread, please." Eyes wide, ears up and forward, mouth agape, head high.
Resignation, "Damn... those kids are back again." Head shaking, ears flapping, eyes half-closed.

That first summer with our donkey powered buggy was when my brother and I first tasted the joys of mobility. We became so adapt at harnessing Bertha to our buggy it was accomplished in minutes. Our horizons expanded from solitary jaunts in the pasture to long excursions down dirt country lanes together. Our hunting also expanded, even if temporarily, when we began carrying our pellet rifle, or 22 Winchester rifle. Later though, Pa discouraged hunting or shooting from our buggy with Bertha. We finally gave up hunting altogether around her. With buggy or saddle. Bertha, when pulling the buggy, was fitted with blinders that made her look more toward the front than sideways. Consequently she was unaware when we were about to shoot and more prone to spook. One narrow escape when she nearly stampeded after we shot a rattlesnake was enough. Throwing me off backwards, Darrel was lucky in holding her from panic-stricken flight. Buggy hunting was over, score one for the reptiles.

Bertha was difficult to ride with saddle, nearly impossible when bareback. Her jolting trot sent bone and muscle spasms from "caboose" to loosening teeth in my head. Buggy riding was rough, but a hell of a lot better than riding bareback. Pasture riding in an iron wheel buggy didn't work though, it was too wide, prone to hang up between trees. Iron wheels running over sandstone rocks or fallen logs will throw unwary boy or boys right off. Young boys in violent contact with rocks and thorns, landing on sensitive body parts will guarantee a delayed manhood. So we hit the dirt lanes often riding for miles. Or until Bertha stopped."

Hope you liked it!

Randall

Randall 5-16-2002 20:44

**Teekay**

This pretty much sucks, and that's by my own admission, and I don't really feel this way anyway, but it's my contribution to shorty night.
Because I am perfectly happy listening for infant to awake and to wipe dirty faces, maybe not so much to clean up the table, but needs must and somnebody's gotta do it.

It's not really self doubt, it's probably more like self delusion, but if we twist it around a bit and find a loophole, I should be able to make it fit.

The Deluded Scribe:

How hard to access the inner workings of the soul, when one ear must stay poised for the sound of an infant waking.

How tedious that hands longing only to write must scrape refuse from the dinner table, wipe dirty faces.

How wretched that a mind wishing only to delve into it’s own fantastic creations must mingle with those of the everyday.

How I could only,………..
would only,……….
if only.

How tragic not to recognise the fact that common life is what gives birth to great art.

Teekay 5-16-2002 20:14

**Teekay**

MEL: Methinks if we should grab hold of HEATHER's ankle and hold on for all we're worth, we may just find a way out of this bog hole.

Teekay 5-16-2002 20:01

**Teekay**

HEATHER: I am TOTALLY impressed!

Teekay 5-16-2002 19:57

That's right folks, she does it for the challenge!

What kind of a crazy bozo is she?

I hate those thoughts that read something like this:

--If Mount Everest were a story, I've only written the foothills

--If the Nile was a novel, I'd be floating on a raft, out in the middle, with muskrats gnawing on the rope

--

Fill in the blank

Then laugh good and loud at ourselves.

We're writing for the love of it.
Just like adventure. There will be scraped knees and missing wallets, burnt hotel rooms (uh, did I say that?)
and a map with a hole in the spot where you're standing - feeling mighty lost under such a grand vista
...and years later you will tell your grandchildren that it was the most fantastic trip you ever took

And you've written the books to prove it. :o)

Heather 5-16-2002 19:29

Carol, from what I know of lupus, it has many many symptoms in common with other conditions. What you now call denial was very useful in earlier years - it moved you to seek out other explanations, other possibilities. I wouldn't call that stupid.
((((MORE HUGS))))

Mel - It might be more efficient to drill through the bottom of said crater and bubble up somewhere new!
Then again, we are talking the business of writing - I don't think I've ever seen the word 'efficient' applied to it, unless we're talking speed typing office memos... and I've never seen one of those in hardcover!

Back to the pacing,
the scribbled notes on the bedside in stringy, blobby PaperMate good-for-very-little, last-resort pen;
the whispering to myself while doing other duties,
the waking dream of a story that exists only on a few disks, scads of paper, and in notebooks
If it weren't for the essences of my characters pounding on the inside of my skull to get out,

I'd probably only do it for a thrill.

Some thrill!

Heather 5-16-2002 19:22

Hi All :)

Howard - I'm glad you left your post there. Not only does it sum up my own feelings far too well, but it fits in well with this weeks theme. :)

I look at some of the stuff I've written and wonder about the person who wrote it. Its great stuff. Then there are the others ... the one's I cringe inwardly at, knowing that I wrote them. Not only are they bad, but they also break the rules of good writing. A novel of 13,000 words written in a very passive voice -- how terrible! Why didn't I see that when I was spending all that time writing it?? There's no decent plot, just conflicts without character growth. Argh! And there are others .... the one that is good only to a point. The male character has no character, no motivation, no defined, complex conflict. And there the story sits. And sits. It would only need a tweak to get it fully into place, but I don't know what to tweak to twitch. So it sits in a drawer, waiting for the day of inspiration while I work on something else.

I try very hard to remind myself that I have only been writing seriously (or semi-seriously if you wish) for four years. In the grand scope of things, I'm an apprentice, I'm still practicing. But that doesn't ease those feelings of doubt, of unworthiness.

I suspect that no matter how much any person puts on the brave, positive face in life, the self-doubt is always a shadowy fog whispering in the back of one's mind. Now, I'm going to push that fog back where it belongs and see what I can accomplish today.

Heather - I haven't been wondering about the lupus these past 11 years, I've been "denying" it. Now I'll just have to see how stupid that denial has been.

Carol 5-16-2002 17:22

That wasn't very impressive -- try it again!

howard Texas!Link 5-16-2002 13:42

RANDALL -- I really am impressed!
http://home.stny.rr.com/htuckey/Bugstex.wav">Texas!

howard 5-16-2002 13:41

*Mel*

G'Morning,ALL! I'm still half asleep but what the heck, my fingers are awake, sort of...

HOWARD!!! Have you been walking around in my lazy, not-sure-I'm-worth-much rut??!! ;-] HEATHER too???!!! And TEEKAY???How many more are lurking down here? That's it, folks. No more room down here! We gotta team up and form some kind of ladder outta here!!! Who's first??? uh...Randall, send BERTHA the DONKEY down here quick! :-)

Hi to CAROL, JERRY, RHODA, VIV... and anyone else lurking on the rim of this what-can-I-write-that's-worth-it crater!

I need more sleep... wake me up when it's time for my bus home so I don't miss the commuter's nap! zzzzzzzzz

Mel 5-16-2002 8:06

Are ya impressed? *Giggle*

Actually, I'm not. I'm up at 5 am. *swatting myself with a switch*

'Night!

Heather 5-16-2002 4:49

Howard~~ Are you sure you weren't reading my mind at some point?

Oh, there is a certain nonchalance that comes with having the right ingredients, but it is mostly
Fear dressed up as
Confidence Come For Dinner.
Dessert is knowing I can write, but there is always some bakery doing it better.
Talent isn't going anywhere - - It walks about inside my head, inside my hands
Should I shape it?
Should I hold it a little longer before
Letting go?
What could I create if the taste of pure thought
didn't blend and fade away so fast? If I trained my mind
To hone, to beat off the chaff
And like wrapping it in celophane,
take Inspiration's photograph?
I look at the recipe book
and the pages are wrinkled - - scribbles on the margins
I can't find directions anywhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If that makes absolutely no sense,
I blame the dog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Viv, don't know how that happened, but your photograph/recipe book arrived in my mind, and I couldn't shake that line!)
:o)

Ink all you got,

Heather 5-16-2002 4:47

**Teekay**

CAROL: ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))))))

Teekay 5-16-2002 4:02

**Teekay**

HOWARD: Ohhhhh, THAT impress post. Yeah, well I read that post.
I thought I'd missed something juicy, DAGNABBIT!

Speaking of lazy, is there anything more uninspiring and tedious than typing up and tidying up submissions once returned and then sending them on their merry way again.
Maybe, but not too much, me reckons.

Back to it.
:-D

Teekay 5-16-2002 3:56

TEEKAY -- that "impress" post was mine, a few weeks ago, and now that I look back at it, I think it didn't really come out the way I intended. Here's what I said:

"I guess we're veterans, okay, but I'm not sure it's writing that we're veterans at... we manage to have fun here, and I think we inspire one another at times, to greater heights, as we try to amuse/impress one another. The only problem is that some of us are more easily amuse/impressed, and the rest of us get big heads when they go Oooooohh! Ahhhhh! Actually, writing comes easier to some than to others. But that actually makes the "others" better writers, because they get more serious about it than the "some." And writing can be very serious stuff."

I meant nothing derogatory with the use of "impress," -- it was actually meant to be rather self-deprecatory. Especially the part about writing coming easier to some. That's one of my problems -- always has been. Some things come easy for me, and as a result, I don't/haven't taken them as seriously as I should, and haven't developed them fully. And sometimes I get the feeling that I'm all hollow inside, with nothing of substance to show. Sure, some of the stuff I write is good. But deep down I know that if I worked at it, some of it could be much better. But I don't, because I'm basically lazy, and find it hard to change. Or to finish anything.
On the other hand, everyone else here works hard to continue to develop and use their talent, and I see them improving every time they post something new. And I feel like I've missed the boat somewhere. But it's my own fault, and I know it. What I'm trying to learn is how to get out of this rut!

Whew! Dunno why that went where it did, but I'll leave it there - maybe it'll be useful somehow.

howard 5-15-2002 23:40

Carol - really sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis... you seem very up and positive about everything. What a hard diagnosis to come by, too. 11 years you've been wondering???
I think you are handling it very well, and that spirit is what will make all the difference. ((((HUGS)))))

Heather 5-15-2002 22:09

Randall

Hi gang!

Teekay...the post on "impress" was several weeks ago. I am very slow, I tell my wife I ponder things for a while. She nods with chagrin. "You and 20 million other guys! Like now you're pondering on when to mow the yard!"

Mel...loved the post on just slightly off speech blunders! Many thanks for the kudos from Carol, Howard and Viv on Bertha the Donkey. And with that in mind.....

SPIRITS OF WATER VALLEY CEMETERY

"In 1959 or 1960 our grandfather, Eckert Kiser purchased a young, highly intelligent, female Mexican donkey. Ah, from Ken Bode, of Ponotoc though I'm not sure if his name is spelled correctly. She was black with a white belly, white circles around black eyes, and a white muzzle. One ear was cropped a couple of inches, probably for identification purposes. Darrel and I fell in love with her instantly. After the initial shock at such a unusual pet we were