Writers Notebook

Archived Notebook from August 22, 2002 to November 4, 2002

Hello Everyone.

Way to go Howard. I like your style.

HEATHER: Hahahaha. Green.

My husband and I have a television in our bedroom and for some unfathomable reason, hubby likes to watch the news in bed before we go to sleep. I call it his 'Nightmare Inducer' channel. I try to miss this nightly ritual, but sometimes I just have to have my spot, news or not. A girl gets sleepy you know.

SHORTIE TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK: Extra-Sensory Perception

Mary 11-4-2002 23:53

Howard -- BRAVO!!!!!

Carol 11-4-2002 23:10

Jerry - here's an idea! Take walks through town and use all the people you meet in stories!

I detest watching the news. I have it on many channels - we have 24 hour local news stations, CNN, all of them. I just don't watch them unless absolutely necessary. EVER.
I will fall into a pit of despair if I do, even if it's just the regular shootings and stabbings and thievery in the news, and not the terrorist campaigns, or global crapola. Even the weather channel depresses me, with the 'allergen and toxic smog warnings' running all the time.
I did happen to catch a bit of the latest news about the National Park with putrid black crud contaminating the virgin ice of glaciers. LOVELY. GEE. I SHOULD WATCH MORE OFTEN. I COULD FALL INTO A COMA EASILY, NEVER TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH REALITY AGAIN. FANCY THAT, FROM A REALITY SHOW.

Heather 11-4-2002 21:42

Rhoda - Oh of we only had Fox news, or any other news service, but alas, the only news service we get here is CNN and MSNBC which is all finance till 7:30 PM or so. I usually just have it running in the background as I do other things. What made this so particular is that I had the dang tv turned off then I got this email from CNN breaking news about the car being destroyed in Yemen, so I flipped on the tube to see what happened, as the news flash was so so skimpy on facts. I had to wait over an hour for the idiots on CNN to break from their banter on the upcoming election, then good old Wolf Blitzer came on with the story. Pissed me off so bad that I sent them an email but I'm sure their email interceptor software killed mine before it ever go to them.

At any rate your right, I should simply turn off the cable, but then what would I do when I got bored with the computer, reading and the computer?

Jerry 11-4-2002 20:49

I had an interesting experience today. I was headed into town to stop at the lumber yard, and came up behind a pickup truck carrying a huge campaign sign in the back, and sporting a megaphone blasting march music and campaign slogans for a candidate in our town council race.
No problem, except that it also had a large American flag flying from the back of the truck.
Again, no problem except that the flag was faded, torn, frayed, and ripped clear down the middle -- just a rag flying in the breeze.
It made me mad!
I caught up to the bozo, blew my horn, flashed my lights, and motioned for him to pull over.
He did.
I got out of my truck, walked up to his window, and proceded to ask just who in blazes he thought he was, desecrating the flag that way. He muttered and mumbled something about the flag had been there for a long time, and nobody had questioned him, and who was I to stop him anyway?
I told him that I was a vote that he had just lost, and I was going to start making phone calls to everyone I knew to let them know just what kind of unpatriotic louse we had running for council. Then I went back to my truck, and he drove away.
I stopped at the lumber yard, still seething, and picked up the stuff I wanted, and left, deciding to drive up through town on my way home.
There he was again, but this time he was parked in front of our local dollar store, tying a brand new American flag in place of the old one!
I turned in to the lot, and stopped behind him, and just said "Thank you!"
He came over and apologised, saying that he didn't realize just how bad the flag was, and that his dad had been wounded twice in WW2, so he would be the last one to mistreat the flag.
I guess it maybe does pay to make your feelings known sometimes...

howard 11-4-2002 19:28

JERRY,

So what is new? CNN has been like that for a long time, and they get away with it because even die-hard conservatives like you watch their network. Why don't you watch FOXnews or CSNBC or something else? Better yet, do what I did and cancel your cable. OK, that might be a bit radical, but I have found the less news the better especially around election time. The only time I have to see the news is when I am in the midst of PMS and I want to get mad.

Rhoda 11-4-2002 18:24

I gotta STOP watching CNN! I can't believe what they reported just minutes ago, a correspondent reported from Yemen that the U.S. Missile attack on a car carrying two EL Quida members put the U.S. In the same category as El Quida!

HE actually said that the U.S. are acting as terrorists!!!

This from what appeared in all aspects to be a citizen of the U.S. reporting from foreign shores.

Guess it goes to show how far CNN will go to make a point.

Jerry 11-4-2002 17:08

Hey - I like the green, easy to read and is the color of one of my favorite things MONEY!

Jerry 11-4-2002 13:11

HEATHER -- Nice touch! I like it! Not to worry -- it's still readable and sometimes a change stimulates creativity.
The notebook is about due for archive, no? It goes all the way back to August, and must be hellacious to load on a slow connection.

howard 11-4-2002 12:42

Heather: DON'T RUN AWAY! the sea green is very pretty, I like it! back from a long weekend in (you would never guess) my room. I don't have much to say right now. I finished another poem, it's kind of goofy, but i was in a goofy mood when I wrote it, I guess.
If you had a Pencil...
If you had a pencil
What would you do with it?
Would you twirl it in between your fingers
or twine it between your toes?
Would you do some Algebra
For the teacher who you didn't like
Or for spelling because of teachers strict?
Would you start a fire with it
(With parent supervision of course)
Or let it sit there idly?
(Idle pencils are the devil's tools)
Would you jot a bit of a story
Or a composition you forgot to write?
Would you write a poem
Or the math for your taxes?
Would you reguard it with high honor
And not chew on its eraser?
And be gentle with it in the sharpener
And not have it be eaten much?
I think the world
Would be a better place
If pencils ruled the world
Hey, it could happen, right?
I didn't think so, but it's a nice thought...
Copyright Elaine 10-30-02 @8:17 pm
Hope you all enjoy, it was fun to write.
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 11-4-2002 12:20

Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *run and run and..... running away!!!*

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I'VE BEEN EDITING TOO LONG?

I'm going to take a break and go upstairs to finish some Hemlocks! :oD

Heather 11-4-2002 11:53

Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *running away!!!*

Heather 11-4-2002 11:51

Uh.....*shuffle slouch shuffle* Sorry Jack! I turned the entire Notebook seagreen. *run away!!!*

Heather 11-4-2002 11:51

*@*Heather*@*

Hello, beautifuls! (Sorry, Grammar is huddling under the kitchen chair, and I'm not about to try scaring him out with a utensil... "Bad Grammar! Bad!")

Sanity is simmering in the pot of plentiful edits. Will stir rapidly with final slashes of red pen in the next few days, thicken with revision until ready to stand on, and with a whoop and a dash of salt, it shall be.....ahem....quite EDIBLE! MUNCH MUNCH.... *cough* Well, if it weren't for the chemicals, I'm sure paper would have been part of my diet a few years back... *grinny grins*

Do not fear.....sanity is an ingredient I still have enough of to spare. I hope. Maybe... :oP

Heather Hemlock Bags 11-4-2002 11:49

JERRY: "Sometimes it seems the world gangs up on me to keep me from what I truely enjoy." Ditto, my life, Jerry!!

Mel 11-4-2002 9:51

It's warmed up a bit here got up to 40 today and the snow is dissapearing, so good to see it go, now maybe the rest of the leaves will have a chance to fall, most are still clinging to their branches in total shock at the early arrivial of winter. It would be nice if it drys up enough so I can pick them up before winter gets here in earnest.

I think the virus infection has been torn from my network now, at least I hope so, the good side is that all computers run so much better when they have a fresh version of windows installed.

Smokey is getting used to being a bit lighter in the rear now, he has finally forgiven us for the trip to the vet and the horror he had to undergo there. I think the worst for him was the fact that he was placed in the very top cage next to the cealing, he has this fear of hights that the wife forgot to tell the vet clinic. The vet said he cried all while he was in the cage and they couldn't figure out why.

Renn has decided to fend for himself now, tonight he came into the living room, shortly after the wife was off to bed, he climbed up in her new recliner, and began to dig at the afgan that she keeps over the back. Once he had pulled it all down to the seat, he made his nest, then jumped down and came over to inform me it was time to go outside. I let him out, and when he came back in, he ran to the chair, ordered the cat out, and settled into his nest to warm up.

Heather - I haven't had a chance to get back to rewrite my last story, but I have the intention of getting back to it very soon. I'll let you know if and when I get back to it. Sometimes it seems the world gangs up on me to keep me from what I truely enjoy.

Write on.

Jerry 11-4-2002 0:36

OK, I'll try again. Cotton pickin' internet must be wet too. dumped me right in the middle of a post.

CHRISTI,
I always remember my favorite notebookers. If I had the time, energy, and money, I'd zip over there and join the party. Only a couple of beautiful states over from here. It's that first five hundred miles trying to get out of Texas that takes a toll.

By the way, where is Hallee these days. Darn--everytime one of my friends gets married, she disappears.

I think I have just bid all my profits on more yarn on EBay. Got to go see if, hopefully some idiot has outbid me.

bye,

Rosemary 11-3-2002 19:34

=Christi=

Hello fellow bravehearts! As of late I have realized that writing can be quite the harrowing and risky business emotionally. But doesn't that make the victory all the sweeter? I wouldn't know, but I'll let you know when that happens. For now the sweetest thing is the writing itself and I have a feeling that no matter what it will continue to be its own reward, as disgustingly claptrap as that sounds. What's the matter with me right now? I think I'm in love with writing! Sick. Just sick. :)

Tina! Just got your email. I would indeed LOVE to see you! I live in Tucson, about two hours from Phoenix, but I'd drive up there like a mad hare to get the chance of meeting you. Hubby said he would be happy to watch our son for the day, so if you are able to grab the time I can too. Let me know!

Hey Rosemary, Good memory!

Hey Litter, Carol, Sunny, Randall, Howard, Americo and all you's guys. Too bad we missed Halloween. I thought (too late of course) that we could have an oldfashioned weenie roast here and tell some tall tales and ghosties around the campfire. Anyone want to take me up on it?

See you all on the next go around,

Christi 11-3-2002 18:22

*Sunny*

Carol, I can't resist giving you a little nudge in the right direction! It's so important to give yourself time and space for what you need. It's not selfish at all, and should hardly wait for time left over when everything else has been done. It's like what they tell you on an airline -- what do you do when the air pressure drops, and the oxygen mask comes down, and you're traveling with someone who needs assistance? Whose face do you put the mask on first - yours or the person you're traveling with? You put it on yours, of course, or you won't have enough air to help anyone else! It's the same way with caring for yourself. If you can't breathe -- and that includes creaatively -- you're no good in terms of being there fully for others. So make/take the time, and do yourself, and everyone else, a huge favor. :-)

Sunny 11-3-2002 17:23

Hi All :)

Litter - I have a hard time keeping up with the notebook too, so you're not alone. I keep having good intentions, but they always seem to fall by the wayside. Course half the time, I get a nice long message written and then my server bumps me off, erasing everything and raising my temper. (me? temper? oh no!)

This week has been stressful. Hubby has been in a "working" mode, wanting to get everything done at once and of course, needing my help. Hasn't left much time for writing at all. Maybe I should be proud of myself for actually getting in even one paragraph. Today, I'm trying very hard to put my foot down and get some time for myself. Not always an easy thing to do. I may have to resort to really revving up my temper and letting it fly!!! Its ....... Aarrrggghhh!!!

Carol 11-3-2002 16:11

Rosemary, thanks! I'll e-mail Christi.

Gotta love street fairs. We have one here every year in June, and I make a point of going. It's so much fun. I like the idea of a story-tellers booth for local authors.

Blue skies! (Especially for Rosemary ;-)

Tina 11-3-2002 13:49

Hello all,

TINA,
YES, it's still wet here. Yesterday was the day for the 'George West Storyfest'. They have booths, animals, large tents for entertainment, face painting and who knows what all else. They block off the streets in the middle of town around the courthouse. Most of the entertainment is the storytelling. Some really tall tales of the old west. A lot of Country music too. The rain was more on than off all day. I shared a large booth with three authors, one of which didn't show up. More room for us, she's suposed to pay her share anyway. Even with the bad weather, there were a lot of people browsing. Most of them were wet and cold and I sold over $100 worth of crocheted hats. At $5 and $10 each. That really depleted my stock. I was thrilled.

When I got home, I had to put everything in the dryer to make sure nothing molded or mildewed.

ALSo TINA,--- CHRISTI--- lives in Arizona. Either Tuscon or Pheonix. (The last one I think.) I bet she would love to see you.

Gotta go feed everybody.
Bye

Rosemary 11-3-2002 12:14

Tina - Renn is wearing his coat now when he goes outside, when I let him in, he's always under his bush, it blocks the wind and offers some protection from the cold, we don't leave him out very long. Smokey isn't allowed out of doors but occasionally he will try to make a break for it. When it's cold like yesterday though, he stays back away from the door, seems he knows better.

It's almost over now, the election that is, I can hardly wait. Last presidential election I was going to stay up till we had a winner, who'd have known. I won't hold my breath on this one, I've heard that some parties have already hired lawyers to stand by the polls so they file suite if they don't win (I'll let you guess which party, sufice to say thier leader is the great pretender).

Seems all I do around here of late is format hard drives, a friend of my daughters dropped her tower off today, said she kept getting these strange bouncing emails that she didn't even remember sending. Klez.32.H or some such virus. I ran several Klez removal programs on the machine and when they were done there wasn't enough data left for the poor old machine to even boot. Formated it and re built the hard drive, it is ready to go home again when she comes by on Monday morning.

Tried to get XP back on my main machine, but it isn't in the cards I guess, since they had some form of duel boot for the recovery partition that was lost when I fdisked it to change from NTFS to FAT32. There is a note on the HP site saying that if needed they will send recovery CD's for the cost of shipping, guess I'll get them in case I ever decide put XP back on.

Something went wrong with the first ME installation, it was crashing all night last night, that was what made me try to restore XP, but after trying several methods it was necessary to reformat this one and put ME back on. This installation is working great so getting XP back is just a matter of cost now of need.

I mentioned that the wife is going to the health club daily now to strengthen her knee, the club here doesn't charge much, jut thirty bucks a month, with the first and last month free if you sign up for six months, then she had another coupon that gave her another free month that she got from her TOPS club so it's nearly free. The place isn't the kind of health club you see on TV, it's a small gym attached to a physical therapy clinic. The folks who run it are all physical therapists, and opened the gym up so folks who had gone through therapy had a place to continue to exercise so they don't depend to much on the money they make from the Gym since they do a lot of medical physical therapy for hospital and clinic here in town.

Back when I last had therapy there, I ran into our resident well known author, she has like seventeen books published already, and has three in the works now. She writes of life here in Lemmon her youth and growing up in the shadow of her well known grandfather who brought many of the good folks here abouts into the world. I've read a bit of her stuff, not my kind of writing, but the wife enjoys her stuff. It's more spirital than adventure, lots of poetry and such too in some of her collections.

I'd drop her name but it escapes me right now, must be the pills or something, I was just talking to here a couple of months ago.

Oh well part growing old I guess.

Jerry 11-3-2002 0:17

Old work lying around that you don’t know what to do with? Try sending it to Wordsmiths; you’ve got nothing to lose.
WORDSMITHS.me.uk
Wordsmiths is a new site just opened, for the use of authors. Wordsmiths is a site for authors to air their works and publishers to view writers work. The site covers fact, fiction, poetry, screenplays, lyrics, aphorisms, jokes . . . . . if you can write it you can find it here.
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14. Work must be supplied with a word count

Pride Wordsmiths 11-2-2002 22:37

Hey Allein, I guess I was confused. For some reason I thought you'd gone back again. %-) And no, you're never too old to enjoy Halloween!

Did the Haunted House again this year. I was Little Red Riding Hood, but the wolf had got me. We scared many little and big humans, and raised almost $2000 towards microscopes for the Science Centre. Much fun, except today is clean-up. :-p

Blue skies!

Tina 11-2-2002 10:52

LITTER -- That error message says that it may be a temporary block against a rash of spam attacks. Try sending again.

howard 11-2-2002 8:35

HOWARD -- Just tried to email you but ny message was refused an I got this message:

For <htuckey@stny.rr.com>, the destination server said: 5.7.1 Mail Refused - 217.32.175 - See http://security.rr.com/mail_blocks.htm#security (from stny.rr.com:24.92.226.159)

Any suggestions?

I sent from the email address on this posting.

Litter 11-2-2002 8:06

Greeting and felicitations,

HOWARD – this is way late but you have my prayers that the shadow will prove to be nothing sinister.

It seems that I can never keep up to date with the notebook. Gonna have to do something about that, starting today! (Do I hear the sound of giggles and guffaws from the gallery?)

The acceleration towards the Christmas season normally inspires me, and it does seem to be accelerating faster that normal this year. (Wonder if it has anything to do with global warming…)

Now then, does anyone know anyone that would like to buy back a bit of American history from a Scots pillager? The impending commercial cost of the forthcoming season means that I have to sell one of my prized possessions – an 1881 gold Half Eagle. (The year of the gunfight at the OK coral, people.) It’ll probably end up on eBay or something similar but I thought I’d give my buddies here the first option. The coin comes with a certificate of authenticity and I can arrange for a note from Wyatt Earp that states that this Half Eagle was his lucky gambling coin, and one he used before the gunfight. (That one may not be bona-fide :o) All reasonable offers considered.

(Sorry for taking liberties, Jack.)

Now I shall go back to aspiring to adequacy…

Litter 11-2-2002 7:56

**Taylor**

Well had fun at halloween on Thursday night. A group of friends and I got dressed up in costumes... I went as Death, we had a devil, witch and wizard in our group.
No trick or treating.

Must have been funny to see a group of monsters dancing to "Lets do the timewarp again"
Had a few drinks as well... Lol of course.

Went out last night and found myself studying people as they went by since I didn't have ID to get into the pub... And trying to figure out how they arrived to that particular point... What's on their mind? and what caused them to go out at that night.
And all that jazz.

Taylor 11-2-2002 5:17

Hi all!!
Had fun last night - went trick or treating with some friends. Maybe we're a bit old but - FREE CANDY!!! :D Actually we left late because Mark had to work until 8:00 so we didn't get too much candy but that's good since I'm trying to lose weight.

I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done today too! ^.^ I dunno what got into me but at least I beat the rush.

Viv - I got the letter from Hana today, but I never did get the translations. If she still has them somewhere could she e-mail them to me. She probably did at my old address but I delete everything in there because 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999% of it is spam. The new addy is: twinkiemon@hotmail.com Thanks. :)

Jack - They forgot to sign my check too, I just didn't bother contacting them over such a small amount.

Tina - I was in technical school for dental assisting over a a year ago. I'm now out in the working world. ^.^

Allein Peachick's Gallery 11-2-2002 1:58

Hi again. I guess waiting to 'see what would happen' was pointless. An unidentified nuclear submarine surfacing off the coast would have got a more cheerful response than my last post. Oh well.

Christi, it's good to see you here too!

Howard, prayers and (((HUGS))), although slightly delayed.

Mary, how is it going?

Heather, you are an editing machine! And by the way, I will think of a better title for 'Lily and Sandra'. Thanks again for all the work you are doing on P.

Randall, good to see you found your own strength about 'historical fiction'. Hard to do sometimes, I know. And thanks for more Red Britches stories!

Viv, do you ever stop going? Where do you get the energy? Can I have some of it please?

Rosemary, hi you! What's new? Still wet?

Sunny, thanks for the quote. One of the better ones I've heard recently.

Allein, do I remember correctly that you're in school again? What are you taking?

Rhoda, are you settling in nicely? Seems that moving to a new city stimulated your muse BIG time.

Jerry, how are the kids (4-legged ones) enjoying the cold?

Mel, could you send back 'Shadow' please. Someone here in town wants to read it, and there's no point in printing out another copy when I haven't made any changes lately.

Taylor and Elaine and Mark and Jack and Teekay and Litter and Eddie and Americo and Carol and Deb... hi!

I have no memory for such things, so I have to ask; does anyone live in Arizona? I'm planning a trip there in January, so I'll be in the neighbourhood of Phoenix/Eloy.

Okay, it took my over an hour to catch up on the posts, and now I need to clean. The house is listed with a realtor now, and we never know when people will come by. I don't live spotlessly, and this constant 'show home' appearance is really tiring.

Blue skies.

Tina 11-2-2002 0:26

Howard - glad the worst is over, well the most uncomfortable, I guess the worse is waiting for the results.

I assure you I will vote, and I'll vote for those who best represent my beliefs, but the whole political thing is just getting way out of hand, and the press isn't helping much.

You know way back in the dark ages when I was in high school, they taught us that the press (as it was then) would not print a story with at least two if not three independent sources confirming the truth. Now days they not only report news with one source, but at times with no sources, just with ideas of what they think may be the truth. Then the idiots sit around and pat each other on the back for the good work they did in reporting on the story.

And your right, it seems that they should well be suing each other for liable or slander if all they are saying isn't true, but it strains ones belief structure to think that it's all based on fact.

At any rate, it'll be over soon and we can get on with the next presidential election farce the is just two years away now, or is it three? It makes no difference. If the stores can have all their Christmas stuff out before Halloween then I guess we can start deciding on who will be our new fearless leader two or three years before it makes any difference.

Saw my VA Doc today, I had a new one. She seems very nice and from what I gathered talking to the folks on the phone before I went down and waiting to see her she is one of the best doctors that the VA has snagged of late. She is a throw back from 9-11, you see she is of middle eastern descent, well the way she talked I would bet she was born there and came to America. She didn't go into it much just said that she left her very profitable private practice in New York City a couple of months ago because life in New York City was very hard after the attack.

She said she likes the VA system very much, but the weather up here has been a shock to her system. Said that she nearly had a car accident on the ice, having never driven on icy roads before, she had no idea how to do it. Said she has stopped driving completely and since there is a taxi system in Sturgis she takes the cab to and from work now. She said that the day she nearly had the accident, she came home to her son and said "that's it, I'm moving back to New York City, but he told her NO! Seems this is the first place he has ever found real friends and it's safe for him to go to the friends home to play, and the friend can come over to his house, he said he never wanted to go back to the City. I think she will get used to the Dakota's at least I hope she does and she seems very good at what she does.

I came up with a thought, an idea really, the wife said she is going to start a new book that she picked up at Pamida, it's called "the brain". This got me to thinking, say that some day down the line, they discover a method to transplant a brain.

Ok so the guy getting the brain is "brain dead" and the donor's body has to be dead, when the transplant is done, who's dead and who's alive?

Is the estate of the brain that lives to go to it's descendants, or do the property rights stay with the brain, which is, after all where the mind resides, and resulting person would indeed not wish to give up his property if the mind still lives, yet what of the body, is the brain or the body the donor? If the fellow who's body gets the brain then does his estate remain with the body? After all the body's brain was "brain dead", but then the donor of the brain must have been dead first, or would it? What if the body is that of bill gates (millions would cheer at that death) and the brain is that of a skid-row bum, who get's Microsoft? Who get's the box in the alley where the bum slept?

Should make for a good medical/legal thriller!

Saw about fifty deer, all within spitting range of the highway, sure glad they stayed in the ditch.

Write ON!

Jerry 11-2-2002 0:00

Hello all. Been a bit busy. However, the one contract that was worrying me and holding me over the coals finally folded. So, I am hopefully back and can get some time to try to get the Workbook working. Not sure which server I will finally establish it on, probably either here on webwitch or sfnorthwest using PHP/MySQL. We will see.

However, one note on Shadows In A Dream. Publish America finally sent me a check and when I went to the bank to cash it I discovered that they had not signed the check. Oh, well. Will be contacting them, but it was a small enough check that it was more symbolic that anything else.

Jack Beslanwitch 11-1-2002 21:05

HOWARD,

No, you do not need a driver's licence, but the department of motor vehicles is where you commonly go to register to vote, so I inadvertantly linked the two processes in my mind. Shame on me. I really do not have an excuse. I just did not have it on my mind until it was too late. Cannot blame Louisiana. Cannot blame anyone, but myself.

Rhoda 11-1-2002 15:11

Well, back from the scan -- and it wasn't too bad, except for the having to pee just about 5 minutes into an hour-long scan. Yes, I hit the loo right before the test, just as they directed, but it didn't help much.

After the scan I went for a light lunch as planned, at a new Mexican restaurant near here. It was very good! Chiles rellenos, black beans and rice, chips, hot salsa, and fresh guacamole! Muy bien! Now I'm waiting for the coffee to finish.

RHODA -- You need a LA driver's license to vote in that state?

howard 11-1-2002 14:56

A nice crisp morning to all,

There is a nice breeze and the temp is in the 50's. Absolutely beautiful. My sinuses hate it.

RHODA,
I was reading along, half paying attention when I noticed you said you had put off getting your LA drivers license. I had taken my first test in California so my mind immediately interperted LA as Los Angeles. I realize I had not been keeping up lately, but the fact that you had moved to California was a big thing to miss. Of course, after sitting, blinking at the screen for a minute I realized that I was an idiot and LA stands for Louisiana in most polite company. Maybe it was because you said you had been avoiding the renewal and I remembered the trauma of my first driving experience in Southern California.

As for those political adds that have swamped the TV world the last (it seems)few months, I don't understand how they can run them without being sued for slander. If half of those adds are correct, they're all a bunch of crooks and I don't want any of them in office.

Good old San Antonio is having it's share of stupid crooks lately. Two members of the city council are under inditement by both the feds and the local DA. Also one ex-councilman who is running for State Representative. And, a hand full of school administrators and assorted aids. My theory has always been that crooks are bad enough, but there is no excuse for stupid crooks. I guess if there weren't any stupid ones, none would be caught.
Enough babble from me for now. Going back to read the rest of the posts.

R

Rosemary 11-1-2002 12:42

Thanks Mel. I'd hope someone would, just trying to brighten the mood with something...how should I put it...silly? I can't talk very long I have a report to finish up and then FREEDOM! Well, sort of. I still have to work tonight. Oh well. (sigh) Long night in front of me...Oops! I meant day. Long day ahead of me... MEL, tell your muse that I thought that the Lymrick she(?) made was very much like a lymrick should be. Well until I can get back on...
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 11-1-2002 12:08

HOWARD,

My thoughts go with you today, as they will for some time to come.

Forgive my tirade on war. It was written about 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning and I had just been awakened by a sore hip. I am not sure what I did to set it off, but it was hard to sleep, so I took two ibuprophen and came to the computer while it took effect.

Politics are really horrible right now and not for the faint-hearted. Unlike JERRY, I do care who wins. I want the people who care the most about the country and its people to win. I want the people who will abide by the laws and who will tell the truth to win. I want the people whose word is their bond and who are not hypocrits and who do not cheat to win. I want the people who feel accountable to the folks they wish to serve to win.

As it works out people get so pissed with the political process they do not get out to vote. Well when things get mean and rough that is the time to go out and vote. And speaking of hypocrits, I am the very worst because in dragging my feet getting a LA driver's licence I missed the deadline to register, and I can spit nails just thinking about it, and I deserve every insult anyone can throw at me for doing just that.

So JERRY, and all the rest of you whatever your political persuasion, please vote. And vote with your conscience, not your emotions and not your pocket-book. And say a little prayer before you go asking God to help you decern what is true and what isn't because there is so much disinformation and down and out lying that goes on in so many campaigns.

I have come to a conclusion. Politics and PMS just don't mix.

Rhoda 11-1-2002 10:58

AMERICO -- It's good to see you here again! And thanks (to you and everyone else here) for the encouragement! I appreciate it.
The scan this morning doesn't bother me at all, except for the part about not being able to eat. :-) Nothing but water this morning. And I've been smelling coffee since 5 AM! And just to torture myself further I'm getting my flu shot this morning -- in the hospital cafeteria. O well. The test is supposed to finish at around 1 PM, after which I'll have a light lunch. Just something to tide me over until we can get up to "Doug's Fish Fry" for a scallop dinner. Or a shrimp dinner. Or maybe both. And a bowl of his yummy fish chowder. And maybe a dozen clams.

I have to go get a glass of water now.

howard 11-1-2002 6:58

AMERICO,

It is good to see you back.

JERRY,

I hear you. I too hate politics! I think I am going to have to lay off of Internet news for awhile.

War is disgusting, but tyranny is even worse. There were those who thought they could avoid WWII by appeasing Hitler. When you have an enemy who is determined to destroy you and your way of life, what do you do? Sometimes the choice is kill or be killed. Militant Islam has been at war with the United States and the rest of the western world for several years now. The US just never faced that fact until after 9/11.

So what do we do? Wait? Perhaps wait long enough for those who wish to destroy the Western World to acquire the means and the technology to kill millions of people.

It is possible going to was with Iraq is not a good idea, but then again the US has engaged in sabre rattling and has thrown down the gauntlet. This started with the 1991 Gulf War, and really what we have now is only the question of whether or not to continue that war today. When you pull a tiger's tail, how do you back off? How do you let go without being fallen upon and eaten? Sometimes you don't.

I am glad that these moral choices are so easy for some. I just wonder what Barbara Strisend, Sean Penn and all these other wise and wonderful Hollywood people would have us do if Saddam has the bomb or whatever and proceeds to use it on us. If the US retaliates and kills a few million Iraqis, does anyone think Saddam will care? If he really cared about his people he would have cooporated fully with UN arms inspectors. Actually if he really cared, he would have stepped down and given his people an actual choice in the way they would be governed.

These problems of the world are troublesome and baffling to me. I am so glad there are the Hollywood elites, the European community, and the millions of peace demonstrators in the United States who are so clear in how we proceed to protect America's and Europe's shores.

And where were all these peaceful, wise people during the 1998 resolution to go in and take care of Iraq? Of course they trusted Bill Clintin and go in there and do it right. Saddam Hussein proceeded to do what Saddam has always done, and though everyone threatened, no one did anything.

Rhoda 11-1-2002 4:12

Ah the best laid plans. OH well, I didn't get my ghost story done in time for tonight, been to busy computing.

Americo - great to hear from you again. I guess I don't understand your lament, who it's aimed at. Guess it doesn't make a difference. I hate to see a war, but on the other hand we here in the U.S. can't just sit here and take an attack like 9/11 and blow it all off to fundamentalists. Not real sure that it's necessary to bomb Iraq again but then I don't see all that our President sees, and he is a trustworthy man, I don't doubt his word when he says it's necessary. He visited our state today, in Tom Dashal's home town of Aberdeen, a good time was had by all (except Tom Dashal!)

Boy this politics is getting rough now as the election nears, I will be so glad to see it over, don't even care who wins anymore, I just want it over. I'm sick of the attack ads, mud slinging, fear mongering and all that trash. It's time for two new parties here in the U.S. Maybe the new ones can be the "haves" and the "have nots" something like that, the two parties we have now both make me sick with their rantings I guess I, like many others simply go with the party that makes me the least sick in their plans for our future.

Like the guy on TV said, this is the most important election in history, since the last one.

Poor little Smokey our cat, he had the horror of neutering, and on Halloween too. Then that nasty Vet took him off his favorite cat food and put him on a bland diet of special food from the vet clinic as he has an allergy to red food coloring, which happens to be in half the food he likes. He's been running all over the house crying since he got home at 4:00 PM, finally gave up and fell asleep atop my computer monitor, I think the heat from the monitor must feel good on his missing parts.

Warmed up to 23 degrees today, but was only 8 when the trick or treaters finally arrived. We only had six, very slow but I don't blame them, of the six all were dressed as Eskimo's. Well they had on parkas over their customs.

It is truly colder then a witches tit tonight. Have the long drive to the VA again tomorrow, I sure wish I lived closer to the clinic, or it lived closer to me. Finally settled the argument about which outfit to take, the wife wanted me to take her car, so she can take off shopping while I'm seeing my Dr. I wanted to take my pickup, since it's much more comfortable for me to ride, her car is one of those little compact outfits where your ass sits about six inches over the tar and you nearly lay down to drive it, or at least I do, at any rate she decided it would be ok to take the pickup since it's an hour and a half between my appointments so she can get her shopping done in that break if I drive her into town. She can't drive my pickup as it's a standard floor shift, and she's never used a clutch before. I should teach her, but it's a comfort to me to know that I'm still of some use when it comes to hauling out the grass clippings, leaves and such, at least I can drive.

The wife has joined a health club type deal where she can go use their treadmill and such daily, I'm thinking of joining her, I know I could use the exercise. It's sure helping her loose weight and taking the pressure off her bad knee.

Howard hang in there, I had a deal sort of like that they shot me up with die and checked my head for tumors once, didn't hurt a bit, but I was very aware of my claustrophobia when they shoved my head in the MRI machine, my nose nearly touched the top of the case. In fact that was when I learned I was claustrophobic. Took five valium tabs before they got me back in to finish the test. After taking the pills I was still claustrophobic, but I just didn't care.

Jerry 11-1-2002 0:46

RANDALL

Ditto as to Heather's remark. Nice to hear from you, Americo!

I agree Americo. The world is not pretty. Not that it is ugly, it's just a lot more complicated and confused by a few individuals whose inability to coexist and understand that there are different religions of equal value. It seems religious intolerance has resurfaced, if it ever went away, and violence to an end is state-sponsored terrorism.

The American and British and Canadian troopers (and other brave men and women) fighting the war on terror would probably be a lot happier doing other things, making babies for instance. Unfortunately, "...exploitation, injustice, misery of all kinds and ignorance of all types..." are initiated by misdirected religious fanatics who justify forward movement with the excuse "God told me too" and "If I die in the service of God I automatically go to Paradise and be in the company of dozens of virgins." A great premise, if one is so starved for sex and unable to establish a loving relationship with a woman on earth and must kill in order to hang out in the afterlife with a harem of virgins. Idiocy of the highest order!

Sadly this inability to coexist with fellow humans in a peaceful society, involved innocent men, women and children who choose one September day to fly for business or pleasure. Killing as on 9/11 to make a statement on the poor and undereducated and ignorant in the Middle East is not a high order of logical reasoning processes. But then we're dealing with human sewer trash who clog the world with outdated and confounding religious fervor. Most, if not all of the scum bags who hijacked the airliners were quite well off, indeed belonged to wealthy Saudi Arabia families. Their energy would be better served for God, at least my Anglo-Saxon God, if they had used their fortunes in other areas of the Middle East instead of plotting mass murder. An evolutionary misdirected and faulty reasoning process.

However, I suppose, when one is dirt shack poor, woefully undereducated, born into a world of blowing dirt and arid desert and hard rock, acute starvation and ubiquitous famine ... the promise of paradise (food, tree, water) and virgins, (sex with virgins) understandably could have appeal for many. I mean, what else do they have to look forward too? If this is valid reasoning then their religious leaders have failed miserably and may themselves find paradise barren and only a few shop worn, ex-virgins in residence. (Pardon my levity.)

Peace is an elusive butterfly Americo. It is honorable and just to strive for peace. But until some new "prophet" steps forward and say enough, religious fanatics in the Middle East will flourish. Diamond cut diamond. When religious fanatics kill to control, to dictate human behavior, to enslave women, keep them and their girl children ignorant and for no other purposes except to breed ... then war and terror and arrogance will continue.

Which begs the question...why are some Arab men so afraid of women? It is said that one of the 9/11 scum bags went to a federal agency in Florida to arrange a loan to buy a crop duster. He was ushered into an office, face to face with a woman. Somewhat put off by a "woman" saying ... NO! ... He supposedly said, "Then what will stop me from cutting your throat?" She said, "Try it and I will throw you out of this office myself." One wonders what that did to his overinflated macho ego? Hmmm?

Why the tone Randall?

My son is now in the Armed Forces of America, fighting terrorism and I am very proud of him. My solution to the mess in the Middle East in general and religious fanatics in particular would involve a fleet of track mounted backhoe's and commercial lime hauling belly dumps. And is too horrific for consideration by gentle persons.

Randall

Randall 11-1-2002 0:07

Howard! Hang in there, sweetie! ((((HUGS))))

Americo! SO good to read you!

Heather 10-31-2002 21:19

Hi, Howard. Positive thoughts. The injection is painless and completely inocuous. Everything will turn up fine.

I had a good laugh with your joke. Another good joke is the one of the bully who entered a saloon shooting in all directions and then asked, in a kind sweet way, "a glass of milk, please"...

The world has not been pretty lately. The campaign against terrorism is misdirected and ill-conducted because the causes of terror - exploitation, injustice, misery of all kinds and ignorance of all types — have been left untouched, and there are still men who think that you can solve problems with war and arrogance. We are all tired of that and hoping for peace so that we can concentrate on discovering new medicines for old (and new) diseases, how to contact extraterrestrials and how to write better poems. Also how to win the next European Soccer Cup without sweating too much.

Americo 10-31-2002 21:00

Randall

Hey! Good evening gang!

Great Howard! Sounds like my kind of a cowboy!

This is a repeat from last year, 2001 think. Okay, so it's a retread! :-) Still ... The post is posted intact .....

"I mentioned this tale last year and Halloween is soon to be here. Soooooooooooo... BTW Jerry was writing his tale of a phantom battle about the same time I was working on mine. Uh huh, freaky ain't it!!!!!!!! But I decided to wait a few days to post mine. Nice story Jerry. Thank you Mel and Teekay for the nice comments on the RV story. If I forgot to mention any others my sincere apologies. (Once you get past 50 the mind goes, then the body....)

As best as I can recollect a Halloween tale from my grandmother...........

"When I was a young girl we used to go up to the Jim Ned creek on Sunday afternoons to picnic. After church was out, Dad and several other men would hitch up the horse carriages and take the families to the creek bottoms where we could play and picnic in the summer. It was cool there and there were great big cottonwood trees for shade. There were several girls about my age and we played hide and seek while our mothers cooked. Our fathers and brothers played baseball and fished in the creek.

"Near where we picnicked the old Abilene stagecoach road crossed the Jim Ned creek and went on up toward Cross Plains then on to Abilene. I had heard Dad talk of the Indian raids hereabouts, but they were gone by the time we came along. He said the Indians raided the remote homesteads, killing people and stealing horses. Dad said they were of the Comanche tribe and mean.

"Well one Sunday afternoon our fathers got together and decided to spend the night in the bottoms. Someone said the ‘yellar' catfish were biting and the harvest was still a few weeks away. So it was a good time to go. Our fathers always prepared to stay overnight, carrying bedrolls, groundsheets and lanterns just in case a storm came up. We kids were excited as this was a big deal. Home was 15 miles away and spending Sunday night meant no school for us on Monday.

"Along about sundown one of the girls found a piece of old leather half-buried in the ground. We struggled to pull it out, but it was in there good. One of the boys brought a shovel and we dug it up. It was part of an old saddle. Dad and several men came over and decided to dig a little more. They lit up some coal oil lanterns as it was turning dark and began to dig.

"That was when we first heard the sound of a horse running. It seemed close to us, then and faded away. Everyone looked around but all our horses were on a picket, most sleeping. Someone went and checked but all our horses were tied up. Two men started digging again, and found more of the saddle and some horse bones. By now everyone was gathered around the hole. I could sense that something was wrong though. There was a damp fog forming along the creek bed, and I went to my mother who was standing next to my dad. They both looked scared.

"We heard a loud yell beyond the creek, then the sound of many horses running. But there was nothing around us. It was pitch dark. All the people were here. One man jumped out of the hole where he and his friend had been digging. The other man started digging again and pulled something out of the ground. I couldn't see what it was but mother told me many years later it as an old time calvary belt buckle. The kind the calvary troopers wore.

"Then I heard guns shooting, followed by men yelling, and the sound of a horse in pain. The same noise I had heard last summer when Dad's horse broke a leg as he chased a steer and he was forced to kill it. It was a high pitched screaming sound, like a woman dying with great pain. The noise was all around us, like we were in the center of a battle. There were men shouting and screaming like they were being torn apart. There were guns shooting, men yelling and running horses and barking dogs. The noise came in waves, very loud then fade away as if the battle moved away. But it always came back over us. Mother hid me in her skirts. The menfolk pushed us into the center and stood facing outward holding the coal oil lanterns high. But there was nothing to see beyond the lantern light. Nothing but the horrible sound of a phantom battle. Someone had us move to the wagons and lifted the children inside. I lay in the bottom of the wagon under a tarp and shook cause I knew we would never be allowed to leave this cursed place.The men quickly hitched the horses, and funny thing is, the horses acted like nothing was going on. They couldn't hear what we could.

"We left everything that terrible night, food, blankets, lanterns. Several men had brought their Winchesters and they rode beside the wagons as we moved away from the Jim Ned bottoms. Dad always carried an old double barrel shotgun, for birds he said, and he had it in hand as Mom drove the carriage. Slowly the noise faded and it was very late when we arrived back at the church. We stayed the rest of the night there, then everyone went home at dawn.

"I never went back there. Mom said that Dad and a bunch of the men did many days later and gathered up all our bedding and such. The old saddle, belt buckle and horse bones were reburied in the same hole. Much later I understand somebody piled up a bunch of rocks over it, but like I said, I never went back. I asked Mom a couple of weeks later what was going on and she told me to never mention the night again. Well, you know I went to Dad and asked him the next day. He said the same thing.

"I was a married woman 20 years later going through the depression when a fellar from the government came by the house. He said Washington was paying him for to write down old time stories. I told him several, then the one about that night on the Jim Ned creek. He pulled out a bunch of papers and told me he had heard the story before and had done some research on it. He said a Negro calvary patrol (Buffalo Soldiers) out of Fort Wingate had caught a bunch of Comanche Indians camping in the creek bottoms one night. There was a great battle and many men were killed. I told him of the hole we dug and what happened. He said a museum might like to have some artifacts from the battlefield. Well, he borrowed a shovel from me, though I cautioned him against it. I told him some things should be left alone and remain buried. It was late in the day when this fellar left out, said he was going to spend the night at the old Jim Ned crossing. I never heard of him again, though he said he would be around for a while. Guess he left the country."

I heard this tale somewhere in the area of 44 years ago. The old Abilene/Jim Ned trail crossing is now a hundred feet under Lake Brownwood. And I sure as hell would not like to be scuba diving there and find the remains of an old saddle on the bottom."

Randall...

Randall 10-31-2002 20:46

ELAINE: Sorry about that. My muse is most unpredictable and tries to make up for long dry spells with tiny bouts of musely meanderings... I did enjoy your epic limerick while eating my lunch! :-]

Mel 10-31-2002 13:32

Here now lives a girl named Elaine
Who thinks writing lim'ricks insane!
She's put pen to paper,
Creating a caper,
Till Niag'ra Falls through the drain--

(tee hee hee!--uh oh. MEL's through with her lunch and staring at me, glaring at me, RARing at me--i better run!!!)

Mel's Muse 10-31-2002 13:29

Well here it is folks! The thing you've been waiting for! The Lymrick II! I hope you guys are ready for this....

The Lymrick is a neat thing
It has a sort of ring
As I told you before
When you walked through the door
It makes most everything sing
Don't look at me with such surprise
I see the doubt in your eyes
And I'll tell you what
They found, (just last month)
Those walking, hilarious ties
Now what do you want me to say?
The Lymrick loves to Play
Getting the principal mad
At the poor boy Tad
Who was grounded every day
The Lymrick plays around
With people in air or on ground
I just want to say
That in every way
The Lymrick won't allow to be found
This example isn't sweet as Vermouth
About a rich man and his tooth
At the fair he took a bite
The Lymrick thought, "he can't be bright"
And now his tooth's caught in a booth
This story's about a bee
That lived in Tennessee
It's funny how he stung
The royal, 'wonderful' bun
Of the secretary of state to be
The Lymrick found a zoo
He had so much to do!
He found a fat gaiter
And gave him a waiter
Who wound up in his stew
The Lymrick turned sour
He fixed a field of flowers
So that everyone sneezed
And those who didn't say 'cheese!'
Landed on a water tower
To warn you; stay away
From a Lymrick at play
He has a lot to do
When he's baiting you
You could find yourself at Chile Bay
Before I decide to set sail
And begin to end my tale
If you have a strong mind
And not unduly unkind
The Lymrick's kindness won't fail.

End ......?
Copyright: Elaine 10-30-02
Hope you like, it was so much fun to do, it's not even funny! Okay, well maybe just a little...
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 10-31-2002 12:13

HOWARD: Strength and best wishes to you!! Chard? I haven't had that in two years...yum is right!!

Beth, I do too!!

Mary 10-31-2002 10:20

hi..... i love to read

beth davis 10-31-2002 9:45

*Mel*

Good Morning, everyone, and a Happy, SAFE, Halloween to all who are being someone else today. 8-]

CAROL: I know you didn't mean it, but you followed a sentence that had two nouns (deer and truck) with a sentence referring only to "it" - my mischievous muse immediately flashed me a snapshot of a damaged deer in your garage--being painted! Hah!! :-> THAT might make an interesting story...! Keep up the great work on your real story! :-)

HOWARD: Hair behind the toilet too? What was he thinking??? A great challenge for a story...! :-)

RANDALL: Your stories are hoots! :-) This last one really makes a person think; just what you intended, eh? What would I say? I think, if I got up my courage, I'd humbly ask Him, "Is it too late for me to follow you?" Of course, then He'd beckon me closer, and who could ignore that? How much we take for granted our daily life, so far removed (?) from the time He dragged His cross through the streets of Jerusalem... Your story has made me stop and look around (at least for the moment!) - am I missing Him somewhere? :-) Thanks for the inspiration!

HEATHER: I'm so glad you banned singing fat ladies! Now there's hope to finish a few more things, heh heh heh! ;-]

To EVERYONE who is someone else today: enjoy, but don't forget where home is.

To EVERYONE ELSE (that would be everyone who is not anyone but him/herself today, e.g.everyone who's normal today, unless, of course, you're normally not normal or a little bit offkey or offbalance or offcolor or just simply off...): enjoy the day, and write a little something that makes you happy (or something that's not happy but makes you happy in the writing of it, if you know what I mean...)

I think I'm going now...(maybe I've already left! Did anyone see me go by?...Hmm, where did I leave that funny-smelling brain??!!)

8->

Mel 10-31-2002 8:05

JERRY -- Yeah, hair in the bathroom is rather mundane in itself, but this was a public restroom, and the whole scenario just cried out "Something's wrong with this picture!"

RANDALL -- I just found this -- I think you'll like it:

A cowboy rode into town and stopped at the saloon for a drink.
Unfortunately, the locals always had a habit of picking on newcomers.
When he finished, he found his horse had been stolen.
He comes back into the bar, handily flips his gun into the air, catches
it above his head without even looking and fires a shot into the
ceiling. "Who stole my horse?" he yelled with surprising forcefulness.
No one answered.
"I'm gonna have another beer and if my horse ain't back outside by the
time I'm finished, I'm gonna do what I dun back in Texas and I don't
WANT to have to do what I dun back in Texas!"
Some of the locals shifted restlessly.
He had another beer, walked outside, and his horse was back! He saddled
up and started to ride out of town.
The bartender wandered out of the bar and asked, "Say partner, what
happened back in Texas?"
The cowboy turned back and said, "I had to walk home!"

howard 10-31-2002 8:01

Howard - hair in the bathroom, now there's a start to a mystery.

Ever played electronic ping-pong? That's about what the last few days have become. That damn virus that I caught from a stupid holloween screen saver infected three machines on my network. All the anti-virus software I could find couldn't seem to rid them of it, so at long last I did the ultimate virus clensing, low leval formating. That consists of software that writes 0's to every sector of the hard drive, thus eliminating everything that ever was on the computer. Did this to three machines and all are now virus free. My main machine now sports a brand spanking new install of Windows ME! Down with XP - Long live ME!

The machine seems to run twice as fast as it ever did under XP despite Microsoft's claims that XP is faster and it plays my favorite games now too!

Ok so I'm just a big kid at heart, so shoot me.

No new snow, but the cold is deffenetly here, it got below zero last night, and is headed there as I type, the weather bug says 3 right now.

Were you aware that when the temps drop below 38 degrees below zero F you can take a pan full of hot water outdoors and throw the water up in the air only to have it crystalize before your eyes and fall as snow?

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself a few years back when we had a long sub zero freeze that lasted over two months. Some guy on TV said it would work, and I figured what the heck, I gotta try that, it worked.

Neat stuff in the cold.

Ghosts and Goblins will be about tomorow, bet most of them will be in eskimo customes around here.

Jerry 10-31-2002 0:47

Well, Howard........if those hairs had been curly........ YIKES!!!!!!!!

Heather 10-30-2002 23:42

And I'd say you've got yourself one helluva story there.

Christi 10-30-2002 23:22

Howard,
I don't know quite what to say other than that I'll be thinking of you. I'm sending out the most positive vibes right at this moment. Stay heartened!

Christi 10-30-2002 23:17

And RANDALL -- Thanks for that! I always enjoy your Red Britches stories!

howard 10-30-2002 22:34

Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes -- you guys (and gals) are a real encouragement! There was a message on my answering machine this afternoon from the hospital. They want me to call them to go over the PET scan -- sounds like a doozy of a test! I know it involves an injection with some sort of radioactive glucose solution, and it takes an hour or so. Special diet tomorrow, then fasting on Friday until the test.

MARK -- No, I wasn't drafted. I enlisted for three years as serial RA12680411. That was before they started using the SS number as the id. But I know about that letter. A lot of the guys I served with were draftees. Their service numbers started with US. Then there were NG and ER for National Guard and Enlisted Reserve.

We were at the hospital the other night (before my mom came home) and I had to make a pit stop. How's this for story elements?
1) The rest room was a small one-holer, just a sink, mirror, towel dispenser, and a john.
2) There were paper towels all over the floor. In fact, I stepped on one when I entered.
3) There was a red SHARPIE(TM) fine point marker on the floor next to the toilet, almost behind it.
4) There were clumps of hair all over the floor, on the back of the toilet, and in the wastebin, and there was hair scattered evenly (not clumped) in the sink. The sink was dry, and it appeared that the hair had been cut with a scissors, not shaved with a razor, unless it had been done without shaving cream or water.
5) The hair was black/grey and straight, and appeared to be all the same length (less than a half inch), and was concentrated behind the toilet, and in and under the sink.
6) The towel dispenser was nearly empty, and the wastebin (attached to the wall under the towel dispenser) was overflowing.
At first I thought someone had given himself a haircut in there, but the consistent length of the hairs suggested that he had cut off a beard instead.

Enough for a story?

howard 10-30-2002 22:23

RANDALL

Evening!

Howard, my thoughts will be of you and your family. Hang in there pard!

Was going to wait till Friday to post this but my backlog is stacking up!

Had an interesting experience not long ago. FYI ...

Red Britches and I were down in the Bayou Park sipping on a bottle of wine as a long summer day simmered to an end. I had taken off work early to take care of some business. At least that is what I told my wife and my boss. I REALLY was ... but came across Red and things went slightly astray. Per usual.

We were sitting on top of a picnic table bayou watching the duck fleet patrol the muddy waters of the bayou for blind minnows.

"... course I told George that winter was coming on and just where did he suggest I sleep." Red was saying.

"Seems a bit narrow minded of his live-in," I added. "Hell, just cause you wanted to build your winter shanty in her backyard is no reason for her to get her tail in a knot."

Red nodded, "Seems the least she could do would be show a little Christian fellowship, I know..."

There was a noise behind us about then. Red turned to look and since he was already looking I stared at the ducks paddling across the muddy bayou. Red nudged me with an elbow ... "Ah, Randy boy ..."

Red didn't finish the statement. I glanced over and was surprised that he was suddenly very pale. "What is it Red?"

"Turn and see if you see what I though I just saw."

I gave him the wine and swiveled on the bench ... took a gander and ... Oh boy!

"What did YOU see?" Red whispered as I turned back around.

"What do you think I saw?"

"Some long haired, bearded guy walking behind us."

"Yeah. But Red the man I saw was dragging a cross."

Red eased his head around. "That's the one! It's resting on the shoulder, looks heavy. He's stopped now. Randy, that's a mighty big cross. Wonder what ... oh, no ... no he's walking on. Thought he might be coming over here."

We sat stunned, then both turned as one, then quickly back. The man carrying the cross was striding quickly away, passing in the shade of hundred year old pecan trees, then into the bright Texas sun. Obviously heavy, the cross left a deep furrow in the grass. The silence stretched out ... we again turned, the cross bearer was out of sight.

Red took a long drink from the Wild Irish Rose wine bottle. He handed it to me. "Ah, well could it have been Him, Randy?"

"Him?"

"Yeah, you know HIM!"

I took the bottle from Red. "Nah."

"How do you know?"

"Well, Red it don't make no sense. I mean, if it was Him, then ... well, it don't make any sense. Heck, here sits two sinners for sure and he didn't say anything to us. Wouldn't He?"

"I suspects He would. Wouldn't He?"

I turned and scanned the park. Nothing.

"Kinda gets ya to thinking don't it Randy boy. Would it better for Him to address two sinners or ignore two sinners? Which one would be good news, the other bad? I mean if He was sure we were going to Heaven, He didn't need to say anything. Would He?"

I pondered the inexplicable. "Maybe we should have said something? Isn't there something about acknowledging Him? I mean if it was, you know, Him? Perhaps, ‘How are your folks doing?' "

"Uh, no. What could you say ... I mean," Red shook his head, " ‘Hey, how's it going? or Nice day for a walk in the park.' "

"Maybe a small joke," I suggested. "Hemingway once said he might attempt a joke with Him. How about ‘Sure a hot day to be dragging that cross around, eh?' "

"NO! NO! NO! I would definitely stay away from any cross jokes! Xnay on that for sure! If it was Him he probably ain't fond of that, all things considered."

"You think, if it was Him," I said, "You reckon He saw we was drinking wine?"

Red turned and glared at me. "No shit Sherlock! If it was him? Then how the hel... oops, how the heck could he miss it?"

We sat in silence for a while, the sun was now below the horizon. I noticed Red had capped the bottle and stashed in his voluminous coat. Both of us stood and scanned the park again. It was heavy in shadow. No one. I needed to go, what was once a lark had turned into a possible religious experience.

"Where you sleeping tonight Red?"

"Guess I'll stay right here. The park sitter locks the traffic barrier at 10:00. He usually leaves me alone if I give him a couple shots."

"You can go home with me if you like. The wife won't care."

Red ambled over and sat on the ground against an old pecan tree. "No thanks on the invite. You know, He turned water into wine for a wedding party once upon a time. Maybe He'll come back this way and if it was Him we saw, I just might ask him to fill up my bottle."

"Really, Red, what would you ask Him?"

Red sighed, straightening his long legs in the grass. "Without being presumptuous, I might ask the why of it all? See what He says and take it from there."

"Night Red."

And a goodnight my friends

Randall

Okay, what would you say?

Randall 10-30-2002 20:28

HOWARD -- Thoughts and prayers.

I don't remember, did the Army get you by draft? If so then you got the famous letter that started with "Greetings."
Sounds like you just got another similar notice.
Take it with a plum.

Mark 10-30-2002 19:59

Hi All :)

Howard - tons of prayers (good thing they don't weigh much!) and well wishes your way.

Been having a couple of busy weeks around here. A blasted deer decided to end his life by smashing into the side of our truck. Nice amount of damage and its still in the garage. I believe they said they were painting it tomorrow so it shouldn't be too much longer. Trouble is, they gave me a mini van as a loaner, now I'm buying it! I had forgotten how much I liked vans. Good thing the truck is (just) paid for.

On an up side, I have completed the second chapter of my story. Didn't think I'd ever get to it, but I'm liking everything about it and I do look forward to each day and what's going to happen next. Now to make sure an editor will feel the same! (Well, when there's a few more chapters at least.)

Viv - hey lady! Good job on the argument. For feeling uneasy about it, you sure rang a lot of familar chords in my mind! LOL

Heather - let me know about Grandma Rose on the P project. :)

Jerry - think you could keep that cold and snow more your way? It's getting a little too close to me. Sure am glad I spent a couple of weeks in TX soaking up some heat not too long ago.

Hugs to everyone else!

Carol 10-30-2002 19:31

All fat ladies are now banned from singing.

Heather 10-30-2002 16:42

HOWARD - Don't get up, this hug's for YOU. (((HUG)))
You're already on our prayer list, and now you're at the top of it! :o)

Heather 10-30-2002 16:41

HOWARD,

I am praying for you. Hugs to you and your family. Hang in there, and don't let those doctors scare you. You have someone more knowledgable and caring than they looking out for you.

Rhoda 10-30-2002 15:26

Howard - Prayers and good thoughts coming your way! :D

Allein Peachick's Gallery 10-30-2002 15:13

Howard,
Good Luck.
It's not over TTFLS

Eddie French 10-30-2002 14:38

Howard -- I made pasta with white clam sauce last night, too. Great writing minds thinking alike, huh? I'll be sending light and lots of positive energy your way. :-)

Sunny 10-30-2002 13:12

HOWARD: Prayers and [[[[[BEAR HUGS]]]]] coming your way, for you, your mom, and all the family... When you get to feeling scared, take the LORD's hand and lean in His direction; He'll guide you through it. (You know that!!!) We'll all be here for you (You know that too!!!). BTW, Isn't there a song, "Comin' Through the Rye?" And as for "Som Ting Wong," all I can say is I'm still laughing! heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeHA!

JERRY: We're getting the COLD in the Northeast too. DO keep that white stuff out there, will you? :-) Thanks! What a pal! I'll send you some ACME Snow Dissolver but be warned, it may not make it through the Snail Mail until April or May... (some help I am, eh?) 8-}

EVERYONE: Have a great writing day!!! Time to catch my bus to work...

Mel 10-30-2002 6:04

Howard, I'll be pulling for you on the upcomming tests. I do think there should be a law that when the Dr. uses the C word, he should be damn sure it's there, not thinking it 'might' be there. I've had a couple of them now use that blasted word when talking of my tests, but they all come back negative thank God.

Weatherman says it will get down to 1 (that lonely number) tonight, and then whispered under his breath "I'm trying to be positive here".

It's COLD! Damn it not supposed to get COLD till after holloween, not supposed to snow till Thanksgiving, and the streets are heavy with the white crap already, atop the freezing rain from yesterday. The streets are like skating rinks where the tires have worn the now down to ice.

Sure glad I don't have to go anywhere.

Jerry 10-30-2002 0:11

I wasn't going to post this, but you're my friends, and I can't think of a better bunch to be on my side...

I went to the pulmonologist today, and he had the results of my latest CT chest scan. I knew I had emphysema, but he says it's not the worst kind. If I'm careful it won't worsen, and may actually improve. He said that the years we spent heating our house with wood, then coal, did more damage to my lungs than the smoking (which I quit in 1982), and the beryllium exposure I had did not damage the lungs as we had thought previously.
Then he told me that he sees a "density" at the top of my left lung that could be surgical scars, or it might be cancer. I wanted a third choice, but he didn't offer. He won't know for sure until he gets the results of a special PET scan, which I'm scheduled for this Friday. Then I have another appointment a week from Friday to discuss the results, and any necessary further treatment. We're not too concerned, because it seems to be early in the process, and shouldn't be hard to beat. So we're looking at the light side of things for now (it was still my turn to fix supper tonight -- pasta with white clam sauce). But I'm planning to start getting scared sometime next week. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Approximately. If it doesn't snow.

On the brighter side, my mom was released from the hospital this afternoon! Still in pain from the surgery, but feeling much better.

And I found a whole row of fresh radishes in the garden this afternoon that I had planted a few weeks ago, and thought they hadn't done anything, so I sowed a thick crop of winter rye grass all over that area. But there they were, coming up right through the rye (which had protected them from the frost) nice and red and crisp and tasty! I love 'em! Found some good chard too! Thank you Lord!

howard 10-29-2002 23:05

I think Yang maybe shoulda been named Som Ting Wong...

howard 10-29-2002 21:53

Helloooooooo

10-29-2002 16:34

RANDALL -- I like it! I saw some of it on the USS Geiger (a troop ship) on the way from New York to Bremerhaven in 1964. I think that was one of the last -- if not the last run for a troop ship. After that everyone got to ride on a 7x7.

howard 10-29-2002 11:52

GFO is a small fresh writing magazine looking for unpublished writers to contribute to our cause.
We are trying to promote the freedom of writing and give the chance for new and old writers to be read. Please send your short stories, music or book review, articles and poems to gfo4@yahoo.co.uk
WE ARE A NON PAYING NON PROFIT MAKING ORGANISATION

Thanks and keep writing
Patrick
GFO
FREE PRESS FOR FREE SPIRITS

Patrick Westwood 10-29-2002 11:30

Good morning, all! :-]

RANDALL: My, my; life must be VERY interesting at your house, heh heh heh! (Enjoyed the sailors-at-home scenario!) :-)

Hi, CHRISTIE! :-D

Happy writing, everyone!!!

Mel 10-29-2002 9:24

Heather - that's ok, take your time. I re read it again tonight, and there's a bunch of changes I want to do to it, if I have the time. It didn't read as good today as I thought it did last night.

Blasted weather man is threatening us with more snow this week, sure hope he's wrong, but it's been raining like hell since four pm, and now the temps are falling. If it snows on top of this frozen rain it could well paralyze the town for a time till the City get's out with their sand trucks.

Funny thing about that, they refuse to use salt on the streets here. Never have and I guess that's the reason you still see old beaters running around with no body cancer. There's this old guy who bought a 1959 rambler brand new, it was the last new car he ever bought, in fact it was the last car he ever bought. He still drives it around town up to coffee back home again, it smokes so badly that I have suggested to the City that they pay him to drive on the streets as it does a great job at keeping mosquitoes down. But having lived where they use lots of snow, I am torn between the clean cancer free cars, or the nice black tar to drive on. Here when they put down sand, it just works it's way into the ice and gives a bit of traction. Not like the eastern part of the state, or Minnesota (you can tell a Minnesota car by the body cancer) where there is so much salt on the streets that it kills the grass on the boulevards.

Jerry 10-28-2002 23:46

MARK -- Great story! Thanks for the pointer.

howard 10-28-2002 23:16

Short story in NewYorker. I couldn't break from it.

Mark ShortStory 10-28-2002 20:45

Randall

Evening!

Thought you might like this ... for all you ex-sailors, or spouses!

HOW TO RELIVE THE SAILOR'S LIFE ... AGAIN!

Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out and live in it for six months.

Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.

Repaint your entire house every month.

Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level.

When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.

Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.

Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot onto your neighbor's house. Ignore his complaints.

Once a month, take all major appliances apart and then reassemble them.

Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors, so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.

Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water during the week, so no bathing will be allowed.

Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can't turn over without getting out and then getting back in.

Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say, "Sorry, wrong rack."

Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house - dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.

Have your neighbor come over each day at 5 am, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout, "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and triceup".

Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 6 a.m. while she reads it to you.

Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 3 pm.

Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not. (Now sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms, give the ship a clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all shit cans over the fantail.)

Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering it to you.

Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night.

Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one.

When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting that your home is under attack and ordering them to their battle stations. (Now general quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations!)

Make your family menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.

Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.

Bake a cake. Prop up one side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly. Spread icing real thick to level it off.

Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (midrats) ((midnight rations))

Set your alarm clock to go off a random during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the back yard and uncoil the garden hose.

Every week or so, throw your cat or dog in the pool and shout "Man overboard port side!" Rate your family members on how fast they respond.

Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove and speak into the paper cup, "Stove manned and ready." After an hour or so, speak into the cup again "Stove secured." Roll up the head phones and paper cup and stow them in a shoe box.

Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals. This is best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.

When there is a thunderstorm in your area, get a wobbly rocking chair, sit in it and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Make sure to have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.

For former engineers: bring your lawn mower into the living room, and run it all day long.

Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and allow the pot to simmer for 5 hours before drinking.

Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears.

Sew the back pockets of your jeans on the front.

Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town. Find the most rundown, trashiest bar, and drink beer until you are hammered. Then walk all the way home.

Take a two week vacation visiting the red light districts of Europe or the Far East, and call it "world travel."

Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you are going to take them to Disney World for "liberty". At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.

Ain't it the truth!!

Randall

Randall 10-28-2002 20:41

Awww! No whiters to be found. Must be duck season.

10-28-2002 16:36

Shhh... Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting whiters... EHHHHHH!

10-28-2002 16:29

BTW - the email link in a post from the other day contained a typo, so if you joined Litter in the 'bouncing emails' jig, please accept my apologies!

The link below will work.

*saluting now, from the Tim Horton's nearest me*

Heather Hemlock Bags 10-28-2002 14:47

The 'No rest for the Editor' chant:
"Caffeine, caffeine, crafeine, choclatel, dfaj[igm;;;//////// *grab head by hair, remove from keyboard* AHEM!
Sorry, we'll begin again: "CAFFEINE, caffeine, and choco-late! So sweet, so wild, you bundle yourself as a mild brown lump, or sloshy brown funk, yet you S-I-I-I-I-NG to my neuuuuuurons; oh, sing sing sing to my synapses! Sing to me til I go plunk...."

(Sing to the 'tune' of monotone) :oD

Heather 10-28-2002 14:45

Elaine! Repeat this as often as necessary: "Caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. CHOCOLATE! Caffeine, caffeine, caff..."

Make that a caffeine-au-lait, please! LOL

Heather 10-28-2002 14:40

Hi everyone! Still working away.... taking a break just now as my eyeballs feel a little strained. 8-)
What was that about a nap? Aw, forget it. No rest for the editor! (No parallel between EVIL and EDITOR intended.. haw haw haw)

Christi! GOTCHER MESSAGE, and I think I did send a reply, but marbles for brain is not good supper. OOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGG............. I know I MEANT to send it! I did get the two revised versions of 'STF' and 'Death Is A Redhead', so thanks girlie! I needed those!
:oD

Jerry - got your latest story, but haven't schlupped these eyeballs back into my head long enough to read it yet. I'll do that, and if it makes the cut it'll come up in the updated list I'll post in the coming week. THANKS!

Howard - got your latest shortie for P* too, THANK YOU!

Ok...signing off......

Have a splendid afternoon!

Heather Hemlock Bags 10-28-2002 14:37

Well, the weekends over and school's starting back up today. Yechh! I'm so tired I could fall asleep right now! Unfortunatley I have to get those projects done pretty quick so I don't have to do everything the night it's due. Working on finishing up The Lymrick II, hopefully will have it done before this week. Well on with the research! Hope your weeks are wonderfull and your Mondays the best of them all!
Till Niagara Falls!

Elaine 10-28-2002 12:11

Jerry, That was the perfect amount of !!!s. Thanks, you! Your kind offer makes me wish I hadn't quite read that book yet, but I have. :) I haven't read the second one in that series yet though, Shadow of the Hedgemon (I hope I spelled it right). Maybe whoever gets that one first can send it to the other one?
PS Your wife sounds like a hoot!

Thanks, Viv, nice to see you too!

Litter, Seems like there should be a better way doesn't there? I'll tell you what, more and more these days I realize that to be a writer you really have to WANT to be a writer. :)

I'm waiting to hear from "Deep Outside Science Fiction" on my twisted holiday story. I probably didn't get it to them in time for their Christmas issue. Why is it that you only come up with good seasonal stories when it's too late?

Going now. Good day, all!

Christi 10-28-2002 10:25

Heather - shot you off my short story tonight, I did a complete rewrite on it, as I didn't like the way it was going in my original. Too much dialog and not enough action the first way I had it, this reads much better to me at least.

Let me know and if you don't like it this way, I can revive the other.

Howard - That lock on the wrong side rings in to a movie I once saw on the boob tube, can't recall the name of it, as I was very young at the time, but the situation rings a bell. I know years ago lots of folks used to do things like that when the institutions wouldn't take their problem children. From what I've read about that many of the poor children weren't even retarded but simply had learning disabilities and were pigeon holed by some old doctor who probably couldn't find his ass with both hands in the first place.

I think we've grown as a people since those times, or at least I'd like to think so. It used to worry me thinking that my generation would one day take the helm of the nation, and I see that my worry was based on fact. We seem to have righted the wrongs of our fathers times, then righted wrongs that weren't wrong in the first place. Well what I guess I'm trying to say is that our society has gone way to far the other (liberal?) way.

It was kind of funny tonight, got one of those political calls from the democratic party, in fact that was what showed on the caller ID. I answered anyhow, and the fellow immediately asked for my wife. I gave him a hard time about being her secret lover, accused him of lots of bad deeds, he couldn't seem to find words, just stammered on the other end, as I browbeat him, but I couldn't keep it up and burst out laughing. I could hear his sigh of relief when I said I'd put the wife on.

He didn't' talk very long with her either when she told him that while she was a registered democrat, she just couldn't hold with voting for the democratic candidates this year and was going to vote with me for the Republican's. You could have knocked me over with a feather, as she loves the fact that she usually cancels out my vote every election. She must have been listening to my computer while I was listening to Rush these last few months. We can't get him very well on radio so I'd sort of given up on his show till one day I did a google search and found his website where his show is broadcast daily.

Jerry Rush! 10-28-2002 0:28

Viv - Thanks for the link and tell Hana thanks for the translations. :)

Are we still doing Short Stories every week? That was something I missed about here. :)

Allein Peachick's Gallery 10-27-2002 17:07

Oops! I suppose you'll need my email. D'oh!

Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:31

HEATHER -- I've just tried to email you with one of the links you left on this page but the email was bounced. Do you have another email addy?

Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:29

Hi all.

How much do you trust email?

A cautionary tale –

Some 18 months ago I submitted the manuscript of my novel to a publisher by email. (After sending the required synopsis and stuff.) Within the day, the publisher acknowledged receipt of the manuscript and the wait started.

I emailed them after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months (or there abouts) but received no reply to any of the emails, so I gave up on them.

I posted an open question about the publisher to an email writing/publishing that I joined recently and purely by chance a representative of the publisher (A senior representative as it happened) picked up the message and emailed me saying that the matter would be looked into.

The following day, I received another email from the rep, telling me that my novel had been accepted in June 2001, but after a month, having failed to get a response from me (???????) they had destroyed the manuscript.

I was asked to resubmit, which I did, but I’m now back where I was 18 months ago with no guarantee of re-acceptance of the manuscript, (sigh!) and no guarantee that even if it is accepted, that I will ever get the email advising me of such.

Willing publisher – willing author – unwilling ISP and/or email client.

Words fail me.

Litter Again 10-27-2002 9:24

Christi - Welcome back! Enjoyed your message.

Carol - Will upload ch.8. Can't get to 9...had to do a bunch of exercises in present progressive tense. Yuck. A week without computer, disgusting, but I'll take a notebook and pen and see if I can still operate a pen.

Viv 10-27-2002 4:59

Howard: In one house we lived in there was a lock on the outside of a bedroom door and a very bad feeling. We figured out the solution to the lock...we moved it to the inside of OUR (the parents) bedroom door. We figured all unhappy vibes would be exorcised by our good times when the door was locked. It worked beautifully! Try moving your lock and enjoy the privacy!

Viv 10-27-2002 4:57

CHRISTI!!!!!!! Welcome home!

Enough ! for you?

I have been thinking of you of late, you see I recently finnished a very good book by Mr. Card, it's a parallell book to Ender's game, called Ender's shadow. At any rate, I thought I should send it to you, but you haven't been around. You know like we did Ender's game?

Intrested?

Just got back from my aunt's 90th birthday party, the old gal is still gowing strong, and I swear she hasn't aged a day in the last fifteen years. It was so good to get together with all my cousin's, many of whom I haven't seen in six or seven years. We all grew up together, as our dad's had farms just a few miles apart, in fact the first school I attended consisted of me, my sisters, and my cousins. Oh there was this one outsider girl but she fit right in anyhow as she lived with my uncle and the aunt who's birthday party was tonight.

Laughed too hard, ate too much came home too late but it ended way too soon.

Jerry 10-26-2002 23:25

~Christi~

There's nothing like a collaboration project to bring oldsters out of the woodwork. :) HI EVERYBODY!!!!!! Gosh, I suddenly feel like I'm at home again after being on vacation for oh so very long. It's nice to sit on your own toilet seat again, so to speak! HA HA HA! Not that the Notebook resembles a toilet in any way. Well sometimes it does when I've got a potty mouth. Goodness gracious, didn't you guys miss that kind of non-humor while I was gone? Har har.

Hi Heather the Faithful and Miraculous Mary, the new mother (well almost!). I got your messages, did you get mine? Hi Howard and Jerry, you are as timeless as ever. Hi Randall the Rambunctious, Hi Rosemary of Sunnybrook Farm, and hi Rhoda, Writing Warrior (that last session was a looloo!). Hi Teekay, my bosom buddy; you're looking rather ghostly at the moment! Hi friends over the sea, Litter and Eddie, warriors in life. Hi Mel, our expressive Madame Librarian, Taylor the sweet, and Allein, Anime Queen. Hello to Americo the Great (and all your incarnations), Tina the Brave, and Jack the Creator. Hi Mark, you impressive professor! and Viv in Japan, representing the U.S. in grand form. Sunny, you're fun, welcome, and all that rot! And if your name on this list I have missed, know that I am a blonde and we tend to distract easily ... hey, isn't that Mel Gibson over there?

Have a lovely day wherever you are,

Christi 10-26-2002 19:21

Randall

Hi!

Well ... it's done. And as these things go, errors missed during of a great deal of literary hand wringing and knashing of teeth, are now blatant. But it is just a draft. In that regard I fought hard to keep the posted segment at 2,000 words ... and failed. Sorry Jack. :-) I have the opposite of writers block ... writer happy fingers. Powered by an over active brain, fingers type words and scenarios, miscellaneous and obscure thoughts that tumble from a 55 year old noggin. This rush in a literature frenzy of fingers chasing thoughts often lead to a slap dash approach, annnnnd demand rewrites and double checking ... and this sometimes fails.

When I get everything worked out in my head, (Good luck there, huh!!) and start the actual writing this segment will be greatly expanded, doubled more than likely and possibly the format changed. I'm not fond of the transcript style ... though it sometimes works.

There is some truth in my tale, though Mokia is fiction. There is in town a house where poltergeist activity was rampant in a bedroom many, many years ago. A priest blessed the bedroom hoping to settle the disturbance. It worked for a few days, then one night a couple were roused from sleep by a racket at the bedroom door. It was their teenage son trying to enter their bedroom. He couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. He simply could not pass through the doorway and enter his parent's bedroom. Conclusions? Beats the heck out of me! There is a family history of suicide and mental depression. Who knows? Maybe it was a "Vitality" like Mokia passing through the ‘hood?

Happy weekend

Randall

Randall 10-26-2002 18:16

RANDALL

Good evening!

Friends, I've been developing a book in my head for several years. This is the first attempt (DRAFT!) at putting anything on paper. (You're blessed or cursed!) So,accept this Halloween yarn cultivated between the ears of Randall. As usual in my musings the tale went a direction I didn't expect. Somehow, I seem to lose control and events develop a life of their own.

Word Count 2654

STRIKE NOT THY SERVANT
By Randall L. Henderson

Office of Dr. Andrea Mills B.S. M.D. P.H.D.
Case 141 Ms. Hewa Colorado

Transcript from surveillance camera, office recording, and private resources...

November 3, 1997

Dr. Mills ... "Good morning Ms. Colorado."

Ms. Colorado ... "Good morning Dr. Mills. I see you have a new receptionists."

Dr. Mills ... "Yes. Abagail Divanti, a medical intern from the American University in Rome. Abigail wanted to see America and spend the summer meeting real life cowboys. We are fortunate she chose Texas. Abagail was an intern last year at the Vatican. Would you like to proceed now?"

Ms. Colorado ... "Yes. I feel I must. Dan and I had a bad night."

Dr. Mills ... "We may have to use the sedative again. Do you remember I have your written permission?"

Ms. Colorado ... "Yes."

At this time Dr. Mills induces Hewa Colorado into a hypnotic state. Ms. Colorado is on a couch near Dr. Mills desk. A scream erupts from Ms. Colorado. She struggles from the couch falling to the floor. Ms. Abigail Divanti, enters the room and assists Dr. Mills in placing Ms. Colorado back on the couch.

Dr. Mills ... "Hewa, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Hewa, what frightened you?"

"Him."

"Is this the one you call Mokia? The intruder?"

"Yes Dr. Mills. The one who wants to go home."

"Hewa. We have discussed Mokia several times. I will ask you again. What is he?"

Ms. Colorado moans. Her features contorted. She tries to stand but Dr. Mills and Intern Divanti compel her to lie down. Dr. Mills establishes an IV transfusion, inducing a mild sedative into her arm.

"Hewa, can you understand me? Nothing will harm you here. No fear. Do not be afraid."

"I am not afraid Dr. Mills. I know you are my friend."

"Yes I am. Now, can you tell me of Mokia?"

Ms. Hewa Colorado struggles to rise. "Oh! He is here! He tries to come into our room. Dan stands at the foot of the bed with a baseball bat. Mokia wants to come into our bedroom! I am afraid for my husband!"

"Hewa. Do not be afraid. Nothing will harm you here. Dan stands between you and Mokia. Abagail and I stand between you and Mokia. Please tell me of Mokia."

"Oh, he is so terrible! A dreadful sight! Mokia wants to go home! He scares me so! A devil!"

"A devil? How do you know?"

Hewa Colorado screams and in struggling from the couch falls to the floor. She crawls under the couch. Dr. Mills and Abigail Divanti sit on the floor beside her. Hewa Colorado is sobbing.

"A demon! Mokia comes in our bedroom! I have awakened at night to see him standing at the foot of our bed! A large creature with glowing eyes! A beast! He hates us because he wants to go home and cannot!"

"Hewa. Do not be afraid. We are here to protect you. You have nothing to fear. You say Mokia wishes to go home? What has this to do with you?"

"Mokia hates us now because we ask the priest to bless our bedroom. To keep him away from us at night. Dan works in the wrecking yard and cannot sleep because Mokia wants to go home. Now he cannot come into our bedroom. He is very angry."

"I don't understand Hewa. Where is Mokia's home? If he wants to go home, why doesn't he just go home?"

Recording terminated. Transcription note ... Ms. Colorado collapses. The session ends at this point.

November 10, 1997 ... Confidential recording of Dr. Andrea Mills ... Conversation between Dr. Mills, Catholic priest, Father Andrew Aye and Father Samuel O'Donnell in Saint Mary's Hospital chapel. Ms. Colorado and her husband were admitted hours before for second degree burns and smoke inhalation.

Tape II/ Insertion...4755

"... Dr. Mills, this is Father Aye. Regarding your conversation with me earlier this week I consulted with our church historian. Following your instructions Father Aye is aware of your interaction with Hewa Colorado."

"Then we should proceed."

"Yes. Father Aye has flown from Montreal to visit with you. He is an expert in unknown activities relating to paranormal incidents."

"Good afternoon Dr. Mills. I am so glad to meet with you. Father O'Donnell spoke well of you. How may I assist?"

"Father Aye. You have been briefed by Father O'Donnell about Dan and Hewa Colorado. So I assume you know about their experience with someone or something named Mokia? Would this be reason enough for a church historian to travel so far?"

"I admire your candid observation Dr. Mills. Father O'Donnell, will you excuse us now? Ah, your assessment is accurate doctor. What do you wish to know?"

"Well, let's jump right in Father Aye. Who is Mokia? Is there a connection with a fire at the Colorado's home last night?"

"You are direct. Let us walk outside Dr. Mills."

In the hospital garden.

"As a Catholic priest, my position in the paranormal experiences of Hewa and Dan Colorado with the entity known as Mokia must be circumspect. For obvious reasons. Do you accept that conversation between two professionals in the spiritual confessor-medical profession would be strictly confidential?"

"Of course Father Aye."

"Mokia is whatever you make of him. Hewa thought Mokia was a demon. He is all that and more. But never forget, only, and I stress this, only in the eye of the beholder which is relevant to his desire. Mokia is a willful and malevolent entity. Also, called a Vitality. In our present dilemma and most important to our considerations, a wandering, elemental Vitality who has ventured from his rightful place in our Lord's house."

"Who wants to go home?"

"Exactly. Dr. Mills, where Mokia wishes to go ... is blocked by the physical presence of the Colorado home. In point of fact, their bedroom. Mokia cannot pass through the living physical vibrations of a human abode. He needed the Colorados out of a preordained and mandatory pathway. Mokia could not go around, or through, and is at an impasse. An unfortunate incident, a matter of bad luck for all parties involved."

"Father Aye, you seem to know a lot about this Mokia creature."

"Indeed. Not a lot though, just enough to get me in trouble. The Catholic Church is a ponderous bureaucratic organization dedicated to the glorification of our Lord. But there is so much more work that goes on unseen. We have made significant advances in elemental Vitality investigations in the last 1100 years. And a correction, Mokia is not a creature. Mokia is an intelligent, elemental Vitality, generated by obscure facets of God's universe. In that regard, the so named Big Bang hypothesis is a relevant consideration of God's creative and positive creation processes. So, infinite sources of matter were converted by Him into physical celestial objects, inanimate and animate. Celestial assemblies and highly intelligent life as well, but, in this instance, negatives developed. Malicious energy forms were created by random molecular interaction. We call one of many, Mokia. Not a known demon but sinister nevertheless. Like so many others we know of, he is childlike, petulant and very dangerous to humanity."

"Father Aye. Where would something like Mokia call home?"

"I have no idea Dr. Mills."

"A parallel universe?"

"As good a guess as any. You must understand Dr. Mills, Mokia has been around millions of years. We don't know his exact age. How old is God? We do know however, that when the electro/physical force generated by the human imperative obstructs his will, he reverts to something he perceives within us all. Fear of the unknown and in a concentrated form, demon tormentors of humanity. Simply put, humans are obstacles, nothing more, and he will represent anything to clear passage and pursue his activities. To that end, Mokia sought to clear the Colorados from his way."

"By scaring them? As a demon?"

"Yes. Although the threat of physical assault is possible. Call it possession and it is one instance where Vitality's like Mokia seek their way."

"Father Aye. The Vitality is a spirit? Not a physical presence?"

"Yes and no. Mokia will enter our physical world only as a last resort. He will be as real as you or I. Very dangerous. Greatly annoyed, to put it mildly."

"Hmmm. Hewa said a priest blessed their home. Was that you?"

"No, Father O'Donnell. But only the bedroom. There are reasons for this. We have limited contact with Vitality's such as Mokia, maybe once in a human lifetime and ..."

"I understand Father Aye. You blessed the Colorado's bedroom because the pathway of Mokia passed through on a different plane of existence. Despite the apparent nonreligious aspect of Mokia, it was diverted by an ancient spiritual incantation. The Colorado home, the bedroom intersected his path homeward, wherever that is. A problem. He could not go through or around. You know Mokia exists, hope to study him and intentionally obstructed his way. Is that not correct?"

"In a very broad sense you are correct doctor. We desperately seek to understand God's universe and certainly, studying all concerns relating to His creation would be relevant. God is the creator of all Dr. Mills, animal, plant, star, human or Mokia. By definition, His power commands us into intelligent inquiry.

"The last confirmed occurrence of Mokia was in 1963. We are aware of Mokia's mandatory pathway through this part of the world. If that is confusing Dr. Mills, consider comets who travel through the universe on preordained circuits. In 1963 we sought to intersect Mokia. Unfortunately, the encounter turned deadly and there was loss of life. Consequently, a secret Vatican commission ordered us to monitor this area, investigating all rumors of a supernatural aspect. To that end, we have followed your practice for many years as well. We were not surprised to hear rumors of a problem with the Colorado household. Consequently, when it was learned of your sessions with Hewa Colorado, I was commanded to communicate with Mokia."

"Why?"

"For all of his malicious propensities to evil Mokia is the least offensive of known Vitality's. Consequently, we might gain insight to the root of evil in our world."

"Root of evil in our world, Father?"

"Doctor, it means exactly that."

"Very frightening. Did you communicate with Mokia, Father Aye?"

"Dr. Mills ... I cannot answer that."

"I believe I understand what you just said Father Aye. Were you at Dan and Hewa Colorado's home the night it burned?"

"Yes."

"In the bedroom?"

"Yes Dr. Mills."

"I find this hard to understand Father Aye. First, you tell me certain things that are highly irregular. Secret Vatican commissions, wandering evil beings ... A Vitality? Also, you attempt communication with something totally unknown to science, something that has terrified the Colorados for months. Despite the obvious implications, you're telling me about it? Openly and without hesitation? Why is that Father Aye? Is this not something the church would wish secret?"

"Well, you have an oath of confidentially Dr. Mills. In addition, we are always searching for open-minded lay persons to assist us in our research. We have been aware of your professional brilliance for some time. I am telling you more than necessary hoping to tweak your professional interest."

"I'm not sure I understand. You want me to work with you?"

"You're choice Dr. Mills."

"I'm flattered Father Aye. But first I want to know what caused the fire at the Colorado home? Was it Mokia?"

"My team, consisting of two bishops, a church security force and a medical doctor arrived at the Colorado home at 11:00 P.M...."

"Guards? With guns?"

"No. Our security teams carry edged weapons only..."

"Swords ...?"

"Dr. Mills, please let me continue. We set up various recording instruments, automatic cameras, laser microphones. We waited for Mokia. Shortly after midnight the electrical power failed. Not unexpected. We found ourselves in a pitch black room. There was a brilliant blue flash of light in the bedroom doorway and the noise of something scrambling at the bedroom doorway. A series of scratching noises, talons on splintering wood, labored straining sounds as if great effort was concentrated. Loud groaning noises ... murmur of unknown dialect, something in great pain. It was, to say the least, astonishingly unsettling in a dark room. Fortunately, all priests and security force members have, as a light source backup, carbide powder/water powered lamps. We have learned that elemental Vitality's such as Mokia drain flashlight batteries as a matter of course."

"Father Aye, what was happening in the bedroom and how many persons were there?"

"Security force officers Abigail Divanti and Laura Pierce had recently forged Japanese swords unsheathed, in a defensive posture and were closest to Mokia's entry portal..."

"Abagail Divanti!"

"I'll explain later ... Bishop Andrew Zanella from Rome and Bishop Jon Abernathy from England were behind them, reciting from a controversial manuscript attributed to Pope Leo III, dated 814, The Enchiridion. It attempts to halt Vitality progression. I might add that the Colorados, the doctor and myself were against the farthest wall from the doorway. In the dim light of the carbide lamps we noted a person struggling to pass through the bedroom door."

"A human...?"

"Yes. In the carbide lamp light and highlighted by a flickering blue light from behind ... it was the Colorado's oldest son Ramon. Struggling as if a mighty force was preventing him from entering the bedroom."

"That's impossible Father Aye. Ramon died in a traffic accident a year ago."

"Mokia used the dead boy's personality frequency vibrations to affect an entrance through the church's ritual blessing ceremony."

"Did he come through?"

"Oh yes! Yes, he did! Mokia, using Ramon's, albeit weak, but still surviving life force passed right through. A horrific sight as Mokia emerged into our world, discarding the boy's personality and affecting his own chosen demonic form. Imagine an erect lizard seven feet tall, immense yellow eyes, streaming blood and matter down a massive scaly torso. He was staggered by the transmigration, disoriented, howling in pain as Earth's corrosive atmosphere reacted against him ..."

"My God!"

"My thoughts as well."

"Mokia saw us and moved forward. For a few seconds no one reacted. The guards were obedient to Pope John-Paul's defensive mandate, retreated, but could not respond until threatened. No one did anything but Hewa Colorado. She grabbed a carbide lamp from Bishop Zanella and threw it at Mokia. The lamp struck Mokia, fragmented and exploded. Powdered carbide and water ignite when mixed. Hewa was screaming ‘Leave my son alone!' or something like that. We didn't have time to review the video tapes before they were removed. But the end effect was just what Mokia wanted. The bedroom and most of the house burned and the physical vibrations of two humans ceased as their home went up in smoke. So you see Mokia won and surely found a way home that night."

(Long silence) "You do this for a living Father Aye?"

(Laughter) "More of a holy summons Dr. Mills. A family legacy. My great-grandfather died as a Vatican officer in 1897. His legion of Vatican warriors also died as they attempted, unsuccessfully, to halt passage of Dia Forsallus into the Sistine Chapel. In that respect I would not like to follow in his footsteps. Dia Forsallus is still the worst of a very bad lot."

"What did Mokia say?"

"Again Dr. Mills, I may not admit communication with Mokia. I would surmise he was pleased that an obstacle was breached and went home."

That's all for now friends, thanks for reading and goodnight.

Randall

Randall 10-26-2002 17:24

Thanks, guys. :oD

Heather Hemlock Bags 10-26-2002 16:35

JERRY -- Yes, that hidden room sounds intriguing!
When my folks bought the house we now live in we found one of the upstairs bedrooms had a lock on the outside of the door. And on the inside were grooves and gouges made by fingernails, and the window --which was nailed shut -- also had nail marks as well as teeth marks on the sill. The house had been empty for several years before my folks bought it, and we found that several years before that, the people who lived in it had a retarded daughter that they used to keep locked away in that room. Some folks said they actually kept her in chains for the last years of her life. Some of the old timers around here think the house is haunted, and we've got several stories that'll raise the hackles on your neck! They say the woman who lived here killed her husband here when she found him molesting the daughter.
I know when my folks lived here they'd wake up in the middle of the night smelling fresh coffee and cigarette smoke, and once they found a tic-tac-toe game drawn on the inside of the door, in orange chalk, right beside the hook where dad hung his robe the night before. It wasn't there then. We still hear strange noises occasionally, and the cat gets awfully nervous sometimes as she goes up the stairs. And every once in a while we can hear a deep humming sound that we've been unable to account for. I've actually turned off the main power to the house to make sure it's not something running in the house that's causing it. Still can't figure out what's causing it.

howard 10-26-2002 13:06

Allein: This one is for you. It's a translation site for Japanese to English. You paste in the text and
ping-pong it goes to English. Hana mailed off the letter today with your song lyrics. She really appreciated your website. Anyway, hope this works. If not I'll keep at it until I get it right.

http://www.rikai.com/perl/HomePage.pl?Language=Ja

Jerry: Thanks your helpful site was really great. I'm going to try Japanese on it too. I also want to check out the writer's website and about a million other things.

Viv 10-26-2002 10:54

Check out the site below, lots of helpfull stuff.

Jerry Writers Tools 10-26-2002 10:29

*Mel*

Good morning, everyone! :-)

I often write in snatches of time in whatever semi-quiet place I can find and haven't access to background music. When I get the opportunity, though, I am inspired by instrumental music - classical or Celtic or movie soundtracks (Conan the Barbarian is great for moving scenes that are heavy with purpose).

I'm so attuned to music that I have to be careful what I use for inspiration; if I'm working on adventure treks in fantasy worlds, I need LOTR-style music, music that explores the vast nooks and crannies of my imagination. If I'm working on romance, I need a softer strain in the background - Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is one of my favorites!

As helpful and comforting as the music is, however, my muse hears a symphony of her own, best heard in the quiet of the night and house, when everyone is asleep, or just before dawn. I burnt a lot of post-midnight candles while writing in the wee hours as a teen! I miss that, sometimes.
Having a family and working full-time days have their own rewards but strangle late-night inspirations!

JERRY: My parents had a ton of Tennessee Ernie Ford albums - I used to love listening to his deep booming voice, smooth as glass. I'd sing along with him -- "You load 16 tons...What do you get? A back that's weary and deeper in debt...St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go--I owe my soul to the Company store..." :-)

Lawrence Welk was on every Saturday night in our house too. There was something reassuring about his music, comforting, peaceful, light-hearted. :-)

Now, about that house where the sheet rock was removed to reveal a hidden room...WOW! What great story fodder!! :-) Why DID the people cover that room??? Maybe a horrendous event occurred there... spooky! I love hidden stairways and secret rooms...A sealed room soudns very curious indeed!!! JERRY, I bet you could write a fascinating tale about that hidden room... (Yes, that's a challenge!!!)

A busy Saturday here with the usual - laundry, groceries, housecleaning--although I really have to agree with a poem sent to HOWARD:

"Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter...
[With] music to hear and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead..."

Celebrate today and let your muses go wild on the page! :-]

Mel 10-26-2002 8:42

Never heard of Wellstone before I came home about 3 am in the morning... and had a Fox News Alert about a plane crash.

My heart still gets a little jittery each time I hear there's a plane crash

Taylor 10-26-2002 4:43

On Music: Sometimes if I'm stuck... I'll put on The Beethoven cd.

Feel like I must apolagise for my previous post... Recently started to read "Let's Roll" By Lisa Beamer... and it has kind of opened my eyes up a little.
Sorry for what I said.

Taylor 10-26-2002 4:37

Music - My favorite groups - Creedance Clearwater Revival - Blood Sweat and Tears - Three Dog Night - Erik Burton and The Animals - Favorite singers - Tex Ritter - Marty Robbins - Johnny Cash - Niel Diamond - Tom T. Hall - Kenny Rogers.

I also enjoy classic music from time to time, as well as some jazz. Old rock and roll, country and a bit of blue grass.

Ok so I like most old music, heck I even have a bunch of Tennesee Ernie Ford's stuff. Oh and I don't miss a Sunday of Lawrence Welk on PBS, brings back memories of our first TV and how the folks always had to see the Champaign Music, anda one anda two anda three. Lawrence was from North Dakota, sort of a home state boy, I guess I never made clear that our farm was in North Dakota, so I grew up most of my life there. Even when we moved to town, we only lived in South Dakota one year before dad found a cheap house in North Lemmon, which is north of the tracks, and the tracks separate North and South Dakota in Lemmon. If my memory serves me, that was in 1963, and dad paid a whopping $2,500.00 for that big old two story house located on over an acre of land. Three bedrooms upstairs and one on the main floor. Strange, there was this big archway in the living room that the previous owners put sheet rock over. We lived there for nearly two years before dad took the sheet rock down, and there was a big room with new carpet and new wall paper on the walls. The previous owners must have not wanted to heat that extra room or something. It was a grand old house though in addition to the three bedrooms upstairs there was a drop down door that covered the stairs when dropped, it led into a huge attic filled with old clothing from the previous owners, furniture, even some old navy ribbons from their son's uniform. I used to spend hours digging around in that attic, found some old MPC military payment certificates from WWII and such. Too bad I never kept that stuff, heck it would probably bring good money on Ebay. Now there is but bare prairie where that old house stood, but last time I drove by there, they were leveling out a part of the acre to put a new house on. Looks like things are improving north of the tracks, a good thing too, as they went way down hill after we left. A lot of the area is now horse pastures, blended among the few homes that still stand occupied up there. I couldn't live like that, the flies and stink in the summer and all.

Life goes on....

Jerry (again) 10-26-2002 0:51

It was no great loss to get rid of the guns, hell I haven't