Decorations…

Edit- Sorry the scheduler didn’t schedule this morning… sigh…

Is it just me, or are decorations for various ‘holidays’ getting out of hand???

It’s not even Halloween yet, and I’m already seeing Christmas stuff out, and Thanksgiving… We used to never seen Thanksgiving stuff until after Halloween, and no Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving.

And the advent of blow up dolls has ‘blown’ the whole thing out of proportions! You can get animatronics, dolls, complete scenes for just about everything…

And good luck finding a regular old orange pumpkin!

And I have no idea what the hell you’re supposed to do with these???

Looking around, there are apparently now ‘professional’ pumpkin carvers who charge a BUNCH of money for carved pumpkins to put on your doorstep… Really? What happened to Mom/Dad helping Junior or Sissy ‘carve’ the pumpkin? And make a mess all over the kitchen table in the process?

I do have to admit I did see a funny one come across my feed earlier in the week, which of course I can’t find again, but it was lawn Flamingos picking over a skeleton, with one holding a femur in its beak.

That probably goes back to this one from four or five years ago… Which was a pretty good one at the time!

And then there are vehicle decorations… Of course ‘this one’ is from Texas…

Although I’ll admit I’d love to seen that one in Portland or Bezerkley… 🙂

Okay… Okay, already…

The drought is broken! We don’t live in Seattle…

We haven’t seen the sun for over a week! 7 count ’em, SEVEN inches of rain in the last week and a half.

But, I thought we were going to catch a break…

There was blue sky, and SUNLIGHT… Sigh…

But it didn’t last, it’s now raining again.

And apparently I am ‘deficient’ in my home decorating.

‘I’ don’t have a chandelier in my garage…

At one of my high school classmate’s house night before last for a little (30 people) get together, so there were tables everywhere, and food, oh… The food! Overserved myself twice!

Wow…

This is just… Wow!

Claire McCaskill obviously DOES NOT believe in the Missouri motto of the ‘Show Me State’…

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released a new undercover video Monday night showing Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and her staffers expressing support for radical gun control measures that they admit she can’t state publicly.

Full article, HERE with video!

It’s fairly obvious she is willing to go to ANY length to get re-elected.

A pox on ALL the politician’s houses! Vote them ALL out and bring in term limits! Enough is enough… Grrrr

TBT…

From back in the day…

Hard to believe this was 30+ years ago! Usually we chased submarines, but sometimes we ‘stumbled’ across other things of interest…

Looking at the sea state, it was probably a ‘tad’ bumpy that day, and 200 feet wasn’t a lot of fun. One of our ‘spare’ folks took these with his personal camera without a zoom lens! Bonus points if your recce is good enough to ‘remember’ what these were…

h/t JimD

If you’re curious, the answers are below the fold. Continue reading

Posted in TBT

Book Promo…

First up is Stephanie Osborne’s latest book (8) in the Division One Series- Phantoms

As always, click the cover to go to the Amazon link.

The blurb-

Has Alpha One been played?

At long last, Echo and Omega are going on their first real date, and Echo pulls out all the stops.

But when he introduces Omega to a Broadway star, they find art imitating life, as a dangerous nonhuman entity plagues the theater.

Alpha One goes undercover to bring to light what’s really happening. But is the entity after the show’s leads…or have Echo and Omega been played?

Next is Tom Rogneby’s short- Working Vacation

He’s doing something a little different…

Like a lot of you, I’ve been shocked by the devastation Hurricane Michael left in its wake.  That area of the Gulf Coast is one of our family’s favorite vacation spots, and we’d like to help out a group that is already on the ground and helping those hardest hit.

Team Rubicon’s primary mission is providing disaster relief to those affected by natural disasters, be they domestic or international. By pairing the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders, medical professionals, and technology solutions, Team Rubicon aims to provide the greatest service and impact possible.

My short work “Working Vacation” is set in the area hardest hit by Hurricane Michael, and I borrowed a lot from the folks who live and work in the area.  So, I’d like to use it to help out.

From now until November 30, I will donate $1 to Team Rubicon for every purchase of “Working Vacation“, with a minimum donation of $100.

And last, but not least, Laura Montgomery’s final book in the Waking Late trilogy- Like a Continental Soldier

The blurb-

The starship Valerie Hall failed to reach the terraformed world of its original destination. Instead, it found a habitable substitute where the settlers split into two factions. First Landing devolved into a rude replica of medieval despotism. Seccon might promise more.

Or so hope Gilead Tan and his companions.

Gilead spent three centuries in cold sleep, held there by a First Landing custom that decreed only one sleeper could be awakened every fifty years. Once awake, Gilead freed two dozen of his fellows—all soldiers like himself—and led them into the wilderness.

Close to two hundred civilians still lie trapped in the decaying cryo-cells of First Landing. Their captive slumber haunts him.

But despite its vaunted freedom, Seccon has one rule. No one goes back to First Landing.

With fall finally getting here, you’ll have a lot more time to stay inside and warm/cozy. Now you need something to read! 🙂

Sigh…

This was supposed to be a book promo post, however…

AT&T decided to have a fire in Dallas, which took down the Internet for us, and it’s been down all day, with no potential time to repair. So you get a picture of a kabuki costume from Tokyo.

Why did I post this, you may ask? Because this seems to be typical of AT&T on a regular basis. For supposedly having one of the most robust and widespread networks in the United States, they routinely go tits up on a regular basis… Dammit

I got nuttin…

It’s cold, rainy, I’m grumpy, because I lost 2500 words on Rimworld, NO thanks to MS Word, spit… And I STILL didn’t get my damn yard mowed…

Sigh… So you get memes…

Go read the folks on the sidebar, they’ll have good words! 🙂

Who knew…

It was a ‘thing’…

Apparently I, and a number of others have been missing out on a golden opportunity! What you may ask? Well, there is this thing called Indie Author Day, which is apparently in its third year at libraries across the USA and Canada, HERE.

What I find interesting, especially in light of LTUE, is there are NO libraries in Utah that are doing this. That is just weird!

I ‘do’ know we were the best heeled writers around… At least ‘three’ of the guys were carrying, and I’m pretty sure at least a few of the ladies were, based on the ‘clunks’ when purses landed on tables… LOL

I made enough to pay for lunch, so I’m calling it a win, and made some more contacts too! I’m guessing there were 60+ people that wandered through, and considering the weather, that was a pretty good turnout, IMHO. Most if not all the authors also donated the display books to the library, so we’re going into circulation and hopefully some additional buys on Amazon and other places.

If you’re an indie writer, check around your area, maybe there is a local library in your area or within easy driving range for next year! Apparently we’re going to get written up in the local rag, and my only thought is it would have been nice ahead of the day, rather than after…

But, we can’t have everything… Sigh…

Sigh…

Welp, we’re here, it’s raining buckets, and the male writers are outnumbered two to 1…

And the only people who’ve come through are women with kids…

But we’re meeting other local authors, and I’ll probably spend more that I make, but what the hey… Gotta support those other authors too!

Post goes here…

This morning we’ll be at the Indie Writer’s thingie at the local library.

I’ll try to put a post up from there, with a pic or two, to give y’all an idea of how it’s going.

Come back around noon-1300 CDT, hopefully there will be a real post here! 🙂