A Christmas card from Powers Trace.

I received the following in the mail this afternoon. It was addressed to all of you who have spent a few hours with the folks in Powers Trace. I’ll let them say what I also feel at this time of the year.

“A few of us are gathered around the dispatch desk here in the station, thinking of you, our loyal friends. The town is glowing, all dressed up for the season. Sophie, Bev, Millie, and Tracy took charge of the towns decoration this year doing a super job hanging the big snowflakes from the lanterns along Main Street and stretching garland between the lamp posts in front of all of the stores. Vern set up the light show in front of Town Hall with the many changing colors and wired the lights on the big tree on the front lawn. Scotty had to bring in the big ladder truck so Rufe could put the huge Angel on top of the tall spruce. Rocky and Bull, the twins, spent the last three months building the manger for the nativity scene that Alf Bjorn filled with hay. Deke and Pete brought in a few goats,two mules, and some baby pigs while Mary Beth played Mary and Gil was Joseph. For some reason no one volunteered a live child to be baby Jesus. Partly Wright, Cory, and Stretch were the three wise men dressed in flowing robes donated by Mandy.

The Sisters served as hostesses for Brad, who was Santa Clause while Phil, being short, danced around as an elf. Ms. Penny kept passing around her flask to ward off the chill.

It’s two days before Christmas and the town is quiet. Tomorrow evening we will all gather again at the big tree on the lawn to sing carols, eat a feast provided by Fred, and share in the warmth of small town friendship. Each of us wish each of you the very best Christmas ever and a New Year full of fulfilled dreams.”

God bless you everyone.

Lew.

Gadget Man

Sorry about the lag in getting back to you. I finally got fed up with the BlackBerry and went for the new iPhone. Why? I bought two different add-on programs, testing to get something that would clean up the headers in E-Mail, so that it could be read without slogging through garbage. Nothing seemed to work. I tried iPhone last week, and the e-mail on that one is clear, no addresses unless you want them, no line after line of forwarded names etc. Just the facts. Beautiful. Since I seem to have gathered a number of folks who don’t know much about mail, they tend to forward messages with every name that has had access to the topic back to the beginning of the internet, leaving line after line of stuff with no interest to me or anyone else, followed  by a mail message of one picture or two lines of text.

It’s taken a few days to figure out how to work with iPhone so if you get something off-the-wall from me it’s because of my fumble fingered typing proficiency.

Everything I had on the MAC laptop transferred over with SYNC along with some I didn’t intend to move. 214 songs to music, 400 plus photos, half of which I didn’t want sent. Oh well, the little thing accepted it all and I still have mostly free space to work with.

Is the BlackBerry bad. No. I bought it before RIM caught up with Apple and added the touch screen system. I looked at the new BB but iPhone beat it, hands down, for what I wanted. Anyway, I’m happy now, spending way too much time thumbing around with all sorts of new things. Once a “Gadget Man” always a sucker for new gadgets.

For those who didn’t get the new phone number try this one.

                         (478) 396-2166

I carry the iPhone with me most of the time and calling this number will avoid getting busy signals on our home phone. The “E” likes to talk on the phone, and anywhere else someone will listen.   

The result.

Sidewicki works but I don’t know when or where I could use it. The little blurb I wrote earlier, previous post, went as advertised so I now have a new toy to confuse myself.

In the “I can’t win” category I submit the following.

        I have turned into the Couch Potato that I’ve been dreading but it’s all my own fault. Background: I spent over three decades as a skinny person. As a youngster I was into all sports and stayed active as I aged. I played high school ball at 175 pounds and when I retired from the Air Force 25 years later I weighed 185 pounds. Last weekend I screwed up enough courage to waddle up to the scales after the Thanksgiving binge and looked down at 240 pounds. The most I have ever weighed. I accept my fate, months of starvation, denying myself the pint of Rocky Road, the pain and suffering of actually exercising the body.

Yesterday I hit the Super market and brought home apples, oranges, cauliflower something’s, watery tea, and a big twelve can carton of “Slim Fast” to curb the hunger. I ate nothing yesterday. Today I had a Slim Fast for breakfast, and another when I got hungry around noon. Now, the irony of my destiny.

As I was playing with the Sidewicki thingy the “E” comes in, sits down at her computer, and checks CNN for news. The first thing she sees is the 10,000 can recall of Slim Fast by Unilever because of a bacteria something or other. Their advice: “If you have it at home throw it out and call in for a rebate”. My first vision was of a slow, painful death from some alien organism. My second vision was of all that strawberry and cream gurgling down the drain. What do I have left? Starvation is near, cauliflower and apples by candle light? Life ain’t fair!

Sidewicki

I use iGoogle as my home page and the Google folks just sent me this, SIDEWICKI.

OK. I clicked on the button and I'm adding something. I have no idea what it's all about or what I am actually accomplishing here. It says it's going to tattle on me and send this to my blog. I'll go there next and see.

in reference to: iGoogle (view on Google Sidewiki)

Time flies

Novembers shot, December is rushing in reminding me that I’ve been a slacker. I had a routine going there for a few weeks until Thanksgiving arrived, and I took the day off to eat, and watch football games. Now I can’t get started again. The “E” opened up all of the closets in the house and began sorting, checking, fixing, and putting-up the Christmas stuff. A lot of Christmas stuff. This began the day BEFORE Thanksgiving and she was finished the day AFTER. She has it down to assembly-line precision and my job is to just stay out of the way. Works for me!

Last year I tried to get creative and bought a mile (it seemed) of outdoor blue lights to string in the Dogwood trees in front of the house. I soon discovered a mile won’t hack it. After climbing the ladder, swinging from limb to limb, I had what I thought was a lot of lights in the three trees, but when I finally turned them on that night it was obvious it presented a puny display.

This year I’ll use the blue lights to cover the small bushes near the big windows and forget the rest. I still have the three-foot snowman that the “E” refers to as Mr, Tacky to fill in gaps. Even with this meager display we have the brightest house in the neighborhood, otherwise know as “Dark Passage”. Once in awhile one or two make an attempt, as I do, but we would never win a ribbon for cheerfulness. Works for me!

Kid’s stuff and progress

A few weeks back, I wrote in this blog about the new Winnie the Pooh book that was authorized, and written, 80 years after the release of A.A. Milne’s last one. I had to have it of course, and placed the order that included the collectors boxed set of the other four original  Pooh books. I spent (or misspent) a week reading them which cleared my mind of all things current and opened new brain cells with a six year olds outlook on life. Refreshing, it was totally refreshing! I’ll have to do this more often. Has anyone seen my copy of Alice through the looking glass.

It all must have helped. I’ve knocked out four new chapters in the book, formed the characters to play mind games with a nasty old County Commissioner, with a bad comb-over, and had the Chief moved north to take over the Sheriff’s job. Things are getting interesting in Southwest Georgia. Now, all I have to do is keep things straight and find some way to pull it together for a big ending.

Stay tuned. The world is turning in mysterious ways and I’m about a hand-hold short of getting on the train. Faster man, faster. 

I’m back

It’s taken a few days but I finally got around to adding “Windows Live – Writer” to my network so I can update this blog on any of the Windows 7 machines. Live Writer is easier to use to update the Blog than Word, which requires the copy and paste routine, since it is all in one basic word processor and can eliminate the fumble-finger errors that I am prone to make.

I have all of the machines talking to each other now, with the exception of a few add-on programs for reports, which really means I can do the writing from the office or the sun room, depending on what’s on TV. It’s mainly a sports thing, I can watch a Braves game while messing around with the book but the baseball season is over now so I don’t have much excuse to use the wireless set up on the porch rather than the desk top in the computer room.

Everything is working like I want it to so, for now, I’m going to stay away from all of the distractions and diversions to concentrate on getting Powers Trace III, The Live Oak Tree finished. October is gone. That deadline crashed. Now, Maybe December.

Halloween Already?

Seems like summer has just ended and daylight savings time will kick in this Sunday. The gloomy days of winter, when it gets dark before dinner hits the table, is upon us. Not even Halloween can help. The trees still have most of their leaves but they’re falling, and soon the yard will be covered. I gave up raking a few years back when I discovered they had a “Mulching Blade” for my mower.  I can now do in a couple of hours what used to take all day, raking, gathering, and burning leaves.

Our Soldier son spent two weeks of leave from Afghanistan with us. He looks good, says he feels good, and is ready to complete the last 5 months of the tour. This is his second, after Iraq, and says he’s tired of the sand and brown landscape of South West Asia. He’s getting a few years on him and is ready to pack it in after 20 plus years in the Georgia Guard and Army reserve. He’s ready to get back to work for the college.

This weekend was wasted getting the computers up and running Windows 7. I started using computers before Bill Gates, running an IBM operating system called DOS. Gates took over that code and began the prelims to Windows. As with all of the Micro Soft upgrades, it was a mess. I run 3 PC’s and a MAC. One PC handles my personal data, Quicken, email, etc. Another works other programs, websites, and stuff, and the third is the “E’s” mail machine. I run a web site on the MAC. I could tell you all the gory details but I don’t have the temper, time, or the room here. What I will tell you, don’t believe all of the hype about 7. I thought that maybe this time it would all work smoothly. Not a chance. The first attempt was on my most up to date machine, with 64 bit processor. The three pack I bought from Micro Soft for the home package, lauding the network set up, had a 64 bit disk. BUT, I had a version that did not fit the “Upgrade” requirement, it was more program than the new 7, so it would load as an operating system but would NOT keep my data. I needed a backup, which I thought I had. You guessed it, The external hard drive which was set to backup weekly had nothing for the past month and a half. It’s one of those set ups that you assume is working.  NEVER ASUME as I’ve learned over the years. I just didn’t take my own advice. Windows 7 loaded fine. I spent a full day working back and forth between the bank and Quicken to get my financials reconciled. It took another full day to get the other stuff working.  The easiest machine of the three was the E’s. It had Vista Basic and the new 7 worked as advertised.

I could go on but I would rather forget it all and get on with the book. All of that work WAS backed up and Word marches on unaffected.

Memories. Very old memories

The first book I read all the way through was “The House at Pooh Corner”. We were not poor but we did try to stretch a dollar from month to month so the purchase of a real “Book” was an event. I have no idea how old I was, the book was a Christmas present, but I do remember sitting at the kitchen table, reading until I was unceremoniously sent to bed each night. The next Christmas brought “When We Were Very Young”, another A. A. Milne book, and the reading took me through the cold winter, and into the spring. This was at the beginning of WWII. I remember some of the news, the rationing, and relatives hugging young men leaving on the train but, I didn’t  really  understand what was happening. I did understand Pooh. Christopher Robin was the smartest human on the planet, but Pooh, Owl, Eyeore, and Rabbit were my best friends.

The last time I saw my books was in 1962, when I went through the little farm town on my way to a training program in Texas.  A bunch of books had been stored away in the loft of the barn, and mice, or other small animals with a taste for book binding glue, had turned them into mulch. I wanted the books to pass along to my sons who were very young at the time.

Why the sudden nostalgia? I received an E-mail alert for a new book being released this coming week, and I immediately went into total recall of Pooh and his friends. I don’t know how I feel about the introduction of a female to the cast of characters, but, I do know that I will scurry down to the book store, and spend a few nights with my old pals.

The following is the Note from B & N about the release:

When the first new authorized tale of Winnie-the-Pooh in more than 80 years is released on Monday, the book will introduce a new, female character to that bothersome bear’s mostly male entourage. The new character, called Lottie the Otter, will make her debut in “Return of the Hundred Acre Wood.” written by David Benedictus and illustrated by Mark Burgess, and approved by the Pooh Trustees. In a news release, the Dutton Children’s Books imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, which is releasing the book on Oct. 5, described Lottie as “a smart and elegant character” who is “always dressed in pearls,” and who “has her own ideas about how things should be done and believes that everyone should follow the correct etiquette.” In the course of “Return to the Hundred Acre Wood,” the publisher said, Lottie takes a swim in Christopher Robin’s bath, helps to set up a school for the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood, and turns out to be great at cricket.

Penguin Young Readers Group said that it would unveil a new permanent mural in honor of the original stuffed animals that inspired A. A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” and other books, and which are kept in the New York Public Library’s Children Center. That unveiling is to take place on Monday, also at the Children’s Center.

 

                            

                                         Lottie the Otter

I couldn’t resist.

Setting around the house watching it rain for a couple of weeks put a damper (pun intended) on my attitude. In other words, I became a grouch. As everyone knows, a grouch is unable to think positively, all things are not equal, and the rains became my primary “Hate” point. I needed a change of venue  but, an attitude change would suffice.

I had a preorder in with Amazon for the new Dan Brown novel, ‘The Lost Symbol’, and it arrived by UPS on the release date. I set it aside since I have a rule that I don’t read other authors while I’m writing a book myself. As everyone knows I’m weak, and will steal good plot points or a catchy phrase, making small changes, and sneak them in where I can’t come up with something on my own. The book was on my desk, watching me, daring me to pick it up. Well, maybe I’ll just read the the cover comments. Big mistake. Once I pick up a book, like a bag of peanuts, I have to finish it off. I began…

It’s a big book, a little over 500 pages, and as of today I’m about three quarters of the way through it. I’m hooked so will finish this weekend. For those of you who have an interest in a books style, or composition, old Dan has put a new twist on this one. As stated, the book is over 500 pages and has 133 chapters. Many chapters are only one or two pages. I guess this is the coming thing, but I don’t remember the Da Vinci Code with this style. A few current writers are writing with short chapters, changing to a new one with a change of the theme or thought as the story progresses.

Needless to say, between the rain and The Lost Symbol, I haven’t made much headway with the book. I still think it will go to the publisher in October. Late in October.

What a weekend !

Friday evening I was not looking forward to football over the weekend. The Braves beat the Cardinals, the best team in the Central division, but they had two more to play,  Saturday and Sunday, and you don’t beat the best two straight often. Saturday it looked like another loss when the Braves scored early but, the Cards started coming back. In the 8th inning our guys were ahead by one, and played like a little league loser, throwing the ball all over the park, making errors, allowing the bad guys two runs, and the lead. Top of the ninth, with two out, the Braves rallied for two runs, playing aggressive baseball, winning the game. I was exhausted.

Saturday, Georgia played South Carolina, the first SEC game of the year. It looked like a blow out with the Dawgs scoring touchdowns on long kick off returns, interceptions, they were moving the ball, and played good defense. That lasted for one quarter. The kicker, who only missed two field goals all of last year, missed two, and an extra point, in THIS game. Carolina kept coming back and the game went down to the last minute of the fourth quarter before I could breath again. Georgia wins with seconds to go on a tipped pass near the goal line.

Sunday, the Falcons take on Miami in the dome. I think we may have a contender this year, they played very well. The game was never in doubt and I could relax.

Sunday afternoon, the Braves stomped the Cardinals to finish the sweep. Three wins in three days against the best, amazing. They won five out the last six, and should have won the other one if not for a blown save by the “Closer”. The Braves are playing well now but I’m afraid it’s too late. I’ll stick with my prediction. No playoffs for Atlanta again this year.

Sports. Frustrating but never dull. 

I told you so….

Well, my bad karma did, in fact, keep our Little League team from the championship. I have been sneaking around town, hiding from people who know about hexes, spells, and things, trying to avoid confrontations from angry fans, and furious Mamas, until everything starts to return to normal. The team took the defeat in stride, as we knew they would. it hurts to lose but these youngsters have the character to congratulate the winner with a smile and a handshake. Class all the way.

The teams return home was great. The town came out to greet them at the little league ball field where it all began. They were treated like winners by everyone, and admired by the teenage girls, which the 12 year old boys had difficulty getting used to. They’ll learn. They are already looking forward to next year, when they really plan on winning it all. I wouldn’t bet against them.

Back to the book. Most of the summer diversions are over, the Atlanta Braves are falling apart, and the Georgia Bulldogs lost the opener of this season. I’m not a follower of a sport, I have to have a team to get me going. I need to be able to recognize a face, know all the names, have someone to pull for. Just to say I’m a Baseball fan won’t do. I am an Atlanta Baseball team fan. I live in Georgia so, of course, I am a Georgia Bulldog fan. I could follow Georgia Tech but, somehow, that doesn’t fit me. The “Dawgs” are down home, “Tech” is elite. That’s probably all wrong, but I go by how it feels. So that’s the way it is beginning the fall season. The weather will cool off, the humidity will generally be lower, The evenings will be free of baseball and the TV.

I will have no excuses now so I plan on finishing the book sometime in October,  get it to the Publisher, and printed before Christmas. The story line is keeping to what I planned at the beginning. For now I know were it’s going but that can change. It usually does.

Warner Robins, GA Who knew?

This will probably put the hex of the century on the kids but I can’t sit around without shouting about the unbelievable situation in the world of little league. Call it what you will, the local girls from Warner Robins, a small town in the middle of the South, ran roughshod over the competition and won the World title in softball.  They went undefeated in the playoffs at each level. Today the under 14 year old boys came from behind to win their third game, sending them to the next level at Williamsport. It was National headlines two years ago when the boys from this small town won the title. Can you believe the story if they win this year making it a dual victory for the boys and the girls. What are the odds. I don’t know how many teams are involved world wide but it’s in the thousands for the girls and the boys. To have our kids win it all is mind blowing.

Keep your fingers crossed. Miracles do happen and these youngsters deserve to be recognized win or lose.

Preview of coming attractions

My publisher has been bugging me for the past year to get involved with some of their marketing programs. They offer E-Mail blitzes, book fairs, and other stuff, all of them at a cost to me. The original E-Mail campaign was a bust, as I knew it would be. Most folks are like me and hit the delete button on all unsolicited offers from anyone. There are a few sales that show up in the charts monthly that are listed in a compiled gathering of commercial sales like Amazon, and other book sellers, but not in any useable detail.  Since the books are not selling well the low numbers forced me to pay a few bucks to keep them listed in the stores and on-line.

Xlibris has a program called “Book Trailer” where a professional media team takes the book and puts together a “Teaser”, like movie trailers, or previews, that run for one to two minutes in a loop. I assume the loop is added to other trailers for other books and becomes part of a set.

Quote: Book trailers present a quick, compact synopsis of the book in flash format that makes for one entertaining view. Since these trailers are placed in sites like YouTube, MySpace, MetaCafe, Blip.tv and dailymotion, they can be accessed by a massive number of people online.

Since I have no other plans I have signed up for this Trailer program. With luck it will be out and viewable by November, listing both books, and the third book will be added after the first of the year. I am not a “Marketeer”. I can’t sell anything to anyone. If anyone actually sees these “Commercials” and buys a book or two I will be both surprised and grateful.  We shall see…

Let’s raise the bar some.

The past few entries here read like a soap opera. All is well, the semi-annual check up with the medics this week shows I am disgustingly healthy so we’ll forget the tick attack and other pleas for sympathy, I guess, and talk about the book.

The title will be Powers Trace III, a foregone conclusion,  but I haven’t decided on the subtitle. As with the last book, I’ll probably wait to see what the major theme is before picking something to hint at the story line. Decisions, decisions. The title is a big deal. Kinda like naming your first born. Cute doesn’t impress people forty years down the road, it has to be right forever.

The writing is slow now. It seems to flow with the weather. The heat is one reason but that is to be expected here in the South. We had a very unusual week as July moved in. The temperature and the humidity dropped significantly, and it felt like September. Low 80’s during the day dropping into the 50’s at night. Sleeping with the windows open and no hum from the air conditioner was great. It wont last, the temps are rising again, the humidity is on the upswing and weather from the gulf is bringing rain, which we need.

Keep signing on here for general updates and check twitter for daily nonsense.

Tough little bugger!

We have two dogs who own the backyard. Luey is a 14 year old Schnauzer and Cookie is a Jack Russell terrier, 8 years old (as far as we know). Both spend hours everyday roaming around their turf, Luey putting his nose to ever leaf in the yard, and Cookie chasing squirrels back up into their trees. For daily diversions they have toys. Three Frisbees, two soccer balls, and an undersized basketball, half flat, leaking air. The back part of the yard is a jungle with a lot of underbrush. The growth is controlled by weed-whacker once a year which was accomplished less that a month ago so the growth was minimal and revealed another ball that had been missing for some time. This is all background for the real story.

Luey was the first to spot the long-lost ball and was about to descend to inspect it. There is a pronounced slope, a drop-off maybe ten feet before you reach the fence, and I knew he had no way to retrieve his ball and carry it back up the hill. To the rescue. I slipped and slid to the ball, picked it up and tossed it back up into the yard. I was now Luey’s best friend again. While I scuffled through the weeds I apparently picked up a tick. At least that’s what I assumed it was later that night, in bed, when my arm brushed across it. I felt it, turned on the light and looked at it, then, not thinking, picked at it with a finger nail. I placed in on the night stand and saw the wiggling legs.

Back up a couple of hours. While watching TV I was feeling a bit off. Joints ached, stomach not feeling well. These are not unusual for us old folks but, now as I watched this small many-legged thing under the light, I knew something was amiss. I now had a fever, my head ached, and my hands were cold. I looked at them and could see swelling, enough that I could not make a fist. The stomach was getting “that feeling” and I headed for the bathroom. I waited, the tension was building, and I sat on the floor awaiting the inevitable. I sat. After about a half hour the body started to feel better. I waited another half hour before I got up and went back to bed. The headache had subsided some and the fever was going away. The hands were still puffy but not as swollen as before. As I lay there going over the symptoms it didn’t make much sense. It came on in a hurry but now seemed to be going away just as fast. The white blood cells must be beating back the attack. It was five o’clock in the morning when I finally ventured back for a couple of aspirins before finally falling a sleep.

When I awoke at 11:30 I felt fine. I wondered if it was all just a bad dream but I knew it really happened. I still had the bug on the night stand, still wiggling it’s legs, still alive I guess.  I had tried to smash it after I found it but it was hard shelled so it did not squash. Suffer whatever you are. I’ll place it in a small, airless tube, and let it die a slow, agonizing death.

Moral of all this: Let the dogs retrieve their own toys.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the colors in my world.

OK. I’ve been asked, so I’ll take a few minutes to get the story out of the way and we can get on with whatever it is we’re getting on with. Age has caught up with me as far as the eyes are concerned. Cataracts became part of the annual exam a few years back and each year the Doc would say “Still there but we’ll keep watching the progress for awhile and go from there.” Awhile arrived with the May exam. Where the Cataracts had been minimal before, they were now marginal. That’s Eye-Doc talk for slow, progressive deterioration. “Will it get any better?” I asked. “No, but it can wait.” he said. That’s not my game. If it’s broke, fix it and move on. A date was set, the preliminaries taken care of, and I found myself flat on my back, a hairnet on my hairless head, making small-talk with nurses in baggy green uniforms. I was somewhat apprehensive about the procedure. The “E” had her eyes worked on, by the same doctors, a couple of years ago, and one eye didn’t turn out too good. She spent a number of days traveling to see a “Specialist” in Macon, up the road, who could repair a problem caused by the implants. All’s well that ends well, she has had no further trouble, so here I was heading into the unknown.

The procedure itself was short, about 20 minutes of looking into a bright light as some sort of tool tooled around in the eye doing it’s thing. My head was “Duck Taped” to the gurney so I couldn’t move but, all in all, it was not an uncomfortable experience. After about 30 minutes of recovery time I was in the car, headed home. No pain, no complaints. Recovery begins.

I was aware that the eye would not respond immediately to the trauma of being penetrated and vacuumed out but later, that evening, I was concerned. All I could see was prominent shapes, no color, like looking through gray smoke. Relax, he says to himself as the Braves game came on TV, it will be better soon. The next day the vision started to return to normal, somewhat. The shapes became better defined. The gray veil disappeared, and as I sat down for the ballgame that evening, the first revelation of improvement hit like a line-drive. Testing, always testing new things, I would close the new eye and look around. Then I would close the old eye, look with the new eye. Wham. The Braves home uniforms are white. I always accepted the white as kind of off-white. With the new eye, the uniforms were glowing white. The blues and reds around the ballpark were vivid, bright, unlike anything I had seen before. Is this real life? I asked. I was immersed in Technicolor. A Munchkin in the Wizard of Oz.

I went into this fix-up to get rid of all the reading glasses I have stashed around the house. My distant vision was adequate, no problems, but the near stuff, like books and computer screens were a blur. I did not expect the new world of Disney color but if the reading improves it will be worth the apprehension and time.

Half of the adventure is over. It is now the third day of recovery and the new eye is fine, free of distortion, free of the blur, working well with the other eye. Reading the fine print is not back yet but I hope that when the second eye is repaired I will be able to read like a teen ager. We’ll see, as they say…

Now, FaceBook. Yuck.

I’ve been complaining about Twitter nudging it’s way into my day and now, another thingy, called FaceBook. I knew it was out there but had no intention of getting involved. Overnight I WAS involved. As I mentioned earlier, I think, my son is now in Afghanistan for another year-long tour. He has E-Mail, and a computer, plus telephone capability funded by his Mom’s constant sending of AT&T phone cards but the family, all of them, are now on FaceBook sending messages, most of which don’t mean much to us Old Folks.

Twitter is more my speed. You have something to say, you say it, and get off. FaceBook has all of these other side roads that can sidetrack me in a heart beat. Today I found out that my personality is akin to Snoopy, Charlie Browns dog. Could be worse I guess.

Am I against this stuff. Of course not. A year is a long time and I applaud all of the gang for keeping the flow going, so far. I only hope it doesn’t fade out a few months down the road when it will really be needed to keep the moral and spirits up.

Number next. “Balaam Gimbles Gumption” the book I mentioned. I finished it and it’s worth every minute of reading you put into it. Good story. Eccentric characters. Small town folks with a twist.

Diversion.

I’m at the point in the book where it doesn’t take much to divert my attention to something completely different from the story I’m struggling with. I made a pact with the writing Gods to not read other peoples books while writing one of my own because I am weak, and unable to put a good phrase or story line out of my mind, allowing the better stuff to seep into what I am about. While at the reunion I was told about a book that was referred to as “Something like my writing style”. I ordered the book and put it aside, a day passes, and I glance at the cover, reading the title page, and finally grabbing it with both hands, going full bore for a late-night read. It’s totally engrossing, based on a small town, with small town eccentrics that any weird person could identify with.I haven’t finished it yet but will before getting back to my chore.

The book?  It’s Balaam Gimble’s Gumption by Mike Nichols. Not the Hollywood Mike Nichols, but a true Texan with a down-home attitude and the vocabulary to match. It’s endorsed by Kinky Friedman, and if you know recent Texas history this should give you a clue. A fun book.

Survived another reunion.

It’s Thursday, this must be home. The Old Men’s reunion went very well. We still rode the bus to and from various events, saw the carrier Yorktown, ate good meals, but that was but a sidelight. The real purpose of these events is to renew old friendships, and I did that. I hadn’t seen some of the guys for 50 years, and that’s a long, long time. They didn’t look like the young, skinny kids anymore but a few words and a laugh brought back the memories. Every time I attend one of these annual events I swear I won’t go to the next one, but for some mystical reason I do, drawn by the possibility of another old partner showing up. I may or may not go again. I won’t say never because I don’t have the will-power to NOT attend. Cheers guys. Stay well.

I unloaded a couple of books, and received some encouraging comments from those who read the first and second Powers Trace books so guess I’ll finish the new one. Can’t let the fan base down can I?

Well, I’ve done it again

I’m trying out Windows Live/writer on the new machine to see if I can get access to the Blog and make updates while roaming around doing other useful things, if there are such things.

 

This will be short. If you can read it, it worked. If it doesn’t show up, who cares? http://powerstrace.blogspot.com

Time's fun when you're having flies (Kermit the frog)

It's been a rather full month, this May. Machines break, callers can't get on the Web site, I can't get anything from the Apple programmers or Microsoft to fix Internet Explorer access. To hell with them both, I'll do it my way!

I registered a new domain name (well actually an old name I used years ago for the business) and built a new Web site using links to the old one, stealing from myself in order to keep the archived posts and data going back to 2003. There is a lot of good stuff in there and I didn't know how to get it all saved to something other than the web site. The novices plight. After it all came together I like it. The new home page is a portal to the old sites sections allowing a caller to use the menu to go to the Blog, Thoughts, Tankers, etc on the previous site then return. Neat. I added a guest book that allows access to others who have filled in their info by clicking on the e-mail link and send a message. Good stuff, and it works. So far.

The Tankers annual reunion is next week so I'll be gone for a few days. Should be back next Thursday with a bundle of pictures. Everyone behave, take care, and use the new Site. I'm looking for input. If you like it, say so. More important, if you don't like it, how can I fix it.

For the day-to-day ramblings follow along with the twitter tweets. I'll pump something in there to let you know I'm still functioning.

Back to Book news

Thanks for suffering through the trials and tribulations with the Web site. It's back up and running with a few wounds but will last until I get the new site configured. TechRestore kept their promise. I had the DualMac back home on Monday. I restored the data from the external backup drive, going back to a date three days before the old drive started failing, and as far as I can tell it's all there. There's an old adage in the computer world. "The machine is a mechanical device, and all things mechanical fail". It's not if, or maybe, but when. ALWAYS, THAT'S ALWAYS, BACK UP YOUR STUFF. Don't think you are immune. One day, when you are into something important, and don't save your work, that machine will fail. Then, who do you blame?

We'll get back to the book now. I'm into the fourth chapter, laying the ground work for two major problems that will have a big impact on the police team and the town. That's all I'll give you right now but stay tuned. If it all flows together, as I think it will, the conclusion will be gang busters!

Alls well. (I hope)

After my goof on the shipment the 'puter finally got to Tech Restore, and I got a phone call this morning. The problem is the hard drive, which failed. I asked them to upgrade from the original 160 gig drive to 250 gigs which gives me more room at faster speed (I think). The machine will be shipped back tonight (Friday) which means I should have it Monday. It will take a day to rebuild it all from the Iomega external hard drive back up I use but it should be a straight restore. I could have had DR (Data Restore, another California company) transfer it all but that's a different operation, would have delayed the return, and cost $95 per hour, $195 minimum. I decided to DIY this one.

That's where I stand now. We're on the return leg of a frustrating trip, and should be back up, and running, in a few days.

A little hiccup now and then keeps life interesting. Yeah. Right!

The trouble eases

It never ceases to amaze me. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I used TechRestore in a previous life. At that time they did everything, for a fee, to get the broken thing to their facility. This time they did do half of the part dealing with FedEx. They got the return box to me. Last time the FedEx man showed up early the next morning, took the machine, and was off. I filled out the form telling them what the problem is, I put the disfunctional 'puter in the box, and I waited for the FedEx man to show up. I waited two days. I called TechRestore. I was supposed to arrainge the pickup on my own. That was not mentioned in the directions. Once I got this straight, I called FedEx, they scheduled the pickup, and the truck pulled up in the driveway two hours later. The 'puter is on it's way to get a fixup. We lost five days and I expect it will be a week, next Wednesday, before I get it back.

I can't blaim others for expecting me to follow their diredtions when there are no directions. I can blame me for not picking up the phone, and asking what's what. The saga continues...

The Braves are still losing so that part hasn't improved...

We in Mo trouble

The FedEx truck didn't show up today which means it will be Monday, at the earliest, to ship the DualMac to California. This will probably add three days to the "Up and running" date. And, today, the Braves were stomped 10 to zip so all is going as normal for me. A slump is a slump but it sure gets frustrating. It could be worse. It could be raining. Let me check the Weather..... Guess what?

How about leaving a comment here to keep me company? I'm lonely.

We in trouble now!

It has NOT been a good week for computing around here. First, I made what I thought was the right move, to replace the old '06 version of the Web software with the '09 update. I assumed, as is my usual deficient acceptance of reality, that those who write and publish code for us lesser mortals, know what they are doing, and put forth a bug-free product. Wrong. After redoing the whole Web site base it turns out that the new program will trash the opening screen when viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE).

Since it is estimated that 70% of all callers are using IE, the program that comes with Windows, as their Web browser, this cuts them out of my caller list. Frustrating for them. Exasperating for me. But I was trying everything I could think of to remedy the mess.

Next, and this one really has me scratching my head. The high-end MacBook laptop I use to build and update the Web site turns into a door stop. Right before my eyes, as I was attempting to get the screen problem fixed, parts of the software began locking up. I rebooted after several failures but it continued to get worse. At the end the machine would boot up, get to a point, and then set there with the cursor blinking at me as if to say "Take that novice". This happened at about 5:00 AM and , with watery, red eyes, I staggered off to bed.

Calling around town I rediscovered what I already knew. Mention repair of a Mac to any of our local experts and they lapse into either laughter or pity. I had some trouble with an older Mac a few years back and went to TechRestore, a Compton, California operation and had super support and quick turn-around so that's where I went today. These folks have a contract with FedEx and send a truck to pick up the machine, furnishing the carton to ship it, get one day delivery to their factory, fix it in one day, if possible, and one day return shipping. That first repair was for a cracked screen and it was back to me five days from initial pickup. I think this fix will be for a drive problem at most, or a quick tweak of software anomalies, I hope.

That's where I'm at right now. I can't make any announcements on the Web site so I will post notes here, on this Blog, to keep everyone informed. With any luck, I'll have the Web site back up and running soon. To get direct access here:

http://powerstrace.blogspot.com

Baseball. The high.

I can't believe it. Last year, 2008, the Atlanta Braves couldn't hold a lead, they would blow it somehow in the late innings. In 2009 they are unbeaten, overpowering last years World Series Champs with two-hit pitching by D. Lowe and the long ball, three home runs before the Philly fans were able to boo anyone.

The chance to go 162 - 0 is alive. Disney may need to start preparing for the unbelievable season.

It doesn't take much to get me going....

April update

I finally got my stuff together and finalized three chapters. This was the necessary, and boring, part to bring those who haven't read the first two books, up to date, and understand what is taking place five years on down the road. I didn't try to fill in all of the blanks, but enough to carry the story forward. Now, I can get into the new story-line. The fun starts here. I have an outline, somewhat, but will let the characters carry the load until they stray and lose the way.

I have received a couple of suggestions about where to take the characters in this book but, to be honest, some things are way off the chart. I don't mind, and usually instigate, off the wall situations just to see if I can get out of the fix but, really, decapitation of a main player was a bit much. I'm not a "Texas Chainsaw" type. I cringe at a hang nail.

The Braves begin the new baseball season next week so there goes the evenings. I have settled into a late-night routine, when the house is quiet, and the dogs don't sit there staring at me, begging for attention or a lap to nap in. Spoiled? Of course not. I've said for years that in my next life, I want to come back as my wifes dog. Pampered luxury all the way.

Keep following 'Twitter" on the right side bar here to get daily entries on what I'm doing. Most of that is nonsense but it gives me a break, lets me float. Whatever that means.

Distractions

As expected, the writing has taken a few days off with the Basketball tourny, the World Baseball Classic, the weather turning warm, and the nagging beginning to get me outside, digging in the dirt. I have managed to spend a few late nights, early mornings, getting some of the pieces reworked and in presentable form but the book is not as far along as it should be. All, or at least most, of the minor distractions will end this coming week and remove any logical excuse for the delay.

I did get a few pictures for the book cover last week. The "E" suggested a church to, sort of, follow along with the first two books but I'm not sure. This area has nice looking churches, white with tall steeples, and stained glass windows, but there is a problem tying it all together with the crime, blood, and stuff. Light a candle so that I may see my way to an evangelical solution. As always, I'm still searching for that perfect street scene that will fit the descriptions in the story. I never did find a Town Hall that I liked. The Book II cover came from the old courthouse square in Perry, GA. That was close to what I had in mind for the stores on "Main Street" Powers Trace.

I'll add a few pieces of the book here to let everyone see where I'm heading. It's mostly catchup items now to get everything in sync so, maybe, by the first part of April I'll have enough to show off at least part of the first chapter.

The Web Site is blooming.

Up until now the Web Site ("Seventy and Beyond") has carried the book stuff. I planned all along to use a separate site for the books, for general, basic information with a blog linked in for less formal chit-chat and comments from the readers. It is now a reality. I have taken the posts from the Web Site and will continue that part here. If you are reading this, then you found the blog, either from the main book site or through the blog URL address.

The whole procedure is straight forward so no one should have any problems getting here. If you follow the link from the Web site, you can use the "Back" key to get out the way you came in. Dropping from here, the blog, will probably take you out of the browser, back to your main screen.

I plan on updating this sight weekly and use Twitter for the daily blather. Follow along. Use the "Comment" below to send me a note. Also see the new feature where you can rate the post as "Funny", "Interesting" or "Cool". None of this means much but it's there.

And so it goes

I've passed into the 'sloppy' period again. I spend part of the day writing, think of something new, switch to that, and then forget where I was in the beginning. Focused? Not yet it seems. This book will have three, count 'em, three main plots. I like all of them and want to get to the meat before the brain locks up. One of the choke points is that this book starts five years after Powers Trace II ends. This means I have to bring the characters up to date, filling in what has happened in those five years. I need to do this to get to a point in this, the third book, to bring the story of the town The Chief, and his people to a conclusion. There is a lot to cover but I think it will all come together and allow me to say goodbye to my friends and move on to other projects.

I can't start thinking ahead to what comes next. That's probably the reason for the lack of focus.
(A term I hate.)

So there already!

Yes, nonbeliever, there is a snow fairy and he came through middle Georgia on the 1st of March 2009. He didn't stay long but the show was beautiful.







The cookout in the Gazebo has been called off until the weather returns to warm and humid.



I have already received notes from those who don't believe the SNOW story. Middle Georgia received light rain from Friday evening up to about 10:00 Sunday morning when it suddenly turned to snow. Not little bits of snow but the BIG flakes you see out west in the mountains. The ground was still warm, or not cold, so nothing stuck until a couple of hours later, around noon. Every flake that hit pavement, streets and sidewalks, melted so the snow built up on the grass areas. It snowed until mid afternoon and stopped. It all melted within 30 minutes. An hour later it began to snow again, harder this time, with the wind blowing it in circles. It lasted long enough to get a good covering as seen above.

This is all the winter I need, just a taste to remind me of what it looks like but with the decency to head on up North where it belongs. I doubt that the county has a working snow plow. Just a few John Deers with lift bucket.

Plugging along

A new month, March, is here and I hope it will help to get me organized and focused. As usual, I go into a new book with an overall plot plan in my head, which gets me going. But an overall plan means many divergent paths and I tend to jump from one to another as I dream up new stuff. It's not really a waste of time because I can save all of the drivel and go back to cut and paste it into the book as needed. This is my version of the "Shotgun approach". Sometimes the pattern is too wide and you have to choke down to get back on track.

Had to laugh last night. As I was writing about weather in Powers Trace the NOAA radio beeped warning of tornadoes in the area. Then the TV guy started talking about snow, yeah SNOW on the 1st of March. I think it is wishful thinking but, I can assure you, anytime the weather guy even hints at a possible snow flake in this area half a dozen good-ole-boys start digging through the basement looking for the snow chains. This morning the sky is a dark gray, the wind is picking up and snow IS falling in Alabama. For the kids sake I hope it comes here. I have friends who have lived in this area for decades and have never seen a real snow flake.

Watch for this little guy

In answer to a couple of questions, here's Tulip. Riley Abbot, the Party Clown, will show up in part 3, about two thirds of the way into the book. I must admit I've been cheating and working these two characters because they are out there, unpredictable and fun.

Look at that face and tell me you can't wait to meet him.

He's my new best friend.

Powers Trace III

It’s begun. The new book is started and, for now, it’s called POWERS TRACE III (no subtitle yet). The town has added a few folks and the construction work is complete but nothing has really changed much. It has managed to retain it’s neighborly feel, fending off attempts by fast-food and big-box stores to “modernize” the environment.

Five years have passsed since the last book and the police team remains unchanged, although older and wiser now. Sophie returns from the Police Academy, a full-fledged cop with arrest powers, and looks great. She has lost weight and gained a figure but she still has an attitude to be reckoned with. Most of the regular town people are still there with a few new characters wandering in and out. One is Riley Abbot and his dog Tulip. I’m using TWITTER, the social networking program, to introduce Riley and others as I flush them out. You can follow this on the Blog. Check the right side of the page for the latest Tweet.

It’s taken some time to get the feel of the new story but I think I have a handle on it now. It will be somewhat different from the first two books with less bloodshed and more character interaction. As in life, good people are asked to take on new rolls forcing others to step forward to fill the void. Small town politics evolve. History replays it’s ugly side as it can only in the South.

These are “Beginning” things and, as I find with every book, the characters may or may not agree and take off on their own path. I may just follow along this time and see what they have in mind. If nothing else, it keeps me on my toes.