July 15, 2016
12:29 p.m.


This morning I learned of the sudden death of a very dear friend of mine. I worked with this woman for several years, and she was an example to live up to when it came to work ethics. She was a professional in all aspects, and more than willing to pass on her knowledge and skills to those who really wanted to learn.

She was also a fiercely devoted mother who raised her children to be strong, independent and unique. I know she was very, very proud of them.

I visited with her last month while I was in Wyoming, and I'm so very glad that I went. It would be terrible, in retrospect, to have been that close and not have seen her.

I'm stunned. I can't believe it. She wasn't old; she took care of herself. She took care of everyone, honestly. She worked too hard, certainly. But...I still just can't believe it.

Annette Haney, you were a great friend, a great parent, a great person. You will be so missed. Fly high, my friend.

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2:00 p.m.

So, I'm sad. I guess it's as good a time as any to remind everyone that everytime you see someone you love, remember to say "I love you," when you part, because you might not get another chance. We are not promised tomorrow, so make the best of each day you're given. Make your plans, certainly. Save your money, map out your future, BUT--don't forget to make the best of today. JUST IN CASE. Let those you leave behind say you had a great time the day before you left them.

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I think I've gone as far as I'm going to go for now. I just want to sit here for awhile and remember my friend.

Make it a great day! And just so you know, I love you.

July 3, 2016
4:21 p.m.

Well, once again Independence Day is near, and I am freaking out because I really am not a fan of the celebration.

Look, I'm as patriotic as the next guy--maybe even more than the next guy. I'm grateful to live in this country.

I never turn my back on the chance to eat a good barbeque dinner and spend time with family and friends. I even enjoy a well-organized fireworks show every once in a blue moon. Pyrotechnics are impressive when done right.

Unfortunately, this is generally not the way I spend the holiday. I usually spend it cowering in fear that one of my less-than-sensible neighbors is going to set fire to my house with their illegal fireworks. I also spend it worrying about any of my loved ones who might have to be traveling, because along with the barbeque, a lot of these celebrants are going to imbibe a lot of alcohol and then drive.

So...not a fan of the 4th of July.

Please do me a favor, everyone. If you're in an area that doesn't permit fireworks, follow the rules and be safe!

If you are allowed fireworks in your area, please use them safely. Be careful.

Take care of your pets. More pets are lost on July 4th than any other day of the year.

Don't drink and drive!!

None of what I have said here requires more from you than just using common sense. I know it's in you. Don't make me beg.
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 Ha ha. It just rained enough to make me go turn off the water. Guess I'll go turn it back on. That turned out to be a big ole tease!!
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Anyway, I know I sound like a big old grouchy grump who hates holidays, but I just want everyone to be safe. So fire up the grill and toss those salads, eat to your heart's content and visit with your loved ones. View a professional fireworks display--or stay inside and watch a good movie. Just have a safe and Happy 4th of July!!

How I came to write S23HF50.

June 30, 2016
11:45 p.m.

I wrote this little book last year, because I was challenged to do something science fiction-like. But, me being me, it really is about a woman who loves her family.

You see, I like a challenge as much as the next person. But as soon as I was asked to think of science fiction, I thought of abduction. And once that crossed my mind, I found myself in a "what if?" state of mind.

What if some strange set of circumstances took me far away from my family? What if there was no way to escape, and no way to communicate with them? How would I react? How long would I last before I went crazy or killed myself?

This brought to mind a lot of other scenarios, but I was grateful to have been presented with a science fiction challenge for this story. It was safer to explore this as an alien abduction, you know? The other course would be to examine an abduction by a human, and God knows that couldn't turn out well.

So I jumped into Beth Ann's shoes and explored the possibilties. Then I jumped into the aliens' shoes to try and figure out why...

I had some fun writing this, I'll admit it.

The book is available now at this site:https://www.createspace.com/6368727 It will soon be available as a paperback on Amazon. I hope you'll give it a try.

Of course, now comes the hard part: convincing you lovely people that it's worth giving a chance. And I'm not great at the self promotion thing. So I'm just hoping for the best, because once it was done, it was probably going to sit in my computer's document files forever if not for my son encouraging me to try this.

Come what may, thanks son!
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July 1, 2016
12:18 a.m.

Oh my gosh, it's July! Where has the time gone? Year's half over already!

It's raining out, and it smells really good out there. I know my roof is suffering, but I can't seem to care about that right now. I just want my lawn to get a good soaking, because it has gotten really dry really quickly.

Over the next few days I will be working on keeping my lawn wet, because apparently I live in the same neighbor as a few idiotic people who think lighting fireworks in city limits is a good idea.

There are rules, regulations--heck laws--in effect here that say they can't do it, but it's the same thing every year, and I live in dread that some damned fool is going to set my house on fire.

Yeah, it's a house with problems, but it's mine, and speaking as someone who has already had a home burn down, I do not want a fire!

No offense to the good old USA, but I am not fond of the 4th of July.

Rain all you want out there--I've got buckets!

Plus, my rose bush is really big this year! Hurray, rain!
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I'm going to watch some Walking Dead and then go to bed. You'd think it would give me nightmares, but I'm tough, man!

Good night!

June 24, 2016
1:26 p,m,

I'm really sick of politics. I feel that our choices this time around are not choices at all. Choosing the lesser of two evils is not really choosing at all.

We're doomed. Doomed, I say!

Look, by its very nature, the politician is an untrustworthy, greedy, self-serving monster. Some are more monstrous than others, certainly. Many of them are quite charming. So is Satan.

Do I feel like we're dealing with devils here? Yes. Yes, I do.

Look, I have told you time and again that I'm not political. It's true. I don't care for the campaigns, the false promises, the rhetoric. I believe nothing. The entire enterprise is a study in failure, because these people with their "beliefs" and their "principles" do nothing but in-fight and back-stab. In the past eight years, little has been accomplished because the parties refuse to work together. It's a battle to prove one party "wrong".

I don't care which party you favor. Democrat or Republican, they are all guilty of dragging their feet, talking to much and doing too little. They make far more money than anyone ever should be paid for sitting on their butts and chewing their cuds.

Look at it this way: if you or I were employed to do a job, whether it be mopping floors or brain surgery, and instead we took vacation time or argued with our co-workers, or spent hours trying to decide which corner of the room to start mopping or where the light above the operating table should go, we would be fired.

Supposedly, these people work for us: we the people. Why are they not subject to the same terms of employment--i,e, DO YOUR JOB--that we are?Why are they entitled to a paycheck for life once they finally do leave their positions?  Why are they not entitled only to regular retirement funds and Social Security, as we are? Why are they still employed?

Maybe I'm being mean. I can be, sometimes. It just frustrates me to know that you and I would be fired if we were as ineffectual at our jobs as most of these people are proving to be.

I'm certain that there must be some good people among them. I mean, there must be, right? But they have also all been swayed by that big, big paycheck, and those unlimited terms, and that wonderful retirement plan.

It's all about what they're getting, and not about what they're getting done.

It's wrong. There are a lot of things that need fixing in this country, and none of them are being taken care of because our elected officials are too worried about things that should take a back seat to working together. 

Yeah, I know they all went into politics because they wanted to change things for the better. At least, that's what they said. That's why we elected them, because we believed them when they said it.

But they are not doing their jobs. They don't play well together. They cash their paychecks and take vacations and accomplish nothing.

And we the people  let them get away with it.

Because we're sheep. We follow the herd, and turn in the directions the dogs lead us. We've been conditioned over the years to believe that they know better.

Clearly, they don't.

We've been conditioned to believe that they will keep us safe, that they will do whatever possible to make sure that we won't come to harm.

Clearly, they won't.

Our sheepdogs are more likely to turn on each other, biting and clawing, while ignoring the herd, In the meantime, the shepherd spends more and more time trying to get the dogs under control, while the sheep run off a cliff.

And along comes the big bag wolf, undeterred by either dogs or shepherd, and eats mutton to his heart's content.

Lets face it: a shepherd is only as good as his sheepdogs allow him to be. The herd is only safe when the shepherd has control of the dogs. Fighting dogs are removed.

I'm not saying that our Senate and House of Representatives need to be "put down", as a bad sheep dog most likely would be. I'm saying it's time to remove them. It's time they lost the jobs they are failing at.

Just like any one of us would be removed from ours if we were doing it so badly.

Look, I'm just exercising  my right to rant. I don't expect much out of my rants. I'm just one person, with a very limited reach.

But I trust that there are others out there who are as scared as I am.

So what can we do? Someone tell me something besides "Go vote", because clearly, that's not the answer. Unless we can go vote to hold a nationwide "probationary period" during which our elected officials have to prove that they can work together and accomplish a set number of goals within a set period of time. Those who can't perform--out they go!

What do you think?

End rant.

Peace!

June 21, 2016
10:51 p.m.

I have had an eventful week. For me, this is unusual. Generally speaking, I'm a stay-at-home kind of gal. Even when I spent a month in Wyoming with my parents, I was staying home most of the time.

Not this past week, though. Busy, busy.

On Wednesday, I went to a long awaited appointment for a gastric emptying study. This test was ordered because my doctor suspected I have a condition called Gastroparasis.

It's pretty interesting, actually. I went in at about 7:30 in the morning and checked in. I was taken to the Nuclear Medicine department in Radiology, and given a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. The eggs were special: radioactive.

The radioactive markers in the eggs make it possible to track how quickly or slowly food leaves the stomach and enters the digestive tract. The took pictures right after I ate, then at hours one, two and four.

I spoke to the doctor's office today and was told that the results were in "normal limits". I'm not sure of that completely rules out Gastroparisis or not, and what the doctor will want to do next, if anything.

All I know for sure is, I haven't felt well in over a year, I do much better when I don't eat much at all, and if I do eat particular foods, I am in pain. So, whatever.

I'm fine with continuing to eat small, bland and mushy meals. I hope the doctor just tells me to do that. I'm pretty tired of going to appointments.
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Also on Wednesday, my son and daughter-in-law went and picked up the grandchildren and brought them home. On Thursday we had a day of preparation, went shopping for lunch makings and planned our trip to Denver Comic-Con.

Very early on Friday morning, the kids and I took the bus to downtown Denver and picked up their badges for Comic-Con. Then we walked around the Colorado Convention Center to join the line and wait for the doors to open. since we did arrive so early, we were near the front of the line.

I decided to Cosplay this year, and went as Annie Wilkes from Misery. Sadly, no one recognized the character. But I thought it looked pretty good!

We met some interesting characters while waiting for the doors to open.

The doors opened about fifteen to twenty minutes late, but most of those waiting were good-natured about the delay. Since we'd arrived to pick up the kids' badges well before 8:00 a.m., I was pretty impressed with how patient the kids were.

Once inside, we got to check out a lot of cool cosplayers.

We got to indulge our Star Wars fantasies.

We went to panels and met some stars. Andrea Libman, David Acord, Todd Haberkorn, Vic Mignogna:

Todd Haberkorn with my granddaughter:

John De Lancie with my grandson:

These people were incredibly nice to my grandchildren and me, and it made us so happy to meet them. 

No matter how prompt you are, conventions are all about lines. It's hard to wait, but almost always worth it. 

On Saturday, we went straight to the line to wait to meet Cary Elwes. That, my friends, was an incredibly long line. We waited over two hours to meet with him. TOTALLY WORTH IT!! 

I regret that I was not rich enough to purchace autograph plus photograph, and since I purchased his book, As You Wish  over a year ago, I got the autograph and call it good. Cary Elwes is a very, very nice man who treated my grandchildren with affection and respect, and they were delighted with him. So was I. 

We then went to a screening of Episode 6 of "Star Trek Continues", a web series starring Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn. I hadn't seen it before, but I plan to check out the series on YouTube this week. The episode we viewed was really good!

Next, we lined up yet again for the Cary Elwes panel. It was full of fans and we enjoyed it very much.

It's hard to get a good picture when you're so far away! Thank goodness for the big screens!!

After we left and bussed our way home we joined my daughter, son-in-law and his mother for a barbeque dinner and the kids went home with their parents so they could spend Father's Day with their Dad.

I think they've been left with some really good memories!

Sunday was the final day of Denver Comic-Con, and on this day I attended alone. I went to the Star Trek 50th Anniversary panel:

I went to the Jeffrey Dean Morgan panel:

Then I attended some writers' workshops that the kids would probably not appreciated had they been with me. I always enjoy things like that, so I'm glad I got to see a couple of them. 

By Sunday night, when I got home, I was super-pooped. My knee hated my guts. And speaking of guts, my guts hated my guts, too, because I had the nerve to eat a hamburger for lunch. I walked over to the 16th Street mall and went to Red Robin--Yum! Took me most of the day to eat my lunch, and it was delicious. Belly-ache--yeah. But yummy! 

Come Monday, I was ready to rest my bones and so I spent the day trying to figure out Windows 10. There are so many things I love about it, but for some reason, the resolution choices are not working out on my computer screen, and so for the moment I have switched back to Windows 7. I'll probably make the change to 10 in the future, though. I really love the photo editing program. I'm missing it already. 

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Well, it is time for me to catch up on "Game of Thrones". I have somehow managed to avoic all the many, many spoilers out there, but it's not likely that I can continue to do so. There are just too many!

Good-night!

June 13, 2016
10:00 p.m.

I'm sitting here in a velour shirt and double socks in the middle of June. It rained off and on all day, and we saw only intermittent signs of the sun. Ugh. I don't want to be cold in the summertime!

Actually, I doubt it's really cold. It's just me, certainly.

Still don't like it. Blah!
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I returned to Colorado from Wyoming on Friday, June 11th. I got to do a road trip with my brother and my Dad! It was awesome.

I have lived here for nearly seventeen years, and this is the first time they have seen my home. Too bad it was because my brother was checking out my leaky roof! The good news is, he actually thinks it won't be as complicated to fix as I thought it would be. Yay!
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It was really hard to leave Wyoming this time. If I didn't have so many medical issues to work on, I would probably still be there! I miss my family already, especially my parents. It always feels so good to be home with them.

In the meantime, I do have an appointment scheduled this week for yet another medical test. I'm hoping this will be the last one needed to make a definitive diagnosis. Then I can learn what I need to do to live with this.

Next on the list: dental and vision appointments.

Gotta take care of the main home I live in, the saggy, baggy old body my essence resides in.

You know, our bodies are amazing things. The more I study, the more I appreciate how lucky the majority of us are. With the many, many things that can go wrong with us--before birth and every day afterward until the end--it's miraculous how many, many, many things go absolutely right!

Every test I've had, every disease process that has been ruled out, reminds me that I am really very lucky. There are a lot of things that could be going on that are worse than what the doctor thinks my problem is.

I'll remind myself of that every time I think I can't stand it if I never get to eat another pickle.
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A couple of years ago, I quit watching "The Walking Dead". Everyone has assured me that it redeemed itself after the Governor fiasco that drove me away, so I have decided to give it another try. Naturally, I had to start all over again.

I love Netflix.
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I spent a good deal of my time at my parent's house going through old pictures. The memories! It's amazing. It makes me want to go through more of the geneology records they have, and research more on my own.

Family members have checked their DNA, and I would be curious to have my own done, but there's a part of me that is suspicious of the motives of the companies offering the service. Am I crazy?

I guess that's my question of the day: Would you consider having your DNA tested, or would you be worried about what else might be done with your sample? Give me a shout out and let me know what you think.
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Last thought for the day: I wrote a little novella. Won't you check it out?

http://a.co/2e8qF87

Thanks!

And for now, Good night!

June 13, 2016
12:56 p.m.

Well, I did it. I took a leap and decided to self-publish one of my stories. I was challenged to try science fiction, and this is what I came up with:

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01GZLOFLM&asin=B01GZLOFLM&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_X2Vxxb2N8QQ64

I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing. Hope you'll give it a try. This link will lead to a sample, and if you like what you see, I hope you'll order.

Please, please let me know what you think. I could use the feedback!

Thank you!!