If We Don’t Get Our Kids Back Outside, They Won”t Remember How to Get There

If you’re an adult past the age of thirty or so, then you have a broader concept of the passage of time and how it relates to the way we chose to entertain ourselves. For instance, when I was a teenager too young to drive, I would spend a portion of spring, my entire summer, and a portion of fall, fishing the rivers, streams, and canals within walking distance of my home.

There were always blue gills, catfish, and the occasional bass to be had, but my favorite and superior tasting was the chain pickerel. This little monster (which we referred to as a “pike”) had a nickname which pronounced him the wolf of the water. Besides hitting your bait like a ton of bricks, it had the most delicious white flesh of any fresh water fish I’ve eaten.

If I travel back to years previous to my fishing escapades, I could always be found outside playing in the freshly plowed and disked fields during the day, or chasing lightning bugs and playing hide-n-seek at night. As children, no matter what we did day or night, in the heat and humidity of a summer day, or a fresh blanket of snow in February, it was always centered around outdoor activities.

It seems that now and for some time, kids have chosen to move inside, forsaking the boundless freedom of nature for the small cubicles void of fresh air and sunshine, for the buttons, screens, and headsets needed to operate a new wave of entertainment, the video game.

What happened to the miniature earthen works and construction sites excavated by the powerful Tonka toys? What became of tree houses, forts, six guns, bows and arrows that merged with the imagination of young minds creating a plethora of unique games?

Never give up. Perhaps one day we’ll see little fellers dressed in cowboy garb keeping the prairies safe for everyone. Until then, drop your remote or game controller, step outside, and get some sun.

Talk about enough fodder for countless stories, I believe I’ve found the mother-load.

Have a great week . . .

Advertisements

Year After Year Some Foods Never Grow Old

The Autumnal Equinox, marking the first day of fall, landed on September 23 this year. In my autumn blog, I normally talk of all the beautiful colors in the changing leaves that grace us as the greenery of summer takes its first steps to becoming dormant during the winter months.

This year, I believe I’ll commiserate regarding the last of the summer vegetable bounty. I don’t plant a large garden as I did in years gone by. Canning and freezing vegetables for the winter was a part of my summertime ritual. Not to save money, for if anything, it was more expensive to buy the seeds or the starter plants, prepare the soil, drop the seeds, set the plants, fertilize and weed the garden plot til harvest.

After all the love and care you show your back yard babies, they begin to ripen at different rates for the next month or two.

This confirms why you spend this massive amount of time and money on green plants with multiple colors and sizes of fruits and vegetables hanging from the stalks or sitting on the ground.

The unbelievable taste of the vine-ripened tomato, whether eaten just after being picked or two thick slices lying majestically between two pieces of bread to form the perfect B.L.T. makes the work all worth it.

Or perhaps your thing is a fresh ear of sweet corn . . . Wait, no one can eat just one ear of freshly shucked corn . . . I’ll start that again. Or, perhaps your thing is fresh ears of sweet corn. Butter the ears generously, apply salt and pepper, then perform your finest typewriter imitation swooning as the butter runs down your chin.

I’ll finish with a couple friends of mine. The first being Watermelon and the second Cantaloupe. Imagine a piece of red ambrosia placed inside of your mouth, so sweet that it seems to form a syrup, satisfying beyond belief.

Then, do the same with a piece of orange lusciousness (occasionally green) unbelievably sweet and most certainly a nectar of the gods. Do you see it?

These days we’re a bit too busy to plant a large garden and bother with the winter preservation of our summertime favorites.

We still get our fingers dirty with a few of our favorites, mine being hot peppers and heirloom tomatoes. We have a few cherry tomatoes and jalapeños left on the vines; however, soon we’ll have to purchase all we eat from our local grocer. No worries, there are plenty of root vegetables and some above ground salads that will thrive for a time after the frost comes. So once again, take good care of yourself, and I’ll be in touch next week.      

Is Planned Obsolescence Growing Obsolete?

Most of the things we use today are planned to last a certain amount of time. To me one of the most irritating objects made with this “planned obsolescence” is the light bulb. We use them in every room of the house–our ovens, refrigerators, automobiles. I even have several in my writer’s room; not just several bulbs, but several different types.

Many of my novels take place in wild areas where electricity is not available to power a conventional light source. Due to this unfortunate situation I am forced to lean on natural luminescence of one type or another or utilized sunlight for my comings and goings.

In my day to day life, incandescent bulbs are becoming a thing of the past. Back in the days of their popularity I’ve seen them last several months or blow as soon as electricity touched the filament.

This brings about a question. Why are some light bulbs still burning after a 100 years as opposed to the bulbs of today making it a few months before going dark? I know that carbon was used for the filaments in bulbs of yesteryear, while today we have gone to tungsten.

It just rubs me the wrong way to build something that will purposely fail after a short time on the job.

We all have things that crawl under our collar and gnaw away. Just thought I would share one of mine with you. Have a great week . . . I’ll be in touch soon.   

Sometimes We All Need to Slow Down

Have you ever seen the Rocky Mountains? I was fortunate to work for a pharmaceutical company and traveled to the majority of the lower forty-eight states during trade shows. I enjoyed several trips to Denver where I viewed the snow covered peaks even if the time of year happened to be in the middle of summer. On one occasion, I drove to Colorado Springs and saw Pikes Peak, among others. I think back with fondness to a time when I was able to view these peaceful locations.

Now that I am an author, my genres focus mainly on Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Action Adventure. I often use social media during my daily writing, and when marketing, my use of social media increases tenfold.

I often think of those serene views of the Colorado Rockies while losing my connection to Facebook, Twitter and the like, to take a short respite from the fast pace world of the internet and the non-stop action in my novels themselves. We should take time from our busy lives, whether it is centered in a large metropolitan area or a single keyboard and desk in your home.

What Came First, The Flying Saucer or The Cup?

Having written Science Fiction for many years, I have found there is an overabundance of material to use in constructing stories.  This material shows itself everywhere from your ice cube trays to that odd looking insect you’ve only seen once in your backyard.

By the way, did you know that last Friday just happened to be Area 51 Day? You know, Area 51, the secret Air Force base that didn’t exist until 2013?

I understand they’re planning a, “Storm 51 Day.” Millions answered, but only around 1500 showed up for the internet hoax. Which is probably a good thing, for what do you get when a million people storm Area 51?

My best guess would be a million dead people.

Area 51 ranks right up there with Roswell, which is a city in New Mexico where two alien bodies were recovered and autopsied after a thunderstorm caused their space craft to crash in July 1947.

So you see, there is never a lack of visible material to use to build your stories or a number of anythings you can use to construct your own, yet outlandish, science fiction epic.

Oh, and never forget, the world is yours, from that super nova to that dripping pipe under your bathroom faucet!

I Guess Anything is Possible . . . But That’s a Big Maybe

If you follow my blog, then you know I enjoy writing and that much of that writing centers around Science Fiction, and Fantasy, with a big smattering of Action Adventure. The novels I write and the creatures I invent are most certainly make believe.

I’d like to deviate slightly from my previous statements and delve into subjects that some folks just can’t seem to release. If we stay within the realm of the living, as far as monsters go, we find ourselves embracing furry creatures with names such as Big Foot, Abominable Snowman, Sasquatch, and Yeti. I truly do not want to step on anyone’s toes, but it seems a new series hunting these creatures hits the airwaves each year, all ending the same way. They just miss seeing one of these allusive fur balls and feel sure they will spot or even capture one next year.

Then we have Nessie. The prehistoric creature that for decades has been rumored to inhabit Loch Ness (a fresh water loch located in the Scottish Highlands), but regardless of her size, has eluded positive identification or any real proof that she exists.

Let us not forget the Chupacabra, Skunk Ape, Jackalope and The Beast of Bladenboro, all valid contenders in this never ending sweepstakes of the unknown.

I think some folks just enjoy having these creatures around, be they fact or fancy, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If the truth be told, I don’t doubt that we could all find a little solace in some parts of the unbelievable. I can’t help but wonder what they will come up with next, but you can bet it will be unbelievable.

The Place I Can Always Call Home

After being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and finding I could no longer perform physical labor, writing (a gift from an adoring God) became my passion. As I began my first novel, Rising Tide, I found myself gravitating in my writing toward my faith as a Christian. I knew the manuscript would be written in the genre of Science Fiction with bits of fantasy dispersed throughout, but I would never have been able to anticipate a mixture of Christian fiction mingled within each book I penned. Rising Tide would years later become a series with three published books and a fourth in the works. Terminal Core is a standalone science fiction/action adventure novel that was published in 2016 and Dalon Con (the Essence of Time) is in the editing process.

I shy away from offensive language and sexual situations; however, when you’re killing demons and they are trying to return the favor, a healthy dose of violence is unavoidable.

Melding the many tools I have at my disposal into each novel not only allows me to work at something I love, but more importantly, gives me a way to serve God by spreading the good news of his son, Jesus. For those who would not normally read Christian literature, I find the message is better received when presented within a story, which makes this  ministry another way of service!