Day After Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving was strange this year.  It was the first one since my mom died at the end of September.  I kept looking for her, kept waiting for her to call and find out what time I'd be bringing the family over.

I went to my brother's house and had a fine dinner.  We didn't talk about Mom but you could tell we were all staying away from the subject.  I'm 52.  Been through a lot.  I know everything's going to be okay, but it's just different.

We had crawling grandkids this year.  A two year old boy and an eight month old girl.  It was nice to watch them and not be in trouble for anything they did.  :)

Another weird thing happened too.  I found out my kids read my post on the ice cream thing and thought it was funny.  One of them even read it aloud to the others.  I would think twentysomethings would have better things to do.

At least they thought it was humorous and not time to stick Dad in the old folks home.  The first time I lose bladder control that'll probably change, though.

Three of the four kids that are living outside my house showed up at my brother's and it was nice to have them.  One of my goals in the next year or so is to build a bigger kitchen/dining area.  Our house is small.  It's paid for.  A bad thing and a good thing.  Everytime we all get together, we have meet at a restaurant so we can all sit and talk.  Sherry and I want a big room and a big table.  We both like to cook.

We're post-Thanksgiving now and Sherry and I have already been shopping for things to make.  I've got two cheesecakes in the oven as I write this, with pumpkin pies and Jell-O pies still to go.  Sherry is making pecan, chocolate, coconut cream, apple, and some other things.  She's also making ham spread.

It's hard to get together during the holidays.  Everybody has somewhere else they have to be.  So Sherry and I have developed a tradition of "grazing" during the weekend after the major holidays.  We fix a bunch of food and send it off with the kids as they stop by.  Bribery, I suppose.  But they come to use and we don't have to spend a lot of time on the road.

These years are strange.  Only have one child at home so the noise level is almost nothing.  At least the house smells like baking things and we'll have visitors throughout the day.

Rancho Diablo News

Read an interview about the series with author Bill Crider here.

I have to admit, folks, I'm pretty stoked about getting this series up and running.  For Bill, James, Keith, and I, it's all a labor of love.  Hoperfully there are other readers that grew up on the old West novels that we did and enjoy the smell of sagebrush and gunpowder.

James is hard at work even now on the second tale.



You can get an ebook copy here, and there's a print copy here.

Ice Cream? Seriously?

I'm working today, on a Saturday for those of you who read this late and would like to know what day of the week "today" is, and a familiar tune echoes up and down the street outside.  "Pop Goes the Weasel."  That's the music played by the local ice cream truck as it trundles slowly through the neighborhood.

Seriously.

There's nothing that rips the wind out of the sails of autumn like the sound of summer music echoing with obnoxious familiarity.  I checked the temp outside on my iPhone.  68 degrees.

Kids are out there buying ice cream the weekend before Thanksgiving?  I don't think so.  More than that, when my kid wants ice cream in the summer, he has to run the ice cream truck down.  This guy does NOT beat the bushes for business.

So what is it that makes this guy get up and wind through the streets on a fall day?  Gotta run out the gas in his tank so he can get a fresh fill?

I don't know.  But I'm writing today, which means I'm creative.  And by that I mean I can tickle my paranoia a little bit and come up with all kinds of scenarios for the local ice cream truck driver.

He's a spy (name your agency/government/clandestine purpose).

The truck got stolen by a gang of thieves and they're using it as a command post while they break into houses.

He's a child molester trolling the neighborhood.

He killed his wife/significant other and has the body chopped into pieces in the freezer compartment to throw out to the neighborhood dogs or in the creeks.

I'm not going to know what brought this guy out here unless I ask and I don't want to be the only adult chasing after the ice cream truck on a fall day.  That would make my neighbors start wondering about me and what I'm doing.

Young Justice: The Animated Series

I stay so far out of the loop sometimes it's just sad.  Just found out about this cartoon series debuting on November 26th on Cartoon Network.

Looks like it's gonna be a blast.

Green Lantern ComicCon Bit

This is NOT an official poster, but I found it and really liked it.

I also found this clip from this year's ComicCon that I thought was a lot of fun.  I'm really looking forward to this movie and Ryan Reynolds looks like he had a blast as Hal Jordan.

The Green Hornet Movie Trailer

Just found the trailer and wanted to share.  Don't know how I feel about the presentation, kinda silly for the Hornet, but I love the car!