Going on an Adventure

On Thursday morning my family and I shall leave on an adventure, two hours north of where I sit currently to one of the most commercialized areas in Wisconsin. Yes, I speak of the Wisconsin Dells where the waterparks are everywhere and traffic comes to a standstill on the interstate due to so many people heading to or from, in the summer.

But it's winter, Roger.

Indeed it is. We are going to be just south of there at Cascade Mountain, now being one that grew up in Colorado the use of the word mountain here does not mean what I think the word mountain means, I lived in a higher elevation that this massive peak of 1,270 feet. We are going on a skiing adventure. Why adventure you ask? Well, for me, it will be the first time I have been skiing in roughly 20 years and at least 50 pounds so it may be an adventure that leads to another one in the ER.

They have hospitals in Wisconsin, right?

That's the Way it Goes

So today was the first day without the new boss, who lasted almost six months. Someone decided that he was more qualified than me, for various reasons. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed but life goes on so I resolved to do my best to support the new guy.

Then he quit.

Now what?

Back to the same old same old once again, I guess.

Not that he did that much, in fact, one of the guys he insisted on hiring just put in his two weeks last week.

Now what?

I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson

As many of you know there is a television show called Longmire on the air, at least it's on Netflix, and I am not sure whether they are still making new shows or not, anyway, this show is based on a series of books by Craig Johnson about a Wyoming Sheriff named, you guessed it, Longmire, well, his full name is Walt Longmire, who is a Vietnam vet that comes home and becomes the Sheriff of Absaroka County in Wyoming. Absaroka County in a mostly quite county where the Sheriff doesn't really have a lot of intense cases, shall we say. The story opens with Walt still recovering/mourning the death of his wife and just kind of making his way through life - imagine losing the person closest to you after several decades, you would probably be a bit numb for a while as well. Walt gets a call from a couple of characters in the county stating that they found a body, now Walt seeing that it is close to the end of the day and wanting to head home to his half-finished cabin (he and his wife were building it together) and some beer decides to hand the "case" off to his deputy figuring it to be all about a dead cow or something.

In the meantime, Mr. Johnson starts to weave in various members of the community that will help to give you a feel of the county and the Sheriff's standing in the place. The pace is a nice steady one that leads to a crescendo later in the book where the body turns out to be one of a young man who got a light sentence for the raping of a Native American, that body turns into two soon enough and now Longmire has two jobs on his hands, solve the murders - both done by similar methods, so the suspicion is there is one killer - and save the remaining young men that appear to be being hunted by the killer. Throughout the story, Mr. Johnson brings Walt Longmire back into the living and shows that he is indeed a well-trained and excellent police officer that does what he can to solve the crimes.

There are a few twists and turns throughout where Longmire slowly but steadily adds to and eliminates from his suspect list, which includes his best friend. Eventually, the culprit is caught and the crime solved which ends up leaving Longmire in a new funk and his friends once again resuscitating him back to life.

I give the book a solid four stars and do recommend reading it. Be forewarned that the television version does take certain liberties with the story, so it is a little different than the book. Contrary to what the producers in Hollywood think though, the book is better by far.

Why?

Because.

No really, the answer is because.

Sometimes that is all that the question deserves when it gets an answer.

Because.

Book Reviews?

I mean that is something that has never been done before, right? At least not the way I would do them, I am sure...

Hmmm.

I do read a lot.

Would I have to go back to the beginning of the year and review from then? Will anyone care? Will I even recall what I read. Words for thought.

These are definite words for thought.

I Need an Idea

I need an idea for what to write about. I know this sounds funny, especially since I fancy myself a writer but my brain is mush currently and I have exactly zero ideas about what to write about. I could just ramble on and on about various different things - I mean it's worked in the past and eventually I get somewhere. So...

Nothing.

Nada.

Boogers.

Patient Zero (Joe Ledger #1) by Jonathan Maberry (a review)

This was an entertaining read which kind of surprised me only because it has people that aren't quite full of life in it. I can see me reading more books in this series because I believe the characters have been built up enough in my mind that I wouldn't mind learning more about them as they move forward through life. There were a few odd holes in the story that I was curious about, mainly how the main protagonist evolves(?) from this really awesome bad guy, into one that lets his emotions (of all things) get the better of him. Oh well. I was entertained which is all I was really looking for anyway. 3 of 5 stars (I liked it)

It's Not Always Shiny

I recently found out that a family member of mine had passed. This was sort of a shock since he was still relatively young. He did have some health issues but seemed to have gotten over the hump and surely did not appear to be near death. The key here is, appears because it's sounding like he may have been suffering from depression that was not diagnosed perhaps and not treated properly. Alas, I did not know him well and every time I would meet up with him he did not appear to be suffering at all. Then again it's not like you can physically see depression, I should know as I too suffer from this mental ailment and fight a battle with it on a daily basis. Which is why it is so hard to write about and discuss. Let's just say that life isn't always shiny, especially for those living under the blanket of depression.

*Disclaimer, I am not saying that he committed suicide, just that we should be on the lookout for signs that might lead to that. If you know anyone that could use help, have them call.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Call 1-800-273-8255

This Time I Mean It, I Think

I wrote this on New Year's Day, fully intending on writing daily then. On a different blog, which to be quite honest I don't know why I started it. So, I will post all that I wrote on that blog and leave them here... I think there is one more, maybe two. Yeah, my big writing daily turned into a whole three days. Let's see if this will go better, maybe starting on the first of the month/week/year/century/whatever is not the way to go. Let's hit it starting on February 5!! The cry that will be heard throughout the lands. I actually just snorted after writing that. Apparently, my nostrils don't even have faith in me.

Onward, I say!! Onward!!


So, I am back to this writing daily thing, well that is the intention at least. I mean why not? I enjoy writing, I still have the ability to write and string together words into sentences that make relative sense, etcetera.

Why? Why not I say. I need something to fill that time where no one is paying attention to me which makes me sad. Not really, but it seemed like a good thing to get everyone to jump on this pity party or something. Really though, there is no pity party going on in my head, or life, for that matter.

"To life, to life, l'chaim"

Will you have anything important to share with the masses? Any insight on how the United States can pull itself out of its funk of annoyance? Is that really a thing? I mean I know that half of you hate Trump while the other half seem to love him. Personally, I could give two piles of feces about any politician and I am not afraid to tell any of them that to their face. I might even refrain from the clean version and use that big 'S' word.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, will I have anything important to say? I seriously doubt that anyone will take me seriously, I mean some of you might initially but once you get to know me, watch out! I am mainly planning on using this as an outlet for my creativity and for story writing. I figure I should get going on that so when I am finally discouraged with working for 'the man' and want to still be able to eat, I figure I could write and maybe even make a few bucks in the process. As of now, I will keep my day job.

My stories will range from very short flash type stories to long-form novels (really!) At least that is the plan. I am sure there will be some personal stuff in here, I may change the names to protect the innocent, or guilty for that matter. One thing for sure though, I will not be delving into politics as I find them to be a waste of time but I may write about the effects of said politics, which is not the same, I think.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I bring to you and please feel free to drop me a line.

Have a Happy and joyous New Year, let us party like it's 2019 baby!