The Moon At The End Of The Road...

The text message came in yesterday afternoon. It was a simple request, can you attend our early-morning meeting before church tomorrow?

Even though I was in the middle of an eight-hour work day at my Halloween gig and that I would be getting hime around 11pm, I agreed to go. It was only an hour-long meeting and I could get some sleep this weekend--it's a long weekend for me. But, it was tough getting up after that alarm went off this morning.

I got dressed and found my way to the car. It wasn't until I turned onto State Street that I saw it, a huge full moon hovering over the island. I knew I had to get a picture of it.

I knew something else as well. I knew the picture wouldn't even come close to the amazing sight I was privileged enough to see. If I had my Nikon and a tripod to set up the shot, maybe. With my little phone--no way. I took the pictures anyway, not necessarily to try and show you, my loyal blog readers, the beauty of the morning view, but as a reminder to me that sometimes agreeing to attend an early-morning church meeting can pay dividends other than helping someone out.

It can mean taking a turn and seeing an autumn moon descend into the a western morning sky.

If You Give People A Chance...They'll Create Something Amazing

My wife and I watched an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel last night. The show blows me away. It’s also addicting. And it’s only one of several fantastic shows available to watch right now. The future of television looks brighter and brighter everyday.

Just think—we could have had shows like this thirty years ago.

Too bad, we didn’t.

Was it because there weren’t writers good enough to create content? I doubt it. Give writers an opportunity for greatness and they'll usually answer the call. All they needed was a chance, and the internet gave us that chance.

In the past, there were literally only a few channels. You either remember having  a half a dozen channels, or you remember your parents (or grandparents...) telling you about living under such archaic conditions. Then cable television was born and with it opportunities. Too bad we only utilized a portion of its potential. 

Once people were given the chance to create content with fewer restrictions, the flood gates were opened and the result is what we're able to watch today. It would be a shame if those restrictions returned and people were unable to bring to life amazing shows. Hopefully, that won't happen.

I Was Told It Would Happen...But It's Still Surprising

In September we were warned the cold weather was coming. Why wouldn't it? It comes every year. Each time I passed my little garden, I looked at my tomato plants and thought about all the food that would go to waste.

There were many green tomatoes that I knew would never ripen in time.

Then I heard that you can pick the tomatoes and they will ripen on their own.

Because I'd never personally done it or seen it, I wasn't quite sure it was true.

Turns out, it is...at least, so far.

This month, we pulled up the plants and laid out all the green tomatoes on our counter. For the first week or so, I saw no change. Then, the hues began to change. I wish I could set up a time lapse camera and film the transformation as green changes to orange then to red.  So far, three are turning--one was pretty much ripe when we brought it in--and the rest are still green.

I'm sure if I did an on-line search about how best to preserve tomatoes, there would be a lot of suggestions. Maybe I should freeze them. Maybe I should have not kept the stems or cut the stems longer. I don't know, but I do know that when I hear tomatoes will ripen after picking them, I'll definitely believe it.

A Little History Book...

This past year I've been working in our basement. I mostly stay at my desk, which is my assignment, but at times I find myself looking around the room. The other day I spotted a red binder. I'd most likely checked out the binder before, but this time I took particular note.

It's an old book.

It's from the 1960s.

And it has information about our town, our church, and my dad.

There is information out there about our town--not a lot, but some. The same can be said for our church in our town. In fact, our little community is somewhat famous in our church because a worldwide church program began in our little town August 25, 1878, and is still going strong today.

But there's not a lot of information out there about my dad, so when I find something--even something small--for me, it's special.

The binder is a collection of notes, meetings, and other information from the Farmington Utah 1st Ward circa 1968 through the early 1970s. For a person living in this town since the early 1970s, many of the names were familiar. It was a notebook for the men's organization so I read about dads of some of my childhood friends. It also details how things have changed as far as the administrative functions of the church back then. For example, they raised money from the men to buy things the church needed. Fast forward five decades and things are done so differently today.

I dare say if this book were picked up by a casual observer, they might just toss it in the garbage. After all, almost all the men mentioned on the pages have died (including my father...). But, for others, the information means more.

And I'm one of them.

The Simpson's "Treehouse Of Horror"...Haven't Watched It In Years

One thing about living when we do is the almost limitless access to media...whenever we want...whatever we want. It wasn't like that back in 1989 when a little animated show called The Simpsons hit the airways. 

And the highlight of the Simpsons's year was their Halloween special, The Treehouse of Horror episodes. They were classics--some of the best Simpsons episodes ever.

Then, we stopped watching regularly. Then, we stopped watching the show altogether, which included the treehouse shows. 

Tonight, since St. Louis was up 13 - 1, I did a little channel surfing, and I came across one of the shows, one of the ones, so I checked it out. It was episode XV, episode 15...

And it aired fifteen years ago.

In eleven days, The Treehouse of Horror, episode XXX/thirty/30 will air. And, since we're not used to watching the shows anymore, I'm not sure if I'll watch it. It'll be one of the shows that one day, whenever I want, I'll be able to access and watch.

That is, if I want to.

Microsoft Word...No Mas

I knew it was coming...I just didn't know it would be today. I really can't be too upset. After all, I used my copy of Microsoft Word for almost a decade and I didn't pay them a single penny. 

Time to pay the piper.

Last night I got the notification that a new MacBook operating system was available, MacOS Catalina, version 10.15. Usually I love updates. It means improvements, for the most part. Sure, there's some hick-ups you've got to deal with, but in most cases, the improvements outweigh the hassle. 

This time, however, I was given a warning--by upgrading my OS, my copy of Microsoft Word will not work. Like I said, I knew it was coming. I wondered if it would really happen.

Turns out, it did.

Once I was up and running Catalina, a big circle with a line through it was placed directly over my Word icon. I clicked it anyway and was told I needed to upgrade. So I did. Once I had the new version of Microsoft Word on my computer, in order to use it I had to pay, $65/year. 

Time to pay the piper.

I can in no way fault Microsoft. Let's face it--I got so much use out of the copy I bought in 2010. And I like Word. Many of my fellow authors do not like it as much as I do. To each his own. It's worked for me. I used Word to write my novel, all my published short stories, all my grad school writing assignments, even the first draft of my screenplay. It's been a good program for me.

For now, I'm going to check out some other options. Mac has Pages. I have yet to put it through its paces. Who knows? One day I may pony up the cash and get Microsoft Work and use it again. Time till tell. 

Closing Time...Chapter 7...Conclusion

This is a continuation of a story began October 1, 2019. Find the first of the story on the right side of the page to read the story from the beginning.

Chapter 7 Conclusion

Bret opened the door.

Amber didn't know what surprised her more, that Bret was not only alive, but well enough to drive his car to the police station, or that Todd--who only moments before was a black mist--flew into the police station. How could any of this even be happening?

Bret limped over to where Amber still lay on the ground.

"Are you okay?" he said as he bent down to help her up. Amber saw him grimace in pain.

"I am," she said. "Don't know if I can say the same thing about you."

"I'm okay," Bret said as Amber rose, her doing most of the lifting.

After standing on both feet, she said, "And what kind of a stunt was that? Gunning your green Land Rover directly at me?" A smile hoped she conveyed the right tone. In no way did she want to chid him after he saved her life.

"Oh, an athlete like you?" Bret smiled back. "I knew you'd get out of the way in time."

On an impulse, Amber hugged the man a good foot taller than herself. She heard a soft grown as Bret hugged her back. 

"I'm so sorry," Amber said breaking the hug after realizing he was still in pain. She looked up and realized it was his turn to blush.

"Come on--let's get out of here. I have no idea if we did anything at all to that guy."

As quickly as possible the pair jumped in Bret's running car. He put it in reverse and it rolled backwards. The headlights illuminated the smashed front of the police office. Both Amber and Bret instinctively looked at the building.

Todd appeared in the light.

"Bret?" Amber said, her voice unsteady.

"I see him." Bret stopped the car and waited to see what Todd did.

They didn't have to wait long.

In an instant Todd sprang high into the air and flew directly at the car. Amber screamed. Bret threw open the door and jumped out. He quickly opened the back door and drew out a baseball bat. Amber screamed again as Todd began his descent. As he fell, Bret slammed the bat on the pavement--Amber heard a crack. He then drew back the bat, waiting.

From inside the car, Amber watched as a look of pure rage on Todd's face changed to paralyzing fear. He headed straight for Bret who wound the bat back as if he were about to hit a game-winning home run to end the world series.

Amber buried her head in her hands--she couldn't bear to see what happened.

She didn't see it, but she definitely heard the sound of the bat connect with Todd. She screamed again.

Then, nothing...silence.

The next sound she heard was Bret opening the driver's side door. Amber finally looked up.

"Is it over?"

"Yeah, it's over."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. That guy's not going to threaten you again. He's not going to do anything ever again."

Bret backed up the car then drove out of the parking lot. Amber couldn't bring herself to look back. The two rode in silence. After a moment, curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "You said back there, you were sure it was over. How do you know? I mean, the guy could change into a black cloud."

"Well," Bret said as he drove through the empty streets. "As I drove over here from the gym, I kept thinking about what in the world this guy could be. I knew he wasn't human, that's for sure. I thought maybe he was a vampire. So, when he was flying toward me, I knew I needed to find a wooden stake. I grabbed the bat and  tried to make it as sharp as possible by hitting the ground. Luckily, the bat split right down the center, giving it a nice blade..."

"No, you didn't?" Amber said, shocked.

"Sure did--the bat cut right into his heart. I'm glad you weren't watching. It wasn't pretty."

Amber wondered where they were going. It was soon evident as Bret pulled into the hospital parking lot as the first orange hues of morning rose in the eastern sky. They probably both needed to be checked out.

Amber hurried and helped Bret out of the car and into the E.R. waiting room. As they approached the desk, Amber said, "Wait--I thought you said you played football."

"I didn't get a chance to tell you, I was high school All-American in baseball, too."