Which led to a deep gully that Bae found fascinating.
I scored a 6.5
I made my six mile hiking goal, whoooo!!!! Six and a half, in fact, because I stink at knowing when to turn back. Okay, so, I'm going to go collapse now.
The Firefighter List
I
turned in the list of Albion firefighters from throughout our 225 (or so) year
history … or at least, all the names I could find after a fairly exhaustive
search. They’re to go on a plaque that will be displayed at the fire station.
I
came up with 197 firefighters. I’m sure there are more, but it’s become a game
of diminishing returns—at the moment I just don’t have time to pour over
microfilms of 100 year old newspapers in the hopes of stumbling across one name
(although that does sound kind of fun. I’m strange). A wintertime project
maybe, depending on how my writing time goes. I hope there will be some light
bulb moments out there, and more people will send names in.
Meanwhile,
I also compiled AFD fire chiefs, and even managed to fill in some holes that
were in my original list, published in Smoky
Days and Sleepless Nights. Here’s what I have:
ALBION, INDIANA FIRE
CHIEFS
1887-1888 A.J.
Denlar
1888-1894 William
E. Worden
1895-1997 ?
1898 J.O.
Russell Jr.
1899-1903 ?
1904 Edward
A. Kunkle
1905-1912 ?
1913-1916 Charles
Callahan (resigned 5/1/16)
1916-1930 John
Gatwood (nomination approved 6/5/16)
1930-1934 ?
1935-1952 Harry
Campbell
1952-1954 Byron
K. Smith
1954-1959 Harry
Metz
1959-1963 Robert
Beckley
1963-1969 Al
Jacob
1970-1971 James
Applegate
1971-1973 Edward
Moorhouse
1974-1975 Terry
Campbell
1975-1981 James
Applegate
1982-1993 Larry
Huff
1994-1997 Bob
Beckley
1998-2001 Kevin
Libben
2002-2008 Gregg
Gorsuch
2009-2010 Brad
Rollins
2011-2012 Tim
Lock
2013-2015 Steve
Bushong
2015-2016 John
Urso
2016-present Brad
Rollins
A writer's life is but a dream
Here's what writers do with dreams:
The other night I had a dream that my home town was populated by the characters from "The Andy Griffith Show". Opie, the boy from the show, was a teenager, and was preparing to go to the prom; but his date was very sickly looking and had lost all her hair, and everyone was concerned that if she died, Opie's heart would be broken.
(We've been dealing a lot with cancer involving friends and family the last few years.)
On the drive to Emily's work the next day, I outlined the dream (I was in it, but mostly as an observer). It's not unheard of for me to use elements of dreams in my fiction, but I told her I didn't see any way I could turn this scenario into the kind of stories I write.
Then we started talking about it.
It's an hour long trip. I dropped her off, then started writing down the ideas ... By the time I was done, I had a sloppy thousand word synopsis and some short character sketches. There is now no sign whatsoever of the "Andy Griffith Show" characters--all I have is the prom scenario, a sickly girl, a sensitive, loner teenage nerd, and a small town. Just the same, I gave tribute to the original dream in my working title:
"Mayberry UFO."
A UFO does not actually appear in my story idea, but my mind works in strange ways. For now, I've added this to my list of 50 or so "to be written" stories.
Rice Dogs Finish Last
We’ve
been having problems with Bae getting into stuff on the kitchen counters when
we’re gone. (Where does an 85 pound dog go? Anywhere above about five feet.) That’s
why, for instance, the bread is now in an upper cupboard, and the cereal is on top of the cupboard. Our mutt loves wheat products, but he’s allergic to wheat. Kind of like how I love chocolate,
but I’m allergic to cholesterol.
Anything
on the counter has to be kept in sealed containers unless, of course, it’s
something dogs would never eat, like rice. Then, a few days ago, we got home to
find a bag of rice that looked like it had been attacked by a werewolf. It’s
flavored rice, but still—now that also had to go into a sealed container.
Yesterday
we arrived home to find Bae has learned how to open Tupperware.
The
results of him eating an entire container of uncooked rice should be punishment
enough … but by the time it gets to that, um, end, he’ll probably have no idea
why he’s having tummy troubles. I’m much more bothered by the fact that his
learning curve seems to be advancing faster than ours. By this time next week
he’ll wait until we leave, then walk to the store for donuts.
I
wonder if he knows where I keep my credit card?
Speak of the Devil: Feeling Jealous About That Little Hairball
Speak of the Devil: Feeling Jealous About That Little Hairball: I have a mix of images today. Enjoy!
Getting Back Off the Mark
Holy
cow, I just got notice of my deadline for the September addition of 4County
Mall! The paper doesn’t publish in July and August, so it’s easy to get out of
practice.
It’s been a big adjustment for me, going from writing a weekly column to a
monthly one, even without the summer break. Deadlines can be a good thing. I
wonder if I shouldn’t start writing humor again, say twice a month, on my own
regular deadline? Then I could either have a few columns saved back in case of
illness or other delay, or put the extra material into another Slightly Off the Mark book.
Or
I could just dedicate myself to writing another thousand words of fiction on a weekly
schedule. What would you do?
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