Common Sense is Like Deodorant - Anonymous

 

Jumper Cable at the Bar

 

Power and Publicity - Henry Brooks Adams

Lend Me Not

9^th June 2015

Dear Cassi,

I think I’ve told you of the fellow Turtle Nose called Mr. Potato Head, and now that I think of it it’s just easier to call this fellow Spud. In middle school Spud had been my longest standing friend. I’d known him at least from second grade on making it then six years by the end of middle school.

I had known a few folks longer but had little relation with them. It did take me a few years to remember this fellow’s name, but then I had little ability to remember names and faces back then. My life was a burning blur of pain with little substance.

Now Spud was an irresponsible fellow who was always borrowing money. Then one day I told him no. It had been little more than a dollar a day, or something there about, but when it came clear that he would just never pay me back I was done lending. He was furious.

He insulted me, he heckled me, he complained to his friends. It made no difference to me as I was sick of him owing and never paying. We figured some time that by my freshman year in high school the fellow owed me about two thousand dollars. He never paid and frankly never stopped asking for something.

I think he was the first of the dead beats I had to remove from my life. I haven’t spoken to this fellow in fifteen years. Well, good riddance.

Take out the trash, little sister,

        

Richard Leland Neal

Karma

 

Interview Kidding

 

The Old Tree House

3^rd June 2015

Dear Cassi,

There was some other feature of my home that I have long forgotten and so forgotten to mention. When I was young I had a tree house. Rather I had a wood shack suspended above a fig tree on stilts. It over looked the pool that blew up but after the pool died shortly went the tree house.

We used to dive out of that tree house into the pool but with the pool gone and the children ageing, what use was the old bit of poorly cared for wood? The thing was in poor repair and I have no doubt that it would have become dangerous had it stood much longer.

That that is my young life personified in that old wood hut with a two part door up on stilts. It was splintered and broken, falling apart and unsafe, and went so long unloved. That’s my life and now I too and broken. The only thing is that I have to put myself back together.

Keep it together, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

It Takes Two - Mae West

 

Faking Out the Parents - Ferris Bueller

 

Chairs

3^rd December 2013

Dear Cassi,

       

I made a point today to make my work a better place to be and so answered an ad on Craig’s List for some folks giving away chairs. They looked to be some soiled office chairs with worn down arms but nice to sit in. I learned that they were being moved out because the company was changing offices.

As I worked to get the chairs into my car I learned that the office they had been used in had done work on films like ‘The Matrix’ and a 3D model of a sentinel had been sitting on a chair before I moved the artifact.

It’s funny how things move about in this world but at least now I have a chair that supports my back at work. The chair they gave me was just too small for a man of my size and for some time the thing was broken.

Things are just a little better for me now and to share the wealth I took two other chairs to my work. People are happy, life is good.

Stay safe, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Symbol or Energy - Henry Brooks Adams

Command Himself - English Proverb

Book Review: 'Dry Water' by Eric S. Nylund

What can be said about Eric S. Nylund's novel 'Dry Water'? It's inspiring. I loved this book and have read it at least three times. Each time I see more and get sucked into the deep rich world of the book.

This is the story of Larry a writer who can see the future. He's on his way to a small town to finish his next novel but what he finds their transcends the world of time and space. 

This book is the door to a wold of witches, spirits, and magic but told in a way that will make a Sci Fi geek want to keep reading. 

I know because I'm a Sci Fi geek and I would normally never pick up a book like this, but I'm glad I picked up this one.

You can see that Nylund as something of a Dungeons and Dragons background with the number of magics from different parts of the world mixed together and how the characters evolve. The magic is very well done and understandable. 

Who should read this book: People who like to read.

Total Books Read: 14 of 5000

Pages 311

Total Pages Read for 'The 5,000 Project': 2770

Wounded Dog

10^th November 2013

Dear Cassi,

       

Pork Chop’s wound is a bloody mess. I woke to find that he had bled all over the garage and left stains on the concrete in the side run. I made a pressure bandage for him but he rustled it off so I went to the store and got things for another. This held, but I could see the blood coming through the gauze pads I had used.

       

My first try at this involved confectioner’s sugar, paper towels, and a pressure band I use for my back. The powder would dry minor bleeding and the sugar would stop infection, but there was just too much blood. The end result of this looked much worse than it was as a glob of the sugar was soaked with blood hanging from the dogs face. It looked like a chunk of skin.

       

At the vet they told me to put pressure on the wound if it bled more and so I have to no result. After fifteen hundred dollars this should have been a clean deal but no. My dog’s blood has stained the walls of my home. I have done all I can to stop the bleeding. 

       

My end result was a bandage that looked like it would hold rather well, but there was just so much bleeding. I’m spend and in hard need for sleep now, Cassi, but I know I need to take the dog to the vet shortly.

No fear, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal