Randy Dyess's Blog, page 2

Status Report: 8/14/2016

Another slow week this week due to the heat and my allergies. I spent two days in bed and Saturday was a bust as well. Managed to do a few things, but am starting to get seriously behind in my writing schedule for First Contact. I hope I can make my editing date.

Completed This Week:

Battle At Pirate’s Bay:

At editors

First Contact:

Final outlines for chapters 12, 13, 14, and 15
Chapter 3 and 4 rough draft finished this week
Rewrites on chapter 2,3,4,5, and 11 finished this week

On The Run:

Scene outline for chapters (6,7,8,9, and 10)
Paragraph outline for chapters 1,2,3,4, and 5)

Status Report: 8/7/2016

Another slow week this week. Hot, hot, and more hot. My allergies are still going wild and it is all I have to just be able to do my day job – not much left in the tank each night for my writing. I did pass a major milestone this week when I finished up the 1st rewrite of the 24,000-word prequel I will be giving away for free when someone signs up for my newsletter. The novella will also be published as a print book and eBook on Amazon (Createspace) and be available for sale for $.99 if you would read it without having to sing up form me newsletter.

Completed This Week:

Battle At Pirate’s Bay:

Rough draft completed for all chapters.
1st rewrite completed for all chapters.
Battle At Pirate’s Bay sent to editor.

First Contact:

Rough draft completed for chapter 4

On The Run:

Scene outline for all chapters (1-5)

Status Report: 7/31/2016

Not a great week this week. The weather and my allergies were horrible. I’ve had this bad headache all week long which prevented me from being able to concentrate on my writing. I did manage to complete a few things and find and schedule an editor for my series.

Not a completely wasted week, but close.

Completed This Week:

Battle At Pirate’s Bay:

Rough draft completed for all chapters.
1st rewrite completed for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6

Status Report: 7/24/2016

One of the purposes of this web site is too keep everyone up-to-date on the status of my works-in-progress. I want to use these status reports as a motivator to keep me writing during those times when I have come home tired and exhausted from a long day at work. Hopefully, I will remember to keep posting each week what I have done over the week and some of you will let me know when I seem to be “goofing off” and not making progress.

This week, I have two spider wars works in progress and a third just starting.

Completed This Week:

Battle At Pirate’s Bay:

Final outlines are complete for all 7 chapters
Rough draft completed for chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6

First Contact:

Final outline (Chapters 1 – 11)
Rough draft (Chapter 1 and 10)

On The Run:

Chapter outline for all 16 chapters

 

 

Battle At Pirate’s Bay

I know you can see it on the newsletter signup form, but I wanted to show you the cover for the free prequel to the Spider Wars series. This novella will be seven chapters and approximately 24,000 words long. It is still in progress, so I don’t have the actual word count right now.

In the distant future, humans have colonized hundreds of planets and thousands of moons and asteroids. Humans travel between planets in large numbers. Advances have been made in all aspects of human achievement. As with the present, the future with all its advancements is not exactly a Utopia. Powerful politicians and the extremely rich enjoy benefits on the planets closest to Earth that trillions of people on the outer planets only dream about. Large corporations have replaced nations and control planets and billions of workers. Workers live and work on the same planet and for the same corporations as generations of their ancestors. Generations have lived with no hope of ever having any life other than one of “just getting by”.

Humans are all alone in the stars and haven’t fought a war in hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean everyone gets along. Pirates raid cargo ships in all of the outer-rim sectors and one pirate has risen above all of the others and has named himself King Florres. Join our young captain, Dakota Sullivan, and the rest of her family as they team up with a large corporation’s security team to rid their systems of this dreaded pirate king and make the lives just a little easier for everyone in the Taurus and Pegasus sectors. Find out how the spider war’s heroes meet for the first time as they come together for the Battle At Pirate’s Bay.

I’m back from my trip to Mars

Not really. I’m back after a little time off from my writing projects. Right after my last series of posts, I started getting sick. Normal problem with me. Have a few months feeling good and then pow – sick for 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or even more. This off/on battle with illness has been a part of my life for 2 decades. Well, 6 weeks ago I finally found something that looks to have changed that. Let me tell you my story and my happy ending so far:

All journeys start off with a beginning. Well in my case, several beginnings. A little over twenty years ago I was working as a sheriff’s deputy and had gotten into shape so I could do my job better. I worked out every day, watched what I ate most days, took supplements, etc. All the usual stuff young people do.

While working, I became ill. At first, no worries. I thought it was something that would go away. Over time, I became worse. Constant fever, fatigue, and just feeling like crap all the time. One day, I was trying out to job another police department and during the physical testing, I basically collapsed. Fever was well over 103 at that point. Judy, dating at that point, finally convinced me to go to the doctor. Well, they found nothing. Started giving me drugs of various kinds to try to combat whatever was going on in my body. Massive loads of antibiotics were prescribed. It soon got to the point, I couldn’t work. I called in sick more than I worked and eventually had to leave. Doctors kept piling on drugs. I kept being ill. I can’t remember the name, but they gave me some damn drug that put me into a daze all day. Judy came home from work and ate lunch with me and by the time she got home for the day – I couldn’t remember her coming home for lunch. We ditched that drug fast.

Off and on with the work for the next 18 months until I happen to go in for a checkup and a new doctor discovered what was wrong with me. I had tonsillitis. That’s right a simple case of tonsillitis that no one could discover over the last 18 months. He scheduled me for surgery, scraped out the tonsils, parts of my throat, and a little bit of the uvula that hangs down the back your mouth. Guess what? I got better and the constant fever and other symptoms went away.

I would like to have ended the story there, but I can’t. 18 months of massive drugs and antibiotics left me a wreck. Weight was gained from the drugs and inability to do anything. My immune system was all but destroyed at that point. I caught every little bug the kids came close to. It would take me weeks if not months to get over the simplest cold. I also found out, I had become allergic to all kinds of chemicals. My head would break out from shampoos. I underarms would develop a rash from deodorants. Laundry soaps would leave me red and itchy all over with rashes. I couldn’t pump gas. If the neighbors applied fertilizer to their yards, I reacted. The city or state spraying the sides of the roads, I reacted if I drove by. If I came with 50 feet of someone wearing perfume, I shut down. My life was miserable at that point.

Changes had to be made. I avoid situations where chemicals were being used. I couldn’t attend any public gatherings because of perfume. Large parts of grocery stores were avoided because of the smells from cleaning supplies and soaps. We had to strip our house of anything with a smell. The girls couldn’t wear all that stuff teenage girls wear. Their friends couldn’t come over. I started seeing an environmental doctor. We started trying to eat organic food and rid ourselves of toxins. Sustainable living became a new mantra around the house. Our lives changed dramatically, but eventually I got a little better and could interact with selected groups of people. Luckily, I had found a job at that point where no one wore perfume and where I could work from home when I was sick – not always the case with a future jobs. I went on a near-vegetarian diet one month and felt a lot better.

But as with most things, it didn’t last. Job pressures, long work hours, and the normal American way of life crept in and took me back to my old ways of eating and living. Years and being inactive and now a new life of desk jobs lead to me gaining 80 pounds in a few years. I would try to exercise to lose the weight, but every time I did – I got sick when the weight started to come off. I eventually learned that the toxins I had been exposed to and were allergic to, were stored in fat cells. Working out started burning these fat cells and dumped the toxins back into my body causing me to react to them and become ill. Even dieting had the same effect. Fat cells released the toxins and I would become sick. I had stopped the weight gain with a little exercise and some dieting, but I was stuck at 325 pounds for a few years until something else happened.

As with a lot of overweight people, I had developed type 2 Diabetes. It probably started long before I noticed it. I now recognize the symptoms and could tell you of incidents for four or five years before I was actually diagnosed. Having been burned by doctors for years, I didn’t trust them and only visited a doctor when I just had too. Usually for a sinus infection or if I thought I had the flu. You couldn’t get me into a doctor for a checkup at that time. I had an incident with extremely high blood sugar and that was what caused me to finally get checked out. My doctor found the diabetes and we started on trying to bring it down. I stopped eating sweets and carbs. Tried the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet and dropped over 30 pounds in a few months. I still got sick during the weight loss, but at the time I was an independent consultant so I could manage my clients in a way my life didn’t stop. I felt better and have managed to keep my diabetes under reasonable control ever since. The problem my weight loss plateaued between 286 and 292 pounds and stayed that way for over 6 years. A drop of 10 pounds with a juice diet on week was gained back. A drop here and there with small amounts of exercise – gained back. I still would become ill when I worked out. I would be able to exercise for a few weeks. Drop a few pounds and then old fat cells would release toxins and I would get ill. Nothing worked until about last summer.

In the summer of 2013, my doctor gave me a new diabetes medicine. The old medicine would remove the excess glucose from my blood but wouldn’t do anything with it. The body would take the excess removed from the blood and store it in fat cells. My own body was working against me when I was trying to lose weight. The new medicine would eliminate the removed glucose. Finally, I was starting to lose weight in a way that didn’t make me sick. I lost around 20 pounds over the course of 7 months. I was on my way. Then Judy discovered Plexus.

The first week, Plexus didn’t really speed up my weight loss. What it did was correct years of other issues that either were a result of excess weight or caused excess weight. For decades, sleep was hard to come by. I would have trouble going to sleep and once asleep, I would wake up 4, 5, or 6 times a night. A few years ago, I went through a stretch of waking up every 45 minutes all night long and then taking 10-15 minutes to go back to sleep. I was exhausted all the time. Exhaustion led to inactivity, which lead to weight gain, which lead to higher blood sugar, which lead to exhaustion. Viscous circle. I tried going to a doctor, we had moved so I couldn’t go to the doctor I had started trusting. All they could see was my weight and if someone was as heavy as I was and felt exhausted all the time – it had to be sleep apnea. I had 0 signs of any other signs of sleep apnea. I tried to tell them this and that I wasn’t sleeping and not resting – I wasn’t sleeping at all. It wasn’t not breathing and moving from deep sleep into light sleep. It was staring at the alarm clock once an hour all night long. Several visits later, trust in doctors went back to zero. I lived with the condition for a year until Plexus came along.

One week of Plexus Slim and Accelerator+ combo and I would sleep all night long. I still have problems going to sleep and the dog wakes me up once or twice to go out, but in between – hours of uninterrupted sleep. Energy now flows in my body. I’ve achieved more in the first month of using Plexus than the years before. It has been about 6 weeks since I have stated Plexus by the time I write this and I have gotten more hours of deep sleep in the last 6 weeks than in the last decade. It’s incredible how I feel each day. If Plexus did nothing else for me, getting hours of deep sleep each night would be worth it. But, Plexus is helping in other ways as well.

After the first week, Plexus started speeding up my weight loss. Instead of less than a pound a week, I now lose 2 pounds or more each week. My new clothes started falling off after three weeks on Plexus. Now the circle has changed. I have energy each day. I go out and work on the yard which burns calories and builds muscle. More calories burned and more muscle built means I lose weight faster and my blood sugar stays lower. More energy and noticeable weight lost means my items crossed off my todo lists. More things accomplished, the better I feel about myself. The better I feel about myself, the better I sleep. And so on, and so on.

Yes, Plexus has changed my life over the last 6 weeks and I hope it keeps going. I’ve hit a plateau around 5 weeks, but worked through it. My weight didn’t melt off like some of the testimonies you read, but the better sleep kept me going. I’m now at the point I can add healthier options to my life to help my journey. Candida is getting under control so no more cravings for sweets. Better food satisfies me now and junk food doesn’t taste good. The weight I have lost so far allows me to bend over and move around better so I can start small exercises again. Many changes coming my way and I’m going to use this web site to let everyone know what they are and how they help or don’t help.

So now you know what has kept me partially busy over the last 6 weeks. I hope you take the time to read the pages on my new web site and follow my new blog as well as this one. I will try to update you everything Thursday with a Status Thursday post on both sites and I’ve gone back through my notes and created a few from the first 6 weeks of my journey and will continue doing so. Yes, I would like for you to become a Plexus customer through me or join my team as an independent Plexus Ambassador. But, what I really hope will happen from the new web site and blog is that your life will change from something I wrote here. Something you read of mine clicks and starts you on your own journey. Something takes you from an unhealthy you to a healthy you. Something that will help create that person inside of you that will meet me in a park one day for a 5 mile jog that is just another exercise and not a major accomplishment. A healthier you that can reach down and pick up your children or grandchildren and play with them without becoming winded or sore the next day. A healthier you that lives to see your grandchildren get married or your great grandchildren born. A healthier you that actually enjoys life and aspires others to become like you. So grab your Plexus, start reading, and let’s do this together.

For those who like what I write – don’t worry, my health and energy is returning to the point I think I can keep both sites and blogs up and running. I still won’t to redo the look of this site and what I learned building the other site will carry over. I am changing what I will be doing – expect more free stories. I’ve almost given up on finishing The Meltdown in book format, so I now plan on just releasing it on this site until it’s done and then try to bundle for a book. Same deal with the second episode of Jonathan’s Journey and Spider Wars.
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Late Status Thursday

I failed to create a status report last Thursday, so I thought I would give you a modified report today. Someone asked about the status of The Meltdown and I thought I would reply with this post. It is coming along. Slowly, but I am making some progress on the story. I thought I would paste all of the status report images for The Meltdown below to show you visually the progress being made. The one for 2/6 is an estimate of what I hope to get done in the next two days.

Now, if my day job would stop becoming a night job as well – I might be able to make more progress on my books and stop forgetting to post on this site – create my newsletter – play with my dogs and newly adopted cat – eat – shower- sleep:)

1/16

1/9


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To Brighten Your Day

The weather outside today is another one of those cold, windy winter days we have been experiencing here in Texas this year and since most of the US is experiencing the same, I thought I would brighten your day with this little post.

My Monday started off in a very frustrating manner with our internet going on and off due to the high winds we were having this morning as the latest polar plunge blows into North Texas. I would manage to do a little work for my day job and then the internet would go off. I would have to wait a few minutes for it to work again and plunge back into my work before it went off again. Off and on, off and on most of the morning. While I was waiting out one of the down times, I thought I would write out how my Sunday went and post it on Facebook so others could have a quick laugh at my expense. I usually try not to publish anything personal and not writing related on this blog, but I was instructed that the readers of my blog deserved a chance to laugh at me as well. The following is the actual course of events, compressed from a six hour day into a shorter time frame. In order to keep the post at a G rating, I left out quite a bit of the dialog between me and the dogs.

It was a beautiful weekend after a little cold snap last week. Temperatures were in the 60′s on Saturday and the 70′s on Sunday. No clouds in the sky. No biting north winds. Perfect weekend to do a little work to prepare for the gardening season just around the corner in my part of the world. This weekend’s chore was to build a fence around the spot I’m going to build some raise beds. The fence will serve to both keep the dogs out of the beds and to keep the dogs in a part of the yard I want them to stay in.

After buying and hauling the cattle panels I was using for my fence, spreading them out where I needed them, laying out the t-posts in the approximate spots they would be used, and generally getting as much ready on Saturday afternoon as I could, I thought Sunday would go easy for me. Boy, was I mistaken.

I woke up early for a Sunday and laid there thinking, “I needed to get going and build my fence before the cold front had a chance to stir up the wind.” I also remember thinking, “This shouldn’t be too hard. All I need to do today is drive in a dozen t-posts and wire up six or seven cattle panels. If you get out of bed and get going, you’ll be done in a few hours. Might even be able to put the dogs in the truck and go get something to eat while the girls are gone to Dallas.” (Note: Judy – my wife and Rebecca – daughter went to the Dallas Bridal Show)

So I rolled out of bed, got myself ready, and walked out the back door with Buster and Aylen. (Note: Buster is my 65 pound, 18 month old Black Lab\German Shepard mix and Aylen is my daughter Rebecca’s 11 week old, 22 pound, Lab\Wolf\Malamute\draft horse mix.)

Got outside with both dogs and looked at the work and remember saying, “We get this done, we’ll take a ride and get something to eat. You too, little one.” (note: need to change Aylen’s nickname to something like horse if she grows any larger). About then, Rex the neighbor’s dog – who likes to roam free and one of the reasons I am building the fence – decides he wants to help to make my day go faster. Nice to have all of this help to build the fence since Judy and Rebecca skipped town to attend the bridal show in Dallas.

Started working on the first post with the three dogs playing a short distance away. Well, the sound of the t-post driver hitting the t-posts must have sounded like a dinner bell to the dogs. All of a sudden, all three dogs were at my feet – still playing. (Note: Dialog between me and the dogs edited out here.) I finally convinced them to go away and play somewhere else in our two acres or the thousands that surround us.

As I was beating in the first t-post, which took much longer than expected because our thick, black clay has dried out from lack of rain and is hard as concrete, I looked up and saw a little kitten watching me. As I picked up the second t-post, the kitten had made its way to me. “Little one, you better go home before the dogs come back.” Knowing cats and dogs are currently at war, I picked up the kitten and took the little thing to the road so she could go home or find somewhere safe that has not been staked out by my dogs as their territory. She started following me back to my work area. I went back to get her again as the dogs came back from whatever they were doing and saw her. Dogs took off towards her. Kitten took off towards the nearest tree – ten foot Mesquite tree being one of the two trees near me. (Note: Dialog between me and the dogs edited out here.)

Kitten and dogs invent new game. Kitten wins and makes it to top of tree. After making sure kitten was safe, I went back to work on the second post. Dinner bell sounds again, dogs come running to make sure I don’t drop any food while driving in t-posts. Aylen refused to stay behind and watch kitten as instructed by the other dogs. I step on Aylen – (Note: you know the drill by now with the dialog part.) I made sure Aylen was okay and started ringing the dinner bell again. Kitten stays in tree for about 45 minutes, which is about the same amount of time it took me to finish the second and third posts with all the help the dogs were giving me. Buster and Rex invent a new game at this time called “we’re on the other side of the fence and can’t find our way back.” (Note: Neighbor has started building a fence between our properties – probably to keep Rex out – and hasn’t finished it. The front of his property is not fenced in and Rex and Buster seem to like running all the way to the road, get on the other side of the fence and making their way back to where I was and then trying to climb through the fence when I tell Buster to “Get over here.” Buster’s outside name is – Buster, Get over here!) I would have to stop working, walk to the front of the property while calling my “wonderful, smart, helpful” dog to me so he could find his way back to our property. (Note: I do not let my dogs wander out of sight when we are outside. Another reason for the fence – the dogs like to play hide and seek when we are working in the yard. I don’t. Also note, those are not the actual descriptions I used on Sunday to describe Buster as I was trying to get him back on my side of the fence.)

Buster, Rex, and Aylen went back to playing – somewhere else in my yard because the dinner bell wasn’t ringing when I was measuring out the next portion of the fence. However; this cut in action gave the little kitten time to climb down out of the tree and make her way closer to where I was working instead of going home. I see the kitten. Stop working and take her back to the road with a warning to go home before the dogs come back. (Note: T-post driver must sound like a dinner bell to cats as well. And at that point, I didn’t stop to think that the poor little thing didn’t have a home to go too.)

Not seeing the kitten following me back, I start ringing the dinner bell again. Dogs come running to make sure food is not dropped and to give me help by playing at my feet again. Dogs see kitten and drop the tree parts from their mouths – I really didn’t have the time to investigate which tree they harvested for wood. Kitten sees dog. Same game, different tree, but this time Randy is trying to head off dogs with sweet phrases. Kitten wins again and makes it to another tree closer to me. She spends the rest of the morning supervising me from the top of the tree.

Dogs come back from the game. I am starving at this point and decide to stop for lunch. Only about 1/2 way finished with fence – thanks to the dogs for the help they provided. Got the dogs in the house to eat and rest. Rex goes home – he only works part-time and went home for lunch and the rest of the day. Kitten doesn’t see any dogs and wonders why I am not working – remember she is supervising from the tree. Kitten climbs down from tree and makes her way onto our porch.

I am just about to make lunch, but the house is hot so I decide to open up the doors and cool off the house. It is over 70 at this point and a little warm. Front door opened. Back door opened and new super-improved, tall baby gate put up to keep all four dogs in. (Note: We have two older Chihuahuas that live in the house and really don’t like to go outside and work – I think they are retired.)

I finish up and head into the kitchen to find something to eat and get some cold water to drink. My bald head is starting to sunburn at this point as well, so I get a rag to wipe off. Kitten is on porch yelling at me to get back to work – she wasn’t paying me to eat lunch. Dogs hear kitten and the commotion begins. Buster knows that kitten hasn’t paid for her lunch and would make us go back to work without a nap, takes off after her. He clears the super-duper, tall baby gate we just bought to keep him in when we open the sliding door which doesn’t have a screen. (Note: He would go right through screen anyway – see small screen window on front door for details.) So much for that idea. Kitten sees the black blur coming her way and invents new game by climbing up one of the posts on the porch to the roof of the porch and house. I put the thought of lunch on hold, get Buster back in and behind the porch door. I then go out to get ladder to get the poor thing off the roof – also to keep the dogs from barking every time they hear her on the roof yelling at me to go back to work. Kitten does not want to play the “come down from the roof” part of the game just yet. I finally give up and go back in for a quick lunch. One cold, cheese sandwich from the leftovers of a jar of cheese spread Judy used to make cheesy broccoli and rice a few days ago. Yummy. (Note: NOT REALLY).

Dogs eat and fall asleep – after all they worked hard on the fence all morning. I use the time to sneak out and get the kitten down. Kitten ready to come down and finish the game at this point. I put the kitten back on the other side of the fence. (Note: Still hasn’t dawn on me she doesn’t have a home.) Kitten stays on her side of fence. I am happy after looking back and seeing the kitten staying put this time. “Yea!!!” is all I can think as I go back to finish up the fence.

Dogs not happy to get up from naps, but can’t stand the thought of me having to do all the work by myself, so voice their opinions so I have to open the door and let them back out. Dogs start off by having a nice friendly wrestling match under my feet. (Note: Same drill with the dialog here.)

After working for an hour, little one – I haven’t changed her name to horse yet – decides that the cattle panel I am going to use for the last portion of my fence is a better place to sleep than the ground. She is picked up and moved out of the way. I get the panel in place and finish the top wires on the outside posts and get down on my knees to start wiring up the bottom of the panel. Aylen decides right under my feet is the next best place to sleep since I took her cattle panel away – she does this in my office as well – settles in behind me right on top of my feet. Aylen gets stepped on again when I get back up from my knees. I stop working and take a look at Aylen – she’s fine. I keep working and soon have to get back on my knees to finish wiring the panel to the last post and notice Buster has decided to play hide and seek without telling me.

Not liking Buster running around on other people’s properties and still working on the fence to keep him from doing just that, I stop working to get up and go find him. Buster gone and Aylen is asleep – on top of a t-post this time – strange dog. Kitten makes appearance without me noticing. Buster comes back to my sweet phrases this time before I even have a chance to get back up on my feet.

Buster see kitten. Kitten sees Buster. No trees – new game invented – “how high is Randy’s head and can kitten climb up his back and onto his head before Buster gets there.” She can and wins the game as I try to get her claws out of my sunburned head. (Note: Kitten REALLY needs a manicure. I REALLY need to start wearing a cap when I work outside.)

I’m standing there at this point, trying to get claws out of my head. Buster and now Aylen are circling me barking. Kitten is howling and spitting. I give up and after getting kitten under control and the dogs under control I take kitten to a cage we have outside. I decide the dogs have worked enough for the day and put them up in the house. Buster in his room – my office – and Aylen in her crate. I manage to pick up my tools and am putting them away when I look down and notice that kitten has manage to pick the lock on her cell and is out again. She watches me and follows me around while I finish up.

Tired, hot, and with a sunburned – scratched head, I go up on the porch and sit down to drink some water and cool off before going into the house. Kitten follows me right up the porch and I barely have time to sit down and get comfortable before kitten jumps up onto the top of the leg. At this point, I wish I had something besides water to drink. Kitten crawls right up my chest and looks me in the eye, “What’s up buddy? Long time no see. Are we going in now? I’ve decided to live with you. I hope you don’t mind?” She then decides that the dog treats I keep in my shirt pocket under the clicker smells good. I keep the treats and clicker there so I can take advantages of opportunities to train Aylen and Buster. (Note: Maybe the dogs were right about food dropping down while I pounded in the t-posts.)

At this time, I start noticing that kitten is skinny and weighs almost nothing and start to think that she didn’t have a home to go too. Hate it when people drop off dogs and cats out in the country when they don’t want them. I start to remove the kitten’s head from my pocket to grab a few treats when my two retired Chihuahuas come to the sliding doors, see that the kitten with her head in my pocket. Daisy and Honey start screaming their heads off to tell the kitten to stop hurting me. Aylen hears and joins in from her crate. Buster from his room. Some of the neighbor’s dogs join in to help stop the kitten from beating me up.

I put the kitten down on the porch to get up and take care of the dogs. Kitten invents new game and jumps right back up on top of my leg. New game called “down/up – down/up.” Kitten wins game. I shout out sweet phrases to my dogs to tell them that kitten is not hurting me. Kitten is hungry – I feed her the treats. Give her some water in my hand. She then starts to make up for all the affection she has been missing over the last few days she’s been on her own.

Dogs seem to forget earlier conversations we had five minutes ago that kitten is not hurting me and see kitten rubbing her head all over my chest and start the yelling all over again. At this point, I am really thinking about shots of rum and coke without the coke. I shut my ears and ignore the dogs and give up. Kittens wins and stays on my lap, chest and shoulders for the next 45 minutes ignoring the dogs on the other side of the door. Every now and then Aylen howls from her crate that she wants to come out and play. I am too tired and just ignore her. I am deep in thought of rum and coke – okay just rum – and wondering why this little kitten has picked me out to adopt. I’ve never owned a cat and have a house full of dogs.

Meanwhile, Judy and Rebecca are heading home after a day at the bridal show – taste testing cakes and basically having a great time. Did I mention taste testing wedding cakes and not yummy, cheese (or cheese-like product) sandwiches?. Kitten has actually fallen asleep on my lap – guess she had a hard day as well. A bunch of “How cute. What happened?” goes around. Dogs are let out now that I have a little help. Judy holds kitten while I pull Buster’s large crate out of my office – his room – and put it in the living room so we have somewhere to put the kitten until we figure things out. Kitten is still hungry and dog treats are probably not the best food for her. Judy decides to go to store to get some food and maybe a toy or two. Rebecca joins her. I’m a little loopy at this point and don’t point out that it shouldn’t take two of them to go and buy a small bag of cat food and a few toys while leaving me with all four dogs and a cat howling in Buster’s crate. (Note: Actual thoughts when I realize they left me alone with four dogs and a kitten when both of them went to the store for two pounds of stuff – edited out here.)

Buster is now barking and asking, “Why is that thing in my crate?” The other dogs agree and join in. I’m wiping tears from my eyes – must be the allergies and wanting for my wife and daughter to come back home. In their defense – they did stop and buy me some tea from Sonic. I still needed something else, but it is Sunday and liquor stores are closed.

They make it back home. We feed the kitten and put together a litter box. Kitten is locked up. Dogs have quieten down long enough for me to clean up. While I am cleaning up, Judy starts telling me about their day. The cakes- did I already mention they taste tested wedding cakes. She starts telling me about the great new restaurant in Frisco they went to at 2:30 for lunch. My stomach growling, since all I had today was a small cheese sandwich hours ago – yummy.

I am starving, Judy and Rebecca are not since they only ate three hours ago. Guess who has to make his own dinner? At least they take care of the animals long enough for me to finish. Remember – they did stop and bring me back tea from Sonic. I manage to finish eating and instead of spending the rest of Sunday night working on my books or on an actual blog post, I spend it trying to convince Buster to see the kitten as anything other than a mortal enemy and trying to convince kitten the dogs are just dumb and they do not really hate her. Kitten still remembers Buster chasing her up a tree (twice), up the porch onto the roof (once), and onto the top of Randy’s head – once outside and twice in – and is having nothing to do with the dogs. I do manage to make some headway before putting everyone to bed for the night. After all, they had a busy day building a fence.

On Monday, I wake up. Take care of the dogs and kitten and go into my office to start my day job. Kitten has to come in with me. Buster and Aylen also spend the day in my office when I work. Aylen still likes to chew up stuff and needs to be supervised. Internet is down. I still haven’t gotten my rum and coke. Kitten is walking all over my keyboard. Buster is doing better and only occasionally tries to crawl up in my lap to make sure I still love him more than the kitten. Buster and Aylen are still a little tired from their Sunday job and actually sleep most of the day. Yes, right under my feet and chair. One dog on the left. One dog on the right. Kitten sleeps most of the day on a small throw blanket I put on my desk. If the internet just worked – the day would have been pleasant.

Note: As usual, ignore the typos and other mistakes in this post. As I started writing this – kitten (still no name) decides she needs to help and crawls all over my arms, chest, shoulders, head, and keyboard once in a while to make sure I get everything right. Buster seeing kitten, jumps up on the couch next to my chair and crawls onto the arm of my chair – which makes it impossible to use it as a mouse pad. He thinks if he goes slow enough – I won’t notice. I really do notice, but can’t convince him of that. Once on my arm – slash mouse pad – he sticks his head between me and my laptop to check out kitten and make sure I’m writing everything. Aylen can’t jump up on the couch yet, so she just lays under my feet and sleeps. Every now and then, Buster disagrees with the way I portray him in this post and starts yelling at the kitten to make me change it. Kitten hisses and growls back – and occasionally sticks her claws into my really sunburned head while making her points. Aylen – not being able to join in on the conversation upstairs – just either jumps up between my legs to try to join in or knocks my slippers off and drags them to their doom. Once in a while, Buster takes pity on Aylen and gets down and fights (I mean plays) with her right under my feet – on top of my feet – on my legs – chair. Etc. Kitten is now up on my head doing the “I’ll hiss from here” game.

So please ignore the problems with the above post.

Note: Kitten is much smaller than in the pictures. Unfortunately, Randy is much larger than in the picture. Funny how that works.

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Status Thursdays

This has been a productive week for me on the writing front. Finally started feeling better and had some energy after my day job hours. I was able to funnel that energy into my writing and it is starting to show.

There are a couple of things I wanted to share with you this week:

New website is starting to take shape. STARTING to take shape – nowhere finished.

If you want to take a peek at what I have as of now – go here.
Remember, this is work in progress and I’m trying to both figure out what I want to do and how to do it at the same time. The pages and look/feel of the site will change whenever I get a change to work on them.

Anyway, give me your feedback on if you like the direction I’m going.

Books are coming along. If you look at the screenshots of my progress reports this week, you’ll see quite a bit of difference from last week.

The Meltdown

Almost finished the rough draft of chapter 2
Finished the rough draft of chapter 3

Jonathan’s Journey

Finished the rough draft of chapter 3
Started the rough drafts of all the other chapters
Started the rewrite of chapter 3

Spider Wars

Finished the chapter outlines for chapters 6 and 7
Started the rough drafts of chapters 6 and 7

All and all a good week. Let’s hope next week goes the same.

The Meltdown 1/16

Jonathan’s Journey 1/16

Spider Wars 1/16

That’s it for this week. Hope you continue reading and enjoying my works and I’ll see you next week.

Thanks,

Randy
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New Book Series Concept

I actually put this in my newsletter last night and wanted to follow up with those who read the blog.

I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my head for a new book series. I hate that my mind wanders around so much and keeps coming up with new ideas instead of finishing old ones. I try to concentrate on one book and a totally different concept fills up my mind and won’t let go until I get it out on paper (or screen in my case).

What I figured I would do is put a piece of the new concept out on this newsletter and my blog and let you decide if it is something worth pursuing. Read through the concept below and let me know what you think and if you think the concept will be worth a series of books or not. If you do decide it is worth it, what I want to do is post the pieces on my blog (most of these will be restricted to subscribers) and in the newsletter as I write them. Make it into a web series before changing into an actual book series. Give you the chance to read it as I make it up.

As with most of my postings, what is written below will be very rough. I’d rather get it out to you with a few typos, missing words, rough sentences and all those other things that drive picky readers to death than write it and not ever show you what I’ve written because I didn’t have enough time to edit it thoroughly. Let me know what you think about the concept and if you think it would be interesting enough for you to spend your hard earned money on it if you had to buy it instead of getting it for free in this newsletter.

The new book concept:

I’ve been thinking about how to get more information out on how you should prepare for whatever disaster or societal changes you think are coming our way. The pieces of information in my fiction stories are few and often hidden in the story itself. I want another way to get larger amounts of information out without having to write 100 pages of story around it. I could write a series of blog posts, but that’s already been done and is often boring to most of us. Some of it is also confusing because it is listed and not really explained. I could make some videos and put them out on my website. Once again, already been done and somewhat boring as it one-side and instructional. Not something fun to watch that would help the information stick in your mind. Same thing with nonfictional books and pamphlets. Boring and a dump of information that often goes into one ear and out another.

What I’ve come up with is nonfictional information surrounded in a story. I hinted at this in my New Year’s newsletter and the more I think about it, the more I like it. So let me start you off with a little background and then I’ll show you a piece of what I am thinking the book will look like.

Background:

A man, let’s call him RJ for now, works as a consultant laying off IT workers. His job is to help them transition to other jobs or careers when their company folds up or out-sources the work overseas. He’s been at the job for ten years and each year, it gets a little harder for him. Business is booming, but trying to help the workers find new jobs is almost impossible. He’s even starting to have a hard time trying to find some other skills to recommend that the newly unemployed workers learn. The economy is getting worse in America and the long-term outlook for high-paying, stable employment is looking worse and worse.

—Sounds familiar, huh?

RJ has been tracking the results of his recommendations and he is finding that more and more of the workers he has advised in the past are staying unemployed for longer periods of time. The percentage of workers from clients two and three years ago who could find jobs before their unemployment ran out is climbing rapidly. With every new client he gets, more and more of the older workers simply cannot find new jobs – no matter what new skills they learn. There is nothing out there. He starts to worry about everything, but like most people simply thinks it will get better.

Until a new client walks in the door and asks him to help with the layoff of five thousand workers. One of the five thousand is his wife. Who has just turned forty. Not old, but not young either.

His wife is laid off. She goes 1 month, 2, 3, 4,6,8,12, and finally fourteen months have gone by without her being able to find anything that comes close to the salary and responsibilities of her old job. She has sent resume after resume. Contacted everyone in her network and his. Still no job. They’ve gone through the severance package – a rare thing he notices – most of his clients have stop giving out any packages to non-executives. They go through their savings, her 401K, and max out their credit cards to try to maintain some level of comfort they are used to. The consulting firm RJ works with is doing a lot of work and he is busy, but that doesn’t equate into large salary increase for him or even larger bonuses. The company is reporting record profits, but as with most American companies the normal workers do not see much of that. The loss of her income hurts them. She finally has to give up and take a job way beneath her skills and at 1/3 her former salary just so they can survive.

After what they just went through with his wife, RJ is worried. What would happen if she lost her new job? They don’t have anything money left anywhere to overcome the loss of her salary again. Things would have to go. House, cars, etc. are all one or two paychecks away from being taken away from them. What really worries him is the thought of what would happen if he lost his job. He’s 46 and knows he wouldn’t be able to find anything near what he has now. He might be able to start his own firm, but it’s not that easy. He’d wind up like a lot of the workers he has advised in the last few years. Trying desperately to find something before their unemployment runs out and failing in larger and larger percentages.

RJ goes on for another 6 months worrying about the future and what he would do if things went south for him. He manages to create a home budget and they slip and slide in their efforts to lower their cost of living to manageable levels and catch up from Sera’s job loss. They get some breathing room, but nothing that would last more than a month or two if a job was lost again. One day, RJ runs into an old friend, Owen, who he worked with years ago. Owen had been laid off four years ago, but with RJ’s help was able to find work in a few months. They remained in contact for a few months after that, but with everything going on in RJ’s life recently they haven’t had anything other than a quick email in almost three year.

During their conversation, RJ finds out that Owen had been laid off after only 1 year on the new job. The difference this time, was that Owen found a new job a few weeks after the layoff. Owen describes that he “lucked” into his new job. Owen and RJ decide to meet for lunch the following week.

During the lunch, Owen talks about his experiences and how he happen to get a new job after only a few weeks being unemployed. He doesn’t like what he does, but it pays the bills. He also tells RJ that many of his coworkers that were laid off with him, never found new jobs. RJ tells him about his own tracking data and his worries about his future as well. He has two teenage daughters and wonders if he’ll ever been able to put them through college the way things are going. Owen agrees and starts to tell about how he and his wife decided to change their lives three years ago after the second layoff.

This is where Owen starts describing the Prepping Academy he and his wife have been attending for the past two and half years. RJ is skeptical, but listens. Owen describes the school and what they are learning. It’s not a school to teach someone how to become a “doomsday prepper”, more of a school to help them learn how to simplify their lives and be prepared for economic hardships, disasters, civil unrest, ect. Owen tells RJ that they have changed their lives around so much over the last two years that he no longer worries about layoffs and the future as much as he used to. What he’s learning at the school is helping him reduce their lifestyles to a point that he may even be able to semi-retire in four or five years and work jobs that pay a fraction of his current salary and still be happy.

RJ is curious and wants to learn more. Owen tells him that a new “class” starts up each month and the entire program goes one for five years – although you are welcome to complete the steps as fast or as slow as you can afford, have the time, or are comfortable with. The best part is that there is no cost for the course, it is given by volunteers who have already completed it, and many of the people involved will help you out as much as they can. They just expect you to do the same – which you will – Owen tells him. Owen gives RJ a card with the link to the school’s website and tells him that he will need to convince Sera. Kids can be drug along, but spouses need to be as committed as well or it will be impossible to change your life enough to really matter. Owen invites RJ and Sera to his house so he can show them that they are not some “hippy weirdoes” as he puts it. They just live simply and do not make money the driving force in their life. They have found ways to do without many things Americans think are necessary when they are really luxuries. Owen says that if Sera is agreeable, they can attend an orientation next month to find out more. It takes RJ several months of hinting around, going to dinner at Owen’s house, and finally a scare with her new job before she agrees. She goes to the orientation, finds out that what they are going to learn is mostly common sense. She is a little worried about some aspects of the training dealing with home defense, long-term loss of utilities, government services, and other topics. She’s ready to agree with a simpler lifestyle, being prepared for natural disasters, and reduced incomes, but not ready to agree with the larger “end-of-world” topics many of the group believes in. She tells RJ that she might learn some of the stuff, but not butchering chickens or rabbits in her backyard. RJ agrees, but is willing to see how things go.

—This is as far as I’ve gotten with this part of the plot. I’m still churning it over in my mind. The following excerpt is something I thought of the last few days when I’ve been getting ready to plant onions in my garden for this year.—-

==RJ and Sera have decided to start attending the lectures and this is one of the food security lectures that take place –not sure when yet but probably in the first part of the first book. Also, the information provided below is based on my region of Texas and as they say – the mileage will vary. You may have to adjust for your own area. Most of below will not been published exactly like seen below. The lecture might, but the lead in probably won’t as it would be covering history readers would already know.====

RJ and Sera pulled up into one of the few remaining parking spots left. “Seems to be more and more people here each week,” RJ comments. “I wonder just how many people have signed up since we started?”

“I’ve convinced Melissa, Tom, and Henry to start. It wasn’t really hard to do once they found out how much it has already changed our lives,” Melissa responded.

“Yea. It’s not hard to convince people who have lost more than one job over the last few years that they need to do something different. The days of relying on the government for help are long over. Ashamed that more people can’t see this.”

“They will, sooner or later. Let’s just hope we will be a position to help our family out when they figure out the world has changed.”

RJ and Sera got out of their car and started walking into the church being used as the school. Owen and Sera walked into the building and spent several minutes greeting some of the dozens of like-minded friends they have made over the last few months. They’ve learned that no one judges others on their beliefs. Everyone just wants their friends and family to survive when hard times come.

“Hi Cheyenne,” Sera calls out when they walk into the room for tonight’s lecture on food security. They spent the last few months working out how to start small vegetables gardens. Cheyenne had walked them through step after step on how to start a garden to help supply their family with food in the case food becomes unaffordable, unattainable, or simply so unhealthy they wouldn’t want to buy it out of the store.

***

“As you can see from my table, tonight we are going to talk about onions. As you’ve found out from your food prepping, onions are used in a lot of our recipes. Most of you have already purchased and stored varying amounts of dried onions for your storage. Some of you have chopped up onions for your freezers and even have stored some in your closets to use fresh during emergencies. Tonight, we are going to continue with our gardening discussions by adding onions to the list of staple vegetables you should really grow in the year one garden.”

Cheyenne looked around before continuing. “I know that any of you who have had gardens in the past or have been around gardeners are probably thinking why a whole lecture on onions. You’ve all seen the bunches on planting onions that are all over the place each January and February. I mean, what’s so hard about getting a bunch of onions and sticking them in the ground. Nothing. Onions are one of those easy, yet complex plants in our area. They grow every well here and you can buy a bunch of onions starts setting out in front of some store, stick them in the ground, and you’ll probably have some luck with them. Onions work out great in our area. They love the weather. There’s not too many pests. They make it through any light frosts we may have the rest of the spring. Very easy to grow if you give them the right amount of water. In fact, buying a bunch of onion starts at a local nursery is what I will recommend for many of you this year. It’s a good way to get you started and there is nothing wrong with the onions you’ll get. This will give you a chance to learn a little about growing onions and allow you to start learning how much you’ll need to plant each year. There’s so many onions in a bunch, that you’ll probably never use all of them the first year. We’ll discuss how to use some of the onions you’ve planted as they grow for green onions in your salads, soups, and side dishes. We’ll talk about how some onions can be used as they grow out, but depending on the type – they may not be as sweet as you are used to, but still can be used for cooking. We’ll also talk about how you can store the types of onions we grow here so you can have fresh onions for a few months after the harvest is over. Unlike the onions grown by our northern neighbors, the sweet onions common in Texas won’t store as well as northern varieties. There are exceptions, but we have something we can do that they can’t. We can grow onions in the spring and the fall. Two plantings instead of one and you will only find the onion starts at the first of the year. Not in time for a fall garden. You’ll have to grow those from your own seeds.”

“You said that onions are easy but complex. What did you mean by that?” someone in the class asked.

“Onions are easy here. Buy the onion starts, stick them in the ground, and watch most of them grow. This will work most years. But, as you know from previous lectures, we don’t simply look at the short-term here. We look at the long-term. The complexity of growing onions come into play when you don’t want to buy onion starts and stick them in the ground. They are not available, not affordable, or you want to control the type of onion you plant instead of being forced to plant the one or two varieties you find as starts. The complexity comes when you need to grow onions for seeds. Seeds that at first, you’ll buy and then learn how to save from your own onions once you figure out what varieties you like best and works best in your garden.”

She stopped talking and looked at the group in front of her. Most of them were still following her and making notes in their handbooks. “Ok. Onions,” she started up again. “Like I said earlier, I would recommend many of you start your journey by buying the onion starts you’ll see after the first of the year. This is a good way to start and it will give you a head some practice. The onion starts sold are suited for our area and you’ll be able to find white, yellow, and red varieties. I can’t tell you exactly what varieties you’ll find, but they will most likely be hybrids of some kind and you’ll only find one or two of each variety. Some of the specialized stores will have a few more, but not what you’ll find from the seed suppliers. Try to get at least one white, yellow, and red bunches. They all have different uses and you’ll want to get use to the different varieties. They all grow a little different as well.”

Ok. This is as much as I’m going to put here, but when this piece is done, Cheyenne would have gone on to talk about prepping the raised beds for the starts by adding compost to older beds and by adding some bone meal. Since this is the first year garden lecture, she would not have talked about rotations, but would have mentioned planting instructions – including the timing of the planting with moon. She will mention companion plants and how to plan their beds for onions and the companions. She would mention watering instructions and how to give the onions some feed during their growth, but not right before harvest. She would have discuss harvesting some of the starts early and using them as green onions – telling the class that in year two they would learn how to dry these green onions for later use. She will discuss the few pests they may find and how to get rid of them and how to use radishes for a trap.

Cheyenne would wrap up the discussion with harvesting onions. How to cure them and the best ways to store them in our climate. She’ll also go through the information in the handbook so everyone knows when to plant their onions. She’ll mention that next year, they will try their hands at growing onions from seeds and will discuss open-pollinated varieties suited for North Texas then. She will also tell them about rotation then. She does have seeds to pass out if anyone would like to try to grow onions from seed for next spring and many take her up on it. Instructions for starting onion seeds are in the second year handbook. They are too late to try for a fall planting. They seeds are new and should still be good next year, onion seeds are short lived and are only recommended for one year.

Third year will involve learning how to save onion seeds. Everyone will be surprised to find out that onions need two years to seed out.

Other things I might throw in the chapter would be drying onions for onion flakes. Drying the green onion tops for seasonings. And how to freeze onions for soups, stews, etc. Might be something else in there depending on if it’s needed – like how to make your own bone meal. That might be a year four thing.

So if I have chapters like the above for each of the common veggies, fruits, herbs, grains, and small animals that most of us can handle on a larger suburban backyard or small farm – would it be interesting to you. I will have to put more interaction in the text so it is simply not a boring brain dump.

I will also have chapters on what I will called The Seven Foundations for a Prepared Life or something like that.

Financial Preparedness

Alternative incomes
Debt reduction
Savings
Bartering in the future
. Economic Knowledge

Food and Water Preparedness

Short-term for disasters and economic loss (up to 1 year)
Long-term (gardening, small animals, hunting)

Including growing feed for animals


Personal Safety – Home Defense

Guns
Physical conditioning
Other mild home defensive topics

Not militia related, but small home and local groups
Not hard-core survivalist


Infrastructure

Water
Electricity
Heat/Cool
Sewage
Transportation

Medical

First aid kits
Obtaining medical knowledge

Human and animal

Herbal medicine

Community

Family
Mutual support groups

Spiritual

Wisdom from all regions
Closer connections to church
Closer connections to nature and how it does not go against church

Like I said earlier, I don’t have this all thought out yet and probably will not have it until much later. I am thinking a long series 5,6,7, or more books covering the entire 5-year program and maybe even going on after that showing the results of RJ and Sera using what they learned during an event of some kind – might tie this into the book I started outlining late last year and have made one or two posts on – Political Fools.

I need opinions. This will be a very complex and detailed series. I want to know if it would be worthwhile to pursue it.

Email me and let me know or comment on the blog post I’m going to make with the last part of this newsletter.

Thanks and talk to you later,

Randy
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