Stephen Mark Rainey's Blog, page 5

Life Is Life

The roses are already starting to wither, only days after they bloomed; life is short. I am no gardener, though I do like flowers just fine. It's that these roses are kind of special to me, in that they date back well over a century. They originally belonged to my great-grandmother in Gainesville, GA, going back to the late 19th century (whether they actually predated her, I do not know). When my great-grandmother died in 1967, my grandmother—my mom's mom—transplanted them to her place, also in Gainesville, where they thrived for the duration of my grandparents' lifetimes. After my grandmother died in 1988, my mom transplanted them to our house here in Virginia, where they have lived ever since. And after Mom left us in 2020, these roses have bloomed every year. I kind of hope they will thrive even after I am gone.

This Saturday, May 17, 2025—Book Signing at Magnolia & Main Books, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Our little corner of southwest Virginia has a small but well-stocked and beautifully appointed bookshop called Magnolia & Main Books , which you can find—perhaps shockingly!—at the corner of Magnolia and Main Streets in Ridgeway, Virginia. The proprietor, Traci Morton, loves books, her business, and actively supporting local writers. Last year, she hosted a booksigning for me, which turned out to be well attended and profitable for both her business and me ( see "Books, Brews, and Bashes," July 21, 2024 ). 
I'll be doing another signing at Magnolia & Main from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, May 17. A wide selection of my books will be available, including my latest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond , the setting of which loosely based on the Martinsville/Henry County area.

If you're local, please pay Magnolia & Main Books a visit!
“This is cosmic horror done right!”—Publishers Weekly's
starred review of The House at Black Tooth Pond

Oh, Shenandoah

Last week was my birthday, this week is Brugger's birthday, and a while back, we figured we needed to celebrate these dastardly days...somewhere, somehow. She recently had fairly serious surgery, and even while recuperating, she's been working her ass off on several freelance projects; so, we decided it was only proper to collaborate with our regular traveling companions Terry & Beth and plot an outing together. We settled on Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a few hours north of home, where the scenery is beautiful, the mood is mellow, and the wineries, distilleries, and breweries are plentiful. Our destination: a lovely VRBO at the Wintergreen Resort , which Terry located for us. Wintergreen is best known as a ski resort, but off-season, it turns out to be very affordable and hardly any less beautiful than under a coating of snow.  Thursday, May 8, 2025
Today, just after lunchtime, we embarked on a three-hour tour... well, okay, a drive... mostly up U.S. Highway 29. In Gretna, just north of Danville, we stopped so I could hunt a new geocache—"The Tavern Phone" ( GCB2WY0 )—placed by old friend Klaussinator (a.k.a. Mike), who hails from the Danville area. Mike is known for his ingenious gadget caches, and this one proved to be another winner (the photo there will give you a good idea of what I was looking for). The setting was the historic Yates Tavern , which dates back to the year 1750. A lovely spot, and a fun cache.  The drive up wasn't too bad, though once on the winding, two-lane mountain roads, traffic picked up, and it was pretty slow. We arrived in Wintergreen around four o'clock, very shortly after Terry & Beth. We hung out in our lodgings for a time, enjoying the scenery, a few munchies, and a spot of wine. Six-ish, we sought dinner at a nearby restaurant called The Edge , right at the top of one of the ski runs. There weren't many patrons at the place, but the service, the drinks, and the food proved top-notch across the board. I had a dirty martini and a plate of chicken wings with hot honey, which, if it came down to it, I might be willing to kill for.  A mellow evening back at our lodgings, though Kimberly had to fit in some more work, as her workload is overwhelming. Still, I'm pretty sure she'd rather bring some work with her on an otherwise relaxing trip than stay home and work, work, work.
On tomorrow's docket: hitting a few wineries and getting together with old friends, writer Elizabeth Massie and artist Cortney Skinner. It's been way, way too long since we've seen them. Living room of our Wintergreen VRBO The traditional, first-glass-of-wine toast
A view from the balcony of our Wintergreen VRBO The smushy cache log, signed
Friday, May 9, 2025
Hey, it's Brugger's birthday! I'd given her a card and a gift before we left home, so today, she got a loving pat on the head (okay, yes, and a nice kissy). I didn't sleep in this morning; instead, I got up relatively early, downed some coffee and half a bagel, and set out walking toward a couple of geocaches less than a mile away. The mountain was pretty well socked in with fog—visibility was less than a hundred feet in any direction for a while—but as I hoofed it higher up the slope, the sun began to burn away the mist. Sadly, most of the caches in the vicinity have enough did-not-find logs to suggest they're missing, but I proceeded to search anyway. The first one, not unexpectedly, was a bust. The second one had a higher difficulty rating, so I expected something a bit unusual. It lurked at an overlook along the hiking trail, which offered a helluva fine view.  I hunted for a good while before I finally noticed something a little out of place. And, indeed, that was the cache. The logsheet was a smushy, damp mess but I still managed to get my "Damned Rodan" signature on it (shortened to "DR" in this case, as you can see in the photo). A happy success here. Yay!
It wasn't exactly hot outside, but very humid, and by Yog, we are on a mountain! In places, a very steep mountain. So, by the time I hoofed it back to our lodgings, I looked like I'd been dumped in a dirty swimming pool. The shower that followed felt pretty heavenly. Heading out on the misty trail Overlooking one of the ski slopes as the fog burns away
Once everyone had fixed themselves up as much as they could be fixed, we headed out to explore the Shenandoah Valley wine country. Before any wining, though, we needed lunch, so we found a place that looked apt: the Iron & Ale tavern, just down the mountain a ways at a golf course. Decent enough food and drink, and there was a cache on the premises. Woot. After foodz, we headed to Flying Fox Winery , in nearby Afton. We all had flights so we could sample several of their available vintages, and in general, we were pleased with their offerings; Flying Fox is the only winery I've ever been to that produces vermouth (it's all sweet here rather than dry). I found it enjoyable enough.
From there, we trucked over to Hazy Mountain Vineyards & Brewery . This was an expansive facility, with a touch of Spanish decor; a little incongruous with the setting, we thought, but it was comfortable, and the views of the nearby mountains were incredible. Good, though not superlative wine.
Once done there, we had a little time before we were supposed to meet Cortney & Beth, and the prospect of some coffee appealed to the lot of us. On the map, we found a Trager Brothers Coffee Shop about ten minutes down the road, so we decided to go for it. Somewhat to our surprise, we found ourselves at the Rockfish Valley Community Center , and at first, we thought we must have ended up at the wrong place. But no! The building, which looked like an old school, actually has a bunch of stuff in it—a thrift store, various artisan studios, a recreation area, and...coffee! We snagged some Juan Valdez and sat outside, where we made the acquaintance of several friendly dogs who were hanging out and playing with their owners. What a cool and unexpected discovery this was.   Then we rode up to Blue Mountain Brewery to meet Cortney & Beth, whom I don't believe we have seen in person since the Scares That Care convention in Williamsburg in 2019. They arrived at the restaurant just before us, so we settled ourselves at a nice outside table and commenced to making mischief (and maybe a little merry). The food hit the spot—for me, a pepper jelly and bacon burger with a Full Nelson IPA to accompany. Stories aplenty flew left and right, and I think we all got on famously. Silly us, though—we were having such a good time that none of us thought to take any pictures. I guess that's what happens when you get old and your mind starts slipping....   That was pretty much it for the frivolities. Our gang returned to our lodgings, where Brugger buckled down to do some work and I did the requisite blogging. Here 'tis.
And so...till tomorrow. It's Brugger's birthday! Look at that old lady! Is not their birthdays, but they still old The view from the terrace at Hazy Mountain Vineyards Strangest-looking bunch of vultures ever I think I found a little wood pecker
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Once awake, caffeinated, and dressed, I set out walking after a couple ofcaches in the opposite direction I went yesterday. It was a bit farther—and ahell of a lot steeper—than yesterday morning's stroll. This here IS a mountain!My caching results were basically the same as yesterday: one find and one DNF(again, the container is clearly missing). If I put this much energy into mywalks every day, I'd either be healthier than a horse or dead.

Ms. Beth wasn't feeling up to the local winery tour we had originally envisioned, so we opted to go exploring...wherever. A little later...and, why, yes, we found ourselves at some interesting locations. Our first stop was at Bold Rock Cidery, not far out of Wintergreen, where Brugger and I both tried the Imperial Berry Cider, which we found right pleasing (she even bought a six-pack to bring home). For our lunch vittles, I went for some very good smoked chicken wings, and Brugger had some kind of salad thingy.

You know, since the days that I used to travel regularly between Greensboro and Waynesboro, this area has grown immensely; back when, there was little but farmland, woods, and a handful of mercantile establishments. I do typically frown on rampant commercial development, but hereabouts, the developers have largely blended the structures into the environment rather than destroyed it, and these businesses bring in considerable tourist dollars; so, to my mind, that's the best of all worlds. 

From there, we decided to venture into Waynesboro and see if we might come upon any interesting shops or bars. Not so much, at least in downtown, though I did find a cool geocache fashioned by a couple of cachers who go by the handle of Emvirginia—none other than friends Cortney & Beth. So, we decided to head over to nearby Staunton, which is home to numerous writers and artists of my acquaintance. I thought seriously about giving them a holler, but since this was such a spur-of-the-moment decision, it seemed a somewhat awkward proposition. Therefore, Ms. B. and I resolved that we should make a special trip here in the not-too-distant future, specifically to hang out with these folks who clearly need hanging out with.

We found Staunton to be a fairly hopping place. The main downtown streets were closed to traffic, and the local bars and eateries took over the spaces. I snagged a few caches, and then we plopped ourselves in a lovely little bistro called Accordia, where we sampled several spirits, followed by coffee, at least for Terry and me. Great atmosphere and service, so I recommend this place highly. Whenever we come back, both Brugger and I would very much like to revisit Accordia.

Afterward, I found a few Adventure Lab Cache stages, and then we hit the road back to Wintergreen. On this leg, we took Mount Torrey Road, which was one of the most scenic, secluded back roads I've traveled in a long time. There was a cache at Mt. Torrey Furnace, a historic location that caught my eye, so we stopped so I could hunt it. I found it quickly, and all of us really enjoyed the unexpected discovery.

By now, it was dinnertime, so we again hit The Edge at Wintergreen Resort. I did have another of their first-rate martinis, but I at least ate marginally healthier this time—a green salad with beets, red peppers, mandarin oranges, and grilled chicken, which I found delicious. Brugger had some kind of a salad thingy.

Once back at our lodgings, we settled in for the rest of the evening. Brugger had work to do, and I had blogging to do. Terry chowed on some leftover cheesecake, and I drank coffee (which might be a mistake at this hour; we shall see).

We head back home tomorrow. I'm gonna call this trip another big winner in the annals of trips with our Creeple Peoples. The lunacy was delicious from start to finish.

Creeple People at Bold Rock Cidery L: Wonder who might have done this clrver thing! R: Saturday afternoon in downtown Staunton The remains of the old Mount Torry Iron Furnace

Distant Early Warning: The Year of the Fugue Devil

If you know about the Fugue Devil, it knows about you. If you see the Fugue Devil, it will come for you.

My novelette, "The Fugue Devil," is the cornerstone story of my fiction collection Fugue Devil: Resurgence, published in 2022 by Black Raven Books. The novelette (and its sequel, "The Devil's Eye") are built on the premise that many decades ago, summoned by the power of music, the Fugue Devil—a dreadful, malevolent entity from another place—entered our world.

Every seventeen years, in Sylvan County, Virginia, on the Autumn Equinox, the Fugue Devil appears to satiate its hunger for unsuspecting souls. The events of the original tale occur in 1974, those in "The Devil's Eye" in 1991, and in various other of my works, there are suggestions that something terrible happened in the designated area in 2008. Well, guess what. It's 2025, so this is the year the Fugue Devil is set to appear again on the Autumn Equinox, which falls on September 22.

Fugue Devil: Resurgence features the two "Fugue Devil" novelettes, along with seventeen other stories, many of which are set in the same continuity. What a great year to visit (or perhaps even revisit) the Fugue Devil! Not only that, my novels, The Lebo Coven (2004) and The House at Black Tooth Pond (recently released from Macabre Ink/Crossroad Press), as well as numerous other tales of mine, share common themes, settings, and characters with the world of the Fugue Devil, so allow me to invite you to visit legend-haunted Sylvan County and the towns of Aiken Mill ("The Cold Case Capital of the World"), Beckham, and Barren Creek.
It's a dark and chilling place, but I think you will enjoy your visit. You may also read about the genesis of "The Fugue Devil" in an older blog entry, "The Equinox Devil," here .
Click on the book covers to order from Amazon.com.  

Another Geo-Morning

Werewolf tracks!
Here in Martinsville, getting to geocaches is a bit more difficult and time-consuming than when we lived in Greensboro, but a pretty good crop of new ones have come out both north and south of here. For my birthday, I made an enjoyable jaunt southward; then, yesterday, Ms. B. and I went to Greensboro to run a bunch of errands as well as attend a Cinco de Mayo caching event hosted by friends Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) & Punkins19 (a.k.a. Linda); and today, I got up early and drove to Rocky Mount, about 30 miles up the road, where I picked up a nice first-to-find on a new trail cache at Waid Park and then a couple of park & grabs.  Several hundred caches have come out (and keep coming out) around North Carolina's Piedmont Triad and even beyond, so I've been whittling my way through these, sometimes on my own, sometimes with the No-Dead-Weight Irregulars. These are all exclusively of the park & grab variety, but hey, it's still geocaching. I do need to revisit Greensboro soon to do maintenance on a few of my trail hides that have either gone missing or fallen into disrepair. Most likely next week. I expect I'll be able to fit in a number of park & grabs on that trip as well. Happy hunting, and all that. Lots of trees fallen over the trail. Duck, you sucker! Mind  those revenuers!

Two-Thirds of 666

Well, another revolution around the sun completed—66 of them now. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, all that good stuff. I may not be quite the energetic, daft young fellow I was yesterday, but I'm doing all right. Ms. B. had surgery earlier this week, so I've been playing almost-nurse maid for a couple of days, but she's doing as well as can be expected, and she felt up to going out for dinner tonight (though not up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Chateau Morrisette, which was our first choice prior to knowing her surgery schedule.

But I jump ahead. I woke up right about sun-up, buried by the usual furry suspects, though I lay in bed for another hour or so. Once up and about, I decided to head down toward Reidsville for some traditional birthday geocaching. There were 17 mostly park & grab caches awaiting my presence, so I knocked them out and got back home at lunchtime, so I treated myself to a grilled cheese sandwich. Hopefully, all that cheesy, buttery goodness won't subtract a year from the life clock. Lord knows I haven't eaten all that healthily since the first of the year. But I've been walking my ass off daily; as of now, my 365-day average daily number of steps is 8,890 (4.03 miles per day).  So, for dinner, we went to TAD Tavern, Martinsville's most upscale restaurant (which I hope is doing okay because there wasn't much of a crowd tonight). I had a fantastic bison steak, with martini, and Kim had a brussels sprout salad with chicken and a Chardonnay. Then we came home and spent the usual late evening watching TV together (Godzilla vs. Destroyah and Dexter: Original Sin).  Ms. B. gave me a Godzilla figure as a present. Any birthday with Godzilla is a lovely birthday. Hopefully, we'll all make it till next year and there will be more Godzilla. Peace out.

THE NIGHTMARE FRONTIER Now Available in Paperback!

Please allow me to interrupt the day's more critical issues (over which I've been venting my brain perhaps more than most people want to hear) to inform you that my 2010 novel, The Nightmare Frontier , up until now available in ebook and audiobook format, is now out as a trade paperback from Macabre Ink/Crossroad Press. Back in the day, this one had something of a quiet release and never gained as much attraction as I feel it deserved. It's a novel I'm rather fond of—something of a melange of folk and cosmic horror, set in rural West Virginia. The paperback contains a few general revisions and corrects a handful of errors present in the original release. Here's a little summary for you:
The town of Silver Ridge, West Virginia, has disappeared from the face of the earth. A vast chasm prevents any living soul from crossing into the community. From above, only an impenetrable layer of mist marks the spot where the town had existed. Inside Silver Ridge, the nightmare is just beginning.  Confined by this unimaginable barrier, the townspeople find themselves confronted by the denizens of a distant dimension: horrifying creatures that intend to transform the valley town into an outpost hospitable to their existence. To these extra-dimensional travelers, human beings are nothing more than pests to be exterminated.
Russ Copeland and Debra Harrington are determined to resist… but as they face death to restore Silver Ridge to its rightful place on Earth, they find that their true enemy may not be the incomprehensible invaders, but an insidious evil whose origin is closer to home than they can imagine.
#
“REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE to read a horror novel that actually made you sweat with dread and your hand shake ever-so-slightly as you turned the page? Remember what it was like to feel your heart thud against your chest as the plight of the characters became your own? Stephen Mark Rainey’s The Nightmare Frontier delivers the goods. This is the Good, Real Stuff. From its powerful opening in the jungles of Vietnam to its nerve-wracking finale, this novel never releases its grip on the reader’s nerves, brains, and heart.”—Gary A. Braunbeck, author of In Silent Graves, Things Left Behind, and others#  The paperback—the backcover and interior of which I was pleased to be able to design myself—is only $13.99 and available NOW. Please check it out! Order The Nightmare Frontier in Paperback from Amazon.com

Alice Loweecey's DEMONS & RAMEN

Here is a little plug for Demons & Ramen , the newest novel by friend and fellow author, Alice Loweecey. It's a darkly humorous journey through loss and the search for redemption. Please give this one a look!
"Exorcism is easy. Living with loss is fucking impossible."

Father Denis Kaine has spent his life-fighting demons, but nothing could prepare him for losing his twin brother, Xavier. When the Vatican declares Xavier's death a suicide, Denis knows better. Something made his brother pull the trigger. And he's gonna hunt it down.

Fueled by rage, whiskey, and a reckless disregard for his own survival, Denis scours the dark underbelly of Rome, exorcising every creature that slithers up from Hell to get in his way. But his search takes a dangerous turn when he stumbles upon a Vatican-sealed crypt and accidentally releases something far older, far more powerful than any demon he's ever faced.

She's not a ghost. She's not a demon. But she’s hungry, and she’s not leaving without raiding his fridge.

Now, exiled from the Church and stuck with a thousand year old roommate named Emma, Denis is forced into an uneasy alliance. If he wants to know the truth about Xavier's death, he'll need Emma’s help. Armed with a messenger bag full of holy water and their habit of making bad decisions, they dive into the darkest corners of faith, power, and the Vatican's buried secrets.

And something is watching. Hell isn't the only thing hunting him.
Order from Amazon.com
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Midland Meanderings

Since Brugger's folks in Midland, Michigan, are getting up there in years and require more help than they did once upon a time, we do our best to venture northward and spend time with them several times a year. This was the week for our Spring trip, which coincidentally fell over Easter weekend. Waiting for Del & Fern to pick us up from the airport as the rain pours down Friday, April 18, 2025
Because getting an even remotely reasonable rate for flights typically means traveling at the least desirable times of day, Brugger and I got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove to Greensboro for a 7:15 a.m. Delta Airlines flight to Saginaw (MBS) by way of Detroit (DTW). Both outbound flights were slow to get off the ground but made up time in the air, so we arrived in Saginaw right on time at 11:15 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Del & Fern arrived to pick us up, and so, off we zoomed to Casa di Brugger. Rain was coming down in blinding sheets, and driving proved kind of hazardous, but we thankfully made it to our destination damp but none the worse for wear.  I'd had a miserable night, with less than three hours of sleep, so once we were settled in, Brugger and I half-zonked out for a little while. We needed groceries and other provisions, so once she and I had at least partly regained our senses, we made our traditional first-day-in-Midland pilgrimage to Meijer...which was a freaking madhouse. Usually, things in this town are pretty mellow, but Judas Priest...I've never seen such a frenetic, wall-to-wall, oppressive bunch of human beings seething and roiling in confined spaces since I lived in Chicago. Oy! Anyhoo, we stocked up with goodies, I grabbed a geocache, and back to the barn we flew.  For dinner, Ms. B. and I headed to Molasses , where they smoke the best dead animal this side of Hillsborough, NC. The Three Amigos sandwich—loaded with brisket, pulled pork, and bacon—may be the finest concoction of smoked meats anywhere. The accompanying Maple Old Fashioned didn't cause me any grief, either. Once done, I sought and found another nearby geocache, and then we returned to the casa, to spend the rest of the evening in traditional fashion: with the family in front of the downstairs TV.

I didn't make it very late. The Three Amigos sandwich with dill potato salad at Molasses in Midland Saturday, April 19, 2025 Having been seriously sleep deprived the past few nights, I slept in a little later than usual this morning. Once up and reasonably refreshed, I set out after some geocaches, the first couple of which were out on the Père Marquette Rail Trail, near downtown Midland. The morning started out dreary and cold, with a stiff wind blowing, but after a while, the sun came out and I warmed up very quickly. Once off the trail, I parked the car at a fairly central location near downtown and set out on foot after several more caches. Most of them were quick and easy, but at one of them, I dropped the unique container as I was returning it to its proper location, and...horror of horrors...I was unable to find it again. I never like to be responsible for losing anyone's cache, so I drove up to Meijer, picked up some implements to fashion a replacement, and returned to the scene of the accident. It's not the world's most permanent solution, but I hope the substitute container will hold up until the cache owner can set it back to rights, if he so desires.  At the Jefferson Street overpass above Highway U.S. 10, one of the nationwide "Hands Off!" protests of the current administration was going on, so I headed over to support the effort; I didn't realize an advance sign-up was required, though (I'm guessing because a limited number of people could occupy the bridge at the same time), so I sufficed to drive by and offer some serious honking and waving to show solidarity. I don't know how much good these protests stand a chance of doing, but it is heartening to see the growing pushback against the malignant policies of a narcissistic, moronic tool who's done more damage to this country, our international relations/alliances, and basic human rights than any other in my lifetime, if not ever. I'm glad to see increasing resistance from official quarters as well, and it's more than about time.  For dinner, Ms. B. slow-cooked a pork tenderloin all day to make Bahn-Mi rice bowls. We'd made this dish at home a while back, and it was good, so the folks were keen on trying it out. This time... it was even better. One of Brugger's finest concoctions! 
Art under the U.S. 10 overpass on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail The trail along the Titabawassee River The Currie Street suspension bridge viewed from the trail View of the "Hands-Off" bridge takeover (from the event's webpage) Brugger's pulled pork banh mi rice bowl. Delicious! Afterward, I spent some time writing, and Ms. B. had freelance work she needed to complete. Eventually, we retired to the downstairs den for our traditional family time, mainly watching some of Del & Fern's favorite evening shows. A most welcome, mellow evening.

Tomorrow...believe it or not...we are going to church with the folks.

Sunday, April 20, 2025 There's a bing-bonging clock in the house that chimes the hour, starting at 6:00 a.m., and it usually doesn't wake me up, but today it did. I lay there for a while but didn't go back to sleep, so when the chiming started again at 7:00, I staggered on out of bed. It was as well that I did because I wanted to start prepping our midday dinner fairly early. Fern had very kindly prepared some breakfast for me—waffles and sausage, which were delicious—so once I'd laid waste to those and fortified myself with coffee, I commenced to chopping up steaks, browning the meat in the skillet, and dropping it in the crock pot. If all goes as planned, it'll turn into Beef Stroganoff somewhere around 1:00 p.m.   I still had plenty of time before getting ready for church, so I went walking after a couple of newer geocaches less than a mile from the casa. I found those with no problem and then hoofed it back home.   So, off to church we went, and Del & Fern saw many of their friends they hadn't seen in some time, many of whom knew Kim. The services there are "contemporary," with a band that plays modern Christian music. Today, it was an uplifting, to-the-point message with lots of rocking Christian tunes. If you follow me, you probably know I'm not exactly "of the faith," but I grew up in it, and my experiences were generally positive. I know a lot of people who can't say that. For today, the only thing that has really pissed me off was Trump's disgusting, wholly false, and inappropriate Easter message. "Unfit" is a gross understatement. Whatever failings this country has ever had in the past—with our policies, our politicians, our relationships—Trump exemplifies everything that we as a country should never be.

Thing is, in that church we went to this morning, that awful human being clearly has an awful lot of devoted fans. I do not approve.   The Beef Stroganoff turned out to be fantastic. As with most of my concoctions, I'll probably never quite reproduce it since I rarely use an actual recipe, and when I do, I usually turn it inside out before all is said and done. And dammit, I forgot to buy parsley, which I like to throw on top of the dish, both for garnish and because parsley is delicious.
During the afternoon, I put in some serious writing time and a bit of fussing on Facebook. Ms. B. had to work on some more freelance projects, but after she finished, we needed to make another provision run to Meijer. I found some oysters, so I made oyster stew for my supper—which was fantastic, no matter what any of the non-aficionados of snotty shellfish in the house (which is all of them) might tell you. And we ended the shopping outing by hunting a geocache, which was marginally challenging and a lot painful, given the particular variety of greenery sheltering its hiding place.   I may have overtaxed my brain "debating" some contentious points with people on Facebook, but sometimes, it's what I must do. Apart from that, for the rest of the evening, we spent our traditional family time in front of the television. And that's all kinds of perfect. Midland Nazarene Church The plated Beef Stroganoff (sans parsley). Delicious!
Monday, April 21, 2025 I woke up before dawn to the sound of crashing thunder and heavy raindrops on the roof. The storm didn't last long, though, so I went back to sleep and remained oblivious even through the bing-bonging of the living room clock until I crawled out of bed about 8:00 a.m. Coffee. Coffee! COFFEE!  Midland is full of squirrels, more than anyplace I've ever visited, I'm pretty sure. Gray squirrels, black squirrels,  red squirrels, and big brown fox squirrels. In Virginia, we have lots of grays, mostly small and skinny, but here, like most of the wildife, squirrels grow big and chubby. And most of them are tamer than our skittish little guys back home. Once Ms. B. got up and going, she went out to the backyard to feed critters, and one big fox squirrel came around and immediately made friends with her. This one didn't eat out of her hand, as some have been known to do here, but he was perfectly relaxed and ready for Ms. DeMille to take his close-up.
Sometimes, one finds odd things when out geocaching. The rain appeared to have let up for a while, so I headed out mid-morning to seek a few caches. I found all but one of them, which appeared to be missing; I found only a wire hanger where there should have been a container. At the base of its host tree, though, there were two dead little critters with a few rocks and sticks placed around them. I'm guessing one or more youngsters found the poor animals but also found the cache and removed it. I notified the cache owner, who indicated he'll replace it.  On Ashman Street, there's a house whose yard, every Halloween, is decorated with about a hundred skeletons, including one of the twelve-foot-tall variety. Looks like the big fellow has become a permanent fixture there. Fun stuff. After lunch, the rest of the family went on a shopping excursion, while I stayed home to work on my current novel-in-progress. It was a productive session.  For a long time now, it has been clear that telemarketers have mercilessly targeted my in-laws. Because their landline rings every five to ten minutes all day, every day, I've recommended that Fern turn off the ringer and let the calls go straight to their answering machine; however, she doesn't much want to do that because they also receive a handful of legitimate calls each day. After a persistent, infuriating series of bell rings this afternoon, Fern finally yelled at the caller, "No, I'm not interested, I'm tired hearing from you, and why don't you just go into your bathroom and play with yourself?!"   You tell 'em, Fern.
 
Family time and bed. And g'night.


Tuesday, April 22, 2025 Coffee and bacon and eggs, oh my! What a fine breakfast!

Kimberly had to take her mom to a doctor appointment this morning, so I spent the morning getting in a couple of miles of walking and then writing. Again, I made decent progress. Once they got back, we went out and helped her folks with some yard work that needed doing.

Ms. B. wanted to visit an arts & crafts store in Saginaw, about thirty minutes away, so after lunch, we drove over. She headed into the store, and I headed after a couple of nearby geocaches. One of the containers was a 3-D-printed tiki figure (at left), which was kind of cool. About 30 minutes after I dropped her off, Brugger called, so I returned to pick her up. From there, we went after a couple of more hides, my favorite being one that was about 20 feet up in a big pine tree. Tree caches are among my favorite kinds, and it's been a long time since I've had a good tree climb, so this one really hit the spot. I didn't even fall out and go boom!
L: Starting the ascent; R: Hey, where's the old dude?
Oh, there he is! At the cache
That pretty much did it for the afternoon caching, and so, from there, we returned to Midland and decided to visit Whichcraft Taproom , one of our semi-regular bar & grill hangouts in downtown. We enjoyed a couple of refreshing beverages, and then we hauled ourselves out for dinner at Fuji Sushi , the best of the Japanese/Asian restaurants we've found in Midland (there are some newer ones we haven't tried, so we'll be giving them a go on a future trip, no doubt). The sushi was very, very good, though—as with so many restaurants now—instead of a large variety of fish, you get three pieces of three different fishies. Definitely tasty, but I much prefer having several options on the plate.

Back at the casa, I had a Lovecraft eZine book discussion podcast to attend. Tonight's story discussion was "The Dunwich Horror," which is one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft tales. It was a good discussion, as we all had unique perspectives on the story, and several of us rated it very differently in the "HPL Favorites" column. Tonight's discussion was for Patreon subscribers only, so if you have any interest in Lovecraftian horror—or cosmic horror in general—you might want to consider supporting the eZine. The amount of content and entertainment that Mike Davis provides is exceptional.   The usual family time in the family room followed (and I worked on this blog). Tomorrow is the last day of this Midland trip for us, but our flight doesn't leave till early evening, so we'll have most of the day here before we leave. Hopefully, we won't have any flight delays; the late-night arrivals back in Greensboro have tended to be problematic in recent days.   We'll see. For now, nighty-night.


Wednesday, April 23, 2025 The family had a few guests pretty early this morning—Kim's cousins JoyAnn and Rosemary, and JoyAnn's husband, Bill. We spent a good while having enjoyable chats, largely about cats. Following that, Kim had to take her Dad to a doctor appointment, so I put in my daily steps and made some forward progress with the current novel.  Late in the afternoon, we packed up to leave and headed out to the Saginaw airport (MBS). Our departing flight was slightly delayed, but it wasn't significant enough to impact our connection in Detroit. I must say, they make very good, very spicy bloody marys at the single little bar & grill at MBS. Once in Detroit, we found that our Greensboro flight was also delayed, but again, not significantly. We had just enough time to grab fair-to-middlin' sandwiches from Subway for worse-than-extortionate prices.  We arrived back in Greensboro around 11:00 p.m., less than an hour later than our scheduled arrival time. And wonder of wonders, by the time we got down to baggage claim, our single suitcase was already there waiting for us. Hooray! Anyway, we hit the road for Martinsville and got home just about midnight. We'd found some hot red-pepper stuffed olives in Midland, and I couldn't resist having a martini nightcap with a couple of those. HOOOO, YEAH, they is delicious!
All in all, it was a nice trip to see the folks, and I'm especially glad that we've been able to give them some help (Kimberly doing a hell of a lot, of course), particularly with things that have become more physically challenging for them. I so hope that we'll be able to keep this arrangement going for the foreseeable future.  A new cache in Martinsville awaited my attention once we returned. A nice first-to-find on Thursday, April 24, at 8:15 a.m. Yay!

Old Dude at Bryan Nowak's "All Things Writing"

If you're fucking brave, you can watch and listen to Bryan Nowak's ALL THINGS WRITING podcast featuring a weird old dude. It's about The House at Black Tooth Pond , Blue Devil Island , H.P. Lovecraft, monsters... all kinds of scary stuff. Go ahead...prove your mettle!