I'm still smiling over your good check-up results, Larry. If you haven't horded all of Sara's cookies, I might even say a nice word or two about your coffee. ;)

Scratch Vic's ears for me.

Morning, Story Spacers. The good news is Sara dropped off a batch of cookies. The bad news is I'll have hit the cookie jars any minute now. ;)

Sara, let me ask about your library e-book setup. Are the books text-to-speech or do they use human readers or both?

Just a reminder that the Project Gutenberg site has both kinds though the Text-to-Speech has the most selection. However, the site is free and has a huge inventory.

Coffee's on. That's the good news. The bad news is I'm responsible for the product. Sip it at your own risk. ;)

Later, lockdowners.

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(mumbles through a mouth-full of pie) I'd have posted sooner but this trying to figure out which of Gill's pies I like best is a real challenge.

I've been tinkering with a list of podcasts those not familiar with that medium might want to check out. That's why I found myself listening (for the first time ever) to an episode of 'Welcome to Night Vale'. Best I can describe it is to suggest it's a bit like an audio version of 'The Twilight Zone' that's on magic mushrooms.

Coffee is a major goodness.

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It is a major goodness to have Sugar Baby (Linda) among us even if it's at the proscribed six cyber foot interval.

The coffee's ready for consumption and there's hot water in the kettle for the tea sippers among us.

Keep on keeping on, y'all.

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Coffee's on and, if I do say so myself, it ain't too bad. There were a few cookies left (note that past tense). If any more are discovered now, they will be very fresh, thanks to Sara.

Y'all take good care of each other and your own-self.

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Yesterday Gill said her mother and some of her buddies were joking about all this forced togetherness possibly being tough on marriages. Well, I just heard that the divorce rate in China has gone way up thanks, authorities say, to C19.

My wife-unit is still in the hospital but is supposed to be moved from ICU to a regular hospital room today. If so, maybe I'll get a chance to check in on her.

We're told that into each life some rain must fall, but, at the moments, it sure feels like everybody has been left under an overactive waterfall.

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Larry is, as usual, correct-a-mundo about the coffee.

This latest plague from China is scary, but what is really frightening is the guy in the White House directing the US response. I'm in the Phoenix area, about four hours west of Sara. Since she is much better informed than me, Ilet's designate her our Arizona reporter. ;) :(

Did I mention the coffee is a goodness?

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Coffee's on. Strangely enough, all the scrum-del-e-licious oatmeal raisin cookies have vanished. (sigh) The good news is there WERE some rather good crumbs in the bottom of the cookie jar. Observant Spacers will have noted that use of, past tense. ;)

Y'all do the best you know how.

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Morning, y'all. Approximately a million thanks to Sara for the oatmeal raisin cookies.

Larry, glad I am to hear you got good news from the sawbones.

Scott, what you've done to this morning's pot of coffee is, well, let's just say it's commendable. (Don't want the boy to get the big head) ;)

At the moment, I have half a mug full of tolerably warmish coffee but no oatmeal raisin cookies. Please pardon me while I correct that imbalance.

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Folks always claimed ‘Buck’ Granderson got his nickname because he still had the first dollar he ever made. It wasn’t true, at least not the part about his name. I had it on very good authority that his parents, two otherwise sober and responsible individuals, named him Buckalew Lavelle Granderson. While few knew about his full name, those who did all agreed it must have been a long and...

Added 24 Feb 2020 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 14 | Avg Score 5 | Views 224 | 12 Comments

Listening In The Rain I'm a good listener; always have been. Especially here inside the cemetery—just sitting in my truck, listening to the rain, hearing it tell the story, and waiting for Holly. We don’t have nice winter weather around here, just cold and rainy. The only thing it’s good for is hunting, especially for deer. But I don't hunt—not anymore. Winter became my favorite season...

Added 30 Oct 2019 | Category Supernatural | Votes 16 | Avg Score 4.94 | Views 393 | 15 Comments

The Tumultuous Tale of the Tormented Terrier Well, let me tell you, it was like this. Once upon a time, our humble hovel was being run by the daughter-unit’s pet, a small, cute, cuddly and constantly yapping Yorkshire Terrier that answered to the name, Puh-Pet, but only if she happened to be in the mood. She loved nothing better than people-food treats and patroling the backyard. Since it...

Added 15 Aug 2019 | Category Memoirs | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 396 | 9 Comments

Newly polished toenails safely propped on the crowded coffee table, Darlene Barnes let out a long plume of cigarette smoke and waited for her friend to come back from the kitchen. Waiting in silence, however, had never been her 'thing'. The thirty-something bottled-blonde looked around at the empty doorway to the kitchen. "You know it's hard for me to believe you're this messed-up....

Added 13 May 2019 | Category Young Adult | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 656 | 4 Comments

“You guys are nuts.” The Skeptic was in rare form as the four men studied the petite singer flitting around on the dim stage.   “I mean, sure she’s cute, but in a small-town high school cheerleader sort of way. No way is she this smoking’ hot sex object you guys keep raving about. But…”   The Skeptic stopped as the singer approached the microphone stand. Waited for A bright spotlight...

Added 05 Feb 2019 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 886 | 8 Comments

For the benefit of any unsuspecting reader, let me state now that this is NOT an article about how one might become a contented courtesan or smiling strumpet. Nope, not even a titillated trollop. Sorry about any confusion, honest. Truth be told, this assault on good taste and English letters is concerned with the fine art of creating attention grabbing hooks in the opening lines of your...

Added 18 Dec 2018 | Category Musings | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 428 | 7 Comments

Now and Forever: a love story The dream was back--so were the eyes. They hovered in an angry sky just above the horizon, seeing everything but focusing on nothing. Amy knew those eyes—knew a time when they’d been filled with happiness and a love of life. But that had been before her brother came back from Vietnam. Young, naked, and skinny, she stood alone and vulnerable on a hill surrounded...

Added 14 Aug 2018 | Category Romance | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 372 | 5 Comments

How’s by you, Grady Lee? Funniest thing happened yesterday. This nice lady from the Veterans Administration stopped by and said what I really needed, I mean with my having gone from hard of seeing to being blinder than any known bat, was one of those so-called smart Apple iPhones. I told her I knew a bit about the thing, how you made gestures to work it, and let her know I'd been...

Added 04 Aug 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 14 | Avg Score 5 | Views 497 | 12 Comments

On a hot Friday afternoon in the summer of 1970, a young nursing student left work at the VA hospital, and hurried out to the nearby bus stop on First Avenue. The usual stop-and-go Friday traffic appeared to be stuck on stop. From the open windows of a gypsy cab came the sound of an all-news station. “In other national news, a Defense Department spokesman said 18,000 of the 31,000 US...

Added 28 Feb 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 12 | Avg Score 5 | Views 712 | 10 Comments

   The official plan, as carefully explained to all parental units, had called for Amy and Libby to share a motel room. The guys would stay with Mark’s roommate who was supposed to be in summer school. In reality, Mark’s roommate had just flunked out. And no one questioned that Bob and Libby would have the motel room to themselves. Once they were dropped off, Mark and Amy headed for...

Added 01 Nov 2017 | Category General | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 880 | 2 Comments