Emily's father had knee replacement surgery Monday and came through okay, although she tells me he's having pain issues. She's going to be down there taking care of him for a week or two.

I drove her down Sunday, and drove back Monday, because there was quite literally no one to replace me for my whole work rotation. (Which isn't to say I'm ( Read more... )

Missed the big wedding, heard rumors of a new comedy duo named Laurel and Yanni, spent some time on a major earthquake fault line along the Mississippi River (during a severe thunderstorm), hardly been online at all ...

I'm not sure which those should go into the good or the bad category of vacationing. But since we didn't get swallowed up by the ( Read more... )

I took a few photos when we were in Missouri to see the total eclipse, and I thought I'd pass some on. Not of the eclipse itself--the video I posted a few days ago is about the best I could do with that.

We were at the Meramec State Park near Sullivan, Missouri. You can learn more about it here:

http://www.meramecpark.com/

I've been describing it as ( Read more... )

A lousy video, but what I thought you'd be interested in is the reaction of the crowd ( Read more... )

Have you ever looked back at something you did, and realized you’d been warned all along not to do it?
I don’t mean like when you were a kid, and your mom told you not to go out without your hat and gloves. Although come to think of it, sorry, mom: My mottled, aching hands tell me you were right. No, I’m talking about when you get those little signs ( Read more... )

I miss summer already, and it’s still mostly summer out. Still, there’s one thing good thing about cold weather-no bugs. I’d really rather have insects than winter (spiders aren’t technically insects), but yeah, they do bug me.
Earlier this summer, while we were down in Missouri, we found this on the car windshield:

( Read more... )

"If you really want to find out who your friends are, ask them to help you move ( Read more... )

We're back!

Didn't notice we were gone, did you? We were, for almost a week, to attend a wedding down in southeast Missouri. It turns out you're not supposed to announce to all the burglars in town when you're leaving, so this is after the fact. We had a great time, except that harvest is in full swing down there and so were my allergies. Naturally ( Read more... )

My blog tour continues with fellow Ink-Slinger Kay Kauffman , whose blog is entitled, “Suddenly They All Died. The End.” Finally, someone finds the secret to trimming down those super-long fantasy novels!

We talk about story inspiration in general and for The No-Campfire Girls, as well as the horrors of not getting burned, and end with a ( Read more... )

            We’re preparing to send a press release about The No-Campfire Girls to all sorts of media in Missouri and Indiana, so we’ll see what kind of attention that gets ( Read more... )