What is productivity?

There is a huge amount of stupidity in this world and it is all I can do to keep from adding to it. So here is a nice picture of a bottle of Wyoming Whiskey to keep your ‘spirits’ up!

As I came across Nebraska toward Wyoming, I stopped at Cabela’s in Sidney, NE. I had to do a little research, but this is Cabela’s store number 1. That was cool and I had no idea how much stuff I needed there. Outside is a statue and monument to the Pony Express riders who came through this territory.

I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between this statue and the one of Sybil Ludington in Carmel, NY. Sybil was the sixteen year old daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington who was fighting the British in the Revolutionary War. On the night of April 26, 1777 Sybil Ludington rode her horse, Star, 40 miles through the night in Putnam County, New York to warn approximately 400 militiamen under the control of her father that British troops were planning to attack Danbury, Connecticut, where the Continental Army had a supply depot. On her way to gather her father’s troops, she warned the people of Danbury. It’s said that on the wild gallop, she also beat away a highwayman with a stick as she kept to her horse.

What really impresses me, though, is that according to the statue, unlike the Pony Express Rider immortalized in Peter Fillers’ statue, Sybil made her ride side-saddle. Now there’s some guts!

During the day of travel on Monday, I journeyed 180 miles to Laramie Wyoming and gained 5,000 feet in elevation as I topped the Sherman Mountains pass. I was greeted here by this lonesome pine.

Then I dropped fifteen hundred feet in ten miles to get into Laramie. I got fastened down and prepared for the night and a temperature drop to 20 with winds around 25 mph. I didn’t have to worry about the pipes freezing this time, though, as I ran out of water in my tank. Ah well. Bought ten gallons of water at the grocery store and have even managed to wash dishes on occasion!

I’m still searching for the perfect back cover picture of me for City Limits. I trimmed myself up all nice and neat and put on my new fedora from Cabela’s. Then snapped this selfie in Starbucks. Might work.

I then went over to the Coe Library on the UWyo campus where I presented the folks in the Chisum Collection Reading Room with copies of Devon Layne’s trilogy of Erotic Paranormal Romance Western Adventures. They already had the first in the library, but they were so much help when I visited in 2014 that I had to stop and thank them. They pulled out plat maps from 1868, city directories, histories of ranches and ranchers, and innumerable other resources. It took me a week in the library to do the research for these time travel novels.

And that brings me to City Limits.

I am very excited about this book and am currently looking for a venue in the greater Seattle area for my release party in June. Advance Review Copies will be available in limited number for both paperback and eBook in mid-May. I am actively looking for reviewers who have a forum—book blog, website, magazine, newspaper—to review the book by the release date. If you are, or know someone who is, a book reviewer, please let me know!

This is the biggest release I’ve had since The Gutenberg Rubric and I’m pretty darned stoked. In order to get the review copies ready, I also had to prepare and include fifteen hundred words from the beginning of the sequel, Wild Woods, so people would know there are more adventures of Gee yet to be had.

List Price: $15.00

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
326 pages

Elder Road LLC
ISBN-13: 978-1939275790
ISBN-10: 1939275792

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1939275806
BISAC: Fiction / Literary

Gee Evars stumbled into Rosebud Falls on Independence Day just in time to rescue a toddler from the rushing torrent of the Rose River. And to lose his memory. In an attempt to make Rosebud Falls his home, Gee becomes a local hero and inadvertently leads a revolt that changes the balance of power in the town. But will he ever know who he really is?

Well, I have a client book I’m working on editing, so I should get some productive work done today. Until next time!

Liberal in Kansas

Who knew there was a Liberal in Kansas??? I decided to stay a few days.

Well, to catch up a little, I was in Liberal, Kansas for ten days, including a few with temps in the teens and snow on the ground. Then at the first break, I moved to Oakley, Kansas and have been here for five days, including temps in the teens, a blizzard, and winds at 30-50 mph. Tomorrow, though, I plan to scoot farther north and will leave Kansas for Nebraska.

For the past 500 miles, I’ve only seen one kind of scenery. I expect that will continue until I turn west toward Wyoming.

Back to being Liberal in Kansas. Liberal is the adopted home of Dorothy Gale of The Wizard of Oz. Adopted, I say, because L. Frank Baum never said exactly where in Kansas Dorothy lived, so an enterprising local promoter a few dozen years ago petitioned the Governor of Kansas to declare Liberal as her home. Around that declaration, a museum and town theme has grown. I walked the Yellow Brick Road and toured the rather fun museum that includes several animatronic scenes from Oz and a few exhibits like a replica of Baum’s office and how he determined the name for the mythical land.

Which brings me to the discussion of being a liberal in Kansas. I’ve often been called a liberal, though I always thought of it as simply trying to be a good person. Now, though, I have reason to claim the name and try to purge it of all the neo-liberal and pseudo-conservative connotations.

A historical marker at the information center talked about Francisco Vasquez de Coronado traveled to this region in 1541. He, of course, was looking for gold and finding only a poor tribe of Indians and the flat plains, killed his guide for misleading him. Great way for Europeans to be introduced to the area. It was not, however, until the mid-1880s that the first white settler established his homestead here.

Seymour S. Rogers, the settler, was said to have been “mighty liberal” with water from his well. From this came the name for the city, established in 1888.

And I got to thinking about that. “He was mighty liberal.” In other words, he gave generously to those in need. Case closed. I am a liberal and I will accept no other definition. I give generously to those in need.

So stop whining. I’m not going to take away your guns.

I not going to engage in a debate about who deserves to benefit from my generosity, nor attempt to judge people’s worthiness or priority based on their color, sexual preference, nationality, legal immigrant status, age, religion, gender identity, sex (or lack thereof), ability to return the favor, or smell.

So stop telling me one person or class of people should be helped before another. If they are in need, they are in need. It isn’t a contest.

And stop telling me about your rights and all your programs to get the government to help the homeless, refugees, veterans, drug addicts, pets, and spotted owls. That’s not what being a liberal (or a conservative) is. It’s giving generously to those in need. You personally. Those other things might be good or bad or indifferent. Go argue them on a case by case basis. Start thinking about good government instead of neo-liberal and pseudo-conservative causes.

Be liberal. What excuse do you really have?