Tag: Stay Home

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snow and ice

As big swaths of our country are enveloped in snow and ice, with places struggling with the freezing cold that don’t generally have to worry about it, it could be a wake up call about climate change. I have serious doubts it will have that effect however.

The willful ignorance in this country, even with the evidence right before our eyes, is a glaringly American trait, and it is not one of our good ones. I remember our first winter in El Paso, Texas. There was a freak snowstorm and just a few inches of snow had the city shut down. They didn’t have the infrastructure to handle it. Cars and trucks were sliding off of roadways, people couldn’t get their cars out of driveways that had iced over.

For us, it was amusing, having come from Upstate New York where that much snow wouldn’t have even warranted a snow day, but for the native El Pasoans, it was a nightmare. The only plows in the city were at the airport and there weren’t enough of them to do much more than make I-10 marginally passable.

The only place locals had seen that much white on the ground was at White Sands.

I’m seeing a lot of that same energy in the pictures I’m seeing from friends and loved ones across the south. People who do not understand the level of danger in driving on roads that have iced over with tires that were not made for driving in snow and ice. I saw a clip yesterday of an SUV backing out of a driveway onto a street that looked clear, only to just slide sideways down the road.

Wherever you are today, Readers, I hope you stay safe and warm. Avoid putting your life, and the lives of others, in danger.

Cover Photo by Damian McCoig on Unsplash

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stay the hell at home

I was going to start this post with some trite comment about surviving another week in this apocalyptic hell, but realized almost immediately that not everybody has survived.  So many people I know has lost someone in the last few weeks, or has a loved one in the hospital that they can’t visit.  Nearly everyone I know has fears that a vulnerable person they love might contract this virus.

And, while we all need some light hearted humor in times like these, what we don’t need is flippant commentary that makes light of the situation.  We are standing at a precipice with our incompetent government poised behind us with a cattle prod, ready to send us hurtling to our deaths on the rocks below.

I try not to get overly political on this blog, but we can’t afford to not be political in this situation.  It is pretty clear to me that those at the top care nothing for the rest of us, and the idiots that are being goaded into protesting to end the very protections that are keeping us semi-safe, care nothing for people they do not know.  It’s going to take major losses of people who they do know and care about to reach through the cult-like group think that keeps them doing the bidding of a man who has used public office to rake in millions of dollars.

How can anybody look at the death toll numbers that climb and climb every single day and not realize that we are not doing enough to curb this thing?  How can they see stories and posts from our doctors and nurses who are fighting tooth and nail to save people without the proper PPE and with no effective treatment plan, and still demand their right to go to the movies or the beach or wherever the hell else it is they think is so damned important?

I know someone who lost her husband this weekend.  He was thirty six.  She had to drive him to the doors of the ER and leave him there because they wouldn’t let her in.  In less than twenty four hours he was in the ICU on a ventilator, unable to talk.  Her last words to his face were, “Call me when you know anything. I love you.”

He died alone, with a stranger in a mask beside him, holding his phone to his ear as his wife tried to say goodbye through choked tears.  He leaves behind a wife and three kids who are now under quarantine having to rely on the kindness of strangers to keep them fed.  Right now, they aren’t sure where he contracted the virus, as he made every attempt to be safe, but he had taken a job as a delivery driver after getting laid off from his regular job.  He had said he just wanted to help in this time of crisis.

His desire to help got him killed.

Make no mistake, Readers, this virus is a killer, and it doesn’t care how old you are or how healthy you are. It comes out of nowhere and can strike down a person in a week, maybe less.

So, stay the hell at home please!  The life you save could be your own, or your mother’s or your spouse’s, your kids, your neighbor.  Please be safe.  Love one another. Be kind.  These are weird times.

 

Cover Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

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the earth awakens

Hey there, Readers!  I hope this Easter Sunday finds you well and in good spirits.  I haven’t celebrated Easter in over 20 years, but I have many friends and family who still do.  I have a complicated relationship with Easter, to be honest.

Living alone, as I do, and not having kids around has done a lot to reinforce the “out of sight, out of mind” aspect of what Easter was for me as a kid, then a deeply religious Christian, then an aunt with small nieces.  Once the kids were old enough to not really care about the Easter bunny and all the attendant hoopla, the holiday just sort of faded from prominence for me.

However, this time of year is so full of rebirth and the absolutely amazing way that nature wakes, making food grow out of dirt, decorating our environment with flowers and greenery, and that is certainly something I can celebrate.

This evening, I plan on celebrating in my own way, with a tasty adult beverage, and reading the second chapter of Through Shade and Shadow over on my Facebook author’s page.  If you missed the first chapter, it’s loaded up on my You Tube Channel, and I’ve put it here for your happy viewing.

I will link them all in a playlist to make it easier for y’all to watch in a continuous stream.  If the weather stays nice this evening, I may even move this chapter outdoors.

I’m knee deep in consolidating feedback from my beta readers on The Blood Witch, and once I have it all noted down in my printed out copy, I plan to do a slow read through it to mark up with my own notes/additions, etc, before I bring it back to the computer.

I really love these characters, and I can’t wait until I can share them with all of you, though that might be a while, as I plan to do the “query” fun to maybe find an actual agent to represent me, because as much as I appreciate my current publisher, I am ready to move beyond what they can provide.

In the meantime, I’m sure we can find other stuff to keep you entertained.

Did you know I have an Instagram?   To help relieve my own boredom, I’ve started an impromptu photo project with a Porg named Joe and his good friend, the Child from the Mandalorian.  The hashtag #theadventuresofbabyyodaandporgjoe will take you to their shenanigans, though I missed tagging the first few.  (Yes, I really am that dork).

Okay, on that note, I should get my day going.  My edits are staring at me and my coffee’s gone cold.  I should probably think about eating something too.

I hope you have the best day. Stay safe, stay home and wash your hands!  Love you all!

Cover Photo by Sebastian Staines on Unsplash