I'm Still Here...

I've been busy working on a bunch of stuff lately. And I got caught in the big nasty storm we had last week and had to spend the night away from home. That sucked. Anyway, I've basically dropped my other blog about the publication of 3rd edition D&D since there's been little to no interest in it and no feedback whatsoever. Plus, I can't spare the money to buy more of the products anyway. So, it will stay dormant for the time being.

The project I mentioned last time is a 'what-if' scenario involving the potential creation of a Dragonlance trilogy of movies back during the huge fantasy bonanza we got in the 2000s. I've been working with it pretty steadily for the past week and a half, but I ran into a few snags and had to go back to redo stuff at the beginning (and thus invalidate most of what I'd worked on already). But, that's the way it goes. So, I'm going to polish up the beginning and post some of it here for people to look at. If it's well received, I'll continue developing it here.

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoyed my Top Ten Adventures list. I'm considering doing something else in that vein in the near future. Top Ten lists are a pretty easy way to generate blog content, although it might be seen as lazy. Still, they do give insight into the writer's mindset. So they're not totally self-indulgent. Just mostly.

Anyway, it's late (past midnight here), so it's off to bed and early to rise to make more bread. Yay.

Not a Good Week...

My apologies for the lack of posting the last few days. As you can see, things weren't exactly great. Thursday saw a very narrow escape from what could have been much, much worse. Trying to avoid a snowplow on the road, I stupidly hit the brakes and the car slid off the road, missing the guardrail by maybe three inches, going into a gully and hitting a sign and a tree. Had we gone over the guardrail, it's very likely the car would have flipped over into the gully, and the snow was waist-deep. It's only by the grace of God that things weren't worse. The tow truck driver was able to pull it out of the gully and bring it to the farm; we were less than a mile down the road from our house when it happened, so it was an easy trip.

The insurance adjuster hasn't been by yet to look at the car, but since the front wheel is completely off and the front end is a total mess, I'd say it's pretty much a guaranteed write-off. We'll see what happens.

So, I'll get back to posting properly soon enough; I'm still a bit shaken up by the experience since Garrett, our youngest and autistic child, was in the back seat. He's been complaining about his wrist, so we're going to get him to the doctor's office on Monday to get him checked out. It doesn't look broken or sprained, but we'll find out Monday.

Another New Year...

Okay, I see that people have actually been visiting the blog despite my lack of activity over the past six months, so I guess I really need to get back to it. And now seems as good a time as any.

So, a quick review of 2023: I published four books at the beginning of the year, then fell off the writing wagon as my work situation drastically changed and I became a full-time farmer. We raised about 125 meat chickens, learned how to butcher them ourselves, actually DID butcher some of them ourselves, and raised five pigs from weaning. Three of those pigs are now in the freezer; two of them are breeders, and will be giving us bacon seeds in the spring. We also got a bunch of chickens and a coop from a homesteader who moved to North Carolina last month, so we currently have about forty egg-laying chickens, two pigs, and three bunnies. And a crap-ton of rats, which stubbornly refuse to die off.

That's 2023 in a nutshell. Now, on to 2024.

So, what are the goals for this year? Well, I have a few. First we're going to be getting a greenhouse in the spring. I'm going to be growing a LOT of tomatoes and peppers for sale, as well as a bunch of other veggies. We're also planning to ramp up our chicken flock, particularly in the meat-bird category; the goal for 2024 is at least 200 chickens. We're also going to get five or six more pigs for meat, since Samson and Delilah's kids will take a year to grow.

Why are we ramping up like this? Because I'm going to be selling the veggies to a local business that will turn all that fresh, naturally-grown produce into meals for people to buy. And we grew our customer base for our meat as well. We're only selling to locals and friends, since we're not a commercial farm. But it definitely provides us with some income.

So, that's the farm. What about the writing? I candidly admit I failed miserably to meet any of my writing goals after publishing that fourth book in April. The switch to farming really upended everything, and I found myself constantly putting off the writing in favor of other things that seemed more important. I'm not going to make that mistake this year; I'm still aiming for ten books to be published in 2024. I'm starting the first one tonight; I don't have anything nearly complete that I can just whip off in a few days and get ready for publication.

I'm also going to take the books I've already published and get them on other platforms besides Amazon. I'm not sure how much work that will take, but if I can add them onto Indigo, that's the main Canadian book seller (like Barnes & Noble in the States). It will certainly increase my potential audience, which can't hurt.

Another interesting development is that my wife finally gave in on playing Dungeons & Dragons. Not that she's going to ever play, but since our middle son wants to play, she finally relented, and we've got a biweekly game going at a local place with some of his friends. I'm the DM, at least for now, and we'll see how long it goes on for. We're starting a new campaign, a conversion of the Shackled City campaign from twenty years ago, converted to 1st edition Advanced D&D. It's going to be a blast.

I'm also going to be more diligent in keeping the blog going; I really wasn't expecting this many people to come see what I've been doing, so it's really great to see some traffic. And I'll have to give people a reason to keep coming back, so it's time to get this done. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up consistently all year, but I'm certainly going to make every effort. And I plan on doing the A to Z challenge in April again as well, with another writing theme.

One more thing that we have going on: My son and I are going to France next year, April of 2025. It's a school trip, with a strong history theme. We'll be going to Vimy Ridge, Normandy, Versailles, and a day trip to the Netherlands as well to see how much they love Canada there. I can't wait to go; it's going to be amazing.

Alright, it's another new year, another set of resolutions, and it's going to be the biggest year yet for me, for the family, for the farm, and for the blog.

Combining Two Passions

I have been quite focused on the farm lately; understandable, since it's finally planting season here on Prince Edward Island, so I've been doing a lot of digging in the ground to get the seeds and transplants in. And I haven't touched the writing side of the blog since the end of the April A to Z Challenge. But that doesn't mean I'm not writing anything.

I'm working on both the new Meterra book as well as another Cameron Vail mystery. But I'm also looking at doing something completely different: A children's picture book. Not with art by me, since I utterly suck at that. But I'm starting a book about a city kid whose family moves to a farm. It's a topic I have some familiarity with, after all. I've got some great ideas to work with, and it is starting to take shape. I'll have to find someone who can do the art, of course.

I'll keep this updated as I go along; it's an idea I've been toying with for a while, and now it's ready to go, writing-wise.

A Very Big Announcement

Well, there's been a lot of soul searching, a lot of discussion with my wife, and a lot of praying. And the decision has been made. It was actually made a couple of weeks ago, but the turning point is just around the corner. So, here it is:

As of this Friday, I am retiring.

Okay, that's rather dramatic. But I am leaving my job, and I'm not looking for another one. I've been looking, but nothing has come up that would fit the circumstances our family is in. And so, as of Friday I am going to be home, full-time, working on the farm. Raising the animals, growing food, doing building projects...yeah, I'm taking the plunge.

Why? Especially in this economy, with jobs being hard to find and inflation hitting us hard? Because it's necessary. And it's a leap of faith, no question. But the truth is, this was inevitable. This is what we've been moving toward for three years now, ever since we started looking eastward for our family move.

I've spent my life jumping from job to job, hobby to hobby, always looking for something that was the right fit. I've worked in fast food, book stores, grocery, teaching, music, insurance, telemarketing, telephone customer service, bookkeeping...and nothing, not even the book stores, gave me a sense of satisfaction, or made me feel I was doing something truly worthwhile.

And ever since we moved here, I've had that feeling when I worked on the farm, whether it was feeding the chickens, digging out a garden, planting seeds, even building a rabbit hutch. This feels like it matters, like nothing else ever has. For the past three years, I've been drawn more and more to this life, and I'm finally surrendering. And while it's scary as hell, it's also exciting and amazing at the same time.

Frankly, when I stop to think about it, it's not at all surprising. After all, what was the very first thing God commanded Adam and Eve to do, after telling them to have lots of kids? He commanded them to till the land and keep it, and to have dominion over the land and the creatures on it. It doesn't get any more elemental than that. So really, I'm just doing what God told me to do.

So far, we've had a lot of support from friends and neighbours, as well as family. Which is gratifying, to say the least, not to mention surprising. In a good way. We will need that moral support in the months to come as we go through this change.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that I'm going to be able to give the gardens the attention they will need. Instead of a couple of days a week plus evenings, I'll be full-time in the gardens, using them to their fullest capacity. I'm planning to enroll in a couple of courses that will help me maximize the garden's output so we have enough not only for ourselves, but also to sell. After all, there are still bills to pay. And there's a lot of work to do on the farm that I just don't have time to do when working at a full-time job, things that absolutely have to get done.

It's a big deal, I know. And it's going to be an incredible journey, one that I wish I could have taken years ago, but one that I wasn't ready to take until now. But I am ready, and so is the rest of the family. And yes, I'm still going to write. And I'll have more time for that, too.

Weekend Thoughts

Well, we didn't get a D&D game in today; none of the other players could make it. We're going to reschedule for next weekend and see how it goes.

So, today was a quiet day; we ended up going to town to meet with Dannielle at the close of the Canada Games, which weren't nearly as big a deal as we had thought they would be. We were expecting traffic jams, no parking, tons of tourists...frankly, other than the blue and green volunteer jackets that were all over the place, it was hard to tell anything was going on at all. We didn't end up seeing any events; timing just didn't work out.

But, after we met with her, we went to a little place that was having a big book sale. Turns out they had bought a storage unit that was full of books, and they were selling them off at dirt-cheap prices. Well, I'm not one to turn down an opportunity to rummage though bookshelves. I did find a few interesting ones, including a Pierre Berton book, The Last Spike, about the Canadian transcontinental railroad. I'm definitely giving that one a close read.

I also picked up three Erle Stanley Gardner books, encompassing five Perry Mason novels. I'm in the mystery writing mood again, so it's useful research and idea-mining. The other books were a few books for Garrett, mainly Bible stories and the like. He's starting to show real progress in his reading and learning; he was spelling words today with beanbag letters, and he's learned the Hail Mary prayer for bedtime. The Lord's Prayer is next. We might even have the opportunity to get him his First Communion if he keeps doing this well.

Tax season is upon us, and it sucks. But, it's got to be done, so it's back to the grind tomorrow. But in the meantime, I'm still getting some writing done. It's going to be a new Cameron Vail mystery, so I'm feeling that groove now. I've been rereading The Missing Magnate, the second book I published, to get me back in the spirit of things, too. You should take a look at it as well; it's the one I wrote in eleven days, and it's pretty good, if I do say so myself. It's available in e-book format at an Amazon website near you.

Tool Tales

A long, long time ago, in a province far, far away, lived a man my wife calls 'Dad'. His name was Roy, and he was a very handy fellow. He could frame a house, build all kinds of decorative and practical things for the house and yard, and he had a huge garage full of tools, of which he was justifiably proud.

In that garage hung a sign with instructions for people who might be there to work on their cars, or who otherwise needed to use those tools. The sign read as follows:

1. Glen is not allowed to touch any tools.

2. If you need Glen to get you a tool, see Rule #1.

These rules were put in place after I set a new world record by breaking four screwdrivers and a hammer in the span of two days. Just like people who kill every plant they touch, or politicians who blow every dime of taxpayer money they can find, I was a menace to the tool community. Tables saws had built-in warning sirens that went off if I approached within ten feet. Wrenches would grease themselves to keep me from grasping them. It was a nightmare.

Fast forward to today, and here I am reading books on how to build things on a farm or homestead. I already built a chicken coop, two chicken tractors and a pigpen in the past couple of years; now, it's time to get serious. We've got big plans for this farm, and it's going to require me to not only learn to use the tools, but actually buy my own instead of using my son's collection.

It's crazy where life will take us sometimes. But Dannielle and I have finally got a grasp on what we want to do with this place and how we can make it succeed. I'm not going to spill any beans just yet, although beans will be involved somewhere down the line. So will a wider variety of animals; pigs, chickens and bunnies are just the start.

It's going to be a wild ride; I can't wait to see how it goes.

Reclaiming my Heritage

Most people who know me have no clue that English isn't my first language. But it isn't; my first language was French. I started speaking French when I was two years old, and English when I was four. My father wanted me to learn French so I could have more opportunities in Canada. I attended French schools until Grade 5; then, we moved to Ontario. I still held onto my French for a while, all the way though high school, but after that I simply never used it. Fast forward over thirty years, and it's barely there.

I can mostly follow a conversation in French now, but I lost the knack for thinking in the language. That's the key to any language, really. You have to be able to think using the concepts and words of that language. You can't just translate in your head, unless you're one of those incredibly rare polyglots.

So, I've decided that this year, I'm going to get my French back. I'm going to do this in a couple of ways. I'm watching some online videos to get my mind trained in thinking in the language again. I'm also picking up my study of Latin. Why Latin? Because it's the most fundamental language of Western civilization, that's why. French is a modified, vernacular form of Latin. French borrowed a lot of words from Latin, almost directly. So, learning Latin will help bring back some of the French I lost, as well as helping me to get some of the French I never learned. Even when I was still top of my class in high school French, my vocabulary was no better than that of a ten-year-old, since that's how old I was when I stopped using it regularly.

Living and working here on Prince Edward Island means coming into contact with quite a few French-speakers. Being able to communicate in that language will help in my dealings with them. Besides, I still love French, and it would be fun to watch Montreal Canadiens games in the correct language again.

So, it's off to French lessons once again. It should be fun; I can't wait to go on this linguistic adventure.

Post #400!

That's a milestone. Unfortunately, blog traffic isn't all that impressive right now. Still, I'm going to keep this streak going; people will stop by once in a while.

Since there's nothing much to talk about, I'll just call this another streak post and get back to writing the book. That's what really matters, anyway.

Under the Weather

Well, that sucks. I left the island for a few hours to drive Mom to Moncton on New Year's Day, and apparently I picked up some sort of New Brunswick bug while I was there. I feel right icky. Fortunately, the housecoat I got for Christmas is as warm as a volcano on the sun. So at least I'm not shivering.

I wouldn't normally talk about this, but I've decided that I want to make a commitment to blogging every day this year, even if it's just a short one. Besides, there isn't that much to talk about in the world of writing at the moment.

Except, of course, my new book, Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga. It's available now on Amazon at all locations. Check it out, and support indie publishing today!

Starting Fresh

Well, that was quite the hiatus. Easily the longest one since I started this blog. Sometimes, life gets crazy busy, and things just fall by the wayside. This, unfortunately, was one of them. I finally decided that the best way to get back to blogging was to just get it done. I'm still not writing like I wanted to this year, but that's going to pick up again as well.

For those who care, I've been dealing with a lot of work-related stuff. Christmas came and went, and didn't feel all that special this year. We didn't do much decorating, no baking at all, and even Christmas morning felt...blah. Sad, really, but after nearly two years of Covidmania, people are getting burned out.

So, what to talk about? I don't really have much to say, even though it's been a while, but I just want to get back into the habit of posting. Daily is the goal, but even if it's just weeknights, that would be an improvement.

It's nice to see that people were still reading the blog while I was away. It's encouraging to think that people will still be interested in what I have to say. So, I'm going to get back to the root that got me started on this blog: writing.

I've written posts about heroes, I've written about heroic movies and books, and I've written about the inspiration those heroes provide. I've got more things to say, especially on the subject of writing about those heroes. I just have to take the time to actually say them.

One of the things that I find frustrating about writing is our limited vocabulary. Not that the English language is lacking in words; it's got more than just about any other language except maybe Chinese. But for the majority of the population, they don't use the wide variety of words available. The best example I've ever seen of this is from a comedian named John Branyan, who did a fantastic sketch on the Three Little Pigs. I heartily recommend it.

So, for the modern writer, there is a fine line to walk between unleashing the richness of the language and making sure the readers understand what you're saying. Go too far in one direction, and you're basically writing Dr. Seuss. Encroach deeply upon the other side of that line, and suddenly you are affecting a manner viewed as pretentious superiority.

In my case, I don't pretend to have a working vocabulary to match Shakespeare, but I am smarter than the average bear. I have Gary Gygax to thank, at least in part, since I expanded my vocabulary as a young man, reading High Gygaxian English many years ago from the AD&D rulebooks. He could have given Shakespeare a run for his money. Okay, maybe not Shakespeare, but definitely Milton.

Since I've been gone so long, I thought I'd offer a freebie to the loyal readers who have still come by on occasion. It's an excerpt from a short story I wrote a couple of years ago; the full version is available in the Universe of Possibilities book, available now on Amazon.

THE RAVEN

March 16, 1937

            “Run, Johnny!” shouted Jerome as the two scurried away from the menacing figure before them. Johnny tripped over a garbage can and sprawled on the ground. Jerome ignored his fallen friend and ran for the alley entrance. He had almost reached the street when he felt a cord fall over his head and around his neck. The cord grew tight, and he fell to the ground, frantically trying to get the cord off. A black bird landed on his chest and pecked at his face, and he screamed as he tried to beat the bird away.

            Johnny scrambled to his feet, fumbling for his gun. He tried to draw a bead on the trenchcoated figure before him, but his hands were shaking with fear. The strange figure jumped up into the air and landed astride his chest, knocking the gun out of his nerveless fingers. A sharp punch to the jaw put him to sleep.

            Jerome kept swatting at the bird, which nimbly hopped out of his reach, fluttering just above him. Then the bird disappeared, replaced by the mysterious figure that was now reaching for Jerome’s collar. Jerome was yanked to his feet and lifted off the ground with a single hand. Desperately, he tried to pull the iron grip apart without success.

            “Please, don’t hurt me!” he begged.

            “That sounds familiar,” whispered the figure before him. Jerome saw a black mask over the man’s eyes under a black fedora, with dark eyes that pierced his soul as he whimpered in terror. “Isn’t that what that man said before you pistol-whipped him, Jerome?”

            “How—how do you know my name?” said Jerome, even more afraid than before.

            “I know all about the scum that infests this city,” replied the masked man. “And I want you to take a message to your boss. Tell Roscoe Travis that his days of running the Irish underworld are coming to an end. Tell him that all the money and power won’t save him from me.”

            “I—I—”

            The masked man drew Jerome even closer, his eyes as hard and black as the hardest coal. “And tell him that he’s enjoyed his place in the sun long enough. The night is falling, and so is his empire.” He threw Jerome to the ground beside the unconscious Johnny. Then a flash of light exploded around him in a puff of smoke. Within seconds it had dissipated, and the masked man was gone.

            Jerome looked around the alley wildly, but saw nothing other than a small note left on Johnny’s chest. With a trembling hand, he opened it. Written in a florid but legible script were the words:

            “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’”

Remember, support Indie publishing, because it's the wave of the future! Cheers!

Time's A Wasting...

They say time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you're doing stuff that isn't so fun. But it flies faster when you're distracted by everything else, taking you away from what really matters. In my case, there are a few things that have fallen by the wayside, including this blog. Not that this blog is the most important thing in my life; my family is far higher on the list. But I need to get things back on track, and this blog is one of the things that has been derailed.

It's funny...turning 51 a couple of months ago didn't really seem...real. I mean, obviously it happened; I can read a calendar and do basic math, so yeah, I'm 51 years old. To put that in perspective, if I'm scheduled to live for a century, I'm already on the second half of that. If I've got less, then time is winding down. Either way, it's time to take serious stock of where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going.

Where I've been is simple enough; I've talked about that before, and won't go over it again now. Where I am is smack-dab in middle age, looking backward and forward at the same time. Where I am going...well, that's the real question, isn't it? I haven't done much writing whatsoever since moving to Prince Edward Island; I've done farm stuff and work, but not much on the creative side. And that does frustrate me.

This farm is important to our family; it's a chance to start over in a new home, a new way of living, and a new part of the country that I hadn't seen in nearly fifty years (and had no memory of whatsoever). But my writing matters, too. And I've let myself get too distracted by everything under the sun. It's easy to get distracted in today's world; distractions are all over the place, even in your own home. The internet, in particular, is a big distraction. I've toyed with the idea of just canceling it altogether; we've got plenty of entertainment to keep us busy for the rest of our lives if we wanted to, and arguing with strangers on the internet really isn't a productive use of time. In fact, after a discussion with my family tonight, the arguing with strangers is over and done with. I'll lurk about in a few places, but I'm no longer going to be an active, anonymous commenter on political or religious matters.

So, what's next? I want to get back to regular blogging, and especially regular writing. I was working on a pulp short story that I need to get back to, so I'm going to sign off here and revisit that. The Arabian Adventures read-through/review will continue once I get myself back on track. And of course, the farm. Winter is rapidly approaching, and we've got work to do. The skating rink will be back, bigger and better than before.

And if all goes well, the second half will be an improvement over the first.

End of Term...Finally!

Oh, it's been a rough week and a bit. Four courses finishing up, four major assignments...but I finally got it all done. It's not going to be perfect, but I'm happy with what I got done, especially in the past few days. I should have known it was coming, but Saaturday morning found me at the hospital in Summerside getting treated for a damn kidney stone. Stress does that sometimes.

But, I'm pretty much over it, and I'm done with this term. Two more courses to go this summer, and I'm finally finished. And they are going to be easy courses, unlike the past term of assignment-heavy stuff. Music notation and Canadian history, and that's it. I'm so very looking forward to being done.

The last assignment I had was for my History of Modern Britain course. My final essay's topic was Sir Richard Burton, the man who did the sixteen-volume translation of The Thousand Nights and a Night, which I am still reading night by night. I picked him as a topic because he's an excellent example of the kind of man we don't have anymore, a man who went out and did things, great things, and wrote about them for everyone to read. By today's standards, he was the very definition of 'toxic masculinity.' But by any normal standards, he was the kind of man we need a lot more of these days. Unapologetically masculine, self-assured, and a man who was both brilliant and strong. He combined a lot of the best traits mankind has to offer. Sure, he was a Victorian Brit, and didn't think too highly of the cultures he visited and wrote about, but let's be honest: They were backwards, by the standards of the Christian West. It might be politically incorrect to say it, but it's the truth.

Anyway, it was a topic that spoke to me, and I hope I did it (and him) justice.

Now, it's a few weeks of relative peace before heading back into the fray one last time. I can't wait to be done with it.

250 Posts!

Well, there's a milestone. 250 posts since I began this blog last year. Not quite one per day, but a decent pace so far. I still need to be more consistent, of course, but I'll get there.

So, the highlights of my foray into blogging so far would definitely be the Let's Read for Traveller, which has driven most of the traffic I've had. I'm really hoping to get a chance to play this game at some point, because it looks like it would be a lot of fun. I still have a whole book to go through, though, so it's going to be a fun ride to finish it off.

I'm looking forward to the A-Z blog challenge, which I didn't do last year. I'm going to have to get a couple of books finished before then, since they're going to tie into the A-Z concept I've got. With school, work and family taking up time, it's going to be a challenge to get them finished and published by the end of March. Well, sleep is overrated.

So, aside from finishing the Let's Read, I'm considering any other long-term series of posts that might be of interest to readers. Another read-through of a classic game, perhaps? I have a copy of the original Champions rules I could do. Or I could get back to reviewing those Amazing Stories magazines. Those are tough, since I have a lot of reading to do on those.

Actually, while I already said I wouldn't do it, I might consider reviewing the Thousand Nights and a Night books as I go. I'm already up to the seventh night, and there's been quite a bit going on. Maybe I'll throw in a post per week to recap the week's readings. Yeah, that sounds like a fun thing to do. I'll start that on Sunday. In fact, that would be a decent Sunday project.

So, a thank you to those of you who have been reading the blog, whether it's just for the newbie Traveller stuff or because you happen to be a relative. This is a labor of love; I'm not monetizing this blog, I just want to express stuff I can't put into a book and sell. And, if you were ever inspired to buy one of my books because of a blog post I made, then I thank you twice as much.

Back with more Traveller tomorrow; the Worlds book looks like a lot of fun.

Time Marches On

Well, that week went by fast...I probably need to be a little more punctual in doing these blog posts.

So, we're still waiting for winter to arrive. I'm looking forward to the kids' reactions when they realize just how much snow we can expect out here. I remember from when I was kid how much snow shows up in the Maritimes, but for them, it's going to be a whole new experience.

I mean, we weren't exactly living in Texas or Florida before; the kids know what snow is, they saw some every year. But southwestern Ontario doesn't get all that much snow, especially compared to out here. Southwestern Ontario gets the ironic nickname of 'Canada's Banana Belt,' but it really does have a much milder climate than here. Major snowstorms were infrequent at best. When they did hit, they were nasty. But they were rare.

I'm going to videotape their reactions when they wake up that morning.

Our oldest isn't a kid anymore; he's eighteen now. That was a big week for him. Now he's officially old enough to do the job he's been doing since we moved here. Congratulations, Ashton!

One of the fun things about moving into an old house is the exploring. My wife was ready to head out to Summerside to buy some Christmas lights and decorations for the house when Ashton went up to the attic, which we haven't been in yet. It's not hard to find, and there are stairs leading up to it; we just never took the time. Well, he saved Mom a trip; we found a ton of Christmas decorations and other stuff up there. Including a very old, very fat Oxford Dictionary. This sucker is massive. It was published in 1957, and it's the 'Shorter Oxford Dictionary'. It's over 2500 pages long. The front cover is taped on. Fortunately, it was in a plastic bag, so it didn't get moldy or ruined in the attic after however long it was up there. That is a sweet treasure to find.

It's a short entry tonight, but at least there is one. I'm avoiding the more controversial topics of the day (the U.S. election, the continuing saga of COVID) because I'd rather talk about more interesting things, like writing. It's almost time for another Cameron Vail mystery to appear. I should be done soon; I haven't been able to work on it as much as I wanted to due to school assignments and a new job, but it's coming along. The plot's all there; it's just a matter of getting it done. I expect it will be available on Amazon by the end of the month. Hopefully sooner.

In the meantime, if you'd like to refresh your memory on who Cameron Vail is, check out his first adventure, Final Exam, available on Amazon right now.

Settling In

 It's been a crazy week; now that we're off quarantine and are no longer viewed as lepers, we had a lot to do. Exploring the area, checking out Summerside, changing license plates on the cars...we're getting there.

One of the interesting things about moving so far away is that you have to get used to a whole new weather system. Obviously, we knew we'd be in for more snow; that much I remember from when I was a kid here in the Maritimes. But I wasn't expecting the winds.

Our neighbour across the road let us know that the winds we had last night weren't more than 80-90 km/h. They get better numbers in the winter. And the wind can go on for a few days, blowing snow right across the area. My son's snowplow will get some good work in over the winter.

Mind you, the winds we got the other night were impressive enough, even if they didn't get to hurricane or even gale-force levels. Actually, 80-90 is a gale. It felt like one, too; it tore a huge limb off a tree in the front yard. We just spent the afternoon cleaning it up and cutting it down into logs. The winds also pulled some siding off the garage. And there's stronger winds to come, apparently. I'm looking forward to it.

Of course, moving across the country means more than just weather; things work differently in another province. We got a striking example of that when we went to the nearest provincial government office to get our drivers' licenses and plates changed over. In Ontario, putting a graphic license plate on your vehicle costs over $80, not including taxes. In PEI, the graphic plate costs a grand total of...$15. Stickers are cheaper, too. It's quite eye-opening.

We're slowly unpacking the remaining boxes of stuff; I would like to get them all dealt with before the snow flies, because it's a pain to carry them through three-foot snow drifts. Especially when the boxes are full of heavy books. Blankets and clothes, those are fine. But books? Yikes. And I have a lot of books.

Speaking of books, I haven't been talking about them very much lately. I haven't been talking much at all lately, for that matter. I'm still not back up to the blogging schedule I want. But, I do have a few books available on Amazon for people to look at. If you want sci-fi, you'll want to check out Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, which is as pulpy as I could come up with. No allegories, no allusions to real-world events. Just action and adventure in space, purely for the fun of it. Check it out; you won't regret it.

Getting Back into the Groove

Getting out of the habit of writing and blogging regularly is a lot easier than getting back into it. No excuses, really, just a matter of sitting down and actually doing it. It's been two weeks today since we arrived in our new home. The stress of the trip here has dissipated; I'm not going to relive it now. We're out of quarantine, which is worth celebrating. Naturally, I headed to town to check out the nearest bookstore. It's small, but it turns out they do sell books by local talent. Since I live here now, I'll qualify as 'local.' Getting my books into a store would be pretty sweet. I'll be contacting the manager tomorrow.

My middle son started school today. I'm not a big fan, obviously; homeschooling is infinitely superior. But he needs friends; he's far, far more social than I am. So, we compromised. He'll go to school, but he'll still do the homeschooling work we assign him as well. I hope it works out.

The oldest is having a blast; he went to Charlottetown today, which is just over an hour away. Of course, he was just there to check out the hardware stores (Canadian Tire, Princess Auto), but he's got a lot of stuff to do, both on the farm and out working, wherever that may be.

But the first thing we did out of quarantine was head for water. There's a nice beach about twelve minutes away. My wife got some pictures and made a short video; the youngest son and I walked out quite a ways on the low-tide beach, checking out the salt-smelling air and looking at shells on the sand. The kids even found a little hermit crab, just a baby. It was beautiful.

We're really going to enjoy being here; it's an amazing place, as thousands of tourists can attest. But for us, it's home now. And it's going to be great. It's quiet, peaceful, and slowed-down. None of the craziness of the big cities, since the biggest city here is only about 45,000 people. I can work with that. Maybe I'll go in a new writing direction. After I finish the next book, of course. Which I need to get back to. So, I'll make it a short entry tonight and come back with more fun stuff tomorrow. Because this has to be a habit again.

Finally!

Well, that took longer than I expected...

We arrived a day later than we'd planned, but we're here! This small hobby farm is now our small hobby farm. We're stuck in quarantine until next Monday afternoon, but we're here! We were supposed to have our internet installed before we got here, but it didn't happen until today. So, I'm now three weeks behind on most of my studies. Piece of cake.

We're all tired and such from unpacking, but I didn't want to not make a blog post. It's been almost two weeks, after all, and I'm sure my readers (not that there are many) missed my incisive wit and sharp reasoning. Or, for the most part, they just want more Traveller stuff. That will happen tomorrow.

For now, though, it's just a note to say I'm back, and I'll be blogging regularly again. Internet on a farm isn't very fast, but it doesn't have to be to upload a blog post. I'll also be getting back to writing once I've gotten myself somewhat caught up on my studies, too. I'm really, really behind. On a lot of things. But it feels good to be writing anything again.

So, this is Prince Edward Island, and I'm very happy to be here. The trip here wasn't exactly filled with joy, and we were very cranky when we finally got here last Tuesday. The last day was especially unpleasant; thanks to the 'Atlantic travel bubble' that the Maritime provinces have installed, I felt like I was travelling to PEI with a detour through East Germany, circa 1973. "May we see your papers, please?" Seriously, it was like that.

If I feel like reliving the pain, I'll write up a summary of our trip and post it; things definitely didn't go as expected, or as intended. But, at least we're here. And that will be good enough.

Final Stretch

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest...except when you're moving across the country. Then, it's a day of sheer exhaustion. We filled another ten feet of the moving bin today. We've got about five feet to go, and we still have to put patio furniture, dining room chairs, a desk, a lounging chair...and we've got until Tuesday morning to get it done. It's the most challenging game of 3D Tetris I've ever played.

Still, it was a good day for getting stuff done. The paperwork for the other end is completed, and the trip is planned out. All we need to do is finish stuffing the bin, locking it up tight, and pack up the trailer and vehicles for the road. Oh, and my son and I are, of course, still working our jobs right up until the end. Because why shouldn't we drive ourselves completely mental in this process?

Friday is the big day, the day we're officially homeless until we get to Prince Edward Island. I'm looking forward to it, not least because we're arriving on my fiftieth birthday. Now that is how you celebrate a milestone birthday, with a new house.

I hope I'll be able to resume regular blogging and a proper writing schedule after that. I've still got lots of ideas percolating, not to mention another Cameron Vail mystery to finish writing. Yes, I was working on one when this whole moving thing got started, and I've been a wee bit sidetracked. But it's going to happen once we're arrived and at least partially unpacked. I, for one, can't wait.

I made my wife a promise, too; once we get there, I'm done with the whole political scene. We'll still vote in the local elections, but I'm not going to waste any more of my time discussing political issues online and getting into debates with people I don't know. Life is too important to waste with that now. No, once we get there, the focus is going to be the 3 Fs: Faith, family, and farm. And writing, but that doesn't start with an 'F'.

I'll be posting more Traveller stuff soon, maybe even tomorrow if we get the bin finished in time. In the meantime, you can always read some science fiction, like Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, available now at an Amazon website near you.

Counting Down

Two weeks to go; then, we'll be in the new farmhouse. What a birthday present! It's been exhausting, and I haven't felt very motivated to write anything, much less a blog entry. But persistence is key. The bottleneck right now is just packing up all our stuff and getting it ready to go. We still have to live here, after all. But the clock is ticking, so it's got to be done.

Much like when we had our crawlspace flood a few months ago, this has become an opportunity to go through our stuff and decide what we really want to hang on to. There's a whole bunch of stuff that we just don't need. And, we're limited in how much stuff we can actually bring, since the shipping container we're using will only hold so much. Sure, we'll bring some of it with us in the vehicles, but that's not going to be enough to bring it all with us.

So, it's time to clear out some of the dead weight, some things that have just been sitting around for years, collecting dust or otherwise just taking up space. Did we really need to have three garbage bags full of Tupperware and food containers? I don't think so. And our closets are getting a thorough going-over, as well; my wife has a critical eye, and a lot of that stuff is going to find a home in the nearest thrift store. Well, we weren't wearing it, anyway.

Some of the stuff we've found is stuff we do want to keep, stuff we hadn't seen for a long time and assumed was lost. Old pictures, things we got as wedding gifts, that sort of thing. Frankly, though, most of it isn't going to make the cut. We're trying to simplify and downsize a lot of this stuff, so we don't have all the clutter in the new place.

We've got the trip itself all planned out, with campsites paid for and travel documents ready. It sucks that we actually have to show papers at a provincial border now. Is this Eastern Europe in the mid-1960s or something? Stupid COVID rules. We're going to a province that has fewer cases than the WNBA has viewers, but we're still going to be under a 14-day quarantine. And the provincial government will be checking up on us twice a day to make sure we haven't strayed from the property.

Well, it's a done deal now, anyway, so we're just going to have to put up with it. We'll be homeless on the 25th, so we're committed.

There's not much else to say tonight; I'll have another Traveller page done tomorrow, though, and I'll try to keep them going more regularly, since that's what's got the most traffic so far.