Blog Site

My wife and I have been having this debate and, as with all debates, she always wins. Her daughter, Heather, set up a blog for me. Great! I'm in the 21st Century. I have an email address. I have a website. I even have a blog-site.

But no! I don't have a blog- site. I have a blog. At least, according to my wife, I have a blog. Now I am not a computer expert by any means. I had an old CPM system (do not ask me what that means) and I used it for years. Her name was Tess and she's the reason my wife and I met and married. It took me over a year to learn about Tess. It's taken me twenty-three years to learn about my wife...and I still do not know anything about her...except that she loves me but doesn't like me...not really.

When Tess died my sons and wife decided to buy me a new computer. I think it was back in '95 but I was in mourning and spawned of an age where the typewriter was my second best friend. The computer lay in a shiny, cardboard box with all sorts of official stamps on it. It lay there for two years. I did not look at the box. I did not open it. I knew that once I launched into that new box, it would be another full year of learning before I understood how to use the thing. Yes, that's how long it took me to learn on the CPM system.

Oh yes, they had technical support. The man and his wife came down for about three weeks, played on my computer, showed me all the wonderful things THEY could do on my computer and then they left. And they did not return because I had not signed on for the computer course.

So I read the instruction books, stayed up most nights trying to figure out how to open a file, type a letter and get it printed. I spend most weekends doing that too. The reason I say my wife and I met and married because of Tess is because she typed a ninety-one page thesis on Tess and I almost deleted it without understanding how to restore. I am not even sure I could restore on that unit. She figured anyone that dumb with a computer had to be easy to manage and easy to manipulate. And there are days when I have to admit that she was right.

To say that I am technically challenged with computers is an understatement of great magnitude. But, after eleven years, I am learning. I have learned how to restore a tool bar by clicking Standard. I have partially learned how to make small labels (thought I seldom need them). I have learned how to restore the files I accidentally delete. And I have learned how to cold boot my computer. I have even learned how to throw it out the window and onto the rear lawn without serious damage to the unit.

What I have not learned is why I can't call this my BLOG-SITE.

If there is anyone out there who side with me...speak up and say your piece. If there is anyone out there who sides with my wife...go to another blog-site and tell them about it but for God's sake don't tell her.

Excerpt from Eric

OK...so I haven't written for a while. Our 7 year old grandson came to visit and he is energy personified! My wife and I spent two weeks trying to keep up with him.

I am working on a second book called The Horse with the Golden Mane and Other Stories. At least that is the working title. Here is an excerpt from a story called ERIC.

And now, he saw the guards again, moving from the shadows of the meadows and rushing toward him. He heard Eric growl. Saw the animal bunch. But it was not men plunging headlong from the tall grass. It was animals. Sol gripped his walking stick in his right hand, prepared to defend his dog and himself.

The high grass split apart and four distinct forms emerged into the clearing, single file, moving quickly. At first, Sol thought them coyotes for he'd heard that coyotes inhabited the swamp as did other animals. The moon was bright enough to discern the shapes and sizes and they were not coyotes but wild dogs. He saw an immense German sheperd leading the pack, its silver, black coat glistening in the moonlight. Next came an animal that resembled a coyote, a small dog with a linear face and hair the color of wheat. The third dog was box faced, bulky and long haired with a jagged scar across his snout, and finally, a black, massive animal resembling a pit bull with flat head, short cropped ears and a wrinkled face. They were wild and fierce. They hunted quarry. To them, Eric and Sol were food and it was food they hunted. To Eric, it was as if they had been enemies for life. For the law of the jungle pertains in many places and the jungles of Newark are not unlike those of any other nation except the quarry is seldom the same.

They didn't circle as wild dogs are apt to do. They had killed before and thus had no need to circle. So they charged at Sol, three of them attacking Sol, one lying behind to guard their rear. Eric intervened and smashed into the Shepard. They clashed with bared teeth, snarling and growling ominously. They leaped into an arc and heaved against each other in combat. Coyote attached Sol, grabbing him by the lower leg and wrestling the old man off balance. Eric broke off the siege with the Sheperd and plunged into Sol's attackers, grasping him by the hind leg and snapping his jaws shut. The dog yelped its dismay. It moved in behind the pack. Then Scar and the Pit Bull divided their efforts, Scar menacing Sol, while the Pit Bull joined the Shepard in his attack on Eric. The three dogs rolled over and over and over. Eric seized one by the leg. Sol could not tell which one. Coyote renewed his attack on the old man. Scar nipped at his arms while Coyote gnawed at his leg.

Please let me know if you are interested in how the battle ended. I am pretty sure that the comment section is now working.