Atomic Monster Cafe: February 2019

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

At Long Last...

...Time Slip Island...is now available for purchase in fine bookstores everywhere...

Well, as long as you consider the Atomic Monster Cafe and Amazon.com to be fine bookstores...and reading this book will make you a better person...I guarantee it! *

* not a guarantee

Famed literary critic Biff Bifflemeyer was so overwhelmed by the sheer fictional genius of it all he wrote:

Biff's well-documented drinking problem notwithstanding, that kind of unqualified endorsement's gotta count for something.

In the mid century modern collectibles department, I recently bought this Ronson Scandia lighter from Bob Adams at Ronson Repair :

While these are fairly common, they do have the unique distinction of being a gift that Frank Sinatra liked to grace his friends with from time to time...and he often autographed them.

...this isn't one of those, mainly because I didn't want to drop $250+ on one that had his John Hancock on it.

Bob repaired it and cleaned it up and of course it works flawlessly...

He's mostly retired now and his son Russ handles much of the business, but this is one transaction Bob handled personally.

As always, thank you Bob!

It's been a while, but recently heard from my nomadic knight of the road friend and so once again it's time for...

Rodger's Ramblings

This time he was passing through Illinois on a sloppy, snowy day when he spotted the famed Oscar Mayer Weinermobile...

...and here's a little closer view of the world famous weiner...

I'm sorry, if you're not laughing there's something seriously wrong with your funny bone. Or else there is with mine.

Gotta admit though, that's something you don't see every day.

Who wants a hot dog?

He also made his way through Springfield, Missouri recently which reminded both of us of the time we took a road trip 17 years ago to Springfield to watch my son Evan play basketball at a college there...cannot believe it was that long ago already.

In what can only be described as a marvel of nature, Evan was 19 then so is 36 now...

there he is in all of his 6'6", 260 lb glory...

...but neither Rodger nor I have aged a day since then!

Like me carding a par with my hickories, that's nothing short of a my'-ra-cle...

Rodger's been driving truck for many years, but recently switched to working for his son who owns Coopersville Carriers.

In his first year working for Brian he's logged over 135,000 miles and burned over 19,000 gallons of diesel...around $65k worth of fuel.

But as the trucking industry goes, so goes the economy in this country so I say keep on truckin' good buddy...and thanks for checking in.

When one of my dependents was younger and didn't know how to end a conversation, they used to start edging their way toward the door a little bit at a time...

...a little more...

...a little more...
...a little more...

...until finally they would look at me and say...

later, mcm fans...

* Crass Commercialism Corner *

In the "so convenient you can't stand it" department, you can purchase my books here and on Amazon.com!

Get your paperback books here:

Papa's Model T: The Genesis

Papa's Model T: The Rescue

Papa's Model T: The Long Count

Papa's Model T: The Gray Ghost

Papa's Model T: The Tin Goose

Papa's Model T: The Amateur

Papa's Model T: The Dipper

Loved Of My Father

When A Cardinal Appears

Red Train Christmas

When A Cardinal Appears, vol 2

TAT

Last Flight

A Stillwater Christmas

Crescent Moon Paradise

Time Slip Island

Get your ebooks here:

Papa's Model T: The Genesis

Papa's Model T: The Rescue

Papa's Model T: The Long Count

Papa's Model T: The Gray Ghost

Papa's Model T: The Tin Goose

Papa's Model T: The Amateur

Papa's Model T: The Dipper

Loved Of My Father

When A Cardinal Appears

Red Train Christmas

When A Cardinal Appears, vol 2

TAT

Last Flight

A Stillwater Christmas

Crescent Moon Paradise

Time Slip Island

Sunday, February 3, 2019

A Super Weekend...

...to have a birthday...and so we celebrated the Xth anniversary of Karen's 29th birthday.

And if you think I'm gonna tell you what X stands for you must believe I'm suicidal.

I'm not, and besides, whatever number it is she's still looking fabulous.

Of course there were flowers, cake, a card and libations.

Wanna know how you can tell you're at a real Irish Pub?

They have a countdown to St. Patrick's Day showing days, hours, minutes and seconds until the big event.

...and we enjoyed a delicious meal to go with the Blue Moon for Karen...

...and a Guinness for me.

Ah, crap! Did I misplace that finger again?

Good stuff.

Had a grandson boxing in a tournament this weekend, but apparently his opponent was a no show, so no bout after all.

Since we were in the mood for some pugilistic action, we cued up Cinderella Man:

...a pretty good movie starring Russell Crowe about James J. Braddock who won the heavyweight championship in 1935 in a heartwarming comeback story.

The real James J. Braddock:

...a tough light heavyweight in the late 1920's who fell on hard times...oft injured, struggling in the Depression, he got a one shot fight against "Corn" Griffin, the number two heavyweight contender in the world.

A last minute fill in for the injured scheduled opponent, Braddock scored an incredible upset in a knockout victory.

Now back in the game he'd been banned from several years earlier, he worked his way through a series of elimination bouts and earned a shot at the world heavyweight title against heavily favored Max Baer (yes, the father of Max Baer, Jr, aka "Jethro Bodine" of the Beverly Hillbillies, believe it or not).

15 brutal rounds later Braddock emerged victorious and cemented his place in history as one of the greatest sports comebacks in history with a nickname he openly detested.

"Cinderall Man"?

Come on, Damon Runyon...you could have done a lot better than that.

Even something as lame as The Comeback Kid would have been more palatable to a tough pug like Braddock than comparing him to Cinderella.

Made some real progress on Time Slip Island this weekend...

...worked my way through some earlier difficulties and am now at 13,000 words and in the meat of the story.

Liking the potential here; just hope I don't screw it up.

Of course it was Groundhog Day weekend...we had intended to watch the eponymous movie...

...but ended up skipping that and watching Some Like It Hot instead...I guess the reasoning was it starts out on a February holiday...Valentine's Day in Chicago, 1929 to be precise...

and the infamous Valentine's Day Massacre by the Capone Gang...

...but from there devolves into a romp for Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon...

...harmless fun directed by Billy Wilder.

Some pics from the recent snowstorm...

the view from the front...

...from the back...

...the back patio...

...and from within the courtyard.

Oh yeah, also heard something about a football game of some kind going on...

Patriots 13, Rams 3 (yawn...)

later, mcm fans...

* Crass Commercialism Corner *

In the "so convenient you can't stand it" department, you can purchase my books here and on Amazon.com!

Get your paperback books here:

Papa's Model T: The Genesis

Papa's Model T: The Rescue

Papa's Model T: The Long Count

Papa's Model T: The Gray Ghost

Papa's Model T: The Tin Goose

Papa's Model T: The Amateur

Papa's Model T: The Dipper

Loved Of My Father

When A Cardinal Appears

Red Train Christmas

When A Cardinal Appears, vol 2

TAT

Last Flight

A Stillwater Christmas

Crescent Moon Paradise

Get your ebooks here:

Papa's Model T: The Genesis

Papa's Model T: The Rescue

Papa's Model T: The Long Count

Papa's Model T: The Gray Ghost

Papa's Model T: The Tin Goose

Papa's Model T: The Amateur

Papa's Model T: The Dipper

Loved Of My Father

When A Cardinal Appears

Red Train Christmas

When A Cardinal Appears, vol 2

TAT

Last Flight

A Stillwater Christmas

Crescent Moon Paradise

Friday, February 1, 2019

The Cold Winds Of Winter...

...continue to blow...4 below zero at the moment with wind chills near 25 below...and currently our furnace is acting up..short cycling then turning off and won't come back on. Inside temp has dropped to 60 degrees..

Thankfully we do have a fireplace so we're not in dire straits - we won't freeze - but we do need Mr. Furnace to work...wonder how much this is going to cost??

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Furnace update: replaced the filter (did not help), then got up on the roof - nice up there in that 25 below zero wind chill - and discovered a snow/ice cap blocking the fresh air intake pipe...cleared that away and voila! All is well again.

Total cost: $0.00 Those are the kind of repair bills I like.

In this extremely cold weather we're seeing more of the deer than we usually do...

...food is scarce so as long as we spread corn around they stop by both day and night. Saw a 6 pt buck the other night, but too dark to get a decent pic. It's amazing they can withstand the cold the way they do.

And of course we've got all the usual suspects hanging around the bird feeders...

a convention of mourning doves...

...and here's what happens when you tap on the glass...

...don't worry, they'll be back...

Struggling along with Time Slip Island...

...still liking the story, but for some reason I'm stumbling over the "show, don't tell" axiom that is every writer's 1st rule of "good things to do so readers don't use your book as a door stop".

Telling: "Lord Foppington was 50 years old and wasn't happy about it."

Showing: "The revelers had departed, taking the sparkle of the evening with them. Now Lord Foppington sat alone by the dying fire, eating the last of his cake and mourning the arrival of his fifth decade upon this mortal coil."

Ok, so neither of those is great literature, but that's not my fault...blame Lord Foppington for being such an ill tempered boor.

In both cases you learn LF is 50 and unhappy, but the difference between them is that of reading a Spark notes summary vs the real thing.

In business telling is usually better than showing, the ubiquitous (and boring) powerpoint culture notwithstanding.

In fiction, however, showing is better than telling, always.

Don't want to drift into the Dickens zone...