Let’s Not Forget Potpourri

Definition of potpourri – 1: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent. 2: a miscellaneous collection. The second definition above pretty much describes today’s blog, a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and info that I’m sharing because I don’t have anything else to talk about today.

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Yesterday we completed our mail-in ballots for our local elections. It was quick and easy and sure beat standing outside in the heat in line with a bunch of other people who may or may not have been wearing masks.

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Somebody asked me if the recent close call from Hurricane Isaias had us rethinking our decision to settle down here on the Central Florida coast midway between Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral. I replied no, not at all, and asked if she rethinks her decision about living in Indiana every time there is a tornado warning. Natural disasters happen, and everyplace in the country has something. At least a hurricane gives you enough warning to get out of Dodge if you need to. When we were traveling in our motorhome, we were exposed to all kinds of possible natural disasters, from hurricanes to forest fires to landslides. During the last summer we spent on the Pacific Northwest coast, everyone was talking about the fact that it was going to fall off into the ocean. The last time I checked, it was still there.

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The other day I heard from someone saying that if she and her husband couldn’t get away from each other for a while, one of them may have to murder the other, because being cooped up all the time, they are on each other’s nerves every minute of every day. They live in a four-bedroom house, and she said the walls are closing in. I’m sorry, Terry and I just cannot relate to that. For 18+ years, we lived in motorhomes that measured somewhere between 280 and 320 square feet, and we never felt that way at all. We genuinely like to be together 24/7. Some people have described us as being codependent, but I like to think tht we are very much in love and best friends. But call it what you want, nobody is getting shot around here.

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When we switched from Verizon to Consumer Cellular, two or three friends told us we were going to regret it because the service would be terrible. It has been well over a year and that has not been the case at all. We had our choice of using Verizon or AT&T towers, and since Verizon service is terrible here at our house, we chose AT&T. Since then we’ve been in a lot of places, from Florida to Michigan to Arizona and the Carolinas, and have no complaints at all. The one place that we had a problem with connectivity was in our old hometown of Show Low, Arizona. Telephone service was fine, but data was almost nonexistent. Then again, we had that same issue in Bowling Green, Kentucky when we were teaching for Life on Wheels and using Verizon. We could make telephone calls, but we could not get data service.

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While my new book Tinder Street is getting a lot of good reviews and sales are very strong, people keep asking me if I have abandoned the Big Lake and John Lee Quarrels series. As I’ve said before, no, not at all. I’m about 40,000 words into the second book in the Tinder Street series, and then I’ll be jumping back into my other two series. I’ll have at least one out by the end of the year in one series, and hopefully a new book in both.

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A new RVer contacted me the other day in a panic because the second time they dumped their holding tank, the hose popped off of the connection to the RV, and they got the dreaded brown bath. She didn’t know how to handle that and was totally grossed out. I told her that you’re not a real RVer until you’ve had a brown bath at least once. Then I reminded her to make sure that the hose connection was tight on both ends, at the RV, and going into the sewer before they dump. I don’t think that’s a mistake they will be making again anytime soon.

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I am trying to build up my presence on the BookBub website, and I would appreciate any of my readers going to my author’s page and following me there. And If you have reviewed any of my past books on Amazon, cutting and pasting the review to my BookBub page would help me tremendously. https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nick-russell?list=author_books. Thank you.

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Be sure to enter out latest  Free Drawing. This week’s prize is audiobook of Free Ride, the thirteenth book in my pal Ben Rehder’s excellent Blanco County mystery series. If you like small town mysteries that come with a chuckle or two (or more), you really need to try Ben’s Blanco County series. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – He who robs you of your dreams robs you of your life.