One’s On The Way

I stole today’s blog title from an old Loretta Lynn song, and I think it’s kind of appropriate. I told you last week that I got Terry an AeroGarden as an early Christmas present, and she got it all set up and ready to go. And one of the seed pods that she planted in it is already sprouting. On the label of the seed pod, it said it could take six to twelve days, and it was only five days. Yep, one’s on the way.

It’s kind of cool watching it happen and knowing that eventually it will be big enough for Terry to use to season food when she’s cooking. I asked her if she wasn’t going to feel like a cannibal, eating something that she gave life to and grew. She gave me the “Terry look” and said I was weird. We’ve been together for over 23 years and you’re just now figuring that out? Most people understand that within five minutes of meeting me.

It was a cold day here on the Central Coast of Florida yesterday. The temperature never got past the mid-50s. And yes, I know that it’s below freezing where some of you are, and you don’t think I have a right to snivel. But here’s the thing, I don’t care. You choose to live in those godforsaken cold places. I moved to Florida to get away from all of that.

A while back, in one of my Newspaper Days blog posts titled Yeager and Weenies, I wrote about meeting General Chuck Yeager, the World War II ace who went on to break the sound barrier. I was sad to see that this American hero died on Monday at the age of 97. He rose from humble beginnings to have an amazing career as both a fighter pilot and a test pilot. I feel very privileged to have met him.

Yesterday was a more productive day for me than Monday was. I talked to several authors who are going to be donating autographed books for our weekly drawing, and I know the winners are going to be very happy with their prizes. I also did some research on a couple of things for my next John Lee Quarrels book and then wrote about 2,500 words in it. It’s off to a good start, and it’s nice to be hanging out with John Lee, Maddy, and the rest of the crowd in Somerton County again.

Speaking of books, several people who sent me messages about the loss of my friend Dudley Lewis that I told you about in yesterday’s blog suggested I might want to write a book about him someday. I don’t write biographies, I write fiction, but quite often, I use things that did happen in real life in my books. And sometimes the characters in those books are a reflection of people I know. If you have ever read my book Dog’s Run, there is a scene where the chief of police goes into a rowdy bar after its patrons roughed up a couple of his officers. That was an incident that really happened with Dudley many years ago, and while I was not there to see it firsthand, and Dudley was not the kind of man who talked about things like that, one of the deputies who was there and two different people who were in the bar that night all told me the same story. When I asked Dudley about it, the most he would do was give me that grin of his and say, “It’s amazing how cooperative people who want to kick your butt get when they’re looking down the barrel of a sawed-off ten gauge.”

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – You have to be comfortable in your own skin, because it’s illegal to wear someone else’s.