An Unexpected Windfall?

We woke up to a surprise yesterday morning, an unexpected deposit from Social Security into our checking account for a rather large sum of money. I usually get my Social Security direct deposited on the third Wednesday of the month, and Terry’s comes in on the fourth. Yesterday was only the second Wednesday of the month, and the deposit was for more than both of us receive combined.

I logged onto the Social Security website and didn’t see any record of a transaction for the direct deposit and was not able to figure out why we received it. It’s nice to think that maybe Uncle Sam just decided that we were really good people and deserved a sudden windfall like that, but I don’t think so. I’ll make some calls today and see if I can figure out what’s going on, but in the meantime, we have no plans to go out and splurge on anything because I’m pretty sure they’re going to want it back sooner or later. In cases like this, possession is not 9/10ths of the law.

Sometimes uploading a book to Amazon, either in e-book or print format, is quick and easy, and other times you have to jump through a never-ending series of hoops. That’s how it was trying to get the print version of Ka-Bar Karma uploaded. Everything would go along fine, and it would tell me that the manuscript and the cover were uploaded, and I just had to wait for a preview to be generated. But then everything would come to a screeching halt, and the little timer on the screen would just sit and spin and spin and spin, and nothing would ever happen. If I canceled the preview, it would show I needed to upload the manuscript and cover again, even though it said I had already done so. After about the fourth or fifth attempt, I gave up and walked away from it for an hour or two, and when I came back, I repeated the process once more and it finally loaded and gave me the preview. Hopefully the printed version of the book will be available sometime today.

Meanwhile, today I will be back working on my next book, Big Lake Ranger, and Terry has a couple of chapters I wrote the other day to proof. Hey, it keeps us busy and out of the bingo halls.

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. Yes, I would definitely take that personally.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of The Driving Lesson by my friend Ben Rehder. While Ben writes some excellent, mysteries, including the wildly popular Blanco County series, this tale of a boy and his grandfather on an unplanned road trip across the country is a coming of age story that will tug at your heartstrings. 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. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – They say it’s better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable. How about a compromise like moderately rich and a bit moody?