October Q&A

I’m back with more questions from blog readers. While I try to answer all questions individually, I also share some here occasionally.

Q. I’m sorry to hear that your house in Alabama is still on the market. I know you were hoping to sell it before now. Have you considered renting it out to at least get some income from it until it sells?

A. Neither Terry nor I want to be landlords, and especially not long-distance landlords. Nor do we want to have the hassles of having a tenant move out when we do sell the house. Fortunately, the house is paid for, so we’re not making payments on two places at once. But we do have to pay to keep the power on and the grass mowed and things like that. We will be very glad when it sells.

Q. How on earth do you manage to write so many books so fast?

A. The secret is to buy expensive toys like guns and cars and then have to work your butt off to pay for them.

Q. In pictures you have shown of the backyard at your new house in Arizona, I see what looks like a big chicken coop. Have you guys started raising chickens?

A. The chicken coop came with the house. We have talked about getting a couple of chickens because we love fresh eggs. If we do, it won’t be until spring.

Q. Any idea when Baby Boom will be available in paperback? Can’t wait to read it!

A. I sent it to Scarlett and hope that she can get it formatted and back to me sometime within a week.

Q. I’m a huge fan and have been reading the Gypsy Journal, your blog, and your books for years. When you moved from Alabama to Arizona, there was a problem that the trailer you had rented would not hold your Kawasaki Mule, so you had to leave it behind. Did you ever go back and get it, or do you plan to?

Q. Kenny and Tiffany have offered to go back with my flatbed trailer during the Christmas break to pick up the Kawasaki Mule and the zero-turn mower. If the Alabama house hasn’t sold by then, I will have them do that.

Q. I was wondering if you are going to continue having AI do the audio books in the Tinder Street series? I was really enjoying them and wish you would.

A. Yes, I plan to. It will probably be two or three weeks before I get the audiobook of Baby Boom out.

Q. You haven’t mentioned Terry’s mother lately. We are keeping her and the whole family in our prayers. Can you tell us how she’s doing?

A. Thank you for those prayers. Bess tires easily and does not have the energy she wishes she still did. Like Terry, she is used to going nonstop all the time. But she is hanging in there and doing as well as can be expected.

Q. You have said many times over the years that you don’t like snow and cold weather, and I know they get both in Show Low. How are you going to handle that? Maybe head for Tucson or Phoenix when winter comes?

A. You’re right, I don’t care for that kind of weather. But with global warming, the winters here are not nearly what they used to be from back when we lived here years ago, and they don’t get the heavy snowfalls they once did. When it does get nasty outside, I’ll just stay home, snivel, and make Kenny and Tiffany run all the errands that I need done so I don’t have to leave the house until July.

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 – We’re like a deck of cards. We started with two hearts and a diamond, but now we’re just two old jokers.