The Dodge dealer called yesterday morning to tell me that the work had been done flashing the fault codes on my Ram truck, and all I owed was a $100 deductible. Because I first thought it was going to be the hybrid battery pack, which could have been anywhere from $3,000 up, I got off easy.
Terry dropped me off at the dealership and then went to Safeway to do some grocery shopping. When I left the dealership, I stopped at Brimhall Landscape Supply to order ten yards of cinders for the paths I want to get done out in the backyard and also to fill in some thin spots in the cinders already in driveway. They’re supposed to be delivered this morning.
When I was done with that, I went to Lowe’s to pick up another 50-foot garden hose, as well as some electrical items I needed for another project. I got back home just a few minutes before Terry, and about the time we got all the groceries carried in, granddaughter Destiny’s boyfriend Vicente showed up with a friend. We went over where I want the paths to be laid out, and he also talked to Terry about a fire ring for the backyard. Destiny has spent her senior year in high school going to class half of the day and then going to cosmetology school at Northland Pioneer College for the second half. Vicente has been doing the same thing, except he’s studying welding. Today is their three-year anniversary of being together, and they are a beautiful couple who we love very much.
We have a six-foot-high solid metal fence all around our backyard, and our 20-foot flatbed trailer is parked just inside the gate the delivery truck will have to back through to dump the cinders. After the guys left, with Terry guiding me, I moved the trailer and parked it off to the side to give the truck room to get in and out. My backing up skills are sadly lacking, but Terry is an excellent ground guide, thanks to our 18 years of fulltime RVing, and it was a quick and easy task to move the trailer. Much easier than I thought it would be, actually. I wish moving all the cinders to where I want it to be would be that easy, but that’s why I’m having Vicente do the work for me. He is strong, hard-working young man. And he really wants the Winchester 30-30 I’m going to give him in exchange for all his hard work.
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of Police Stories: The Rookie Years by my friend Patrick O’Donnell, who was featured in our first Author’s Spotlight last week. The author of eleven books, Patrick hosts the popular Cops and Writers Podcast and founded and runs an 8,500-member Facebook group for crime writers that was featured in the Wall Street Journal. He has also hosted true crime television documentaries and consulted with crime writers for their books and screenplays.
As Patrick shares in his book, his introduction to being a police officer in Milwaukee happened during his first week as a rookie cop, when he had to decide whether to pull the trigger on a man running at him with a butcher knife. The knife-wielding man just killed his brother over the last hot dog. The book shares real-life gritty police stories, including a Thanksgiving stabbing that left the victim with a carving knife embedded in his eye, the sweet elderly widow who held a cocked .38 to a rookie’s back, breaking every rule to help a stranded mother find shelter, almost being shot by a fellow officer, a father who bit off part of his daughter’s nose, and a dying man’s last words: “Scooby-Doo shot me.” As Patrick says, sometimes the most unbelievable stories are the ones that actually happened.
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. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.
Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?
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 – If you do your job well, half of the people are going to hate you.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!