Critter, the Hunt of the Century is still for sale!

Out of curiosity, I googled the title of the novel I published back in 1991 and up came five sources that are selling it from Amazon to Barnes & Noble and some smaller enterprises. I was pleasantly surprised because I've recently been re-editing it with the intention of putting it out there again. I could soon be competing with myself!
It's is a sweet get- rich- quick scheme hatched by a Montana cowboy who also happens to be a Harvard educated lawyer. He recruits his ranch crew to hunt the Bigfoot, hoping to make a fortune. There are many twists and turns, death, romance, high adventure, clashes in family values; most of the classic angst provoking stuff with wonderful bursts of comic relief.
I am proud of the effort. As an older writer with more life experience, I believe I am making it into a better story with this rewrite. I wouldn't bother if it didn't have great bones in the first place.
Harriet Charles, who was the only woman writer on Gunsmoke for 15 years and the former President of the Olympia Writers' club I belonged to for ten years, gave me the very best review. She said: I't's a cracking good story!
I'll take that!

Raintreepoet, reporting.

In these stormy times...

Daydreaming about sunnier climes and bicycling and hiking and picnicking in the warmth of some tropical paradise-anywhere but here right now.
Yesterday I  herded 30 students from a portable classroom to the high school library to shelter- in- place as a tornado raged outside. I might add that I do not live in Tornado Alley, I reside in the usually mild northwest, where a tornado wreaked havoc on the small town of Battle Ground tearing up houses and trees and crushing everything in its wake.
Two days earlier a woman died in her bed from a fatal tree crash provoked by a storm not too many miles from here. Needless to say, I slept on my couch, downstairs last night because I have some very large trees right behind my house. If we are beginning to have more extreme weather here, I am determined to be a survivor.
What's going on? In biblical times the priests would have blamed the people saying that they angered God.
We of the scientific times know that it is a whole lot more complicated than that. Science has been warning us about global warming for quite some time. I think its time to listen.
I offer some good sense strategies for survival:

1.  to be as alert as possible. 
2. Keep abreast of the weather.
3. put together the Red Cross disaster preparedness kit
4. Keep your gas tank at least half full
5. listen to those around you
6. If you should be in the path of disaster, take the steps necessary to survive,
7.  but most of all, remain calm, panic will kill you.

I urge you to take all of this seriously. When we have a hot harsh summer like the one we just had (in the triple digits)in Washington & Oregon; The Farmer's Almanac usually predicts a cold snowy winter.

For particulars, check the U.S. weather service predictions. The old folks from where I grew up used to say that the winters would match the summers in extremes. My recollection is that was on the money accurate, so I plan to be prepared. 

Soul Desire

I've been working on a personal ad. Would appreciate any comments about how effective-or not, you dear reader, thinks it might be.

When I get to heaven, I hope I can say:

It was a great run, I loved and was loved

And played and worked each day

I had lots of good friends and a faithful

Mate and every second with him was

Like the best ever date!

My career was fulfilling and his was,

Too

We made a life of adventure, service

And being true blue

And in my last moments, the good-byes

Were sweet, we kissed and said farethewell

Until next we meet!

Hello Stranger! Do tell, is it you?

raintreepoet, musing.  

STIGMA 0r You Need a Shrink like a Hole in you Head!

If you talk to a shrink
folks will label you a "nut"
and that is the core truth
of why the nuts are
 invisible among us
Raving lunatics can
put on a benign mask;
rape, maim and even kill
and who's to know
unless they're caught
then folks will wonder
why somebody did not
get them to a shrink
long ago
I've heard only conscientious
thoughty souls seek shrinks
the maniacs would never
consider it!
Ergo, the great mystery
of mass public shootings
continues to thrive;
deep inside, we already
know why, but on the outside
we blame the GUNS!

Who Let Donald Trump in?

Donald Trump thinks he has all the answers. Does he believe money makes up for everything else lacking? Donald Trump lacks good manners; he is a bully and a braggart and the sort of person that usually puts others off, but for some unfathomable reason, he is becoming increasingly popular!
Is Donald Trump saying all the things other people wish they had the courage to say?
Does Donald Trump's open suspicion and paranoia speak best for the worst in the rest of us?
Do we really want this kind of person to be the leader of the western world or are we hoping Donald Trump can save us from ourselves-be the fall guy, the A-hole who said all that awful crap about racism and religious intolerance and got away with it... right up until other racists and bigots decided to stone him. No, not with rocks, silly. They just decided to get him good and high to test his meddle.
For awhile he was the nicest guy...until it wore off.
Would someone give Donald another toke?
There aren't enough tokes to make Donald into a decent caring human being. His arrogance and narcissism are woven into the fabric of his personality. It is obvious that he thinks he is right-every time. There is no fixing a Know-it-all. It's a special kind of crazy.
Am I voting for Donald. Heck no! Will I laugh at anyone who does? Heck yes!
What will I do if he is elected President?
Become an Ex-pat as quick as I can close it down. America won't be the place I know and love if
The Donald wins. My opinion and $1.75 will buy you a coffee at Starbucks. Thank God its an international company.
Amen
Raintreepoet, opining. 12/2015

SIX MONTH ONE NIGHT STAND

A lot happened that year-it was during Vietnam

I was Thurston County Dairy Princess

attending Centralia College by day and

working the 3-11 shift at the

Oregon Trail Restaurant, nights

He came to my counter

just before closing, a broad dimpled

smile on his face and said,

I need coffee…

I had just cleaned the coffee machine

but I smiled and said, it’s brewing,

As I set it up to make a new mess

for the cute guy with the dazzling smile

And what is your name? he asked

Cinderella, I said and he laughed,

a resonant belly laugh that made me

flush crimson

He plopped himself down on a stool

and smiled at me as though I were

a treasure; a girl cannot ever forget a look

like that!

He drank coffee and we talked, while

I bustled about cleaning up

You’re ending your shift, he noted

How would you like to listen to

some really great music?

I was tired, but he was oh so cute,

so, I said, yes, even though I almost

fell asleep on the ride to his house

even though I knew I had Finals

beginning Monday and had planned

to study all weekend

I stayed up, necking till three,

listening to Waylon Jennings and

Ferlin Huskey singing about

broken hearts and love gone wrong

It was my first foray into country music

and what I did not realize at the time

it was the beginning of my own country song!

He was going through his second divorce and

he was only 26

A more experienced woman would have

seen it coming, but I was fresh off the farm

and only nineteen

Over the next few months, we had

lots of hot sex

I broke up with him when his attention

waned and he married some divorced bottle blonde

with a three year old ,the next spring

Let’s see, he was 27, it was his third marriage

when I met him, he was living with his mother

He had a Samoyed named “Alki” (short for alcoholic,

he laughingly said)

He had fathered a child at 18 with his older

sister’s friend, married her to give the boy a name

then divorced her as quick as the baby came

One night a call rang in from a girl he’d lived with

when he was in the army stationed in Alaska, when

he was 19- after he hung up he explained that she’d

been 17 at the time and he bragged about doing

her and her mama, too…eww!

Did I miss anything?

Red flags waving all over the place-

right in my face!

But I fell in love anyway

I mourned such a long time

then woke one morning and

I was fine…

 RMK, from the chapbook Love Roulette.

December

 

Drinking rum and coke and

Remembering that Christmas Eve

Over twenty years ago

When we drank rum and cokes

While I baked the chocolate

Pecan pies for the next day

We were laughing so hard

When I smelled burning-

Forgetting I had pies

In the oven

I said something dumb

Like ‘Do you smell smoke?’ (Thinking

My cottage might be on fire)

You looked momentarily perplexed

‘Weren’t you baking something?’

Oh my God! The Pies!  The Pies!

I jerked open the oven and

Smoke roiled out nearly knocking me down

Shit! Shit! Shit!

You looked at me serenely

And said, ‘Potty mouth’

In your droll way

Then we laughed our asses off

I poured you another drink

And proceeded to recreate

The pies all over again

You stayed and visited

Because that’s the kinda

Guy you were- a friend

I miss you, brother

And that’s why I’m having this

Rum and coke and

Remembering the good old days when

We were neighbors and

You dropped by and

Watched me incinerate Christmas Dessert!

A remembrance of my brother Doug, who died in a logging accident,December 5, 2000.

December 2011.