“Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put your offering (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before Sunday evening UK time. If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here. Thank you for taking part.”
Teri Polen invited me to participate in her Bad Moon Rising feature. For those who may be new to Teri’s blog, her Bad Moon Rising is a feature she posts every day in October. So, 31 exciting writers respond to Teri’s questions with terrific results. Here is the link to Teri’s post.
I have turned off comments. See you there.
Teri is also an exceptional YA author and book reviewer. Her books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Black Rose Writing. Go to her Amazon author page for more detail. Here’s the LINK
This post ran on October 17th, 2016. Since we had a full Hunter’s Moon last night (The same night as the full moon in 2016 ), I thought we could revisit the post since it will still look full tonight, and caution should be exercised.
* * *
Since last night the Hunter’s Moon was full, I was inspired to give some thought as to what we should never do during a full moon. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, for you scientists out there, this is all made up. I write fiction, so when looking for truth, I would suggest any place but here.
10 If there is a full moon, do not go into a graveyard just to see what will happen. If you do, at best, you will challenge your all-time best heart rate. At worst, the total recall of Blair Witch Project will have you running for your life. (So you thought you had everything under control, didn’t you?)
9 If there is a full moon, do not ask that cloaked stranger for directions. If you do, at best, it will be too distracted by the moon to answer you. At worst, it will offer you a ride that will be your last. (Those hairy hands should have been a big clue)
8 If there is a full moon, do not back into any rooms, period. If you do, at best, you might trip and fall. At worst, that snarling thing you thought you saw in the backyard is now behind you. (Every moviegoer knows better, Bunkie)
7 If there is a full moon, do not act on the urge to make hay. If you do, at best, there won’t be a lot of grass where you live. At worst, the farmer will think you are poaching his hay and call the police. (Or worse yet, use that rock salt-loaded shotgun to clear his field.)
6 if there is a full moon, do not think your neighbors would appreciate a serenade about the moon and a spoon. If you do, at best, you will suddenly realize why the term “rotten tomatoes” is used to rate talent. At worst, the magistrate will have a tough time trying to justify letting you go free. (Maybe the psychological evaluation will put everyone at ease)
5 If there is a full moon, resist the urge to skinny dip. If you can’t, at best, a quick dip with no one the wiser will be your fate. At worst, after the dog takes your clothes and you are chasing him, the spotlight of your neighbor’s security system bathes you in the light of high noon. (There is a tape that goes with that light, and your neighbor has a pretty high price tag on it)
4 If there is a full moon, under no circumstances do you need to harvest anything. If this advice falls on deaf ears, at best, stick with canned goods. At worst, your quest for a fresh pumpkin at Whole Foods after hours could net you a free night in the county lockup. ( Your roommate Tiny is not the type to feel good about you after the slamming cell door at midnight.)
3 If there is a full moon, do not argue with the traffic officer who just pulled you over. If you do, at best, you’ve guaranteed yourself a ticket. At worst, the officer may be a graduate of an anger management treatment series. (It seems that his events are always triggered during a full moon)
2 If there is a full moon, do not enter a political chat room with the idea of defending your choice for President. If you do, at best, you will be able to turn off your computer. At worst, somehow, the room has discovered your real identity and is threatening to come right over. (Looks like you might need to leave town for a while, huh, Grover?)
1 If there is a full moon, do not answer your door or phone. If you do, at best, it will be someone you know. At worst, there will be a character you’ve never known saying, “I know what you did last summer.” (Yeah, this one is bad. You need to run now.)
As you can see from the headline, we are going to see different things today. We are catered by Salty Sow in Austin. Our entertainment is Pink who is appearing here in Austin at the Austin City Limits festival and agreed to stop by.
Menu
STARTERS
TRUFFLED DEVILED EGGS Salty Sow bacon bits
SALTY SOW CHARCUTERIE + CHEESE BOARD all the fixin’s, toasted baguette
ROASTED BONE MARROW bacon + gruyere crust, toasted baguette
Our first encounter is with an Axis Deer and a middle-aged white-tailed buck. Rumor has it the deer escaped from a local exotic ranch years ago. A native of India the Axis was introduced to Texas in 1932. Looks like he has made friends.
I tried to get closer but no dice. At least we get a view of the back of those beautiful antlers.
The dawn brings a demonstration of affection among the high schoolers.
Dawn also brings a group of does having coffee.
We’ve seen this peacock before but now the mailbox and it has had a redo.
I call this “Chair at Dawn.” I guess the trash pick-up gave a pass to this one.
Here is a photo of my favorite quiet place in the greenbelt. It was taken last year.
Here is the place today. You can see we need rain badly.
I thought this manzanita tree looked good nestled in the Oak and touched by the sun.
A shot of the circulating fountain in the greenbelt. Another favorite.
Whew. This was a fright. Even though we may think of Halloween this is a regular feature on a new resident’s mailbox. Not sure of the message here. Borrowing a cup of sugar is definitely not in the cards.
Gotta love the elephant. Didn’t want to do a string of mail toppers but couldn’t resist this one. I wonder how long before it is spray-painted blue.
Our final stop is to admire some of our doe neighbors. The darker one could be a melanistic deer which are all black and makeup about 8% of the population. The Producer is unsure so we’ll just admire the difference.
That is the tour today. I hope you enjoyed it. Now sit back and enjoy the food and music. I hope you all have a great week.
The coffee is taking an unusual amount of time today. An ear to the machine picks up the usual sounds, so all must be normal. It brings to mind that perhaps divices have trouble getting going in the morning too. Looking in the back of the fridge pays off with not only spotting the half and half but hearing the satisfying sputter and pour sounds of the nectar of the gods flowing into my mug.
The addition of half and half pushes the morning brew into a new dimension whose mesmerizing quality is broken by the klaxon warning horn. Throwing treats on the floor finally gets Twiggy and Lucy to come down from the ceiling and substitute sounds of joy for the ear-bleeding decibel level of their barking.
A gulp of coffee and a sigh precede the opening of the door ritual. Gate thrown open, bar lifted, concertina wire coiled, machine guns on standby, Trebuchet disarmed, Claymore mines picked up, submarine net in the moat raised, boiling oil turned off, hovering drone grounded, bolts thrown and locks undone.
The open door reveals a being that looks like Wile E. Coyote. “Don’t tell me. I called the ACME explosives company and asked for an engineer to help remove that safe and person from my backyard. So please don’t say you are him.”
He nods, and the cold feeling along my spine immediately leads me to believe a problem of monumental proportion now exists. Wile E. Coyote is perhaps the most incompetent user of ACME products. He immediately hands me two envelopes. The first contains a certification of one Wile E. Coyote as an ACME happiness engineer. Looking him in the shifty eyes confirms the depth of the trouble. The second envelope contains a message from Linda Hill. It reads. Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “back of the fridge.” Write the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the phrase “back of the fridge.” Enjoy!
After spending years in the shelter system, Flip the dog has a forever home.
On September 16, PEOPLE shared the black-and-white dog’s story. At that time, the 7-year-old rescue pooch had spent over 2,555 days in Ohio shelters waiting to be adopted.
Jennifer Schorr, the associate director of the education division at the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, heard about Flip’s situation through a Facebook post. Having lost her beloved German Shepherd to illness a few months ago, Schorr wasn’t looking to adopt a new dog right away.
“But when I saw Flip, he melted my heart, and his story melted it even more,” Schorr told PEOPLE, adding that she knew she wanted her next pet to be an older dog “that needed some TLC.”
Enamored with Flip’s sweet face, Schorr reached out to Lake Humane Society to ask about adopting the dog, who was in a foster home at the time. The shelter told Schorr that they didn’t know much about Flip’s history, except that he spent time at a shelter in Youngstown and likely experienced abuse early in his life.
JENNIFER SCHORR
To ensure that Flip and Schorr would be a good fit, Lake Humane Society asked Schorr to visit the canine, so she made the 3-hour drive to the shelter to meet Flip face to face.
“They told me he might not warm up to me at first, but it was just the opposite. He came and sat next to me, and he even gave me kisses,” Schorr said of her introduction to Flip.
After this first adorable interaction, Schorr met with Flip again and then had the dog visit her house in Pataskala, Ohio.
“Flip trotted right in and made himself at home!” Schorr said.
JENNIFER SCHORR
Schorr’s residence is now officially Flip’s home, and the pup has continued to amaze his new owner with his warm, welcoming personality.
“Flip is a very loving dog and loves to cuddle on the couch with you,” Flip’s pet parent shared.
And while Flip is still nervous about some new things, Schorr is content to “go slow” with the dog and let him adapt to home life at his own speed.
“We take walks around the neighborhood, and he is the perfect dog. He is adjusting very well to being out of the shelter. He actually slept with me in bed the other night for the first time ever in his life. He was in heaven!” she said
JENNIFER SCHORR
“I am confident Flip will be just fine living with me in his forever home. I love him so much already,” Schorr added.
Schorr also said that she hopes Flip’s story inspires others to adopt their next pet, so they can experience the companionship that blossoms after you save a life.
“There are so many loving dogs that just need a chance to become your furry friend. Some may need more care and attention than others, but they all deserve it. The tail wag, kiss on the cheek, or smile on their face lets you know how much you are appreciated. It is never too late — Adopt!” Schorr shared.
The good news here is that Flip is now in a loving home.
Today’s JohnKu talks about pets. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
In Keith’s words. “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put your offering (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before Sunday evening UK time. If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please also mention it in a comment here. https://keithchanning.wordpress.com/2022/10/03/kreative-kue-380/
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries next time.”
This list was initially published on October 13, 2014. I was 73 when I wrote it, and now I am 81. Checking it over, and it still makes sense. If you are over seventy, pay attention. If not, I hope you get a few laughs.
* * *
This list was inspired by having the opportunity to be around some of my peers over the last couple of weeks.
Top Ten Things Not to Do if You Are Over Seventy Years of Age
10 If you are over seventy, ensure the foreign object you think is in your food is really there. If you don’t, at best, the store manager will give you your money back but will give you that “old person” roll of the eyes. At worst, the object turns out to be your glasses that fell off while you were looking closely to find out what it was. The customer service person will discover this in front of twenty other shoppers.
9 If you are over seventy, do not think you can ride a bicycle at top speed, wipe out and bounce like you did when you were fifty. If you do, at best, you will have a friendly reminder as you soak in a hot bathtub and eat aspirin like M&Ms. At worst, you will be among the lucky few spending several hours in the ER surrounded by one hundred of your closest friends who all got there ahead of you.
8 If you are over seventy, do not try to leave the house without your glasses. If you do, at best, you won’t be able to read the credit card terminal, and the total matches what you bought. At worst, you will be clueless when the bank teller asks you to sign the withdrawal slip made out for you, and four days later, you read in the newspaper that the teller is spending three weeks in Aruba.
7 If you are over seventy, do not decide the surfing competition looks winnable since there is only one entrant in the seventy and above bracket. If you do, at best, you will have nothing more catastrophic than looking like a fool. At worst, you will wipe out and ground yourself on the beach, where the medal committee will erect a monument in your honor.
6 If you are over seventy, do not think your dance routine is still in. If you do, at best, the rest of the crowd will be laughing behind your back. At worst, your performance will take up so much room and bump so many people the bouncer will remove you for your own protection.
5 If you are above seventy, do not go anywhere near a Karaoke machine. If you do, at best, you will get a short slow song you can handle poorly. At worst, you will pull a rap number and scare yourself with the words that scroll across the screen, reminding you that being scared is not suitable for your pacemaker performance or your underwear.
4 If you are over seventy, never drive in the left lane. If you do, at best, you will wonder what all those hand signals mean in the context of driving. At worst, you will have a monster truck come so close to your rear bumper you will be forced to look in the rearview mirror only to swerve into some hapless seventy-year-old next to you.
3 If you are over seventy, do not raise your arms above your head if you are wearing short sleeves; if you do, at best, you won’t notice the extra movement of skin and will think the wind is picking up. At worst, you will cause enough stares to stop traffic with those undulating biceps that seem to have headed south.
2 If you are over seventy, do not go to a restaurant any earlier than 7:00. If you do, at best, you will get the early bird menu and won’t really find green Jell-O to your liking. At worst, a youthful server will insist that you will genuinely enjoy the breaded fish sticks instead of the sizeable juicy steak you intended. “Besides,” she says. “It is much easier to chew.”
1 If you are over Seventy, do not try to tell stories about how great it was in the old days. If you do, At best, you will be finishing your stories to yourself. At worst, you will notice people running away as you come close, and it won’t be because you have worn the same clothes for five days. (well, maybe)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(614x524:616x526)/flip-the-dog-093022-1-f5b0b7b6447b432cb32ec86dad59e0fb.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(656x0:658x2)/flip-the-dog-093022-2-2634d49473d748138da3e8b7f384c3ff.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(949x524:951x526)/flip-the-dog-093022-3-cce4d580e7e84756984b2769eeada2ab.jpg)
