Book Publisher's killing me

By the way folks that's meant as hyperbole.

Publish America is trying to squeeze it's authors right now. They're shifting to all hard bound. The price has stayed the same, but $21.95 is just too much for a book like this.
Today they made us an offer to keep the book in paperback, but you have to buy 19 copies in only a two day window. The books will list at $9.95, but I can't cough up that kind of money after I just bought 25 copies a little over a month ago.
They've got me and I think a good number of their authors over a barrel right now.
I want to keep selling the book and right now I'm starting to get into venues where I can, but they keep jerking me around on obtaining copies and prices.

Baby bird

Went out to golf today. On the tenth hole we picked up a follower: a gosling with just a hint of chick down on the head. It followed us for nearly the whole back nine. It did break off at the first water hazard we came across and then followed the team behind us. The only problem we had with it was on the greens where it kept getting in the way and we had to shoo it away.

We had a nice group of curmudgeons last night at the Isotopes game. The 'Topes lost 15-3, but it was nice to see each other and get caught up on things.

Looks like I'll be going back to work as a legal assistant for a couple of months. So much for the retirement. The money will come in handy.

Book Signing

A couple of friends invited me to join them tomorrow in the village of Tijeras at an arts and crafts fair. We'll set up a table to sell our books. I'm hoping there will be a good turn out and I can get some sold.

Addendum:
Sold one copy of Optimus and two of Friends Forever. I'm set to do a book signing at Tesuque's flea market on the 10th and will join with five other writers for a booth in the State Fair in September.

Random thoughts

• Watched the epic marathon tennis match between Mahut and Isner. Methinks this will change the rules to allow for a tie breaker in the fifth set. This was just unreal. Everyone is saying that this will never happen again, and with a tie breaker in the fifth set it won't.
• Nice to see the Queen show up again at Wimbeldon.
• Did everyone hear a loud sigh of disgust yesterday? Obama has replaced flip-flopped on generals. The neocons sighed in disgust because they couldn't throw their usual shit fit about Obama being soft on terror (this yo-yo was Bushco's number 1). Anyone who is tired of this neverending war sighed in disgust because this isn't what we voted for.
• Took son and daughter to the golf course and we hit a bucket of balls. I wanted to chip and putt, but Notah Begay's Jr. camp was setting up. If eldest grandson was down here it would be nice to have him signed up for that.

Captain Alert

I've posted a piece on Populism over at my Captain's Log Blog concerning an article I read by Jim Hightower. Check out what I've said or better yet click on Hightower's article and read all of it.

A Little Drama

Saturday night daughter's bf got his car stuck in the sand on the mesa behind our house. Mom came over with a roast for dinner just about the time bf came by with a friend and truck to get him out. The truck got stuck. His friend had to call a tow truck. Bf's parents came home from a trip to bring by their truck with a winch to get him out.

We watched the US Open Saturday and Sunday. After watching it almost all day Sat wife wanted to go golf. We got up early and did nine holes before it got too hot. Got home in time for the car drama and then watch Tiger melt down. Kind of hard to repeat the great round he had the day before.

Today is wife's last day at work for two weeks. She's now on vacation. I hope that means more golfing together as we're not going out of town.

Anne Littlewolf called. She sold a painting in Old Town this month. She's ecstatic. I went down to the cafe last week and bought a pound of Strawberry Cream tea. It's expensive as hell, but tastes like heaven. They're thinking of coming down here for either the state fair or balloon fiesta. Watch out when the twins get together.

Curmudgeons are getting together for an Isotopes game this Sunday evening. A few other friends and wives will be joining us too. Going to be a good time.

Punt

Had a rather windy golf tournament yesterday. Still good exercise and didn't overheat like the last few times I've played. In the evening wife and I down to Bosque Farms for a barbeque. Attorney friend has a new toy he just loves playing with: a smoker. We had brisket, chicken, hot links, and ribs smoked over apple wood. We left stuffed.
When I got home and made the mistake of checking e-mails the speaker for this Monday nights Writer's 2 Writers meeting canceled. At this short notice I doubt if I can find a replacement, so when in doubt punt. I'm going to be the speaker. Another speaker canceled on me this week for the August meeting and I was working on a topic in case I couldn't find a replacement. Guess I'll be spending most of Monday whipping it into shape and pray that all those wanting to hear the other speaker aren't disappointed or since I sent the mass e-mails out letting everyone know of the change that no one shows up.
I've decided the topic will be: Fact Checking it's just as important for fiction as non-fiction.

Good friend Michael Manning, would you be interested in a quick trip over here August 9th? I could sure use a good speaker...

Some things...

should not be talked about on the golf course. Thursday I went out with the Gaggle and was paired in the cart with a guy who was retired navy. As we were teeing off the other three guys in the foursome for some unexplained reason decided to vent about our senior senator and how they agreed with Arizona's immigration law. It didn't help matters that I was playing a rather lousy round of golf, but the idiot I was driving with naturally asked what I had done for a living and when I told him I had been a teacher he went off on a tirade about why the schools didn't teach the Constitution anymore. That was the last straw. I answered, "Why should we when Bush called it 'useless scrap of paper' and proceeded to take us into two needless wars, begin using Bills of Attainder and abolished Habeas Corpus."
He responded by saying that maybe we needed to avoid that subject.
No shit Sherlock!

BTW: I taught World History and the major theme was the rise of Democracy, from ancient Athens, The Roman Republic, The Enlightenment, English Civil War and the evolution of Parliamentary Democracy in England. In U.S. History I spent three weeks every first semester going over the actual constitution and the Bill of Rights with the rest of the year, as they came up, discussing the other ammendments focusing heavily on the 13th, 14th and 15th right after the Civil War. In Law class they got a double dose under Constitutional law as we covered numerous Supreme Court cases and I had them write a law, debate it and try to get it passed in a mock legislature, we did mock trials and mock appeals. I sponsored at two schools the YMCA Youth and Government club where the students conducted a model legislature in the Round House in Santa Fe over a weekend every year. They had to write a bill and be on committees to debate bills that students from all over the state submitted. There was also a Forum where instead of a bill they wrote research paper on the specific topic and then discussed it within the group to prepare a formal resolution to the legislature. There was a model Supreme Court as well. It was amazing every year watching the students in action as they learned the ins and outs of our government. Don't fuss at me about not teaching the Constitution. It's our political leaders who need a refresher course in Civics, not the schools.

Blood pressure much lower now. Off to a tournament and hoping to have a much better round of golf.

Fuss and Feathers

This last week you'd have thought a certain gentleman was the devil incarnate. That he'd committed the most horrible crime on the planet or all time. He missed a call in a baseball game that didn't change the outcome, but a pitcher was denied the third "perfect game" of this season.

Big fat hairy deal. Now the one that robbed the Redsox of a World Series, that was the crime of the century, and I'm not a Red Sox fan.

It's HOT

Wife wanted to golf yesterday we were going to walk the executive nine. She made it three holes and rode back with the girl that goes out and sells drinks. I hit the next three holes to where the sixth green is next to the first green then walked the first fairway back to the club house. It hit 100 degrees by nine in the morning. I thought it wouldn't get that hot until around five in the evening. The rest of the day we kept the ac on high and watched the French Open Women's final in the bedroom where it's cooler than the living room and drank lots of Gatoraide.

Talked to the attorney I worked with in April. He has another case and will need some help, this one should take some time. He'll let me know later this week if its a go.

Bought some plastic hanging pots to hang tomatoes upside down at Wally World. They were only four bucks each and came with soil and seed. I didn't feel like working with seed so I also bought some plants. Got them hanging off the back porch yesterday. When they grow out it should provide some shade on the patio, being on the south side it gets too hot in the evening to enjoy sitting around the glass table. I also bought one for strawberries, but haven't found any strawberrry plants to put in it yet.

Sprayed grass and weed killer on the driveway cracks and rocks in the front yard. I know it's a losing battle it seems like the grass weeds treat this stuff more like fertilizer than killer anymore.

I need to prune down my rose bushes now that the initial flowering has passed. The apricot tree is loaded this year. In about a month it will be quite a race between me and the birds to pick them off. I'm the only one in the family that like apricots so I may have to make juice out of most of them.

I like sleeping late but it's better to get up early and take a nap in the afternoons while it's so hot. I can get lots done this way.