Monthly Archives:March 2012

We have had a week of sunny, warm (for us) weather. As a result Kenai is taking on that brown, slushy, ugly look. Generally that sticks around for a few weeks. However, we are watching the snow recede at a rapid rate so we may get out from under the snow by the end of the month. (April, that is)

Oh, yeah . . . tomorrow is April 1st – hmmmmmm, I’ve been here long enough to see SNOW as an April Fool’s day gift.
🙂

While warming and melting are in the air, they aren’t the only things up there:

Wow, Moosie! A helicopter!

So, you might ask what is so unusual about seeing a helicopter? Well, we see them quite often – our house seems to be on their flight path as the medical choppers come to the airport from the hospital (or vice versa) for medical transport. We also see them going out to the oil platforms in Cook Inlet – delivering workers and supplies.

This chopper is doing neither of those things. It is transporting equipment out to various locations (this is on the “flats” near the Kenai River) to conduct seismic testing: Buccaneer is looking for gas/oil.

There are lots of orange ribbons on stakes and wiring harnesses hooked up to yellow boxes all around town, including our neighborhood.

Will they find anything? I don’t know. They are doing the equivalent of buying one of those elusive lottery tickets and hoping to hit the big jackpot. Remains to be seen.

The dance began
A dainty two-step
Make that three
Two steps forward
three steps back
Two steps onto
ACK!
Truth be known
She expected less
two pounds!
Blasted diet anyway
Three steps back
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the weekend Trifextra challenge this week comes from MOV from Word Cut: Write a horror story in 33 words, without the words blood, scream, died, death, knife, gun, or kill. Good luck! Don’t know about you, but it can be SKEERY getting onto the scale sometimes.
🙂

Caroline was in tears. She let the lace slip through her fingers and cried. “This cannot be worn! Just look at the color!

“Mother warned me,” she hiccoughed. “Mother told me that if I hired cheap laborers I would get cheap and shoddy craftsmanship. Why didn’t I listen to her?”

“What are you muttering about, my dear?” Arnold folded his newspaper, took off his pince-nez and smiled on his wife of 20 years. “Whatever has you in a tizzy?”

“This, this lace! Look at it, Arnold! There is no way I can let Matilda wear this gown to the ball tomorrow night. What are we going to do? The Duke of Marzipan will be there and Matilda simply MUST look her best. What would he think if he saw this?”

“There, there, dear. I’m sure you can fix the problem. Would a lovely shawl help cover the problem area?”

More muttering came from Caroline as she again fingered the discolored lace. Her husband’s words penetrated the dark cloud she was under finally and a smile began to form. “Maybe . . . maybe we could snip this piece here and add a bouquet of wild flowers and ribbons there. It is at the waist. This just might work. Cook! Cook! Bring my sewing basket! I need scissors and thread and, oh, do go on, Cook. I need your help now.”

Arnold smiled, shook out his paper and blew out a contented sigh. All was right in Caroline’s world once again. Matilda would meet the Duke and would be introduced to the Court properly. And he? He could finish his paper and enjoy a quiet evening by the fire. Yes, that will do quite nicely.
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picture borrowed from this site.
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Those anything but CHEAP editors at Trifecta have given another challenge – use of the third definition for the word cheap (an adjective)

3 a : of inferior quality or worth : tawdry, sleazy [cheap workmanship]
b : contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities [feeling cheap]

“There’s nothing cute about it,” he said. The register of his voice indicated decision more so than discussion.

She disagreed heartily and privately, staring past his head and out the window behind him.

Their kids laughed as they decorated the car.

“Weren’t you ever a kid, Stanley? Didn’t you ever do something just for fun? Let them enjoy themselves. They’re only young once. It washes off.”

photo borrowed from this site
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This is a challenge – if you choose to accept the challenge – you have 3 days . . . Trifectans unite! The editors gave us 33 words and challenged us to complete the thought with 33 of our own. These are mine. Where are yours?

Harold mentally patted himself on the back. Leaving the relationship had long been on his mind, but the means of making a clean getaway had been eluding him nearly as long. Shellie had been the perfect roommate. That’s the way it had started; roommates sharing rent, utilities, and the grocery bill.

It turned sour really quickly.

One minute they were roommates and the next they were lovers. Shortly after that they were quarrelers and nobody wanted to be the bad guy by calling it quits first.

The day Shellie came home to tell him she was being transferred to an office upstate was the day he knew he was in the clear. He could pack his things and be gone and on his own once again.

Harold twirled his imaginary pistol and pantomimed replacing it in his equally imaginary holster. “Ride that hoss, pahdnah! The Sheriff can’t catch us now.”

Famous last words and all that . . . there came a knock on the door.

Damn! It was Shellie.

“Harold! I can’t leave you,” she cried. “I want to make it work and I can’t do that from upstate. You love me, I know you do.”

The gunslinger pulled himself up and puffed out his chest. “Well, little lady . . .”

Inside Harold seethed. “Shit! I almost made it.”
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Trifecta’s Editors have again thrown down the challenge gauntlet. This time – the word is CLEAN – to be used in its third definition.

clean (adjective)

1: free from dirt or pollution
2: unadulterated, pure
3 a : free from moral corruption or sinister connections of any kind [a candidate with a clean record]
b : free from offensive treatment of sexual subjects and from the use of obscenity [a clean joke]
c : observing the rules : fair [a clean fight]
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That’s my entry above . . . now it’s your chance to make your literary splash. Come clean with us, and share your 33-333 words.