We've been having fires all over in Washington State. Most of the state has unhealthy air at the moment. A couple of days ago, you could see nothing of Seattle from the Space Needle. Now it's reasonably clear.

However, I live on the other side of the state in Spokane. We are in a valley, and have no wind at the moment, and none is expected tomorrow either.

Schools are closed, and many businesses are as well.

About a week ago, a town south of us was 80% destroyed. What a mess, on top of COVID.

While I try not to hate people, I dislike the following type of person intensely, which is why this originally hit my facebook page a few years ago.
For those who know Spokane and the south hill, I was on 57th where Hatch Road comes up the hill and merges with it. A woman in a Subaru Outback came up the hill like a bat from Hades and got right on my backdoor.

When I was a child, I didn't like spicy food. The nearest I can figure is I had wimpy taste buds. At about fifteen or so, I had some hot ribs, and I realized that the flavor was wonderful.

Now, being young and dumb, like a lot of fifteen years olds are, I thought that eating spicy food would make me more 'masculine'. All I can say to that, is it hasn't worked yet.

So I spent a bit of time last night in the emergency room. At such times, my mind begins to wander... or is it wonder?

For example, What exactly is the Tooth Ferry for? Where does it cross. I thought there was a bridge there.

Do you leave positive or negative feedback when you purchase batteries online?

In Greek mythology, was Chiron known as the Centaur for Disease Control?

Is Irony truely the opposite of wrinkley?

Several years ago, I posted a very short piece on Fanfiction.net. Captain Kirk comes up against impossible tech in the Enterprise because it violates the laws of physics.

As many will know I used to be a minister, and am still a dedicated Christian.

*** START OF RANT ***

Why do Christians place chrome fish on the back of their cars, then proceed to be obnoxious drivers?

I know, my 2nd blog post today. Sorry.

The other day I tried something new. I sliced a bit of skin off my thumb with a mandolin slicer.

My left thumb is, of course, the test bed for all kinds of fun and wonderful scientific experiments.

Several years ago I tried putting a bullet through the same thumb. While the bullet left sensation in this thumb somewhat less than normal, I can say unequivocally after the slicer test that sensation is still there.

A few days ago, I received, in the mail, from Amazon, a thing that screws onto a water tap outside, where my fur girls can lick it to get their water. I had one before, and my pup took to it like a duck, or a dog, to water.

Unfortunately, my fur girls are a bit older, and don't seem to want to learn how to get water from the thingamajig. They'd much prefer I put a bowl under it, and hold the thing on so their bowl fills up like I'm their personal maid or something. Honest! They're dogs, not cats!

I'm kind of enjoying FaceApp.

I used to have a sailboat, so being able to set a picture of me, as me, on a yacht, is quite nice.

Of course, my boat was only a 17 footer, but still, it was quite fun. Alas, when I bought the house I have now, I had no place to park it. The only place I could have, would have let the boat be destroyed along with my front yard with cars flying through on occasional visits.

Needless to say, I miss it. There is nothing like sailing.

A few days ago, I wrote a post about an amusing situation that happened to me while driving. In the comments, we began talking about driving trucks, and I mentioned some tragedies I have seen. I got to thinking I can't leave it there, on such a sour note, so the following is my favorite story to tell about my days as a truck driver.

Driving for Uber and Lyft, I am frequently asked what my best Uber / Lyft story is.

This post needs a small amount of setup. My wife and my home is on Country Homes Blvd, otherwise known as the Current North / South Freeway in our city. We live just past where the right lane disappears because it has become a turn lane. This frequently becomes the cause of screeching tires and broken glass.

Do you ever think about how disturbed your muse might be?
I was recently writing a scene, and everything was all neatly mapped out. There should have been no problems, but I was trying to come up with a nice segue, and The Dreaded Muse spoke. This is sometimes a reason to run and curl up in the fetal position, because my muse is warped. Suddenly, she told me, "you know... We could make this so much better if we just make a teensy little adjustment."
Stupid me, I asked what adjustment that might be. I should have known better.

Ever done one of those things that was incredibly stupid, but you know you can use it in a story (if you can get over the embarrassment, that is?)

I was getting my brunch (I'm somewhat of a late riser) ready, consisting of smoked sausages and BBQ sauce (Don't judge me! LOL). I was reaching into the door of the fridge for the BBQ sauce, and I stopped myself from squeezing it onto my sausages when I realized that I had found, not BBQ, but Hershey's. Chocolate Sauce.

Reworking N21 and After Caesar