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Patriotic

MEMORIAL DAY OFFERING

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Gramps use’ta say
R.L.King2012 #M-30

About: Military Service
(Origination unknown)

If you can read this, thank a teacher….

For the fact that it’s in English,
rather than German, Russian, Japanese or Arabic,

….Thank our military.

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MEMORIAL DAY
© Copyright 2013 Richard Lee King

Memorial Day approaches… As soldiers’ step to the fore,
we’ll celebrate their service, just as so many times before.

We’ll thank them for their gift, because of them, freedom reigns,
maybe not for the entire world, but at least they’re making gains.

Today we’ll honor those we’ve lost, for a moment, we’ll remember,
then we’ll put the memories away, until a day in mid-November.

We’ll take their gift for granted, at least til Veterans Day,
but their gift is all encompassing in nearly every single way.

Freedom, bought and paid for by the blood of our brave soldiers,
with the fate of the entire world, thrust upon their shoulders.

365 days a year our soldiers pay the price
yet according to our calendar, we honor them only twice.

It’s nice we have this day, to honor their sacrifice
but if we honored them every day, it would be 365 times as nice.

We need to tell them thank you, more than just two days a year,
express more appreciation for the way they’ve calmed our fear.

********

Please visit us @ : amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/
OR @: amazon.com/author/donnachandler

Or

please visit our BOOKS page on this site for special pricing offers
(including free shipping).

Patriotic

MEMORIAL DAY OFFERING

If you like us, please help us spread the word by liking us below…

Gramps use’ta say

About: Military Service
(Enlisting)

A man’s words  never speak louder than his actions.

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PATRIOTISM
© Copyright 2011 Richard Lee King

Memorial Day is upon us, it’s the year two thousand eleven.
We’re still fighting violence, sending our soldiers off to heaven.

Oh, of course that’s not the intent & the majority of them come back,
but there’ve been literally thousands who spilled their blood in Iraq.

First, we send them into Hell carrying their canteen and a gun.
And of course, it’s really not Hell, but sure as Hell, it’s not fun.

 Then, when and if they come home, it’s to nearly total indifference.
Yet, they know why they were there, to them it makes perfect sense.

So, once or twice a year we celebrate their heroism.
On Veteran’s and Memorial Day, we band together against terrorism.

But, it’s right back to all the apathy when the sun comes up tomorrow.
Patriotism goes back on the shelf for that day and those that follow.

Seems we can’t be bothered worrying about our soldiers’ plight,
except for those two days and I’m far from convinced that’s right.

 Every single day we have soldiers in harm’s way.
Seems we should honor them on more than just two special days.

Thank You sailors & soldiers

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Or please visit our BOOKS page on this site for special pricing offers (including free shipping).

Uncategorized

AM I THE ONLY ONE…  who enjoys reading serial books?

NOTICE: We’d like to offer a free copy of the book of your choice from any of the books we have published to the first ten people who respond by requesting it from: chandlerdd@msn.com ATTENTION BOOK AUTHOR. (Please note, for a complete listing of said books, go to OUR BOOKS on this site.) 

In return, we ask only that you review the book for us on any social media form that you might use:

Please remember to INCLUDE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. We wish to thank you in advance for responding to this offer.

Richard L. King     Donna H. Chandler

A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT OUR BOOKS

If you’ve been on our blog before, you undoubtedly know that we are both writers.  Between the two of us, we now have just over 25 books in print.  In the beginning, we each began by writing poetry or at least what we considered to be poetry and our early books contained our poetic efforts.  Then, for our first collaboration, we put out what we titled THE HINTS BOOK ALMANAC, books one and two.  These two books contained about 2700 helpful household hints, categorized and alphabetized so the reader can easily find the exact hint that he or she is looking for.

We followed those two books with a children’s book titled ADVENTURES OF GIZZY, a story about our cat traveling about 10 miles through or around swampland to get back home after having been moved to a new home. 

More recently, however, our books have been stories of a western flavor.  Oh, but they’re not shoot-em-up, bang/bang type westerns.  Of course, there is some of that, but we try to inject more in-depth characters who have a back-story.  Although there is usually at least one love scene in each book, we try to dial them down, somewhat.   It’s tricky, you don’t want them to be the same old mundane stuff, but we don’t want them to be overly explicit or exceptionally graphic either. We strive to attain a perfect mix.

We like using recurring characters, which was widespread in our 8 book CROW’S LAKE series, and continued in our 4 books and counting, CHAYCIN series. That all started in our private investigator series, CLOSED CASES, which had Stony Johnson, Donna Jones and Christy Christopher as the three main characters in all three books.  

In the CROW’S series, books one and two pretty much centered around Bo Hasbrook and Lindsey Hanks.  Lindsey’s uncle, Vern Johnson was mentioned, but he was already dead.  Book two, was for the most part, a continuation of book one.  Then, beginning with book three, each new book was sort of a “spin-off” of a character from the preceding book.  Book three was a bit of a flashback to the 1890’s as it detailed the life of Vern Johnson.  As an 18-year-old, Vern went into the mountains, seeking gold.  He found it and a whole lot more.  In that story, as in most of our stories, there is a limited amount of gunplay, but one of the lead characters will succumb to it.  Later that death will be avenged as the perpetrators will meet their maker at the hands of a survivor of their treachery.

Books four and five continue to tell Vern’s story as he moves on from his gold mine, which he owned in partnership with Pappy Adams, to owning his own ranch, and falling in love.  After introducing Pappy in book three he continues as a prominent character in books four and five, but became the title character in book six, PAPPY’S GOLD, a flashback to The Civil War days. 

Pappy’s brothers Luke and Darvin, barely mentioned in the earlier books, will become mainstays in book seven BROTHER’S ADAMS, where they were the leading characters throughout the book.  Leaving home as teenagers to join the Rebel army to fight against the north, they will eventually head west on a wagon train.  Ultimately, they will become wealthy men and return to their southern roots purchasing a ranch near the family’s original homestead in Arkansas.  They will continue expanding their holdings until they become the largest cattle raising operation in the entire state.

The eighth and final book in the CROW’S series, LAST RIDE, returns to the telling of Vern Johnson’s story as he moved into his sunset years, going from ranching to becoming a mainstay in the town he calls home.  As the town marshal, he will help lead the town into the twentieth century wherein indoor plumbing, electricity and the horseless carriage will become common things.

We strive to inject both action and romance into each of our stories, as each day new stories begin to formulate in our brains and eventually find their way into the pages of a new book.  As I’m writing this, we are putting the finishing touches on the fifth book in the CHAYCIN series, tentatively titled CHAYCIN PARADISE.  At the same time, we are contemplating a sixth book, destined to be titled CHAYCIN something, although just what, is yet to be determined.

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Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #508

About: Difficult Times

“Seek the blessing in your disappointments.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Please check us out at:   

amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/

amazon.com/author/donnachandler

Kindle versions of most of our books are available at only 99 cents.

Family, Humorous

AM I The Only One . . . who dreads making phone calls to any business?

By Donna Hale Chandler

It doesn’t matter if it is your doctor’s office or a company to ask for information. Keep your fingers crossed that you aren’t stuck in a never-ending loop when you try to navigate, “Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.”

I thought yesterday would be a pretty typical day for me.  I was wrong! First, my laptop was frozen with a message to call Microsoft for instructions as to how to become active again.  The message included an 800 number for me to call for help.  I have gone through a few nonsense messages and strange behaviors from my computer and thankfully, knew enough not to call the phone number given.

I opened my handy dandy book of phone numbers and found a phone number for Microsoft Tech Support.  Thinking I would be back in business in a couple of minutes, I called the number and of course, was met with a menu with a variety of choices.  Tech Support was number 4.  Ah ha, ‘I’m cookin’ with gas’, as my mother used to say.  A voice came on the phone and I quickly explained my situation.

“It’s good you didn’t click on that screen or call that phone number.  This is a scam that has recently been going around.  I’m sorry I can’t help you but I will connect you to someone who can.  Please hold.”

This is where my ‘cookin’ with gas’ mentality turns to severe dread because I knew what was coming next.  Yes, I was disconnected.  Rather than call the same number, I grabbed my phone and googled the ‘Microsoft Tech Help’ phone number.  This produced a list of various numbers for various services.  Looking down through the list, I found Tech Support and quickly called. A recording answered that instructed me to go to Microsoft.com/tech support.  Remember my computer was frozen so I grabbed my phone, opened up Google, typed in the web address, and was taken to a screen that offered different suggestions for different problems.  None of the choices applied to me, but I spotted a chat box.  Wonderful!

I typed in ‘My Computer is Frozen’ as my question.  A ‘bot’ replied.  (I’m sure computer-savvy people have had occasions to deal with the bot.)  I was asked a series of questions.  The reply was, “I’m sorry I can’t help you with that, please call 888———.”

This is a new number for me so I called.  Recording answers with a menu for various situations, then, “For Tech Help please go to Microsoft.com/Tech Support”.  I’d already been there so I decided to call one of the other numbers that was listed in my Google search.  I tried 3 more numbers and each one had the same recording to go to the web page.  Yes, the home of the bot that couldn’t help me.

A light bulb appeared above my head suggesting that I switch tactics and call a local store that offers tech services.  It so happens, we have a service contract with them so I was confident in their ability to clear up this situation.  Why didn’t I think of this first?  Probably because I automatically followed the instructions on the screen that said ‘Call Microsoft’.  I already have this number in my phone, didn’t even need to search for it.  I was feeling pretty positive that I was close to a solution. When the phone was answered, a recording told me the hours they were open and for me to call back during business hours.  Again, my positive attitude tanked as I looked at the time.  It was 9:00 am and the store didn’t open until  10:00.   Dang, a delay.

Determined not to allow myself to get discouraged, I watched the clock and at 10:02, I called the number again.  Guess what?  A real person answered!  Shocking, I know.  He asked several questions.  Then I heard the dreaded, “I am going to transfer you, please hold.”  (sigh) I was doomed.  Surprise, surprise, within a couple of minutes another human being came on the phone.  Naturally, I was asked the same questions again.  It took some time, but I followed the instructions given to me, and finally, about 20 minutes later, I was up and running.

Whew, I felt like I’d already put in a day’s work.

However, once again, all on the same day, I was wrong.

Later in the day, when I turned on the TV, it also was frozen.

That is a story for another day.  I’ll just say that we still don’t have a working television. And I’m exhausted.

Please visit us @ : amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/
OR @: amazon.com/author/donnachandler

Or

please visit our BOOKS page on this site for special pricing offers (which includes shipping).

Family, Humorous

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO . . . is grateful to live to see 2025

Looking back over my 75 years on this earth, I can remember getting my first clothes dryer – no more hanging clothes out on the line, in Michigan, in the winter.  My first microwave was incredible, although my mother told me not to stand too close to it when it was running.

I can also remember:

  1. Cars with no air conditioning – rolling down the window wreaked havoc on the hairstyle
  2. Cars with a standard gear shift – I learned to drive with a Volkswagen Bug.  Dad had to replace the clutch 3 times before finally putting a truck clutch in it.
  3. Cars with headlight dimmer on the floor – was actually pretty handy there
  4. Cars with no window washer fluid – we had to get out of the car and wash our own windows.  (With all the conveniences, I do miss the full-service gas station where your tank was filled, your windows washed, and your oil checked.)
  5. A person, even my children, could be gone for hours with no cell phone – now I literally cannot leave home without it.  It is close to my right hand until I go to bed at night.
  6. And computers!  Wow!  I use my computer for many hours each day. 
  7. I love e-mail but miss getting personal letters in the mail (hand-written thank you notes and birthday greeting cards are nearly a thing of the past.)
  8. No more getting out to play in traffic and struggling with crowds in the store.  Just go to Amazon and order whatever you want.  It usually is delivered to your door the very next day.
  9. Grocery shopping is a breeze these days.  At first, I discovered an app that allowed me to put in my grocery list, plus the name of the store I would be going to, and the list was organized by aisle. 
  10. Even better, now I order the grocery store items online and they are delivered and brought into my home at the time of my choosing.  What could be better than that?
  11. Yesterday, I found a new app that takes my grocery lists and tells me which local store has the better price on each item.
  12. Of course, we can’t forget Alexa.  Alexa reminds us when to take our medications, the date and time of our doctor’s appointments, and when to take the clothes out of the washer/dryer.  She will answer any question we ask and will play our choice of music.  She will turn the lights on or off.  The same with the ceiling fan.  It is amazing all the things she can do that make humans lazier and lazier.
  13. We now have 3 Alexa units and if I am in one room and my other half in a different room, I can ask Alexa to ‘Drop Into the office’ or wherever and we speak to each other without shouting and without getting out of our chair.
  14. The modern conveniences we have compared to 75 years ago are too numerous to list – from smart TVs to cars that park themselves.

I AM LOVING MY LIFE.  What do you love about this modern age and what do you miss?

Please visit us @ : amazon.com/author/richard-lee-king/
OR @: amazon.com/author/donnachandler

Or

please visit our BOOKS page on this site for special pricing offers (which includes shipping).