Sometimes one has to cheat

Another amusing tale told by Tallis Steelyard and penned by Jim Webster and a book offer by Jim Webster.

Tallis Steelyard

I have previously mentioned Gisset, clerk of works to Tildus Thallawell. I would rate him as perhaps the best organised man in Port Naain. But occasionally even he needs the help only a poet can give him.

His problem started with the Wibblethrone statues. These adorned the front of the Wibblethrone family’s rather grand villa. There were nine, representing the muses. Given that the Wibblethrone family had never invested a dreg in the arts in living memory and probably picked up the statuary cheap in a bankruptcy sale, I always felt they did not deserve to own them.

It seems that Tildus Thallawell shared my opinion. He had seen these statues when invited to attend upon the family in a professional capacity and had decided they were utterly unsuitable. He had instructed Gisset to have them removed and replaced by an array of hanging baskets and raised beds.

I enter…

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At least Herdwicks have the sense to get in out of the rain

A walk through sheep and a book about Sal the Border Collie.

Jim Webster

Well they say travel broadens the mind. But don’t worry; I didn’t go far, just across into Scotland. We had a brisk look round Edinburgh and then down to Newton Stewart because we’ve always liked Galloway.

But we finished off in the Lake District and there I met these, huddling under a tree out of the rain.
I was talking to people the other day. Apparently they felt that we should give up keeping hill sheep, because it wasn’t economically viable. Hill sheep farming only exists because of the support through various environmental schemes.

Yet I’d seen some figures some days before. Defra produced a nice chart; it shows the various sectors and their ability to survive without subsidy.

Specialist pig and poultry farms can survive, they have to, they don’t get subsidies. Admittedly they’re also the most intensive, efficient and productive sectors of agriculture. But do people want the…

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Today in the ‘Alternative Universe’ …

If he’s emptying the swamp someone must be refilling it at twice the speed.

Filosofa's Word

A few headlines caught my eye today …

Trump’s FEMA chief under investigation over use of official cars

I have to ask the question:  Is there anybody in this administration who is not under investigation???  A quick 10-minute search turns up …

• David Shulkin – Former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs – spent more than $122,000 of department money on a 10-day trip to the UK and Denmark in July 2017—which involved only three and a half days of meetings. A government investigation into the trip found he had committed several “serious derelictions,” including bringing his wife on the trip at the taxpayer’s expense and improperly accepting free Wimbledon tickets.
• Steve Mnuchin – Secretary of the Treasury – requested a government plane to take his wife on a honeymoon to Europe, and has come under fire for spending nearly $1 million on just seven trips.
• Scott Pruitt – Former…

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Book Promo – Get ‘Home’ FREE from 14th to 18th September…

HOME is FREE from 14th to 18th September.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Book Title: Home

Author Name: Uvi Poznansky

Sale dates: 09/14/2018-09/18/2018

Regular price of book: $2.99

Sale price of book: $0.00

Category: Poetry, Literary Fiction, Anthology

Blurb:

Home. A simple word; a loaded one. You can say it in a whisper; you can say it in a cry. Expressed in the voices of father and daughter, you can hear a visceral longing, in poems and prose, for an ideal place. A place never to be found again.

Imagine the shock, imagine the sadness when a daughter discovers her father’s work, the poetry he had never shared with anyone during the last two decades of his life. Six years after that moment of discovery, which happened in her childhood home while mourning for his passing, Uvi Poznansky presents a tender tribute: a collection of poems and prose, half of which is written by her, and…

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It’s Slow Good

A great two for free blog today from Russell. There’s also a free plug for Perry Block’s new book, THE JOYS OF WATCHING PAINT DRY. If you want more of Russell’s great humor just click on the book covers on the right of this blog. You can also help him out by reblogging this post from your blog.

What's So Funny?

They say time is relative. Funny, but I don’t remember having a relative named Time. I did know someone whose last name was Time that I was quite fond of. His first name was Quitting. We got along extremely well and often shared a beer or two after work.

Quitting came from a rather large family and had a good number of cousins. One of them became a lightning rod for controversy. People either loved or hated him. Complaints range from having to reset clocks twice a year to blaming physical illnesses on him. He is also charged with being a thief. Daylight Savings steals an hour every spring, but gives it back in the fall. I wonder what he does with that hour during the nine months he keeps it?

If you’re new to Friday Flash Fiction, our faithful facilitator, who takes a licking and keeps on ticking, is

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Good People Doing Good Things — Carolyn Collins

This is a wonderful woman and she’s inspired children and others to do wonderful things also.

Filosofa's Word

I was working on a special piece for this week’s ‘Good People’ feature, but as often happens, I find that it requires more digging and research than I have time for right at this moment, so I will have that one next week.  But for today … you are going to fall in love with this woman!  She will restore your faith in human nature!  Please allow me to introduce …Carolyn Collins, a high school custodian in Tucker, Georgia.  About four years ago, Carolyn was working the early shift, it was still dark out, and she was getting ready to take out the trash when there came a knock on the cafeteria door.  Two students — a boy and a girl — looked at her nervously. “Can we please come in?” asked the boy, even though school didn’t start for two more hours. “Me and my sister are getting…

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In memoriam

I know I’ll never forget

bluebird of bitterness

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Wrong Place, Wrong Time …

What can happen if you have a gun?

Filosofa's Word

One night a few years ago, Chris was out of town at a band function, and Miss Goose and I were in the living room each engaged in “doing our own thing”, when the front door opened, and a man walked in.  He was as startled as we were, for he thought he was entering his daughter’s apartment, so imagine his surprise to be greeted by my “WTF”!  It was an honest mistake, for this is a complex of some 200 attached townhomes and they all look exactly the same.  We all did an embarrassing chuckle, he apologized and left to find his daughter’s apartment, and we remembered to lock the door thereafter (though we still sometimes forget).

A similar mistake happened in Texas this week, only this one turned deadly.  Amber Guyger is a four-year veteran of the Dallas, Texas, police force. Ms. Guyger had just gotten off duty…

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Dear Republicans, The Blue Wave Is Coming In November 2018

The blue wave is coming but the Democrats need to get out and VOTE.

Gronda Morin

There is no room for complacency regarding the upcoming US November 2018 elections. While it is widely accepted that the blue wave is likely for the US House of Representatives where the Democratic Party will prevail to win the majority of seats, you can bet that the Republican Party will be focusing their sights to increase its majority in the US Senate where the map looks better for them.

Complacency is not an option, as it is also possible for Democrats to win the majority of seats in the US Senate by a small margin. This would get the attention of Republican Party lawmakers and their donors.

Here is the rest of the story…

On September 9, 2018, Jonathan Swan of Axios penned the following report, “Scary signs for Republicans”

Excerpts:

My colleague Mike Allen, who’s covered a few midterm elections in his time, says it’s rare to see so…

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Dear Republicans, Both Nike And Ford Back Colin Kaepernick’s Right To Protest

Nike doesn’t need older Republicans, conservatives, or Trump voters.

Gronda Morin

I’ve been receiving comments that have been attempting to explain away or reinterpret the reality that both Ford and Nike back the former San Francisco’s 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the protests he spearheaded in 2016 which involves kneeling at the beginning of NFL games as the national anthem is playing. He had been advised by a military acquaintance that this would be the most appropriate way for him to protest in a respectful way to draw attention to how unarmed peoples of color are too frequently subjected to excessive force by law enforcement officers and to unfair judicial treatment.

It turns out that the republican President Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of the protesting players, their fans and the NFL. “Sports fans should never condone players that do not stand proud for their National Anthem or their Country.”

But both companies are in the business to…

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