My late uncle is still around

I just found out the other day that my uncle, who died in the early 70s, is still in his house. I belong to a facebook page for the town I grew up in.  Someone posted they had read about a house in a book on haunted Ontario. Someone commented that they had a ghost in their house, the previous owner who died in the home. She mentioned the name of the street.  Well, my uncle lived on that street and died in his house, so that caught my attention.  I posted back asking what number the house was. She not only gave the correct house number, but named my uncle by his nick-name - Bun. Apparently he was cute as a bunny according to my grandmother and the name stuck.

Bun's house backed onto the public school.  This women told a story of when she was a child, Bun had passed her some forget-me-nots through the fence. I think that may have been the only contact she had with him when he was alive.  Strange thing about that is, the next day I went to the town's annual street sale, where lots of the vendors hand out bags. After I got home I went through them to dig out the pens and toss the adversiting.  What do I pull out of one bag but a packages of forget-me-not seeds.  How bizarre is that?????

He hasn't been scaring them, but rather comforting the woman when she was upset. Is he a ghost, or a guardian angel?

Publisher account

Well, last month sometime I decided to compile a collection of short-ish stories (10-12k words each) and publish them as a collection.  The stories will all about about Detective Hodgins, set in Toronto, between 1874 and 1888. I was planning on publishing through Fastpencil, and I think I will go one step further and open a publisher account with them. That way, my book(s) will show as being published by my company, and not Fastpencil. The plan at this point in time is to publish by the end of next year.

ISBN

I registered today for an ISBN account.  I have been given an ISBN publisher prefix - don't really know what that means. Maybe all my numbers will start with that.  Now I can get ISBN numbers for my publications.  All I have to do now is finish a book to attach a number to.  Free in Canada, some sort of fee in the US.

The Day After

OK, Snowmagedon is over, and what a difference a day makes.  Sun is shining, temp is below freezing, but there is no wind, so it's actually nice out. Did have trouble getting out of my driveway this morning, but it only took three tries.

I don't think I need to go out tomorrow, so I shouldn't have an issue getting out by Monday morning.

The landscaping company that the property management hired can not physically remove the snow without permission from the property manager.  I left a phone message Friday when the mound of snow was only just at the edge of my drive.  I then sent a email a little bit later, along with a photo.  No answer.  I sent another email this morning with a new photo, I believe the one above. Again, no answer.

This mound stretches the entire width of the road. When we had our storm in 2007, it was a different landscaping company, and the load of snow that time completely blocked my driveway. It was a week before that was dealt with.  I hope they do something about this sooner.

O yeah, the reycling was picked up.  Garbage is still there though.

SNOWMAGEDON

Ok, so this isn't the worst snow storm in the history of mankind, but it's pretty bad none the less.

I was awake at about 4:00 and heard my neighbour shovelling.  Can't believe he actually went to work. I got up about an hour later, fed the cat, gave him his insulin, and had my breakfast.  Then I shovelled somewhere around 6:00. Only about 1/2 inch or so. Then the recycling and garbage went out.

About 9:00 or 9:30 I went out again.  This time there was around 2 or 3 inches I'm guessing.  Out at noon, now the accumulation is about 4 inches give or take.  Some spots were deeper as I'm at the end of a dead end road and everything blows onto my driveway.

Two o'clock and shovel again. Just before 5:00 out once more.  The plow went through again.  Because I'm on a dead end road, give ya three guesses where a lot of the snow from the subdivision goes.  First two guesses don't count. The mound of snow is now past the edge of my drive.

Oh yeah, the garbage and recycling are still at the curb.  I have a feeling they ain't picking up today.

Truly great thoughts are conceived by walking

This is on a sign that I pass whenever I walk the north section of the Tom Taylor trail.  I don't know about great, but thoughts do appear when walking.  It's a great way to clear the mind, or mull over things.

Walking along the river, through the trees, listening to the ducks and geese, is the perfect place to think about writing, coming up with ideas for a story, or fixing a part that just isn't quite right.

It's a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, it's just missing the word 'all' at the beginning.

I want my back, back

My back has been bothering me again lately.  It was sore all day Sun and Mon so I decided it was time to go to a chiropractor.  There is one a block away, so I made an appointment.  Went in Thursday, and she did scans on my spine and neck, and pressed down looking for sore spots.  My lower back was particularly sore, and just laying on the chiro bed hurt.

Went in today to review my scans and have my first adjustments.  Surprisingly, the bad spots were not in my lower back, but in my neck area.  Seems that can cause problems elsewhere as my body tries to compensate.  The adjustment was different from the last time I went to a chiro.  That was probably 10 years ago. Rather than 'cracking' my bones, pressing on the spine and snapping my neck, she use a tool that pressed on specific spots. 

My spine was not particularly cooperative, so she did one old time adjustment, and did get a small crack from my spine.  Have to go in 3 times a week for the first month, then I get scanned again.

My shoulders are a little stooped, and my right hip is raised.  It's not noticeable, and I was picturing a little old lady all hunched over and bent.  Don't want to be her. :)