Raven challenge 65

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: parasite, meals on wheels, crows, it's my fault, everything but the kitchen sink, on sale, patriotism, the love of my life, library card, common sense And for the mini: blackmail, California, stethoscope, postage, crank

A continuing story of Sandra Shore.

The comic book, her only clue, Sandy read very carefully. During the intense study, she made numerous trips to the kitchen, and her cupboard was bare, eaten was everything but the kitchen sink. Its my fault that I have gained so much weight she said to herself. She wished she had meals on wheels.
The invisible hero in the comic book were crows. A parasite had mutated ,and was threatening the world. Patriotism was encouraged by the lab Common Sense. Common Sense was the lab that the parasite had begun its growing. Dr Fling brought in an American Eagle to eat the parasite,but it was too large and clumsy in the building. Flying without impediment the crows took out the parasite's leading troops. The credit went to the American Eagle, and the truly patriotic invisible crows graciously let him have the honor.
Sandy could not find a clue. What did that story have to do with the explosion? While she was pacing back and forth to the kitchen, her penguin dressed like Shirlock Homes appeared handing her a library card on which the book The Love of My Life was taken out. It was her card and the book was way over due, although she could not remember having had the book.
The over due book required Sandy to make a trip to the library to pay the fine. Really she suspected that the penguin gave her the card to get her to go to the library. As she climbed the steps to enter the library she noticed the sign toy polar bears on sale in the window of the building next door. After paying the fine, Sandy decided to check out the toy polar bears. The polar bears seemed to be an odd item to put on sale.


Mini Challenge:

The building next door to the library was a toy shop, but to Sandy it looked more like a museum. The toys were vintage, and the prices were high. Odder if there was such a thing, was each of the three medium size polar bears was holding something different. One had a letter, one had a stethoscope, the last one a crank. Sandy picked up the bear holding the letter. The envelope had a postage stamp. It was addressed to Sandra Shore at her address in California. The envelope was not sealed, and a letter could be seen. Sandy removed the letter. It read:
Sandra you should look closer at your penguin. That was not your penguin that gave you your library card,but a substitute. If you want your penguin back safe and sound, buy this bear and put $40,000 in this envelope, and bring back the bear. Also stop your investigation into the Poet's Corner explosion. She stood in shock. This was a blackmail letter. From the corner of her eye she caught the exiting man in the multicolored hooded sweatshirt and a large full sized polar bear.

Continued next week.

Putting in the Dirt- Taking out theDirt

Putting in the dirt and taking out the dirt is what I have been doing for weeks. We bought the bag for growing tomatoes. We need something to hang the bag on so we bought a yard pole with four hooks thinking we would get hanging plants and my strawberry plant to even it.The pole comes with and end with two fork like bottom pieces to put in the ground. We began with trying to put the pole in the ground. The ground was too hard. We bought and auger to go on the end of a drill to make a hole. We tried that. Ground still too hard. I had a small barrel on top of a large one last year, so I took the smaller barrel and filled it with dirt and put the pole in there. The pole would stand with hanging baskets until the 40 mile per hour winds came. Down came the pole and baskets. I took the dirt out. John cut two 2x4's nailing them together and drilling a hole for the pole we put them in the barrel covered them with dirt. Did not hold plants. I took out the dirt. The next thing we did was cut a circle the size of the barrel bottom from fiber board put that in the bottom and nailed and bolted the cross 2x4s to it. We covered them with the dirt. That did not work. I took out the dirt. We using L shaped clamps bolted the fiberboard circle to the sides of the barrel. Put back the dirt. I can hang two basket still not sure if they will stand in a wind storm but there is no way four baskets can hang. We don't understand why the pole falls over. It could be I am not getting the pole to the bottom. Dr. John is going to watch as I put the baskets on the pole on Friday. Dr John works in the garage and I am doing the work outside. He can sit on the walker.
Now to the question of the bird house. The bird house project got postponed do to the problem of the hanging plants. The house is painted and on a pole that should be above Maggies leaping abilities. The pole will sit between the pickets on the fence. I put the L shaped brackets so we can fasten the pole keeping it standing. The top brackets are on, but the bottom are not. I would also like my daughter to help me put it up holding it while I fasten the pole.
Meantime the tomato plant is at Pennies she has a hanging pole which was in when we bought the house and it is in cement. We are not leaving them at Pennies because Dr John would to see them grow.
When Dr John said he had a dull day on Tuesday that did not include me. I went to bible study, and, when I came home I planted two rose bushes, and weeded out my front garden, and planted it. I used the hose for the first time this year, and found that the nozzle had cracked at the trigger and I got as wet as the plants.
We have had a rainy week, and the boy down the street did not cut the grass when the sun finally shone. We have very tall grass.

Quilly Three Word Challenge#16

Quilly

Words:
niddering-cowardly person, a wretch
amanuensis-person employed to write what another dictates, secretary
tyro-a beginner in learning anything, novice


Sam Smith escorted people from their cars to a circle around the casket at Peaceful Rest cemetery for the burial of James Hasten. The steady softly falling rain added to the somberness of the small group. There were no voices, all that could be heard were only the rain drops hitting the umbrellas, and soft sobbing accompanied by twittering of the birds. Breaking into the quietness was a large gasp and "He can't be buried there, that is my plot." The voice heard was that of Mary Ann Ross, cousin of James Hasten.
Sam Smith quickly went to talk to Mary Ann. The more they talked the a more agitated Mary Ann became. Frank Short's name was repeatedly thrown out. After fifteen minutes Sam suggested that the group go to a local restaurant on his tab, while he went back to the funeral home to check on the facts.
People who become funeral directors should go into the business to want to serve someone in a time of need. That was not niddering Sam Smith's reason for becoming an undertaker. Funeral directors make good money, and he inherited the business from his father, so there was little outlay at the beginning, the building furnishings, and reputation were establish.
Sam did not do the work, it was done by a tyro Frank Short. It was March and Frank came down with the flu, and Sam had to do the work involved in the Jim Hasten funeral. To make matters worse Janice Huff the amanuensis had caught what Frank had, she also was gone.
Paper and charts were pulled out and thrown around as Sam searched for the information. Sam took out his anger on the absent Mary Ann. She should have just kept her mouth shut. What difference where she would be buried make? He finally had all the paper work to find she was right. He called in the gravediggers to make another burial spot for James. He contacted the family to make arrangements for the funeral the next day.
The next day had better weather and James Hasten was laid to rest. Frank short and Janice Huff returned to work. Janice turned to Sam after she restored the office to order," Did you know that James is now resting in your plot?"

Memorial Day

Remember those who gave their lives, in the wars past and present.
To us who do not have love ones in danger, a reminder to pray for those who are. It is so easy to have picnics and good times and those are good, but give some time in prayer for those who are making the land safe.

Raven challenge 64

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: albino, trench, marble, assistant, Indian, What's that supposed to mean?, sound first principles, the key thing, moat, curtain Mini challenge: under the surface, doomed, grand design, temple, aspirin





This is a continuation of Sandra Shore's Curse.


Sandy felt frustration at communicating with the police. She knew who set the explosion at the Poets Corner. This information came to her in a dream, hard for the officers to accept that as a reliable fact. To tell them that her invisible penguin also knew it to be true would send them into laughter, and her, detained for observation. She would have to track down that hooded man on her own, well not really on her own she had the penguin as an assistant.
She would have to use sound first principles, that would be the key thing. The changing of the hooded sweat shirt from a dark color to a many colored one, what's that supposed to mean? There was an Indian museum near that shopping mall where she saw the man in the many-colored sweat shirt, and she could go back to the Comic Book Shop to ask to see if anyone recognized a man in a hooded sweatshirt that had many colors. The more she thought about it there were a number of little shops she could inquire about the man. Her first step now was to go back to the shopping mall via car, not foot this time.
First she decided I will go to the Comic Book Shop, because the man seemed familiar with it. There appeared to be no one there until an man came from behind a curtain behind the marble counter. He had a spike hair style died in orange and blue. His tattooed arms were visible as he was wearing a blue jean vest. On the wall above the man were enlarged copies of comic book cover pages. The one that struck her was of an albino tiger protecting a small boy from a polar bear on a bridge over a moat in front of a castle. It was a reminder of her encounter with the polar bear at the Poet's Corner.
"I have a question of you. Do know a man in a hooded many colored sweatshirt? "
" Why? Are you the Police?"
"No, I just want to talk to him. I followed him in here yesterday, but did not get close enough to talk."
"Followed, You were chasing Him."
"Yes, I need to talk to him."
The clerk said"hmph," and turned away.
Sandy felt that she was getting no where, so she asked," Do you have a copy of the comic book up there. Unseen Heroes?"
He silently went over to a near by table with boxes of comic books and pulled out a copy of Unseen Heroes by Ino Trench.
Sandy paid for the book, and left the shop. She went into the other shops, and no one identified the man in the Multi- colored sweatshirt.
Disappointment swept over Sandy as she returned to her apartment. The comic book her only possible lead and that was a very slim hope.


Mini Challenge:

Unseen Heroes would be an ordinary comic book to the average person, but Sandy saw there was more under the surface. The writer wrote about a grand design. The heroes were invisible and were part of a group that met at an ancient temple. Although each victim seemed doomed an invisible hero would step in and save them. What was different is that the heroes where just not humans but part of the animal kingdom. Sandy needed an aspirin to study this comic book further.

Quilly Three Word Challenge#15

Happy Birthday Dr. John

Quilly

rubefacient: 1 causing redness of skin
2 application as mustard plaster
senticous prickly, thorny
divagations: 1to wander, stray
2 to digress in speech


Sandra Shore was enjoying her leisurely walk, on a beautiful day, down the paved path in the park. Her mind was processing though the facts of the fire and her curse, but she noticed the well cared for gardens as she passed them. The only plants she cared for were in her apartment. The invisible bear was confined therefore giving her no concern, but something evil started that fire she was sure even if the fire department had not as yet said how the fire started.
She was not startled when she was joined on her walk by an invisible penguin. She wished he would have a conversation with her, and give her a explanation of the curse or the fire. Now in the normal world there would not even be an expectation of that happening, but in her crazy world she sat down on a park bench hoping it would do just that. It just stood there.
The warm sun and the calmness of the park led her to close her eyes and she slept. She was back at the Poets Corner sitting at a table when she notices movement in the kitchen, a person not a cook or chef, someone who should not be there.The individual has on a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up covering the face. The sweat shirt is black or dark blue. The individual places an object under the counter and moves among the cooking staff with a false smile. Sandy follows the individual through the kitchen and out the back door. The hooded sweatshirt becomes flowery multi- colored. The explosion happens and the hooded person vanishes.
"Look out!" A young child throwing a large ball looses control and the ball is headed toward Sandy. She awakes with a start. Putting up her hands warding off the ball, she notices the penguin motioning her to follow.
The paved path becomes dirt and disappears. Sandy finds she is walking through senticous bushes. The penguin picks up the pace and sandy is running, her calves in pain from thorns. Way ahead Sandy sees a young man in a hooded sweat shirt with the pattern from her dream. Sandy runs faster, she wants to get to that man. They run into a small shopping mall parking lot. The young man runs into a comic magazine shop. He is followed by the penguin and Sandy.The hooded man knowing the shop exits out the back door, penguin and Sandy following with an angry shop clerk shouting at all three.
They exit onto the parking lot only to lose the hooded man.
Back in her apartment Sandy applies rubefacient to her wounds, and calls the police. Her excited conversation is full of divagations. The police hear her but do not understand her.

Together Music

This story is written by Dr. John and myself, writing alternately.



Bud put on his old fishing hat and shirt and decided no matter what his wife said he was going fishing. No one will miss him and he needs a change of scenery. He could see himself driving across the bridge on his way to the old fishing hole up in the mountains. Into that little blue car would go his fishing gear.He might even stop at that nice roadside stand and pick up some grapes.
" Bud! Bud! Don't forget we're going to my mother's today and I already have the motel reservations."
"No, no! Mothers! yes, yes Fishing, Oh well mothers I guess."
So the dream ends, maybe next week.