Sunday, February 26, 2017

Photoshop education continues

February 26, 2017

It's Daytona Sunday. I've got one ear tuned in to the race and the other on the dog. Deuce isn't happy I'm not going outside with him to play Frisbee or ball. He'll survive it.

The truth is, I do understand. Watching television for hours on end makes me antsy. It's rare that I do it. To keep my mind from atrophying, I worked on learning something new with the photo shopping program. It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I'll take it for a first effort. If nothing else, I learned a few things that I should not do, but all-in-all I'm satisfied with it.




Netting Neptune
Book 1 in the Southern Cross collection

Available now at Amazon, iTune/Apple, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com
mailing list subscribe email: betweenthekeys-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Sovereign Duty by KrisAnne Hall (2014)

February 25, 2017

It's my habit to avoid giving any sort of a book review or recommendation, and talking politics, but in my opinion, this is a book you need to own and you must read. KrisAnne Hall breaks down the United States of America's Constitution and explains in understandable detail how our freedoms have been eroded. Using the words of the founding fathers, Hall presents undeniable proof of the danger we face in losing our liberty and our more perfect union. 

This book illustrates just how far from its potential our country (made up of sovereign states) has traveled. The Constitution is an amazing body of work but we don't teach our children about it. Sovereign Duty should be required reading for every high school senior before they are issued a diploma. It should be required reading for every elected and appointed official before they are sworn in. 

Ms. Hall explains how the Constitution was created using the very words of our founding fathers. The Constitution clearly gives the power to govern to the States, and not the Federal government. The Federal government did not exist when the Constitution was created. She explains how the Federal government came to be and for what limited purposes it was created. 

Prepare to have your eyes opened. Prepare to learn what our educational system, both public and private, has systematically refused to teach. Prepare to be angry that two hundred forty-one years of politicians usurping power have brought the United States of America to where it is today. 

Knowledge is power.  Read this book.


KC Kendricks



Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Being Green

February 22, 2017

I really am in a mood. I refer you to the last paragraph. It refects my wonderful lunch hour experience. I almost wish I'd written this, but I didn't. I got it via an email from a friend a long time ago and I kept it, knowing the time to share it would one day come. - KC

_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in our day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.  Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. (Watch it. That's stepping on some toes.)

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

 In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. 

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person...

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Sometimes you just need to vent

February 22, 2017

I've been remiss with blogging so far in 2017. Busy is an excuse a lot of people use, but in some cases, it can be, and is, true. Work, home, writing, family, friends, Deuce. It keeps me hopping. 

Now I will confess my dismay at realizing February is almost a memory. Yes, Bourbon & Blues was released, but I'd hoped to accomplish a wee bit more. Perhaps I'm being too hard on myself. Probably not. I've not focused on the tasks at hand this month. 

Being the dutiful daughter, my practice has been to leave the day job and go to the care facility to check on my mother (an Alzheimer's patient). Then it's home to fix dinner and on to check on my stepfather. If there's time left in the day, I spend it with my spouse. What crumbs of time are left allows me to squeeze in some writing - or play with Deuce. Deuce usually wins as he is persistent in ways known only to dogs. 

This February I'm not following the routine. I'm tired. I'm tired of always being "on." I'm tired of the demands of the day job. I'm tired of not having help with my mother. I'm tired of my spouse asking me "what's for dinner?" when he knows I've been on the go since daybreak and he's been home all day.  

I'm tired. I'm tired of people whining at me and then staring at me like I've sprouted an extra head when I whine back at them. Don't I get a chance to speak?

This is not like me. I don't recognize the place I'm in, probably because I'm so tired. I'm worried about myself in a way I've never been before. I worry I'm going to have to lie to the people I love to get away from them. 

Being an introvert is difficult enough. When the people around you refuse to allow you the quiet you need to be able to rest, one becomes a tired, surly introvert. 

Maybe I need to serve a warning to the people inside my sphere of influence. Back off or learn to duck and run because I suspect ripping a few folks a new one will give me more energy than a good night's sleep. Or maybe I'll just fall asleep at my desk. That will surely impress my co-workers.

KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
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My country life at Holly Tree Manor


Saturday, February 18, 2017

Bourbon & Blues - new for #MSS 177

February 18, 2017
**Updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop has been discontinued.**

Welcome to another My Sexy Saturday! This week I have seven sexy paragraphs from the brand new release, Bourbon & Blues. Bourbon & Blues is part of the Men of Marionville collection. 

Be sure to check out all the participating MSS blogs using the links at the bottom of this entry. 

And now for our seven paragraphs.
_*_*_*_


I pulled my pants up and zipped. More than anything I wanted to lie down beside him and stay, but it wasn’t a good idea. I just met him. Getting too wrapped up in him would be foolish. I walked to his side of the bed and kissed him goodbye. 

“See you Friday, Griff.”

“Call me if you need bail, babe.”

“Likewise, hon.”

He was chuckling as I walked away.

The drive home was a short one, but it was time enough for the box my emotions lived in to open and its contents spill out. I wanted to shove it all back into its cage but it was too late.

Hope is determined to live in the light. 
_*_*_*_

ABOUT Bourbon & Blues:


Griffith Ernde missed his father’s funeral because he was drunk. When he made it to the cemetery, the gates closed with him on the inside. Griff ends up in a cell at the local precinct house charged with trespassing, and with no way to salvage the day. No doubt about, it’s a personal low in his life. Then his luck changed when Kory Watts joined him in the cell.

Kory Watts has a knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Stood up on a blind date at a local club, Kory gets swept up in a drug raid and lands in a cell with an inebriated stranger. When his drug test comes back clean, the duty sergeant offers Kory a deal: if he takes Griff home, they both can go with no charges. It’s not a deal Kory will refuse.

When Kory and Griff meet again, they agree to have a drink - of ice water. Neither man judges the other and it’s quickly apparent they share an attraction. As their budding relationship heats up, Kory wonders if he’s ready to get serious with a guy he just met no matter how well suited to each other they are. When Griff is suddenly charged with the murder of his father, Kory is ready to move heaven and earth to help prove him innocent, but it might not be enough to save what’s between them.


BOURBON AND BLUES
Available now at

Amazon

iTunes

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

KC Kendricks

mailing list: betweenthekeys-subscribe@yahoo.com





Saturday, February 4, 2017

MSS 175 - A Cat Named Hercules

February 4, 2017
**Updated 4/2/21 - the My Sexy Saturday blog hop has been discontinued.**

Welcome to February and another My Sexy Saturday blog hop! Today is the 175th installment of the blog hop - quite an achievement! Be sure to check out all the My Sexy Saturday blogs using the linky list below. 


Today I have seven sexy paragraphs from A Cat Named Hercules which is part of the Men of Marionville collection. 


Having raised many kittens, I had a lot of good material to draw from for this story. Enjoy!


_*_*_*_*_


Gale drew back and blinked at me. “Are you suggesting I should fuck you?”

Goosebumps skittered across my back as my balls drew up. My cock lengthened as the idea took root. “Sure.”

I smacked his ass. He didn’t like it and smacked me back—hard. He stuck his index finger in front of my nose. “Be careful doing that, big boy. I don’t look tough, but I turn scrappy when people hit me.”

“You’ll beg me to spank you some day.”

“Don’t count on— Ayiayaa!” Gale surged forward into my arms, pelvis first, plastering the length of his body against mine.

I levered up on my elbow and looked into wide, innocent eyes. Herc meowed softly. Sweetly. Like he was the most precious thing on earth. Did they give Academy Awards to kittens? “I told you he’d be a problem. Do you believe me now?" 

Gale laughed and released his hold on me. "Damn his little whiskers! I thought a spider was crawling on my ass. That tickled!"   

*_*_*_*

ABOUT A Cat Named Hercules



New in town, Shiloh Rudy joins a group of civic-minded volunteers to better acquaint himself with his recently adopted community. It’s a good way to make friends, network, and help make a difference, not to mention perhaps meet someone interesting  - in a romantic sort of way. The one thing Shiloh didn’t expect was a love to rival all others to come with four white paws.

Gale Widmyer is on his feet and moving forward after piecing his life back together following a series of wrong choices. In his darkest moments, the one bright spot in his existence was the fulfillment of his dream to become a veterinarian. Gale’s making good on a promise to himself when an abandoned kitten leads him to Shiloh Rudy and a chance at the happiness he never hoped to have.

Laying the cornerstone for a developing relationship comes easy for Shiloh and Gale. But the wounds of the past often remain unhealed at their deepest point. A few careless words erects a wall of silence between the two men, one Shiloh has to breach if he hopes to win Gale back. It will take more than apologies to win Gale’s forgiveness and put old fears to rest. It’ll take a cat named Hercules.


A Cat Named Hercules
Book five in the Men of Marionville series

Now available at AmazoniTunesBarnes and NobleKobo and other online book sellers

KC Kendricks

www.kckendricks.com
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/kckendricks
www.pinterest.com/kckendricks

Friday, February 3, 2017

At the Paradise Cafe

February 3, 2017


Paradise Café. I can just imagine twenty authors scrambling to use that title, but hey. It’s been used - by a rock band called the Arc Angels.

Back in 1992, the Arc Angels were four guys from Texas, two of which played with Stevie Ray Vaughan. That was why I gave them a listen. Then I saw them live at The Bayou in Georgetown. I loved The Bayou, but those days are now a lifetime ago. Anyway, to this day Paradise Café remains on my playlist. Great song, especially when one is cruising down the Interstate on a sunny day.

Paradise Café was written by Charlie Sexton, and in light of recent events, seems to be equally relevant in 2017 as it was in 1992. That's one of the benchmarks of a great song. 

I grew up in the lower middle class, financially speaking, and I’m still there if you believe the information found on the Internet. The good news is I’m rich in ways that matter more than money. I have everything I need, and a lot of what I want but in non-material ways, I’m fucking loaded, baby. I got people. I got land. I got a good dog. But I’m digressing…

The news last night showed riots on the Berkeley campus in California. Again. What the hell is wrong with those kids? What the hell is wrong at Berkeley that this sort of thing has been happening there for decades?

I don’t have to imagine what would have happened to me if I had done something like that in my youth. I wouldn’t have people, at least not decent people, in my life. My lower middle-class family would have kicked my ass in a decidedly unfortunate-for-me direction. 

All of this is, of course, my segue to my point.

I watched the images on the television screen and the words to Paradise Café were in my mind. I don’t understand how young people who are afforded the opportunity to go to college can waste the experience, nor do I understand why a college or university would facilitate, even approve, of such waste.

Everything is not rosy. Those “drunken” college students will be at the wheel one day soon. It’s a terrifying thought.

KC Kendricks

Paradise Café

Well now everything is rosy and the money's so well spent
This kind of education is worth every cent
When your momma pays the tuition and your daddy pays the rent
You could learn a lot in college although you never went

Now you ain't that funny and you ain't that smart
But you become a model student when you step up to the bar
They're drinking their life away at the paradise café
Talking with nothing to say at the paradise café
Daddy's money spends real good and he's spent a lot today
At the paradise café

The neon pink flamingo shines down on one and all
Lights up the drunken schoolgirl as she bounces off the wall
To the slurred shouts of college boys who'll soon be at the wheel
It's an awful lot to deal with just to get a decent meal

Now you ain't that funny and you ain't that smart
But you become a model student when you step up to the bar
They're drinking their life away at the paradise café
Talking with nothing to say at the paradise café
Daddy's money spends real good and he's spent a lot today
At the paradise café