The Real Jack Rackham

Lots of writers crank out deep thoughts about inspiration on their blogs. I'll jump in with my two cents .... sort of, in a pictorial rather than highfallutin' literary kind of way. I live in a haunted seaside town in Florida. My grandson Jack has cornered the market on cool for a kid his age. His Pop (me) has a pretty wild imagination & likes storytellin'. Mix those things together & you get Jack Rackham & a bunch of crazy adventures that turn into books. Simple enough for ya?

The first thing the kid's got goin' for him is he's not afraid of the surf, or much of anything actually. He's like his Dad & Uncle Chris.



The 2nd thing - he's just freakin' cool....



The Jack in Bad Latitude is 15 years old (16 in Reckless) but in real life just turned 6 on Wednesday. We got to celebrate.



The birthday cake is decorated to look like the deck of a pirate ship. Hmmmm...



I just put these 2 pics in cuz he liked the "little lobsters" at the seafood store. He chomped them down like a real Looweezianna Rajun' Cajun.





Now I like my share of creepy stuff. I'm tryin' to train the kids early, so, naturally, we have rather odd toys around the house. That's Isabel. She's a cutie.



Reckless has a coupla chapters in the haunted Old Jail so I took Jack on a bit of a scouting mission (so he knows how to escape in Chapter 6). The best part was the thunder & lightning. All of the other "guests" hightailed it. Chickens. We were diggin' it. Created a nice atmosphere.







This is my favorite picture. (Deb's idea)

The Cane Update

This is my version of a follow-up post.

Mike & the kids flew in Friday night - I managed (just barely) to drive to the airport. No hugs or kisses from Pop 'til we made it home - I crawled to the passenger seat, & thankfully, Mike drove from the airport to the house so I could get some relief. On Saturday I was able to move, for the most part, without the cane but we stayed close to home (& close to the ice packs). Pop (that would be me) managed to sneak away to buy a new grill. The timing sounds stupid, I know, but I hate putting them together & since Mike was here.....(See I ain't that stupid after all) Oh yeah, Pop also bought Jack a bike for the beach & Isabel became the proud owner of a 3 wheeler. See, Jackman knows me too well. He brought his helmet, but not his bike. Know what I'm sayin'? THAT is pure optimism.

As evening approached Mike & Deb ran out to buy fireworks. I'm not a fan. My mother scarred me for life telling me the same story year after year about Nicky Zubco blowin' off three fingers playin' with the firecrackers. Anyway, they get back & set up these rocket-things. Me, mental images of the Zubco kid suddenly refreshed, I'm fretting about where these suckers are gonna land & will my homeowner's insurance cover acts of undeclared war on my neighbors. Zip - First one lands in the neighbor's tree (I think). So I get the bright idea that I will stand at the end of my driveway & play lookout. (We have a very long driveway.) A little history - I gave up golf because of my bad back & my inability to see where that little white ball landed after my swing. Now these rockets are goin' off & I ain't seein' nothin' - just following the sound of the thuds as they drop around me.

Today we made it to the beach - Jack & Bel rode their bikes & had a blast - so I thought I'd post a few pics.




Jack conned me outta my favorite neckware. Ahhhh - looks better on him anyway.




Isabel was practicing her letters & inventing new words.







Belly is the Dorito princess. She always tells me "Nanny says I can have a special treat."



Jack was having a bad hair day. I'd like to have bad hair day.... just one more.



I tried to fix 'im up when we got home.....



He & Nanny thought it was funny .....



I printed this picture out for Jack - Told 'im it was his cousin.....

48 Hours To Shed The Cane

Our grandkids Jack & Isabel are flying in with oldest son Michael for a 5 day visit beginning this Friday. They're all pumped up, as are we.



Here's the problem - I can't walk, sit, drive, stand or lie down without major cuss-word bad pain. My back is waaaaayyy out of wack (2 herniated discs - a 15 year problem). It just went out on Saturday & kept getting worse. I finally had to leave work yesterday - something I never do. (Driving was so painful, I was trying to figure out ways to avoid using the brake pedal. Fat chance of that on an 80-mile one-way commute.) Heck, all I was doing was reviewing drawings. Brought the stuff home & made an attempt at working from home today. Couldn't accomplish much in 15 minute intervals & gave up after a couple of hours. So for the first time in a few years I'm using my cane (my old friend) to get to & fro.

(I'm typing this standing at the kitchen bar - can't tolerate sitting at all. Everything compresses. Needless to say, I'm also not writing & was on a really good roll for the past few weeks.)



Now I'm chokin' down high-powered painkillers like the ones a real-life celebrity physician would prescribe. I'm packed in ice like a freakin' salmon. Dr. Butcher (my real doc) would have a heart attack if he knew what I was up to with my 'home' treatment. Hey - gotta do what I gotta do. This old beach tiger has 48 hours to either feel better or somehow fake feeling great. Hope the kids don't ask me to body board with 'em. Wish me luck -

INSOMNIA

Sleep. What I wouldn't give for 6 uninterrupted hours of the stuff. Ain't happenin'.



I have to take a pill to knock me out. 1st hour - no problem, lights out. After that (seems like 60 minutes to the second!) it's all tossin', turnin', pillow fluffin', thinkin' about "stuff" - & taking lots of these



Exhaustion finally takes over & I sleep uninterrupted - for half an hour before the alarm goes off. I wake up with these -




I've tried everything - bought a ridiculously expensive mattress, purchased every variation of pillow imaginable, avoided caffeine after noon. Nuttin'! My ritual is always the same - I put my bottle of Rolaids on the end table, next to my iced tea (I use a bottle with a lid so I can't knock it over in the dark), turn the ceiling fan on, turn another fan (for noise) on high, take my knock out pill, read for 15 minutes, (I don't watch TV), & then crash...... for my hour-long ration of rest.



So I get home today, kiss Deb Hiya & ask "How was your day?"

Deb - "Fine - been doing laundry." Doesn't look as thrilled as usual to see me.

Deb - "What the HELL did you get all over the sheet & blanket last night?"

Sidebar - Deb has a thing for WHITE. She get's personalized Christmas cards from the folks at Clorox. When she buys new shirts (blouses?) they're usually white - she had 47 of 'em at last count. Typical shopping conversation would go like this:
Deb - "Look, I bought a couple new tops. Aren't they cute?"
Me - "They're white - right?"
Deb - "Yep"
Me - "Yeah - real cute."

So I'm tryin' to figure out what she's talkin' about when it hits me. My acid reflux had kicked into high gear. I was groggy - so I grabbed what I thought was the bottle of Rolaids, screwed the top off & tried to shake a few out. Instead, I grabbed the bottle of iced tea, & dumped it, in a shaking motion no less, all over my side of the bed (top sheet & blanket - white of course). A cold & rude awakening.

My routine is about to change - Deb says I'd better learn to like bottled water.

Characters

I'm gonna get in trouble for this post.

Lots of writing blogs stress the importance of developing your characters - making them real. Personally I prefer mine (when reading or writing) to be good guys. Tough, Smart, Independent, Adventurous, Funny, Loyal, Good Hearted & Down to Earth.

'Creating' my characters has been a blast, but I might have had an advantage. I got to watch a coupla 'characters' grow up so I used these chuckleheads as inspiration for my story's 'good guys'.




These are my boys a looooonggg time ago. The older of the two is Mike (now 32) & the kid in the chair (probably being tormented) is Chris (now 28). I'm proud to say they've always been best friends. Other than the time Chris (then 2) hit Mike in the head with a doorstop (a stupid looking needlepoint covered brick) they always got along. Hey, it was dark, Mike was in bed & never saw it comin'. I suspect Michael got even..... eventually.




They've always hung out together. If one was in trouble, the other jumped in to help out (or hide the evidence?). I don't think they ever threw each other "under the bus" - despite the bus-colored yellow pants & suspenders in this picture. (They're gonna hate seein' this pic!!!)




Both were very coordinated (NOT a reference to the yellow britches), good at sports, especially baseball. Good hand-eye coordination, made them terrific hitters, but both were ridiculously slow runners. I was faster than they were & I'm probably STILL faster today - even with a bad back.... usin' a cane... wearin' flip flops..... n' givin' 'em a head start. A BIG head start.

Like me, they're in the construction management business. They can read drawings & manage the process of putting things together to end up with a very nice finished product.... unless they're working on LEGOs. LEGOs must be so much more complicated than office buildings.




Today they're all grown up. Whaddya mean you couldn't tell from that last photo?

Memorial Day 2009

South of The Bridge of Lions in St Augustine is a pristine National Guard Barracks next to a 175-year-old military cemetery. We spent the morning visiting & taking pictures, expecting to have the place all to ourselves. Thankfully, we were joined by several 'visitors' soon after our arrival.

Monday is Memorial Day & there will be the usual poorly-attended services of remembrance held across the nation. Unfortunately, many Americans will regard the day as nothing more than a day off from work. The traditional family get togethers will take place, but lots of folks will never pause to give a 2nd thought to those who served & sacrificed or those currently serving & sacrificing.







The signs describe these pyramids. More than 1400 soldiers are buried beneath them.



This fellow was an amazing patriot. WW1 was absolutely brutal - He returned for WW2!!



Here's a marker (below) for a soldier from The Spanish American War - a war against Spain, approved by Congress at 3AM on April 19th 1898, & formally declared 6 days later in response to the sinking of the US Warship 'Maine'. To avoid war, President McKinley actually tried to buy the island of Cuba from Spain. Can you imagine the quality of life that the Cuban people could have enjoyed had this offer been accepted 111 years ago?

Maybe this soldier charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt (Roosevelt was almost 40 years old at the time - with 6 kids at home! 3 years later, TR became the 26th president of the USA.)



Here's a picture that helps to reinforce my hope for America's future. These kids are members of The Explorers Club - part of the P.A.L. program run by the St John's County Sheriff's Department. They placed flags on every grave. I listened as the Deputy in charge explained the need for quiet decorum, reminding them that "this cemetery is a place of honor". He instructed the kids on how the small flags were to be placed, emphasizing that they could not be allowed to touch the ground. I would guess that the group ranged in age from 10 to 16 & they went about the work quietly, respectfully & efficiently. They were being taught to give something back & they carried out the task as if it was a privilege, not a chore & not a joke. It was one of those choke-back moments for me.





Is Monday going to be just an extra day off? A day for a backyard cookout? Is there enough time in this weekend's busy schedule to honor those that put it all on the line - both past & present? Freedom has always come at a great cost. Acknowledge the sacrifice - take time to say THANKS.

Ghosts N' Guests

This has been a wacked out week. We have some friends in town (Sean & Mary from Indy). They have a condo nearby. Naturally I'm swamped with work & some not-so-great things that need taken care of this week & it has rained for a solid 2 days with 2 to go. Mary mentioned a new book that she bought from another St Augustine author (Randy Cribbs). It's about ghosts & The Old Jail (I haven't read it yet). Well now my writing has stalled 'cause I recently completed a few chapters in Reckless about the haunted Old Jail. Guess a re-write is on the way. It's a shame 'cause it wasn't bad stuff. All that studyin' & research wasted! We even had pictures.... like this one.



So it's no secret that I like ghost stories n' pirates n' the beach. Stop yawning - it's impolite. I mentioned Sean & Mary (from Indy - where they race cars), but left out the fact that they're part-time ghost hunters (http://tpioindiana.blogspot.com) & go by the name Paranormal 911. They've got all the gear & had previously provided me with the research material about ghost chasin' equipment for my now-ruined Old Jail couldabeenamasterpiece chapters. They were at our house Saturday night & we all thought it would be cool to set up the recorder, EVP thing & rods n' stuff. Yikes, some freaky stuff started happenin' right away. The rods pointed & crossed when Mary was askin' questions & then.... IT .... wanted to "talk" to Deb.

I wasn't 'scairt'. I think I've run into ghosts before. Maybe. Here's a picture of one from the lighthouse taken by me. That's not the moon in the upper left either - the I see dead people experts call that an orb. (This was taken the same night that the moon in the trees photo was taken - see blog header pic). Can you see the shape near the bottom? It's not doctored at all. Really.




Back to Mary & Sean (Did I mention they're from Indy - which is near Indiana. Lots of corn out in those parts, but not much sand. Kinda sad when you think of it that way.) They took some audio of the events in my not-previously haunted home & there were 2 words on that audio that sent a chill up my spine. "DUCT TAPE". Makes me sweat just writin' about it. Ya see, I have at least 2 dozen rolls of duct tape in the garage - neatly stacked in a cabinet above a table saw. It's my stash. No one can touch it... but IT knows it's out there... & probably wants some..... maybe wants to tape my wrists & ankles together & levitate me to the lake & dump me in with the gators .... or maybe he has something that needs to be repaired. I don't think they have a Home Depot or Lowes "On The Other Side" ....