In “Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds” by Jodi Lee the lead tells the reader at the opening that she’s crazy, to put it lightly. In fact she doesn’t know much, other than she’s crazy and she’s hearing voices in a house. She’s not just hearing the voices of the tortured and murdered children that live between the walls, but there’s an impostor named Maya who looks like her doing horrible things. The drama is turned up pretty high on this one, it’s successfully moody and dark, but the concreteness of the …

She was beautiful, loved the attention, was a world record holder. Debby found the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything – so she didn’t need to stay.
The world’s oldest living polar bear, Debby, was euthanized yeseterday, at
42
years of age. She’d been in the Winnipeg Assiniboine Zoo since 1967.
Gods, but we’ll miss her. No other bear could ever fill her habitat like she did.

No, this isn’t a joke response to a recent joke I heard… so pull your brains from the muck now please.
A couple of folks have asked me what I meant by small, when I said I live in a small, rural town. Actually, I had someone ask what I meant by rural…but I’m pretty sure he was being a brat. He’s been here, so he knows what I mean.
Thanks to Rusty, who made me curious to begin with, I went and Googled the town. Yup, for whatever reason …

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In …

The first snow day of the year – I wish I still had my brother’s camera here. :-/ The trees, sides of houses, sidewalks, streets and power lines are coated in ice, and we have several inches of snow.
It’d be kinda pretty, if it didn’t herald the beginning of six months of frozen, white hell.