Stargazing (pictures I like)

Bouquet of Death (pictures I like)

Thanks for Noticing Me (pictures I like)

Won't You Join Me? (pictures I like)

Stairway to... Green? (pictures I like)

Hi, Rob! (pictures I like)

Need a Lyft? (pictures I like)

Or was that an Uber?

Oldest (pictures I like)

He'll Be Mad If He Sees This (pictures I like)

But it looks like it tastes good, right?

Where's the Mirror? (pictures I like)

"Can someone pass me the gel?"

Give Me a hand? (pictures I like)

Pigs in Motion (pictures I like)

Lego "Justice" (a Fair post)

So, okay, you got me. There's really nothing to do with justice and Lego (by the way, did you know that "Lego" is the plural of "Lego"? (I think I mentioned this before, but I don't feel like checking)) in  this post. At least not together. I suppose if this was a Lego Batman post, we could talk about Lego and justice together, but it's not. No, this is about the Lego exhibit they have every year at the Fair. (We'll get to the justice part in a bit.)

The arts and crafts stuff at the Fair always includes a fairly large Lego exhibit which is something we spend a lot of time at. At least, we spend a lot of time at it in comparison to the other arts and crafts. Mostly, this is the fault of the boys. Actually, my wife and my daughter usually just glance at them and go do something else while I hang out with the boys while they examine every piece. Okay, not every piece, because my younger son has incredible disdain for kids who send in their boxed kits as their entries.

And I get it. It's supposed to be original creations. But, you know, how do you tell that to a six-year-old? Or to his parents that don't really know the difference. Or the judges who are almost certainly old(er) people that barely know what a Lego is. Yeah, I know I'm generalizing and stereotyping, but, since the contest is supposed to be about original creations and (at least) half of the entries (including some that win prizes) are just kits you can buy at the store, I have to assume that these people don't have any working knowledge of Lego.

Anyway... there have been some really incredible builds the last few years. Some guy made a huge model of a scorpion (and, when I say huge, I mean somewhere in the 3-4' long range not counting the tail) from the technic type pieces and, I'm assuming the same guy, some other similar type bug thing another year. I wanted to share pictures of those, because there was nothing quite so impressive this year, but... well, I can't seem to find those pictures. [They got put into storage (off my computer) at some point, and I don't know where they are (probably because we moved since I did that). And I did, actually, spend several hours looking for those discs to no avail.] All of that to say, you'll just have to be satisfied with the pictures of this years' creations (and hope that I find those other pictures at some point in the future).

My son assures me that these are not from kits (and I don't know of any kits of these, but they are so well done, I thought, maybe, there was some older line of military vehicles or something that I didn't know about). As you can see, they won first place in their category.

Yes, someone touched the plane on the left. My son really wanted to fix it, so I had to remind him about his feelings on the subject and whether he'd want someone he didn't know fixing it if it was his creation.

(I wanted to fix it, too.)

And, now, for the most impressive thing this year

(which is nowhere near as impressive as the things from the last couple of years).

That's the Lego show from this year.

My son always wants to enter something, but, when presented with the knowledge that he would have to submit the piece for judging at some point before the Fair starts and that it would be on display for weeks (where other people could touch it and potentially break it), meaning that he could be without his Lego for more than a month, he always decides he'd rather not. Then, he walks around grumbling about how his thing was better than this-or-that thing. Except he never said that about those Lego creatures. That just made him want more Lego so that he could build something that big. I told him when I sell a million books that we'll talk about it.

Speaking of books!

Today is the penultimate release of the Shadow Spinner serialization! Yes, the end is almost here! Want to find out what happens to Tib, Michael, and the Man with No Eyes? Well, this is your chance to do it. Not to mention the Serpent and... the Angel, Uri'el! This is one climax you don't want to miss! Grab "Justice" today!
Here's your list of today's FREE! offerings:
"Part Thirty-three: Justice" (FREE! Monday, September 23 and Tuesday, September 24)
"Part Thirty-two: The Gate"
"Part Thirty-one: The Serpent Strikes"
"Part Thirty: Called in Judgement"
"Part Twenty-four: The Serpent"
"Part Twenty-three: The Harlot"
"Part Twenty-two: The Undying"
"Part Seventeen: The Tree of Light"
"Part Sixteen: The Dark Tree"
That's only nine parts this week, but, hey, running these things for FREE! every week uses up the free days pretty quickly. Next week: "Part Thirty-four: Uri'el" and, maybe, something else new!

The Things People Make (a Fair post) and a Judgement

I'm a fairly crafty person. I mean that in that I enjoy craft-type activities, not that I'm all plotty and crafty like a fox or anything. And, yes, I know the phrase is "crazy like a fox," but it's the same kind of thing. Anyway, for a long time at my kids' school, I was kind of known as the crafty guy and, when working in their classes, teachers always wanted me to lead the craft projects. Now, I'm known as the writer guy and people have mostly forgotten about all of the craft project stuff. But, well, you can see that I gravitate toward artistic expression because of my "crafty" tab up at the top of the page there.

All of that to say that I enjoy seeing the kinds of things people build and make. Seeing where imagination can take someone. Actually, that's one of the reasons I really like getting these Imagination Room stories, like the one by Bryan Pedas, "Like An Axe Through Bone," that's at the end of "Shadow Spinner: Collection 1: Tiberius (Parts 1-5);" I like seeing the places I haven't thought of that can come from something I initially envisioned.

But I digress (even if you should go buy Collection 1 (and review it))... The Fair is always full of all kinds of cool things that people have made, so I thought I'd show off a few of the ones I like best from this year.

If you look behind the clock on the left, you will also see an impressive hand-carved dolphin sculpture.

And, now, for some cakes! There were actually more cakes than I felt like taking pictures of, but I did get pictures of the ones I think were most impressive.

The dragon only got 2nd place.

To this, which is awesome.

And, look even Max!

A few other cool things:

There were also tons of cool paintings, sketches, and photographs, but I didn't take pictures of that stuff.

Also, today: "Part Thirty: Called in Judgement"! Yes, the big 3-0, and it's FREE! today (Monday, September 2 and tomorrow (Tuesday, September 3)! And don't forget, "Shadow Spinner: Collection 1: Tiberius (Parts 1-5)" is also available for the low, low price of only $1.99!

Here's the complete list of today's FREE! offerings:

"Part Thirty: Called in Judgement"

"Part Twenty-nine: Loss"

"Part Twenty-eight: The Shadow Place"

"Part Twenty-seven: Leaving"

"Part Twenty-two: The Undying"

"Part Twenty-one: The Chase"

"Part Twenty: The Sword of Fire"

"Part Nineteen: Lost in the Garden"

"Part Sixteen: The Dark Tree"

"Part Fifteen: Food of the Garden"

"Part Fourteen: Anger and Laughter"

"Part Thirteen: The Clearing"

"Part Nine: The Shadow of the Tree"

"Part Eight: The Cold and The Dark"

"Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow"

That's 15 of the 30 parts for FREE! this week, which is, actually, more than half of the available parts since the first five have been collected. We're getting close to the end! Don't miss out!

Redneck Fun Part Two (a Fair post) and "Loss"

Before reading this, you should go back and read part one if you haven't already.

The first two rounds of the demolition derby were meant to work as elimination rounds, and they did, but it was rather haphazard. Like, there were twice as many cars involved in round two as in round one. One of the cars that was meant to compete in round one, after driving by during the segment when they announced the cars, broke down and never made it into the arena. So they worked on that car during round one and it made into round two. It made me wonder how many other cars didn't make it into round one because they just weren't ready to compete. They also said that it would be the winners of the first two rounds that would compete for the final prize money ($4000? I don't remember for sure), but, when we got to the third and final round, they let any cars compete that were able, which didn't seem exactly fair to me, but, then, it was my first one. Maybe, that's normal?

The favorite car from round two was Party Artie.

And he won, too, but he's the car I mentioned last time that, once he had won, he had to have his car towed off the field. I kind of feel like he was also the one that was supposed to be in round one and couldn't get his car started for it, but I'm not sure about that. At any rate, he was a fun car to watch. Fast and bouncy and the driver was very experienced. They even held the third round for him while he finished getting his car going again, but his car gave out on him pretty early in round three.

And this is probably the most smashed up car of the event:

He managed to survive round two and compete in the final round.
This car, however, didn't make it:

That other car there is car #1. Here are some better views:

My daughter was very impressed with car #1, and I have to admit that he had shown some impressive persistence in his driving. He was one of those cars that would just barrel on through and do some smashing. A real powerhouse of a car.

Another very impressive car was #63:

63 was really good at staying to the edges and building up speed, then dashing in and smashing a car and backing out again. As my wife said, he was "wily."
And don't forget

#42, the shark car, that lost a tire in round one and kept competing.

It got too dark for my camera to take pictures by the time the third round was starting so a brief down without pictures:

• The cars that were going to compete came into the arena, which included the shark car. As soon as it came in, my wife said she was going to root for that car.
• When car #1 came in, I asked my daughter if she was going for that car, but she was undecided. She remained undecided through a large part of round three, which sort of defeats the purpose of choosing whom you are rooting for beforehand, but, oh, well...
• When #63 pulled in, I announced, "I'm for 63!"
• My wife immediately announced that she was for #63. That caused a short argument over the validity of that after having already picked a car. Her only defense was, "I didn't know #63 was going to be in this round." I gave her the pick.
• I took car #1 since my daughter was still being ambivalent.
• The round started and 4 or 5 cars were knocked out almost immediately, including "Party Artie," whose car just died.
• It came down to cars 1 and 63, hence the reason that my wife and I joined so willing into the cheering. My daughter remained ambivalent.
• 63 hung to the outskirts, speeding around the track and looking for opportunities to strike. 1 tended to bash his way through the "dead" cars in the middle of the arena. 63 took the advantage early on and looked like he had it wrapped up.
• But #1 was persistent and managed to get 63 hung up on another car and proceeded to bash him several times. Eventually 63 got away.
• And car 1 got stuck on another car while moving through the center melee. It looked like it was the end.
• But 63 moved in to strike 1; 1 managed to power into the other car and move it so that he avoided a direct hit. Instead of smashing 1, 63 just knocked him loose, and that gave 1 all the opportunity he needed.
• He caught 63 in the same place where 63 had been stuck before and plowed into him several more times until 63 went dead.

It was all very exciting, and, yes, I do realize that, to a certain extent, you just had to be there.
Here are a few more cool pictures from the event:

Yes, that is one of the cars pushed up the embankment and another stuck in one. They had to stop the derby to get 777 down. Getting stuck in embankments became more common as the derby progressed.

Yes, those are teddy bears on the burning car.

Those cars are stuck together. That happened more than once.

If given the chance, I'm sure I'd go see another demolition derby. It really was much more fun than I thought it would be.

Also, today!
Today is the release of "Part Twenty-nine: Loss." It's FREE! today, August 26 and tomorrow, August 27!
Also, remember, the first 5 parts of Shadow Spinner are available as one collection, which you can get here.

I'm still looking for reviews on this (since I lost so many because of switching over to the collection from the individual parts), so, you know, if you were to feel so inspired, it would be greatly appreciated. By me, even.

Here is a list of all of today's FREE! parts:
"Part Twenty-nine: Loss"
"Part Twenty-eight: The Shadow Place"
"Part Twenty-seven: Leaving"
"Part Twenty-six: The Bitter Fruit"
"Part Twenty-two: The Undying"
"Part Twenty-one: The Chase"
"Part Twenty: The Sword of Fire"
"Part Nineteen: Lost in the Garden"
"Part Eighteen: The Angel"
"Part Fifteen: Food of the Garden"
"Part Fourteen: Anger and Laughter"
"Part Thirteen: The Clearing"
"Part Twelve: The Gash in the Floor"
"Part Nine: The Shadow of the Tree"
"Part Eight: The Cold and The Dark"
"Part Seven: The Moth and the Shadow"
"Part Six: The Man with No Eyes"
That's 17 parts for FREE! today! Pick them up now while you still have the chance!

Redneck Fun Part One (a Fair post)

The County Fair came through here recently. We try to go to the Fair every year although I'm not always sure why. It's way friggin' more expensive than it's worth, and the kids do their best to make it as unenjoyable as possible most of the time. But, still, every year, we forget about the pain of the previous year and drag ourselves out to it. We went twice this year: once to look at stuff and once for rides. I do have to say that the first trip, the trip to look at stuff, was quite a lot of fun.

Let me sidestep a moment. I grew up in the 70s. The 70s birthed a lot of weird things: disco, bell bottom jeans (really?), and cars smashing into each other. When I was a kid, we called the car thing "crash 'em up derbies." I never got to go to one. I did, however, own a couple of zip racer cars (one red, one blue) that blew up when they crashed into things. The hood and doors and stuff would fly off, and you could put them on so that they cars looked new or crashed. I loved those cars. Then we moved and the cars disappeared, so I think my mom probably trashed them, but, anyway...

There was a demolition derby at the Fair this year. Maybe there's always one; I have no idea. Somehow, though, the topic of the demolition derby came up between my kids and their grandparents which spilled over to us and my declaration of, "I've never been to one of those." I don't quite understand why these statements of mine generate the kind of "What? You've never..." reactions that they do, but that is what it is I guess. So, much like last year's "I've never been to Disneyland" generated a trip to Disneyland, this year's statement of "I've never been to a demolition derby" generated a family trip to see cars smash each other to pieces.

It was way more fun than I expected. And full of the kind of people I grew up with, which are not the kind of people you really associate with Sonoma County, but there they were. A whole stadium full of people chugging beer and... well, I don't know. It just felt like watching the people in the "beer garden" at Shreveport Captains games when I was in high school (because watching the people in the beer garden was usually more entertaining than watching the games). I have to say, though, that by the end, the big finale of the event, my wife and I were rooting just as loudly as anyone. Because, see, we'd bet each other which car was going to win.

Before I go on, how about some pictures of the event (because, yes, I took my camera (who's surprised?))?

The cars coming out for the first round elimination event.

Round 1 gets started.

Things start to heat up.

And I do mean heat up. That's smoke, not dust.

That's 300 about to plow into the burning 69. (That sounds dirty, doesn't it?)

The shark car lost a tire...

...but kept driving anyway, which is fairly impressive, especially considering that he did pretty well.

But he didn't win. Some of the losers being towed from the field, which is a pretty good indication that you didn't win.

However, there was one guy that, after being declared winner, had his car give out on him, which had to be towed from the field. That was the end of round two, I think. Then, in round three, pretty much any cars that were able to make it back to the field were allowed to compete.

What's amazing to me is how quickly these guys were able to repair their cars and get them back out to compete. They were literally (and I don't mean in that in the sense of the new google definition, either) pounding their cars back into shape with sledgehammers in order to make repairs on the engines and stuff.

Exciting bits:

• The shark car (42) lost a tire and kept competing.
• Another car (I don't remember the #, but maybe I will find it when I go through the rest of the pics for the next post) broke the front axle but continued to drive around on it for a while. When it got towed away, though, the whole thing flopped down and dragged on the ground.
• Cars caught on fire. Occasionally, this meant they had to wave the red flag to start the derby so that fire extinguishers could be brought in. Let me just say: it's hard to get the drivers' attentions during something like that.
• Which brings me to the guy that got trapped in his burning car and couldn't get out because they were being unable to get the drivers to notice the red flag. Finally, they blared some big horn, the guy jumped out of his car, and they put it out.
• Sometimes, after they put a car out, the driver would start it back up and get back into it. Crazy!
• If a bumper fell off of a car, they would stop what was going on long enough to go out and retrieve it, which they didn't do for other parts of the cars. However, bumpers, depending upon how they were run over, could come up through the bottoms of the cars and seriously injure (or KILL) the driver.

Next time I'll tell you all about the finale and show you some more pictures.

Okay, wait. Here's that car being towed off the field in the middle of round two. This was the only car they stopped the derby to tow out, I guess, because it was blocking too much of what was going on. Notice the front, passenger tire dragging the ground.