Reflections On A Northeastern Autumn

Now Playing -  
Ain't No Reason  by Brett Dennen

Life - 

This has been our first Autumn in a state that actually has something close to the actual definition of that season, and it's been intriguing.

Growing up in Idaho, Autumn was a very different season. Things would typically stay hot until late August, with temperatures ranging between 80 and 100 degrees during the day, and dropping to much cooler temperatures, often as low as 50 degrees at night. Then, like magic, sometime in late August, early September, things would cool off. It wasn't as dramatic as overnight, but pretty quick. You'd go from sleeping with your windows open to covering the tomatoes against freezing within the course of a few days. 

This is the closest thing I have to a photo of Pocatello, ID in Autumn. It is not a prime photo taking time.

Then everything froze. One night, instead of hitting around 40, we'd get a night of 25 degrees, the ground would be covered in frost whorls and all of the tree leaves, that had just started thinking about changing colors would be dead, hanging onto the branches with the sparest of grips. Eventually, the winds would pick up and blast those dead, brown leaves to the ground. Then, by Halloween, we'd be planning our costumes around whether or not our winter coats could fit under them.

In Maine, as expected, the foliage was outstanding. This was supposedly a bad year for "Leaf Peeping" as they call it out here, and it was gorgeous. We saw colors in every range, and on every growing plant around. Some were bright orange overnight, while others changed a branch at a time, transforming in leaps and hops. Temperatures stayed temperate and we got a lot more rain than I would have expected.

This was a photo taken from the window of the car, randomly in Maine.

They have a nice mix of things too. In addition to vivid pinks and reds, almost fluorescent yellows and rich, deep browns and oranges, the peeks of pine green added texture and depth. We loved it. We took day trips, just driving along the roads, not headed to the prime Peeping sites, where tourists flock to look at dying trees. We just headed anywhere we felt, and really enjoyed it.

Now, in the middle of November, when Pocatello is seeing snow, it's still Autumn here. It's been raining for a day or two, and the grass is still green in spots. I've worn my coat a few days and my hat a few too, but I've only seen frost a few mornings. For most of my life, I really wondered at the Thanksgiving decorations that I put up on the walls. Corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds... And while I do think it's interesting that nationwide, that's become more of an early fall decor thing, with Christmas being all there is after Nov. 1st, it makes more sense out here, where the leaves aren't already into their deep decomposing stages, the pumpkins outside haven't frozen and split and there isn't a foot of snow on the ground.

So overall, I'd have to give Maine's Autumns pretty high marks. Good on ye, Maine.

ROUS Family Updates!

Check out Neal Kristopher's blog in the next few days for a post about agents and the importance of respecting and cherishing them.



I've also posted a few new reviews,


And coming soon on Deeply Dapper - Chompy, the final photos!

And next time here, the long delayed continuation of my In-Laws vacation to Maine!

Weighty Matters - 
My Current Weight - 297
Progress Thus Far -   
Bah. I think the holidays could be a bad time for this, but I'll keep posting it. If only to force myself to think about it.




  Writing - 


This is my month of NaNoWriMo. Green means a good word day, dark red means a bad one. It's kind of funny how similar the weeks have been. Doing okay though...  I like my story a lot.


 

The Last Sentence - 

Its front hoof kicks feebly once, then nothing.
 

From - "Mr. Pale Steps Out" (WIP)

Split Personalities

Now Playing -  
Old Cape Cod  by The Puppini Sisters

IMPORTANT SITE UPDATE:
 This Is Not A Test.

After much debate and reflection, I've decided to stop doing reviews on ROUS. I started this blog as a way to keep my family and friends informed with my life, and to track my families myriad attempts to get a motel, become published authors, lose weight, pay down debt... etc etc... 

Then I started posting reviews of thing. Books, movies, CDs, games, Legos, rastaurants... anything. It took me a while to find a format that I was really happy with, but with this newest incarnation, I'm quite happy with it. It lets me get my point across, be a bit snarky and doesn't take long. I've even gotten a few advance copies to review, a sign that at least someone is taking me a bit seriously.

But I'm not a huge fan of having someone visit for my reviews and have to slog through posts about my dog's sore feet, and the same goes for the people that actually care about our adventures, but couldn't care less about the horror movie I watched the night before.

So I sat down and thought about things. I already have a ton of blogs... more than I care to admit, most of them rarely, if ever updated, and I'm starting a few new ventures that require a new way of marketing myself. So I started a couple of new blogs and will discontinue a few more, consolidating and spreading out at the same time.   (It made sense at the time. We'll see if I can keep it up.)

Without further ado, meet the ROUS/Deeply Dapper family of sites!

The ROUS Motel

The mother site. The ROUS Motel will continue to be the place for my family updates, my photography and vacation stories. I'll continue to track my weight loss and writing path as candidly as possible. This will be a document of our future and past.

Deeply Dapper

The official source for my artwork and sculptures. In addition to posting links and updates about my Etsy shoppe, Deeply Dapper will showcase my drawings for R3's Art Jams and any links to the weird and wacky things in the world. Eventually, it will also encompass our book and web designs for our e-books.

Reviews Of Unusual Size!

My official review site. I'm excited about this one. In addition to posting new reviews, I plan to go back and rework my old reviews on here in the new ROUS style and even better, I'm going to bug my friends and readers to submit their own reviews for posting on the site. I think this will allow me to continue posting reviews in a more official capacity.

Neal Kristopher

My nom de plume for writing adult novels, Neal Kristopher will eventually expand into a full .com website with access to my e-books and more. This site will focus on research and writing in a more professional, official manner. Also, it has skulls that look like lace.

Lindsay Kiernan Official Site

The only site listed here that I don't have any hand in, outside of putting together the design. This is my wife's new site, in anticipation of her soon to be released novels.

Moonstone Bay is on hold for now, but when I get back around to writing children's fiction again, I'll likely pick that up too.


So there you have it, a plethora of sites, each with a clearly defined purpose. I think this will make it easier for the casual reader to find what they want, and more for my pals to explore. Let me know what you think!

Cleaning House

I've spent most of the day cleaning the house and napping. Days off are the best. Now I plan to sculpt something, watch a movie and read.

A couple of days ago, I won an award, and as part of the deal, you're supposed to pass that on to fifteen equally enjoyable and deserving blogs that you've recently discovered. As it turns out, with the exception of those I started following because of her other winners, I only follow around 30 blogs.... and I've gotta save some for the next award I win. SO without further ado, here are some pages that bring me great joy on a regular basis. Below you'll find writers, bikes, robots, monsters, mothers, ninjas, dogs and more. There's no common theme except that all of them are awesome! 

Michael May's Adventureblog

Jon's Life 

Tabitha Olson

Team Lope Tyre Clubbe

The Museum Of Dust

Mike Jung's Little Bloggy Woggy

Rena Jones

What I Tole You!

Steve At Random

Deeply Dapper

Bryan Bliss

More Words To Ponder

The Grows

Ramble Street

Mr. Mike

Wrongrobot!

Check 'em out, love 'em and pass them on!

Reviews Of Unusual Size

Five Things About...

Legos

 Prison Tower Rescue

by Lego

365 pieces

1 - This is the first set I have from the new Castle-themed Legos, titled Kingdoms. Each time they start a new series with Castle, it's a good kingdom versus a clearly bad kingdom, in this case, a red and white themed Lion kingdom versus the green and gold Dragon kingdom. I have to give it to the bad guys as far as color scheme this time around.

2 - This is a pretty simple set, the assembly was trouble free and everything seems pretty sturdy and well-designed. So far the green plate directly below the portcullis is the only thing that seems poorly anchored.

3 - This set comes with 5 minifigures, a Lion knight and soldier, a Dragon knight and crossbow wielder and a princess in a red and white dress. There's a also a horse for the Lion knight. I especially like the grizzled gray beard on the Lion knight.

4 - A couple of fun details on here, including a wheel and string controlled gate, a drop down prison gate that becomes a ladder, boiling oil and a tiny catapult. The horse has a nice unicorn horn that fits into its headpiece.

5 - A solid set overall, with logical ways for the residents to get to different floors, though it suffers, like all Legos by being a simple one sided structure, like a set in a play. Which has been standard for quite a while and allows for easier play on both sides, but I do miss the older swing-open styled buildings they used to have.

3/5