nonamedufus

Before he heard the report he felt the change in air pressure as the bullet streaked past his cheek. As he quickly ducked down he thought to himself "I'm a lot luckier than Peterson who yesterday caught a sniper's bullet between the eyes". Lieutenant Brown turned to the men in his unit - the men left in his unit. Altogether five of them huddled behind the remaining wall in the rubble of what last week was a church. "Maybe that was it" thought Brown, "I either have a horse shoe up my ass or some higher being is looking over me." But Peterson and four others had not been so lucky and now Brown's advance team was half the number it used to be. A week in the rubble had taken it's toll. Five men were dead and the remaining five were very unsettled, nervous and jumpy. Especially at night. It was hard to see in the dark and there was little firing from the enemy. But any little noise would cause their hearts to beat faster and prompt swea...

What a great month of reading. The much anticipated third and final volume of Ken Follett's Century Trilogy - Edge of Eternity - was released. I read the first volume in August of 2011 and the second volume in November of 2012. It's been a long wait but the conclusion of this sprawling tale was worth it. The interesting aspect of Follett's epic has to be how he sets his characters against actual events of history. For example a main character works for Bobby Kennedy. Another, for Nikita Khrushchev and so on. I enjoyed this tomb although at over 1000 pages it took a while to read. Another highlight was the recently published The Bone Clocks a fascinating tale of time travel and the supernatural. The story centres on a central character but the various sections of the book are told from the perspective of people she comes into contact with. I loved it. And The Rosie Project was a hilarious read involving a fellow who develops a questionnaire in order to determine worth...

He should have known better. And she should have too. For some time now they'd invested time and energy in television shows only to be slapped upside of their heads by their premature cancellation. They remembered with fondness the post-apocalyptic drama starring Skeet Ulrich - Jericho. Cancelled - twice - after 29 episodes. He faithfully watched Aaron Sorkin's witty take off of Saturday Night Live, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip starring Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet. Who would have thought it would be cancelled after 22 episodes and they'd be left with Tracy Morgan in 30 Rock. She liked the quirky drama Pushing Daisies starring Swoozie Kurtz and Kristin Chenoweth - two of her favourite actresses. Cancelled after 22 episodes. They simply loved Life on Mars, a science fiction drama in which a police detective from 2008 finds himself in 1973 after being hit by a car. Canceled after one season. Still craving more they went searching for the original British version...

This month's challenge from ol' P.J. is black and white . I took him literally and so all my photos this week are black and white. I'm used to colour photographs so this month's collection was a bit of an eye opener for me. That round thing on the table is a ceramic puffin we picked up at a gift shop in Ogunquit, Maine a few years ago. But what I like about this picture is how the light shines through the metal shade onto the wall behind. These are flowers on our kitchen table. I was having lunch and doing a crossword when I thought these white flowers might satisfy this week's prompt. I'd been passing by this place for weeks but could never find a place to stop and park so I could get out and take a few pictures. I was really quite taken by this dilapidated barn. But as I approached it I came across a fence post that I included in my shot. Here's the barn, which used to be white but it's now pretty aged by the weather. I had to p...

The big fella with the long white beard offered to take me on a tour. And as he spoke I noticed how his eyes twinkled and that his dimples were merry. How could I refuse. Heck, I'd surely hurt his feelings. So we jumped into his little red golf cart and as he gave a whistle away we flew through an immensely huge factory. Man, it was bigger than Amazon! There were cobblers cobbling and little elves elving and then what to my wondering eyes should appear but seven dwarfs carrying kegs of beer. Out of the golf cart I flew in a flash at the big guy's offer of a glass from his secret stash. And it was delicious. I got the feeling tonight was kinda special. I watched as those little guys worked so hard at their tables assembling tons of toys for millions of girls and boys. What a sight. The big guy patted me on the back and told me how proud he was of his little workforce - emphasis on little I guessed. And they whistled while they worked! They were actually happy at the...

"Having grandkids is great" I thought. "You get to teach them stuff and play with them, not to mention spoil them with gifts and candy and such, and when they start to get tired or a little out of control you get to give them back." So I starting thinking and planning what I'd do with my grandkids the next time they visited. They're my daughter's kids. And I love to spoil them while making things difficult for her and her husband - in a fun way of course. They'd tell their parents "But Grampa said... " I look upon it sort of as karma. My daughter's not so sure. "Let's see" I said to myself  "we've already loaded them up on chocolate and revved them up on sweets before they had to go home." "And" I laughed "there was the Christmas I gave my eldest grandson a drum." That didn't last very long for some reason. Somehow playing it in the early hours of the morning didn't go ov...