Karl’s Korner

Good evening, my friends,

Yes, once again I am burning the midnight oil editing another novel, but soon this one will be done and on the shelf awaiting this summer and publication then.

In the meantime, “Palmyra, Isle of Death” is now available for you to purchase. 250 copies were dispatched on Thursday and should be here within 8-10 days, so get your orders in now.

Send a check for $19.l00 ($14.75 for the novel, $1.25 state sales tax, and $3.00 for shipping, to:
Karl Boyd Productions
P. O. Box 2096
Rockport, TX 78381-2096

Today was a mixture of sun and warm wind, which then turned cooler as the day progressed along. I don’t think Spring will ever get here, but we keep hoping. Tomorrow is supposed to be nasty again.

We hope you all are warm and dry wherever you are. Another earthquake, in Chile this time. Do you think Mother Nature is trying to tell us something? We need to clean up our act and stop polluting Mother Earth.

But, it’s late and I don’t feel like climbing way up on my soap box tonight, so I’ll take it easy on your folks. Lots of friends from the Philippines have been visiting my website. Hope you are enjoying my blog and will order one or more of my novels.
Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Yes, it was a beautiful day here today - lots of sun - I took my usual sweatshirt off and put on a nice tee-shirt. Felt fine. There is still a cool wind, but perhaps Spring can’t be too far behind - let’s hope not!

It was interesting to watch some of the hyped up meeting between BO, his buddies in the Dems, and the Repubs - which didn’t accomplish much. I’ve held better meetings and we accomplished more in a Cub Scout meeting for an hour on Tuesday evening.

When will our elected officials stop calling themselves “Republican Congressmen” or Democrat Congressmen” (or women). They are all AMERICAN Congresspersons, placed there in DC to represent AMERICANS, not big business, banks, automakers, Freddie and Fannie etc.; - it’s us, you idiots, the AMERICAN public that you are supposed to serve! Wake up and see the handwriting on the wall. Become AMERICANS again and make your mark as an AMERICAN instead of trying to accumulate all the political power and lobbyist’s money that you can.

Remember, WE PUT YOU THERE, and, WE CAN TAKE YOU OUT IN A HEARTBEAT in November of 2010.

I was doing a little math in my head, so I thought I’d pause for a minute and see if my answers were right by putting my thoughts down on paper. Let’s see: There are supposedly thirty million people without health insurance. What would happen if we gave each of them $10,000.00 in tax credits per year toward their health care.
Is my math right – wouldn’t that cost a whole thirty billion dollars? (That’s a long ways from a trillion dollars, isn’t it?)

If they didn’t use any of it, that would give them $10,000.00 extra each year to go toward purchasing health insurance.
Then, let’s say, just for the heck of it, that half of them actually used $5,000.00 or more to pay doctors or get prescriptions each year. That still leaves them $5,000.00 extra each year. After ten years, this would add up to fifty thousand - a nice nest egg toward any real illness or operation they might need later.

And, with that kind of money, I know they’d be able to get health insurance.

Oh, yes, I know, you’re going to say, “what about those who really get sick?” Well, $10,000.00 would go a long ways toward paying their share of their medical bills; and the government could pick up the remainder through the current Medicare programs. How many of these thirty million uninsured will have serious illnesses in the next ten years? Has anyone figured that one out?

Why should we completely destroy the current system - one that more than 85 percent of Americans are happy with, to take care of the other 15 percent? Why not fulfill their needs and leave the rest of us alone? Think about that one, AMERICAN Congressman & Women!

But, that’s enough reasonable and common sense thoughts for tonight. No one in DC is listening in either party - they’re all too busy thinking about gathering a large war chest of money so they can get re-elected in November and ride the gravy train - fully covered for their health insurance - is it just me, or don’t you see something fundamentally wrong there?

On to other thoughts of the day:

Carol and I drove over to the land of the country’s second worst drivers, (Corpus Christi, TX), today, and took our lives in my hands. It seemed every kook in the city was in front of me at one time or another. There are a lot of defective turn signals on the cars in CC - they don’t seem to work when the driver decides to change lanes. Solid white lines don’t mean a thing and “Yield” isn’t in their vocabulary.

But, we were successful and found Cantwell Mattresses fairly easily, where we bought a new Queen sized mattress set for the guest bedroom. Although we both have had operations to supposedly stop our snoring, we both continue, so it’s either get a new mattress and sleep in separate rooms or not get much sleep. Since I’m a borderline insomniac, I value my sleep, so, a new mattress will be delivered next Friday.

Other than that, and getting our taxes in to the CPA, and getting Carol a trim of her hair, it was another exciting day in Rockport. We fed the many gulls that love our popcorn and actually sat outside in the sun for a lovely change.

I submitted a picture of the American Cemetery outside of Palermo, Sicily, in a photo contest with Princess Cruise Lines, in the hopes of winning a free cruise. It’s a beautiful photo of the neatly laid-out crosses that seem to stretch into infinity, all lined up in neat rows, no matter which way you look. Off in the distance, some of the rows seem to form a ‘V’ for Victory. The sight brought tears to our eyes as we thought of those brave souls who were willing to give their lives for our way of freedom.

Then there are our Congressmen and Congresswomen - a very sad reflection on those values these wonderful men and women who now rest beneath the sod of a foreign land held so dear to their hearts that they’d die to protect them.

Let’s hope our leaders wake up soon and honor their memory by working for AMERICANS.

Enough said,

Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Just a few short notes tonight. I’ve been working on “The Lost Priest” for days and only have 65 more pages to edit, so want to complete that tonight, if possible.

Yes, there is an entirely new look to our Walmart, and it is for the better. You may not know, but our son, Kris, is a manager of a TARGET store in Lufkin. His biggest complaint about Walmart has always been the lack of space for customers to push their carts around the store.
Well, Kris, it appears Walmart has finally heard you and others. They are doing away with those pesky pallets of merchandise in the aisles. Instead, they are going to “end caps” for their existing double display cabinets or shelf units. We were in Walmart this evening and couldn’t believe the space there is now available in the aisles. For a moment I had to double-check to see if we were truly in Walmart. Thank you guys!

The four children we met in What A Burger ranged from approximately seven down to two. They were there with their mother and they were the best behaved children we have met in a long time. The listened to every word their mother said and obeyed her to the letter. When they were done with their meal, they cleaned up the table, threw every scrap of residue in the trash and then went into the bathrooms to wash their hands.
I had to stop and compliment the mother on how quiet and well mannered her children were. She said, “Thank you”. I said, “No, thank you!”

I’m still waiting to hear from LuLu about my latest book. It is ready to publish, but I have to get a good price from their bulk sales department in order to keep my prices low. Let’s hope we hear something tomorrow.

We’ve been getting a lot of nice comments on my blog, especially for the many comments I made on our cruises. I hope I’ve been able to help some of you out when you plan your first or subsequent cruises. If you plan well in advance, cruising is great.
Then, if things don’t go exactly the way you planned, roll with the punches and enjoy each day to the fullest. Who knows when you might get back to that exotic port again? Enjoy them while you can.

Not much else in the way of news. I missed the Tea Party meeting tonight, as I forgot the first of February was a Monday. Our group meets the first and third Monday in the Rockport library. I’ll be there for sure next time.
We need to take our country back from the extremists who would take control of every aspect of our lives. If we all stick together, soon smaller government and less taxes will rule the day.
But, enough for tonight. There are pages waiting to be edited.
God bless you and yours,

Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good early morning, my friends,

Yes, I’ve been up until after midnight editing again. Two days ago, I shortened up the number of entries I had listed on my blog to make it easier for you to find what I call important things - the reports from our cruises, (in case you want to try a cruise), times when foreign friends visited my blog and other memorable items.
I hope this meets with your approval.
Since it’s late, I’ll head to bed with just this short note:
I put in a request to see how much 250 copies of Palmyra - Isle of Death will cost. Hopefully I’ll receive an offer that will allow me to keep the price of this new novel at $16.00 including state tax. Anything to help sell the books in an economic downturn.
I hope to save you all a few dollars when you next purchase one of my books.
We hope that is soon. Look for an announcement by email or snail mail shortly.
Take care, live long and prosper,
Until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

A good and chilly evening to you, my friends,

Yes, to borrow part of George Clooney’s song - where are you Spring? Usually by this time, it’s in the 70s or higher every day and the sun shines brightly overhead.
Last night we got another soaking rain, and the sun tried to come out a few times today, but wasn’t very anxious to burn off those pesky clouds.
Now, it’s turning colder yet with a sharp, cold wind out of the North. Come on, Bill the groundhog, and let up on us.

Today we saw the doc about Carol’s blood work, and she is right in the middle in every category. The doc says he wishes everyone could be that good. Now, to get her eyes fixed.
It won’t be long until she turns 72, and for a “middle-aged” gal, she’s in great shape - no wonder I love her so much!

Tonight I will order 250 copies of “Palmyra, Isle of Death”. I put it off for a few days, hoping against hope that it would warm up enough to have a big book signing when the copies get here. But, even with the cold, I’ll go ahead and get the order in. Maybe by the time they do get here, it will warm up.

I’m slowly, but surely, getting the first novel I ever wrote edited. “The Lost Priest” was my first effort at writing, and believe me; it has changed significantly from the first draft. It has two parts: “The Lost Soul” and “The Lost Spirit”. It is also my longest novel - 350 pages so far. I plan to publish it late in the fall, right after “The Texas Two Card Hold ‘em Heist” - the third in the “Yes, we ‘con’” trilogy, (which may soon turn into a series) - the fourth novel is 1/3 of the way done. I hope to get busy writing the remainder very soon.

It is nice to have two novels waiting to be published when I’ve just submitted my fifth to the publisher - the one about Palmyra.
That gives me some leeway for when I want to publish the remaining ones.

I’ve had a lot of nice comments on my “doll” stories I did for the Rockport “Curves”. I hope to be able to purchase a scanner, (then learn how to operate it), and put them online on either my Facebook page or this blog. They are cute and I think you’ll enjoy them when I finally get to them.

Now, I’d like to ask a favor of you among my viewers who have ordered or read one of my novels.

I need several “reviews” for my press kit for the Texas Book Festival.
PLEASE, if you have time, send me a review on any book of mine to: P. O. Box 2096, Rockport, TX 78381-2096

You can check out a couple reviews I posted to my blog a few days ago for the proper format.
Just let me know what you thought of my writing and the plot of the storyline. Use your own words - that impresses the judges better than canned phrases. Thanks in advance.

So, for now, I’ll close with a few thoughts that my sister-in-law sent my way. I hope you enjoy them.

Here they are:

Thoughts for 2010

Birds of a feather flock together … and then they crap on your car.

A penny saved is a government oversight.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have gotten to be really good friends.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

He who hesitates is probably right.

Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.

If you think there is good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody.

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.

There’s always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don’t hurt.

Did you ever notice: When you put the 2 words ‘The’ and ‘IRS’ together it spells ‘Theirs’

Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know ‘why’ I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to your youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young. Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it’s called golf.

So, now, until next time,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl & Carol