Karl’s Korner

Good evening, my friends,

Yesterday, Monday, was the most wonderful day we’ve had yet this year. It was brilliant sunshine, blue skies and light breezes out of the west - somewhat cool, but warmer than usual. We took a long walk around the high school and enjoyed every minute of it.

You know, it isn’t every town in the nation that can boast it has the most terrible McDonalds’ in the world, and at the same time proclaim it also has one of, (if not THE) worst KFC’s at the same time.
But, it’s true of Rockport. Years ago, we gave up on McDonalds here and wouldn’t go there if they were giving their hamburgers away. We often wonder how they stay in business.

Three years ago, we tried the KFC here in town. It was one of the first times I’ve ever demanded my money back and got it after receiving the most obnoxious food I’ve seen in many a year.

Well, tonight, we thought we’d give them a try to break up our steady routine of heading for What a Burger - what a mistake!!

The sign above the counter depicted two huge pieces of chicken and a large container of home fries, plus a biscuit for only $6.99. It appeared enough for both of us to eat - what a surprise when the box came sealed - we thought the pieces would be sticking out above the box as they are in their ad - WRONG! There were two pitiful, and I mean REALLY pitiful pieces of dried out chicken that were supposed to be white breast meat. If they were, they were off a VERY SMALL chicken, and a scrawny one at that.
The “home fries” must have been fried two days ago - they were dried out, wrinkled, hardly warm and barely edible, and there were very few of them, (which turned out to be a blessing) - they were just as bad as the chicken.

The only thing resembling the ad was the biscuit - but no butter or jelly came with it.

So, it will be a cold day in Hades before we ever return to our local KFC.

I should note here that KFC also has Taco Bell in the same building - or kitchen I should say. I can’t tell you if that product is good or not - after the chicken, I couldn’t and wouldn’t trust anything that came out of that place.

So, tomorrow, it will be back to What a Burger - at least you know what you’re getting there - we’ve tried it all and found most to be very good. I believe their hamburgers are the best in the state.

But, enough about food.

Today I received my application for the Texas Book Festival to be held October 16-17 in Austin, TX. I immediately filled in the form and sent it in to be an exhibitor for the two day event. They claim 40,000 people attended last year and look forward to a larger crowd in 2010. I hope it is as good as they say. I’ll keep you up-to-date on what’s happening there as I received a reply.

On Facebook, I received a request from a 21 year old girl from Gambia asking to be my friend. Since I’ve heard of many scams coming out of that part of the world, I declined to answer. I really am too old to be a pen pal to a 21 year old.

My neighbor and fishing buddy, Dennis, says the black drum are biting - he and his brother-in-law went out and limited out twice in two days. Perhaps I’d better think about wetting a line. We’ll see how the weather plays out next week.

But, first, only two more days until the big book signing for four days at the Naval Base in Corpus Christi – April 1-4. We hope to see many of you there. Stop by and pick up a copy of my latest novel and any of those you may have missed in the past. You won’t be sorry.

But, for tonight, I’ll say, take it easy and relax - life is too short.

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

Good afternoon, my friends,

It’s another beautiful day in Rockport; the sun is shining brightly, (in between clouds). I think we’ll be able to take a nice walk again today, or I might even get out on my bike.

Yes, for once, I got a good night’s sleep, from about 2:30 am until noon the next day. Maybe I caught up with my lack of sleep, but I’m still tired. Go figure.

We took a long walk over to the exhibition field by Little Bay to see what the Farmer’s Market had to offer. Lots of people there and most vendors said they did well, so perhaps we’ll try it in May.

We didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without, so did without all of it. But, it was a nice walk.

Later yesterday we went to a beautiful wedding celebration for two good friends, Deborah and Terry, who were married last December, but chose to celebrate with about 140 of their friends at the beach pavilion. They had a guy playing guitar on one deck, and a seven piece band on the other, plus lots of snacks, drinks, wine, beer, etc., before a great meal of prime rib, shrimp kabobs, veggies and rice, plus lots of deserts. We’re glad we were invited. Quite a party!

Today we plan to take it easy and get things ready for next week and the four day book signing over on CC Naval Station Exchange. We hope we will do well there - we have before.

I ordered two free-standing sign holders on line, and with my luck, the computer told me my first order did not go through for some reason and to try again; so I did…yeah, you know the result - now I received two different “thank you” messages for two orders of two sign holders apiece. I wrote to the company and explained things - hope they can get it straightened out and not ship both orders. If they do, I’ll just refuse delivery of one and call the Visa office to decline the payment. Sometimes you can’t win for trying.

I got a few replies for the free bumper stickers, but there will be plenty left, as I ordered 100, so, if you want one or two, send me a letter or email.

That looks like all the news from here. I hope to see many of you at the Navy base.

Until then,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

Yes, it’s another night of no sleep for me. I feel like I could fall down and sleep for a week, but when I lay down in my new bed, it just doesn’t happen. All I do is hurt, shoulders, back, legs, etc.
So, it’s up and into the computer room where I can hear Carol sawing logs in our bedroom. I’m glad she’s getting some rest. I could use some - perhaps later this morning…who knows?

Free bumper stickers - that’s what I’m offering - to anyone, anywhere. I’d love to have some friends from foreign lands send me their address so I could get these bumper stickers out there for all to see, all over the globe.

They are white with red letters and say: “If you haven’t read a good book lately, try one by Karl Boyd - www.karlboyd.com”

Send me your address by email or snail mail and I’ll get as many bumper stickers as you want out to you in the first mail. Let’s spread the word! Thanks in advance.

It was another beautiful day in Paradise today, nice and sunny, but with still a cool wind at times. We took a nice long walk around the high school and watched a little bit of a track meet they were holding there today. I still need to get back to my bike - I did get in one short ride the other day - perhaps tomorrow.

Well, it’s almost one a.m., so I’ll give my bed another try. Maybe these sleeping pills take longer to work than my old ones. These were highly recommended by my doctor, but I’ll have to ask for something a little stronger.

So, until the next time,
Get some rest,
Vaya con Dias, my friends,
Karl

Good evening, my friends,

It is amazing how much you miss when you are the driver of the car instead of being just a passenger. Passengers are able to look around and see changes as they occur, whereas the driver has “tunnel” vision - watching out for what’s ahead or behind, or to either side in those convenient side view mirrors or the rearview mirror.

(Now, on an aside, completely removed from what I’m talking about - why does the dictionary say it’s rearview - all one word, but side view is two?)

Anyway, back to seeing what’s along the highway. Just recently, I noted a huge building along business 35, about three blocks from our home - we travel this highway almost every day. Somehow, this building jumped up overnight into two stories, about a block long and half a block wide. When did that happen?? And, how, without my noticing??

A couple days ago, we had occasion to run into Portland. As we came close, for the first time, I noticed a line of probably 75-100 huge windmills that had again sprouted overnight. They weren’t there the last time we drove over to the hospital, were they??

I’m still shaking my head over that one. The line of windmills goes on for miles, all the way to Sinton, and I never noticed them before.

And, it’s not just old age creeping in. This has happened all my life. I just pay too much attention to what’s happening on the road instead of gawking around. How I wish other drivers would do the same!!

I’ll pass along a few driving tips I’ve sort of settled on over the years that I find work quite well.

For example, if there is a center turn lane on your four lane street, highway or whatever, always drive in the second lane. That way you avoid those drivers who want to make right turns and must slow down to almost a complete stop to turn right.

The ones who want to make left turns will hopefully move into the center turn lane and you can breeze on through town.

If there is no center turn lane, then use the right lane to avoid having to stop behind someone wanting to turn left. Sure you’ll get slowed a little by right turning vehicles, but I think you know the ones who turn left really hold up the traffic.

If you are approaching a stop light that turns red, and are going straight ahead, try to get safely into the second lane if possible. That way anyone who wants to turn right on the red light can do so without waiting for the light to change so you can move on. Courtesy is the rule here.

One pet peeve of mine is the drivers who block sidewalks as they are waiting to turn left or right out of a parking lot. Why not stop back a ways and let pedestrians have the right of way until you can safely make your turn? Again, courtesy.

Now, I’m not saying I’m the best driver in the world, but I try to be. I drive the speed limit because I figure that’s what it’s there for. I obey all school zones and stay out of handicap zones, even though Carol can’t see. I figure there are more seriously handicapped people who need that space. We can walk, with me leading Carol by the hand.

If you’re going to gawk around, why not park and walk to see the town? Don’t you love the people who feel they have to drive 5-10 miles less than the posted speed limit just to be sure the police won’t give them a ticket?

But, enough about driving tonight before I drive myself and you crazy! (That’s a pun).

I worked a while on “The Don’s Stimulus Package” today. Now I have 113 pages done, and it reads very well, even if I have to say so. I spent most of my time re-reading what I’ve written to get back in tune with the main characters and the sub-plots that goes on throughout the story.

It’s always a challenge to make everything come out right and even. I still have a long way to go, but I do have the basic idea of what I want to accomplish with the story in my mind. That’s half the battle. Now to find the words to fit.

I think that’s enough for tonight. Keep those orders rolling in. I need to sell most of what I have on hand before I think about publishing yet another novel - although I do have two more completed and waiting in the wings. Help me out here and reap the benefit of being the first on your block to own my newest.

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

Good evening, my friends,

Yes, for the second time in as many years, someone got the number off my Master Card and attempted to charge a whopping $8.11 on line. Thank goodness for the fraud division of Chase - they called me immediately this morning and I verified that I do not use my m/c on line.

So, now I have to go through getting a new card and hoping they transfer all of those hard-earned air miles from this card to the new one. Last time it cost me 8,600 miles because I didn’t catch on to the fact that they did not transfer them. By that time, they said it was too late…so, goodbye miles.

I have made up my mind, and you might want to do the same, that from now on, I will NOT just give my credit card to a waiter to take somewhere to supposedly pay my bill. I will inform him or her that I will pay the cashier myself as I leave the establishment. That way, no one has my card for more than a few seconds and I can see what they do with it.

The fact that the server walks off with my card has always bugged me, but I let it go; knowing everyone else does the same - well, not any longer. I hope you will join me.

Lots of fire and brimstone on the TV over the health bill. I think the Democrats will rue this day when November rolls around, but we’ll see. I sincerely hope the American public remembers and doesn’t let up on their opposition to this bill. It’s too costly and we should be focusing on creating jobs - not causing more losses.

If I was an employer of say 200 employees and was informed that if they didn’t have insurance, I would have to pay a fine for each, I think I might consider taking my act on the road to another country, or just closing up shop and retiring to Cabo San Lucas to catch Marlin for the remainder of my days on earth.

Smaller government is what we need, not BIG BROTHER watching over our shoulders.

But, enough for tonight. We’ll see how it plays in Peoria in November.

Until next time, keep your eye on your credit card and pray.

Vaya con Dias, my friends,

Karl