Last Saturday we had a bunch of young adult boys here to help us prepare the backyard for winter. All volunteers and friends of the extended family, who even figured out how to construct a door for the outside "smoker's" shed. We do not allow smoking in our house, so Mona and the other future lung patients sit around in the shed. On a busy day, any non-smoker who enters this place is liable to get overwhelmed with second-hand smoke. I usually stay outside and yell my requests in. But, until now, we only had a curtain over a large doorway. We had hoped to enlarge it this summer, but this is now planned for next summer. I'm hoping that during the winter months, when people usually stay inside and stay warm, my book sales with shoot straight up and I'll have enough funds to purchase a few 2x4s.
Now as to my latest book report: I am wrapping up Book # 11 and will soon start on the last book for the "Fire & Ice" series. Then it gets in line for Susan to edit. She is working on "Rookie", which is a story of a young police officer now employed at his first police department. Set in Dillingham, Alaska in the early 1980's, it takes this young cop through his first homicide cases, other major felonies, a violent fishing strike and busting locals for "bootlegging" and brewing up their own booze, removing the bodies of drunks from 170-degree sweat lodges, and surviving an ambush. Now all those things occurred, when I was that young rookie and I learned a lot during my time. Oddly enough, 30-years later, my oldest son, John Leroy, was hired by that same police department and found little had changed. This was a fishing town and some of the people even recognized our last name and recalled my time there. There were a lot of nice people there, but I cannot tell you how many times I responded, alone, to large bar-fights, where pool ques and large filet knives were the weapons of choice. You quickly learned how to handle yourself, or you quit. The interesting thing about working small town Alaska is how the arriving patrolman to any case, worked that case until it went to court. You were the cop-on-scene, the crime scene investigator and conducted all the interviews for major felonies, or easier misdemeanors. Rarely did the Chief provide another officer to help you, for there were only 5 of us and everyone had their own case load. You learn how to handle drug cases and there was a lot of those casein that town and some of the drugs coming in were en route to Anchorage. When we had an attempted jail break, when 40-lunkheads off their fishing trawler, wanted to break their 7 or 8 crew-mates who had torn a bar up, and were led by two Orientals. Two shotgun blasts from our Chief's shotgun straightened things out, but we had to take the two mouthpieces to the ER for the gravel that hit their legs, only to find out they were Oriental Gang Tong Warriors, assassins wanted in San Francisco for the murder of a newsmen. They were hiding on the trawler and thought a small town department would never identify them. They're now serving life imprisonments. That was Dillingham and I sure learned a lot there, but I also realized this was the career I wanted and I had the wife who could handle it. It's all in the book, but in fictional form, with new names for my fellow officers and I. When published I of course hope it will be the next world's best seller, but this is a Christian book and I hope it reaches those people who are still sitting on the fence, unsure of which way to go. I have found it very hard on some people to become police officers, but I realized this was the perfect spot for Christian officers.
Now, back to the family- This week it is John Alex and myself here. Mona, Susan, plus Canaan and her children, returned to Fairbanks, where they will meet with Patrick, Canaan's husband, and take custody of Patrick and Canaan's two nieces- a 3 year old and 1 year old. It is a sad story, one of which I will not get into, but the children are coming back here to live and have new lives to live. This means 4 little ones about the house and it will remind us, once again of raising our own house-load of little ones. Mona and Susan should return by Friday night, but Patrick and Canaan might not be able to return until Monday. There is a lot of paperwork they have to file with the courts and our courts move slow up here. When it's hunting season, like now, a lot of judges and court officers are out hunting.
Now, here is some news, but it could be a few days late:
Washington Free Beacon: Feds spend $587,441 to engineer a "safe zone" for LGBTQ students. ALSO- Female mutilation (FGM), despite having been banned since 1985, reportedly takes place in the United Kingdom (England/Ireland/Scotland), every hour. This criminal behavior behavior is being made possible only by the British Authorities' indifference.
Global Times: Highway to Tibet opens, giving Southeast Asia a roadway into China. ALSO- China and Russian navies begin drill in Sea of Japan, "Joint Sea 2017 Military exercises". ALSO- Hundreds of robbery suspects arrested in South Africa during an intensified anti-crime operation in four stricken provinces. ALSO- 170-children suffer food poisoning in India in last 24 hours after consuming a contaminated meal in Odisha State. No fatalities reported, but India is suffering a lot of strange happenings involving their children and elderly people- many have died in nursing homes and orphanages. ALSO- ASEAN's latest headline has Southeast Asian Ministers converging on the Philippines to discuss strengthening regional strategies to combat transnational crimes. ( Keep your eyes and ears on ASEAN news stories).
Russian Herald: Fearing Russia, Sweden holds biggest war games in 20-years. ALSO- NATO Chief issues warning over Russia's military drills planned to occur on European borders. ALSO- 20,000 people were evacuated in Moscow due to bomb threats.
Egypt News: "Desperate Yemenis sell their organs to survive". Trafficking rings are operating anonymously in Shisha Bars and coffee shops in Yemen and Egypt, preying upon the destitute. (Humanity at its lowest, continues to raise its ugly head and prey upon the poor).
ALSO- new law in Egypt- if you mock the Egyptian flag you can be sentenced to a heavy fine- plus one year in jail.
Washington Free Beacon: Feds "improperly" paid out $1.7 million to kids held in juvenile detention- discovered by a Social Security audit. These were improper SSI payments to 547 juveniles in confinement in 4-states. 158 of these juveniles are being held for longer than 6-months. ALSO- Repairs for the US Navy ships damaged in those two collisions will cost taxpayers $600-million. ALSO- Feds spend $187,704 to improve older women's sex lives. ( I keep wondering if there is a payment plan for us older men?) ALSO- Feds spend $686, 350 for paying fat kids not to eat. ( My mom would've loved that program).
Global Times: For a second time, TEPCO, the Electrical and nuclear power company who owns Fukushima, has been ordered to pay damages, due to the nuclear disaster. The government has not been found liable for this event, which was caused by the tsunamis. Yet, TEPCO still continues in its attempts to attract people to move back home. (Maybe the driveways will glow in the dark to help people park their cars. This is as bad as when the U.S. Government tried to move people back onto the grounds where they tested the A-bombs, which included inducing the movie studios to film their movies there. As we now know, after John Wayne filmed 3-movies out there, he, John Ford the director, and over 30% of the crews and actors died of cancer. And yes, the radioactive waste is still flowing into the Pacific Ocean and feeding the sea life. Makes one wonder as to if this is what is killing off the salmon and the whales?)
That's all the news I'm printing out right now. I hope some of you are checking out these foreign news sites. I remind you once more that some of these sites produce a lot of propaganda. But, so does our own American news sites. For my own mental health I avoid the Huffington Post and the Washington Post. The WP was once a true news site, at one time responsible for bringing down President Nixon. But, in my opinion it's quality has become trashy and you can find some great "fake" news. But, I've also noticed that Blaze has also lowered its standards, as well as some of our patriotic news services- there are several. So, please be careful in what you read, especially if you wish to join in their campaigns. Investigate! It is almost like we were preconditioned in school to believe everything we read. Although, we now know that some of the history books of the 1950's and 60's didn't have it quite right.
Well, enough of my preaching. I do hope you are all having a great day. If you happen to have prayer requests and need an extra hand, contact me. I will do this personally, not add it to the journal, and my wife and I will add our 2-cents.
God bless all of you, may October provide you with better moments. BILL