We went through the typhoon on 1986 that flooded Seward, closed the town off for a week and brought the National Guard in. We've experienced minus 82 in actual temp in Moose Creek- outside Eielson, and minus 122 below wind chill factor in Whittier, a couple major earthquakes in the 7.0 or better range and 101 degree heatwave in Fairbanks. Received third degree frostbite at Eielson AFB- my stupidity was the cause and nearly lost both my hands. Anyway I prefer Alaska behaving as Alaska should and these hard hitting rain storms in December just aren't right. One gets used to power outages and can be prepared for them. Even went 7 days once in Fairbanks. Mona is real good about having supplies on hand and I had sons who could help me shovel snow. Oh, I just noticed the rain clouds are moving back over the valley again, but we were warned this could last all week.
A couple seconds before the power outage hit I had just set down to work on my book, "Rookie", when we got turned off. This is why all the electronics are on power surge protection. So I spent my day playing cards on an old phone of Mona's. I felt sorry for John Alex, he woke up this morning and found himself in 6 inches of water. His home is in the basement, but it's not the first time this has happened to him since moving down there. Takes about 24 hours to drain out. When we moved in I wondered why the drain was down there on the basement floor. Three weeks after moving in our basement was under 6 inches of water. We've gone as long as 4 years without a flooding, but this winter it's the second time. I need to win a lottery to get a raised floor put in or a drainage system built in around the outside of the house.
Woe is me....Not really, I love my home and where its located. This is such a beautiful valley, surrounded by majestic mountains and a lot of wildlife. We've been keeping an eye on our dogs lately because we have one of those 3 foot tall barn owls hanging around and our one cat has failed to come home again, been gone for over a week. These barn owls can get huge, I saw one that may have actually reached close to 4 feet in height. It was standing in the middle of a dirt road and refused to move so I had to drive around it. Really weird the way they can turn their heads around like that. Always reminds me of Linda Blair in the "Exorcist". Creepy.
Book Report: As I told you I'm working on "Rookie", which I should have in the publisher's hands very soon. He was working on a cover idea. Many of the cases I write about are actual cases I worked in Dillingham and my main character is based on myself and I was definitely a Rookie to be sure. Oh I had been a Air Force Law Enforcement Specialist for 6-years working base police, but civilian law enforcement was a whole new world. I seldom pulled my revolver in the military and I believe if the Air Force could think of a way they would've locked our guns up and only allowed our supervisors to have the keys. There were also people who didn't belong in that career field. If you read "Rookie", the first of a new six book series called the "The Badge and the Cross", as my title character, based upon my career is a Christian. You have no idea how many times the Lord saved my hide...well actually it was five times. Once was in Dillingham. I went through several shootouts there, a planned ambush, dozens of gun calls, was stabbed, got into a couple hundred bar brawls, worked a violent fishing strike and helped take down two Tong Assassins who had murder warrants out from them for killing a newspaper reporter in San Francisco and were hiding on a fishing trawler. A wild time in our life as newlyweds, but I did learn a lot about police work. From there I went on to working for the Skagway Police Department and the story I've written for that is called "Stronghold". The third book in the series is called "A Political Action", about terrorism that comes to Alaska. This one is not based on my career, but involves a trio of Christian cops: A former Alaska State Trooper now working as the Investigator for the Alaska Railroad, an RCMP Lieutenant who follows the terrorists from Toronto to Fairbanks, and a disabled veteran, a former Army Chaplain who becomes an Alaskan trapper. These three are brought together to take on the terrorists in the wilderness of Central Alaska. I really enjoyed writing that story. My latest release is in this series and it is entitled "Homeland Security". I've just finished the 2nd part to this story and it is with my publisher, Alaska Dreams. Publisher is deciding on whether to make it a separate publication or to expand the the first story by adding this to it. Enough on my writing, I just like to keep you all advised on my current work.
HEADLINES: "Iran Orders the U.S. TO Pay $130 Billion in Reparations For Trump's Sanction Policy and Iran's Riots".... "International Criminal Court Declines to Prosecute Alleged Israeli War Crimes, Decision a Defeat for Anti-Israel Activists Across Globe"...." "North Korea WARNS US to Prepare a 'Christmas Gift' ".... "Trump Administration Cutting Off Food Stamps For Nearly 755,000 People".... " 132-People Killed In Rain Caused Disaster, While 17,000 People Displaced".... "Germany Proposes to Make Anti-Semitism a Hate-Crime".... "Germany Unveils Plan to Force European Union Members Take In Illegal Immigrants, But 5 Members Already Refusing to Comply".... "More Than 140,000 People Died of Measles Worldwide in 2018".... ""More Than 100 Jewish Graves Defaced in France".... "Nationwide Strike Shuts Down Much of France in Opposition To Their Leader's Pension Proposals".... "Google Bans Hundreds of Trump Campaign Ads and Won't Explain Why"...."President Trump Suspends Plan to Classify Mexican Cartels as Terrorists".... "629 Pakistani Girls Sold to China as Brides".... "Poll Shows Hillary Clinton will be Democratic Front Runner in 2020 Election".... "Volcano Eruption Kills 5 in New Zealand, but still More Are Missing".... "Kirk Douglas, the Famous Actor, Just Turned 103 Years Old".... "Tens of Thousands of Protesters Take it to The Streets in Czech Republic to Protest Against Their Prime Minister ( this is just the latest in protests circulating the globe). That's it for now.
I do hope you're all having a great holiday season in celebrating our Savior's Birth. Happy Holidays. God Bless you all, BILL