Tag Archives: accomplishment

Book, E-Book, For Every Bagpiper

UPDATE – My 1st Bagpipe Music Book

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AS Most Of You Know I have been working on my next book — and it is close to DONE! The work has been going well and I am excited to debut it — but what is it?!?  Get ready, it’s a mouthful… UPDATE

SAMS Post 1889
SAMS Post 1889 — that’s me on the left, #94

While it looks to include some modern-traditional Scottish & Irish recipes, the book will in-part serve as a FUNdraiser for my Scottish American Military Society veterans Post.  The main feature of this text is military & patriotic Scottish & American bagpipe tunes & their histories. The News about this — the UPDATE — I finished writing the tune histories Sunday night! This is a major chunk of work on this project and the accomplishment feels GREAT 🙂

I sent these histories to one of my Post-mates yesterday who is formerly a copy editor.  He’ll go over my work while I keep my nose to the grindstone retouching the notation, finishing the writing in the beginning of the book, and starting to write the sales paragraphs for the back of the book.  Suffice it to say — there is still some work to go, however with this latest development I Am OPTIMISTIC that this book will be completed and that I will have copies-in-hand by or before my target end-of-June release date. 😀 UPDATE

& Updates On A Few Other Things…

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies

While I’m EXCITED to get the Post Piper book released, completing that project paves the way for me to return to re-doing my mini freE-book.  My plan is for this project is to first go up on Smashwords with the possibility of following as a book &/or short recipe book on Amazon. A few weeks ago I did a second publication of my e-book on Smashwords — previously only available on Amazon. The cool thing with Smashwords is that they push your e-book to all the other e-book platforms — B&N, Kobo, Overdrive — EVERYONE! Go check it out — my e-book is currently lower-priced on Smashwords right now than it is on Amazon … or at least it was the last I checked 😉 UPDATE

ENJOY ~ Don UPDATE

Click here for my debut recipe book & e-book on Amazon or use the Smashwords widget to buy the e-book in your preferred format Right Here! 😀

Adventures In Truckdom

Back On The Snowy Sidewalks

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And now, a snowy episode of …

ADVENTURES IN TRUCKDOM!

Jingle Trucks
Not quite this fancy, but you get the idea….

I’ve had my truck off the road during the past number of weeks to complete a few work items on my repair & improve list.  There have been a number of delays due to schedule and a major appliance going out at home, and yet my dad & I have chipped away at the work when and where we can.  Last night my truck reached a point where it’s ready to go back on the road for a while.  This accomplishments with this round of work feels good — it looks like I’m starting to get on top of my to-do list.

Frosty weather, snowy weather, when the wind blows we all go together ...Today I plan to get the front bumper back on my truck — to get my truck in our garage I had to start with taking off both bumpers.  Lately our temperatures have been as low as the upper teens and as high as the mid-30s — and we (finally) had our first round of snow.  Right now we’re getting our second round of snow.  For the next few days it looks like we’re supposed to get more of the teen temps to lower-30s and snow.  Snow began to fall again this morning, and so far it’s sticking however it is our warmer wet-snow … and now I’m going outside to work on my truck.

Did someone put their truck in a ditch ... in the snow?
Not actually my truck … same brand and product line however

At this juncture I will skip how our western Washington snow IS in fact different than many other parts of the country, how we DO know how to drive in the snow VRS the southern transplants to Washington State that have no freakin’ clue (including how to drive in snow, rain, sun, etc), and how our wet-cement snow turns to ice along with being on hills that have more or less the same slope as parts of San Francisco.

SO — the remaining work to get my truck back on the sidewalks …. er, I mean, back on the road…
  1. Reinstall the front bumper and other MANLY metal bits along with the grill.  There is also a jerry-rig repair I want to finally complete on the grill.
  2. Reinstall a few interior bits now that that the defrost and dash-board lights are operating again.
  3. Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on — minor things, but necessary nonetheless.
  4. Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, get the paint adequately dry, rebuild the bumper (license plate lights and etc-bits), and bolt the bumper back on Sunday.

Yeah, I think that’s it.  The first step though is to get my winter clothing located following my move this past summer.  I’m and old-school Pacific Northwest boy — up to a point I tend to shake off the rain and snow … but over and around this weekend we’re supposed to get hit with enough snow and cold AND since I’ll be laying on the ground to get bumpers back on … yeah, something a little more serious in the way of clothing is called for.

Oh … PS!

the snowmobile's red haired step child
When I grow up I wanna be a snowmobile!

This time last year my truck was off the road, in a garage,  with my dad and I doing work on it.  The winter before that I didn’t drive it because I didn’t need to.  This is the first time in snow that I might actually get to drive my truck and see how it handles, how I do with it.  I was starting to wonder if it was going to notoriously be ‘off the road‘ every winter and I was never going to drive it in the snow.  I’ve been all ready for this year — sandbags in the back along with snow tires!

P-PS!

Make Your Darn Good Cookies book coverWhen it comes to inclement weather are you an in-door person? Do you prefer to curl up at home on the couch in a blanket, sipping a favourite hot beverage with a book?  If so, grab your preferred online device and order a book — and not just any book but my book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book.  Over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, coffee cake and apple sauce, along with a number of main-course comfort foods you and your friends are sure to enjoy!

Did that sound like an advertisement?  If so, good — because I need to sell these things!