A hunting we will go! (Ghost hunting, that is)

Well, as the summer cranks up, so does my work and I have decided to try to boost my posting on the old blog here. Hang on to your hats!

First, I am doing a new photo book on Salisbury and badly need uncollected pre-1980 photos with Salisbury landmarks or buildings in them. Drop me a line if you have any to share. Don't have to be famous or professional, just readily identifiable. Thanks!

Second, I have encountered two paranormal groups cris-crossing the Shore. First is the Maryland Society of Ghost Hunters, led by Rodney Whittaker. I found out they are doing a hunt at Poplar Hill in Salisbury so I wangled an invite from the curator, bless her heart, and will report what goes on if I survive! That's June 26. The second group was the Salisbury Paranormal group, led by Mike Dean. Mike and his two partners have already done videos of the Pocomoke Forest and are going back there in July. They have asked me to come along. I couldn't resist. So while the economy tanks, the war goes on and gas edges higher, I am going ghost hunting!

Too long ago!

I am sorry its been so long since I wrote up something, but have been caught up in three shows, got a contract for a new book and just life in general. Wish I had something profound to say, but too much bad stuff going down. GM bankrupt, Chrysler bankrupt. Gasoline on the rise. I have one vehicle from each of these two once proud companies so I hope they survive. Meanwhile, its a stormy night on the Shore. Say, if anybody has any photos of Salisbury to share, let me know!

Rainy days and Sundays

More April Showers today. I guess we can use them to bring the water table up a bit more. Say, just wanted to let folks know that the Fair Share bill passed in the Senate, but that doesn't let Norm Conway off the hook because it failed in the House. The Governor will sign it, so all non-AFSCME state employees can expect to have their pockets picked by the increasingly socialist agenda coming from Annapolis. Sigh....


In other news, author David Poyer will be speaking at the Writer's Bloc meeting on May 16. Be sure to come and see him. I am re-reading his first novel, the Shiloh Project and its pretty good. He shows a good flair for military hardware.

Stop by on May 9th and see members of the Bloc at the Westside Heritage Festival. We'll be under a tent somewhere. Finally, I have met with the Maryland Ghost Hunters Society and they are planning more investigations here on the shore. Drop me a note if you are having some serious problems or have some stories to tell.

You want politics, you gottem!

Trying to have a wonderful Easter weekend, but stupid stuff just keeps coming around. Stupid stuff 1: Maryland House Bill 298, the supposed "Fair Share" act. You see, some years back Governor Parris Glendening, after being influenced by AFSCME, a union that some (but not a majority) of state employees belong to, got legislation to enact collective bargaining. I was on the fence about it. The measure was defeated, but the governor caved in to special interests and signed an executive order calling for an election to see which employee association would speak for all employees. Though a minority percentage of employees, AFSCME won the rights. Now, years later, they want to collect a "service fee" from non-AFSCME members to supposedly fund their efforts. This is a rotten bill with no cap on fees, no oversight, no consideration for employees who belong to another group, nothing. Hundreds of calls flooded in. Norman Conway is the head of the House of Delegates Finance Committee. He has refused to listen to the people that elected him and plans to ram this bill down everybody's throats in order to keep his chairmanship. I think its a shame. I will not forget in November 2010.

OK, then we have pirates. I understand the US Navy is forbidden to attack them if they have hostages under the rules of engagement. I am afraid we will cave in to their demands, and every US ship will be a target. Why can't we have a coalition force to attack the Somali pirate bases and wipe them out? They'll just keep doing it. We stopped the barbary pirates in 1800, let's stop these new thugs, or at least issue letters of marque so that privateers can do it for us.

I hope everybody has a happy Easter. I'll be in the play Who Will Call Him King of Kings at Emmanuel Wesleyan Church on Shamrock DR. Salisbury tonight and tomorrow. We need to do a lot of praying as a nation this Easter weekend.

Spring is here now

Sure, I like talking about the weather. It's sunny and breezy and now I've got to cut grass tomorrow. I'll be playing a cruel jailer in my church's Easter play this year (Emmanuel Wesleyan on Shamrock Drive), so come and watch me chew the scenery next weekend, Friday through Sunday. What else is going on, let's see. Mayoral election in Salisbury. Lots of mud being slung. Vote your conscience not rumor. Went to see a Haunting in Connecticut (subtitled AIG and the Chris Dodd re-election campaign). OK, seriously, the backstory was really interesting, but the modern horror haunting stuff was pretty bland by even 1970 standards and bore little relation to the purported "true" story from what I have read on the internet.
Big tax on cigarettes started this week. It caused one of my co-workers to quit smoking, so I guess it served a purpose in lowering health care costs. Next, Big Macs will be taxed so your arteries don't clog. Oh, that's right, you'll lose weight because you won't be able to afford to drive, since OPEC cutbacks are starting to affect the price of oil (up about $20 since the beginning of the year when it was $33 a barrel).
I have a friend who thinks I am an idiot because I don't think Obama is a Marxist and is turning our country into another Soviet Union. Hey, the companies came to the government for a bailout, so they accepted the consequences of being on the government dole. Worse, I hear Tim Geitner was covering up for some of the banks. I am getting a bit tired of him and think Obama should dump him for somebody not in banking, maybe in collections, like a repo man. Since I am an idiot for being a Democrat I now have Obama in my top friends list on MySpace. He hasn't sent me any email, though. Guess Michelle and the kids are hogging the computer all the time when they aren't hugging folks and being good and decent folk. Oh, well....
Say, I'll be at the Shad Festival April 25th all day. Come and say hello. I will also be at the Worcester Technical School May 1st talking about Eastern Shore Culture and at the Westside Heritage Festival on May 9th. Come say hello! I signed up to be an official Scribe of the Shore, am waiting to hear back. Meanwhile, drop me a comment.

Another hiatus

Sorry, guys, been very, very busy. Somebody asked me why I only talk about the weather, but on the internet, when you put stuff out, its public and you are done for. I don't put anything out there that's worth pirating, but hey, who knows? Since last post I put in some time at the Regal money pit. Saw Last House on the Left and Watchmen. Last House was really good, even though it started slow. Now, I make a distinction between bloody and gory. It's a fine line, so here's the deal. Bloody means a lot of people die hard, but to me, gory means that people's innards are spilt all over the place and vital organs float around like Macy's Thanksgiving balloons. I put Last House in the bloody category. The last scene was borderline gory, but your mileage may vary. The rest of the shootings, stabbings, bludgeoning and hand stuck in the garbage disposal (you didn't see anything, just him screaming until his hand came out and it was only gashed). The hardest thing was rape. A young girl gets brutally raped then shot. If rape upsets you, don't go see this movie. While I felt bad for the girl, it was the key to the plot. My wife and I sat through the whole thing and we both enjoyed it as a good thriller with a good ending.

Watchmen was a different story. Ironically, there is a rape scene in it also, but its dealt with less explicitly and again, its central to a plot point. Having said that, the movie is too long and too complex. I read the original story in the 80's and had to really concentrate on all the stuff because the plot explodes in all directions from superhero psyches to alternate history (Nixon elected 5 times????). It does paint a more realistic picture of how the world may have been if there really were super-powered beings, but it is not a black and white story like Batman or Superman where the good guys are good and the bad guys bad. I think it should have been done in two parts, like Lord of the Rings, that's how much story is in it. Having said that, it is a fairly faithful adaptation of the comic series, the effects are cool and it makes you think not only about good and evil, but about the greater good.

On the home front, I am working on a sequel to Ghosts of the Eastern Shore and have been visiting a remote area where the owner is not only haunted, but hexed. That's right. More info coming out of this area as it seems to be a hotbed of activity (which may explain no cell phone service).

A beautiful day on Delmarva

This has been a week of roller coaster weather. First snow, now near summer-type temperatures. Not sure whether to believe in global warming or not. I am hot and cold about it (snicker). OK, its been a week since the last post and so let me see what's been happening.

I had a great time at the Outdoor Show. Everybody was very friendly and the food was delicious. Met some great folks, including past and present muskrat skinning champions. The show made the newspapers coast to coast and I barely had time to leave my table. It was great! It was drizzly all day, but not too bad. Sunday it turned nasty and I stayed home Monday (hey, I'm getting too old to play on ice).

Friday I taped another chapter of the Write Stuff for PAC-14. I interviewed the crew from PLB comics and Gianni interviewed Tom Taylor, the president of the Writer's Bloc. We need a webmaster bad. If anybody reads this, drop us a line.

It was a blah week in politics. The Stock Market continued to tank (I used to think 2000 was a high number, now I am scared we may end up back there.), no peace in the Middle East, and the Obama haters said he was too ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. So, are they all, all honorable men. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned. This week's message is short. I don't have much coming up, but keep an eye out for the PAC-14 shows and drop me some comments!