The mouse police never sleeps.

     The above title is a line I borrowed from a Jethro Tull song.

 

     The evening before last, my cat, Midnight Pussy came running upstairs to the bedroom bearing a field mouse in her jaws. I thought she was bringing me a gift. She dropped it on the floor and then ate it. She then left and went downstairs. 

In about 15 minutes I heard a ruckus. 

     I went downstairs and there at the edge of the back hallway were 2 more smaller mice. She had killed them and laid their bodies side by side. She had a third mouse in her mouth. It was still alive. She dropped it and let it limp around before batting at it with her 6 toed paws - torturing it. I walked away from the mini massacre smiling.

     We live in a 150 year old house way out in the country. The nearest fire department is 10 miles away from us. It is also an all volunteer fire department. If ever there was a fire here the firemen and firewomen would first have to get to the station. Then they would have to drive here. 

     A 150 year old house + fire = disaster. The place would be nearly destroyed or completely destroyed by the time help would arrive. Mice chewing on wires and more can cause quite a problem. Midnight helps alot and I am grateful.

My Nom De Guerre

25 years ago . . . Scrybe - my nickname came to be in 1994 on a spring day. My friend and I was on an old fashioned McKean County road trip, on the back roads looking at the wildlife and digging leeks.

     We got hungry so I drove into town. Eldred, Pa. The population is about 800. The McKean county area is full of small towns and countryside. I stopped at a small bar/restaurant at the edge of town.

     Inside there was only 4 other guys there, and Sandy the bartender and the two of us. We ordered lunch and beers.

   After a while Sandy shouted out "Hey Jeff, you want another beer ?" All 6 of us said yes or raised our hands!

     There was 6 different guys with the name Jeff and each with a different last name.

     I never realized the popularity of the name.

     Scrybe is a modern spelling of the trade, scribe. I have been in printing and publishing since I was 10 years old. I don't scribe (copy books by hand), I printed books and so much more.

     I also did alot of writing through the years for our customers. Advertising copy, sales copy, product descriptions, we did read throughs for news stories, radio, etc. etc. Now I am in a medical retirement. I still keep a finger in my trade by book building, and crafting other paper items using the environmental "R's".

I had a Stroke !

    On the morning of April 4 I had a stroke. Tis also know as a CVA. It did not effect me emotionally. I didn't cry and was not afraid. I did know what was happening. The ambulance and e.m.t.'s was called to the house. The e.m.t. asked if I has any directives. I almost told them do not resuscitate me ( DNR ) but I looked over at Lois and saw she was scared and upset so I just told them no. 

     Naturally it did effect my body. A slight droop in my face. My speech was slightly effected. There was also pain and lack of use in my right hand.  I spent 5 days in the hospital and then released to continue my recovery at home.

     Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. My body is on a slow road to recovery and it is difficult to do anything with a damaged right hand. 

Blessed be,

Scrybe

Swap-bot: ESG: Something that made me happy this month

     There are different things that made me happy this month. 

     Getting another car. An 11 year old Buick. It will be a second car. It's a deep purple in colour. 

     Midnight Pussy, our mouse police. To this day since she moved in, she still does a great job of catching mice!

     Bookwright: I created another book. In a thrift shop one day I found a 200 sheet package of notebook filler paper. It appears to be older paper as it is drilled for a 5 hole notebook instead of 3. The alignment of the holes is different too. It would not fit a standard 3 hole pocket portfolio. I hand-made a new cover for the paper.

     Swap-bot November 2018 Journal project. I joined the swap. It is my 9th participation. I like the creativity options I put into it. 

Blessed be,  

Scrybe  

A Serving of Mouse

                                                    

In the wee hours of this morning I am brought out of a deep sleep via the loud meow from Midnight like she had her mouth full. That got me off the bed to take a look. Yep - she had a mouse in her jaws. She dropped it and it began to run. She caught it again. Then she dropped it into her food dish like she was serving herself some dinner. Second time she did that with a mouse. I never saw a cat do that. Very cute ! She has 24 toes and claws. 6 on each of her 4 feet. I am surprised anything survives her big feet.


                                               - - - 

Addendum: She did it again and again! The night before last she caught a mouse and put it in her food dish. 🤣 . She has done this 6 times now.

P.O. Woes

     Some of you, my readers, may remember the tv show: Green Acres. It was a sit-com that aired from 1965 to 1971. On the show was a country store by name of Drucker's. It was a store that sold everything. The Hooterville post office was also located inside Drucker's Store. 

     Forward to 2018 . . well we have Carlson's Country Store. The store is 98 years old. It sells a little of everything. The Turtlepoint post office is located inside the store also. 

     Open 2 hours a day. It is a room that measures 16' x 7'. Somewhere between here and where ever, my mail has been lost from time to time. I also had some damaged . This is the only post office in a 10 mile and more radius. There is a very high employee turnover. Those who do get hired here do not stay here long. No one wants to work for 2 hours a day and 6 days a week. I do very little business here. In wintertime this is my only option as my driving anywhere is severely limited. 

     If I send you something in the mail and you don't receive it, then please send me an email or text and let me know.

Swap-bot: ESG: Favorite Quotes

This is my response for the Swap-bot project:  ESG: Favorite Quotes

Weekends: 

Photo of the infamous Brushwood Folklore Center  welcome sign. (campground and events center):

Children:

Love - funny:

Love - romantic:

Heartache:

Relaxation:

Music:

Eternity:

Perseverance:

School:

Swap-bot Group: ESG: Something that made me happy this month

     Writing and creating made me happy this month as well as the environment I do it in. My library in my home. This small room holds my telly, computer, stereos, and my crafting supplies. Tis a nice place to write, read, and meditate.

     Currently I am working on 3 projects. A couple Swap-bot projects and a personal narrative. The S-b stuff also involve making journals. This is a pleasure for me. I use my life experience in my trade to do it.  When I was able to work, the print shop customers chose the materials and inks to use. Now when I create it is a purely selfish endeavor. I get to choose. If people like it then wonderful! Otherwise I am happy.  

The Youngsville Star

     I grew up in a small town. We had a creek running behind the house. Across the creek and at the end of another street was a furniture factory. It had a name I can't remember now, but it gained a new owner before I was born and a new name: The Youngsville Star.

     My grandpa worked there. It was a busy place when I growing up. There is a railroad track in front of the property and I think a siding used to be there too.There was also a railroad track behind the factory. The white house had furniture that came from the place. It went out of business. I never learned the reason why.

     In the late 1970's it was started again and brought back to life as Northland Wood Products. I got a job there. I loved it. My bosses were great. I loved working with wood.

     We made a little bit of furniture, fireplace mantels, shelving, rustic picture frames, paneling, turkey calls, etc. etc. Whatever we made there was hot stamped with the company logo. I have good memories of that place.

     My happiness there was short lived. It went out of business. The building was bought and sold a couple times I think. Time went on. The aging building began to come apart. A decision was made to condemn it and tear it down. I was saddened to learn of it's impending destruction.

      One day Lois and I went back to my old hometown for shopping and sightseeing. We stopped at the factory so I could get some final pictures. I got out of the car and took a few last photos. I wanted to cry. I used to walk the railroad track past that place. Took a swim  up and down creek that ran past it. I was sad,

     I am going to try to find products that came from there. Even things when it was Northland Wood Products. I can't believe I got so emotional over this. Time moves on . . . . . .

Journals

    

     A Swap-bot project gave me more inspiration to write on this subject. 

     Journals ( aka Diaries ) for me is " talking to myself  " via pen and paper. A paper conversation unto myself. After my body dies, then the journal turns from a personal narrative to a piece of history. In journal writing, I know in the back of my mind that after I pass over the veil that someone will read my journal. So with this thought I chose not to write anything negative and had not done so for a long time. This quote: "Thoughts Become Things.... choose the good ones" from Mike Dooley came to mind. Thoughts do become things. So I avoided negativity and wrote only of good or neutral things.  But I am me, and like to keep things real. Goddess knows I have had a huge share of negativity in my life. A soul with a body and here, this side of the veil. Experiencing Karma good and bad so I will write of everything from now on.

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” ― Carl Sagan

     A current Swap-bot journal project is: April 2017 Journal Swap. From the coordinator hosting the swap, we are to get some kind of journal like a composition book or other journal. Nothing too small. We the participants are to fill it out over a month. I can do whatever I want in it, just make sure it is filled with stories, journal entries, collages, art, recipes, whatever I want. The goal should be to fill a page or a couple of pages every day.  Each entry should be something of substance.

This endeavor is a small pleasure for me as I am into writing and working with the trade of printing & publishing.

< < < < < <  UPDATE  > > > > > >

  My choice was to use a composition book and to embellish it. I added labels within the copy, and pasted in front and back endpapers and flyleafs. I found an antique bookplate and put that in. I also made a label from an antique graphic, pasting it on the front cover to hide the pre-printed product label description. The final addition was that I signed my work on the inside back cover and dated it. 

 ******      ******      ******      ******      ******      ******
Addendum:         
     My history with journals go back 48 years to when I was the age of 10. That is when I was introduced to the trade of Printing & Publishing. I fell in love with the trade after going to see a print shop in my hometown. A few days after that visit I began to make small paper journals during classroom breaks at elementary school. I still have a journal I made during my first year of formal training in print shop operation. I was attending a vocational/technical school. That year was 1975.

Do you keep a journal ?

 

Swap-bot: A Day In My Life

Welcome: This is my Swap-bot project by name of:  
A Day In My Life

     Out of bed and still a little fuzzy in thought. It is nearly 10 am on a Sunday. I walk downstairs. 

     After getting cleaned up I walk over to the pantry. It is a small room in the back of the house that has many shelves for groceries, canned food and canning supplies. There is also a small upright freezer.

     The mouse police and my friend Midnight vaults herself to the top of a toolbox to say Good Morning (and to ask for food).

     After filling her dish, I advance to the kitchen. Feeling a need for energy, the coffee is the first of a brunch to be started. 

     
     I made toast. 4 slices from a loaf of delicious white bread made by Trappist monks with real butter applied. The small loaf tastes just like home made bread. A banana and a clementine orange rounds out a light brunch.

     I walk upstairs. It now is an early afternoon. After 1 pm, but this day holds no tight requirement for time management.

     Today is a day of advancing cold. The temperature slowly falls. I am sitting at my computer. My pen and pad is at the ready for note taking.

     I read alot. And from various sources. Books, magazines, newspapers, and content from the internet. The television in the room no longer holds my interest. I turn it off and turn on the radio tuning in WBFO FM from Buffalo, New York. 

    National Public Radio is on the air. The program is about cooking and herbs. I listen while pouring over my research. I am working on a specialized style of a roleplay project. This style of roleplay involves putting pen to paper and writing a letter to a friend. We will be using the genres of Steampunk and the Paranormal. 

     Time slips by. I look at my pocket watch. 5 pm. Evening is on the approach.

     I arise from my chair and descend the stairs. Tis time to make supper. 

     I go to the pantry and open the freezer. Found a bag of frozen veggies. I then turn to a shelf and grab some soup mix. Next stop: the kitchen. 

     Grabbing a large pot, I boil water. Then put in is a cheddar broccoli soup mix, the frozen veggies, a little extra cheese, and in 20 minutes we have a hearty meal. 

     After supper and cleaning up, I return upstairs. Time again to do my research. 

     Tis just after 7 pm. On the internet I go to my favorite social site to talk with friends at Imvu. A few of us go to a room made for the fans and participants of Steampunk. Some of us engage in roleplay. Some of us do not. 

     In the flesh and blood world, I arise from my chair and retrieve a bottle of Red Cat wine from the shelf. 

      I return to the internet. Reaching for my pad and pen I scribble a few notes for a later look see. New found websites. New explorations.

     The evening rolls on. Good friends, good wine, and soon it is 2 am. My body calls for rest and I don't want to, but soon I give in. So I bid thee Good night and Sweet dreams.

> Scrybe

The photos I took for this project came from my Tracfone cell phone. Not the best of quality but my usb computer cam has a short wire limiting its use. 

Silverwheels

     

Did you ever own a car that you loved alot ? One that made you want to get another one just like it after it can't be used anymore ?

     There is a song by my favorite band Heart titled Silverwheels. I like the song and also the name as it is. But this blog entry is a boast about my 2004 Chevy Impala LS. 

     My wife and I have come to own 2 Chevy Impala at the same time. To know the difference between the two while talking about the cars, I named both of them. 

     The name for the 2004 is "Silverwheels". As you can see in the photos, it is painted silver. The other one is a 2012 Chevy Impala. It has been named simply "the 12". 

     Silverwheels came about as a need for a second car to replace the minivan. When we bought it in 2015 there was just over 75 thousand miles and treated very well.

     Tis a nice ride. It is comfortable. It has a great engine. It has a cool stereo. I also have found (in a thrift shop somewhere) a personalization instructional cd for the car. On it 2 different narrators tell you about the features of the car.

     It was made in Canada. It has rust issues underneath. When it can no longer be used, I want to buy another. That is how much I like the car.

Do you have / had a favorite car ?

My Other Me

     

     My other me is me! My other me is a character I made up. That character is a male and a handsome chap he is. I saw no reason to create a separate personality for him. I use my own, so he and I are us.

     To be even more clear, I am writing a book. It is a Steampunk / Paranormal adventure. Tis a story of redemption. My avatar creation is the main character. There is no limit at this time as to how many characters or scenes will be involved.

     The photo above depicts him as he is seen in avatar form on a 3d internet chat by name of Imvu.com

As for yours truly it has inspired me to create a couple of craft projects. One shall be a pendulum. The other will be a journal. These two items play a part in the book. 





     

Travel

     Travel. I enjoy it. But these days I cannot physically travel due to a heart condition. 

     The idea for this posting began as an appreciation for the chef, author and television personality Anthony Bourdain. I also watch a couple other travel shows. In fact, the original title for this blog posting was going to be "Travel by Television". My "travel" these days is mental and is via books, magazines, newspapers, television and the internet.

     Another mental source of travel is an internet website by name of Swap-bot. Swap-bot facilitates internet and snail mail swaps of crafts and correspondence. Of said correspondence is letters and postcards I exchange with fellow swappers.

     Question to you reader: What type of mental travel do you participate in ?