Christmas Break

This is just a short note to say that I will not be writing a blog post this week. After the busy Christmas weekend, I think I’m too tired to think, let alone write anything. And even if I did, I’m not sure it would make any sense.

But it was a good holiday. My wife and I were blessed to have all of our children and grandkids at our house to celebrate. And we were joined by my aunt, who helped keep us all entertained!

As usual, we had tons of food and yes, I ate way too much. But hey, it’s Christmas. And that’s part of the deal—eat anything you want and as much as you want all day long. Of course, then you have to put up with that sick bloated feeling but I think that’s part of the deal too.

I guess I’m not really sure if it was the grandkids that tired me out or all the food I ate. Or maybe it was the games we played (my wife’s idea): Funny Bones, Pictionary, and Taboo. Okay, these games aren’t exactly exhausting to play but you have to remember, I’m getting old. In fact, this is the oldest I’ve ever been at Christmas! I suppose I ought to thank my wife for trying to keep me young, but I fear her efforts are not working.

Seriously though, we did have a good time, and whatever the reason, I am a little tired as I write this. So, I hope everyone understands why I won’t be posting anything this week—or the rest of the year for that matter. Yes, I’m taking a little break. But don’t worry, I will return next year with new installments of this blog. Until then...  Hmm. Wait a minute!

I think something has gone awry. Somehow, this turned into a blog post. Guess I wasn’t thinking straight, but then, I did say that I was tired. ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

It's The Thought That Counts

Zero degrees. And there I am, lying under a semi trailer in a foot of snow, rapping on brakes with a hammer. And with every tap of the hammer, more ice, frozen mud, and snow is falling into my hair and face. Oh, the joys of trucking in the winter!

The driver next to me was loudly cursing as he attempted to deal with his own frozen equipment. He said he’d tried to find a trailer that wasn’t frozen but hadn’t had any luck. “Yeah, at zero degrees, I think they’re all pretty well frozen by now,” I said.

After freeing all four brakes on my trailer, I went to help the guy and in just a few minutes, he was ready to roll. “How do you do that so fast?” he wanted to know.

There is a bit of a trick to it, but instead of sharing my “secret” information, I simply said, “Think warm thoughts.”

The driver gave me a dubious look, probably thinking I’d been out in the cold too long and lost my mind. I repeated my advice and then added something about tomorrow things would be better. The guy didn’t argue but I could tell he thought the chances of the weather warming up were nil. (I must admit, at that point, I agreed with him).

The next day, when I showed up at work, it was still cold. I saw the same guy out in the yard, again struggling to get his trailer rolling. After a trip into the office for some coffee, I figured I’d be joining him and was prepared to hear his profanity-laced tirade about how I’d been wrong—things hadn’t gotten any warmer. But...

When I went into the office, the dispatcher said I needed to pick up a certain trailer and take it to another terminal for repairs. One of the mechanics had just parked it outside, I was told. I did my best to not laugh but did smile a little to myself. If the mechanic had just parked it that likely meant the trailer had been in the shop for several hours, which meant it would be clean, dry, and warm—with no frozen brakes!

Pretending it was summer; I went out and hooked up—just in time to see the other driver pulling up beside me. Apparently, he’d seen the mechanic bring the trailer out and had enviously watched as I by-passed all the usual winter rigmarole of hooking up a trailer.

“How’d you get so lucky?” he grumbled.

I shrugged. “By thinking warm thoughts!”

Merry Christmas! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Just A Few Days Off

Yay! I finally hit it right! Oh, maybe I should let you in on why I am so excited. Well, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I drive a truck for a living. A semi. And every year, I take a weeklong winter vacation. I try to predict when the bad weather will come and take my vacation that week. And almost always, I’m wrong. It will come the week before or the week after my vacation. This is my twentieth winter at this job and out of the previous nineteen years, I have been right only once—and that year I took my wife to a meeting for her job amid the ice and snow. And down the same road I drive in my truck too. Wasn’t exactly a win.

But this year... This year, I got lucky! I had last week off and nowhere to go when the winter weather hit dumping a foot of snow on us. Roads were closed (including the road I drive in the truck) schools closed, and a lot of events cancelled. And it didn’t affect me one iota! I drove around town looking at all the snow, seeing all the parked trucks, and watching people TRY to drive. It was actually kind of fun.

But now the vacation is over. Time to go back to work. Trouble is, winter isn’t over. Technically, it hasn’t even started. And looking at this week’s forecast, and that of the next week, I’m starting to wonder if I picked the right time for vacation or not. Looks like my few days off might have been a few days off—again! Most days are forecasted to have 3-5 inches of snow and/or freezing rain. That freezing rain thing is what has me concerned. 700 miles per day gets a little hard to do on ice! So, my celebrating mood might have been a little premature. Hmm, maybe next year, I’ll just take all of December and January off. But then, we’d probably get a big storm in November! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Don't Jump!

It seems the older I get, the more stories I have about aging. Odd, isn’t it? Well, okay, maybe not. Anyway, here’s another of those “When I was younger” stories.

I think I may have mentioned the first part off this in a prior post but in a little different context. So, if you find it a bit familiar, read on.

Several years ago, around sixteen years or so I think, my wife and I were standing in the front yard when we heard a piercing scream come from the back yard. A blood curdling scream as they say. Our son and the dog were back there and from the sound of things, something horrific had happened. Not wasting time going through the house, I ran full speed and leapt over the fence—The 5ft fence. Keep in mind that I’m a short guy and stand only a little taller than that yet, I easily cleared the fence. (Funny what a guy can do when he thinks his kid may be in trouble, huh?)

My wife later wondered why I didn’t just use the gate. It was right there after all, but apparently, I was in hurry or something.

I’d like to claim the feat was accomplished due to some great agility and athleticism, or describe exactly how I was able to accomplish it but I have no idea. All I remember is hearing the scream, taking off running, and then landing beside my son. Who, as it turns out was quite fine. He’d just been playing. Testing his ability to convincingly unleash a terrifying scream. Or, perhaps he was testing his father, to see what sort of response to expect in the future.

Well, this is now the future. I’m pretty convinced that I won’t be jumping any fences. But just because I’m older doesn’t mean I can’t get to other side—even at a place where there is no gate.

Not long ago, my grandson lost a toy over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. Yes, the same fence. No, I didn’t even consider jumping it. Instead, I went and got a stepladder, set it up and then got a second ladder and put it on the other side. Then, it was just a matter of climbing up one ladder, crossing to the second one, and climbing down to get the toy. Much easier than jumping. Of course, in an actual emergency, that method would get me there too late but that’s the price of growing old, I guess.

The good part about that is, I doubt my grandkids would even expect grandpa to respond quickly to anything. To them, I’ve always been old. My son, on the other hand, is likely to still be testing my reflexes at any given time. I just hope he doesn’t actually ever need anything; he might be out of luck. ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.