Friday, December 22, 2023

Are Cryptids Real?

I am reading the second book in a row now that mentions cryptids. I have never heard of that word before and now am curious. The first book was “Unatural Death” by Patricia Cornell and the book I am currently reading is “Death in the Dark Woods” by Annalise Ryan. In both books the cryptids are seen as aggressive and possibly human killers. Whenever I have ever heard of Bigfoot, the Yeti, or Sasquatch, I never heard of them being aggressive towards people. I am thinking of that comedy with Chevy Chase, Harry and the Hendersons. At the same time, how many people disappear into the wilderness every year?

Via Wikipedia - “Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience, which primarily looks at anecdotal stories, and other claims rejected by the scientific community. While biologists regularly identify new species following established scientific methodology, crptozoologists focus on entities mentioned in the folklore record and rumor. Entities that may be considered cryptids by cryptozoologists include Bigfoot, Yeti, the chupacbra, the Jersey Devil, and the Loch Ness Monster.”

The first article on Google re:  cryptids was the Georgia “Altie.” The Altamaha-ha (or Altie) is a legendary creature that is said to inhabit the small streams near the Altmaha River in southeastern Georgia. 

Some of the oldest stories of cryptids were passed down from the Cherokeeand are still being told in Central and Southern Appalachia. The Applachians are home to many mysterious and unexplained creatures. White thang is one, said to be tall with long white hair and sharp claws.

On the State of New Jersey Website under the Pinelands Commision they have this to say under Jersey Devil - “The Jersey Devil is said to roam the New Jersey Pinelands and many people have told others of scary encounters on dark nights in the wilderness of the Pines. It’s screams are said to be quite chilling to the spine.” 

Creatures like that have always interested me, I have always loved dragons. I remember a book we had when I was young on mythical creatures and loved it so much. Loch Ness is another favorite of mine. I need to do more research. I haven’t thought about the creatures in a long time. Maybe its time to look again, why nor? Research is fun and the older I get the more into history I am. 
Ok that’s it for now, I wonder if New York has their own cryptid? I will have to look that up.




Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Book Review "The Light Pirate" by Lily Brooks-Dalton

 I read this book last December. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. Some quotes from the book that I loved:

"Frida can smell the rich stink of thunder in the air, something like ozone and gasoline and dirt all mixed together. The hurricane is close now, she can taste it."

I love how this author writes 😄

"If the ocean is a body, then the waves are it's tongue, long and blue-gray, licking at the beach until there's nothing left. This body is wide and full and deep. It rises, wrapping itself around the world, squeezing the land tight between it's thighs. Ten years means nothing to a body like this. It's been here since the beginning." 

Sigh . . . love this writing so much about our earth ❤ Please check this book out, highly recommend! 



Monday, November 13, 2023

Chapter 3 - 7 of my Short Story (Zombie Horror Type)

 I have today looked and seen what I had written for the first time in years. I am not sure I want to continue the story. I might switch and start something new. Something I can do research on. Please let me know what you think 😁


Chapter 3


Shannon sighed and tossed her head saying to herself, c’mon, c’mon! The phone kept giving a busy signal. She hung up and dialed several times, all to the same effect. 

“What is going on?!” cried Shannon.

The three women crept up toward the front of the clinic where the big windows were, and the glass front doors. They could still hear clicking and  thudding against the glass. 

“Should we hide? We don’t want the crack heads or whatever else is out there to see us!” Tracy said in a loud whisper.

“You're right, but we should still see what the heck is out there. I will peek, you two go down the hall to one of the offices, keep trying to call 911. Something very wrong is obviously happening. Maybe see if you can find something out online.” Lucy whispered as she continued to creep towards the front of the clinic, where those awful sounds were coming from.

Lucy was scared, she really didn’t have any idea what was going on but she had full faith in the police department in Mid Haven. Lucy was friends with the police chief's wife, Monica. Monica and Lucy have been friends for years and both their kids are friends and play baseball for the school. 

She peeked her head around the corner for a couple seconds. That is all that took her to grasp what was really going on. She couldn’t believe it. Her heart started to pound and she started to shake all over. She had seen the undead out of those windows. People she knew were out there. They were not people anymore. They were worse than dead. Their clothes were torn, they had blood all over them. Their eyes were a strange milky white color. The worst thing was that their lower jaws were pushed out and their teeth were chattering and clicking. Everyone had large areas of flesh missing. The scene in front of the veterinary clinic was one of pure horror. 

Lucy quietly crept back down the hallway to the office to join her co-workers. Shannon and Tracy both looked up when Lucy came into the room.

“Shut the door” they both whispered. They both turned their eyes back towards Shannon’s cell phone. 

“Did you get through to 911? Did you call the police department?” asked Lucy quickly. 

“No, we tried a bunch of times, always busy. What did you see out there, did it look like this?” Shannon turned her phone so Lucy could see. It was someone’s home video of a crowded street in the city. People were screaming and crying. You could also hear the clicking, like the same clicking that was coming from the mouths of the people out front. All of a sudden a group of 5 people shot out from the crowd and started to snarl and click their jaws. They jumped on other people trying to get away. The people were bitten, and chewed on, sometimes eaten down to bone. 

“Good God” Tracy exhaled, eyes wide with horror.

“Yes, those things are outside right now!” Lucy exclaimed. The pounding on the back door seemed to be getting louder.

“I have to go get Rory!” Lucy cried out and went to get her keys from her desk.

“No way!” cried Shannon, “I am sure he is safe at the school. I am sure there is no use calling there, but let me try.” Shannon was dialing the school. Shannon was young at age 21 and she didn’t have children. Trasy had two girls but they were grown and moved out with their own families. 

“I should see  about the girls too!” said Tracy. Her phone was up in reception at the desk. She grabbed the office phone off the desk next to her. The phones weren’t working. The office one or Shannon’s cell phone. 

“Now what?” said Shannon.

“I really have to see if Rory is okay. I don’t know what I would do without him!” exclaimed Lucy.

“You saw these things, they will eat you!” said Shannon. 

Lucy was thinking about all the guns at her house. Phil was an avid hunter and they had many firearms and a lot of ammunition in the home. What good is it over there, she thought. She was getting more frantic thinking about Rory every second. Were those monsters in the school? What was happening across town?

“I have to do something, I can’t just sit here and wait for those things to get us!” Lucy exclaimed.

“What do we do?” Shannon asked.

All of a sudden the three women heard gunshots and shouts outside the back door. They all looked at each other hopefully. All of a sudden they heard a loud knocking on the back door, someone with a gruff voice was shouting “Hello? Anyone inside?”

“Yes!” yelled Lucy, Shannon, and Tracy.

Lucy ran down the hall to grab her keys and purse from her desk. She quickly unlocked the door and the three women peeked out after opening the door a crack. The scene in front of them was something out of a movie. There were several men all dressed in black camo, helmets, kevlar vests, and all holding huge firearms. They were running around and shooting. The zombies walking and running around were immediately shot in the heads and dropped.

“C’mon! Move quickly!” One of the men shouted, waving them forward, towards an open door of a huge tan humvee. The women did not hesitate, they ran in the vehicle and jumped in.


Chapter 4


“What's happening at the school across town? My son is there!” Lucy asked one of the men sitting in the vehicle. 

“There are a couple teams there now.” the man replied.

“When can we go see the kids?” Lucy asked.

“The school is in lockdown. For right this minute, no one is in or out. The school is being protected, everyone is safer in the building than out.” he said. The man had kind blue eyes, he told Lucy she would be kept up to date as to when she could reconnect with her son. 

“Ok, as long as he is safe” Lucy breathed. Shannon and Tracy held their hands out and they all joined hands as tears slid down their cheeks.

“So now what do we do?” Shannon asked.

“We are searching the area for any more survivors, hopefully we find more, then we will be going to the barracks outside town.” The man quickly looked out the window, “it looks like we are almost done here.” The women looked around. There were two other people in the vehicle that were not wearing black camo. Everyone looked scared and exhausted.

“I’m Jacob Harding by the way” the man in the black camo held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you Jacob and thank you so much for saving our lives! My name is Shannon White, and this is Lucy Stevens and Tracy Matthews” Shannon said , Lucy and Tracy smiled at Jacob and nodded. The other two people in the humvee were younger men that looked to be in their mid 20s.

“My name is Trey Williams, and this is Joe Tyler.” said the bigger blonde man. Joe looked up and quickly smiled. Both men looked terrified and were shaking. 

“ I am just praying that my parents are alright. They live right down the street.” Joe said. He put his hand through his longer black hair. Both Trey and Joe were wearing ripped jeans and tshirts. 

“We were at the music store when this all happened” Trey explained. “We are in a band and the store had some new amps come in that we wanted to check out.”

“So who are you guys? Military?” Joe asked Jacob.

“It’s classified,” said Jacob in a clipped tone. 

All of a sudden they heard a bang bang on the side of the humvee as three other men, all in the same outfit as Jacob jumped into the vehicle, one in the driver’s seat. The humvee was thrown into drive and they took off so fast the tires left deep tracks on the pavement.

“Well?” Jacob asked the man in the passenger seat.

“That’s it, no one else that wasn’t trying to eat us,” said the man back to Jacob.

The ride to the barracks was fast and violent. The vehicle stopped 5 or 6 times on the way there. Jacob’s men all jumped out, slammed the doors, and gunned down as many zombies as they could.

“I can’t believe this, we are living in a movie right now,” Joe said as he hung his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

“This ain’t no movie, “ Tracy said, snuggling closer to Lucy on the seat.

“I am just so worried about Rory,” said Lucy, she was getting teary eyed again. She hoped with all her might that the school was protected and safe.


Chapter 5


The humvee roared up the police barracks a few minutes later. The security gate opened for the vehicle to drive through and then slammed closed after they drove through. The survivors followed the armed men into the low concrete building. There were several more armed men in black camo guarding the perimeter. Lucy looked at the rest of the group with wide eyes. At least these people look like they know what they are doing, she thought. Shannon grabbed Lucy’s arm and held on tight. They followed the men into a large room with a long conference table in it. Sitting in at the head of the table sat a thin, beautiful woman with her sleek black hair cut into a sharp edged bob.

“Hello everyone,” she said in a soothing velvety voice. “I know how scared you all are. We are here to help.”

“I just need to get to my child. I need to know he is safe.” Lucy said.

“Is he at the town school? They are in lockdown. They are safe. We are in constant communication with our people there. Please try not to worry. My name is Dr. Watson, and I am working with the head of the department.”

“Thank you Dr. Watson. I am just obviously concerned with everything that is going on. “ Lucy shrugged her shoulders and her eyes started to fill with tears.

“We are here to take care of this situation. Please have full faith. We need to keep the situation contained to the immediate area,” Dr. Watson explained.

“Is this happening just here, or all over?” Shannon asked.

“As of right now, it’s just happening in a 20 mile radius. Mid Haven is the center. We are not sure how this started, but we aim to shut everything down to contain it. “ said Dr. Watson. “Would anyone like water, tea, or coffee?”


Chapter 6


Later that night, after everyone was fed a meal of soup, sandwiches, and milk, they were sent to separate male/female sleeping quarters. Everyone was exhausted, no one could sleep. Gunfire was heard off and on all night long. 

The next morning, the group was bleary eyed and shuffling. 

“C’mon guys, it's the end of the world! At least we are alive!” Shannon seemed unbelievably upbeat. The rest of the group grumbled some reply and continued to walk towards the mess hall in search of really strong coffee. 

“There you all are! How did everyone sleep?” Dr. Watson was pouring coffee into a large travel mug.

“Any new developments?” asked Lucy.

“None. This town is where this all started from and we are very hopeful we have the situation contained.” Dr. Watson explained.

“It was the power plant wasn’t it?” asked Trey with a worried frown. “I have a lot of friends that work there.”

“It seems to be involved.” Dr. Watson said briskly as she sat down at the table. The group looked at each other uneasily.

“How far has this spread?” Trey asked.

“We aren’t sure and aren’t qualified to answer that.” Dr. Watson said. “What we are doing here is damage control. We have to stop the spread ASAP. Eat up, we are clearing the area. We are transporting the survivors to a more secure area.”

“The kids at the school too correct?” Lucy asked anxiously.

“Yes. The kids are getting bundled up now in buses. We will all meet together at our destination.” Dr. Watson said. 

Chapter 7


Lucy and the group boarded the bus quickly. The bus took off with a lurch and they were off towards the meeting place. Dr. Watson called it Base Camp. It was a research facility in the small city of Fallville. The drive took them 3 hours. The sun was shining brightly but the faces of the passengers were bleary at best. Strained conversation could be heard but most of the trip was silent. 

Fallville was a small city in the foothills of Monroe County, North Carolina. The road wound through thick forest and large hills. Lucy’s mind was racing, her main concerns were Rory and Phil. The phones were not working.

I really need to see Rory, Lucy thought to herself. There was no way she would get

through the day without at least seeing her son. The drive to Base Camp was beautiful. The forest was very green and lush. The trees were healthy and tall. The road was busy. A lot of people seemed to be traveling in the same direction as Lucy’s group. 

“How much longer?” grumbled Shannon.

“We have about 10 minutes to go” chirped Dr. Watson. “Does anyone need anything? Bottle of water?”

“Bottle of vodka?” quipped Trey with a smirk. “We should stop at Keely’s for some liquid courage!” Keely’s was the only liquor store in town. The owners have run the store for several decades.

Lucy was sitting next to Tracy on the bus and Lucy reached over and squeezed Tracey’s hand. Both women had tears in their eyes. Lucy felt like her stomach was full of lead due to how much she was worried about Rory.



Thank you if you had read all that! Please give some feedback if you did read that. I had posted the first two chapters awhile ago.

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

The Ultimatum Season 2!!

 

I haven't been on Netflix in awhile, seen today Season 2 of Ultimatum is out! Squee!! Ok so I love trashy reality shows that have SO MUCH drama!! Definitely makes me glad to stay single 😁

So I just watched the first episode, woah! Of course lots of drama, tears, screams, and a slap across a face thrown in at the end. It starts out with 5 couples. One person in each couple has given an ultimatum for marriage. Either they get married or break up. The couples are allowed to date one another, then they have to chose who they move in with. They live with the other person for 3 weeks. At the end of that they live with their original partner for 3 weeks and then they decide who they want to marry. The concept is pretty far fetched. I need to see how many couples of the original season are still together.

None of the original couple seem very stable. At the end of the first episode one of the girls walks off saying she is done, that was after screaming and cussing at her boyfriend and slapping him in the face. 


The first original couple are Alex and Kat. They have been together for 2 years. Kat gave Alex the ultimatum. She says Alex is the love of her life. It is hard for both Alex and Kat to express their feelings to each other. Alex says he has been too busy to get married. He says Kat drives him crazy.




The next couple is Riah and Trey. They also have been together for 2 years. Trey is very established in life currently. He has a great job, very stable. He does let work get in the way of other things in his life. He have Riah the ultimatum. Riah is not as situated with her life currently. She doesn't have her dream job yet. She needs Trey to be more romantic. She has not decided yet if she wants kids. 



Next up there is Roxanne and Antonio. They have been together 4 years. Antonio gives the ultimatum. He is kinda on his own as far his schedule and his free time. He doesn't have much ambition per Roxanne. Roxanne is not sure she believes in marriage. She owns her own business and works long hours. 





This is Lisa and Brian. They have been together 2 years. Lisa gave the ultimatum. Lisa says her biological clock is ticking and she wants to be married before having kids. She is ready for all of that, she wants to buy a house. She feels she has proven herself. Brian feels like he is being forced and doesn't feel ready for marriage. He feels he is not financially ready.



Ryann and James have been together for 7 years! Since they were 16. Ryann gave him the ultimatum. James has his grandmother's ring at the ready. He is not so sure he is ready.



So after we meet the original couples, everyone spreads out and talks to other people. We find out that Riah works at Hooters, Roxanne started her own company 3 years ago, James just got out of school, Trey is an engineer, and Alex is in software sales. 

There were definitely sparks between Roxanne and Alex. They are both ambitious and not in a rush for marriage. James and Riah really connected as well, he said it felt natural between them. Trey likes Lisa, quoted J. Cole "It's beauty in the struggle . . ."  

Lisa had a really hard time watching Brian talk with the other women on the show. She finally snapped and started screaming at him and also slapped him. She said she was done with the show.

SO . . . .  the season should be really interesting!! Ok, thanks for reading if your still here, have fun watching the show 💅😄

Monday, October 2, 2023

Review for Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby



Review I left on Goodreads on September 27, 2023

"This was sad, tugs at the heart strings 💗 2 dads with so much regret because of how they treated their sons when they were alive. Then the sons were both killed, the fathers avenge the deaths in the most action packed way 😁 Loved all the lawn tool references 😆 A great read! 5/5 ⭐️"

This book was really good. Extremely emotional. Despite the fathers being absolute shits to their sons, you could feel how much love there was, how much regret that they couldn't express their love in a more healthy way. I am not a father so I don't get it. How "men are supposed to be men" and all that. In my opinion if you have a child, you love and protect them no matter what. So I don't understand the whole well, my child is gay so I don't like or even love them anymore, like, what?? I never understood that. I am a parent myself. I would never shun my child because of their sexuality, the idea is insane to me.
Despite of that, these dads do love their sons and want to avenge their deaths, and they do in the most action packed way. I could so see this being made into a movie. This is the second book of this author I have read and have loved both of them, 5 stars each! Looking forward to reading more of S.A. Cosby 😊

Saturday, August 12, 2023

The House Across the Lake Review!

So, just finished the book "The House Across the Lake" by Riley Sager. Wow! Quite the story! There were a couple different twists at the end, really was exciting and keeps you on your toes. The description of the lake, spooky fall time in Vermont, the leaves changing colors. It really sounds hauntingly beautiful. Add in the rumors of ghosts in the water, and you get an amazing book. 

The characters were well described, felt like you really knew them. I loved the budding romance between Boone and Casey. Katherine, despite being a supermodel, was very sweet and down to earth. Of course I loved Eli, the "keeper" of the lake, all around good guy, teacher, and protector. 5/5 ⭐, loved the book!



Monday, August 7, 2023

Day Trip to Taughannock Falls State Park

August first my best friend, Genne, and I took a mini road trip an hour and a half away to Taughannock Falls State Park. She had been there before, my son and I have not. She told us to wear shoes that could get wet and clothes that could get wet and then dry quickly. You can walk in the shallow river all the way to the big waterfall. There were tiny waterfalls along the way. You could also walk the trail in the woods along the river the whole way as well. The kids loved walking in the water, and the adults did too! 
The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, and the water was not that cold. We saw lots of minnows. Genne caught a few small crayfish, the kids loved seeing that! We didn't go to the rest of the park, there was a beach and huge playground across the street from the waterfall trail. People can camp there as well, we saw cabins. So next time maybe we will hit the beach as well. I know my nieces would love it there, they were busy that day or I would of brought them too. 
The park was absolutely beautiful and will for sure be back again!

Sunday, July 30, 2023

New Reading Challange!

I joined a group on Goodreads today called RMFAO (Reading My Friggin A** Off)! I had to join, the name made me laugh! There are lots of challanges in the goup and you post your progress as you go. There are so many different ones. I seen the Classics Challenge and am super interested. The books have to be published before 1960. I believe there are no more qualifications than that. I did post and ask just because I wasn't sure. I googled books published in the 1920s. I don't know, that seemed like a great place to start. The first book I saw was Mrs. Dalloway by Virgina Woolf. I can read the book for free online on Google Books. I also didn't know that was a thing either! I need to get more involved in the literary world. I am trying to now, better late than never? I have been getting really interested in history, and I figured Virgina Woolf was a great person to start with. I believe I have read this before. I will try to post links to the group, please join, seems like a fun group for sure! is link *** Actually before I even posted this a mederator of the goup messaged me that they will be closing December 2023 but I was more than welcome to stay until then and get some challanges done. *Update* ok, I got about 30 pages in, I cannot do this, thought I could. The writing style is not what I am used to. It's hard for me to follow the story. So now it feels like I made this post for nothing. My next book on TBR list is "After Death" by Dean Koontz. That is much more my style!

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

The Last Blue Review!


The Last Blue by Isla Morley

This book was so good! It is set back in the 1930's. This story has murder, heartbreak, racism, bravery, birth, photography, history, and of course love! 

The main characters are Havens, a professional award winning photographer; and Jubilee, a young woman living in the Appalachian Mountains. The story centers around Jubilee's family. Jubilee and her brother Levi are a shade of blue. They have a blood disorder called methemoglobinemia. 

The families in this story have gone through so much hardship, but there is so much love as well 💗

I give this book 5 out of 5 ⭐ go check it out today! 

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Do People Blog Anymore?

A Sirius radio DJ asked that question today. He was wondering if he should start. He liked the idea of sitting in a coffeeshop writing one. 
It just reminded me that I have one and haven't wrote in a long time! I am happy it's summer. It was another long dark unhappy winter. The winter blues, I get them bad. Now this year too I get anxiety if not doing something productive.  So annoying!
I have been working out again too so that helps definitely 💗  I took Dalton golfing last week and he loved it!! That will be something really fun to get into with him. That's all for now, just wanted to give a quick update 😁

Oracle Cards 🎴

 So,  this week I received two oracle card decks.  They came with a 4 different tarot card decks that I ordered online.  I am excited! I nev...