Corn & Coons

    
   Here in Northern Minnesota, we are in a constant battle with the critters. We try to raise food for the table and the critters try to take it from us. 
   Each year, I put corn seed in the ground with hopes of several nice meals of corn on the cob. As I bend over in the garden, nearby a coon is taking notes on when it should be ready to steal. His record keeping ability is flawless.
   As the summer goes by and the corn grows, the coon and I watch and wait. Then one day in the middle of August, I notice that the corn is almost ready. Tomorrow is the long awaited day. 
   Around noon, I put the water on the stove and turn up the fire. It's boiling briskly. I take a sack and head for the garden.
   As I near the corn, I see that the entire patch has been destroyed. Them darned coons have struck again. All the stalks have been knocked over and each and every ear of corn has one or two bites taken from it. It's a personal affront to my gardening skills. There just has to be a way to beat them coons.
   This year, I sit at the kitchen table and read about how to install an electric fence to keep the coons out and a couple hundred feet away in the woods, there's a coon reading a book named "Electric Fences for Dummies".
   Life is hard for us old guys.
   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Drug Use

  
   The book "Brothers by Fire" describes a life full of success stories, but reality is much different. Over these long years of my life, I've watched many good and gentle people go downhill, gathering speed as they go through life. It was as if my many friends were lined up against a wall waiting for the firing squad to end their miserable lives.
   So very many people think that they can just walk up to the devil and poke him in the eye with a stick. They try drugs just once, but it never is just once.
   Children grow up without fathers and mothers. They just walk away from their kids and chose drugs over their kids. And they make the same choice every day. Kids or Drugs...... they choose drugs.
   The picture I write is true and it happens every day here in Northern Minnesota. Don't try it at all, the consequences are so terrible. If you want to get high, give your life to Jesus. He'll take you places you've never dreamed of.
   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Teepee

   

    In "Brothers by Fire" we talk about the Indian neighbors in the Big White Oak area of Northern Minnesota. Their villages consisted of teepees of various sizes. The explorers that discovered these people wrote about the teepee as being a poor form of shelter. Guess they hadn't ever spent a night in one.
   Today teepees cost a whopping $3,000 for a 16 foot model. People who have purchased one write of what an amazing invention they really are. Inside the teepee, the first thing we see is that there is a liner that rises up to about the ten foot mark. The outside of the teepee is about a feet off the ground and this allows a continuous air current to carry smoke from the inside fire up and outside.
   At the White Oak Rendezvous held each summer at Deer River, Minnesota, you'll see several teepees with amazing artwork. Just remember not to enter without being invited.  
   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Shark!!!!!

 

   A long time ago, I spent some time in southeast Asia. The ocean was only about a half a mile away and in my off duty time, I'd go there and watch it and watch and watch. It was absolutely amazing for a man who'd never seen so much water.

   A friend said that the swimming was great. He said that you could walk out a few feet and then the bottom fell away leaving enough water so you could stand in ankle deep water and dive. Sure sounded like fun.

   And so one evening as it was almost dark, I ventured out to the beach. It was amazing and absolutely calm. I took off my shirt and shoes and waded into the water. Just as I was about to dive, I saw a fin break the surface. I'm not sure what it was but I had visions of man eating sharks, great whales and other denizens of the deep. There was just no way I could enter that ocean. I was totally in fear. 

   As the years have gone by, I have become much more brave. If I ever had the chance to do that again, I would probably go ahead and dive. There aren't many sea critters that would find this decrepit old man too appealing any way.

   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Belted Kingfisher

  

   In the area of the Big White Oak, The place where "Brothers by Fire" starts, you can find an abundance of birds. One of the most interesting and somewhat secretive is the Belted Kingfisher. Many times you can see them sitting on a branch, looking down at the water. He's looking for small minnows.
   When there are two of them, they each face a different direction. If one gets tired of watching a certain spot he flips end for end and at the very same time, the other does the same thing. You never see two looking the same direction.  
   When one spots a minnow, he leaps from the branch and dives headlong toward his intended victim. Then up he comes in a cloud of water droplets, his fresh fish meal in his beak.
   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Windmills

   For quite some time, windmills were disappearing at a fast rate. On the many South Dakota ranches, each farmer had at least one to provide water for his stock. Then as they fell into disrepair, the farmers replaced them with solar powered pumps that needed a huge amount of maintenance to keep them working.
   Then someone started making windmills again at a price most farmers could afford. Farmers are pretty frugal with their money so they started using windmills again. There was a period of nearly fifty years when you didn't see them, but once again, they are back.
  Glad to see it.
 You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book, "Brothers by Fire" at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.
Good Reading,
Ron

Padre

    

   One of the hardest jobs during the Vietnam War was that of Padre. When men were to go into battle, they wanted to know that if they caught a bullet, that God would be there with them. Padre traveled with them whenever possible and even in the mud and stench of Vietnam, offered the sacraments to his mobil parish.
   Most times he traveled unarmed but some were known to carry a .45 ACP for those times when nothing else would do. The enemy had no qualms about killing a man of God.
   One of our main characters in "Brothers by Fire", Gray Wolf, was one of these men of God and saw many battles during that war.
   You can find the EBook Kindle edition of this book at Amazon.com and at www.peaceriverbooks.com. The Peace River Books blog is updated each day. 

   Stop in once in a while. I'll try to write something new and informative about my book Brothers by Fire.

Good Reading,
Ron