Day: July 24, 2021

MLMM Double Take — The Last Will and Testament

Fandango11 Comments

The old man was having trouble keeping his horse stationary as he rode up in front of the saloon. The skin on his face visible above his scraggly white beard and below the rim of his worn hat was leathery and I could tell that the man was in a lot of pain. In a hoarse voice asked me to help him get down off his steed, and I obliged him.

Even once he was on the ground, he was unsteady. “Help me inside,” he said, nodding toward the swinging doors of the saloon, “and sit me down at a table.” Again, I obliged the old timer.

After he was situated, he said, “Now fetch me a pencil and some stationery. I’m dying and I need to write down my last will and testament, and if you hurry, I’ll give you a piece of my inheritance.”

I stepped over to the bar and asked the barkeep for a pencil and some paper and then walked over to the table where the old man was seated, only to find him slumped over dead as a doornail. I figured that I earned my inheritance, which as far as I was concerned was the old timer’s horse and whatever I found in his saddlebags. Hell, I helped the geezer out in his dying moment. It wasn’t my fault that he died intestate.

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Double Take—Saturday Mix, where we are asked to use these homophones in our post: horse/hoarse and stationary/stationery.

Weekend Writing Prompt — Or So We Hope

Fandango7 Comments

His speeches were vacuous
Sprinkled with meaningless clichés
And vivid imagery of
A better America

He told us how great he was
How rich
How smart
But beneath the veneer
Of his impressive words
He spoke of foolish things

Empty promises he couldn’t keep
Myriad lies that few could gainsay
Yet he went on and on
Conning the gullible
The easily swayed
Selling them his snake oil
As a cure for all their ills

But enough of us
Saw through his con
And we were able to dump him

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “vivid.” Photo credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images.

(Exactly 89 words)

Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (vacuous), Word of the Day Challenge (impressive), Ragtag Daily Prompt (foolish things), Your Daily Word Prompt (gainsay), and The Daily Spur (dump).

SoCS — Colors of the Sky

Fandango27 Comments

When I saw that Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt asked us to use “color” as a noun, a verb, or to pick a color and write about it, I decided to post a few photos I took to show the colors of the sky around my home on different days and at different times.

And I’m going to try to use the newly introduced “carousel” feature to display the photos. Are you ready? Wish me luck.

  • Full moon at dusk last night tinted yellowy-orange due to smoke from wildfires
  • Another moon shot from last night
  • Wispy clouds
  • Early morning sunrise
  • Sunset
  • Foggy skies
  • Storm clouds at sunset
  • Clouds and blue skies
  • From September 2020 at 9:30 in the morning. The sky is eerily dark and orange from nearby wildfires

All photos taken with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Click on individual photos to enlarge and swipe right or left to move between photos.

When It Rains It Pours

Fandango6 Comments

Do you remember that old idiom, “When it rains, it pours”? It generally means that when something bad happens, other bad things usually happen at the same time. And yet, the marketing geniuses at Morton Salt tried to turn a negative into a positive by implying that Morton Salt was free flowing even in damp, rainy weather.

Speaking about rain, we could sure use some here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The last solid rain we had was in late January and there was a quick skittering of rain on April 25th. And that means that Sunday will mark exactly three months since even a drop of water has fallen from the skies around here.

The Bay Area’s drought condition has worsened following two consecutive dry winters with little chance of rain in the coming months. Most of the region went from the “severe drought” category, the third worst, to the “exceptional drought” category, the worst, in just two months.

At this point, our dreams are for a good drenching, but that is unlikely before late October or November, and by then, residents of the entire Bay Area may be dealing with severe water use restrictions.

Written for these daily prompts from yesterday: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (idiom), Ragtag Daily Prompt (rain), Word of the Day Challenge (skitter), Your Daily Word Prompt (exact), and The Daily Spur (dreams).