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 Life, Adventure, Family, Writing what else is there? Random thoughts. |
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WELCOME TO: GEMINI RISING   UPDATED INTRO 28 MAY 2024: Just a little about me. I've been married for 32 years this past NOV and currently live in Southern California, but I grew up in New Hampshire. I've got 2 boys who are young adults. I work as a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. I enjoy my job a lot. Still. If you can believe that. I love to write. Thankfully both of my boys achieved Eagle Scout. My Scouting days are over and I'm back to focusing on my writing. I like to get out in nature, drink coffee and watch football. Here's a little bio about my zodiac. GEMINI: Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive; when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are. Like children they are lively, and happy, if circumstances are right for them, or egocentric, imaginative and restless. Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them. They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts. Geminians can be successful in many walks of life though their general characteristics tend to make them unreliable. They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be: debaters, diplomats (though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice), orators, preachers (brilliant rather than profound), teachers, authors, poets, journalists, or lawyers. This is me. I am a Gemini. Pure, Raw, passionate. The NEW focus of this blog is to share my adventures, travels, random thoughts, book reviews, thoughts, opinions, and writing adventures from actual writing, writing/editing tips, marketing, research. I'll get there. BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: SEPTEMBER 2024: I participated in the
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Congrats on your Honorable Mention in Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Nonfiction.gif) Big thanks to WakeUpAndLive   for hosting the contest! OCTOBER 2024: I participated in the
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Congratulations on completing the 13 Poetic Days of Halloween.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Halloween-2026567.gif) Big Thanks to Lyn's a Witchy Woman   for hosting the contest!Find me at: WEBSITE: http://www.stephanieburkhart.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor GOOD READS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031660.Stephanie_Burkhart YOU TUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee Previous GRATITIOUS Warning, that I decided to keep in case I post about something that might offend.  WARNING I intend to be open, honest, and forthright. No topic is off limits from religion to you name it, I'm going there. If you think you might be offended...back up now - this blog isn't for you. For those who "dare"  check out the "Gemini Rising..." 
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| I cannot believe how fast a year passes and another Memorial Day is upon us again. For me, I always tend to think of those brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandie on 6 June 1944. That was not an easy undertaking, storming the beaches of Normandie and hundreds of soldiers were lost. I read a book called “The Fighting 30th Division: They called them Roosevelt’s SS,” and it gives a graphic account of the taking the beaches. My uncle Harold was interviewed for the book. Another series that I recommend is HBO’s series, “Band of Brothers,” that takes a look at the invasion of Normandie and the obstacles that the soldiers had to endure. Memorial day has its roots in the Civil War. It was originally known as “Decoration Day,” and families would decorate the graves of those relatives who had fallen in the American Civil War. The National Cemetery Administration which falls under the Department of Veterans Affairs gives credit to Mary Ann Williams who felt it was important to decorate the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. Memorial Day didn’t start out a Federal holiday. It was a local and state holiday for a long time. It started in New York and by 1890, most Union states had adopted it. After America’s World Wars, it became a time to celebrate and decorate those graves who had been lost in all of America’s wars. Finally in 1971, it became Memorial Day and a Federal holiday. Which leads me to National Cemeteries. There are 164 National Cemeteries belonging to the US and its territories. One of the most famous national cemeteries is Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia. There are 3 national cemeteries in France. The French government has given the land to the US for as long as the US maintains the cemetery. One of the cemeteries, The Normandie American Cemetery and Memorial is located in Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. Notable soldiers buried there include 2 of President Theodore Roosevelt’s sons: Theodore Jr. and Quentin along with US Army General Lesley J. McNair. Here’s a video: I think it’s still important to take some time out of your day to remember those who gave their lives in support of this nation. When my sons were young, their Cub Scout Pack would help lay out flags on the graves at the local cemetery. In fact, many scouting organizations have similar programs and I know the local Scouting America council will place flags at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Many community organizations such as local Lions Clubs and Rotary clubs organize special events such as parades and flag placements. I believe it’s important local communities continue such events as parades, flag and flower placements, and wreath placements. Local communities in action equal national impact, and it’s service such as this that binds a community together. “A Nation that does not honor it’s heroes will not long endure.” – Abraham Lincoln References: https://www.hbo.com/band-of-brothers https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781612003016/the-fighting-30th-division/ |
| I sure didn't have the energy to cook today so the hubby and I said let's do the local Mexican place, Las Rocas. I, for one,  the local Mexican place because they make the BEST strawberry margarita. I do enjoy Mexican food. I love a good enchilada and a tamale. My local place makes a tasty carne asada. I'm not big on rice and beans so I usually substitute veggies. Then I get my strawberry margarita. Sigh... Tonight, I was daring and got a shot of fancy anejo tequila. How smooth! sigh... I also tried something new - a steak tostada. They did a great job with it. Their salsa is a tad on the spicy side so I usually go light on the salsa. One day I'll try Sammy Hagar's tequila but I'm not there yet. Other favorites include the tacos with meat, onions & cilantro, and taquitos. What I like about the local place is the ambience. There's good ambience and you feel like you've been taken out of the day to day doldrums. When we would go out in Europe, just about every restaurant had awesome ambience. Here, were we live, there's not so much. What's your favorite restaurant like? |
| It's money night at Bowling league. I'm hoping I do well so I can win extra $$$$ -- I'm going to use the money to pay off my season tickets for USC Football. Just finished bowling in my No Tap league. Almost got a 300 but I blew it in the 10th frame. Grrr... it was a good run as they say. There was a mix up if I was going to play in the summer season and honestly, I can't remember what I committed to so I guess I'll be a sub in the No Tap league over the summer, which honestly, is probably a good thing with all the days I'll be missing. As for the Lotto.... No daily 3 or 4 for me lately. The numbers haven't been hitting. I'm not big on scratchers but I do like to scratch them.  Scratchers make good stocking stuffers. Anyone here buy scratchers? Did you ever win a big amount on the Scratchers? I think my highest was 30 Bucks. I'm not complaining. Anyone ever play in slots in Vegas? I liked a quarter machine but it didn't like me back, but I won 60 bucks on a dollar machine. I was interested in the craps table but couldn't remember how to play. As you can see, I'm not much of a gambler. Anyone own Crypto? I've got some - XRP, XLM, Bitcoin. It's been going up recently which has been nice. XRP is my big investment. Which, honestly, isn't much and I really don't know much about crypto or how to use it, but hey, I'm learning. |
| Strawberries and Logistics Just some random thoughts on the Strawberry Festival. The CA Strawberry Festival will be held in Ventura this month - 17 & 18th of May. I going to the Strawberry Festival. This year we'll be doing something new - taking the train. Back in the day, when it was in Oxnard, we'd drive. Back in the day -- maybe about 2010? Parking was 10 bucks on site. Now it's 30.00 on site at the fairgrounds and when I went back in 2023 with Andy - the fairgrounds parking was full so we had to park on the street. The pro about parking on the street - it didn't cost anything. The con? It was a bit of a hike. They've always had shuttles from like the outlet malls, etc but I'm not thrilled about riding a stinky shuttle full of people. At least shuttles were free. From the time I started doing in 2010 until 2022, the festival was in Oxnard at the College, but the festival kept growing and growing and it outgrew the College so now it's at the Ventura County Fairgrounds which is HUGE. The first year at the fairgrounds was 2023 when I went with Andy. The Metrolink and Amtrack goes from Simi Valley to Ventura and who doesn't love a good train ride? I'm not sure of the price but I anticipate a 20.00 round trip. I just have to drive to Simi Valley which is about a 30-40 minute drive. But hey, it's about the adventure. PICS:   |
| Just a little thought for the day: When your Mom says she doesn't want anything for Mother's Day, what she means is she wants a hug, a smile, a phone call, a meal together, a conversation to hear your voice. She wants to know you are happy and healthy because you mean the world to her. Happy Mother's Day. Hug your Mom.   |
| Eaglet update! Well, Big Bear eaglets are getting up there. They're starting 10 weeks and eaglets are known to start fledging (flying away from the nest) anywhere between 10-14 weeks. Here's a nice update with the local news channel. For the most part, it's Sunny that you see flapping it's wings (we still don't know if sunny and gizmo are boys are girls, though I think girl eagles are typically bigger than boy eagles) Gizmo doesn't flap it's wings as much. Sunny is the show off. haha. The first born Eaglet was lost in a snowstorm in early to mid March. Sunny was the 2nd one hatched, and Gizmo was the 3rd one hatched. Jackie and Shadow still feed them feesh and every so often bring in a rabbit or some other small critter, but I think the eaglets much prefer the feesh. Shadow is teaching Sunny how to build a nest and he's more receptive to nest building. Gizmo gets interested in things after Sunny gets interested in things. Both are self-feeing now, but Jackie and Shadow feed them on occasion. I'll try to do another update in about a week if nothing exciting happens between now and then. If you get a chance check out my poem about eagles. I trying for a patriotic vibe since they are the national bird.
Smiles Steph |
| It's been a while since I've checked in, but I've been busy. Sigh... 2-4 May we went to Vegas for bowling league. I won $200.00 total which was a nice surprise. 80 on mystery doubles and 120 on Women's 5th place in my league. I put the money aside for my USC football tickets. The last payment is due 5/16, and with my savings regime, I'll hit my target so I'm happy about that but it wasn't easy! I always like getting out of town. Los Angeles can be so depressing. Mind you, I live a little north in the Santa Clarita area, and while the vibe is a little better, it's not by much. I do love to travel. We took the RAV4 to Vegas and it was a bit more comfy than the truck. We stopped by Peggy Sue's 50's diner on the ride out there. I had the clam chowder and hamburger. One thing I have noticed with weight watcher regime, is that I cannot eat the big sizes I used to eat before. When I get the rumblings of "you're getting stuffed," I cut it off. I wasn't able to finish the Peggy Sue hamburger, but it was tasty. I've been working on habits with
I've been dealing with a touch of cold in my throat/sinus area. Damn thing does not want to die. I've been throwing a butt ton of zinc at it lately which has really started to work. I've been working and sleeping with not much time for me. I did find a CCW class in nearby Piru that's going to cost me $700.00. Money well spent. I managed to put together my Romance/Love newsletter about "opposites attract" so I was happy about that but I did it over 3 days. I'm trying to manage my time. Sigh... Next week promises to be just as busy with work and all. I'm 1/2 through my Val Kilmer memoir book. I'm enjoying it. Val was definately a dude who danced to his own drummer. The new pope? Whoopie do - he's from America. I'm not impressed. We'll see how he shakes out. The Eaglets are huge. I might share an Eaglet update soon. Sunny is really it's wings and might be fledging soon. We'll see. Turns out the 3rd eaglet that died back in March, was the 1st one born. Sunny was born #2 in the order and Gizmo was the 3rd eaglet that hatched. |
| Keeping it Simple Today - USC Football Just sharing some random thoughts before we head off to Vegas. Yep. It's that time of year. We're off to Vegas for bowling league. I hope I do well. I need to win money to help pay off my season tickets for USC football.  So taking that though and running with it... I really like football as a sport. I like to watch it and I get invested in the games. I could never afford season tickets to a pro team, sadly. They are priced out of my price range. My friend at work has season tickets to the Chargers team at SoFi, but they're on the Top Deck and they weren't all that affordable with the budget I have to work with. College football is were I landed and I picked USC because I fell in love with their marching band when we would go to Catalina Island for the 4th of July and they would play in the golf cart parade. I've seen quarterbacks come and go. I'd really like to see Sam Darnold do well. He had a great year with the Vikings last year but I think he moved onto the Seahawks. Not much of a Seahawks fan, but I'll be rooting for Sam. I've seen JD Daniels play, I loved Kedon Slovis and I liked Max Miller. I didn't think Caleb WIlliams was all he was hyped up to be.  That said, USC football is getting pretty pricey too. I've been going to games since about 2013-4, so about 11, 12 years now. I started just getting single game tickets, then I committed to a mini game package. I like mini game packages because you get 2-3 games and it's affordable. I had Season Tickets in 2018. The seats were okay. I had 4 seats because all of us were going back then. That was about 6 games and it was hard to work the schedule to see 6 games. I think I missed 2. Thankfully there are resale sites. Then I did mini games packages again. This year I bit the bullet again and got a season ticket package. This package was just as much as the one I got in 2018 and I only got 2 seats this time! Inflation I figure has a little to do with it as well as USC moved from the PAC 12 to the Big 10 so there are different teams that are more well known around the nation and we're getting 7 games instead of 6. The final bill was around 1500. I almost fainted and asked to be put on the payment plan. I played the Daily 3 and 4 and prayed for some extra dough to come my way. Mind you the seats were about 1300, but I had to pay 200 to be part of the Trojan Athletic Fund to have these seats. My payments were due March, April, and May. $67.00 for the Trojan Athletic Fund and $454.00 for the tickets. March was good. I had some winnings from my Daily 4 lotto and used about 100 from my 52 week savings plan. April was good. I hit the straight on the Daily 3. May - I haven't hit any lotto numbers but I'm hoping to catch some winnings from bowling. I've got the May Trojan Athletic Fund covered. Now I need about $400.00 more bucks. Wish me luck. I blocked out the games in my calendar and I've got Andy who will come with me and some friends so I'm looking forward to it. What did I think of draft? That's another post... |
| Got my CCW approved to go onto the next phase. What's CCW - Concealed Carry Weapon permit. Honestly, if you live in LA County in California, it's a good idea. Mind you I started the process in AUG 2023. Actually, I started the process in May 2023. California has a lot of RED Flag laws. (I think they call them RED flag laws) so if you want to do it right, which I do, I go step by step. First, I went and passed a 30 question test to get a permit that says I can own firearm. Cost me 30 bucks. I ace'd it, due to being in the Army. Next I had to put the gun in my name. CA DOJ does that. Cost 50.00. It was a family transfer from my husband's name to my name, that's why it was so cheap. That took about 8-12 weeks. Then I submitted an online application with LASO office and paid a $45.00 fee for that. At the same time, I had to submit a fingerprinting application. That was another $50.00. My first appointment was for FEB 2024. In JAN 2024, they canceled that appointment, said they were backed up and said my appointment was in AUG 2024. I thought I was going to down to the office in downtown LA. Nope. When the appointment finally came it was over the phone with a detective. Sigh... He said it would take 90 days to put the packet together and get his boss's approval to move on to the next phase. That would have been in NOV 2024. Well, here it is, today, APR 2025 and i have approval to move onto the next phase. What is the next phase? I have to take an approved firearms class then pass. I need a CERT of completion and A shooting proficient standards form. Sigh... I have 60 days to do it and submit my forms. What's after that? I'm sure more waiting before I get the final approval on my CCW. I'll keep you guys updated. We used to say in the Army, "Hurry up and Wait." This process is about patience. I'm really proud of the patience I have demonstrated. Still, with the amount of violence and crime in SoCal, a CCW gives peace of mind. Peace of mind that niggles at me. |
| Proverbs: 4:23 --"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." This is one of the most of the most meaningful Bible verses to me. We are a reflection of what we part into our hearts. It was not an easy lesson to learn, but once learned has resonated throughout my life's journey. What's a meaningful Bible verse to you? |
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