So You Say You Have A Ghost Problem?

Well,

if flying saucers going around your head isn't enough to bother you,

I have the best next thing explaining all those little puffs of smoke you see in the air in front of your eyes!

After its heyday,

during the last decade,

where have all the

Ghost TV Shows

gone?

There at your house!

Now you too can become a

Paranormal Investigator

too!

These

Apps

are for the

iPhone,

but I'm sure

Android

has plenty of examples you can also choose from.

This story is by

Matt Crowley

for

The Daily Dot.

 

Ghost Locator by Sebastien Mougey

 Of all the apps I tested, Ghost Locator is far from the most impressive, but it may be my favorite. Simply press the “on/off” switch, and within seconds, a ghost will appear on the radar screen along with some pertinent details. You can click on the phantom for more information—Heath, for example, is 237 years old, died in 1801 at the age of 24 from drowning, and currently weighs 0 pounds (all the ghosts weigh 0 pounds, as the app informed me each time).

Ghost Recorder by MEDL Mobile, Inc.

If you’re desperate to hear ghoulies in your area but don’t want to pay a premium, check out Ghost Recorder, which “uses special technology to pick up the supernatural ghost noises that are beyond the realm of the human ear.” Unfortunately, the app doesn’t allow you to download your recordings, but it confirmed Ghost Observer’s findings: I heard a feedback noise, wheezing laughter and, for some reason, a creaking door, at St. Marks, the House of Death, my apartment, my office, on the subway, and at a Taco Bell in Queens. Spooky stuff.

Ghost Hunter M2 by Michael Weber

The Cadillac of Ghost Hunting equipment, Ghost Hunter M2 costs a dollar but comes with everything you could want: audio and video analyzers, a geoscope, a special camera, and a whole slew of sensors. On the negative side, there’s so much to sift through that it can be overwhelming, and the user interface is rather dull—each section only offers an on/off button, without any switches to flip or dials to tune. Despite these flaws, though, Ghost Hunter M2 is the most thorough and in-depth app on the market—truly putting the “science” in pseudoscience.

These are just three,

out of ten

Apps,

that

Matt Crowley

checked out.

 So,

try to find the one that best fits you,

and send me all the

Ghost Pictures

you collect!

This is,

Who You Going To Call?

Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“At night, here in the library, the ghosts have voices.”
- Alberto Manguel, -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

She's Voting From Space, So Y'all Have No Excuse

By Alyse Stanley for Gizmodo.com

For this November’s presidential election, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins plans to cast her ballot from the International Space Station, 200 miles above Earth, effectively obliterating every excuse in the book for why us earthbound voters can’t make it out to the polls. “If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground too,” Rubins said in an interview with the Associated Press on Friday. 

This is, 

Your Vote Counts - Use It

Jim Hauenstein

 

And

 

“If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don't bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishment, who rest assured are not dumb. Who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don't bullshit yourself that you're not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home.”
- David Foster Wallace -

 

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

Now This Is What A Real President Looks Like

 If you haven't heard,

if  you live anywhere in the

United States

you can text former

President Barack Obama.

" All right, let's try something new. If you’re in the United States, send me a text at 773-365-9687 — I want to hear how you're doing, what's on your mind, and how you're planning on voting this year. I'll be in touch from time to time to share what's on my mind, too."

on Twitter

This is,

I Was Really Hoping As A Country We Had Come Along Way Towards

"We The People"

When Barack Obama Was President

But The Orange Pundit On Hatred Has Tried Everything He Knows To Divide Us

Jim Hauenstein

 

And

 

“In America, anyone can become president. That's the problem.”
- George Carlin -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

Gimme Skynyrd

 I'm still working on editing my new book.

That sounds better than it is.

It's a hobby of mine writing stories.

I need to do something with my time,

especially now with the 2020 quarantine going full swing.

In the past I have talked about growing up

and knowing a lot of fine musicians from my home town of

South Milwaukee.

So I thought out of respect

and found memories of some of the nicest people I knew in my 20s,

Jack & Elfi Juraska,

I will try to put up a video from

Gimme Skynyrd

with

Jack

on guitar.

He is the one with the glasses.

 

Sorry,

the

Youtube Site

wouldn't let me embed the video here so you have to go to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7jFcb7_Bs

to see it.

Enjoy.

 This is,

Wishing Now I had Practice My Guitar More Than Practicing Drinking Beer

Jim Hauenstein,

 

Well,

Maybe Not

 

And,

 

“If Music is a Place -- then Jazz is the City, Folk is the Wilderness, Rock is the Road, Classical is a Temple.”
- Vera Nazarian -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

Finding The Time To Write

I am supposed to be editing one of my stories so I can send it to a

Literary Agent.

I would like to get published but the odds are astronomical.

Especially now.

I heard one agent say in a podcast,

"Stop sending in stories about viruses killing everyone in the world. It's been done."

She also went on to say since everyone is in quarantine,

agents all over the world are getting twice as many manuscripts from wannabe writers,

such as myself.

I will not be discouraged though.

I'm not trying to become rich

and famous.

But if I made a little money from my writing,

that would be icing on the cake.

We all know that a good cake is just as edible without the icing though.

I would really like to see one of my novel length stories get printed.

It is a goal I have.

You have to have goals after you retire in life,

or boredom will eat away at your essence.

There is no other reason to retire than to have the time to do the very things you love to do in life.

Otherwise,

keep working.

You have to have something to do.

So if I miss a day of writing on this

Blog,

just know that I am either editing my latest novel,

learning how to play the

Hurdy Gurdy,

or spending quality time with my family.

Because,

It's A Wonderful Life.

This is,

Feeling Like There Is A Little Jimmy Stewart In All Of Us

 Jim Hauenstein

And

Google Him If You Don't Know Him

“Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgment, freeze reflexes, breed mistakes. Worse, it's contagious.”
- Jimmy Stewart -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

A Thing Of Beauty

It is

Sunday

morning in my part of the world.

So I was thinking,

since it is the day of rest for some religious groups

and most of western civilization,

I thought I might put up some

Music Videos

for your listening pleasure.

Then I remembered it is a religious day

and I thought I should up the home page of his holiness the

Dalai Lama.

But I have done both of these in the past

and I don't want to repeat myself too much.

I love

Formula 1 Racing

but there are no races scheduled for today.

I could talk about

Football

but most of the world would want to hear about

Soccer

and not that stuff we play in

United Sates.

None of these ideas appealed to me so I cannot expect my readers to enjoy something I have written without putting any enthusiasm into myself.

Then I thought about what a great accomplishment my fourth youngest daughter did for me these past few days.

She made a

Hurdy Gurdy

for me from a kit.

 

 

 It is a thing of beauty.

This is,

Thank You For Building It For Me Sweetheart

Jim Hauenstein

And

“Where are the fish, though?"

"In the sea they say, in the boats we pray," said Dan, quoting a fisherman's proverb.
- Rudyard Kipling -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

Change Is Inevitable

Google has decided that it was time to change how

Blogspot

works.

I can tell you,

it is not for the better.

Changing something because you can is not always a good idea.

I complained vehemently to them,

but to no avail.

Of course I will be able to get used to the new

and improved

Blogspot

but I am getting to that age where change is hard.

WHAT?

Wait a minute.

I'm the one who used to say every morning before work;

Change is inevitable.

Change is exciting.

Change is good.

Look forward to Change

and embrace it.

Then you will never be left behind in life.

 

Never mind about all that complaining.

It is time for a

Change!

 

This is,

Embracing All The Changes In My Life

Jim Hauenstein

 

And

 

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
- Mahatma Gandhi -

 

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

This Is For All You Haters Out There Who Love The Orange Face Bigot

For all you haters out there who love to hate anyone who mentions the name

Donald Trump 

in a derogatory way.

Bite me.

The statements I am going to make are just an observation on how he is running his

Presidency.

Donald Agent Orange Trump

is a businessman.

More precisely,

he is a salesman.

He is running our nation as if he purchased a company

and now he needs to find ways to make a profit from it.

First order of business is to implement a

Hiring Freeze.

In this case,

Stop Immigration.

Second order of business is to

Fire

anyone who doesn't agree with you.

James Comey,

K.T. Mcfarland,

Micheal Flynn,

and there are at least

180

more people since he took office,

but you get the idea.

Third order of business is to

Cut Pensions.

As in cutting

Medi-Care 

and

Health-Care Benefits.

And a lot of old folks voted for him too!

But he is a back-stabber who doesn't care about the people of the

United States.

Check his statements on

Covid-19

back in

February.

Finally,

to make as much money as he can for himself

and his rich buddies,

you need to cut the

Work Force.

As in

You & I.

As in finding a way to get rid of the

Middle Class.

This is,

It Is my Opinion

And I Am Allowed To Have One Even Under This Prejudiced Prone

President,

Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
- Hannah Arendt, -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

 

Fire Drill Friday

If you have followed me over the years you will have read that I believe in giving to charities

and helping out whenever I can.

I have ask people to donate to causes that I have given money on

GoFundMe.

I have talked about how I give clothing

and food each month to the

Mission San Antonio De Pala.

I helped my 2nd oldest daughter make 50 meals to hand out on

Thanksgiving

to the homeless.

Yes,

I even give my spare change to people holding up signs on street corners.

What I am trying to say is,

I just don't ask people to help the unfortunate,

I try to do my part where I can.

So I would like to tell you about a new organization I just joined.

It is called

Fire Drill Fridays.

They are associated with

Greenpeace USA.

I believe we need to do something now about climate change.

For our children,

and their children,

and their children.

This is,

I Know People Will Say It Is Just Another Hollywood Stunt For Attention

But Take A Look First Before You Decide

Jim Hauenstein

And

"We are all one race. The only difference is the color of our skin, and that comes from how close your ancestors lived to the Equator or at high altitudes like Tibetans. There have always been tribes, but what we have to appreciate now is that we live in a global community. And tribal loyalties…they’re not relevant to our future."
- Bill Nye -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

Art

Street Art

This is,

I Always Believed

That What Some People Call Graffiti

Is Truly Art

Jim Hauenstein

And

“I laugh at the way some people think graffiti is all selfish tagging and vandalism. Thoughtful street art is like good fiction – it speaks out on behalf of everyone, for us all to see.”
- Carla H. Krueger -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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I'll Be Seeing You.

I Have A New Musical Instrument

Thank you for the response I have received for my story;

Gentleman Jim And Niagara Falls.

I am glad so many people liked it.

Why not yell your friends

and family about it?

Thank you.

*****

I will be writing as often as I can in the coming weeks but it might be sporadic at times.

I have a project I am going to do with my youngest daughter.

My second oldest daughter bought me a new musical instrument that I have been wanting for years.

It is called a

Hurdy Gurdy!

 Normally this instrument can cost up to $15,000!

But mine is a kit that you put together

and it actually plays.

The reason why I need my daughter to help me with this project is because I don't have the patience to take my time

and do it properly.

So once it is complete I will put up a new photo to show how well my daughter did.

I will also being taking the time to learn how to play.

This is,

Hoping I Get This Good At Playing The

Hurdy Gurdy

Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“Those in power write the history, while those who suffer write the songs.”
- Frank Harte -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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I'll Be Seeing You.

Gentleman Jim And Niagara Falls - The Whole Story

This the fictional story of Mary Allison Lynskey coming of age during The Great Depression. Specifically, in the year 1934. It is written in her words for Look Magazine when she is a grown women in 1971. The story is also about her father who won The Great $15,000.00 Barrel Roll over Niagara Falls. A popular publication at the time. It is a story of ingenuity, family, love, and what it could mean emotionally when a young person loses a parent. It is broken into eight parts because of its length. I hope you enjoy

Gentleman Jim And Niagara Falls

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

The Final Part

 This is,

Saying If You Like This Original Story

Look Under The Heading

Short Stories & Flash Fiction

To Find More Entertaining Reading

Jim Hauenstein

And

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
- Dr. Seuss -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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I'll Be Seeing You.

Gentleman Jim And Niagara Falls - The Final Chapter

     Just before I reached the Prospect Point observation area, a roar and a universal cheer waved over me from the thousands of onlookers watching as my Pa became a hero. A hero for just for just one day for them, but my hero for a lifetime.
     People were clapping and everyone had big smiles on their faces. I could hear the onlookers talking about how daring and my Pa was. How his barrel roll will go down in history as one of the best of all time. Of course the event was held for only that one year of 1934, but he was it's hero.
     I stopped running. Bent over and put my hands on my knees to take a few deep breaths. I lifted up one leg at a time so my knees would almost touch my chest to ease the cramping. The crowd was still clapping, cheering, and smiling.
     It took me awhile but I finally let go and started crying. I was so happy. My father had rode his barrel over Niagara Falls and lived. I was so proud.
    After my nerves calmed down enough so I could relax and I could gather my wits about me, I made my way to the lower level. Some folks were already coming up the stairs as I was going down. I guess they weren't interested in hearing what my Pa had to say about his ride after he was brought back to shore.
     The promoters had set up a podium with a microphone that was hooked up to loud speakers and the event was also being broadcast on coast to coast live radio. I found Jim waiting near the pier where the rescue clipper would dock. He said he never made it down in time to hop aboard the ship. He told me he missed the barrel going over the falls but did see it come out of the mist, floating on top of the water. Just as Pa had predicted.
     While the rescue boat was on its way to retrieve the barrel, Pa had somehow leveled it upright and popped the top hatch, waving vigorously to the crowd. "Your dad is putting on quite a show," Jim said.
     I could see he was playing to the crowd by having the rescue ship tow him into shore slowly while still in the barrel. He waved to the cheering crowd, then cup both hands over his head, shaking them back and forth, then waving again. A routine he kept up until he was almost alongside the pier.
     Jim and I made our way over to the pier and with a flash of his Merchant Marine credentials we were able to walk down to greet my Pa. Once passed the guards, Jim gabbed my hand without looking at me, as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world. At first I wanted to pull away from him thinking how forward he was being, but his warm hand melted away my inhibitions and I came in closer to him, grabbing his upper arm with my free hand. We walked the rest of the way like that and I've been holding him the same way ever since.
     The boat did a quick u-turn before it could hit the pier. As it did, the crew released the tow lines, pulling long enough to give Pa's barrel enough momentum to float in.
     An over zealous dock worker yelled to my Pa, telling him to watch out as he tossed a grappling hook with a rope attached so he could pull him in.
     My Pa tried to wave him off, yelling frantically, "Stop! Don't!"
     It was too late. The young man must have been good at his job because he threw that hook perfectly into the barrel without hitting my father and yanked as hard as he could so the hook would grab hold of something inside.
     It did, It hooked onto one of the bladders Pa had installed inside the barrel to hold his secret gas. These bladders were his secret ballast which he predicted would keep him afloat better that the buoyancy of the barrel itself. The secret gas leaked when the bladder was punctured, but no one knew because the gas was as clear as air. Nobody had an angle to see inside the barrel, so nobody knew what the grapple had hooked. The young man pulled Pa and his barrel to the pier, secured it, and helped my father out. He then showed him which way to the podium where he could say a few words to his adoring fans.
     Once there, the mayor of Niagara Falls spoke into the mike asking everyone to quiet down so they all could hear what Pa had to say.
     My father looked at the mayor, shook his head yes for a gesture of thank you, and panned the crowd with his eyes for almost a minute. Strangely, he looked worried.
     I know he wasn't afraid to speak in front of a crowd. I've seen him do it on a few occasions before. Something must be wrong.
     That's when the mayor egged him on to say something. So my Pa said, "Hello ladies and gentlemen." The crowd roared with laughter. I too must admit that Jim and I started laughing. It was so unexpected.
     The secret gas my father was using in his barrel was helium. Helium has less density than the air we breath which causes it to rise high into the sky. Making it the perfect gas for balloon lovers everywhere. So Pa figured, water is denser than air and if he filled the bladders in his barrel with helium, his craft would rise to the surface faster, keeping it upright longer.
     When the dock worker latched the barrel with his hook, he punctured a hole in one of the bladders. My father had to breathe in all the escaping helium while he waited to be secured to the pier. When Pa began to speak, his voice was three octaves higher than normal!
     That is the other quality that helium has. It affects your vocal cords so you sound like you're squeaking out your words when you speak instead of the normal pitch your voice has. So those four squeaked words were broadcast live, coast to coast. And they were the only four he got to say. It was just too funny to let him speak anymore.
     The first words words heard around the country from my Pa's mouth were a higher pitch than the cartoon character Betty Boop. He never could live that down. All around Little Pigsty, North Carolina, he was known from then on as Squeaky Clean Lynskey.
     Well, this article is over the word count that Look Magazine gave me as their preferred length. So to summarize, Pa was the last one that year of 1934 to go over Niagara Falls and survive. Two more brave souls died that year trying to duplicate Pa's feat. After a ceremonial diner and presentation in late January of 1935, the promoters announced the event was canceled.
     At the dinner Pa received his prize money and a plaque showing the Niagara Falls. Jim proposed to me that evening and I said yes.
     And as they say, the rest is history.

This is,

Channeling Through Me,

Murray,

So She Could Tell Her Story

Jim Hauenstein

And,

“Hope is a helium balloon.”
- Sharon Weil -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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Be Kind To Everyone.

I'll Be Seeing You.

Gentleman Jim And Niagara Falls - Part Seven

     I've heard there have been studies done on why people like to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.  A scientist, whom I can't remember the name of, said that the atmosphere around the falls is charged with a high amount of negative ions which purifies the air and gives a sense of euphoria to anyone nearby.
     I can't tell you if any of that is true or not. But the day my Pa was taking his ride, there was a huge galvanizing excitability flowing throughout the crowd. People were there to watch another soul risk his or her life and it was electric.
     I thought it was kind of morbid.
     It's the same kind of curiosity that has plagued mankind ever since we were able to comprehend the finality of death. We are fascinated by it. I was hoping the prevailing attitude amongst the crowd was not the attitude of years gone by. Where spectators came to watch someone die.
     Back then, I was hoping the crowds came because they wanted to see death get cheated. They wanted a spectacular show of course, with the barrels crashing into rocks and bobbing up and down violently in the rapids. Maybe, just for a few moments, someone's barrel could stay under water a bit longer than was deemed survivable. And just when it looks like the worst scenario had just occurred, that's when the rider gets out of his barrel and walks away scot-free.
     That's what I wanted to see back in 1934. Not the actual death of a person, but for that person to cheat death at least this one time.
     The contest was a week-long event and when the day finally came for Pa to go down the Niagara River, he was listed as the tenth participant in The Great $15,000.00 Barrel Roll over Niagara Falls of 1934.
     Three people had already died, during their attempts, before Pa was even scheduled. One woman aborted her turn as soon as her barrel was pushed away from shore. Two others got out right away and were lucky enough to swim to Goat Island. Obviously exhausted from swimming so vigorously against the strong currents. But their narrow escape didn't matter to the crowd as they raucously booed them in unison.
     The most tragic was this fellow whose barrel must have hit the bottom of the basin at the end of the falls. Because, after it went under, it never came up again. The sponsors were hoping it was some kind of elaborate hoax so they refused to count him as one of the dead. They felt the prankster would show up eventually to get his name in the local newspaper. He never did.
     It wasn't until the fourth fatality did the promoters start to make a profit. As one roller died, a larger more lustful mass of death watchers filled the stands. So, it turned out I was terribly wrong about the kind of crowds which would come out to watch. Today I would compare them to the morbid families of the old wild west who would set up a picnic lunch in front of the gallows and watch as the hangman earned his money.
     It seemed all in attendance, from reporters, dignitaries, celebrities, to the average Joe waited with bated breath for a catastrophe, which would surely befall the next soul who put his or her life on the line for the prize money.
     The joy I say in people's eyes that day, there to watch someone die, it was horrible. I hated every last one of them.
     So by the time Pa was flowing down the river in a barrel the crowds were soaring off the charts.
     When it came time for my Pa to launch his barrel offshore, we had all gathered around. He hugged each member of his family, shook Jim's hand, then got inside and closed the lid. My father's last words to us before closing the lid were, "I don't want to see any of you at the finish line except for Jim. I want you all to remember me the way I was in life, not in death."
     We all held hands together and said a prayer together out loud. Then Jim, Ma, my brother John, and I all put our hands on the barrel and pushed. Pushing as hard as we could.
     Three of us stood along the watching as the barrel picked up speed. Floating away faster and faster while each second slowly passed. We watched until we lost sight of it.
     That's when we heard the roar of the crowd. They cheered and clamped, hooted and hollered, they acted as one.
Egging the barrel closer and closer to the edge of the falls.
     My family and I just stood there, holding onto one another. Listening to the sounds of the crowds to judge where Pa was on the river.
     We were scared. But nothing compared to the sheer terror I felt when the throngs of people became eerily silent. We all knew Pa was close to the edge.
     There was nothing but silence for a good 30 or more seconds when three or four ladies in attendance started belting out screams of terror. I let go of Ma and John, immediately running to the closet observation point. The people standing there were all pushing and shoving each other back and forth, trying to get a glimpse down to the basin of the falls and see if the barrel survived, let alone my father.
     I shoved, squeezed, and clawed my way through to the rail which held back the crowds from falling over the rocky cliffs. I stared down into the basin and saw nothing. The water vapor was so thick that morning that no one could see a thing. I had to run over to Prospect Point so I could get down to the lower level where the rescue boat would be bringing back my Pa and his barrel if either survived.
     Earlier, after we had pushed Pa's barrel away from shore, Jim immediately headed towards Prospect Point. He had made arrangements to join the Captain of the small cutter used to rescue foolhardy individuals crazy enough to go over the falls. And at that moment, running as fast as I could and afraid as a little lost girl in the woods, I did think Pa was one of those damn fools.
     I was thinking, how could he put his life on the line like that? Ma, Johnny, and I were going to be left alone. We had no direction as a family without him. I never thought about it before but our daily lives evolved around his. If he was dead, where would I turn to for strength, security, and hope for my future? How would I go through life without his guidance?
     Of course, all those questions were answered months later. On the day I said yes to Gentleman Jim's proposal of marriage. But on that morning, as I ran as fast as I could, with my chest pounding and my legs cramping, that thought never occurred to me. There was only this vision of Pa, lying on the ground, as a soaked dead corpse.
     I couldn't help thinking, why would Pa do this to me? I was blaming him for the pain I felt inside. I was selfishly thinking of how his death would affect me. I was frightened about how my world would change. I wanted that day to go away and everything put back to the way it was. Before I ever knew about Niagara Falls.

This is,

Wondering How This Is Going To End

Jim Hauenstein,

And,

“For even the most dehumanized modern fantasies depend on some older and simpler figure; the adventures may be mad, but the adventurer must be sane.”
- G.K. Chesterton -

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

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