Sparrow suspects the robins of stealing his favorite sprinkler on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Also, he fries up the unlabeled sausage he found in the freezer earlier this week and based on the way it cooks up and tastes he suspects it is mountain lion.
Will Durant has The Thought for the Day, a quote from The Story of Civilization: The Reformation, a volume we read last year. It wasn’t easy. Durant asks a lot out of his readers, but the rewards are there, and today’s Thought concerns how a person really never dies if he or she leaves behind something of value to society.
I am pleased to report that the first round of rewrites on my upcoming novel Criminals, Courtesans and Constables is complete. It took long enough, far longer that past initial rewrites thank to a variety of other projects I had going on that took precedence.
The work, however, is just beginning. I noticed some inconsistencies that will have to be reconciled. (Not all of them, however. Some of my favorite novels have them, and some will be left in just for funsies.) Also, there is a character I added to the story rather late whose role will have to be drawn out and expanded.
But that is work for another time. I customarily put a book away for a few weeks, even a couple-three months, before starting in on the remaining rounds of rewrites. I have found the fresh eyes are very helpful.
On This Date:
In 1969 – United States Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal basin at Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy immediately left the scene and did not report the accident for ten hours, just before Kopechne’s body was found. Kennedy received a two-month suspended for leaving the scene of an accident. The incident damaged Kennedy to the extent he was never able to run for president, though it did not prevent continued reelection to the Senate.
In 1891 – In a Red River Valley League game, the Fargo Red Stockings and the Grand Forks Black Stockings play 0-0, 25 inning game in the second game of a doubleheader. The umpire only called the game at 8:10pm so players could catch a train and the Black Stockings folded a couple of days later so the game was never completed. It remains the longest 0-0 game in professional baseball history.
In 1921 – Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees becomes baseball’s all-time home run leader, hitting career home run number 139 in Detroit, breaking the record previously held by Roger Connor. Ruth’s would retire with 714 home runs and his record would stand until broken by Henry Aaron in 1974.
In 1960 – Brenda Lee, 15, has the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, with I’m Sorry. At the time, Lee was the youngest person to have a #1 song, a record that was broken in 1963 by Little Peggy March and then Little Stevie Wonder and is now held by Michael Jackson. I’m Sorry also became a staple on country radio stations, even though it was never released as a country single and Lee is the only woman inducted to both the Rock and Roll and Country Music halls of fame.
Thank you for reading, please consider a subscription, and have a great day.
Gaylon
