Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2017 by russtowne

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the season and the reason, and happy holidays to everyone. May you have a life full of blessings.

With love,

Russ

Posted in Family, Family Fun, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

These Boys Quack Me Up

Posted on December 24, 2017 by russtowne

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My three oldest grandsons are making duck bills out of Pringles chips. Wilbur the Duck Who Flew Upside Down would be so proud!

With Love,

Russ

 

Posted in Children, Family, Family Fun, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A Big Seat to Fill

Posted on December 24, 2017 by russtowne

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My newest grandson Raiden exploring his grandpa’s chair.

With Love,

Russ

Posted in Children, Grandparenting & Grandkids, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Wilbur is Flying High on Amazon

Posted on December 23, 2017 by russtowne

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I just noticed that Wilbur is flying again on Amazon. He’s now #13 in his category. Wilbur reached #8 or higher quite some time ago but got tired and rested a bit. He’s now once again ascending. So far this month about 360 people have bought the Kindle eBook version of this title and many more copies of the physical version have sold via direct sales. I sure am proud of that duck!

With Love,

Russ

Posted in Amazon, children's books, Children's Picture Books, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

A Terrific New Tradition

Posted on December 23, 2017 by russtowne

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Last night my Beloved, our oldest son Ben and his wife Erika, and I took all five of our grandchildren to a local hockey game to give the parents of three of them the evening off. The first image is of our three oldest grandchildren playing on my Beloved’s phone as we waited for the doors of the arena to open.

The team has a tradition that at the last home game of the season every fan brings plush toys to the game to throw onto the ice to celebrate the first goal scored by the home team.    It’s called “Teddy Bear Toss.” When the team scored, many hundreds of push animals animals started flying into the air. It was an exhilarating moment. The kids (and adults) loved it, and the plush animals are donated to local charities so less fortunate children will have a nice new lovable toy for the holidays.

The last image is of everyone watching the game. The kids made it through nearly two-thirds of the game. We left before they became bored. A lot of good memories were made that night.

With Love,

Russ

 

 

 

Posted in Family, Family Fun, hockey, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A House Full of Fun!

Posted on December 20, 2017 by russtowne

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Our son Brian and his family are visiting for the next eighteen days from Maryland. We’re all staying in about 500 feet of useable living space. Our house is a construction zone as we are at critical stages of our addition and remodel.  Today alone we had a major inspection (passed), someone needed to shut off the gas, hot water heater, and HVAC system; a couple of other men tore out the old HVAC equipment that was in a closet near our front door, and all the insulation was installed. The adventure continues…

With Love,

Russ

Posted in Family, Family Fun, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Mysti Z has Arrived!

Posted on December 19, 2017 by russtowne

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I’m delighted to announce that the hardcover edition of Mysti Z’s Magical Day is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com!  Mysti Z’s Magical Day

I love how this book turned out and believe it is likely to become one of my personal favorites and top-sellers. It is also special to me because it was my daughter-in-law Kristi Towne’s first-ever book design and printer formatting project! I love the result!

Jack Wiens once again created magic with his colorful illustrations.

If you’d prefer a signed hardcover copy of this book and want it mailed to a U.S. address, you can pre-order it directly from me for the same price as Amazon lists it for. I’ll pay the sales tax and for shipping and handling, and will write a note to the recipient if you’d like. Please be aware that it could take four to six weeks to arrive due to the printer turnaround time, shipping time to me and then to you, so if you want it faster and are willing to forgo the signature and note, I recommend you buy it directly from Amazon or directly from stores that carry it.

A softcover version will be available in a couple of months, eventually followed by an Book version.

Here’s a link to the Amazon listing.

Mysti Z’s Magical Day

With Love,

Russ

Posted in Amazon, Book Releases, children's books, Children's Picture Books, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

A Tour of My Office in a Construction Zone

Posted on December 19, 2017 by russtowne

During our home addition and remodel we’ve taken a tiny 1,232 square foot house and moved all the stuff from half of it into the other half. That has required some, uh,  adjustments. The images above of my “temporary” office reflect some of them. Note the plain pine board laid across two file cabinets I use as my desk. In this “office” are 95% of my clothes, much of our non-perishable food storage, Heidi’s classroom supplies, my office equipment, and several boxes of goodness-knows what.

I’m also wired to need quiet to do my investment research and writing. What I get five days a week are a cacophony often consisting of such things as a Bobcat, demo hammer, meal grinders, nail guns, and construction workers yelling to each other. They have to yell in order to hear each other over the noise and from various parts of the construction area and the using they sometimes blare. It’s okay, though, because there is a thin sheet of plastic between all of that and my office.

It’s all been quite and adventure and I count my blessings many times a day that we’re able to do a remodel and addition to our home and to have these men and women working hard on our behalf.

I’m sharing this post with you so that you’ll know when I say I’ll be glad when it’s all over, I REALLY, REALLY mean it.

With Love,

Russ

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Fascinating Facts

Posted on December 19, 2017 by russtowne

If every human alive for those 500 or so years shuffled a deck of cards, one deck per second, we’d end up with that many decks shuffled.  That’s a huge number.  90,000,000,000,000,000,000.

And almost certainly, each one of those decks, post-shuffle, would be unique.

The number of possible permutations — arrangements, basically — of a deck of cards is 52! (“fifty two factorial”), or approximately 8×1067.

Excerpts from Now I Know article:

Shuffled

With Love,

Russ

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Sometimes It Lights an Inextinguishable Fire

Posted on December 19, 2017 by russtowne

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Being pushed out of the crowd and into the darkness can help some people find the strength and determination to stand out in the spotlight.

With Love,

Russ

Posted in Loneliness, Pain & Grief, Sadness and Sorrow, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments