Christmas 2017 Poem

Christmas 2017
by Heather Hobson Lewis


This year’s beautiful autumn in Salem has now
transformed to glorious winter,
yielding to a warm and cozy
holiday season.

Unplanned life changes unfolded when
Tom lost one job on Good Friday,
only to land a prizewinning position on Labor Day.

Revolt found rebirth as a freshly printed book,
and evolved into a new form as an e-book.
The long overdue sequel, Realizations,
shall appear by spring.




Fern’s leg completely healed,
freeing her to play rough and tumble with Boomer,
thus leading to the pairs first Youtube video,
Love and Paws.

With all this now past,
we look forward to a blessed 2018
and a world of peace and joy for all,
especially you.

The Conrad Chronicles: Revolt has been published!

After many hours of toil (or perhaps I should say years), The Conrad Chronicles: Revolt is back in print. Right now the paperback version is available at Lulu.com.

https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=The+Conrad+Chronicles%3A+Revolt&type=

It takes a few weeks for it to be available for purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other books stores as a paper back.  Though currently you can purchase the Kindle version on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Conrad-Chronicles-Revolt-Heather-Hobson-ebook/dp/B076VVD23F/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510815846&sr=8-1&keywords=the+conrad+chronicles%3A+Revolt

If you do go to Amazon and find the Kindle you will see a paperback version for sale. That is the old one by the evil publisher that was retailing it for $27.95. When the new version comes out it will retail on Amazon.com for $17.99. Though if you go to Lulu.com and purchase the paperback copy you get a 25% discount off of the $17.99 so can get it there for only $13.50. In addition Lulu almost always has a coupon for another percentage off or free shipping. So by shopping for the book at Lulu.com, you cut out the middle man and save money.

Happy Reading!

PS: The cover is designed as a puzzle. With the publication of each of the 9 books in the series, a square shall be revealed.

Fern and Boomer's Halloween

Fern and Boomer enjoyed a fun Halloween full of dog cookies, a visit to the dog park, and dressing up in sweater costumes. For a brief time they each donned some head pieces, but it isn't something either likes, so those didn't stay on beyond photo time.

Fern really does enjoy wearing clothes and actually snuggled up in Boomer's Boo (has a ghost of the back that says Boo) sweater for two days. Boomer just prefers to hide under blankets for warmth, so as soon as the tricker-or-treaters were done for the night, he was back to just fur.

Fern as Princess Leia with buns.

Boomer wanting another Halloween treat

Boomer with two sets of ears. Those are Yoda ears growing out of his neck.

The Conrad Chronicles: Revolt, a writing update

Good news: Revolt is almost ready for public sale again. Everything has been uploaded and formatted and the proof copy has been order. If all goes well, Revolt will be for sale by November as a paperback, and possible as an e-book even sooner.

As soon as this novel is up for sale, I will let you know (as well as begin polishing up the second novel in The Conrad Chronicles, Realizations.

Here is the cover, which Charles Berton did a great job on creating for me. Happy reading.

Cover for The Conrad Chronicles: Revolt by Charles Berton

Writing Update-ghost book and The Conrad Chronicles

Writing always provides many challenges, especially on the publishing end. The ghost book I mentioned a few months back still hasn't been printed by the publisher. I was really hoping it would be out before Halloween, but it doesn't look like it will be.

Meanwhile, I have been diligently writing the first draft of a new novel which has now over 300 hand written pages.  This is a sequel to another book I wrote earlier this year that I am in the process of typing up.

While all this is going on Revolt, the first of The Conrad Chronicles which was first published many years ago, will be republished. A wonderful artist is working on a cover for the book, while at the same time the manuscript is being formatted as both an e-book and a paperback.  This will be the first time Revolt will be available as an e-book.

My hope is to follow up the publishing of Revolt with the second book in The Conrad Chronicles, Realizations. The cover art for it is being worked on and it is in the process of one last read through before it gets formatted for printing.  With any luck, Revolt with be available again in November and Realizations should be out by the spring, most likely March.

Happy reading!

Backyard Archaeology: Under the Deck!

With the swampy pond finally cleaned out, I was able to climb under the deck (Well, actually I wedged myself partly under, as far as I could crawl and then used a grabber stick). I knew a few items were under there, but I had no idea what I was in store for when I started dragging stuff out. Besides the obvious trash and aluminum cans, as well as a bottle of leaking weed killer, I found a surprising number of shoes.

Seven Shoes

Seven shoes emerged, one for each of the Seven Dwarfs. The eighth one is possibly still under there, hiding in some corner.

Shoes weren't the only interesting items to see the light of day from beneath the deck. Amongst the items retrieved were an assortment of gardening items, three balls, a brush, a motorcycle toy, part of a bike helmet, a pen, cup, scrub brush, mixing bowl, and a Pringle's chips snack container.

Gardening items found beneath the deck

The Three Balls

Other random deck relics

Though I tried there was one item wedged under the deck I just couldn't manage to dislodge enough to pull out. I figure it will have to remain there until the deck is replaced in the future. That is unless Santa Claus decides to get out the green Christmas tree stand for me!

Oregon State Fair 2017

Yesterday, Friday, was the first official day of the Oregon State Fair. As it is the $2 a person day as well, I headed out there.

Most of the features like the carnival and the vendor booth are as they always were. The Oregon Lottery booth changed things around and instead of giving scratchers out, gave out $2 in free Keno play.  When passing by another booth I was given a free vegetarian cookbook.

Dwight Yoakam performed the opening show for the fair this year. New to the concert stage was a video screen projecting the show. While others may like this feature, I found it distracting from the event. If I want to watch something on a screen I can do that at home.

Dwight Yoakam, Oregon State Fair 2017

Dwight Yoakam, Oregon State Fair 2017

For me the highlight of the fair was the Fire Show they had at 9:40 p.m. in the food court stage. Several performers played with fire on everything from stick to wing shaped objects. I sat close enough I could feel the heat at times.

Fire Show Oregon State Fair 2017

Fire Show Oregon State Fair 2017

Fire Show Oregon State Fair 2017

Fire Show Oregon State Fair 2017

Fire Show Oregon State Fair 2017

Fair is going on through Labor Day, so if you haven't gone yet, you still have a chance. Also, this coming Tuesday is another $2 day.

P.S. Be aware that if you do go, you may find creatures like these wandering around.

Dragon Running Loose at Oregon State Fair