Kitty Talk
I am still a kitten at heart chasing strings, wind-blown leaves, rolling golf balls, etc. Now Ebony likes the white three-inch long narrow plastic sealing strip off of a can of orange juice. She spends hours tossing it up in the air and batting it around with her paws. I'm not that much of a kitten. And I really don't want to act like the Ebony. She is such a black rat and what a pest. Oops, excuse me. I will get back to the subject at paw.

I love my assortment of golf balls, marbles, strings, rubber bands, lost ring, palm frond, and leaves. I gave the lost ring back to the human who was frantic to find it. All he had to do was ask me. I had been playing with it for days. I like small shiny things. I would like to regal you with me fantastic experiences and wonderful stories, but the show must go on. Well, against my better judgement here is Ebony BlackCat, who is fat.

No I not! Anyway, I Ebony likes TV and computers. I watches TV intently as if I understands it all. I'm sure I doesn't. Then I watches the computer screen following the little animated pointer around. Me favorite is computer baseball. I can't figure out where those computer ball players go when they run off the screen. I looks at the side of the TV with such a perplexed look on me kittenish face. Also me likes the sounds of human's CdROm. Animals from hell make me jump three paws in the air, straight up! I likes chasing the bright spot from the sun reflecting off human's shiny watch band. I lots fun with that, until Kitty ruin it. She told me what it was. She a spoil old rip. I curious about rugs too. They feel funny on paws. Well, I tired now. Sign I off as I Poor Ebony, cursed with insatiable curiosity.

Internet Stuff Part Two: I now have a HomePage on the Internet. A URL is Uniform Resource Locator which is like an address to your home on the Net. My URL is case sensitive and has no spaces and is listed as follows: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/1017/. Please come and visit. It is full of exciting stuff. Please sign my guestbook while you are surfing the Internet. See you there!

Hockey News
This January the Tampa Bay Lightning went 6-5-1. A much better month, but not as good as it could have been. The Lightning are streaky. That's what's wrong. They were on a winning streak the first half of the month and a losing streak to close out the month. Still, they are only four points out of a playoff spot. So let's keep rooting. I want them to make the playoffs so bad. If only I could play? Now wouldn't that be a riot. This bearded, long-haired middle-aged guy wobbling around on skates. No, stop that. The cats laugh too much at my expense now.

SF or SciFi
The Science Fiction community can be exciting and some writers can be stuffed shirts. A long time ago in a space far away and modems so slow, I had a Commodore 128. And the latest rage was to be ONLINE. I joined an on-line service called CompuServe. I joined a writer's forum. I interchangeably used SF and SciFi without thinking about it much. But the controversy I stirred up. Here I am a published Science Fiction novelist; I thought I knew it all. Soon, though, I was chastised for using SciFi instead of the more proper SF. Science Fiction Writers' Association members pointed that out to me, while trying to get me to join their community. Yet I found it such a minor difference and trivialized the whole affair. I resolved that I didn't really want to be part of such minor snobbery, but I find that I don't use SciFi anymore. I would like to be able to have the natural talent some of those writers have.

Poetry Corner
A former neighbor of mine sent us a very nice poem. From the squirrel lady with permission. Read and enjoy.

"Living in the City"
January 1997

The city and all of its lights
With neons that shine so bright
The city where the streets are never empty
No matter the time of night
Where the bars never close
And the booze always flows
There, they promise to love you
In the morning sunlight

The city where people think life is a credit card
And live on a charge
Always hustling just to keep up
Yet falling behind
Because there isn't enough time
The city where people are everywhere
But no one cares
Because they are too busy
Trying to get somewhere

The city where mother nature has no place
Because man has taken all the space
Where the air is like fog
And they call it smog
With endless roads and cement
But everyone there is quite content

When I look at the people
Who live in the city
I must admit to pity
You see the city is not the place for me
I prefer the country
Where the air is fresh and clean
Where the sunshine can be seen

In the Park
This is Kitty again. In the way of explanation this article is for the great community of friends we have at the travel trailer park we stay at for the winter. Although local and topical, it still is interesting reading. Here is the latest happenings at Roycroft: The journal has just gone worldwide on the Internet. If you can get to a computer connected to the Internet, visit my home page and please sign my guest book. My Internet home page address is http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/1017/ (no spaces and case sensitive).

Not all is right here in our park. I am an optimist and want everything to be okay. Everyone I meet I assume are good people trying the best they can in life just like me. So nothing here is meant as a slam against any one individual. These are my observations based on what other tenants have told me and are my opinions and the opinions of others. Telling other people what we think makes us all feel better and sometimes clears the air.

Being a contractor to Marvin Bills means that I am extremely careful in what I write. I am honest, ethical, and most importantly a Christian. I am also a 25-year US Navy veteran having served in Viet Nam, Lebanon, Haiti, and the Gulf multiple times. If it was a hot spot since 1970 through 1995, I was there whether I wanted to be or not. So believe me when I say that I am completely open and fair in what I see and what I am told. If any employee or owner in the front office told me something or I saw something while there, it wouldn't be included here.

The front office atmosphere is changing. I am not the only one to notice. The front office used to be family, fun, community - like a coffee shop. Now it is becoming cold and impersonal. Longtime employees seem troubled and nervous. The main appeal of the park is the tenants. It is the main reason why we stay. I wish I knew what to do to make this better, but it seems to be getting worse. Am I imagining this? Now tenants who pay rent cannot sit by the front office. That isn't right for whatever reason. Kindness and concern must be real and practiced, not faked intentionally or unintentionally. Traditions pass away. Maybe that is life, but it is more indicative of the state of affairs in our beloved park. For example, the Super Bowl party that used to be sponsored wholly by the Park was this year partially supported by the tenants themselves (alcoholic beverages.) Now pay phones are being installed. What does that say? Many palm trees need trimmed. I know that if one of the dead branches near my fifth wheel comes off it would kill one of my cats, damage my fifth wheel, or even hurt me, my son, or a visitor. It is a shame this is all going on here in our park.

Most of us want to stay here because of the tenants not the front office nor who owns the park. For after all, isn't the park us? Customer relations and services are the most important parts of any business. Many of you have related stories to me about how you were put off or offended by the front office lately. I won't get into details but arguing, hollering, threatening, and being abusive to tenants is just not right. The bottom line is that the tenants pay for this park. Tenants have rights under the law. No one I know has broken any of the park rules. The rule of common sense needs to prevail here. And the front office isn't being fair or evenhanded in its relations with the tenants or even with some of its employees. Now I am not advocating that we rise up in revolt and tar and feather someone. I think that we as tenants must individually and collectively tell the owner either verbally or by letter our concerns. You may send letters in care of this journal, and they will be printed. Just make them short and to the point - no bad words or using real names please.

March 1^st Chuck Wigand;
6^th Jerry Ross,
9^th Honey Schrencengost, Ruth Dosch;
12^th Ann Novak;
15^th Richard Nace;
19^th Bessie Ring;
21^st Walt Wade

"The Mountains of Ao"
My work on chapter nine continues. As soon as I finish it, I will send all active proofreaders a copy. Now that I am on the Internet, please come visit and sign my guest book. Also remember that you can use email services to send/receive business between us.

Proofreaders are reminded to send their opinions to me at my snail mail address accessed on My Professional Information page. If you want to become a proofreader, write to Larry Shaffer. I will send you a disk (specify format desired, e.g., WordPerfect 6.1) or printout.

The Dull Stuff
Inputs and letters to this journal are subject to approval by Kitty. All inputs may be edited for content and become the property of the Shaffer Novels/Poetry Company.