Tahoe Hit Is Still Free

 The Kindle version of Tahoe Hit is currently available for free on a promotion. 

Here's the link to Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Tahoe-Owen-McKenna-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B087ZVLS58/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tahoe+hit&qid=1609030958&sr=8-1

The free promotion runs until midnight December 29th. Feel free to spread the word to your friends. 

Thanks very much for your interest!

Tahoe Hit Kindle Book Free On Christmas

 My most recent book, Tahoe Hit, will be free for five days beginning Christmas and running through December 29th.

Tahoe Hit is regularly $4.99 on Kindle. Come Christmas, you can download it for free, and you can tell your friends to download it for free as well. 

Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/Tahoe-Owen-McKenna-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B087ZVLS58/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tahoe+hit&qid=1608162775&s=books&sr=1-1

For those of you who have so kindly said you are reluctant to download it for free because you want me to get the money, don't worry. Every book that's downloaded for free on these promotions helps me with regard to Amazon's ranking system, which boosts the sales of all my titles. I actually make more money  the more my books are downloaded for free. (I know, it seems kind of strange. But Amazon has perfected the mechanisms for promoting books.)

One more comment...

Many of you belong to Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program where you pay a small fee every month and can read as many books as you want. For those of you who don't subscribe, you may want to. It's like other subscription programs (Netflix, Spotify, etc.)

You might be glad to know that all of my 18 titles are now part of the Kindle Unlimited program. So binge away! 

Oh, one more thing... Merry Christmas!

Local Food Charities Help People Who Are Hungry

One of the best ways to find help with food is check out our local charities.

In Tahoe and surrounding communities, there are multiple ways to get free food, food delivery, hot meals, and even cash for help with food:

https://placerfoodbank.org/

https://foodbankedc.org/

Tahoe Family Resource Center: Bilingual help with health card, legal system, job search, education, child care: http://tahoefrc.org/

Christmas Cheer South Lake Tahoe provides meals. Their Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Charity-Organization/Christmas-Cheer-161362407220754/

https://tahoecommunitychurch.org/worship-with-us/food-pantry/

https://www.tahoecatholic.com/food-pantry

http://breadandbroth.org/

If you or anyone you know is hungry, please check out these resources. Don't be embarrassed. If you don't have a computer, you can use one at the library. If you can't get to the library, ask your neighbor. People want to help. The first step is to ask.

Hiking In The Coronavirus Era

Simple adjustments for public and personal health...

My wife and I do a lot of hiking. When the pandemic began, we were like most people, wearing masks when we went inside a store or the post office and not wearing masks out on the trail. I was more resistant to wearing masks outside than she was. I reasoned that outdoor air represented so little threat that there was no comparison between hiking and shopping for groceries.

However, as the situation worsened, I realized that for everyone's comfort, it is best to wear a mask when you encounter people, even when outdoors in the mountains. Now, it is the law in many places.

Of course, hiking up a trail, breathing hard in the high-altitude air, a mask can be very frustrating. So I've developed a simple approach that has become second nature. If it's cold enough that I'm wearing a knit cap, and no one is in the area, I unhook one ear from the mask and let it dangle from the other ear. My knit cap holds the remaining ear string in place As soon as I sense someone approaching on the trail, I rehook the mask on both ears.

If I'm not wearing a knit cap, I simply carry my mask by one ear string. At the first sign of people, it's ready to go, and I can hook it into place in about one second. Yes, even describing this process feels uncomfortably prosaic, like I'm suggesting how to tie one's shoelaces. Yet, it has made my life easier. So I pass it on.

Let's hope that in the next year or so, we won't be having to think about it at all!

Owen McKenna And Pumpkin Pie

It's axiomatic in writing fiction that if you want to create a believable character, you have to know EVERYTHING about that character.

Just when I might have thought I knew everything about Owen McKenna and his Great Dane Spot, I had a piece of pumpkin pie for the holiday.

I realized that I didn't really know what Owen thought about pumpkin pie. (Yes, of course, I knew Spot would inhale it with enthusiasm.) I would have assumed that Owen liked pie the same way he likes donuts. But I didn't really KNOW.

Most people would think that it makes no difference. But bringing specificity to a story is what creates what we call "the suspension of disbelief." While it might be sufficient to have Owen simply like pumpkin pie, it would help if we knew what kind of whip cream he used, and if he maybe sticks the whip cream spray nozzle in his mouth for a power shot and maybe does the same for Spot. That would be amusing. But more importantly, watching McKenna play whip cream games with Spot would make the scene absolutely believable. Once you've seen a Great Dane leaping into the air to grab a lofting, floating blob of whip cream that McKenna has shot from the spray can, there would be no more doubt about whether or not the event really happened. It would no longer be fiction in the reader's mind.

I guess I better get to know Owen and Spot even better!

Happy holidays.

Some Ski Resorts Already Open!

We've already had some great snow in Tahoe, and reports are coming in on opening dates. 

Photo from Northstar's website.

Please note, before you get too excited, there are some significant changes this year due to the pandemic.

*Some areas are currently only open to Pass Holders.

*Some areas are requiring quick Covid tests.

*Some areas require you to use their new reservation systems. (Yes, it's a bit confusing!)

Please Google each area you're interested in and go to their website for details.

As if this writing, here are current opening dates:

Heavenly - OPEN

Northstar - OPEN

Mount Rose - OPEN

Donner Ski Ranch - OPEN

Boreal - Opening Nov 23

Squaw - Opening Nov 25

Alpine Meadows - Opening Nov 25

Kirkwood - Opening Dec 4

Diamond Peak - Opening Dec 10

Homewood - Opening Dec 11

Sierra At Tahoe - Opening to be announced

Sugar Bowl - Opening to be announced

Young Renter? You Can Still Buy An Inexpensive House Near Tahoe

This last week produced some headlines about Tahoe Real Estate getting very expensive. It's true. If you go to one of those real estate websites that allow you to search within a given price range, say, under $300,000, you'll be surprised at how few inexpensive houses there are. (For what it's worth, Tahoe real estate is still cheap compared to the Bay Area and L.A.) 

There were also stories last week about how young people with middle class incomes are being shut out of the housing market because it is too expensive. As young people save money to buy a house, the value of houses keeps increasing. It's like trying catch a train that's pulling out of the station.

Yes, housing costs are ridiculously expensive. But there is a simple technique that makes it possible to buy housing. It's a technique that people have used for decades (my wife and I included). It allows you to stop paying rent and begin building equity when you're very young. What could that house purchase technique possibly be, you ask?

It's called lowering your expectations.

If you have a middle-class income and are a renter, and if you think you would only consider buying a perfect house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, and a nice yard with a picket fence, then you are probably out of luck unless you move to Kansas. This post isn't for you. There's nothing wrong with renting. But it's hard to get ahead in the long term. If you want to stay in a place that has all the West Coast can offer, you might end up renting for the rest of your life, paying off your landlord's mortgage and making certain he's rich by the time he retires.

If instead you recognize that your own future retirement will be hugely affected by whether or not you own your house and eventually get the mortgage paid off, then you might want to do whatever it takes to get on that "home-ownership train."

But when you run the numbers of housing costs versus your paycheck, you may think it looks hopeless, especially in high priced areas like Tahoe.

But don't despair! There is a way to purchase your own place in Tahoe, or near to Tahoe if not actually within the Tahoe Basin. Many Tahoe locals have succeeded at this. (They had to because Tahoe has never had many jobs that pay well.) Those Tahoe locals bought less desirable housing simply to get a stake in Tahoe real estate. Eventually, their house value went up as their mortgage balance went down. Many of them took their growing equity and traded up to nicer houses and then repeated the process.

A quick caveat. This blog post isn't for people who have high standards for their living quarters and are willing to rent forever in order to have that nice place to come home to, a nice place to invite their friends to visit.

This post is for people who are willing to make what ever adjustments are necessary to start building equity, even if it means living in a less nice place for several, or even many, years.

First, a quick digression about lowered expectations. Not too many decades ago, people thought a small black-and-white TV was a fine way to watch a show. The idea that everyone might one day think they needed a huge colored, high-definition TV would have seemed ridiculous. Never mind that shows still made their magic over the small tube. People thought air conditioning was a luxury not a necessity. When they got hot, they wiped a moist washcloth over their face and turned on a fan. People thought that a car that worked was good enough even if it wasn't the latest model (or had air conditioning!). People thought that a restaurant meal was a rare treat not a basic way to get your daily meals. People thought coffee was something you brewed at home, not something you picked up at a gourmet coffee house.

I'm not saying you have to go without the nice things in life. But if you're confronting the dilemma of how to find enough room in your budget to buy a house, then you have to be willing to change what you're looking for. And change where you're looking for it.

Of course, everyone wants a NICE house. If that's your requirement to buy, you may be out of luck. But if you're willing to compromise on most or all of your ideal desires, you will be surprised. There are houses out there that can be fixed up. They can be made livable. They can bought without traditional mortgages.

Here's your first rule of thumb in finding that house. Look for the houses that have been listed so long or so many times that it appears they are unsellable, suitable only for builders to come in and tear them down. The sellers of such house are usually eager to unload them at a very cheap price. The seller may be willing to carry a contract on it so you don't have to get a bank mortgage. And if you don't have good credit, the seller may allow you to lease with an option to buy at some later date.

Every realtor who's been around knows of these houses, and they know how the sales process works. Of course, many realtors don't want to put time in trying to sell these houses. But they might still give you an idea of where to find them. And you can probably find them yourself. The house that no one wants is usually the house that offers the greatest opportunity for fixing and putting a lot of sweat equity into your financial picture. And the house that realtors think is a waste of time trying to sell is a house where there is no real estate commission. That saves 6% right off the top, a sizable amount without which the seller might be willing to discount an already low price.

Second rule of thumb: Look somewhere else. You may not be able to find a house in Tahoe, but you can probably find one in Carson City or Reno or Auburn or Pollock Pines, all of which are an easy drive to Tahoe.

Third rule of thumb: Find a roommate or roommates. Two people with jobs can afford twice as much house as one. You can have a legal arrangement where you are both on the title. Much better, though, is to find a roommate or two who're willing to rent from you, and you buy the house yourself. (Partnerships can go bad. If you are the sole owner, then you can do things the way you want without having every decision be subject to committee.) There are also many houses that were built as duplexes or triplexes or with mother-in-law apartments. When we bought our first house in Tahoe (a dirty, rundown house that no one wanted, a house which we fixed up and eventually did very well on), there was a guy our age down the street. He bought a LARGE, very rundown house, and he rented rooms and maybe a basement corner to four roommates. When I made a comment about how four renters would make it so he could pay off his mortgage quite soon, he grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

Fourth rule of thumb: Consider looking for a condo or townhouse. Multi-unit housing is usually cheaper than stand-alone housing.

Fifth rule of thumb. Look for very small houses. You don't need extra bathrooms and bedrooms (except for renters). You certainly don't need a garage.

Sixth rule of thumb: Go elsewhere. Many workers in South Tahoe live on the Nevada side in Minden and Gardnerville in Carson Valley or just north of there in Carson City. Many workers in North Tahoe live in Reno. The commute isn't that long, and the housing is much cheaper. If instead you commute west to the California foothills, you can find lots of affordable housing. (Although beware that winter snow makes commuting from the foothills to Tahoe unreliable.)

An example of reasonable housing not far from Tahoe...

Here's a very affordable 2-bedroom townhouse in Carson City just 25 miles from Tahoe. Only $229,000. Get a roommate to rent the second bedroom and this becomes within reach of people with modest incomes and very little savings.

Or, for ultra cheap, check out this house in the foothills:

This cabin is in Georgetown, halfway between Placerville and Auburn, roughly an hour and twenty minutes drive to Tahoe. It was foreclosed. It only has one bedroom and one bathroom. It probably has many problems and would require a great deal of work. But it is only $147,000. Imagine what it could be once it is all fixed up.

Here's a two bedroom cabin in Camino, which is 10 miles east of Placerville and less than an hour to Tahoe. It's for sale for $165,000. Find a roommate to rent one of the bedrooms, and you could live almost for free. Just like the other cabin, fix it up while you pay down the mortgage. Take all the money you're saving and sock it away. Of course your friends who want the perfect little beauty will look askance when they see the little place where you're living. But they'll be envious when you've built equity while you were close enough to Tahoe to ski on your days off.

Are these places ideal? Not unless you care about becoming financially self-sufficient while everyone else is going backward as accelerating housing costs leave them behind.

Foothill cabins are affordable. They're a quick commute to jobs in the foothills or down in Folsom or Rancho Cordova. While your contemporaries are still saving for a minimum down payment ten years from now, you could have $100,000 in sweat equity waiting for you to sell and trade up. If you want to eventually retire, this is a great way to climb onto the housing ownership train.

If you feel you simply must have a nice large house in your dream destination, try to earn enough money to make it happen. If that doesn't happen, accept the possibility that you might always be a renter.

Otherwise, lower your expectations. Start small, fix, trade up, fix again. Pretty soon you'll be one of those people with a paid-for place in Tahoe or anywhere else you desire.

  

First Storm, Heavy Snow

By the end of today, the weather forecast has us receiving up to 13 inches of snow. Am I so glad because it begins the accumulation of our snow pack? Or because it eliminates our fire danger? Or is it simply that it distracts from the ongoing political circus in Washington??!!...

Snow Making Begins

With the nighttime temps dropping below freezing at the lake, it is often much colder at 8000 or 9000 or 10,000 feet. And the November sun is now low in the sky even at noon. So there is little of the sun's heat that reaches northeast-facing slopes. That means that the snow-making machines are being turned on in select parts of the ski resorts. 

As temps, and the sun, drop even further, more of the mountains will be covered in snow. Add in a storm or three and Tahoe skiing will be ready by opening day, which is traditionally Thanksgiving weekend. Just 4 weeks away!

Here's a pic off Heavenly's website. This will rev up your winter-play anticipation!

Sweet Lakeshore Spread, Not Real Cheap

12,000-square-foot house for sale in Incline Village. Includes pretty much anything you would want: 150 feet of lake shore, 1200-square-foot wine cellar, more bedrooms and bathrooms than you could easily count, 35-foot ceilings, 7-car garage, theater, elevator... You get the picture.

As you can see, it's a nice little cottage. 

Oh, yeah, the price is $44 million.

If you're interested, contact Tracy Cutler at Windemere Prestige Properties. (702) 432-4600 

https://traceyallyncutler.withwre.com/

Dame Helen Mirren Steps Out To Vote In Tahoe

There are a good number of actor/rock star/business magnate celebrities in Tahoe. Most of them keep a low profile so that Tahoe remains an "escape" for them. They come and go in vehicles with tinted windows.

Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren moved here a few years ago, and to many people's delight, she has been vocal about her love for Tahoe. She hasn't hidden herself away. A few days ago, local journalist Kurt Hildebrand caught up with Mirren voting in Minden, Nevada, the town in Carson Valley where East Shore residents go to vote.

Native-born Americans have not always demonstrated the highest voting percentages. Whereas immigrants tend to be more focused on exercising their right to vote (some would say their duty to vote). What a pleasure to have Ms. Mirren step out and join us at the polls!

Here's the link to the newspaper article: https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/oscar-winner-tahoe-resident-helen-mirren-casts-1st-american-vote/

Hydrofoil Surfboard? Ultimate Water Toy? Or Serious Water Transportation?

You will see a cool new boat/toy/trend at Tahoe next year.  

It's called an efoil.

Combine a hydrofoil (think under-water wing that supports a surfboard above the water) with a battery-powered prop, which uses the new, techy lithium batteries with their enormous power (think Tesla), and you get an efoil.

The San Francisco Chronicle says Facebook's Mark Zuckerboard has been cruising on his efoil from his West-Shore spread.

Here's the Chronicle article:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/travel/article/This-12-000-electric-surfboard-is-the-latest-15625114.php

There are a few manufacturers. Here are two of them:

https://liftfoils.com/efoil/

https://us.fliteboard.com/

Check out some of the videos on the manufacturer's sites. Very cool.

I'm already imagining a mystery where the killer gets away on an efoil...

Something To Think About Other Than The News

 If you're like me, you go to bed at night and can't sleep (or wake up in the middle of the night), all because our world has been so dominated by constant depressing news, mostly about politicians.

It helps to think of beautiful places. Here are some images to think about in the wee hours...

When Covid Cuts Human Noise, Birds Sing Sweeter

 

 

Covid 19 may be hell for people, but, in Shakespeare's words it "Becomes the touches of sweet harmony" for birds.

An interesting thing happened when everybody stayed home in San Francisco and The City went silent.

A researcher noticed that the song of the male White-Crowned Sparrow got softer and more nuanced - sexier-sounding to the females.

I guess we should all take a lesson. Silence offers so much.

The links below have the story. One of the links has a 4-second video you can click on  to hear the song. Enjoy!

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/when-covid-19-silenced-cities-birdsong-recaptured-its-former-glory

https://www.popsci.com/story/environment/more-bird-song-pandemic/

RIP RBG

 We will miss you dearly.

Good News? Not So Much

 Yes, a lot of stuff sucks right now, starting with the misery that can be traced to politicians, moving through natural disasters, and ending with dreary stuff in your local community.

So what is happening that's still good?

The answer may be predictable from a writer whose most popular fictional character may be a dog.

Of course, unless you're an animal intelligence scientist, dog stuff isn't considered lofty and intellectual. But here's the beauty of dogs, no matter how prosaic it is.

They love you no matter how stressed you are and no matter how difficult life can be. 

So go and give your dog some attention. He or she will make you feel better.

New High Temp Record?

 South Lake Tahoe is projected to hit 95 today. Ouch. The previous record high for September is 94.

So why is the Basin crammed full of tourists? Because Sacramento and Redding are both looking at 111 degrees. Stockton is 110 degrees. So if you drive up to a mere 95 and go out on the boat or maybe jump in the lake, which, not too far out, could be in the 50s, that'll cool you off!

Enjoy!

Do Animals Have Rights?

We love our dogs. But do they have rights?

Do other animals have rights?

It appears to be such a simple question. Our impulsive answer seems to be "Of course, animals have rights." Or, "They certainly should have rights."

But immediately, the idea becomes complicated. 

What would those rights be? The right to be left alone? The right to not be tortured? The right to have their territory undisturbed? The right to not have their culture (or whatever you want to call it) be destroyed? The right to not face unnecessary pain? The right to not be treated in a way that we wouldn't treat humans? The right to not be imprisoned in a small cage? The right to not be killed for sport (fun)? The right to not be forced to do degrading work? The right to not be eaten?

Let's go to the most basic right of all, the right to live. Do animals have that right? Do humans have that right? Is the human right to live greater than an animal's right to live?

In my recent book, TAHOE HIT, a character poses a question about this to Owen. To make it more poignant, the question comes with a spin. Instead of asking if a man has more right to life than a dog, the question is, "Does a very bad man automatically have more right to life than a very good dog?" The questioner goes on to elaborate that the bad man could be abusive and violent and wicked, while the dog could be sweet and kind and a friend and protector of its human family. I made those qualifiers to put the question in sharper focus.

Obviously, I wanted the question to be thought-provoking. I assumed (and still do) that some people would say that all humans have more right to life than any animals. I imagined the subject would - or could - fall into the realm of "God made humans to be very special, and humans thus have a sacred right to life, more so than any other creatures." I even assumed I'd get some angry email on the subject.

What's interesting is that of the many people who have sent me email, all said something like, "A very good dog absolutely has more right to life than a very bad man."

Of course, people love their dogs. And elephants and dolphins and birds and horses. Are our feelings about them influenced by how beautiful and lovable they are? Can we reconcile laws that say you can't sell horses or dogs for slaughter for their meat, but it's okay to squish spiders? What about mice? Squirrels? If a skunk takes up residence in your crawl space, refuses to come out, and makes your house unlivable with its spray, is its right to life any less?

Of course, we might say, this is my house and I was here first, and you can't invade and live in my house.

But when the housing and shopping mall developers bulldoze the land and "homes" of thousands of animals, have we not done the same thing? The deer and birds and bear and fish and gophers and mountain lion were doing just fine without us. Then we came along and destroyed their world. And we justified it by saying that people needed the housing and the jobs. 

Beneath our behavior lurks a familiar hubris. We humans are the lords of the Earth. Animals are just, well, animals. If our supertankers leak oil and destroy ocean habitat, that's simply part of the price of running our cars and heating our houses and creating all those trillions of plastic things that we throw away, some of which wash into those once-pure oceans. If our greenhouse gases melt the arctic ice and the polar bears and penguins go extinct, that's also part of the price.

The implication is that whatever the rights of those animals, our rights supersede them.

In TAHOE HIT, there is mention of the great naturalist Aldo Leopold. 100 years ago, he proposed that we leave "Blank spots on the map." Areas with no roads, no development, no wilderness trails and campsites, no hotels, no fishing or fish stocking of lakes, no dams, no hunting, no airplane overflights, no mosquito insecticides, no people."  

It doesn't take much observation to realize that people have gone everywhere on the planet, even to the depths of the deepest ocean trenches. And everywhere we've gone, we've taken over and dominated. There are no more blank spots on the map. From the perspective of most animals and other life, we've made the Earth much worse, not better.

Scientists say we're in the midst of the 6th greatest extinction in Earth's history. Previous mass extinctions of plants and animals have come as a result of huge volcanic activity or impacts by asteroids, events that made our planet inhospitable to life for many years.

This new mass extinction that is unfolding is called the Anthropocene Extinction. A fancy word that refers to the fact that this new extinction of life is caused by human activity. Greenhouse/fossil fuel gases that lead to climate change. Habitat destruction that takes away the "home territory" of millions of lifeforms, both plant and animal. Scientists say that millions of plant and animal species have already gone extinct, mostly from climate change. Some, of course, we've directly killed off. The California Grizzly. The Passenger pigeon.

What makes the tragedy worse is that we have the technology to stop and even reverse this decline. We know how to make renewable energy - wind farms and solar farms, etc - and we know how to implement conservation sufficient to create a "carbon neutral" society. (More fancy words to describe an economy that doesn't burn oil, which produces all those greenhouse gases.)

What's in the way of making this better, less-damaging world? There are lots of reasons. The biggest may be spineless politicians who don't have the political will to make a better world. Why? Because they are afraid that whoever is unhappy with change (there are always some people who are unhappy with change), they will lose votes and be out of their cushy jobs. So many politicians spread fear and distrust, as they always have through the ages. And some politicians support policies that nearly everyone knows are bad for the Earth. Why? It's hard to know. The drill-baby-drill attitude and the effort to take away protections of remaining wilderness areas only make sense if you want to appeal to people who don't care about the future of the planet or who believe in the unimaginable conspiracy/hoax notion that the Earth isn't actually changing. Those dry mountains that used to be covered in vast glaciers, that's photo-shopped. Like the moon landing was photo-shopped. Like the Earth is flat.

Meanwhile the rights of animals - whatever those rights are - will continue to be trampled by people.

Maybe if we step back from all the arguing and simply look at all the beautiful animals, we can frame things differently. What's good for the zebras and the tuna and the flamingos, is good for us. Stop arguing about the current events.

Instead, consider your dog. Does he or she have rights? What are you going to do to ensure the continuation of those rights? Somewhere in your answer may be the survival of our Earth, what Carl Sagan called our Pale Blue Dot, floating lonely in the vastness of space. Protecting animal rights might just result in protecting our planet.

Future Book Progress Report

While Tahoe Hit (Owen McKenna #18) is leaping forward in ideal book launch fashion and I couldn't be more pleased with its reception, the writing of Owen McKenna #19 is lurching forward like a literary ancient sloth trying to extricate itself from the La Brea Tar Pits.

Of the many presumptions about the life and schedule of a writer, one of the most persistent is that writers must first and foremost write religiously every day until they produce two or five or ten pages, whatever is their predetermined production level. This is assumed to be a given for successful writing.

However effective such a schedule is for many writers, it is inapplicable for perhaps most. There are too many other tasks for writers to do each week to always be productive. (One can't write well if one is in the car all day traveling to and from an event.)

So it seems that with most events shut down, this would be a boon for writing production. And to some small degree, it is. But the surprise for me is that while I'm not spending time giving talks and attending events and festivals, I'm spending much more time with correspondence and phone calls, communications that are often about accommodating the cancellation of all my events!

So my schedule is relatively unchanged. I can't write five pages a day when I'm doing ten hours a day of other tasks.

That doesn't mean I don't have a production schedule. I do. It just isn't a daily schedule but a yearly schedule. Every year, I have to have a book out if I want to continue to have a writing career. 

So the next McKenna, which I have had simmering in the back of my mind for a year or so, is gradually taking shape. I've developed what I think is a viable story line. And the pages are beginning to gather.

Stay tuned...

In Praise Of Dark Night Skies

This week we went out on the deck one night, leaned back in our chairs and watched the sky for Perseid meteors. These happen when the Earth  moves through debris remnants of the Swift-Tuttle comet, something it's been doing for at least a couple of thousand years.

The comet loops around the sun every 133 years. The comet is about 15 miles in diameter. When the comet gets near the sun, the sun's heat loosens the ice that holds the comet together, and bits and pieces are released into space. When the Earth moves through that region of space, some of those little chunks are on a collision course with the Earth, and they fly into our atmosphere. Others might possibly miss us but are pulled in by our gravity.

The comet is moving at something like 130,000 miles per hour. When those high-speed bits of comet debris hit our upper atmosphere, the friction of such speed burns them up, making a bright flare with a trail of bright, twinkling dust.

In the image above, if you look closely you can see the Milky Way in the center. (That's our galaxy with hundreds of millions of stars filling space with a milky light.) At the bottom is a meteor streaking across the sky.

Below is an telescopic picture showing deep space in the distance with a meteor streaking across the sky.

 

 If you want to see these amazing events, all it takes is a dark place, a chair in which you can recline, and patience. (And ideally, a "New" moon, i.e., when the moon isn't up at night taking over the sky with its bright light.) Let your eyes adjust while you sip some wine, plan to spend a half hour watching the sky, and you'll be surprised at what you see.

We saw six bright meteors, including two that were "all time personal record" territory. We also saw six or seven satellites, about half moving south and half moving north. 

Once your eyes adjust to the darkness, the sky is very rewarding and memorable to look at . A year from now we won't remember whatever Netflix movie we saw this week. But we'll still remember sitting out and watching meteors.

Try it. You'll probably agree that it's very worth taking time to witness what's going on up above our heads.

Amazon #1 Hot New Release

It's been estimated that one million new novels are published each year. That works out to nearly 3000 a day. Lotta competition for reader attention.

So wasn't I a happy guy to see that my new book, TAHOE HIT, rose to the top of Amazon's list, books that Amazon calls its "Hot New Releases." My heartfelt thanks to all you readers!

Tahoe Hit Is Published!

Tahoe Hit, 18th Owen McKenna mystery, is published today.

Tahoe Hit is now shipping to bookstores and, eventually, libraries. It will take some time to move through the pipeline. But you should be able to get it wherever you've gotten previous Tahoe mysteries. Please ask your librarian to put it on their order to the distributor Baker & Taylor.

If you read on Kindle, it is available today. If you read on another type of ebook reader such as Nook, it won't be available until next spring. Sorry about that! 

Thanks very much for your interest!

Big Yellow Flower In The Sky

They come in lots of colors and patterns. Sometimes they float low and periodically roar and spit flame like dragons. Between the noisy outbursts comes an eerie silence, punctuated by occasional laughter.  Other times they float so high you never know they are there unless you happen to look up. They look so small it's hard to imagine that they are the size of 7-story apartment buildings.

This yellow flower was high over the lake early in the morning

This balloon reminds me of a favorite Robert Louis Stevenson poem I learned as a child. If Stevenson had seen such balloons he might have written about them the way he wrote about swings...

How do you like to go up in a swing,
      Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
      Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
      Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
      Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,
      Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
      Up in the air and down!

Comet Neowise!

You all probably know about the most impressive comet to visit our solar system since Hale Bopp in 1997.

In recent days, Neowise was visible in the early morning. However, if you are like us, it may not have been convenient to get up at 4 a.m.

Now, for a few more days, it's visible in the early evening, to the northeast, below and a bit to the right of the "pan" of the Big Dipper. We are fortunate enough to see it from our street. You need it to be quite dark (ask your neighbors to turn off their yard lights), and it takes some time to let your eyes adjust. When you see it, you will agree... It is very cool.

If you'd like to see what the comet looks like from the International Space Station, here is a stunning video complete with music composed by Sean Doran. Here is the link to youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh1_wHdUx3Y

Like lots of youtube videos, you have to watch an ad for 15 seconds or so, then comes the video. If you click on the "full screen" button and turn on your sound, you will be impressed. It's a 7-minute video showing the Earth below the International Space Station at night. You can easily see the ground and city lights moving below the ISS, which is going 17,000 miles per hour. The view is spectacular. As the video shows, the ISS is moving toward dawn, and the upper left side of the screen shows what the growing dawn light looks like from the ISS. At about 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the video, the comet rises above the horizon. There is no magnification in the video, so it looks quite small and distant. But it is gorgeous.

With the beautiful music, the whole 7-minute viewing experience is calming and meditative and reminds the viewer of just how special our Earth and the solar system is.

Amazing.

For the next few days, find a dark place with little light pollution and a view to the northeast. Go out at 9:30 p.m. or a bit later. Look for the Big Dipper. The comet will be below the pan of the dipper.

Bear Food

I watched from a safe distance as this mama bear went down the street on the day of trash pickup. (Bears show up each week on trash day. How they know when is a mystery. Smell? The clanging of the trash truck? Their little pocket calendars they carry around with the monthly pictures of especially attractive dumpsters?)

This bear opened every container with practiced skill, showing her two cubs (just to the side of this picture) the various techniques. She used her teeth to bite the edge of the garbage can lid and lift it off the can. She used her paw to tip the can over and pull out the bags inside. She rolled each bag over, knowing exactly which ones to open up and which ones to leave, i.e., scented trash bags don't fool a bear.

Tahoe locals know to put garbage in bear-proof containers or bring it out just as the trash truck comes down the street.

Behind this bear you can see the garbage that vacation rental tourists set out in the street. Big mess, and potential big fine.

When you come to Tahoe, and it comes time to throw out your trash, please take a moment to learn the where/what/when aspects of garbage collection. It will save you a hassle and some money, too.

Did This Bald Eagle Meet Its Match?!

This tree is close enough to the lake that the Bald Eagle can see any nearby osprey that have caught a fish the Eagle can steal. Yes, mama nature is unfair that way. The osprey does the work, then the larger raptor swoops in and takes it away. A metaphor for many unfair aspects of life.

But take a closer look. On each side of the huge eagle is a Steller's Jay. Two of them, harassing the eagle, letting it know that if it tries to come for their chicks, it will have a fight on its hands, no matter how David-vs-Goliath the odds are.

We once had a Steller's Jay fly through an open door into our house. It went to a window only to discover that glass is a strong barrier. I gently caught it with a cloth and carried it outside. It was not much heavier than air. But as I carried it, I could sense the power in its feather-weight body.

That eagle should think twice about its dinner plans. A dead fished, washed up on the beach, is the safest, least-stressful meal.

Yes, Tahoe Hit Will Be Available In Paper

Because so many people get book news from Amazon...

And because Amazon is only showing "Pre-order" status for the Kindle version of Tahoe Hit...

I want to reassure that Tahoe Hit will be available in the regular paper version. Come August, you should be able to find it wherever you normally get your Tahoe mysteries!

Thanks for your interest!!

Our Amazing Moonless Sky

Who cares about a moonless sky compared to the wonders of a Moon? I do.

We were sitting out on the deck last night and enjoying the stars. When the Moon is "new," (when it is not out at night because it's near the sun during the day, hence invisible to our naked eyes) the stars are amazing.

Also amazing were the satellites. In the space of a few minutes we counted six of them. Three moving more or less north and three more more or less south. (North and south orbits allow satellites to see the entire planet as it rotates west-to-east beneath the satellites.)

If your next trip to Tahoe comes during a time when the moon isn't bright, take time to sit out in the dark and admire the stars. It is an amazing sight to look up at the universe and contemplate its astonishing show.

P.S. Happy Summer Solstice

Chicks The Size Of Chickens

Today, we saw Canadian Goose chicks the size of chickens.
They don't appear to have feathers, yet. Just big balls of fuzz.
Mom watches us without concern, a trait that went away when she discovered that if you're cute, people will throw you food.

People think they are being nice to the animals. Or maybe they just don't think at all. Despite being entertaining to watch, feeding wild animals is bad for the animals. It produces dependency and, after the humans leave, hunger in animals that have lost the knowledge or motivation to fend for themselves. And, in the case of bears, feeding them intentionally or unintentionally motivates them to break into our houses and cars and make a huge mess as they empty our cupboards.

Let's enjoy animals by taking their picture and having no other engagement.

Tahoe Hit Is Now Available For Preorder

The 18th Owen McKenna mystery is now available for preorder!

 A Sophisticated Killer With A Fixation On Shakespeare's Hamlet...

Deadly Past Secrets...

The Ultimate Revenge...

Check it out at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Tahoe-Owen-McKenna-Mystery-Thriller-ebook/dp/B087ZVLS58/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tahoe+hit&qid=1590946749&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

And check it out on my website: http://toddborg.com/

Glen Alpine Falls From 1 Mile Away!

Along with Eagle Falls tumbling down to Emerald Bay, Glen Alpine Falls brings water to Fallen Leaf Lake. For much of the year, they are the two biggest falls feeding Lake Tahoe.

Most photos of them are taken up close. In the spring and early summer they are amazing sights.

Yet there is another perspective of Glen Alpine Falls.

From up at Angora Lookout, there is a pervasive white noise filling the air. It sounds a little like a jet plane. It takes a little visual searching to locate the source of sound. Most people won't find it because source of the sound, Glen Alpine Falls, is a mile or more away.

At the center top of the photo, the highest point is Mt. Price, just 25 feet shy of 10,000 feet.
Near the center of the photo, 1/4 way up from the bottom, is a white slash/arrow shape.
That is Angora Falls, over 1 mile away.
Despite the distance, the air is filled with the white noise from
the roar of the falls. Amazing!

Amazing South Shore Hiking

Some hikes are worth going back to again and again. One of those is Angora Ridge. I wrote about it before. Here's the link to that posting:

http://toddborg.blogspot.com/2013/04/best-hikes-in-tahoe-angora-ridge-lookout.html

However, that write-up was about going up Angora Ridge Road, a pleasant walk but one with few views until you get near the Angora Fire Lookout.

Since that time, a "single track" trail was built to the northwest of the road. And the views from that trail are amazing all the way up.

To get to the single track, go to the entrance to Angora Ridge Road. (Google Maps 'Angora Ridge Road, Dundee Circle, Tahoe') Zoom in to the intersection where Angora Ridge goes southwest from Dundee Circle.

At that intersection, look for the Forest Service gate, which is only open during summer months. To the right side (west) of the gate is the hiking/biking single track. It doesn't have a super obvious trailhead sign. But it isn't hard to find.

While Angora Ridge Road follows a shallow valley (blocking the views), the single track goes up the ridge just north of the road.

The lake directly below is Fallen Leaf. The lake in the distance is Tahoe.
The mountains in the distance are the North Shore mountains, 30 miles away.

This is Mt. Tallac, directly across Fallen Leaf Lake, which is directly below us,
visible all along the hike, but out of this picture unless you look almost straight down.

This is Pyramid Peak, part of the Crystal Range,
all of which is visible from the Angora Fire Lookout.

Trust me, you will be amazed at the views, and they continue all the way up to the fire lookout, which of course has its own amazing views.

By any measure, The Angora Ridge Single Track is one of the Top 10 best view hikes in all of Tahoe. If you're looking for short view hikes, I put it in the Top 3.

P.S., Yes, a few mountain bikers use the trail, but we've found them to be courteous. We just step off the trail and let them pass.

Tahoe Deep Is Now Available On Nook

My most recent title, TAHOE DEEP, is now available on Nook, (the ebook format sold by Barnes and Noble).

Thanks to all of you Nook readers who've been patient for so long. I appreciate your support!

Here's the link to TAHOE DEEP on NOOK.