it's a bleak day out there; it's been. snowing since last night, off and on, with it on at the moment, snowing pretty hard but not amounting to much. it will die off in a couple hours, then get very cold, then stay that way and then get colder, according to the weather station. i guess we shouldn't be surprised.

i lead a pretty busy life, usually dashing in the cold, running stuff out to my son about three miles away, sometimes three or four times a day. in this case we made sure he was well-stocked and i don't think he'll pressure us to go to the y, even though obviously on a bleak day it would be good to get some exercise. the driving is bad but i did it anyway, got up, went out there, drove some poor girl over to their house. three miles of pretty bad roads and then three back home again. the bad part is she'll probably need a ride later, and it won't probably get any better.

it's lincoln's birthday, and that makes me smile inside as i remember a history of living in illinois eighteen years before going out southwest. it was a classic stray-dog holiday, because the state honored lincoln but not presidents, and nobody knew it, so they put their garbage out on the wrong day and garbage on the curb for a few days brings the stray dogs. this year, celebration of lincoln is pretty much finished, since we're all about veterans and mlk these days and something has to go. but a nice big snowstorm means they called off school and everyone is sleeping in and not going anywhere. that's what a holiday is supposed to be.

in my promoting i'm really in a funk, just don't feel like getting out on social media at all. not facebook, not bluesky, not x not nothin'. i watch the government being dismantled like a demolition project and it makes me sick, the last thing i want to do is go out there and say hey buy my book. at least half of these people voted for him and what's worse, my people don't really like amazon, and all my ads lead people to amazon. i'm beginning to think it would be better to go entirely indie, away from amazon, yet it's such a staggering operation that i can hardly imagine it. amazon has made it easy - print on demand, only the ones i want for myself or someone else, no waste. i can't imagine how it would work if i really cut that cord.

more later...the night clamps down, traffic stops, but i have one more trip - to pick up the girl, three miles each way. wish me luck.