An Original Short Story– “Susie’s Bear”

December 8, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

An unexpected major winter storm and a very sick little girl compound the problems of an Indiana farm family struggling to survive in the depths of the Great Depression.

An original short story to share for the holiday season. Please click here for a Free Read here on the Blog — “Susie’s Bear”.

I hope you enjoy the story, and please feel free to share with friends and family. Thanks as always for reading and following! Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and the best of the holiday season! — Jim (and Red!)

ps- Please watch for the first collection of short stories in the “Adventures of Little Red Bear” series coming in the new year!

Currier & Ives– “Winter Moonlight”

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

A quick holiday note to let everyone know I am very THANKFUL for all who follow, support and read my work here. You are truly appreciated. Each “Like” is worth another 10,000 words!

Wishing all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Finishing a new short story to be ready in a few days. It mentions “Santa” once or twice, so it may be a Christmas Story.

Have a wonderful day, and God’s blessings to all those in uniform who protect and serve!

Charles Wysocki- “And the Hearty Ate a Thankful Meal”

‘Twas the Seventieth Night Before Christmas . . . . . . .

October 15, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

‘Twas the Seventieth night before Christmas, and all thru the house, not a creature was stirring. Because it was five minutes after midnight on October the 15^th and I had just gone to bed. But maybe not so fast . . . . . . .

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

It’s a little early to be talking about Christmas already, but folks, I got in trouble with the Big Guy last night. I should have known what was coming but wasn’t paying attention to the date. Every year on October 15^th I get a call. Five minutes after midnight this time. Earliest ever. No sooner had I switched my light off to turn in for the night the phone rang. A direct call from the Big Guy. Yep. That one. Santa Claus. Knew I was in trouble the moment I saw the display on the phone—“North Pole Hotline”.

By calling at that hour Santa was purposefully demonstrating that he was burning the midnight oil, still busy at work and wondering why I wasn’t doing the same. We have a working relationship that goes way back, Santa and I, and to be honest I get that call from him on this day every year, with Santa checking in to see how my production is coming along on his orders for the upcoming holidays. Just never in the wee hours of the morning, and usually I’m not this far behind so the conversation goes a little better.

“I’ve been going over my mid-month status reports, and the open and received orders book here Jim, and notice that I have not received a single thing I ordered from you yet. Now, I placed those orders back in March before I left for my annual beach vacation. There’s only 70 days left until Christmas and it’s going to be here before you think. Is there a problem? I also have new orders for you. You know how we all look forward to your teddy bears and things every year. Are you going to be able to fulfill these orders or should I look elsewhere? It’s been quite a while since you’ve been on my Naughty List. We don’t want that now, do we?”

Santa Claus with the Naughty and Nice Books

Santa is many things—a master craftsman, innovator, expert sleigh and reindeer handler, navigator extraordinaire, Elf coordinator, cookie connoisseur, bringer of good will and cheer, youth motivator and positive reinforcement master, and the list goes on. Quite an accomplished fellow. An unheralded ability that should be recognized is his mastery of delegation and follow-up. Not many orders or items slip thru the cracks on his watch. And if they do, Santa and we all have Mrs. Claus to answer to, the real “Power Behind the Sleigh” if you will. Accordingly, Santa makes it a high priority to stay on top of things, and last night it was my turn to report in and be held to account.

He noted that I had sold three jewelry pendants in the last 24 hours from my store, indicating a noticeable uptick in activity and a clear sign that the holiday busy season might be getting underway. He also reminded me in no uncertain terms that, according to his morning flash reports, my store indicated a “Low Inventory Status” for gift seekers he referred, and again that none of his personal Sleigh Delivery orders had been filled yet and wanted to know why, and what was I going to do about it? And would I be able to handle additional new orders?

Santa Claus Reviewing Records and Accounts

One thing you need to know about Santa Claus. Twinkling eyes, dimples how merry, cheeks like roses, nose like a cherry—yes indeed, that’s all spot on. But when it comes to the business side, he gets right down to it in true executive fashion. He asks pointed, direct questions, doesn’t accept any hem-hawing around and cuts right thru the mistletoe! And he carries the threat of that “Naughty Boys List” around in his back pocket like a Cherokee War Club. Santa is all business when it comes to his orders and running a tight ship at the North Pole.

Santa Claus- Performance Evaluation Day

Now, having talked about Santa, one thing you need to know about me is that I live to make things in addition to writing, and have been making up new designs and creations for months- collector bears, accessories, pendant jewelry, a new line of bear and doll display chairs, and more. When it comes to photographing and listing it all online for my store, well, quite honestly, that’s where it all breaks down for me. Not being my favorite thing and being commonly human, I keep putting it off. My aching back and standing, bending and taking photos all day just don’t go well together it seems. But believe me, that is not an acceptable explanation to offer up to an elderly, overweight gentleman who spends a 24 hour shift scrambling up and down chimneys with a heavy sack, and bouncing around in a sleigh behind gassy reindeer for thousands of miles. Santa expects and works hard to keep everything coordinated, in order and on schedule.

Santa Claus- Planning, Scheduling and Coordination Meeting

And that’s why he was calling of course, to offer a firm reminder to put it in gear and get going myself. As I said, he knows me well from over the years, and gives me this “kick in the britches” about this time every holiday season. It was just a little harder kick this year. He knew the state of things here before he called. He knows and sees everything. When you’re sleeping, when you’re awake. Just like the song says. That’s why the phone was ringing before my light had lost its glow after turning it off last night. You couldn’t put anything over on the Big Guy if you tried, and really—why would you want to?

So, as he clearly reminded, it’s time for me to “Be good, not pout, not shout and get busy!” filling my store and his orders. And there is no way I want to disappoint him. If you see me a little less the next several weeks on Social Media and the like, please understand that I’m just busy on Santa’s orders and trying like the dickens to stay off his “Naughty Boys List”. And Mrs. C has already been after me about finishing Little Red Bear’s stories and getting them out, so I don’t want to go within a country mile of getting on her bad list. You know what I’m talking about.

Mrs. Claus- Angry- Don’t Get On Her List!

Off to work on Santa’s list and orders then. Lots of photos to take and more things to make so better get to it. “Hey, Little Red Bear! Better get some cookies going and put on the teapot. We’ve got some long nights ahead.”

Thanks as always for reading. – Jim (and Red!)

The Old Toy Maker Working Thru The Night. (An original solid wood Santa Claus carving by Deborah Call.)

A Hot Breakfast for Father’s Day

June 16, 2014June 17, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

Yesterday, June 15, was Father’s Day. Hope all the dads had a great day. Being the father of four wonderful children and deeply proud of every one, I woke up feeling a bit more chipper than usual yesterday morning. Not to be selfish, but a day in honor of me. Only happens twice a year, with the other being my birthday in December, and not looking forward to each of those as much as they come around more quickly each year it seems. After a longer than usual early morning walk I decided, with it being Father’s Day and all, that I would treat myself to something very special– a hot breakfast.

Now, please understand, cooking for breakfast is just something I normally do not do. It seems a bit over the top when a quick bowl of Cheerios will suffice. One spoon and bowl, into the dishwasher and on to other things for the day. So deciding to actually prepare a hot meal for breakfast was no small decision for me. Unfortunately, the hot breakfast plan seemed to quickly unravel and go down hill almost right from the start.

Opening the package went without incident. But the first Pop-Tart that I placed into the toaster missed the little support rack that travels up and down inside the toaster machine. (I am not a certified toaster machine mechanic, so “the little support rack” is as technically accurate as I can be in this matter, trusting that anyone experienced in the operations of a toaster machine will understand what I am talking about.) The Pop-Tart fell all the way to the bottom of the machine. Unable to easily retrieve it I decided there was only one way to get it back out, and that was to invert the whole machine, spilling its contents and hopefully the lost Pop-Tart onto the kitchen counter.

Being somewhat experienced (although not officially trained or certified, to be clear again) in the use of toaster machines, I realized that there are inevitably toast scraps and crumbs collected in the bottom of these devices, and that inverting the toaster machine into an upside down position would only spill all the contents onto my counter, creating a bigger mess than I was already dealing with. Admittedly, decisions like this can only be made after having learned from previous experience in crumb dumping, and I am hoping novice crumb dumpers may learn from this post. The next step was to refer to the instruction manual for expert advice, always a good plan.

For safety’s sake, the machine was then unplugged from the electrical outlet, preventing shock or injury as the instructions advised. At that point, the “crumb tray” as it is commonly known, was carefully removed from the machine and the contents dumped into the trash can. I then inverted the machine over the counter, and was fortunate to actually catch the Pop-Tart as it fell freely back out of the toaster. Next, the crumb tray was replaced, and the machine plugged back into the electrical socket. Ready to start over, from the beginning. So far, so good, although a lot more work than I had envisioned for my hot Father’s Day breakfast. I could hear the Honey Nut Cheerios calling from the cupboard, but the Pop-Tart package had by this point already been opened and discarded, so it seemed like proceeding with the original hot breakfast plan was still the right choice.

I placed the lost-but-recaptured Pop-Tart back into the toasting machine, being very careful to set it squarely into the little support rack this time. I then repeated this step with the second Pop-Tart, which up until this point had been waiting its turn patiently on the counter. With both Pop-Tarts balanced, albeit a bit precariously on the little support racks, I slowly and cautiously pulled down the machine lever, thereby successfully lowering the Pop-Tarts into the machine and activating the heating process. Hot breakfast on the way!

After the appropriate cooking time had elapsed the little support rack released and the Pop-Tarts sprung back up out of the machine, filling the kitchen with the aroma of hot, toasty cinnamon goodness. I reached for the nearest one, the “second” one identified above, and promptly burned the finger tips of my left hand on the hot frosting. In my haste, I had obviously not noted the cautionary advisory on the package- “Step 3- Cool briefly before carefully removing pastry from toasting appliance.” I had not allowed sufficient time for it to cool. Overtaken by the heady aromas wafting from the toasting machine, I can only reason that I was overcome by the excitement of a hot Father’s Day breakfast and not heeded the warning. Burnt fingers resulted. My fault, the warning was right on the package.

As any father knows and has admonished to his children many times– “Once burned, twice learned.” Or– “Once burnt, twicet learnt” if in the Ozarks here. I resolved on the spot that I was not going to be burnt again removing the second Pop-Tart, and retrieved my best Stainless Steel kitchen tongs from the drawer. With nylon grasping heads, they are certified for safe use up to 400 degrees, and I assumed the Pop-Tarts were probably not quite that hot so the tongs should be safe to employ. Tongs in hand, I set about to retrieve the next Pop-Tart, the original problematic one. As soon as I grabbed it with the tongs, the Pop-Tart exploded into numerous pieces, some small, some large and others which could only be referred to as crumbs, all of which fell promptly to the bottom of the toaster machine again. By this time, I realized that I had been dealing with an obviously defective Pop-Tart from the beginning.

The toaster machine being too hot to handle at this point, I was able to eventually retrieve the largest piece with the tongs, figuring a broken Pop-Tart is better than no Pop-Tart, and decided to dine on the rescued piece and the other properly prepared Pop-Tart, and waited until later in the day to once again unplug, invert, clean out, dump and reconnect the toaster machine.

And this dear friends, is why I generally do not cook or prepare hot meals for breakfast. The Cheerios this morning were delightful.

Hot Father’s Day Breakfast

Pop-Tarts in Toaster Machine

Happy Flag Day & Strawberry Shortcake Day!

June 14, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

My goodness, so much happening today. It’s a beautiful Saturday here on the outskirts of St. Louis where they are having the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure downtown this morning. The weather could not be more perfect for such a wonderful event.

Today is also Flag Day. Here is a link for a brief history of the day, especially to share with the kids so they know what it is all about. The History of Flag Day

In addition, June 14 this year is Strawberry Shortcake Day! Huzzah! My father’s birthday was May 23 and Strawberry Shortcake was always his cake of choice for his birthday every year. How appropriate it falls one day before Father’s Day this year. Here’s to you Dad, via Google Heaven– Happy Strawberry Shortcake Day!

Wishing everyone a beautiful and wonderful weekend. Fly the flag and have some Strawberry Shortcake. And remember to add barbeque sauce to the grocery list for tomorrow’s Father’s Day Barbeques, too.

Old Glory– Betsy Ross Flag

Strawberry Shortcake

American Flag Display

Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you for my Mountain!

May 11, 2014 / jrmilson / Leave a comment

Happy Mother’s Day to all my Facebook, Twitter and new Blog followers and friends!

I saw a little clip on the news the other night, with small children making Mother’s Day cards for their moms. They interviewed each and asked them to say something about their mother. One little boy, around age 5 or so, after pausing to think for a moment responded with something along the lines of “Thank you for getting me breakfast.” I literally laughed out loud. But the little boy’s comment was also profound. Because it really is quite that simple, isn’t it?

Mothers are there– day in, day out. All hours. They are never off the job. When we think of mother’s, it’s usually not about one single “holy cow!” moment of great impact in our lives. I’m sure we each have a few of those to recall, where our mother made a big difference at an important point in our life. But to me, it’s the accumulation of countless and unrecognized small things– day in, day out– over the entirety of our lives that really make mothers special.

Doing the laundry. Helping with homework. Bandaging scrapes and wounds. Making sure we have clean clothes to wear and shoes that fit. Comforting emotional hurts. Making meals. Shopping. Cleaning house. Entertaining our friends. Supporting. Nurturing. Guiding. Teaching. Cheering us on. Attending school events, games, teacher meetings. Doctor’s appointments. Caring for us when we are sick. Picnics and field trips to the zoo and museums. Caring. Foregoing her “wants” for our “needs”. And our “wants.” Sacrificing and giving. And more today than ever before, doing all while also holding down a job or two outside the home. Over and over and over thru every day and every year. Always being there to do the little things, carrying a pebble at a time to build the mountains of our lives.

The little boy got right to the point– “Thank you for getting me breakfast.” Happy Mother’s Day! — Jim (and Red!)