#Sacramento water well

[wildherondrillin]

Phone: (916) 625-3807

Address: 6558 Lonetree Blvd Suite #101, Rocklin, CA 95765

Website: https://www.wildherondrilling.com/

Email: wildherondrilling@gmail.com

WildHeron Drilling provides water well drilling to the Sacramento, CA area. We offer well restoration, and well drilling services to residential, commercial, and irrigation customers. Contact us for great well drilling services by professionals.

[justkissmewip]

Just Kiss Me (WIP)

DEMO - FORUM PAGE

Hello everyone! After recommendation from some people on the forum, I have finally gotten around to making a Tumblr page for my WIP, Just Kiss Me. I'm Lucky42, or Lucky, and appreciate you taking the time to read about my WIP.

*Scroll down to bottom for current updates*

Synopsis:

Your senior year kicks off with your family moving from Sacramento, California to Sherfield, a small town in sleepy South Carolina. You are able to get a scholarship to St. Augustine, an elite private school for the wealthy locals. You feel like a fish out of water compared to your coddled peers, but it's only one year, so it can't be that bad. That is, until you accidentally share a smooch with the richest kid in school, which somehow lands you on a supernatural investigation team dedicated to solving the mysteries of St. Augustine. Well, senior year is supposed to be the best one yet, right?

Features:

A choice system that focuses on developing the protagonist's personality

The ability to romance your peers in three ways: Denial, Flirty, or Shy

Three potential scholarship choices (academics, art, sports) all with their own exclusive scenes and characters

The ability to swap bodies with a literal heathen

Morality choices that flesh out how your character sees the world

The ability to influence your peers by leveraging your strongest traits

A banging cafeteria

Characters:

Alistair/Audrey Sawyer (RO):

Who: the rich, preppy kid you have the misfortune of accidentally smooching. This one mistake leaves the two of you intertwined, for better or for worse. And it’s looking like for worse.

Character post: Alistair/Audrey Sawyer

Klaus/Kristina Berg (RO):

Who: a friendly, cheerful student who is eager to please others and is always willing to lend a helping hand. He/she can often be found reading a nauseatingly cheesy romance book.

Character post: Klaus/Kristina Berg

Evan/Ebony Jefferson (RO):

Who: the insanely attractive student council president who has a reputation of being a bit of a heart-breaker. Prides his/herself on knowing every student who walks through the school’s doors. He/she seems to have taken an interest in you.

Character post: Evan/Ebony Jefferson

Darcy:

Who: a whimsical girl with a keen interest in the supernatural and a killer part-time job. Her “research” is the reason you’re a part of this mess. Thus, she’s the de facto leader of your group.

Year: Senior

Appearance: short and slim with brown hair and brown eyes. Speaks with a Southern drawl, thick compared to the rest of your classmates.

Reba: she’s crazy. But you’ll figure that out soon enough.

Progress:

09/12/2024 - 175,000 words (excluding command lines)

Prologue - Finished

Chapter 1 - Finished

Chapter 2 - In Progress

Demo word count: 103K

Let me know all of your thoughts and opinions, and thanks a bunch for your time!

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

California zoo accessibility data dump

I just recently got back from a short (and fully covid-cautious) zoo road trip in Oregon and California, and wanted to share my notes re: accessibility at the facilities I visited. I'll get this all integrated into the spreadsheet, too.

Wildlife Safari - Winston, Oregon

This is a large drive-thru safari park with a free walk-about area attached that contains some small exhibits. Guests stay inside their cars the entire drive-thru, although there's at least one place to stop and sit in a gazebo to rest and use the bathroom (porta-potty only). You can pull over to watch animals for longer, and go through multiple times if you missed anything. It's a long drive-thru and there isn't really a good way to truncate the experience if you've got some kind of emergency. The roads are not flat, but they're well maintained and not bumpy.

The walkabout area is very small and contains bathrooms, food options, and other guest services. The paths are mostly concrete and well tended, although you do have to cross the steam train tracks to get to lion/some of the lemur viewing. I believe the Australia walkabout area was also unpaved. There's lots of parking in a big, flat, paved lot.

Sacramento Zoo - Sacramento, CA

This is a very cute, small inner-city facility - a good option if you don't want to try to walk a huge zoo in one day. There's lots of shade from all the plants and a good amount of benches throughout, including picnic tables with shade canopies. The paths are almost entirely flat and paved, with the exception of a boardwalk ramp up to the giraffe feeding and okapi viewing platforms. The cafe has gluten-free and vegetarian listings (maybe vegan?) on their menu. No straws are provided for animal safety, but if you need one, they can give you a reusable curly-straw from the slushies (kinda long and awkward for a normal cup) as an accommodation. They've got both water fountains and water bottle filling stations. Being build in a larger city park and recreation complex, there isn't a dedicated parking lot just for the zoo: the closest is across the street, shared with another attraction, and is kinda small. I've never had issues finding parking when I've gone, but sometimes it does involve a bunch of walking to get to the zoo entrance - if you have mobility or stamina limitations, probably best to get dropped off at the entrance and wait (there are benches).

San Francisco Zoo - San Francisco, CA

The SF Zoo is huge. There's lots of green / garden / swamp space that doesn't have habitats in it, but it means exhibits can be pretty far away, so plan your route accordingly. (Going out to the grizzly bears is the longest loop). Depending on the time of day, there's not always a ton of shade for guests either. There's a decent amount of benches, and quite a few are in decent proximity to animal viewing. After a somewhat long but not steep hill right at the entrance, the paths are all paved and fairly flat. There's a hill going down into/up from the Australia area / kids playground, but it's the only one I really noticed. There's a long elevated boardwalk through the lemur habitats that connects to the top of the new Madagascar construction - if you can't do stairs, as of Spring 2024, that's the only way to get up there to look down on the mandrills or see the top of the fossa habitat. (It's still under construction, so there might be an elevator in the building in the future). Back by the grizzlies, there's an old indoor rainforest building - while there's buttons to automatically open the door going in, I didn't find any on the first inside door going out. It makes sense they don't want both doors to open at once since it's a bird airlock, but not having independent ones on each door meant the day I used an ECV I got stuck in there until a nice staff member noticed.

All three times I've ever been to SF most of the little food kiosks haven't been open, and the vending machines for drinks have been hit and miss - so bring your own, or stock up at the cafe if you need to have supplies with you - but there are water fountains and water bottle filling stations around the zoo. There are interpretive audio boxes through the zoo in English and Spanish, used with a key you get at the entrance(?), but I heard a lot of complaints in passing about some of them not working. There's lots of parking at the zoo in a flat paved lot, and there's a specific dropoff area on one side for rideshares/mobility needs.

Oakland Zoo - Oakland, CA

To be clear up front - Oakland was the hardest facility to visit on this whole trip, with regards to mobility. We went twice, and I used an ECV (electric scooter) one and walked the other. Neither option was easy and both were exhausting. Oakland is a super hilly facility - you basically have to drive up a major hill to get to the zoo. The bottom half of the lower zoo can only be reached by going down pretty steep paths. The hills are also not graded to be "flat", so if you're in a wheelchair or ECV, you're going to have to lean to compensate for the tilt and balance the chair... while controlling it going down a steep hill. It's exhausting and kinda scary. (I don't even let other people carry my camera because $$, but I had to ask for help so I could focus on driving the ECV on those hills). There's also a lot of areas of the pathways that are not in the best repair, or patterned with pressed-in images, and multiple places actually have brass bugs embedded in the pavement so that they stick out above the surface. Lots of tripping hazards and/or things to rattle your teeth out rolling over. A couple places in the upper zoo (the California wilds area) the paths switch from paved to sand and back again, for drainage, maybe? On the upside, there's a lot of benches everywhere, including directly across from prime viewing areas.

Getting up to the upper zoo requires using a gondola - there's no walking option. You can actually take wheelchairs and ECVs on these, but you have to be ready to advocate for yourself. Normally, they don't stop the carriages completely, and expect people to walk on while they're still moving slowly. You can ask them to slow them down for you (I did, because knee issues plus torque is bad), or stop it completely if you need the time/help. When I took an ECV on, they had me disembark and get in one carriage, and they loaded it into the subsequent ones. This is fine because I can walk and stand on concrete for a while without it, but I'm not sure how that practice would work for people who need their mobility aids the whole time. They were very nice about managing the stopping and the loading and didn't make it feel like an imposition, too. If they stop the carriages completely at any point, there will be a loud buzzer/alarm when the ride starts back up. If you're close, it's pretty loud and startling. As they leave the track at the bottom the gondolas tip and dip a little, which can be scary if you're not expecting it - I think it's just the transition of the car from the loading bay onto the track itself. The rest of the ride is very smooth. The track is pretty high up and gives a great view of the bay and the surrounding cities, but face uphill if you don't do well with heights. Once at the upper zoo, the path from bald eagles through jaguar is mostly a boardwalk, but it's not too bumpy.

Oakland's parking is hard if you're not there early in the day, IMO. The overflow parking gets pretty far from the entrance, and starts to go up the hill towards the upper zoo. If the lot looks busy, drop anyone with mobility/stamina issues off at the entrance before parking. Unlike many other zoos I've visited, Oakland's ECVS have added sunshades, which is really nice (and which I should have used).

Monterey Zoo - Salinas, CA

This is a fairly small facility with most habitats on one level, but some big cats and bears are up a pretty big hill. The walkways are paved and flat, and there's an ADA-graded boardwalk ramp that takes you to the top of the hill. The pipes used for the handrails on both the stairs and the ramp get very hot in the sun, however. There's a boardwalk up to the rhino overlook. They indicate that their bathrooms are accessible, but the ones in the main building didn't have bars for transferring - I didn't check the ones up on the hill. At one point in the day speakers along the path started playing really loud pop music (drowned out the birds) and it was very overwhelming. There's lots of handicapped parking spots across from the front entrance, but if you don't have a tag, the rest of the spots are up a bit of a hill and a small walk from the entrance. They do have a note, though, that they can help if you need accessible parking and don't see any, so you could probably call/have someone to go in and ask for an accommodation.

Sequoia Park Zoo - Eureka, CA

This is another nice small facility, very doable for a half-day trip. The paths are paved and flat, and there's benches available. There's a lot of shade, although it can depend on the time of day, and places to fill a water-bottle. The sky-walk through the redwoods is accessible, but might be a little difficult depending on mobility limitations - its' a very sturdy boardwalk through the canopy of the tall trees. (I had more thoughts on this from my last visit, I'll dig out those notes). If you can do even part of it, it's worth it, and there's places to turn around. Because it's in a residential area of the town there's not a huge dedicated parking lot, but lots of street parking and a decent lot directly across the street. I've never had difficulty finding parking, and you can drop people off at the entrance easily.

[punkassfrance]

Sierra Nevada - Chapter II - Ellie/Abby

Chapter II: Hemorrhage (Work length ~2.2k) This work is rated M for canon-typical violence and gore. Please look here for a full list of warnings for the series, specific warnings will be provided at the start of each chapter. This chapter contains: violent injury (stabbing), a critically injured minor, swearing, canon-typical violence including guns and threats, blood loss, off-page sutures, and technically underage drinking. Previous Chapter - Full Series - Next Chapter

Abby

By the time the raider has hit the ground of the gas station they’re trying to loot, three bullets lodged in his chest, it’s too late. Lev is on the ground trying not to scream, biting his hand and trembling as he curls into himself. He only manages to stay quiet for a second before he sobs, free hand squeezing just above the knife wound.

Abby only has a second to panic before she falls to her knees beside him, assessing the situation as quickly as she can. It wasn’t a clean cut— the bastard tried to rip the knife out sideways once it was in, only managing to leave an open, jagged cut. It’s too late to leave the knife in until they get to safety, already torn out by the weight of a dead hand.

There’s a lot of blood. Lev is struggling to stay quiet, hands trembling as he tries to sit himself up. From the little medical knowledge she picked up from her father, she knows this is just as bad as it looks. She picks up the knife, still dripping with blood and water from the puddle it landed in, and saws off the remaining denim of his jeans. The metal clangs to the ground as she tosses it aside, wrapping the fabric over the wound and tying a snug knot.

“No, Abby, it’s not tight enough-”

“It doesn’t need to be— come on, just keep pressure on it, I got you.” She’s not as strong as she was, not yet, but she can still pick him up without too much of an issue. He buries his face into her shirt and wraps an arm around her neck, pressing the knotted denim into the wound.

“Abby-” He’s trying so hard not to cry, she can hear it in his voice. She doesn’t make him keep the act up.

“Just hold on. We’ll find somewhere to get help.”

Lev nods after a moment, taking in a shaky breath.

“Please hurry.”

-

Ellie

“Help, please—”

There’s a voice outside. Ellie hasn’t heard another person’s voice since Sacramento— a bitter memory she’d rather forget. It’s probably no good if someone’s out here at all, let alone trying to draw attention.

The house is pretty well barricaded. Ellie’s had nothing to do for the better part of a year, nothing but fixing things to keep her busy. Whoever’s out there isn’t getting in.

“I can see the lights, damnit, I— I have a kid, he’s hurt, please!”

Ellie grits her teeth. Of course it’s a kid. It’s a likely story, but not one Ellie’s going to fall for. Whoever it is sounds desperate- hopefully she finds some other sucker to give her what she needs.

Still, she loads the shotgun she keeps by the front door, just in case. She’s more than confident in the security she’s set up, but it’s worth being prepared.

“We can trade with you, I can help with anything you need, please—”

There’s a crack in the wood she’s used to board up the windows, just barely big enough for her to peek through onto the porch. It’s a little blurry, but when she gets a good angle…

Ellie unlocks the door and throws it open, aiming the shotgun right between her eyes.

She’d be lying if she said Abby hasn’t been on her mind a lot in the last year. Even now, so long after everything—

Jesus. It’s been almost three years, hasn’t it?

“What do you want?”

Her eyes widen when she sees Ellie, tensing as she holds the kid tighter. “You…”

“What do you fucking want?” She can’t help but shout as Abby takes a step back, and for a moment Ellie thinks she’ll just turn tail and run.

Somehow, she doesn’t.

“He’s— he’s hurt. Please.” Abby’s changed, since the last time they spoke. She almost looks like Santa Barbara never happened. She’s eaten, grown her hair back out, almost back to the woman Ellie hunted down twice. There’s color in her face again, even if it’s from the biting cold. The kid looks different too. She didn’t memorize his face like she memorized Abby’s, but the scars on his cheeks made him easy to remember. Even recovered from the Rattlers, he’s not looking so good, pallid and shuddering.

It wasn’t a scam, from what she can see. The kid’s hurt.

“Fine. I’ll let you walk away.”

Again, she thinks Abby’s about to run. Ellie fights the urge to finish her off.

“…we’ve been wandering for hours, please, I—”

Ellie steps forward, pressing the shotgun into Abby’s throat. She wouldn’t drop the kid to grab the barrel- that much, she knows. Abby glances down and inhales, taking a hesitant step back.

“…we don’t have anywhere else to go. I…I don’t think there’s anyone else in town.”

They stand silently, eyes locked for a moment that goes on too long. Ellie knows what she’s saying. There’s no help to be found. She’s right, too. After eight months here, Ellie is yet to find someone else. Abby could wander for hours, scream her heart out, knock on every door, and the most she could hope to find would be the infected remains of someone who would have been able to help.

And god, she wants to let it happen.

“You don’t fucking deserve my help.”

“He does. Please.”

Ellie looks down.

The kid’s fading fast. He hasn’t even looked at Ellie yet- probably doesn’t even know his life is in the hands of someone who already threatened to end it. Poor kid doesn’t even look like he can hear what they’re saying.

She doesn’t know much about him. Abby cares for him, which might just be reason enough to let him die, but he’s still a kid. The scars on his face are familiar, one of the many things she can’t forget from Seattle. He’s wearing a thin hoodie, it can’t be enough to keep him warm. He doesn’t look older than fourteen.

“Fucking—” She lowers the shotgun, gritting her teeth and looking up to Abby. There’s no time to have a dilemma about this. The last thing Ellie needs right now is to be responsible for the death of a child. Another child. “Get inside. There’s a couple spare bedrooms upstairs on the left. I’ll see what I can find for medical supplies, but don’t hold your breath.”

The relief in Abby’s face is immediate, and Ellie hates it. Seeing Abby at all raises something violent and cruel in her chest, something she thought she’d never have to confront again. As though she could be so lucky.

When she steps aside, Abby’s careful not to hit the kid’s head or feet against the doorway, hesitantly looking back at Ellie before she goes up the stairs. She won’t ask out loud if Ellie’s sure about this, but Ellie nods anyway.

Abby takes off up the stairs, muttering something to the kid as she goes. Ellie doesn’t catch it as she heads for the garage, lips pressed together.

-

Abby

“Abby.”

It’s the only thing Lev has said to Abby for the last three hours. He’s prayed quietly to himself, held back sobs and profanities, but none of that was for her. Once he’s on the bed, he shudders and tries to curl into the blankets, finally warm after hours in the cold. It’s not snowing quite yet, but it’s close- the chill has gotten to both of them by now. Even as she shivers, Abby can’t bring herself to try and warm up, busying herself with Lev’s wound. She rolls up his cut off pant leg to get it out of the way, tentatively untying the denim from around his leg. It’s not bleeding quite as much, but it’s still bleeding, and she’s not sure how to fix that. If it hasn’t clotted by now, he may have nicked an artery. The thought has her white-knuckling the sheets.

“We’re okay for now. Just breathe for me, okay?”

He tries, which has to be enough. Even if his breathing is shaky as she tries to move him into a better position, even if his fists turn white as he grips the comforter, he’s still taking deep breaths. It’s all she can think of to keep him distracted right now.

“Fuck…”

She’ll never deny him the chance to swear his little heart out. He’s found some freedom in it, she thinks, some sense of identity. But she’s especially not going to say anything right now, as he bleeds out in this poor excuse for a hospital bed.

He’s not bleeding out. She shakes her head as the thought crosses her mind.

There’s a soft knock on the open door, the girl hesitantly stepping in with full arms. She sets things on the bed beside Lev, a few jars and a first aid kit. At the least, it looks well-supplied. The last thing she sets down is a heavy book, covered in dust aside from the few fingerprints Abby can see.

“This place belonged to a prepper, I think. It’s better than nothing.” She says with a resigned tone- they don’t have all they’ll need, and they both know it. But this should be enough for now.

“Can you dig out a needle and thread?”

The girl shakes her head, holding out a brown bottle. “Not yet. Disinfect with this.” She shakes it, liquid sloshing around inside. “It’s alcohol. Don’t just trap bacteria inside.”

Abby takes the bottle and opens it, wincing when she catches a whiff. It’s just alcohol- not the half-assed whiskey she expected. Even if that might come in handy for pain management.

She grabs Lev’s shoulder, squeezing softly. “This is probably gonna hurt. Bite down.”

He gives no sign that he hears her, just gathers more sheets into his hand and stuffs them in his mouth. It’ll have to do. Abby reaches down to take his free hand, squeezing tight as she pours the alcohol over the laceration. Lev stifles a shriek as she moves the bottle over his leg, only pouring for a second before she sets it down and takes a clean towel from the girl’s hand. She cleans around the wound, gentle as she can be wiping away blood and any remaining alcohol.

As Lev starts to breathe again, Abby looks up, eyebrows furrowed at the girl across from her. She’s pulled the kit into her lap as she digs through it, looking for a needle and thread of some kind.

“…thank you.”

“Fucking shut up.” She doesn’t look up, just keeps digging through the kit, tossing some fishing line on the bed.

“Thank you.”

The girl pauses and glances back at Lev, straining to crack his eyes open. Abby squeezes his hand again, nervous for her response- but she doesn’t say anything. Just looks back to the kit in her hand and pulls out a bottle.

“It’s Yarrow. Coagulant.”

Abby takes it when it’s offered, opening the jar and grimacing at the powder inside. “Do I just…?”

“Get it in there. Keep pressure on with one of the towels until it stops bleeding. We’ll wash it out before we sew it up.”

Abby nods, looking down at the wound, then back to Lev’s pale face.

“You’re gonna be alright.” The girl says to him, already exhausted as she pulls a packaged needle out of the kit. “I promise.”

-

Ellie

It’s a struggle, getting the kid sewn up. He’s in pain the whole time, as much as they try to negate it, but there’s no way to avoid it without real painkillers. Tylenol and Moonshine can only help so much.

Once he’s sewn up, bandaged, and as disinfected as he can get, Abby covers him with the few blankets they can spare. He’s so pale, it’s hard for Ellie look at, to see just how much blood he’s lost. He practically passes out once Abby tells him they’re done, shuddering under the blankets.

Ellie stands by the doorway, watching as Abby fusses over the kid. They’re not related, it seems- but she’s in no position to judge people trying to make their own family. It doesn’t really matter, nor does she care- they won’t be here for long.

Once Abby stands and looks Ellie in the eye, she jerks her head out towards the hallway. Once they’re outside, the door closed to give the kid some rest, Ellie crosses her arms.

“…I know I’m the last person—” Abby starts, but Ellie stops her with a hand up. She’s quiet for a moment, eyes closed.

“You can stay until he’s on his feet again. You pull your weight and stay out of my way. I’ll help with whatever he needs, but you don’t bother me.” She takes a step closer to Abby, jaw set. “Give me any excuse to put you down and I’m taking it.”

Abby presses her lips together and nods. Ellie expected some kind of pushback, but it makes sense that Abby wouldn’t risk it right now.

“Okay. What do you need me to do?”

“For now, just…stay by him. I’ll get you when I need help.”

“Fine.”

Abby watches her, meets Ellie’s steely gaze, and nods. Her hand rests on the doorknob, waiting for a dismissal of some kind.

“Don’t make me regret letting you stay.” Even though she already regrets it, it’s a sentiment worth putting out there. Abby nods, turning back into the kid’s room and shutting the door behind her.

I hope you all enjoy the direction I plan to take this in- thank you so much for reading! (The Sierra Nevada mountains are so beautiful btw, I don't think I've seen more impressive mountains and I just spent a week driving the Al-Can.)

Thank you to @plum98 for the forest divider! Feel free to say hi or drop your thoughts in my askbox, check out my AO3 or my about me if you're interested!

[findafight]

part 1

It's a bright May morning, and the commentators are discussing who the Indiana Pacers are going to select. It's a bit of a buzz, there's a rumour of a dark horse candidate. The Commissioner steps up and shakes out the paper, saying clearly into the mic "the Indiana Pacers select Steve Harrington, from Roane County Community College." His face makes it clear he has no goddamn clue who or what college this is. It's fine.

Steve stands, smiling. Robin kisses his cheek and Dustin throws his arms around him before he's shuttled off to get a Pacers ballcap and take a picture with the NBA commissioner, and then to the press room to answer questions.

The reporters have dozens for him, a buzz with the shock of a community college getting a player drafted. It's the first time they'll really be able to talk to him, and he's a bit nervous. He handles it all with as much grace as he can, until someone from the Chicago Sun-Times asks

"you're from Hawkins, a town that's seen its fair share of tragedy over the last number of years. Did that have any sway over your decision?"

Steve's smile turns softer as he answers "Oh, yes. I went to R-tripC because it was close. I've got friends and family in Hawkins still, and I wasn't planning on moving any farther than Chicago. It's...a hard place to leave, after everything." he can tell which reporters have no idea what Happened in Hawkins, the confused brows, scribbles in the margins of notebooks. The Chicago Sun-Times report simply nods. "My being here is just...the result of a few lucky circumstances. The Ospreys, we're a div-four team. Not even supposed to be in any competition for March Madness. But the NCAA decided to try letting non-div one teams on the bracket...not sure if they ever will again considering our loss." there are a few chuckles around the room. The RCCC Ospreys had lost pretty spectacularly in the first round. "But, that's the only reason a scout saw me play. And the fact that the scout was for the Pacers..." Here, he doesn't mention being approached by a representative of the Sacramento Kings as well. "That was something that worked. I've always loved playing ball, but if it hadn't been with the Pacers, I'd be content playing with small local leagues in Indy."

"Has this not been a dream of yours? Playing in the NBA?"

Steve chuckles. "I've played sports my whole life. Obviously when I daydreamed about winning the Championships, or swimming at the Olympics, who didn't? But. Ah, it really came out of left field, if you pardon the baseball analogy." he swallows some of the water in front of him. "I wasn't expecting to be approached by anyone about the NBA. I played on a college team that most people don't know exists, that barley qualified for march madness and got eliminated by the end of the third quarter. I was getting my teaching degree, with guys who were getting horticulture certificates or degrees in Art history or business to help their family Ma 'n Pop store or bio degrees to use to go to masters programs in Indy. We weren't playing for dreams or glory. We played because we love the game, and like each other enough to be a cohesive team." he shrugs. "I was going to move to Indianapolis or Chicago with my wife anyways. This is just...sprinkles. Y'know? I have what I need, my loved ones are happy and healthy and safe, this is just sprinkles on the sundae."

Steve leans back and sighs. He's being signalled to wrap it up. "I'm not taking this opportunity for granted, and I am looking forward to working with and getting to know my teammates. I'll be working hard to make my hometown proud. Thank you."

[black-arcana]

DELAIN Announces 2025 North American Tour With XANDRIA

Melodic synth-metal greats DELAIN continue to grace stages around the world in support of their latest opus, "Dark Waters", out now via Napalm Records. The band is thrilled to announce their return to North American shores with a newly announced headline tour, set to take place in early 2025. The run will also feature support from special guests, symphonic metal patriots and Napalm labelmates XANDRIA, who are touring in support of their latest album, "The Wonders Still Awaiting".

Fans should expect to hear DELAIN and XANDRIA fan favorites, the latest hits, as well as brand new material from both bands during this tour, so don't miss out. Kicking off on March 7 in Phoenix, Arizona, the tour will visit several major cities across North America, ending in Austin, Texas on March 29. Tickets are on sale now. Visit www.delain.nl and get yours before they are gone.

DELAIN's Martijn Westerholt says: "After such a warm welcome and meeting so many amazing fans, performing new music and introducing our new members to the metal masses of North America last year, we are absolutely stoked to return to the United States and Canada to meet again. This time, we're thrilled to share this experience with our special guests and good friends XANDRIA. Each night will be stunning for all. Don't miss this one!"

XANDRIA's Marco Heubaum adds: "We are delighted to come back to the USA and Canada, and even better, with our good friends DELAIN! We are super excited to bring this package to the North American fans! This is going to be amazing!"

DELAIN with support from XANDRIA:

March 07 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Nile March 08 - Los Angeles, CA @ Whisky A Go Go March 09 - Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield Trading Post March 10 - Portland, OR @ The Bossanova Ballroom March 11 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon March 13 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall March 14 - Denver, CO @ The Oriental Theater March 16 - Joliet, IL @ The Forge March 17 - Detroit, MI @ The Token Lounge March 19 - Columbus, OH @ The King of Clubs March 20 - Toronto, ON @ Axis March 21 - Montreal, QC @ Fairmount Theatre March 22 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East March 23 - New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre March 24 - Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage March 25 - Jacksonville, NC @ Hooligans March 26 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Hell) March 28 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater March 29 - Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live

In a recent interview with FaceCulture, DELAIN founder, songwriter and keyboardist Martijn Westerholt spoke about the differences in the singing approach of the band's new frontwoman Diana Leah and that of her predecessor, Charlotte Wessels. He said: "Well, first of all, [Diana's] voice. I like her character. [She has] so much control, so much control… It's also a very friendly voice. And [when I first heard her singing], I could imagine that on DELAIN music. And then I got back the material later, and I was actually astonished and surprised how much it fitted. [Someone said] she has a very similar voice to Charlotte, and partially I totally agree with that; there are some characteristics that are similar. But I also think that people didn't… We have released three singles [with Diana so far], and [people] have not heard her complete capacity in singing. She's very good with soft versus power, [the] contrast [between the two]."

Elaborating on what sets the two vocalists apart, Martijn said: "Charlotte is more rough, which gives Charlotte a lot of character. It's a more rough voice, and that's not a negative thing; no, on the contrary, that gives it a certain quality and character. Diana is more refined. And that makes it different. So I'm totally not saying that, 'Oh, this one is better' or 'That one is better' — no — but it is different. And, of course, indeed, there are also similarities."

DELAIN's first album with��Leah, "Dark Waters", arrived in February 2023 via Napalm Records.

In addition to Westerholt and Leah, the band's current lineup includes original guitarist Ronald Landa and drummer Sander Zoer, along with bassist Ludovico Cioffi.

The new DELAIN lineup made its official live debut in August 2022 at the Riverside festival in Aarburg, Switzerland.

Regarding how she joined the long-running Dutch metal act, Leah previously said: "It's really simple, actually. I knew they were looking for a singer so I just left a comment on their Instagram page. So a couple of days later I received an e-mail from Martijn, and we talked a bit about how I could audition and he sent me some material that I could sing on. And the rest is history."

Asked how she decided to sing in a metal band, the 33-year-old Diana said: "Well, I've always wanted to sing in a metal band. It was really my desire to do it. In fact, I did sing in a couple of rock bands, but it wasn't really heavy music, which I loved at the time. It was really hard to find the right people to form a band with and also to get along together and all that. But I've always wanted to be in a metal band. Always."

Leah also talked a bit about her background, saying: "I was born in Romania, in a city called Alba Iulia. It's in the middle of Transylvania. And then I moved to Italy when I was 15, and I lived in Italy for, I think, 10 years or something. And then I moved to Canada, in Ottawa, and I lived there for five years. And then I came back to Italy. And now I currently live in Italy, near Torino, so up north."

In February 2021, Westerholt announced the dissolution of DELAIN's previous lineup. At the time, he explained: "For the last year or so, the collaboration within the band ceased to work as well as it once had. Some of us were no longer happy with the current roles in the band. We all tried very hard to find a solution for over a year, but sadly we were unable to find one. As a result, we will all be going our own ways and pursuing our own endeavors."

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe

[trashpandapagoda]

King and Queen - DeMar DeRozan Fanfiction - Part 1

I flexed my hands nervously and adjusted my laces once more. It was my first game as a Sacramento Monarch. I was nervous as I glanced around the room at my teammates' new faces. For the first part of the season, I played for LA Sparks, but ultimately the environment there was too toxic and I wanted out. I wasn’t expecting to land at the newly reborn Monarchs.

My teammates were cool so far and I was doing my best to come out of my shell and hang with them. They were eager to prove themselves and win games. I wanted the same. I led the league in 3-point throws last year and I only wanted to keep getting better. ‘Keep your head down, work, and then rest and repeat.” The advice from my dad that I lived by. 

“You ready to pop out and show these bitches?” Loni, my teammate sat down and shoulder-bumped me. “You sitting over here looking all mean and shit.”

“Stop, I’m just thinking. I can’t help the way my face looks.” I laughed and shouldered her back playfully. 

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you this earlier, but I love the box braids. You gotta hook me up with the braider you went to. My shit be looking trash as of late.” She reached up and twisted one of her braids in her hands. “I can’t sit still for long so maybe that’s why.”

“Yeah, I’ll text you the -” “Alright ladies, let’s head out for warm-ups!” Coach called out, “Let’s go, let’s go!”

“I’ll text you it later.” I finished explaining and picked my stuff up.

We headed out of the locker room and down to the court through the tunnel. I swallowed thickly and felt another nudge against me. Loni smiled reassuringly and bumped her chest before pointing at me, a silent ‘I gotchu.’

I nodded and did the same back. I was shocked at the amount of fans that showed up for the game as I glanced around. Seats in some sections were still empty and folks were filling in seats still, yet I couldn’t help but pivot and stare around the stadium. 

What caught my eye next was the owner of the Monarch and Kings, Vivek Ranadivé, sitting next to a few players from the Kings. One of them I recognized immediately was DeMar DeRozan. 

He turned slightly from the conversation with his teammates to stare back at me. 

I felt warm and tingly as I turned quickly away and focused on putting my water bottle and towel on my seat before moving to warm up with the girls.

The feeling of being watched didn’t stop, and I knew it was more than just the stadium of fans staring and taking pictures, but from someone else.

I turned a few times back in the direction of Vivek and Kings players, each time catching DeRozan’s eyes. I would smile awkwardly and turn quickly once more, not waiting to see if he returned the gesture.

Halfway through the warm-up, I heard my name called and saw Coach Kelly gesturing at me. “Vivek wants to speak to you really quick.”

“Me?” I asked dumbly, pointing at myself.

“Yes,” She seemed exasperated. “Is there another Dana Parker on the team?” 

I winced at the embarrassed feeling that flushed over me. Coach Kelly was harsh at times, constantly frowning and giving out commands like a drill sergeant. Yet, from what I’ve seen so far and learned from my teammates, she always had her players’ backs. Her style of coaching wasn’t much different from my dad’s so I was used to the harsh style.

I tossed the ball to my teammate Chloe and followed after her.

“Dana!” Vivek grinned widely, “I’m so excited to see you out here as an official Monarch! This has been the one thing I’ve been talking about nonstop to everyone since last week. I feel that you are going to do amazing things - some of our Kings players wanted to come to see you play as well!”

He gestured to the 4 guys sitting two seats from him and one of his associates. “Let me introduce you.”

He introduced the 3 guys who stood up first, I was quick to put names to faces and smiled politely to each of them. Finally, when he got to DeRozan.. I paused. 

I was a big fan of his game and watched him play throughout my middle school and high school years. My dad was from Compton as well so Demar was often a name my dad brought up to me and my brother. To meet him in person felt surreal.

“Dana Parker,” I introduced with a nervous smile and my hand out to shake.

He smiled back and dapped me up, “DeMar DeRozan. I been watching your game for the last two years. You gotta teach me how you do those 3-pointers. Out here shooting like Steph.” He joked.

I chuckled nervously, feeling my hand becoming clammy that was still in his grip.

He realized he was still holding my hand and tried to casually let it drop, but I could tell he also felt a little embarrassed.

Looks like I wasn’t the only one here with social anxiety.

“I wish, but I’m no Steph Curry.” I rubbed my arm nervously.

“Nah, you’re Dana Parker. You don’t gotta be anybody else.” He said sincerely.

Suddenly someone cleared their throat and I turned to see Vivek still standing there along with the other Kings players. “We won’t hold you up, Dana. Good luck and get that win.” He held his hand up in a fist bump with a grin.

I returned the gesture with my grin and nodded. “Will do, mister,” and I turned back to the court to finish up warm up.

I was ready to ball out. The crowd was here for a show and I was going to give it to them. All I could think about was what DeMar had said, “Nah, you’re Dana Parker. You don’t gotta be anybody else.”

[kernyen-xo]

She awoke at 4 this morning because she’s cool like that. Seriously, it is not that cool, not when there’s no reason in hell you should even be up at this ungodly hour. This is insane. This is currently my life. What can I say? Well, a helluva lot, but it would be pure whining. So, I’ll spare you. Yeah, that’s right…after I just typed a damned paragraph about it.

Bless you for reading it, you maniac.

So, it’s been awhile. Where to start?

Well, I’m dog sitting while the kid and her partner are spending time away in some log cabin God knows where. Sarah, her partner, texts me where they’re staying and I swear I’ve never read an address like it. At least not in this country.

Btw, when I said dog sitting, I mean 1 German Shepherd, 1 Pomeranian, 1 Poodle, 1 cat, and about 4 hens. No, the kid and her partner don’t live on a farm, but they need to.

It’s not as chaotic as it reads, but it kinda is. The feedings, etc. But, they’re good fur and feathered kids. They deserve all my love, even the hens, although I show them my love from afar. Good, yeah?

Better: My granddaughter will be over and I’ll be taking them out and showering them a butt load of specialness because they just turned 13, and my heart just exploded because they just turned 13. How did that even happen? They were just 4 years old like a second ago.

My momster will be staying with me starting next Saturday. Just a visit and I say this with some skepticism. Anyway, the momster doesn’t want to fly so this makes things freakin’ difficult. But hey, that woman invented the word difficult. She’s 85, so yeah, she’s not driving from San Diego to Sacramento, and she won’t take a train or a bus. Besides, if she did, we’d have to hang a big-ass card from around her neck reading, my name is Momster. If lost call this number. She’s been a pain in my ass since I turned 17.

Anyway.

My brother will drive her to Bakersfield where I’ll pick her up. I asked my bro what time do we meet? He texts back 10 a.m. which is not unusual, and is in fact, quite normal for those 2 because they’re super early morning people. I know I’ve been up since 4 and it’s a weekend (f*** my life) but that doesn’t mean I’m a morning person. It means I’m a reluctant morning person and that I’ll be inhaling water and coffee along with snacks to stay awake as I drive to Bakersfield, not to mention I’ll have to plan for about 13 potty breaks. So yeah, fun times lies in my future. My loss of solitude is weeping buckets despite the fact that I’ve pretty much accepted it. It can be worse, right?

Right.

The good news is that I feel dozy after sharing, so I’m gonna take a snap before I head out to the farm that’s not a farm to dog sit.

Thanks for reading. I know how you crave to read my entries. One day, I’ll sell tickets. We’ll be happy, together by the light of the silvery moon.

[lei-lei-writez]

UnScored Part One: Current - Chapter One: Layton

Waves crash ashore, sparkling like a diamond in the light. Gazing ahead, it seemed vast and never ending as if it continued forever. It seemed terrifying, the thought of being lost in an endless blue void but yet it seemed so inviting as if I just wanted to jump in and be carried away…

“Layton! Grab your board and let’s go!”

Layton suddenly snapped out of this trance “Coming!” She said as she grabbed her surfboard.

Layton had always been interested in the ocean and it sure was convenient that she lived near it. She was originally from Tofino in British Columbia, Canada but due to her father’s job she moved south to Sacramento, California. Yes, it was a bit of a drive to get to the ocean from Sacramento but Layton would always go no matter the distance.

“Cmon Layton, I’ve seen some pretty big waves so far and I want to see if we can catch some!” Leif -Layton’s younger brother- stood at the shore holding his surfboard. “Yes Leif I’m coming! Seriously have some patience…” Leif rolled his eyes and ran out towards the water, Layton following shortly behind. By the time they had set up their boards, a wave started to form and they began paddling. Finally they both stood up on their boards and started riding the wave.

“Hey Leif!”

“What Layton?!”

“Yoink!”

Layton shoved Leif off of his board, calling him to fall into the water. Layton cackled hard at this “Dumbass!!” “Cmon Layton! Why’d you do that?!” Leif had said trying to swim ashore with his board. Finally the wave stopped and Layton had made it to the shore as well.

Leif went up and smacked Layton on the back of the head, Layton found the situation so funny she didn’t even wince in pain or anything. “Leif, we should probably head back home, mkay? Maybe stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat?” Leif nodded in agreement despite still being pissed off.

The two of them took off their wetsuits, got dressed and headed to the car. Layton started up the engine and began driving off. “What do you want to eat Leif? Dairy Queen? McDonald’s? Pick something.” Leif sighed “Dairy Queen…” Layton laughed, he was definitely still pissed off. She turned on the radio but immediately turned it off “The damn radio sucks ass sometimes!” Instead she connected her phone.

“Layton…you’re always blasting the same artists over and over again! It’s always Metric, Taylor Swift, Foster The People and Metallica!” Layton rolled her eyes “Someone’s hangry, plus at least I don’t listen to Nickelback…” “Well at least I—“ “Can you hear my heart beating like a hammer! Beating like a hammer!” Layton’s singing caused Leif to shut up.

After running to Dairy Queen to grab a bite, Layton and Leif headed home. Once inside they realized that their mother wasn’t home. “Where’s mom?”

“Probably out drinking, Leif.”

“Right. Well it’s not like we care anyways.” Leif went to his room and Layton went to hers. For the rest of the night she sat in her room texting her boyfriend, Xavier. Xavier was always there for her when she needed support, encouraging her to keep going and all that. When Layton’s mother had returned, Layton had already crashed.

“Layton….Layton….Layton Wach!…Wake up!” Her mother was very clearly intoxicated because of all that alcohol. But Layton was in too deep of a sleep to even acknowledge her presence so her mother just gave up and walked out.

The next morning Layton had gotten up early for school. Her sleep schedule had been pretty rough lately and she kept going to bed late and waking up early. She woke Leif up as well and as she was walking out to the door she saw her mother passed out on the couch.

“Jeez…I wish I had a mother who cared about her children more than drinks…”

[rp-partnerfinder]

⚙️ Fallout Roleplay, Heavily Based On The Show, MxM, OcxOc! ⚙️

Hey there I’m a fairly literate 18 year old roleplayer in search of fellow 18+ roleplayers! I’m looking for a Younger Vault Dweller x Significantly Older Wastelander, set two-hundred years after the bombs had dropped. I’m fairly open to kinks, only limited really being vore or scat. I do play as submissive/bottom though!

It had been exactly 200 years since the bombs had fallen… well everywhere. Vault 30, a nice Vault, built on the outskirts of Sacramento had been running smoothly for those two centuries until, well, there was a radiation leak in the farms. Causing nearly all the plants to become contaminated in one way or another, most got sick, many died, those who hadn’t well, there had to be a draw, to send a person out, once a month until there had been enough new crops to sustain the remaining population. Kenny, the son of the overseer had been no exception because well, he freshly turned eighteen so he qualified.

And… his name was drawn, of course there was protest from his mother but there hadn’t been much they could do. Kenny being sent out to the wastelands with very little food or water, everyone in the vault knew that those who were sent out had probably died, nobody actually said anything about it though.

Just a basic plot for the ad! I’d love to elaborate on the story further with you if you’re interested! And the wastelander could be a ghoul/raider/ect!

.

[slipping-through-my-fingertips]

In My Head, I'm Yours

Chapter 8: Wish I Could Stop Writing Us

AO3

A/N: only one chapter left after this one!!

Annabeth had decided her waterproof mascara was definitely worth the money. She had spent the last half hour crying and not a single black tear streak. She was able to dab her makeup and reapply some concealer no one would know she had just been dumped.

Well, not dumped exactly since they were dating but not dating apparently.

The worst part was Percy was right. If she had been brave enough to open her heart, she could’ve had him. He was right there, laying it all out in front of her. For fuck’s sake he wrote her a song! And she had ignored it.

She let him walk out of her life.

But she couldn’t dwell on it now. She had a graduation to attend.

In the weeks after, Annabeth threw herself into her new job. It was familiar, avoiding reality by letting work take over her life.

When Thalia updated her about Delphi, she nodded silently along and offered no comment. They were in California now. She pretended not to know exactly where they were when Thalia updated her but Annabeth had been stalking Delphi’s fan-run updates twitter.

Her roommates must’ve known something was wrong but they didn’t pry. At least, not yet. Annabeth had a pattern. Throwing herself into work, avoiding everyone while she sorted through her feelings/thoughts, and eventually making a plan.

Thalia and Leo knew interrupting that process only meant a fight. Annabeth would lash out. She worked better alone. She always had.

You don’t have to do everything alone. That’s what Percy had told her.

The day they made cookies together. She couldn’t remember how it had come up. But she had made it so she had to be alone. Annabeth couldn’t admit she needed someone. She needed Thalia. And Leo. And Jason. Piper was quickly becoming a good friend too. Unless she had ruined that too.

She needed Percy more than any of them. Every day she felt his absence. She’d want to turn to him and say something before remembering he wasn’t there. She couldn’t text him. She couldn’t see him. She couldn’t have him.

“Hey Annabeth?” Thalia asked, knocking on her closed bedroom door.

“Yeah? Come in.”

Thalia poked her head in. “Still working?”

Annabeth glanced at her open laptop. She did have some tabs that were work related but the one she was lingering on was personal.

“Yeah, just a little.”

“You realized you’re off the clock. Cmon, it’s Friday night. Join us for a movie.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, by the way, pizza’s here.”

Thalia left the door cracked so Annabeth could hear her roommate arguing over what movie to watch from the kitchen.

She looked back at the airline tickets she was browsing and before she could talk herself out of it, she booked herself a flight to Santa Cruz.

...

Percy tried to keep himself busy with their gigs, meet and greets before and after shows, sleeping whenever he could, and being on tour with his best friends.

Tonight they were in Santa Cruz. The venue they were playing was just a few blocks from the ocean. Percy had always loved the smell of salt water.

They were debuting a new song tonight. It hadn’t made it onto the E.P. and Percy hadn’t been ready to perform it live just yet. It hit too close to home.

He and Piper wrote it together on the tour bus. Somewhere between Sacramento and San Jose. Because he couldn’t stop thinking about how things ended with Annabeth.

Almost immediately, Jason and Piper had pulled the story out of him.

Percy knew he was mopey and not as excited for their tour as he should’ve been. He told them about hooking up with Annabeth, their fight, ending things, and still being a little in love with her.

He framed it as a little bit because they never really had a chance to start. Percy knew if given a real chance, it wouldn’t take long before he was head over heels. She was special.

“Maybe it’s not too late,” Piper said, hopeful.

“Not unless she changes her mind about wanting a relationship. I can’t make her commit.”

“She will,” Jason said, “it’s pretty obvious that she likes you.”

At this, Piper nodded.

“I’m sorry, you knew she liked me but not that we were hooking up?” Percy asked.

“Well, I knew it would happen eventually,” Jason replied.

“The tension was…” Piper searched for the right word.

“Electric?” Jason offered.

Writing the song had helped. He felt like it was a step forward. It helped to get his feelings down on paper. Having something physical made it real.

Piper stepped up to her microphone.

“This is a new one.” The crowd cheered. “While on this tour, Percy and I wrote it together.”

Piper: Maybe I’m better off A little taller now you’re gone

Percy remembered their last good day. They made dinner together. Annabeth had added too many breadcrumbs to the meatballs, he overcooked the pasta, but the garlic bread was perfectly toasted.

He wanted to reach across the table and grab her hand. Percy wished he had candles to light. He wanted to ask her if she felt like he did. This could be a date if they’d let themselves admit it.

After dinner, they sat on his couch flipping through their ‘to watch’ list on various streaming services. Percy doesn’t remember what they had settled on because Annabeth had snuggled herself into his side, tucked them both under a fuzzy blanket; he couldn’t remember a moment where he felt that happy.

Percy: Writing words and they don’t sting But they don’t mean half as much Without you listening

He had this dream of a future where he was playing guitar and jotting down song lyrics. The front door would swing open and Annabeth would come in from the cold. Her cheeks would be red and snowflakes caught in her blonde hair. She’d strip off her layers and knock the snow off her boots.

“Writing about me?” She’d joke.

“Always, you’re my muse.”

The apartment was theirs. She was his. He was hers.

Piper: The crying at the piano You’re like stood in the shadows When I try to soften my words Maybe we brought out the worst in each other A million full stops on our skin

The crowd used their flashlight to light up the room. Since they couldn’t sing along to this one, they were swaying to the rhythm.

Percy: But baby, the songs I wrote as your other Are the best I’ll ever sing Cause they all go ooh, ooh, ooh Like there was a choir in every line back then

He would’ve written hundreds of songs about her and he still might. They just wouldn’t have the happy ending Percy had hoped for.

Percy’s yellow legal pad was tucked away in his bunk on the bus. Pages scattered with miscellaneous lyrics. Nothing that fit together perfectly but maybe he’d be able to use them later on.

All of them about Annabeth. The more he wrote, the more he missed her. If he was forced to relive their best moments when he shut his eyes, Percy wanted to produce something useful from those memories.

Maybe singing them to crowds would help. Maybe eventually hearing those lyrics from his fans’ lips would change the sadness he felt writing them down.

Percy: I don’t see you at my shows Cause if you heard this It would cut too close Wish I could stop writing us God knows I’ve tried Every moment immortalized

[partisan-by-default]

The tribe, which is located in the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California, has been fighting for almost a decade to reintroduce their sacred salmon, the winter-run Chinook, to the McCloud River. For millennia, the tribe ensured the safe travel of the Chinook upstream to colder waters, so the fish could reproduce. They’d light fires at night along the river, as well as physically carry fish in baskets on foot if there were obstacles along the way.

Then came the Shasta Dam. Up until the 1930s, many Winnemem Wintu lived on the lands surrounding the McCloud River without legally owning it. Congress passed the Central Valley Project Indian Lands Acquisition Act to take whatever allotment lands tribal members owned in advance of the dam’s construction. The plan was to flood the immediate area to create a reservoir with the waters of the upper Sacramento, Pit, and McCloud Rivers. Tribal members were displaced, and hundreds of ancestral Winnemem Wintu villages, sacred sites, and burial grounds now sit underwater at the bottom of the reservoir.

The dam also blocked the salmon from being able to return to their spawning grounds, leading their population to decline. Climate change, the dam, and proposed changes to nearby estuaries now pose further threats to the endangered fish.

The tribe’s lack of federal recognition prevents it from having the same protections other nations do. As such, the Winnemem Wintu’s opportunities to return to unaffected portions of their land — now considered public lands or private property held by non-Indigenous peoples — are limited.

But today, on Indigenous Peoples’ Day no less, the tribe purchased 1,080 acres of their ancestral lands. More than $2 million in private donations were used to fund the sale. What was left over, as well as separate grant funding, will support the construction of an eco-village, which will marry Indigenous living traditions with future-forward land management practices.

[kananjarus]

WipWednesday

tagged by @rogerzsteven

This was such perfect timing, as I literally just went back and finished this chunk. I’ll share a long preview because I haven’t posted anything in two months, as a treat 💕

Morning came around quickly. Unused to waking up to sunlight in his eyes. His mind stuttered to life and focused on the foot not so gently nudging his own. 

Christopher sitting several feet away hugging a throw pillow from the couch and rubbing at his eyes. He’d slept on damp hair and now it stuck up funny in the back, frizzy loose curls that haloed in the sun. 

“You snore,” he said, scowling at Buck, who couldn’t get past the adorableness of it all. “And it’s loud.”

He apologized in the form of pancakes, sweetened by syrup and frozen blueberries. Buck made a pot of coffee and vowed to drink the entire thing. Already he looked at their situation as something fleeting, even if he couldn’t understand it. 

“We should just stay here,” Chris said, smacking his lips and licking the syrup off of them. This was the most content he’d appeared to be in a while. 

Cupping his warm mug, Buck contemplated this. The idea was far too inviting. 

“No, we can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's probably not safe.”

“But why?”

Because I don’t think I can protect you. He couldn’t say that part out loud. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to fight or defend himself. He absolutely did. The only doubt centered around this: Could I hurt someone else if I had to? Could I do worse?

“Listen,” Buck said, swallowing down a roll of nausea and leaning in close. “I know having electricity again is like, the best thing in the world right now, but we don’t know what else is out there.” The city at large. A vast, empty world. Unbidden visions of the airplane from Day Fifteen. Reports of uncontrollable violence in the bigger cities, able to continue unchecked after the center of it had fallen out. But was there anyone left?

What if it's just LA?

The absence of the internet told him otherwise. 

Buck got up and put their empty plates in the sink. Old habits. Why bother washing anything if they were just going to leave? Still, he lifted the tap to let the water rinse away the stray bits of food from their breakfast. Amazingly, the water came out clear and strong. Buck stood, mesmerized for a long second. Then, an epiphany. 

“Oh,” he said, and had to resist the urge to smack his own forehead with the heel of his hand. “Hydropower. Duh.”

Chris swiveled in his seat, sensing his excitement. “What?”

“The electricity, the water, that’s what’s keeping it all going.” The instantaneous urge to pull up a map on his phone. Crossing the kitchen, Buck rummaged around in his backpack and pulled it out anyway. There was a tangle of white cords on the counter, and he plugged it in, waiting for it to light up and begin charging, which it did. His heart leapt at the reappearance of light. “A good chunk of Southern California is powered by hydropower. The Hoover Dam. There’s another one, up towards Sacramento, I think…” 

He was borderline rambling now, while Christopher only blinked at him. 

“You know what a dam is right?”

The boy nodded. “So…will it keep the power on forever?”

That was a good question. “I don’t know…as long as there’s enough water, maybe.” He’d once seen a documentary on the greatest engineering marvels of the world, and the Hoover Dam had been heavily featured. If only now he could remember the details. “But there has to be people to maintain it.”

Christopher sat and thought on this while Buck rummaged through the cabinets, finding stuff to take with them. One held tupperware and reusable water bottles. He gathered all of the bottles and began to fill them from the sink.

“Well…what if someone is?”

Buck had to pause and backtrack to the last part of the conversation. He chose his words carefully. “That’s… probably not likely.”

But Chris had already taken the idea and was running with it, practically bouncing in his seat. “We should go and see!”

“Las Vegas is hours away,” he said, noncommittally. “There’s like, a thousand miles of desert and mountains between here and there. It’s not safe.”

Probably. He didn’t know. But were they any better off here in the city? He would be using that excuse for years down the line. 

Buck was facing the table when he saw Christopher’s shoulders sag in defeat and start picking at the frayed tablecloth. He suddenly felt inexplicably guilty and his heart ached for the boy. Bringing a bottle of water with him, he sat back down so that they could look at each other. 

“So, where do we go now?” Chris asked him, sounding lost.

“Where do you want to go?”

He looked up in surprise, his dark eyes going round like marbles. “You want me to pick? Why?”

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Buck shifted. “You should get to have a say in what we do. I mean, it wasn’t really your choice to be here in the first place.” 

Stuck with me, taken from your dad. Buck picked up his coffee mug again. Put it down in front of him, fingers twitching on the porcelain. 

“You get a vote, that’s all I’m saying,” he finished with his eyes cast down. “So pick.”

The answer came quicker than Buck was expecting. “I want to go home.”

He should have foreseen this, somehow. Picking out his words one by one, he stammered, “That’s - that’s on the other side of the city.” But Christopher was looking at him, eagerly and in defiance. Buck didn’t shrink back, instead hunching forward slightly so it was easier for their eyes to be on the same level.

“Chris, y-you know, right? W-what we might find there?” 

That determined look wavered only slightly. He swallowed once before nodding. 

“Alright,” Buck said. He didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to break Christopher’s trust by taking back what he said. “But we gotta lay down some ground rules first, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great. When we get there, I go in first, and you stay in the car until I say otherwise. Good so far?”

Chris nodded again.

“And if -�� If there’s a body. “If your dad is in there, then I’m not letting you come inside.”

At this, Christopher pulled his bottom lip in and bit down on it, suddenly looking unsure. Hand to shoulder, Buck made a clumsy attempt at tender reassurance. 

Buck tried to keep his voice as gentle as possible. “That’s why you want to go back there, right? To see if he’s…” There was no way Buck was finishing that sentence.

For a while, no one said anything at all. The kitchen had a clock somewhere and its soft ticking filled the silence. That and the hum of the central air unit through the vent above the fridge. After going so long without these daily noises, now Buck felt aware of every minute of sound. 

“There’s a picture on a table next to the couch,” Christopher whispered in a small voice, answering Buck’s question without addressing it at all. “My mom and dad. I just want a picture.”

“I can grab it for you,” Buck told him. “And maybe some clothes?”

“Yeah.” He was looking more assured, putting on a brave face. “Sounds good.”

“Okay.” Buck resisted the urge to pull him into his embrace. Christopher suddenly looked so fragile. 

tagging ummmmm @ajunerose @mellaithwen @ashavahishta

[beardedmrbean]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will provide 100% of the water requested by cities and farms for the first time in years thanks to winter storms that filled reservoirs and runoff from a record snowpack, regulators announced Thursday.

The State Water Project will provide full allocations to 29 water agencies supplying about 27 million customers and 750,000 acres of farmland, the Department of Water Resources said.

As late as March, the agency was only expecting to provide 75% of requested water supplies.

The last time the state agency fully met water requests was in 2006.

Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced it was increasing water allocations for the Central Valley Project to 100% for the first time since 2017.

The move was cheered by contractors who supply the federal water to the state's agricultural heartland. It will provide much-needed water to communities, farms and families in the San Joaquin Valley, said a statement from Jose Gutierrez, interim general manager of Westlands Water District.

"Following two years of 0% allocations, this water supply will assist growers in Westlands with putting the land to work to grow the food that feeds the world,” he said.

Both the state and federal governments control networks of reservoirs and canals that supply water across California.

Three years of drought had pinched off supplies drastically in the nation’s most populous state. Late last year, nearly all of California was in drought, including at extreme and exceptional levels. Wells ran dry, farmers fallowed fields, and cities restricted watering grass.

The water picture changed dramatically starting in December, when the first of a dozen “ atmospheric rivers ” hit, causing widespread flooding and damaging homes and infrastructure, and dumping as many as 700 inches (17.8 meters) of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The statewide reservoir storage on Thursday was at 105% of the average for the date, the Department of Water Resources said.

The runoff from the melting snow will supply additional water that the state agency said it is working to capture.

As of this week, more than 65% of California no longer had drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

However, the Department of Water Resources urged people to continue using water cautiously. State officials have warned that in the era of climate change, one extremely wet year could be followed by several dry years, returning the state to drought.

The state water agency noted that some northern areas of the state still have water supply issues. In addition, some areas, including the agricultural Central Valley, are still recovering after years of pumping that has depleted underground water.

“Millions of Californians rely on groundwater supplies as a sole source of water," the agency warned.

“The Colorado River Basin, which is a critical water supply source for Southern California, is still in the midst of a 23-year drought,” the agency added. “Californians should continue to use water wisely to help the state adapt to a hotter, drier future.”

[putah-creek]

Today I want to tell you about a book I have come to admire. “Desert” – Poems by David Hilton. Hilton practices Ch-an (Japanese: Zen), which he defines as being an extended form of Taoism. He has a prose book on that,”China Root: Taoism, Ch'an, and Original Zen,” which I mention here as his Ch’an practice directly influences these marvelous poems.

From ‘Desert’​ Morning light comes. I gaze into planetary shadow deep as blindness, and morning

light gradually comes, elemental

forms too: desert, mountain, sky. Morning light comes

and sight precisely as it did through its long slow beginnings, opening this world

inside us: planetary desert, mountain, sky when

there were no words, no words for any of this. ​ ​—-​​ It’s the least possible hope: food, water, shelter. Human

history begins there, and I

never leave those beginnings really, wander at home there, touching the possibilities of

less. ​ ​—-​

I wake somewhere deep inside the blazing

cascade of star generations. It’s early

spring, morning air cool, sun warm. I linger out breakfast, walk, mirror

sky. The usual things. Life seems so simple sometimes. Who’d suspect this is how it happens, how that

cascade of fire rips day by day through

me, licking its wounds?

—-

Outstanding, to me. I'd like to capture the Sacramento Valley half as well as he does here with the desert. Hinton lives in Vermont, near Green Mountain, I expected to find in his bio that it was Joshua Tree or Palm Springs. Perhaps the gentleman spent some time there, for the poetry has a Joshua Tree feel to it. Maybe I just miss Joshua Tree. It’s been years since I went there, and I love it there.

Let me give you a couple helpful links.

David Hinton’s bio on the Shambhala publication site.

You can also order this book and others by Hinton. Let the profits stay with the poet and publisher. Why give Amazon a cut?

Hinton’s page on the Words Without Borders site. 

Like Shambala, these are good folks, right Ma? You betcha.

Desert. Wonderful poems, very engaging for me, as Mr Hinton paints images with language that flows, at times easy like a stream or brook, and other times with the strength of a desert flash flood. Enough said.

Thanks for your support. The Poetry Zendo blog posts once a day, usually before 7 AM Pacific time, and the link is posted on various social media. I also usually re-post a couple of the old ones during the day. Right now, those re-posts are from 10 months ago. My working theory is nobody sees them all, so I give it a chance to reach people.

More people log on every week, and if I reach the numbers my old blog (Pablo) was getting, I’ll go back to just posting a day. Why didn’t I just keep that old blog? Maybe it’s time to get my cognitive ability tested. Again. Of course, maybe I’m just not bright, as my Pop often said. Very often.

Oh, yes. 

James

[thechembow]

Culmination of Eight Years of Orgonite Gifting in the West

Dec. 26, 2022

I rarely post more than just the next day’s precipitation forecast or the 7 day total, but here is every day for the next week, and as you can see, California is in a terrible drought... a DOR drought that is. Orgone conditions will be extremely high, and after a little unseasonably warm weather and over a week of DORish conditions, everything is flipping again, and to an extreme we have not seen before.

The object of gifting Salt Lake City this past summer was to neutralize a major blockage to the jet stream in a strategic location for bringing in winter storms. Now, instead of interruptions to the natural west to east flow, we have a perfect restored jet stream, which is bringing in more equalized precipitation for everyone. This is the end of deserts on earth. The unnatural conditions which caused deserts are being corrected.

The rest of the continent received record breaking snow over the past week, which is also connected with the neutralization of weather weaponry (cell tower grid) in the west. Since our weather comes from the west, we are systematically disabling the arrays from west to east (and also because we began where we lived in Los Angeles in 2014). This blog has been a chronicle of these many years of work and the many places we’ve gifted in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

We could not have done it without your support. We have devoted our lives to making orgonite and traveling from city to city, gridding street by street with orgonite to neutralize the DOR grid on a grand scale. We are entering our 9th year of orgonite gifting and our plans to continue eastward will bring us to Colorado soon (I placed a few in Boulder when I spoke with George Noory on Gaiam TV in 2015).

The massive rain coming to the west coast will break records and will be unprecedented. The Sierras will see over 8 feet of snow in the next week. Most of California will receive upwards of 5 inches of rain. Any hopes the parasites have to continue the lie that we are having a drought will be destroyed by the astronomical amounts of water that are about to fall from the sky. We are actually already above average for rainfall in California this season (they start measuring the year’s precipitation on Oct. 1 for some reason).

This winter season is already set to break the previous record for wettest winter for the entire continental US set in the winter of 2018-2019, which happened after our biggest gifting year of 2018. In January of 2018, we gifted Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo (complete grid) following the Thomas Fire, Santa Rosa (following the weird fires which wiped out whole neighborhoods) as well as more work in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, including the top of Mt. Tamalpais. We gridded San Diego and surrounding cities to completion in June of 2018, and then went on to Oregon and Washington in July (we had already done a huge gifting in Oregon in 2016, and this time we covered Seattle and Tacoma as well). In August, we gifted in Arizona and New Mexico, and then we rested, doing a little more local gifting, and allowed the record breaking weather to roll in. That was our biggest year, but we have done a ton of projects before that and since then, including Fresno and Silicon Valley in 2019, and Phoenix and Sacramento in 2021.

Our gifting since 2018 has been systematic and strategic. We are only getting stronger. Storms this season are already breaking records across the continent. I’m excited to see what 2023 will bring for us and how the parasites will react. I predict that the winter of 2022-2023 will shatter the previous record four years ago, making it the wettest winter ever in recorded history.