A Good LGBTQ Mystery: The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon

I've read several of Josh Lanyon's LGBTQ mysteries and have enjoyed every one of them. Josh (which is a pen name for the straight married woman who writes gay fiction) is an amazing author. The Ghost Who Wore Yellow Socks immediately brings you into the mystery with a 23-year-old gay artist named Perry, returning 1 week early from a trip to his apartment in a boarding house, only to find a corpse in his bathtub. The mystery deepens when the body disappears after he flees for help. The characters are interesting, particularly Nick, an ex-Navy Seal who lives on another floor. The boarding house is filled with eccentric characters, each with their own strange background stories.  Plus, there is some romance. It will keep you reading as it did to me! 5 Stars! 

(Photo: New cover) 

ABOUT THE BOOK: The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks by Josh Lanyon

SUMMARY: His romantic weekend in ruins, shy twenty-something artist Perry Foster

learns that things can always get worse when he returns home from San Francisco to find a dead body in his bathtub. A dead body in a very ugly sportscoat -- and matching socks. 

(Right: Older cover) 

The dead man is a stranger to Perry, but that's not much of a comfort; how did a strange dead man get in a locked flat at the isolated Alston Estate in the wilds of the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont? Perry turns to help from "tall, dark and hostile" former navy SEAL Nick Reno -- but is Reno all that he seems?

HISTORY: President Lincoln pardoned his sister‑in‑law

 History is fascinating and we should learn from it, however, it's apparent from the recent Presidential election that 50% of Americans have little knowledge of history and will suffer for it. That said, today's History lesson is courtesy of History Com, about when President Lincoln pardoned his sister‑in‑law.

Emilie Pariet Todd Helm (1836-1930)

University of Kentucky

HISTORY: President Lincoln pardoned his sister‑in‑law

On Dec. 14, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced a grant of amnesty for Emilie Todd Helm, his wife Mary Lincoln’s half-sister and the widow of a Confederate general. The pardon was one of the first under Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which he had announced less than a week before.

The plan, the president’s blueprint for the reintegration of the South into the Union, allowed for former Confederates to be granted amnesty if they took an oath to the United States. The option was open to all but the highest officials of the Confederacy. Lincoln's sister-in-law received the pardon, but never took the required oath.

Emilie Todd Helm was the wife of Benjamin Helm, who, like the Lincolns, was a Kentucky native. The president was said to be an admirer of Helm, a West Point and Harvard graduate. Lincoln had offered Helm a position in the U.S. Army, but Helm opted to join the Confederates instead. Helm led a group of Kentuckians known as the Orphan Brigade, since they could not return to their Union-held native state during the war. Helm was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863.

(Photo: Emilie's husband, Benjamin Hardin Helm (1831 - 1863) Credit: University of Kentucky)

After her husband’s death, Helm made her way through Union lines to Washington, D.C. She stayed in the White House and the Lincolns tried to keep her visit a secret. General Daniel Sickles, who had been wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, five months prior, told Lincoln that he should not have a Rebel in his house. Lincoln replied, “General Sickles, my wife and I are in the habit of choosing our own guests. We do not need from our friends either advice or assistance in the matter.” After Lincoln granted her pardon, Emilie Helm returned to Kentucky.

How to Train Your Dog Not to Bark!

Dachshunds LOVE to bark. We have 3, so especially around dinner and treat time, they go crazy. They also like to bark at other dogs! Today's blog is from Chewy Com about how to train your dogs not to bark. We're going to give it a try!

  How to Train Your Dog Not to Bark!

  CHEWY.com Dec. 5, 2024

Teach “Hush” Training solution: helpful for territorial barkers and alarm barkers, as well as some excitement and play barkers.

Teaching “hush” can short-circuit a dedicated barker.

Follow these simple steps to help train your dog to stop barking:

Walk up to your dog while he’s barking with a high-value treat in your fist. Place your hand in front of his nose so that he can smell the treat but can’t get to it. Your dog will likely stop barking to sniff the goody, and once he’s quiet say “hush” (you’re “naming” the silence). Toss the treat a few steps away from him. Repeat the process until you can just say “hush”’ without needing the hand prompt in front of his nose, and then give him a treat.

Gradually ask your dog to do more in order to get the treat, like coming to you and waiting quietly. (This is the technique that I’ve used with my dogs, and they often police themselves; if one dog barks the other runs to me to get a treat for remaining quiet.)

(Photo: Barking at "3 Treat time" with guests Roxi and Myrtle) 

Ignore the Barking 

Management and training solution: helpful for attention-seeking barking, play barking, excitement barking and frustration barking.

What’s the secret ingredient that many barkers want? Your attention! Barkers who are trying to get a reaction from you, whether it’s to get you to throw the ball or hurry up and serve dinner, are looking for some sort of acknowledgement from you when they bark.

You can help your dog understand that barking doesn’t work. By doing the opposite of what your dog wants when they bark, you can train your dog to stop barking for attention:

Turn away, walk out of the room, drop the ball or put the leash down. Wait for a moment of quiet, or a calm. Sit, and then pay attention to your dog. With consistency, your dog will bark less because they understand that quiet works and barking doesn’t.

(Photo: Tyler, Dash and Cody getting a forest walk!) 

Add More Exercise 

Management and training solution: helpful for all barkers.

Nearly every dog can benefit from more exercise, both mental and physical. A dog who has had a good workout will be less likely to be on alert for perceived interlopers or feel the need to pester you for attention.

Take the time to wear your dog out every day with a game of fetch or tug, and get their brain activated by introducing mind-teasers like “find the toy” and hide-and-seek. Remember, a tired dog is a quiet dog!

New Podcast! The Witching Hours w/Rob on Pets, Ireland, Tombstone

 It's a New Podcast! The Witching Hours w/Rob on Pets, Ireland, Tombstone

Rob joined Frosty and Jenny on the Witching Hours Podcast and talked Pet Spirits, Ghosts of Ireland, and Ghosts of the Bird Cage Theatre!

Frosty and Jenny wrote:  We enjoyed the conversation as well and would love to have you on the show again in the future. 

 We had a comment from a listener I wanted to pass along: "I lurk a lot, y’all know. But man I REALLY LOVED last night's show. Rob was really awesome to listen to and what he said resonates so much. Thanks for finding and sharing such an awesome person!"

WATCH ON YOUTUBE or LISTEN ON SPOTIFY BELOW! 

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/sLwIhk3PNf8?si=CDUFVGie2ViPSpFN

Spotify https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/thewitchinghours/episodes/TWH-Episode-88-Rob-Gutro-e2tbc66 

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DISCOVERY! Construction crew unearths 1,375-year-old pyramid in Mexico!

In Mexico, construction crews who were building a new highway uncovered a pyramid that dates back 1,375 years. Specialists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Hidalgo, investigated the remains of a pyramidal base associated with the Metzca lordship, which settled in the Sierra Alta of Hidalgo in the Epiclassic (650-950 AD) and Late Postclassic (1350-1519 AD) periods. Here's the story.

 

(Photo: In Hidalgo, the INAH preserves archaeological remains found during road construction. Photo: CINAH Hidalgo.) 

Construction crew unearths 1,375-year-old pyramid on Mexico’s future highway 

A 1,375-year-old pyramid unexpectedly discovered on a future highway in Mexico belongs to a pre-hispanic kingdom, a first.

Dec 10, 2024 Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering

Construction crew unearths 1,375-year-old pyramid on Mexico’s future highway The 1,375 Metzca pyramid.

Road construction came to an emergency halt in Hidalgo region in Mexico when workers uncovered a pyramid.

The amazing find can also shed new light on early human occupation in the region – where evidence of settlement has been traced back to roughly 14,000 years.

Under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Hidalgo, Mexico, rushed to the discovery site this June when the foundation of the 1,375-year-old pyramid surfaced unexpectedly on the third lane of a future highway.

According to a December 5 announcement, INAH archaeologists rapidly began excavating “Structure 1″ to learn more about its origins.

They discovered, along with hundreds of artifacts, that it belonged to a pre-Hispanic settlement attached to an indigenous kingdom that predated the arrival of the Spanish.

The preliminary results of the “exhaustive research” have been shared with various educational institutions to continue raising awareness about the region’s archaeological heritage.

However, due to a lack of resources, the pyramid has been reburied to keep it protected from damage that could occur. Still, the data and material from the site will contribute to the preservation of Mexico’s rich indigenous history.

A Metzca pyramid attached to the indigenous kingdom of Metztitlan 

After the pyramid appeared in June 2024, archaeologists conducted a thorough survey of the monument and surrounding area with the assistance of drone technology.

Upon closer investigation, it soon became clear that the sole pyramid was attached to a much larger and significant site. They identified five sections and 10 archaeological mounds, at least.

Additionally, 155 samples of ceramic, malacological, and lithic materials have been collected, from floors of lime, coal, earth, and charred wood, which will undergo further analysis in the upcoming months.

The impressive settlement, according to INAH archaeologists, most likely dates between the Epiclassic period (650 to 950 CE) and the Late Postclassic period (1350 to 1519 CE).

The site called San Miguel, named after the nearby town of San Miguel Metzquititlán was once Metztitlan, a pre-Hispanic kingdom, as per Gizmodo, which managed to stay independent even from Aztec control.

Their “multiethnic imprint,” INAH states, remained visible up until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century “when the Augustinian order began the construction of various hermitages, churches, and convents there.”

“There were no known remnants of pre-Hispanic civilizations in this immediate area prior to the San Miguel site discovery,” Héctor Labra Chávez, the Secretary of Tourism of San Agustín Metzquititlán, was quoted as saying in Popular Science.

The Metzca pyramid was reburied

Nestled in a nature reserve in the Sierra Alta, the archaeological treasure from Mexico’s pre-Spanish past should equally be preserved and protected as part of Mexico’s untouchable landscape. However, they had to rebury the pyramid, as they cannot properly manage the site at this time, Gizmodo reports.

Measures were taken, INAH explains. 

Prior to its return to an underground existence, they protected the structures with geotextile and built a rock masonry wall running parallel to the archaeological structure for conservation purposes.

The data generated, all the same, “will contribute to the understanding of human occupation in the Sierra Alta region of Hidalgo, specifically in the Barranca de Metztitlán area, where, according to historiography, the first settlements date back at least 14,000 years,” INAH stated in the release.

Toured the Historic Biddeford Mills, Part 1: Biddeford History

Today's local blog is about an historic mill! We took a tour of the historic Biddeford textile mills in Biddeford, Maine, and this is part one of a multi-part blog about the town, the mills and the history behind it. "The Biddeford–Saco Mills Historic District," encompasses the historic mill complex that flanks both sides of the Saco River in Biddeford and Saco, Maine.

HOW DID BIDDEFORD GET ITS NAME? - English settlers named the area Saco, a contraction of the name of the river then known as Sawcotuck. By 1653 the town was incorporated, but in 1688, during King Philip's War, Saco was destroyed by Indians. It was rebuilt and renamed Biddeford in 1719, after Bideford, England.

FUN FACT ABOUT BIDDEFORD, MAINE - First visited by Europeans in 1616, it is the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the United States.

MILL HISTORY- In 1826 the first textile mill was built on the island. The oldest building in the mill complex was built in 1832-33 by the York Manufacturing Company. From this beginning the industrial growth of the area proceeded, occupying the entire island and a large adjacent area on the Biddeford shore.

WHAT IS THE RIVER THAT POWERED BIDDEFORD MILLS? - The neighboring cities of Biddeford and Saco were once industrial giants. The Saco River, which flows between the cities, powered enormous brick mills – including the largest cotton mill ever built in America.

THE BIDDEFORD MILLS MUSEUM- This collection reflects the lives and labors of proud people who worked in and around Biddeford's textile industry. Over the years, the mills employed thousands of people from more than 25 countries and sold products as far away as China. Production began in Biddeford before combustion engines and continued into the computer age.

NEXT MONDAY: A Walk Through Mill History 

Idiots of the Week: Universities Paying a Coaches Millions a Year

This week's Idiots are Universities who pay coaches ridiculous salaries and the coaches who accept them with no consideration of the affordability of schools to students. So many people are trying to afford college and there's a big reason why they can't - Sports Coach Salaries. Recently, Bill Belichick was hired by the University North Carolina at a salary of $50 MILLION a year! Isn't $500,000 enough? WTH? Besides, he's 72. Why does he need that ridiculous amount of money at his age? I don't care how "great" he is (yeah, I know he coached Superbowl winners 6 times). $50 million is ridiculous. - If he cared about the University, OR had one tiny ounce of consideration for the affordability of colleges, he would say "That's ridiculous." But he, like many other College coaches, don't care about students. It's GREED. Isn't there any way to convince Universities to stop paying these ridiculous salaries and make school affordable again?

Here are excerpts from the Boston Globe story  

Bill Belichick joining UNC wasn’t a surprising choice. It was his only choice. 

“College kind of came to me. I didn’t necessarily seek it out.” 

By Conor Ryan, Boston . Com Dec. 13, 2024

After spending nearly half a century patrolling NFL sidelines, the 72-year-old Belichick is moving on from the league he once reigned over in search of an exciting new challenge.

“I always wanted to coach in college football,” Belichick told reporters. “It just never really worked out. I had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK. This is really kind of a dream come true.”

(Image; Outrageous college coach salaries 10 YEARS AGO in 2014! Credit: Business Insider)
Sitting just 15 wins away from the NFL’s all-time coaching wins record, immersing himself in an evolving collegiate environment with NIL and the transfer portal was probably far from the priority for Belichick entering 2025.

For a football mind fixated on the results, surpassing Don Shula’s 347 career victories stood as one of the few peaks that Belichick has yet to summit.

But with no NFL team opting to toss him a rope, Belichick relented — traversing the safer path at the collegiate level.

Good Stuff!! Today is Rob's NH BIG BOOK SIGNING EVENT!

 There's no hero of the week, but for me this is Good News of the week. TODAY, Saturday, January 11th, is the date of my big book signing event in Nashua, New Hampshire.  If you live in New England, please consider coming to this free event from 6-9pm in an historic old Library, that happens to be haunted. 

DETAILS:   Open to the public! Book Launch and Signing for "Haunting of Emery Estate" the new book by Rob Gutro and Monique Toosoon. This book hit #1 on Amazon pre-orders in 2 categories.  Enjoy wine, champagne, and delectable finger foods as you meet the authors, hear behind-the-scenes stories, and get your book signed. Bring your own copy or purchase one at the event—this part of the evening is completely FREE!

WHERE:/WHEN: Hunt Memorial Library, 6 Main Street, Nashua, NH 6-9pm ET , Saturday, January 11, 2025  

Afterward at 9:30pm, there will be a (SOLD OUT) ticketed public Paranormal Investigation of the Hunt Memorial Building! 

Good Mystery from the 1990s! This Dog for Hire by Carol Lea Benjamin

 I recently read a dog-oriented mystery book called "This Dog for Hire" by Carol Lea Benjamin. It's about a 30-something woman who decided to be a private investigator with her pitbull named "Dash" (since we have a dog named "Dash," the book was irresistible to me). Today's blog is about the book and how I felt about it.

MY TAKE - The storyline is about a gay artist who is killed by a hit-and-run driver. The detective, Rachel, and her dog, are hired by the artist's friend to find out who killed him and if there was something nefarious about his killing, because his award-winning dog was also missing. The story explores potential suspects and reveals different reasons why the dog went missing and who would kill the artist. About 2/3rds of the way into it, the reader is thrown a major twist, changing the direction of the investigation.  You can tell that the story takes place in the 1990s because it involves an "answering machine tape" that becomes part of the investigation. So, keep that in mind! It's a good story, and once I got to the twist, then I was hooked. 

ABOUT THE BOOK: She gets top billing.  But he's the real teeth of the operation.  In the search for a killer, they make the perfect team....

She's thirty-eight, too independent for most men's taste, and too suspicious for her own good.  In her back-alley Greenwich Village cottage, private investigator Rachel Alexander has one ace in the hole: Dash, the devoted, barrel-chested pit bull terrier she once saved from certain death, and who is now about to return the favor.

Dash and Rachel are looking for a missing barkless champion basenji named Magritte, and for a killer.  The basenji belonged to a struggling artist found dead on a downtown pier near a sign that said "don't be caught alone."  As Rachel pursues a string of clues that take her from the SoHo art scene to the world of Manhattan's homeless to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, those words echo in her mind.  For in an urban landscape where good friends are hard to come by and true lovers even harder, Rachel soon discovers how dangerous it can be to trust the wrong person.  Unless, of course, that person is a dog...

HISTORY: Japanese Americans Were Forced Into Concentration Camps During WWII

I've started doing themes for each day on this blog. Mondays are for local things we've experienced. Fridays are for book reviews for books I've read, and Thursdays seem to be the day for history posts. It's critical we remember history so we can learn from past mistakes (sadly, Americans have short memories). Today's blog is a reminder of what happened to Japanese Americans during World War 2. We should never forget this and never do it again.

(Photo: 

The Tule Lake Isolation Center in California in 1945. 

(Jack and Peggy Iwata / Japanese American National Museum)  

Flashback: How Japanese Americans Were Forced Into Concentration Camps During WWII

HISTORY. COM, Dec 18, 2024 

 On February 19, 1942, 10 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area.

By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly moved to remote prison camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.

During the course of World War II, 10 Americans were convicted of spying for Japan, but not one of them was of Japanese ancestry.

During World War II, U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issues Public Proclamation No. 21, declaring that, effective January 2, 1945, Japanese American “evacuees” from the West Coast could return to their homes.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recompense each surviving internee with a tax-free check for $20,000 and an apology from the U.S. government.

Wow! 132-year-old message in a bottle uncovered at Scottish lighthouse

Whenever you renovate an old building or house, you never know what you'll find. In Scotland as a lighthouse from 1815 was being worked on, there was a bottle in a wall with a note identifying people who worked on it and some keepers' names. Here's the story. 

132-year-old message in a bottle uncovered at Scottish lighthouse 

By Ben Hooper UPI Odd Newsletter , Nov. 25 (UPI) 

An engineer conducting an inspection at a 209-year-old Scottish lighthouse discovered a message in a bottle dating back 132 years.

Ross Russell, a Northern Lighthouse Board mechanical engineer, removed some panels in a cupboard at Corsewall Lighthouse, located at the northern tip of the Rhins of Galloway, and spotted a bottle hidden inside the wall.

(Photos: The bottle has an unusual rounded bottom and its cork was secured by wire which had rusted. Credit: BBC News/Ross Russell)

Russell and his team used some rope and a broom handle to fish the bottle out of its hiding place and opened it with the current lighthouse keeper, Barry Miller.

The team said the cork was stuck in place and had to be carefully removed using a drill.

"We all swore ourselves to silence if it was a treasure map," Miller joked to The New York Times.

Inside was a note dated Sept. 4, 1892, bearing the names of three engineers who had installed a light at the top of the 100-foot lighthouse as well as the names of three lighthouse keepers.

"It was so exciting, it was like meeting our colleagues from the past. It was actually like them being there," Miller told BBC News Scotland. "It was like touching them. Like them being part of our team instead of just four of us being there, we were all there sharing what they had written because it was tangible and you could see the style of their handwriting."

VIDEO REPORT: https://youtu.be/V9j2Oz9K6Hc?si=YCzrgXmL0LCpJoU5

"You knew what they had done. You knew they had hidden it in such a place it wouldn't be found for a long, long time," he said.

The note reads: "This lantern was erected by James Wells Engineer, John Westwood Millwright, James Brodie Engineer, David Scott Labourer, of the firm of James Milne & Son Engineers, Milton House Works, Edinburgh, during the months from May to September and relighted on Thursday night 15th Sept 1892.

"The following being keepers at the station at this time, John Wilson Principal, John B Henderson 1st assistant, John Lockhart 2nd assistant.

"The lens and machine being supplied by James Dove &Co Engineers Greenside Edinburgh and erected by William Burness, John Harrower, James Dods. Engineers with the above firm."

Russell said he and his team would put the bottle back into its hiding place along with a message of their own. "It was just a strange coincidence to find the note while working on the equipment described on the note," he said.

New Podcasts! Parts 1&2 (30 mins. each) - The Grave Talks: Rob & Monique: Love, Acceptance, and The Spirit World

New Podcast! Parts 1&2 (30 mins. each) - The Grave Talks: Love, Acceptance, and The Spirit World Today on The Grave Talks, a conversation that's as entertaining as it is enlightening, where the veil between worlds is lifted with a dash of glamour and a whole lot of heart with our guests Rob Gutro and Monique TooSoon.

 Rob and Monique met over a pet reading, which soon blossomed into a friendship filled with ghostly adventures. Monique shares her experiences of ghost hunting in drag—a bold choice that not only turns heads but also stirs up spirited reactions from the other side. Rob is a psychic medium who delves into the emotional world of pet mediumship, revealing how our beloved pets can communicate from beyond. Together, they explore the energies of haunted locations, the innocence of child spirits drawn to Monique's big heart, and the profound lessons they've learned from the afterlife.

LISTEN TO PART 1: https://audioboom.com/posts/8616621-love-acceptance-and-the-spirit-world-part-one-guests-rob-gutro-and-monique-toosoon

LISTEN TO PART 2: https://audioboom.com/posts/8616622-love-acceptance-and-the-spirit-world-part-two-guests-rob-gutro-and-monique-toosoon