The Alphabet Challenge: “W” Story No. 2 of 3 — “The Weatherman”

This is the 23rd round of The Alphabet Challenge mentioned in THIS<<link post. As a refresher, the Broxson twins, Gary and Perry, and I will each write one story for each letter of the alphabet. Meaning, a story whose title begins with the given letter. For this round, it’s the letter “W“.

Readers have two weeks from the date of publication to vote for their favorite story in the current round. Points will be assigned to each writer based on total votes received.

In each round, the story with the most votes gets three points. Second place gets two points, third place gets one point. In the case of a tie, the points for the tied rankings are added and then split equally among the writers who tied. At the end of the year, we tally up and crown the winner with the most points.

Long or short, each story will appear on its own post and the trio will be followed by a fourth post where readers can vote.

The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

Here we go. Presented anonymously, the second of three stories with titles beginning with the letter “W” as submitted by its author.

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The Alphabet Challenge: “W” Story No. 3 of 3 — “Wild Things”

This is the 23rd round of The Alphabet Challenge mentioned in THIS<<link post. As a refresher, the Broxson twins, Gary and Perry, and I will each write one story for each letter of the alphabet. Meaning, a story whose title begins with the given letter. For this round, it’s the letter “W“.

Readers have two weeks from the date of publication to vote for their favorite story in the current round. Points will be assigned to each writer based on total votes received.

In each round, the story with the most votes gets three points. Second place gets two points, third place gets one point. In the case of a tie, the points for the tied rankings are added and then split equally among the writers who tied. At the end of the year, we tally up and crown the winner with the most points.

The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the PG-rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Some readers might find a few of the stories disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, and if so, stop reading and move on.

Long or short, each story will appear on its own post and the trio will be followed by a fourth post where readers can vote.

Here we go. Presented anonymously, the third of three stories with titles beginning with the letter “W” as submitted by its author.

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Goodbye Twitter and Facebook

If there’s a social platform with any traction, I usually have an account on it (whether I use it or not) . . . which means I have both a Facebook and a Twitter account . . . which I will cease using.

Mind you, I won’t erase the accounts for the same reasons I got them in the first place — they lock down my identity on those platforms — but anyone following me should understand that  I won’t be logging on or checking my feed on either platform. And, this will be the last post on them. I won’t even read responses to it because the notifications will be turned off.

“Big whip!” some say, “Good riddance!” others add.

Some might ask “Why?” Let me tell you.

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Disperser Tracks 2020 — The Content: Third Quarter

The Alphabet Challenge<<link stories and the reminders to vote once again made up the bulk of posts for July, August, and September. Note: that search result is just for the stories (in reverse order). If you want the results, click this LINK.

By July, I had (mostly) shaken my habit of mentioning COVID-19 and concentrated on writing reminders to vote for stories. It wasn’t until the middle of the month that I wrote something else . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Again, I’ll begin with photos . . . 

This masked opportunist gave me the first set of photos of the Third Quarter. Side note: you can use the calendar option on the sidebar to see all of the posts for a given month or individual dates.  

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Monochrome and blog stuff

I’m I was on a 186-day streak . . . meaning I’d posted at least one post per day for 186 days. It’s not my longest effort, but it’s still significant.

Again, a lot of the posts had to do with The Alphabet Challenge. Still, 2020 saw me put up 414 posts . . . which had an average of 7 comments per post (2,809 total comments, although at least half of those are mine since I answer every comment).

I’ll explain the monochrome part in a moment.

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Preview of Future Past and blog stuff

The name might seem odd to new subscribers, but the title will make sense to long-time subscribers because I’ve done one of these before . . . this is a post about future posts that will show past stuff.

I mentioned in the last post that I aim to change (reduce) the number of ‘reminder to vote’ posts. I also aim to reduce the number of blogs I subscribe to.  That process will be painful, but many of the blogs I’m currently following I originally did so because of something that was useful or interesting to me, and — for some blogs — that has changed to just being a habit without much benefit.

I rather follow fewer bloggers and have meaningful interaction than follow a lot of bloggers and have interactions equivalent to a nod you give a stranger as you pass them on the street.

. . . and yes, I expect I’ll lose some followers who will either be upset I unsubscribed, or will forget about me because they’ll no longer see me on their blogs. Again, meaningful engagement is the key, and even then, I want more time to do my own thing, and right now I’m keeping up with too many blogs (if I subscribe, I read the blogs), and that means I often can’t do justice to all the blogs I’m following.

. . . it’s gonna be tough, I tell you what.

Anyway, on to future past stuff . . .

So, I have a lot of photos I’d like to share. Some are new, like the above.

“What is it?” you ask.

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Twenty-four hours “V” stories voting non-reminder . . . and a few birds

I think I’ve figured it out . . . people are tired of these reminders. Basically, the constant reminders about the “V” stories block voting deadline is just an irritant. Don’t worry, I’m not here to remind you there are twenty-four hours remaining before the voting window closes — although, you know, that’s true when this post goes live — but rather to tell you a few corny one-liners.

What did the fish say when he hit the concrete wall?
“Dam!”
What do Eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long?
Polaroids.
What’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup?
Anyone can roast beef.
What do you get when you toss a hand grenade into a kitchen in France?
Linoleum blown apart.

Anyway, if you’ve already voted for a favorite story, the writers thank you. If you haven’t voted, and you spent time reading this, you now have less than 24 hours before the voting round ends. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge V-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until Noon (Central Time) on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

So, a more birds . . . .


This was taken from the lanai of the condo we rented while in Kailua Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. The bird is flying up to grab seeds from the upright pod. The pod contains a lot of seeds, and they are light enough to get blown all over the place. I know I shared the seeds in a post but I can’t find it right now.

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The two days left “V” stories voting reminder . . . and a dash of red

Around this point of a voting block, we see a bit of a rush in voting, and the “V” stories block is no different. The last two days typically see big moves by one or more of the stories, usually those that were lagging.

. . . and we are at the last two days of voting.

Going forward, I plan fewer reminders (reminders take a fair amount of time, and daily reminders don’t seem to make a difference in the voting), and I’ll bunch them up near the end of the voting block. Again, between generating the photos for these posts and spending time putting them together, the effort related to these posts impinges on time I would rather use to work on other posts.  Mind you, it’s not like these take hours but . . . no, actually, in aggregate, they do.

Anyway, if you’ve already voted for a favorite story, the writers thank you. If you haven’t voted, you have less than 48 hours before the voting round ends. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge V-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

So, a dash of red . . . .

This was taken from the lanai of the condo we rented while in Kailua Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

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Where does the time go and a “V” stories voting reminder

Wow . . . just yesterday we had the beginning of the new year, and it’s now the second day already! These days are going by so fast it’ll make your head spin, and before you know it, BAM! . . . the year will be over.

Not to mention, only three days left to vote for your favorite of the “V” stories. I mean, just yesterday, there were four days left, and now one day has disappeared. Poof! Gone.

If you’ve already voted for a favorite story, the writers thank you. If you haven’t voted, did I mention there are only three days left? Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge V-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

Again, I’m looking back a few years for these photos . . . .

This was taken in the parking lot of the Costco in Kailua Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

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New Year and a new “V” stories voting reminder . . . with photos

I hate starting the year off with a reminder there are only four days left in the “V” stories voting block. However, as everyone winds down from the holidays, perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for people to relax, read a story or two, and cast a vote.

And, if that’s what you did (or plan to do), the writers want to add their thanks to their wishes for a great 2021. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge V-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

I dug back a few years for these photos . . . .

This was taken from the beach located approximately 7 miles north of Kailua-Kona, Kohanaiki Beach Park — also referred to as Pine Trees Beach — located on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

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Disperser Tracks 2020 — The Content: Second Quarter

The Alphabet Challenge<<link stories and the reminders to vote continued — and will continue as we go forward — to contribute the bulk of the blogging content. Note: that search result is just for the stories (in reverse order). If you want the results, click this LINK.

I had erroneously mentioned on my previous update that in March I had pretty much given up writing about COVID-19 and related stuff. Well, I must have shut a lot of it out of my mind because April 2020 saw many posts relating to COVID-19 and associate issues. This LINK brings up all the posts where I mention COVID-19, even if only in passing. But, to be sure, there are many posts (too many) dealing with masks, social distancing, statistics, bat-shit theories, misinformation, disinformation, etc. etc. . I’m posting it here because I really don’t want to keep mentioning it as I go forward. If interested in revisiting what was on my mind about COVID-19 in April, May, and June, knock yourselves out.

So, was there anything NOT involving COVID-19 and the Alphabet Challenge? A few things, but I’ll begin with photos . . . 

Once again, the bulk of the photos come from the ‘reminder to vote’ posts. A few exceptions are covered below, but the short reminder posts with a few photos each pushed my photo processing along.  

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Midway “V” stories voting reminder . . . and a few photos

The “V” stories voting block asked me to intercede on its behalf. Apparently, it doesn’t know why it’s in the doghouse with voters. I tried to explain this is a bad time of year — and a bad year overall — but this voting block is really insecure and would have none of it and wanted me to plead readers for more reading and voting.

Now, me, I don’t like doing that. I figure these stories have to stand on their own, and if there’s no word-of-mouth traffic generated by the few readers we’ve had, well, then, there’s nothing I can do about it . . .

. . . except thanking them who voted for standing up for their favorite of the three stories. Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge V-Stories” are HERE(link) Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

Just a few photos today . . . .

The photos in this post are all from the lanai of the first condo we lived in while on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

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