Let’s see how best to start this post.

It is, in a way, intended to (partially)  answer the question when my next book is being published.

Well, my friends, life happens …………..

If you followed my posts on this site, you know that we have a small ranch in northern California and besides our variety of animals and pets, we also have two studio apartments.  They are clean, carpeted, one room units with a studio kitchen and a bathroom. Not much to write home about.  In order to offer a small convenience to our tenants, we also provide a washer in a separate room.

That was a mistake, a major one as it turned out.

To put it as simple as possible: One of our tenants, an otherwise nice lady, must have read something about unlimited opportunities in the free enterprise system.  She opened up a laundry service for her friends and strangers.  One sunny morning I walked out of the door and could not help noticing freshly laundered underwear and linens fluttering in the breeze.

After a polite knock on door of my tenant I was unable to enter the room. There were bundles of unwashed laundry stacked up on top of each other wherever I looked.

“Excuse me?”

The nice lady smiled at me:  “Well, I don’t have the money to pay next months rent and…… I know that you need it and want it……. and I had the idea of making some extra cash  by washing my friends clothing.”  Another smile.

What do you do? I mean I left Germany because of the American free enterprise system. Now where do I go?  It was not funny.  It cost me four weeks and a professional eviction service to get the lady to move.  The electric bill  alone exceeded the monthly rent and I had the septic tank overflowing.

In the end she had some furniture which she had to place in storage but no money to do so. In order to get her out I offered to pay for the storage unit with the result that she asked me if I could prepay for two months.  I did. My wife said:  “Anything to make her go away” was fine with her.

So, yes, I am writing to get the next book published before the end of April, but honestly, it might be a little later because this was not the only delay in my schedule.

In the meantime, please stick with me.

Horst