Extreme Prey

 EXTREME PREY is a transitional book in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series. Sandford has retired Davenport  from  Minnesota’s BCI ( Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)Its a real organization that helps small towns solve comp complex murders and other crimes' the towns police for does not have the resources& expertise to deal solve the crime. Davenport is the top gun, brain,& a very interesting personality, Sandford always surrounds his protagonist with a cast of  of very interesting characters which the reader  and follows from book to book in the Prey series. Then their is the the location. It is the small towns in southeastern Minnesota  That is  exactly the area where where I live. Actually  it been decades since a murderer o  :)Knowing the scene of the crime whether a road a building or whatever help the reader to relate to the story. I like that. For example if there  is a shooting and the victim is still alive the will a quickly be rushed north to Rochester Minnesota a large city and home of the world famous Mayo Clinic. Yes I've be in their emergency room and hospital many times though never for having been shot.!

 An efficient and unremarkable treatment of a story that keeps threatening to leap the gap from paranoid fantasies to...

A national book review  website headlined a  Extreme Prey with the words paranoid and fantasies...I' m not a fan of either of those words when it comes to people I know. Mental illness is a serious and difficult medical problem

So how does a detective/mystery book become unremarkably paranoid fantastical &threatening perhaps even a  clinker? well here is the plot. its simply because it the book was published before the F.B.I. director  reported to Congress that far right groups in the U.S. were the greatest  threat to our country for terrorist attack's. That Those attack's against American democracy of course occurred a few years later with the  assaults' on the nations capitol' ' That a plotted coup to overythrow a free and fair election, instigated by a con artist president  traitor.  on  A number of unhappy Iowa farmer have lost the due to bankruptcy. .This of course involve most likely the  economic cycles determined by the president the greedy bankers, most likely Jews and perhaps also alien's from a newly discovered planet Some 0f the farmers have coalesce   into a far right protest group who argue Among themselves about free speech  (protest )V. (direct action ?) As a Presidential campaign approaches and Iowa is is the first state to select 

FurBureBthe conclusion of 20r15’s GATHERING PREY was somewhat unexpected but not a total surprise. One would not expect to find Lucas unemployed for long, and this latest title provides a vehicle for switching his law enforcement gears and yet again renewing an always fresh and exciting series that has never shown signs of becoming staid or slowing down.

Danielle Steel,In his father's footsteps

 Catch ing up to trout birder   a .K. A.RAY.   With my months ago diagnosis of early early phase Alzheimer's my son having moved to Oregon due to the heat in Arizona, decided that it was time for me to sell my home In Spring Valley and moved to the towns nursing home and memory care facility.He    felt that since I was likely like his mother who was in  a more serious stage and was also violent that twas time for me to move on    That was a    error of judgment. so the move was made after selling my home and moving into the the senior housing part which means I don't need assisted living and that leaves me free to come and go as I want except for the fact that with Alzheimer's I lost my right  to legally drive my car which means I can't go any placefar awayUnless someone for example would drive me toMontana where I can trout fish up in the mountains and grizzly bear country Yes I've been a risk taker all my lifeAnd I've had a number of near your death experiences But the risks I take are always prudentGo back in the dayI brought my son's with me as they were old enough and this was at the beginning before there was pepper bear spray But we knew what to do and what not to do in at that time    she lives in Oregon and I live in Minnesota    much more recently with the loss of Mrs T. living alone as a widower in a senior facility seems almost unbearable     then I met a woman named Pat who had similar life experiences  to mineis with ' it's been great and not so great     she doesn't like Minnesota cold i don't like Oregon rain turning into ice with my vertigo                                   who loves dictators.

But the main problem is there are about several hundred women who live in the facility all nice little 

elderly widowsAnd I'm an elderly gentleman along withfive other males in the complex buildingsAll the activities hereAre oriented towards what women like to dowhich includes a coffee hourfor gossipingAnd after that playing bingoWhereEverybody whether they say bingo or not can win or getI half inch long candy bar.fierce competition at its burnt worst. WrongI recently asked the activities director hereIf she could possiblyFigure out something that a few men could play with outHaving to loseto winYes it's my deaf ear that makes it impossible for me to distinguish a seafrom a Dand a lettersWhat I can do here is what I've always done which is read a lotAnd I just finishedtwo books One by Danielle SteelAnother by

 shelby foote you may remember him as the narrator or one of them on the long ago series on television of the Civil War that was the one where the picturesWe're actual photographs from the Civil War eraNo I can't think of the guy's name who did those specials for several years like that.. I'll stop here now and begin working on my two book reviews starting with in his father's footstepsBy Daniel Steele. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done In a few days unlessSome other problem in my life crops up unexpectedly.,

sincerely trou Ray living in senior housing and fighting off Alzheimer's With a pill that's slowing the process   good faith that modern medicine at some wonderful clinics including mail Cleveland Houston and other places who are now sending messages to the CDC which say that they've made some progress on dealing with Alzheimer'sAnd  doctor Dr Kate in Rochester my neurologist says that's right  Mayo Clinic has a cureBut it has a side effect that needs to be fixed before it can become a prescription medicine and the. I'm now taking a pill which this is T help Pioneer at mail it slows the process of brain decline down and it has for me that's good andicure which iscomingwill happenHopefully sometime in the near future

cure is getting closer and closerIf you have friendsWho have thisNow fatal disease got off of disease Tell him there's hope and it's getting very close

DeaDLineBY JOHN SANFORD a Virgil flowers novel

A puzzling abductions case leads Virtual flowersto the investigationof a very different and shocking kind of crimeAnd to a small town--sense of justiceThere are plenty of fictional cops in private eyes with anger issues,women troublesand drinking problemsAnd then there is Virgil Flowers...." the New York Times book reviewOf course some of you remember from my reviews of days gone by glad there were two Minnesota mystery writers whose books I was addicted toThey're great writing for sureBut then the fact thatThe scenes of crimeportrayedwere placesThat I was very familiar withthroughout the Gopher State wield into world-famous smell clinics emergency room on a stretcher well i've been there and done that myself. William Kent Krueger's protagonist does his work in the far north of Minnesota's wildernessand forestsJohn Sanford sends theVCAThat is Bureau of Criminal Apprehensiona stateorganization of crime fighterscenteredIn MinneapolisOff to small towns in southern MinnesotaThe idea there isThe small town policeDo not have the experiencefacilities and equipmentto deal with big time crimeAnd of coursea small town on the Minnesota Iowa borderIs where I lived all my adult life the way I grew up in the Twin Cities. Sanford has two protagonists who work for the bCA. First in the prey novels davenport smart rich and sophisticated. Whereby there are plenty of fictional cops and private eyes with anger issues, woman troubles and drinking problems and then there's virtual flowers- the New York Times book reviewSo cutting to the chase leads Virgil flowers to the investigation of a very different and shocking kind of crimeinvolving a school boardof all things the settings in the crimes of course seem much more appropriate and added to all of that where the hunting dogs who are stolen and complicated the mystery even more reminding me of Sherlock Holmes and the homes of the Baskervilles

Monday, june 5th 1956

 Elvis Presley sang his new hit single " hound dog" on the Milton Berle show  and scandalized viewers with his suggestive hip movements in the public outcry that followed other variety show hosts including Ed Sullivan denounced his performance Sullivan swore he would never Invite Presley on his own show but that autumn Elvis did appear on the Ed Sullivan Show cameras only recorded Presley from the waist up. On the home front is the young boy then there was a big disagreement between my parents. My mom is a good Presbyterian agreed wholeheartedly that Presley's performance was truly obscene. My father of course probably having a beer On that Sunday evening was not bothered at all. However this incident had a big impact on my parents expectations for my future.As an only child  For some years until my wo brothers appeared on the scene There were a great expectations for me. my mothers favorite musician was Liberace Who so happened to be gay. My father did not approve of that at all. Whenever he said  bad things about Liberace my mom always replied that Liberace was laughing all the way to the bank And my father was a banker. So being an only child till my two brothers showed up some years later there were great expectations for me my mother was quite sure someday I would play the piano Carnegie Hall And my father was sure That I would be president of the first national bank of St Paul The largest bank at that time in the Twin Cities. I'm I did not become any of those things and failed my parents so at the University of Minnesota  I chose to become a teacher And my father asked me I f I planed to be poor all my lifewell in the end I wasn't  met my beautiful wife who   was also a teacher in Hicksville and there we stayed thereFor the rest of our lives together

A distant mirror the calamitous 14th century by Barbara w. Tuckman

Considering the bad times we are in now in this country politically and worldwide with climate change i wanted to find something that might be as bad or even worse to cheer me up that it could be worse.Tuckman's bookShows that there was something worseProbably far worth worse although the planet itself wasn'tthreatenedIt is now by global climate change The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images on the one hand a glittering time of crusades castles cathedrals chivalryan exquisitely illuminated books of cathedrals and chivalry on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony a world plunged into chaos these are the years when the black deaths struck in the great plague killing more than a third of the pop entire population between India and Iceland, and returned four times during the rest of the century when free booting companies of Briggans terrorized Europe with impunityLike The Vikingsand & ...... When a hundred years of war seem to have no beginning and noend7fine belligerent pho&e efforts to end it acquired a life of its own when chivalry Defined the ideal that it formed a nurtured nobility was crlumbling under the impact of new weapons, new tactic .When a wave of peasant and proletarian revolts sept through Europe, evoking panic from fierce repressions by the ruling class....papa schism the rent the Christian wol tells it all at every levelrFrom family life to see battles and d Mrs Tuckman gives With only one political party actually having solutions to our problems and the other. It makes no difference which political party wins if there is only one which has all power that is the road to dictatorship regardless of which party wins if there is no agreement on truth we are doomedWinston Churchill saidThat democracy is the worst form of governmentexcept for all the restThis book isa clue as to how bad things could getAnd they were horrendousWe're not there yetBut we could be

Ritchie Valens happy birthday 1941-1959

My age and I remember him very well la Bambafor starters.He was the self-taught rock star from CaliforniablendingLatin American musicwithrock and roll, tragically at age 17 into his career Valence died in a plane crash with fellow musiciansBuddy HollyThe Big Bopper

he was inducted into the rock and roll Hall of Fame in 2001\ not very far south from Spring Valley where Barb and I lived for many years was clear Lake Iowa and there are the annual celebration and dance night went on in memory of theplane crash perhaps that was the night did Don McLean said in American Pie that was the night the music diedThe music died

Finest Hour Battle Of BRITTAIN part 2 book review

Well this book with belt to what I asked for and inspiring book about a hun a country down and out which appeared to have no chance of saving itselffrom an overpowering innovatorNazi GermanyI wanted to book They couldn't make me believe againThat the United States of AmericaCould fight back fromAll its current problems and prevailIf you look at all the problems we face nowFor many of us they seemEven insurmountabledrugs going rampantAgain after a failed war on that subjectglobal warmingdisbelievedanswer problemBy those that now do not believe in science is being the trutha political party that refuses or is unable to deal with problemsof most any kind because it's a cultfollowing the layerand cheater presidentWho brought backracismas something that was okayand divided our countrySim on your list seemingly hopelessly with his lies and eagle..The longstanding party of no the Republicansare unableEven to function is a viable political partyAnd perhaps if they were a political partyfunctioning with the Democrats could solve some of our problemsBut that looks hopeless. That was a brave and wise and strong leader Winston Churchill with words that remind one of Shakespeare in the Bible inspired a nationand ultimatelyAmericato stand up and fight in World War IIThe American people we're more than a little dubious about fighting in another European war. And the British Army trapped and rescued by the Navy at Dunkirk gave Britain Shirley defeated the hope of defending against a German invasion of the islands.Church will ask the Americans for helpBut for RooseveltIt was a complicated problementering a war without the support of the American peoplewasNot a good ideaBut when Britain fought back and said it would never give upand the American people saw and heard what was happening when the Germans began bombing the citiespublic opinion changedAnd we sent helptwo Great BritainAnd Roosevelt andChurchillbegan building alliances against the GermansAnd theyJapaneseWon their ownAmerica into war after Pearl Harbor. This book covers all of thosebackgrounds complications quite well much of it is well knownBy those of us who follow history There are fewer items revealed such asThe Prime Ministerof Canada andThe president of the United StatesHad a meeting where they discussedSomething thatWas not brought to Churchill's attentionThat was sotheoretical and unification militarily of Canada and the United StatesBoth leaders had a fear that if Britain was defeatedAnd the British Navy fell into the hands of HitlerThe United States and CanadaWhat have their navies potentially outnumbered by the NazisThe Nazis also would have hadThe French NavyAfter France was defeated by the Germans. Later when Churchill found out about thatHe toldCanada and the United Statesthat the British Navy would never under any circumstances fall into the handsof Germany. That was a part of the history of World War two that I was quite aware unaware ofho hadBeing a history teacher i must admit that well this book follows chronology month fire month even day by day at point but it falls follows many many different stories of different people in that time period and nowI'm required to say that I havemental illness which is called MCImiles of cognitive impairmentWhich means in play English I'm above average forgetfulWhich is some of you ofMy age no isfairly normal problem among us senior citizensAnd the authors hereinclude many famous names in historyBut alsoleaders military people and others who are not well known at all but told the authors their stories because they happen to be thereAnd we're still alive when the authors talk to themThat adds a new angle and interest to itBut for meWho has difficulty remembering things like names and datesHey it's gets a littleTire some when you have to turn back the pages and remember who the guyWho is speaking actually isA few pages laterSo it didn't ruin the book for me but itMade itA tad tedious staff to turn back the page and find outWho the sky was and what his position wasFor example in the government or in the military or whateverOther than thatBuckwheatWonderfulTook me a tad longer to read itBut it was worth the effortI guess I'll just say I highly recommend this bookIt's not a newly published one againBut if you have a good libraryYou can probably find it easily

finest hour The battle of Britain part one introduction

 I needed something to cheer me up perhaps a good book. Going back some years to the rise of the right wing tea party in spite of the reelection  of Obama for a second term.  The surprising follow-upof a  con artist  who revealed at his inauguration that he was a racist and later proved to be a liar only added to the gloom and doom Now apparently we have a stalemate with a political party that RepublicansPutting all their chips on the maggot people. Fix news expanding and promoting the liesand supporting the white racistshaadded to the chaos And the attitudesagainst democracyAs demonstrated in the attack on our nation's capital.

Being a retired teacher naturally I looked back in historyFor something that might encourage meNot to be soWill me aboutMy country's futureGiven it's present problems

The words of Winston ChurchillJune 1940 let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and it's commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say this was their finest hour. Part one tim Clayton and Phil Craig. Companion to the PBS series.

Part 2 to follow next my book review