He took a sip of the drink.

He wasn't sure
whether he liked it or not, but at this moment it
didn't matter. She had made it especially for him
so he would have forced it down even if he had
absolutely hated it. That's simply the way things
worked. She made him a new-fangled drink
each day and he took a sip of it and smiled,
saying it was excellent.

Stormi is a dog. She is dark grey and has long

legs. Her eyes are expressive and are able to let
her humans know what she is thinking. Her
tongue is long, pink, and wet. Her long legs
allow her to sprint after other dogs, people or
bunnies. She can be a good dog, but also very
bad. Her tail wags when happy or excited and
hides between her back legs when she is bad.
Stormi is a dog I love.

The blinking light caught her attention. She

thought about it a bit and couldn't remember
ever noticing it before. That was strange since it
was obvious the flashing light had been there for
years. Now she wondered how she missed it for
that amount of time and what other things in her
small town she had failed to notice.
 It all started with a random letter. Several of
those were joined forces to create a random
word. The words decided to get together and
form a random sentence. They decided not to
stop there and it wasn't long before a random
paragraph had been cobbled together. The
question was whether or not they could continue
the momentum long enough to create a random
short story.

It was the best compliment that he'd ever

received although the person who gave it likely
never knew. It had been an off-hand observation
on his ability to hold a conversation and actually
add pertinent information to it on practically any
topic. Although he hadn't consciously strived to
be able to do so, he'd started to voraciously
read the news when he couldn't keep up on
topics his friends discussed because their
conversations went above his head. The fact
that someone had noticed enough to
compliment him that he could talk intelligently
about many topics meant that he had
succeeded in his quest to be better informed.

There was a leak in the boat. Nobody had yet

noticed it, and nobody would for the next couple
of hours. This was a problem since the boat was
heading out to sea and while the leak was quite
small at the moment, it would be much larger
when it was ultimately discovered. John had
planned it exactly this way.

He ordered his regular breakfast. Two eggs

sunnyside up, hash browns, and two strips of
bacon. He continued to look at the menu
wondering if this would be the day he added
something new. This was also part of the
routine. A few seconds of hesitation to see if
something else would be added to the order
before demuring and saying that would be all. It
was the same exact meal that he had ordered
every day for the past two years.

It had been a late night. To be more correct, it

had been an early morning. It was now 3:00 AM
and George was just getting home. He wasn't
sure if it had been worth it. He was supposed to
have been finished by 10:00 PM, but his boss
had implored him to stay and help when it was
clear they weren't going to meet the 10:00 PM
target time. So, he had stayed an extra 5 hours
and lost a good night's sleep for something he
didn't really believe in, but he did anyway
because he was afraid if he refused he might
lose his job.

They needed to find a place to eat. The kids

were beginning to get grumpy in the back seat
and if they didn't find them food soon, it was just
a matter of time before they were faced with a
complete meltdown. Even knowing this, the
solution wasn't easy. Everyone in the car had a
different opinion on where the best place to eat
would be with nobody agreeing with the
suggestions of the others. It seemed to be an
impossible no-win situation where not everyone
would be happy no matter where they decided
to eat which in itself would lead to a meltdown.
Yet a decision needed to be made and it
needed to be made quickly.

Twenty-five stars were neatly placed on the

piece of paper. There was room for five more
stars but they would be difficult ones to earn. It
had taken years to earn the first twenty-five, and
they were considered the "easy" ones.

Her hair was a tangled mess which she tried to

make presentable by putting in a lump on the
top of her head. It didn't really work although it
was a valiant attempt. While most people simply
noticed the tangled mess on top of her head,
what most people failed to understand that
within the tangles mess was an entirely new
year. That was her secret. She kept worlds on
top of her head.

It really doesn't matter what she thinks as it

isn't her problem to solve. That's what he kept
trying to convince himself. She was trying to
insert her opinion where it wasn't wanted or
welcome. He already had a plan and even
though that plan didn't correspond with what she
wanted him to do or what should be done, it
wasn't her decision to make. The question now
became whether he would stick to his
convictions and go through with his plan
knowing she wouldn't approve.

The bridge spanning a 100-foot gully stood in

front of him as the last obstacle blocking him
from reaching his destination. While people may
have called it a "bridge", the reality was it was
nothing more than splintered wooden planks
held together by rotting ropes. It was
questionable whether it would hold the weight of
a child, let alone the weight of a grown man.
The problem was there was no other way
across the gully, and this played into his
calculations of whether or not it was worth the
risk of trying to cross it.

It was always the Monday mornings. It never

seemed to happen on Tuesday morning,
Wednesday morning, or any other morning
during the week. But it happened every Monday
morning like clockwork. He mentally prepared
himself to once again deal with what was about
to happen, but this time he also placed a knife in
his pocket just in case.

Since they are still preserved in the rocks for

us to see, they must have been formed quite
recently, that is, geologically speaking. What
can explain these striations and their common
orientation? Did you ever hear about the Great
Ice Age or the Pleistocene Epoch? Less than
one million years ago, in fact, some 12,000
years ago, an ice sheet many thousands of feet
thick rode over Burke Mountain in a
southeastward direction. The many boulders
frozen to the underside of the ice sheet tended
to scratch the rocks over which they rode. The
scratches or striations seen in the park rocks
were caused by these attached boulders. The
ice sheet also plucked and rounded Burke
Mountain into the shape it possesses today.

It was going to rain. The weather forecast

didn't say that, but the steel plate in his hip did.
He had learned over the years to trust his hip
over the weatherman. It was going to rain, so he
better get outside and prepare.

She sat in the darkened room waiting. It was

now a standoff. He had the power to put her in
the room, but not the power to make her repent.
It wasn't fair and no matter how long she had to
endure the darkness, she wouldn't change her
attitude. At three years old, Sandy's stubborn
personality had already bloomed into full view.

They say you only come to peace with yourself

when you know yourself better than those
around you. Derick knew nothing about this. He
thought he had found peace but this was an
illusion as he was about to find out with an
unexpected occurrence that he actually knew
nothing about himself.
 The irony of the situation hadn't escaped her.
She had taken years to sculpt the perfect
persona with the perfect look that she shared on
Instagram. She knew her hundreds of
thousands of followers envied that life she
showed and stayed engaged with her because
they wanted that life too. The truth was that she
wanted the perfect life she portrayed more than
any of her fans. The fact was that despite all the
perfection she shared on social media, her life
was actually more of a mess than most.

Breastfeeding is good for babies and moms.

Infants that are breastfed get antibodies from
their mothers against common illnesses.
Breastfed babies have less chance of being
obese as an adult. Breastfeeding a baby lets the
infant-mother pair bond in a very unique way.
Mother’s who breastfeed lower their chances of
developing breast cancer. Usually, mothers who
breastfeed lose their pregnancy weight more
quickly and easily. The benefits of breastfeeding
are numerous.