Jump to content

Richard Norway

AD Author
  • Posts

    607
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Richard Norway

  1. Thanks for the address, Cole. I sent him an email asking if he's still doing editing work. I'll wait now to see if he responds
  2. Has anyone used Anthony Camacho for an editor? He's done some editing for me in the past, and he's very good; but I've lost contact with him. I believe he's professor in the UK/
  3. Once again Cole (rare, I know) I couldn't agree with you more, one of the most positive speeches along with Cory Bookers, that I've heard from the convention.
  4. I listened to Donald Trump tonight on his accempance speach, but I had to leave the room.. It reminder me so much of the propaganda speaches of the Nazi's of a bigone era. I'm sure you all can come with all the specifics of what he was saying, but I only think about his return to Lazie Fare of his btgone ara. The future of this country is the US being a part of this total ecconmic and political world. This is not his vision.
  5. Well, The New York Times just posted that Britian has voted to EXIT the EU. If I had any investments in Britian, especially the Poumd, I'd think about shifting to the Dollar.
  6. I talk to young people everyday and often ask them what they are reading or have read. The one book that I DON'T hear about is To Kill A Mockingbird. That book was released in 1949 (I think), and I had to read it in high school in the early '60's, and I'm reading it again now. I'm thinking that the subject of bigotry as seen through the eyes of young people isn't appealing anymore. But it is so well crafted.
  7. Hi all. This has been an experience, getting back to this group. You never seem to lose your humor, and something to smile about. Colin...you need to write more. That's all. Your audience just demands it. :)
  8. I think I’ve been turning into a recluse. But, I haven’t lost my optimism…yet. A lot has been happening, but where to begin? I guess from the beginning. This will be long. When the economy started to go down in 2008, my business (I'm a structural engineer to help keep their buildings from crashing down) started to slow. My clients were architects and builders. Their businesses went down and consequently, so did mine. I eventually pulled out of the business and went on Social Security, because I could make more than my business was bringing in. We muddled on for a while, and then two of our foster kids were pulled from us because the agency had found adoptive families for them. Now David had to go to work. Because of the turn down in the income, I missed a rent payment in June of 2013. I was able to make the next few rent payments, but couldn’t pay the June rent. Well, in October of that year, we were evicted. I was pretty much in financial ruin. As my father was quite ill in the hospital, my brother offered to use his truck flatbed trailer and move us to Minnesota. We would be staying in my father’s house with no rent. So on October 30th we arrived in Thief River Falls, Minnesota and moved into my dad’s house. That gave me the opportunity see him in the hospital. The house is about 125 years old with riverfront property, large for this area, and not very well kept up. It needed a lot of mostly minor repairs that had been neglected over the last couple of years. We had given away all of our furniture as move space was limited, but kept linens, clothes and kitchen stuff. My dad passed away from cancer a month later in November of 2013. He left the house to my brother, also a David (my partner), and I. My brother has a home in town, so I remain living in the house that my dad left us, and he remained in his. David got a job with Digikey in February of 2014. It’s one of the largest electronic parts distributers in the country and employs a little over 1/3 of the city’s population of 8,500. I tried to get a job, but when they read my resume, I’m too qualified for anything that they could offer, so I stayed retired and continued to raise our remaining foster boy, Rio Northern. That didn’t go well. New Mexico put in a request that we be able to transport him to Minnesota. The approval came just 2 hours before we were to leave. Starting off on the right foot, huh? Rio was still under guardianship of the state of New Mexico. New Mexico has different policies than Pennington County. (The state runs the foster system in New Mexico while in Minnesota the counties run their social services.) New Mexico has a requirement that they must have a home visit by their case worker once a month, while Pennington County does not. New Mexico had requested that Pennington County Social Services provide that. That’s where the fireworks started. Pennington County did not have guardianship over Rio and did not want him here as they had no control over him. He was a burden to them. David and I had started the adoption process for Rio in the spring of 2013, but it was not complete when we left. New Mexico requested that Pennington County perform the final home study, which they did and approved the adoption in early March of 2015. Now, Rio does not have the best ability to make good choices and got into trouble with the law. He got a BB gun that first Christmas here. I figured that since he was going to be living in an area where everyone hunts and has a lot of guns and would be with my relative’s kids, he should get some firearm training from me. A new friend and Rio took the BB gun and went out the day after Christmas. The other kid took the gun and was shooting out car headlights and windows in a church. The police were able to follow their footprints in the snow and showed up at our house that afternoon. Since Rio was with him and considered an accomplice, he had to go to juvenile court. Rio had not fired the BB gun. This is a small town, and some of the police here are bullies. As Rio had been involved with the police, he now had a reputation with them as being quite the delinquent. And it got worse. Rio had been taking a med to help with his ADHD and PTSD. Shortly after that Christmas (February 2014, I think), the doctor changed his med to vivance. Shortly after the med change, Rio came home from a friends. He seemed to be depressed, and we questioned him but could find nothing that had made him depressed. I guess that he just didn’t want to talk about it. Fifteen minutes later I found his prescription bottle in the bathroom sink – empty! I immediately called 911 and an ambulance was dispatched along with the police. Rio had tried to commit suicide. He was put on a suicide watch at the hospital and given the standard blood tests. They found amphetamines in his system. Now Rio was not just a delinquent in the eyes of the police and the courts, but a meth-head as well. It’s really unfortunate how people don’t follow through and jump to conclusions. You see, vinance IS an amphetamine. He took his own prescribed medication not something from off the street. The police never understood or realized that. When we went to court in March 2015, Rio’s public defender and I were shocked when the county prosecuting attorney dropped all charges. Of course, we were elated, but couldn’t figure out why. We found out the next morning why. Pennington County had recanted their adoption approval. Two things were in play here. The first Is that our foster license had expired, but since we were in the adoption process, we were approved with an adoptive license to have a foster boy in our home. But now we didn’t have either a foster or adoptive license. Second is that there Is a federal agency that governs rules between states for foster kids that live out of the state that has their guardianship. Pennington County Social Services contacted them, telling them of the unlicensed home that Rio was in. New Mexico contacted us and said that they had three days to pick up Rio and return him to New Mexico. Needless to say, we were quite upset that Rio was being jerked from our home. I drove Rio back to Las Cruces that weekend. It was quite obvious to me, David and Rio’s attorney that we were set up! Pennington County Social Services couldn’t get Rio out if he were awaiting judgement from the judicial system. They obviously contacted the County Prosecutor’s office, and they worked it out. When Rio was back in New Mexico, he was scheduled to have his annual court hearing in a couple of weeks. The judge just wants to make sure that the agency is following through with their plans for getting these kids adopted at that hearing. I couldn’t afford staying in a motel for an extra two weeks, so I drove back to Minnesota to wait. Two weeks later, I drove back to New Mexico and contacted Rio’s attorney (New Mexico provides an attorney to protect the rights of kids under care by Social Services). She submitted a motion before Rio’s hearing that requested David and I be given permanent guardianship over Rio. New Mexico Social Services had to approve that motion before it could be so ordered. They could not approve the motion because of an agency policy to never let a minor out from under their control unless he or she was adopted, or aged out. I heard from the agency’s attorney that she thought that our home was the best place for Rio, but her hands were tied. Rio’s attorney and I had many breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings along with a few in her office to figure out what to do. She had an idea. She provided two motions to the court. The first one was to have Rio removed from control by the agency and placed under control of the court. This removed Rio from being under the policies of the agency. The second was to have Rio removed from control by the court and placed under permanent legal guardianship of David and I. The judge signed both orders the next morning, and Rio was now ours! I drove back to Minnesota the following day with my son! Pennington County was not pleased that we went around them. And, Rio was now under the scrutiny of the county sheriff’s and city police departments. In a way, we feel that even David and I are being watched. Police cars seem to be cruising our street a lot. The neighborhood has gone south since I remember it back in the day (I was born here). There was a drug bust in a house across the street a few months after we arrived. On a brighter note, David and I were married last year shortly after Rio and I returned to Minnesota. Minnesota already had already legalized gay marriage. It seems that living in Minnesota has been one crisis after another. I don’t like this town. It has totally changed since I was here years ago. Digikey has to hire a lot of people, and there are a lot of new arrivals with their delinquent kids because of that. We have to keep the house continually locked because of a lot of robberies that happen in this neighborhood. Rio turned 18 on September 13th last year. Oddly enough, his birthday is the day before mine, so we celebrate together. He was now out of our guardianship and technically on his own. He wants what all kids want, and that is to be on his own. So, Rio moved to Morehead, Minnesota last month. Fargo is just across the Red River of the North from Morehead. He had an opportunity to room with a friend of ours. She’s about 30 years old and could give him the guidance that he needed. The apartment building is just across the street from the State University of Minnesota Morehead. He enrolled in GED classes and now fully intends to attend the university to get a degree in graphic and video arts. He never had any ambition to go to college before this. I can’t tell you how much I’m impressed and pleased that he wants to finally make something of himself. The friends that he’s meeting there are nothing like the delinquents that he’s met here. They have goals. His roommate goes to the college. His roommate’s mother is a teacher. Perfect for developing motivation in him. Well, it didn’t go so well. David and I didn’t realize the mental aberrations that Rio’s roommate was living under. She started accusing Rio of things that he was not a part of, and she eventually moved out. Unfortunately, they were under lease, and Rio could not afford all of the expenses himself. Thankfully, the landlord is on Rio’s side and is trying to find a roommate for him. Unfortunately, David and I must pick up his new found expenses. We don’t want him to move back to Thief River Falls for two reasons. First is the proliferation of delinquent friends that seem to come around here and the attitude that he needs to be watched by the police. Second is that we want him in the school environment that’s afforded him where he is. He wants to stay because of the school and his future. We’re off to find him furniture tomorrow. We’re working on trying to keep him there, trying to help him find a roommate. The landlord offered to move him to a single bedroom apartment, but Rio can’t afford the rent all by himself. We’re still working on it. I'll be visiting Clay County (where Morehead is located) tomorrow. As for David and I, we want out of this place. I’ve mostly lived in larger cities and so has David. Maybe it has a lot to do with the anonymity of self and culture that large cities offer compared to small towns. My brother and I have worked out an arrangement. We had originally thought of buying a large 5th wheel trailer and truck to tour the country. We wanted to find a place to relocate to and wanted to find out where we might want to live first. That would work for us. This house has a sales value (given the repairs and upgrades that need to be made) of around $ 85,000. That means that what I own is around $ 42,500. He offered to buy me out (which I want) by giving me his 5th wheel trailer and truck and some cash as my portion. So hopefully, David and I will be out of here on Nov 1st this year on our way to investigate and enjoy the country. I've started writing again with the time I have now that Rio is in his own apartment. We still have to go get him in Morehead for his court appearances. It's a novel and will take some time to finish, but I think you'll like it. I've never lost my optimism. :) Richard
  9. Let's not forget Utah. That happened today too. However, that district court will also affect New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma. But, their ruling was stayed with an hour. :(
  10. Hello to all of my friends and new friends here at AD. I've been MIA for too long, and I would like to get back to joining all of you again. I've left New Mexico and now live in Northwest Minnesota. Our foster boy came with us, and that was quite a shock to him. He's 16, born and raised in the southern deserts of New Mexico, and went through the coldest winter that this part of the country has experienced in over 100 years. It's green now, and he's feeling much better. We left New Mexico to be with my family as my father was terminally ill with cancer and moved into his 125 year old house. He passed away in November of 2013, and we've decided to stay here for the time being. My time is very much taken up in repairing this house as his illness left the house in disrepair for over 3 years. I wrote Cole Parker the other day, and he wasn't too kind to me for not reporting into the AD forums. "You do know, I'm sure, that being in Minnesota does not preclude joining in on the AD Forum." quote Cole. :) Anyway, things are settling down, and I'm looking forward to some good walleye fishing. Dad's house is located in the middle of town on the Red Lake River, and my brother has his pontoon boat tied up there for me to use. Hope to see you all again. Richard
  11. I'm about to move to Michigan, maybe on September 1st. There is a case pending in the Michigan courts over a gay lesbian couple to adopt a child. The trial judge suggested (off handedly) that the reason that they couldn't adopt was the state's ban on gay marrage, so the plaintifs changed the suite to guestion the states ban on gay marrage. The trial judge said that he would rule after the US Supreme Court rulled on DOMA. After our move to Michigan, there will be a new marrage. :) and we can take our new foster boy there and adopt him. I have never been happier in my life. Richard
  12. This story struck a few chords with me, more than just a few. No one here knows this about me, but I too lost my first love to the war in Vietnam. We were on the same ship, and during liberty we spend as much time together as we could. We reveled in who we secretely were. I've walked the "Wall" in Washington, DC...and found his name. He wasn't buried in Arlington, he wasn't buried in anywhere that I can find. But, I will always remember him. Thank you Des for posting that article, Richard
  13. I too was curious, but in my brainiac logical mind I was able to ascertain the proper path to the story. :) The story itself is titled (at least what the author calls Season One, whatever that means), It Started On A Bus. Here's the link. http://stormfront.stormverse.com/2011/05/21/sf-1-01-it-started-in-a-bus/
  14. I agree with Colin that the use of cilantro in an squired taste. He must be half Mexican like I'm becoming. I've found the Mexican and Southwest foods a delight to the palate, but it truly is an acquired taste, only for the brave.
  15. I was languishing tonight after a ho-hum dinner, wondering what to do with my time. I loaded up my newest novel, but still had the block that I have been agonizing with over for the last 6 months. "Screw it." I said to myself and loaded up UTube to listen to some music. Maybe it would put me in the right mind to write. Damn, I loaded a concert of Carmina Burana, and was mesmerized. This was amazing. It must have included over 500 people in the choir and orchestra Here's it is. .
  16. Cole: For the mustard, I use Frenches prepared mustard from a plastic squirt bottle. It's not as hot as the dry mustard and has a slight sweeter taste that adds to the flavor of the beans. I use the mild green chiles, because the spicy taste does not come from the green chiles; they're added for their green chile taste. The hotness comes from the jalapeno pepper, and you can very the hotness by using two jalapeno peppers if you'd like. Hope this helps. If you prepare it, let us know how you liked or hated the taste. If you like frijoles (refried beans), just put some of the Southwest beans in a food processor and mash for 1 - 3 minutes. You may need to add some water to get the consistency that you want.
  17. I was a northerner (northern Midwest of the US, for our out of country folks) and didn't find the Southwest until I went to college in Tucson, Arizona. There I discovered Southwest food and fell in love with not only the food but the country. I finally was able to move back to this country after a 35 year hiatus. You know, at one point before I got her, Taco Bell hot sauce was too much for me. Now I think it tastes like catchup. I have developed a recipe for Southwest beans that I think you will all enjoy. Here it is: Southwestern Beans By Richard Norway Ingredients 1 pound dry pinto beans 1/2 pound bacon, chopped into ¼ inch pieces 1 (29 ounce) can reduced sodium chicken broth 1 large onion, chopped 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 small cans of green diced chile 1 teaspoon cumin 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon mustard water, if needed Directions Soak the dry beans in water overnight. Place the pinto beans in a large pot, and pour in the chicken broth. Stir in bacon, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, cumin, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2-1/2 hours, stirring often, until beans are tender. Add water as needed to keep the beans moist. If it seems too moist and you want it thicker, remove the cover for the last hour of coking to allow it to thicken, but keep stirring every 15 min. or so. If you like refried beans, mash some of the Southwest beans in a food processor. You may have to add a little water to get the consistency that you desire.
  18. I've started to read What Grows In Winter, and it's a captivating story. Now I wish i hadn't starting reading because it isn't finished yet, although the author is posting every few days, This is a story that you will all enjoy. The characters are real. the ploy has elements leading to future conflict that the author seems to be setting up perfectly. This is a story that you will want to read more of.
  19. You guys in California have just been passing your good weather along to us in New Mexico. The weather patterns seem to move from the west and then go eastward, right through New Mexico. We too seem to be having Spring like weather. So much so that my two peach trees have tons of 2" blossoms on them and leaves emerging. . But I hadn't pruned the trees yet! This warm weather has started their winter hibernation recovery too soon. So guess what I had to do today. Yup, you guessed it. I'm so sore.
  20. Cole has taught me a lot, and he is right that every sentence has got to advance the plot, or make you understand more of the characters or make the story move forward.
  21. I don't often post here, as I should, but this topic has held my interest for a long time. I was a boy scout in youth and the things that they taught me were worth more than any religious organization has ever done, I don't want to see the boy scouts go away. But, they need to change, and I think they will, eventually. The marriage equality act is going before the Supreme Court this Spring. The country is beginning to accept that we exist as normal people, a part of their society. I want change now, but I'm realistic enough to know that it will take a little more time. Ladies and gentleman, we are at such as turning point in our country right now that our dreams will come true. Have patience, but know the realities and keep fighting.
  22. OMG, Colin spoke a bad word. My ears are frothing. How could we have corrupted him so much? And JJ, well done! Don't forget that the humor of my voice is in the absurdity of what I say...not to you JJ.
  23. I know VWL usually starts these threads, but I haven't seen any thread on this story so far. Now, I don't usually read anything from Nifty unless it's recommended by VWL, but I was bored tonight, and I should have been writing. But my muse has taken a vacation, to the Bahamas, I think. I think this story has a lot of merit. Take a look. The Metamorphosis of Jeremiah
  24. I started watching the Oscars' tonight, and a question came to me that I couldn't answer. I'm wondering if anyone knows where the name "Oscar" came from. I'm sure it wasn't Oscar Wilde.
×
×
  • Create New...