Memories of Father

Happy Belated Father's Day, family. To all the father's we have. Dad, of course, Grandpa, Jacob, and Geoff! 

Here is this week's (last two weeks) update.

BOARD GAME HIT

Last week I released a print and play boardgame (you can see the two-part fold out board above). The game is based off my most popular roleplaying game and this board game has been a huge hit, probably my biggest hit since I released the core rulebook of the system. People are already asking for a physical edition. So, I've ordered a prototype of the game and will be waiting for it to arrive. Shouldn't be ready for a couple months, but it is neat.

With the board game, I really wanted to emphasize the low count of items in the box. Most fantasy board games have a lot of miniatures, cards, tokens, and more. In my game, the main component is the board. All the monsters and events you might face are printed directly on the board. There are a few cards mostly to randomize which quest you are assigned. 

Much of the game's record-keeping is done on a pad of character sheets that will be included in the game. Anyway, one of the biggest demands, especially since this game, is for more print and play board games in addition to the normal roleplaying books. So, I'm already conceptualizing a Robin Hood themed game.

ANOTHER TRIP TO THE ZOO

I finished work early last week and made another trip to the zoo. It was busier this time but still enjoyable. 

COMICS and LIBRARY and BURGERS

After the zoo I ran some errands. I had to pick up my subscription file from the comic shop so I popped over there first. Then I went to the library to pick up a few holds for Amber and I. You have to park out front and call them. Then you stay in your car while they bring out the bag of books and set it on a chair outside for you to grab yourself. Finally, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for our dinner that night. They had a burger stand out front and I hadn't had lunch yet so I got a burger for me and one for Amber. Amber ended up not wanting hers so I had both. 

BOOK WORM

The next day I went to the Book Worm (a local bookstore) to pick up a couple of books Amber wanted to read. 

COMICS . . . AGAIN

I ended up not getting all of my comics when I went to pick them up the day before, so it was back to the comic shop to get the one I missed. 

WESTERN MUSICALS

That afternoon I wasn't feeling very good. My allergies had just hit me full force, so Amber told me to lay down. She turned on the tv and picked a movie for me. It was Calamity Jane starring Doris Day. Pretty good little wild west musical. That put me in the mood for Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, so we watched that while we had dinner that night as well.

A FATHER'S DAY HIKE . . . CANCELED!

On Father's Day, I called Dad to say hello. I sent him a western novel and I'll read the same one and then we will talk about it. Sort of like a father/son book club. I have good memories of watching westerns with dad. Afterward, Amber and I were going to go hiking at Neal Woods--a new place we haven't been to before. 

However, as soon as we left the house we both knew something was wrong. Pulling over, I looked at the tire and, sure enough, it was flat. We drove back down the block to our house. We worked together to replace the tire with the spare. At first, we couldn't get the tire off. I had to make an extension arm for the tire iron with a piece of PVC pipe and metal. The extra-long leverage made getting it off easy as butting butter. I'm just glad the tire gave out right next to our house and not while we were out or traveling. I wouldn't have been able to get that tire off without the extra tools we have at the house.     

TIRE REPLACEMENT

On Monday I took the car in to get all new tires. It was time for all of them to be replaced anyway, so we just did the whole thing. The tire place was close to downtown, so I walked to the old marker. I saw a beautiful community garden.

I also stopped in at the used bookshop down there. I found some history books. One on the Civil War and the other on the American Revolution. When I got home and showed Amber the books she said, "Your transforming into a boring old man." 

MORE WORK

Work this last week ended up being stressful as I worried about meeting deadlines. As a result, I worked extra hard to get things done. Of course, I got two new game books out (short ones) before Thursday.

SOLO HIKE

On Thursday, since I was done with work, I took a solo hike in Fontenelle Forest. It was nice to go alone and just stand in the quiet of nature. I saw two baby dear and some cute mushrooms. 

GRILLING

I finally got a chance to use the grill the other day. We made lamb burgers. It took a little bit of fiddling to get the coals lit, but I did it! And no liter fluid. I hate that stuff. 

THRIFTING

After the hike, I headed for the thrift store. I've avoided thrift stores up until now because they already always seem kinda dirty and with Covid I was not happy about going in. However, we've been looking for a few things for the house, so I decided to brave it. 

There were 3 thrift stores all close together in Papillion (kind of like Parker to Aurora and Denver). The first two just seemed really gross and I didn't find much of value at either one. One of them I didn't spend much time in. I always carry a small shoulder bag so I can bring my wallet, phone, and more importantly my anxiety meds with me. An employee walked up to me and said I needed to leave my bag at the front. I looked both ways on the aisle I was on and saw 3 women with purses that were 3 or 4 times larger than my tiny shoulder bag. I almost pointed this out but decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, I just left the store because I just didn't want to deal with that. I'm sure the lady thought I was really rude. I don't care. I'm not giving my bag with my medications and personal IDs to anyone for any reason. 

The last thrift store I stopped at was Goodwill and it was leaps and bounds better than the other two. I found some beautiful blue spice/tea containers. I got two of them thinking I wouldn't need them all. But Amber wanted them all. So I went back the next day and got the other ones the following day.

I also picked up some knight miniatures that I will use in a test version of my Robin Hood Game. I've been slowing working on gluing them together and will be painting them.

WALMART

I hit up Walmart twice this week. It seems like I'm spending all my time there. We keep needing things. Ugh. Anyway, I finally found a wide-brimmed hat that fits my fat head. I also found a collection of the Jaws sequels in the cheap bin. Never seen any but the first. 

THRIFTING . . . AGAIN?

So, Amber wanted to go the Goodwill as well, so we went again. Thankfully, it was a different location near the Natural Grocers. Whew. What a relief. 

I found an old Lord of the Rings trivia game that is trivia about the books and not the movies. I got it home and opened it to see if all the parts were there. None of the parts had ever been opened or used. The cards were still wrapped, the tokens still in a sealed bag, and the cardboard pieces still in the punchboard. The rules seem more of a combo of adventure and trivia. You just have to answer questions correctly to progress, defeat orcs, and reach mount doom rather than rolling a dice. 

It made me think of hanging out with Bonnie right before her mission. We listened to some of The Hobbit together on tape. We went and saw Fellowship of the Ring together. And we went shopping and she looked at getting a Lord of the Rings board game, but didn't. 

CATS

Well, that is about it for this week so here are some cat pics to finish things out.