Review & Rating Request for "Back in the Day"

I am requesting that anyone taking advantage of being able to download my FREE Kindle book, "Back in the Day", to please go on Amazon and post a short review and rating. 

 http://www.amazon.com/Back-Day-High-School-ebook/dp/B00AB3RHM0/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_t_2_ZFE2

Indies Unlimited book announcement of Back in the Day

Later today you will be able to check out my book announcement for Back in the Day on Indies Unlimited, http://wp.me/p1WnN1-8Tk .

The timing is perfect as I have scheduled a FREE download offering on Amazon for the Kindle edition of Back in the Day for both today (January 30th) and tomorrow (January 31st - which is my 81st birthday).

The link for downloading the FREE book from Amazon is, http://www.amazon.com/Back-Day-High-School-ebook/dp/B00AB3RHM0/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_5SMA

Sharing Common Family Sayings

I have noticed that all families boast of sayings or phrases spoken by their family and passed along over the generations.  My nephew Mike and his wife visited us in Lincoln and I think one of the highligths of their visit was the opportunity for Mike and I to just spend time together.  We talked about growing up in Curtis and Mike remarked that he was amazed that after reading my new book, "Back in the Day", that the two of us shared very similar experiences growing up as boys (although there was 15 to 20 years difference in the time frame).

We both worked for my Dad to acquire the various things boys felt they needed, me as his son and Mike as his grandson.

As an example:  Dad bought me a horse with the understanding that I would work at his Gamble Store to pay him back for the purchase.  Dad bought Mike a horse with the understanding that he would work at his Gamble Store to pay him back for the purchase.  Dad bought me my first car with the understanding that I would work at his Gamble Store to pay him back for the purchase. Dad bought Mike his first car with the understanding that he would work at his Gamble Store to pay him back for the purchase.

We both did the same things in the summers between our high school years.  We rode our horses over and about the hills around Curtis.  We both loved to fish at both Fox Creek and Medicine Creek.  We both went skinny dipping at those same creeks.  We both went to dances around the area and probably drove our cars over the same gravel roads (probably faster then we should have).  We both went to rodeos in Curits or North Platte on the weekends, and found that the girls were cute both in North Platte and McCook

We were also sharing some of the sayings my Dad said to us during those growing up years.  I am going to share some of them with you now and hopefully you can send me comments sharing common sayings your dads used while you were growing up.

When Dad would get to the end of a story he was telling he would finish with, "...and everything of the kind."  When you needed a haircut he would say, "Don't you think its time for a haircut, you look like Shag's pup."  Or when he wanted you to get busy he might say, "You better get off your butt before I throw you away like a piece of rusty old iron."  One of his gems regarding instructions for my driving was, "Keep your foot out of the carburetor." or "Slow her down, you sure do have a lead foot."

I'm sure that I got another saying I use frequently with my grand kids from Dad, and it's "Boy I tell you!"  My granddaughter Kalyn, who is 22, gets such a kick out of it that she now has here friends either starting with "Boy I tell you!" and ending with it.

While working for him at the store he would sometimes take me out to breakfast at the Aggie Inn before we opened the store, and he would say, "We need some of those "Rib Stickin flap jacks to get a good start on the day."

Think back to your growing up days, and share some of the sayings that you remember through a comment here on my blog.    

"Back in the Day" Info Summary

Back in the Day…is the second book in the “historical life series” of a boy born in Nebraska in 1932, and will cover his ten year period from 1945 to 1955.  The author will take you on “time travel trips” back to specific time frames in the story to maintain the flavor of the places and individual characters in the story from his four years in high school, the summers in-between, and throughout his four years in the U.S. Navy.  You will share his opportunity for adventures in both the places he visits and people he meets.

Genre Classification – Historical Fiction

Back in the Day…was published (October 2012) by CreateSpace as a paperback and also a Kindle-Ready conversion with both of them being immediately available on Amazon.  Expanded distribution was also made available through CreateSpace with distribution to major book stores (like Barnes & Nobel) through Ingram Book Company (the largest U.S. book wholesaler).

Back in the Day Excerpts…

From high school…The juniors and seniors were assigned in pairs for the freshman initiation process, with an attempt to diversify them between farmers, ranchers, or Curtis townspeople.  The pair (Rowdy and Dewayne) who were assigned to Johnny and I approached us, carrying white porcelain pots (hospital bed pans).  Rowdy said, “I know you’re swell little guys, but I want you to do two things.  Drop those silly smiles off your faces immediately, then drop your pants and sit on these pots right in from of the NSA arch.”

From summers in-between…This particular day, Sonny and I had made our way to Fox Creek, and stripped down for a little skinny dipping!  We hung our shirts and pants on bushes, weighted down by our shoes that were stuffed with our socks and skivvies.  We were relaxing in those natural clay bathtubs, when we heard girls’ giggly voices.  The normal thing for us to do was to hunker down as best we could in those deep holes and just wait for them to leave.  The girls, getting braver, came down behind the bushes near the creek bank, and started teasing us by saying, “What are you guys doing?”

From the U.S. Navy…Midday, we were given liberty into Port-au-Prince with our liberty launches landing near the city market area where the natives were selling their wares.  Poverty was everywhere you looked and the little kids’ appearance led you to believe they hadn’t had a meal for some time.  We spotted Commander Shaw just ahead of us in the market area talking to a little boy who was leading a donkey with a rope halter through the area.  We got close enough to hear the conversation and Commander Shaw was offering the little boy $20 for his donkey.  The little guy’s eyes lit up when Commander Shaw handed him the $20, and he in turn handed the commander the rope halter attached to the donkey.  He proceeded to ride his newly acquired donkey across the market area, and when he reached the far side of the area he dismounted.  We noticed that the little boy had been following him all the way across the square.  Commander Shaw handed the rope back to the little boy and told him, “Son, I better not try to take this donkey aboard our ship.  I’ll just give him back to you, and here is $10 more for you to feed him, since he carried me across the square.”  The little boy’s eyes got as big as saucers and he ran right over and hugged the commander’s leg!