Friday, October 15, 2010

Invasion of the Wasps

So what if it this fall. We have been inundated with wasps. They swarm all around the house and yard. It does not feel safe to enjoy the nice fall weather. The wasps are in the landscape blocks looking for hoes to get inside and build nests. I used mortar mix in the tube and tried to seal up as many of the holes as I can find. The wasps are determined and manage to reopen some of the holes.

S.S. was stung twice last month as he inadvertently went too close to a wasp next in some cement blocks. I have been lucky and they have not stung me, yet. I try and do my hole sealing in the morning before the sun hits the hole. The wasps are sleepy and not active.

I am not talking about a few wasps, we have hundreds that buzz around the house all day looking for holes I guess. I even had to use silicone between some deck boards as they seemed to have built a nest somewhere between the boards. Probably in the dry rotten wood.  I will say that the wasp spray works great and from far away.

I have just finished painting the exterior of our house and I had to really think about how and when to paint to try and cut down the the wasp issue.   Early morning was best as they are not active yet. Boy when the sun hits where they are, they just start their buzzing all around. Nothing like being up on a ladder, holding your paint try and trying to dodge a wasp.

S.S. thought it was funny the way I painted. Of course he is afraid of heights.  The other side of the house is even taller as the previous owner dug for a new basement but never finished it, so we just have a big hole and a living room door with one big step to the ground.
.



S.S.  took this picture and wrote a funny caption...

Is your ladder TOO SHORT for those hard-to-reach paint jobs? Don’t stand on that unsafe top step! But don’t spend $$$$ on a bigger ladder! Get the new Laddr-Xtender! Yes, Laddr-Xtender increases ANY ladders height nearly three full feet.

Stable, safe and secure! Less than one fifth the cost of a clumsy, hard-to-store bigger ladder. Get one today! (OSHA approval pending.) (Auxiliary ladder for climbing up to Xtender-ed ladder not included.)


You have to admit he's a good writer.


Oh, but I digress from the wasps.


One problem I know is that the previous owner set up an automatic water system for the birds and animals.  It too is surrounded by wasps all day all summer. I feel bad for the birds and animals like the bunnies, though they do not seem to have been stung.  Still not fun to have to worry about that while trying to get some water.  Have not figured out a way to discourage the wasps from the water and I hate to take it away from all the critters.

The bobcat does not come by very often and if you are not looking outside at the right moment you will miss his visit.


With the good comes the bad I guess.

So tonight the hubby was out  putting the glass bottles in the back of the vehicle to take to the recycling center - the plastic garbage can had split and as he moved a bag to remove it - you guessed it wasps attacked - they were making a nest inside the can - as he flailed his hands to protect himself (you remember he was stung twice last month) his wedding ring flew off.  He could not find it - but like a good wife I found it -  he was very relieved - I was happy he was not stung.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

S.S. Wilson - LA Book Signing - Saturday Oct 16th

S.S.  Wilson will be doing a book signing for his action adventure novel Tucker's Monster on Saturday October 16th at 2:00 PM.  Stop by and say hi.

In his first novel, veteran screenwriter S. S. Wilson (Tremors, Short Circuit, The Wild Wild West) offers up a rollicking adventure in which wide-eyed Whitney learns about werewolves, mummies, ghosts, and  even meets a mad scientist. On a more subtle level, Wilson also pokes ample fun at classic horror movie clichés as he careens toward an unexpected (and Hollywood sized) climax.




The store is:   BOOKFELLOWS / MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION

The book store is located at 236 N Brand Blvd. in Glendale, CA.   91203  (818) 545-0206
www.mysteryandimagination.com/



S.S. Wilson Takes His Novel Tucker’s Monster to a Halloween Party at Poisoned Pen Book Store in Scottsdale, AZ

S.S. Wilson (known for the such popular movies as Short Circuit, Tremors and The Wild Wild West) joins a ghoulish gallery of noted fantasy authors signing their works at The Poisoned Pen book store in Scottsdale, AZ. The authors are James A Owen (The Dragon's Apprentice), Weston Ochse (Empire of Salt & Scarecrow Gods) , Sam Sykes (Tome of the Undergates) and Larry Corriea (Monster Hunter: Vendetta). Wilson will be signing his new action adventure novel, Tucker’s Monster.

The store, specializing in mysteries and thrillers, will host its “Halloween Party” event Sunday October 24th from 2 to 4 PM at its location on 4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101 Scottsdale, AZ 85251. For more information call the The Poisoned Pen book store at (480) 947-2974 or visit their website: www.poisonedpen.com.




The Poisoned Pen
4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 947-2974

http://www.poisonedpen.com

If you can not make the book signings and want a copy of the book it can easily be ordered from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Autographed copies and copies signed and personalized by the author are available from arealdealproductions

The site also sells autographed 8x10 photos from Tremors and Short Circuit. 


S.S. is currently working on his 2nd novel Fraiday Cats. I have read the book and it is a lot of fun. Another period piece. This one seeks to tell the real story of what really happened in Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.  Another page turner from a master writer. 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Tremors Blu-ray release date November 9, 2010

Some Tremors news today.  Universal has finally gotten around to putting Tremors on Bu-ray. It is set to be released on November 9th.  So far I have found no news on the release dates of the other Tremors films, but hopefully they are in the pipeline.


According to Amazon the extra features include a making-of documentary, a video showing the creation of the worm-creatures, outtakes from the film, the original ending not shown in theaters, original theatrical trailers, and  production photographs.

Hope the Blu-ray and extras are worth the price of admission.  Amazon lists the film for $24.49 which is .51 cents under the free shipping offered when you spend 25 bucks.


Here is a link to a youtube video S.S. Wilson made describing how he got the idea for Tremors years before he wrote the script with his writing partner Brent Maddock.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyYH2WUDx1w

S.S. Wilson also has a facebook page: facebook.com/SSWilson.movieguy

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Why did the Bears have to loose when I finally got to watch the game?

So of course this past Sunday night I finally got to see the Chicago Bears game. 

We have lived for several years without any tv, only dvd's and netflix, then my folks came to visit and they needed  tv so we bought an antenna.  Luckily for us it is only 60 miles to the nearest tv station. 

The Spanish station comes in the best and is in HD.  Go figure.  NBC has the best reception of the network stations.  (I won't go into all the religious stations & infomercial stations) The antenna is outside on a pole and has a remote that will move it from side to side up to 90 degrees.  It helped some with the tuning but would be a pain to have to do that all the time. Luckily I don't watch much tv, so not a big deal.

As a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, I decided to take advantage of our new antenna and watch the game.  I only made it to half time as I knew it was going bad and was too depressing to watch. After 3 weeks of split second, game ending wins, I was hoping for some good action. 

Oh, well.   I feel Like Bing Crosby, who left the country during the 1960 World Series and had his people film the game off the tv.  He knew if he watched it would be bad luck. Of course that ended up being great luck for his team and for fans now that that film has been found.

I was sure expecting some offense from the Bears, especially after all the glowing stories of the new  offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Didn't see any of that on Sunday night against the Giants. Of course Jay spent most of the first half on his butt.   Well any team can have a bad week. 

Funny how many new names are on the team.  Walter Payton will always be my favorite player - he had class and was a great player.

This brings me to the point of the blog, a picture from the past  - when I worked on the Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Season 3.  We filmed in New York and did a segment with Tiki Barber and Amani Toomer. 




Of course I had to wear my Bears shirt that day. One must always show their true colors.


They were great guys and it was fun nice to meet them.  Later on in the season on the Jamie Kennedy Experiment we filmed in Chicago and had Da Coach on.  That will be another post.

Tucker's Monster - a new action adventure novel by S.S. Wilson



Real Deal Productions is proud to announce that S. S. Wilson’s novel, Tucker’s Monster, won the prestigious Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book - Fiction, presented at the 2011 Benjamin Franklin Awards, May 23 in New York.








The best action adventure novel I have read this year (of course it may be the only one as well).

Finished reading this book a few months ago.  It is a fun fast read. S.S. Wilson is a screenwriter. He has written such films  as Tremors and Short Circuit.  He also wrote Ghost Dad but I have never seen that film.  I have also never seen the film Heart and Souls either which stars Robert Downey,Jr.

This is his first novel. It is a period piece that takes place in the early 1900's.  It follows a cattle rancher who searches the world trying to find a living dinosaur.  It has lots of the fun elements that I enjoyed in the Tremors movies.  The book is a page turner that makes it hard to put down.  It goes from one adventure to the next and he really captures the time period with lots of details.

The book follows Harold B Tucker, kinda a Burt Gummer type(if you know Tremors and If you don't what is wrong with you) at least as far as guns go.  He's a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go after it.  Of course his obsession in trying to find a living dinosaur leads him to make some questionable decisions, but then flawed characters are the most interesting.

I'll stop there.  No spoilers!

If you are looking for a fun, fiction book I recommend Tucker's Monster.



I should put in the disclaimer that I know S.S. Wilson. We met on the set of Tremors 4. He is a great guy, who I ended up marrying.  Well he has been a great guy so far. 

Oh, and if you want to be considered arealdeal,you must have been born a "Deal"