Fishing in the Toccoa River

The News Observer in the May 27^th edition reports that the fishing is good in the Toccoa River below Blue Ridge Dam. Riley Gudakunst states that he has heard reports that fish are being caught in locations below the dam as far as Horseshoe Bend Park in McCaysville.

There will be approximately 20,000 fish released into the river between March and Labor Day. The river is stocked weekly until July 4^th, and then will be stocked twice a month through the Labor Day Holiday. For those wishing to fish the lower Toccoa, from Atlanta take I-575 until it turns into 515, and then follow 515 all the way to Blue Ridge. Highway 515 crosses the Toccoa River right past Roses and the Tin Loon Chinese restaurant.

Recycling Old Planks

Here is an idea for recycling old planks. Even though Christmas is a long ways off, here is an idea for a Christmas project.You can use an old plank for a Christmas craft project. You can make a Santa Claus to hang on the wall, door or even on a Christmas tree with an old plank, paint, craft wire, old buttons, black permanent mark, textured snow paint and some red felt. Once you have found a suitable plank, paint the plank using flesh-colored paint for the face, white for the eyes and red for his coat. Add pupils to the eyes using black paint, add other details such as belt, and pant inseam with the black permanent marker. Glue the old buttons to the front of the coat and using a stencil, make Santa’s beard with the textured snow paint. Cut the mittens and boots out of scrap lumbar and attach to your Santa with black craft wire. Cut the hat out of red felt and glue to the top Santa’s head. I found this interesting craft on http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf10848882.tip.html

Zombie Outbreak Preparedness

Have you made preparations for a zombie apocalypse? Do you have a plan of action should a horde of flesh eating zombies appear outside your door? The Center for Disease Control has published a post to raise public awareness in the event that the unthinkable happens.
According to the CDC, the first step in preparing for a zombie apocalypse is to have an emergency kit in your house. This kit should include enough water for each person in in your home to have a gallon a day, a well-stocked pantry of non-perishable food, cache of medicine (OTC and prescription), tools, batteries, duct tape, battery-powered radio, utility knife, soap, bleach, clothing and bedding, important documents and a first-aid kit. The CDC also encourages families to sit down and work out a game plan in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

Of course these guidelines are basic guidelines for facing any disaster or emergency. The CDC is using the popularity of zombies to remind the public of the need to be prepared before an emergency arises. But on the other hand, what if the CDC is expecting a zombie outbreak? What if the CDC foresees a deadly virus outbreak that has the potential of turning masses of people into flesh eating zombies? If the unthinkable happens, do you have a game plan?

Writing for HubPages

After being rejected by Demand Studios,I have decided to publish some articles on HubPages. HubPages does not pay upfront payments but do pay for page views, Adsense, Amazon, and ebay. If I publish enough it could provide some residual income, which in the long run may be more profitable than upfront payments. Here is my second Hub that I have published. For those not familiar with HubPages, when you publish some work, in generates a page known as a Hub. Once you have made a Hub, you can add to it, or remove parts of it. It is a neat process, it is like having a blog page.

Demand Studios Rejection

After nearly a year of churning out Demand Studios informational articles I have gotten the axe. I didn't see it coming, but it came and hit me like a ton of bricks. Here is how it went down.



I got an email from Demand Studios about two weeks ago saying that all of my assignments had expired. That didn't seem right, so I logged on to Demand Studios and found that I had been placed in the Demand Studios Writer Development Program. In this program, you claim three assignments that undergo extreme scruntinity by editors before you can claim any other articles. The first article I wrote had to be rewritten, I rewrote but do not know if it is approved or not. The second article was accepted after a rewrite. With the third article, the editor blasted me good. So I tried to follow the article as close as possible to avoid rejection, but guess what, rejected anyway. My major mistake was one sentence that had the word "to" that I missed in my editing. Do I have real writing skills? Was it a fluke, all the articles I have published? Or maybe it was meant to be. Here is the article that got me rejected, you be the judge.

Creative Uses for Old Wood Planks

Explore your creativity by making craft projects with old planks. Instead of throwing old planks away, you can reuse the planks in a variety of ways. For example, build an outdoor wooden floor mat with some old 1-inch by 3-inch planks and some twine or use some old barn wood planks to create rustic picture frames or plaques.

Wood Plank Doormat
To make a wooden doormat out of old planks, you will need enough 1-inch by 3-inch inch planks to make 7 sections, 22-inches long and twine. Once you cut the planks length, sand and stain the planks, using water resistant stain if mat is going to be an outdoor mat. Next, drill holes through the planks on the 1-inch side and thread the twine through the holes to hold planks together. Tie knots in the twine at each plank to provide spacing between the planks.

Signs
For an outdoor wedding, instead of using poster board signs to direct people to the wedding location, make a decorative sign out of an old plank. You can also use old planks to make signs for other events such as parties, barbecues or any event other event needing directional signs. In addition to directional signs for outdoor events, you can make rustic signs for businesses, homes, or as a home interior decoration.

Holiday Decorations
You can make holiday decorations from old planks. For example, for a Christmas decoration, make a wooden plank Santa Claus to. In addition to an old plank, you need paint, craft wire, old buttons, black permanent mark, textured snow paint and some red felt for this holiday craft project. Once you have painted and drawn Santa on the plank, attach mittens and boots to the project with black craft wire and glue the red felt to the top of plank for Santa’s hat

Mantel Planks
Place old planks over a mantel to make a decorative wall. To make this project, you need enough planks to go from the mantel to the ceiling and long enough to run the length of the mantel. Cut all the planks the same length, paint the planks the desired color and nail to wall above mantel. After attaching planks to wall, add decorations and memorabilia to the planks. For example, add some fishnets, seashells and decorative or mounted fish to create seaside themed wall.

I published the article on Associated Content, feel free to visit article there and see the finished work along with my sources.

Good Instruction

Good instruction from Oswald chambers this morning.

in reference to: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (view on Google Sidewiki)

Fulfilled Prohecy

I see the fullfillment of Jesus' words as I read this passage. Here I am half way around the globe, living in a different culture reading about a Jewish womam pouring perfume on Jewish man prior to His crucifixion 2000 years after the fact. Jesus spoke the truth, He is the truth, the way and the life. Know Him!

in reference to:

"Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11"For you always have (M)the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12"For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it (N)to prepare Me for burial. 13"Truly I say to you, (O)wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.""
- Matthew 26 - Passage Lookup - New American Standard Bible - BibleGateway.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Description of the Life of Faith

In todays devotional, Oswald gives a godd description of the life of faith. Todays excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest is well worth reading.

in reference to: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers (view on Google Sidewiki)

Demand Studios Writer Development Program

I was greeted by a not so pleasant surprise when I opened my emails last night. I received a message from Demand Studios that all of my claimed assignments had expired. I didn't understand why it happened, the assignments were not due till next week. I logged on to my work desk on Demand Studios to find that I had been placed in the writer development program. In this program I can only claim three assignments at a time and those assignments will scrutinized by an in house copy-editor. If I pass their evaluation I will regain my regular writing privileges. This happened without warning, 67% of my articles have passed with no rewrite and mt scoreboard ranks me slightly above average. No explanation by Demand Studios of why I am in the writer development program only that it is where I am at. From scouring the Internet I realize that there are other Demand Studio writers who like myself were caught by surprise by the writer development program, additionally, it seems that the CEs were caught by surprise as well. This move by Demand Studios reminds me not to quit my day job yet.

May 31 Update
I finally got the axe, so I no longer write for Demand Studios. Been writing a little for Associated Content. The good part about Associated is that they are not as picky and you can residual income off your articles. If your articles are good enough you can recieve upfront payments as well. I am missing my extra income, but am enjoying my leisure time from writing.

Fwd: We Should Stand-up in Support of Governor Jan Brewer,

                   

Way to go Jan!!  Maybe this is a language he can understand.  The owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, Robert Sarver, opposes AZ's new immigration laws. Arizona 's Governor, Jan Brewer, released the following statement in response to Sarver's criticism of the new law: "What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?" - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer   Try going to any other country without ID.

Death of Bin Laden

As I view the news reports of the death of Osama Bin Laden, I see Americans rejoicing and a new wave of patriotism sweeping the country. Watching Americans singing the National Anthem on a New York subway, it is hard not to feel a sense of national pride. I imagine that the death of Bin Laden will spur more animosity against America and Americans from those who practice radical Islam, but they already hate us. I love our country, I hope more Americans will stand up and show their love for our country and that those who are here that do not love America may realize that they are in the wrong place and go back to their own country. May the spirit of American patriotism be so strong that America haters, illegals or anyone in our country who opposes our nation may feel extremely uncomfortable and out of place.