Dear Readers,

Another week has come and gone. Having not set foot in a classroom for 55 weeks now, it seems to me that every day is like the movie Groundhog Day. My daily routine is broken up only by the weekends when my wife is home with me all day. Early on in my pandemic year posts, I commented several times about how I was having a hard time sleeping. That is no longer the case. In fact, I am having the opposite problem. I turn out the lights at 11pm every night and, apart from waking up a couple of times to reposition during the night, I am sleeping like the dead. I’m having a hard time forcing myself to get out of bed before 0800 and when I do get up, I am groggy as hell. I don’t miss the days of waking up at 0515 to drive an hour to campus, but those days will be returning again soon and, truthfully, I worry about how I’ll be able to handle it. I’m sure it will take me a few weeks to get my body sorted out.

There are a few exciting things on tap for this week. On Wednesday, look for a two part episode on the Winecoff Fire on my podcast, Old Flames. And Thursday is OPENING DAY! I don’t know why I am so excited given that the Red Sox probably won’t be very good this year. But it will give me something to do every day. My wife is the commissioner of our family/friend fantasy baseball league and we had our draft yesterday (Saturday). Also on Thursday morning, I will be interviewing retired Milwaukee Fire Department Captain Greg Renz for my podcast. The episode will drop on April 7^th. He is not only in the Wisconsin Fire and Police Hall of Fame, but he is also the author of an amazing book. On Wednesday the 31^st, I have a surgical consult, but I would not rank that among the exciting events for the week.

This past week, the literary world mourned the passing of Larry McMurtry, the author of what in my opinion is the finest American novel, Lonesome Dove, among other books. His characters, Captains Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae are so vividly described in the novel that they have become real to us. That, Dear Readers, is the mark of a great writer. I can only dream that my character, Molly O’Sullivan, will become real to you as well. I think she’d get along with Captain Call, especially when he says, “I hate rude behavior in a man. Won’t tolerate it.” She likewise does not suffer fools gladly. Given Augustus’ eye for the ladies, I’m sure he’d be chasing after her.

And speaking of Molly O’, stay tuned for some exciting information later this month. There’ll be a book trailer, and (fingers crossed) the novel might be up for pre-order in late April! It has been a long, hard, rough slog to get here, that’s for sure. And I’m trying to work to make sure you don’t have to wait too long for the sequel either!

Until next time, friends, take care of yourselves, and each other.

L.H.