This is a picture taken in my backyard so you can see our trusty Dodge Tradesman 300 van. The photo below shows the wintery scene from my front porch. You can see the marigolds still blooming on my front banister. I even have new seedlings sprouted within the last week. Now I'm thinking I need to move my pretty flowers indoors before the cold weather sets in for the winter months...which is probably sooner than I thought.

As I've been saying for over a month now...Christmas is Coming. With the advent of snow, the season is creating the mood early so take advantage of the holiday spirit and promote your charities and your sales for Christmas now. The jingle bells are ringing.

Christmas is coming

The sleigh bells are ringing and carolers are singing

As a soft gentle snow blankets the grass

Cookies baking sends an aroma divine

Wafting through the festive house.

It's almost Christmas folks. The calendar says it's October; but Santa's elves have frantically increased their pace in getting toys ready for all the good little boys and girls. Moms and Dads everywhere are making their lists and checking them twice. Those who have been naughty are trying really hard now to be nice.

After all, it's only a little more than two months before Christmas and that's not very much time.

Start counting the stash in your piggy bank and shop for some bargains before the holiday rush when prices will skyrocket and inventory supplies will plummet.  Buy some gifts this month and next so you can miss the holiday rush and madness. You'll be happy because you will find a better inventory that is not depleted because there are too many shoppers looking for the same item.

That's the holiday advice for today. Hurry on over to visit our new blog that we created especially for lovers of the Christmas season. We'll be featuring contests, Santa Letters, tips, recipes, prizes, gift ideas and so much more. We value your feedback so go visit Christmas is Coming and help us develop a site that you will enjoy visiting and using. The information should be helpful to you so we need your feedback.

Remember, get those Christmas cards ready early and buy postage stamps before the price increases. We'll see you at our grand launch of the new blog. Till then, have a safe and hppy holiday season.

The Midnight Writer

Here are the highlights of the summer of 2009:

Traveled Highway 101 from central California to northern California.

Visited the Redwood forest in various locations.

Checked out some beach hotspots.

Camped in the Redwood forest and went hiking.

Traveled to Mount Shasta to visit some old friends.

Attended a rainbow gathering north of Weed, California.

Raised funds for little Gabriel after he drowned Memorial Day for his burial.

Got stranded in a New Mexico mountain for over a month when our transmission went out.

Photo Credit: Mountain Spirit Productions taken by Photo Gent

This beautiful elk with the velvet buttons on his antlers just stood there eating and watching us while we watched him. He showed no fear of humans whatsoever. We were only a few feet off the narrow Highway 101 and he was eating with a young one nearby about twenty feet from the road. There was a herd behind him that seemed oblivious to our presence, but the young calf got curious and wanted to walk towards us so we drove away. We didn't want to see him come out onto the highway. There was a lot of traffic yesterday.

Enjoy one of our rare experiences. Share the photo but please give credit to Photo Gent with a link to our website. Thanks. See you somewhere down the highway on an adventure unknown to us today!

The Midnight Writer

This photo was taken on a southward trek two weeks ago in the small town of Orrick near one of our favorite beaches. The Hog Wild Cafe is the feature here. Though we didn't stop in to check out their cuisine, we thought the signs were pretty cool. Maybe next time we'll stop for lunch when we pass by this way again. Since we're vegetarians, the burger really doesn't entice us but who knows, maybe they serve salad or garden burgers.

Usually we camp out on Orrick Beach for at least one night, if it's not storming. It's that old embedded fear of tsunamis that keeps us away during heavy storms. But we know that if it's our time, oh well, God will take us home.

I keep speaking in the plural and if you are not familiar with my blog, then you have no idea who the "we" in this post is supposed to be. Let me clarify. It's my husband Cephas, also known as Raven in rainbow circles, and me, Summer Breeze, a/k/a The Midnight Writer.

On this pass by the beach we were in a hurry to get to Mom's since we were concerned about her welfare. Our brother Ron had some work for us, too. It's been an intense couple of weeks this trip on the coast. We really got involved in many events about which I have not really begun to write. If you get a chance, check out Angels for Gabriel to read out the little boy who drowned May 25, 2009 during a Memorial Day campout. Cephas and I began a foundation in his honor. We raised funds for his burial.

Our race to get to the rainbow gathering has begun so we are tying up loose ends personally and financially in preparation to be in the forest for a few weeks. We wanted to be there by now but will probably arrive about the 21st or 22nd and stay till about July 15 to help with clean up. I'll most likely be offline during that time so don't think I've stopped writing. I'll just be on a sabbatical working in the peace and political field that has encompassed a large part of our lives these past thirteen years.

Enjoy the photos. We're loving taking them. Wait till you see our rainbow gathering photos and videos!

The Midnight Writer

The term for a professional legal hacker is "ethical hacker" and big businesses are open to hiring trained, qualified individuals to help increase their system securities. You can enroll for classes now at EC-Council and become skilled in an area you may have always dreamed about.

In case you are not familiar, visit this interactive website for an online class overview on Ethical Hacking. I visited the site and found it to be very impressive. Let me share my experience with the EC-Council/iClass Online. This class offers IT security lessons to you according to your schedule and you can study at your own pace. That is the first part that impressed me. A classroom situation versus an interactive online experience opens possibilities that might not be available to you if you have a tight work schedule or a busy company that leaves zero openings for classes in real time.

With iClass and the help of their sponsors, training to become a Certified Ethical Hacker opened up to any city, state or country in the world. Your computer and laptop become the main tools for your class. Using partner channels, there are 280 authorized training centers in North America.

You can add another notch in your continuing education belt by adding EC Council certifications in the fields of Forensics, Penetration Testing, Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. Now you can add all those special skills you always wanted to your technical resume portfolio.

Changing to better paying jobs is a dream being realized now instead of some far advanced future. This is the peak in Internet Technologies so prepare yourself for the advancements yet to come in a very near future and be ready to meet the challenges and the demands. I recommend taking a course as soon as possible to keep pace.

Imagine being an ethical hacker and how cool it would be to brag to all your friends. Better yet, imagine how useful your skills would be to companies looking for someone just like you to tighten up their securities online. I can think of many opportunities in this line of business where you would be a great asset. Just to name a few, banking, money trading, all businesses who maintain company information and payrolls online, auction and trading companies, software companies, and even many government industries or homeland security agencies will be hiring more ethical hackers in the coming future.

Personally, I think this is an ageless industry where the young and old can compete, with the right training and education.

 For more information, visit this website.

#CEH

It is with a heavy heart that I write this today because I miss a little boy named Gabriel. Watching his brother Raven and his father Woodstock, a/k/a Loren David O'Connor, suffer through the pain of their loss while trying to make arrangements for his burial, memorial and wake is really hard. Gabriel Jaden Coates was with us for a short 3 years, 2 months and 2 days, yet he has made a profound impression on the hearts of people that will last forever. He left this earth to enter the spirit world on Sunday, May 24, 2009 at about 11 am. Gabriel fell into the water of the Antelope Creek, which was fast moving and deep. His body was recovered by very compassionate rescue workers about two hours later.
Woodstock, Raven, his friends and family are sort of moving in a state of unreal shock. Things need to get done. So we are helping in whatever way we can. Funds are urgently needed to buy the casket and to buy a plot where he will be laid to rest. Please spread the word and help in whatever way you can.

Please visit the dedication site for Gabriel at http://www.angelsforgabriel.org. News and information about his memorial, burial and wake will be posted on this blog. Lots of pictures will be loaded soon that I took of the gathering site where little Gabriel drowned. We took photos of the creek and the campsite where he laughed, played and enjoyed. There is a very spiritual picture on the site now that shows what we believe is Gabriel's spirit that appeared while Woodstock and I were standing by the stream talking about Gabriel, about what happened, about his life, about what to do now. It is then that we both felt his presence and a butterfly landed on Woodstock after that moment. I took a photo in the direction of where they found Gabriel's body in the water and that is where the column of light appeared. It was an intense, sad, happy, etherical time.
We will be assisting Woodstock with transferring of funds to the Funeral home when it is placed on the paypal in the amount we need. The general manager Chris Girdner at the Girdner Funeral Chapel is giving us until Tuesday at closing time to come up with the total for the casket. This is urgent. Other arrangements are being made and other funds are needed very much. Please email angelsforgabriel@gmail.com if you have questions or if you want to help in some way.

The Forest Service, the fire department, the Siskiyou county Sheriff's department, the Fish and Game dept. personnel, and the townspeople volunteers from Tennant were very gentle, kind, compassionate during the entire ordeal. We are all grateful to them for the way they handled this situation.
I have many things to write and memorial signs and brochures to make, and a website to update, so please help us facilitate this link being spread far and wide to get the funds together. Gabriel deserves a decent casket, memorial, burial and wake. Help us give him that much, please. Woodstock should not have to concern himself with money at a time like this. Right now we are all camping in our rigs while this is all taking place, so family please plug into this compassionate service.

Much love and blessings.
Summer Breeze on behalf of Woodstock, Raven, Gabriel & Raven and
Jazzy all his friends and family.

The article states that the scam artist's girlfriend actually helped to rig the game. The article described how they pulled off the deception during the games. The article points out that this was done by somehow interfering with the random number generator. It states that somehow a secret code was generated.

 Imagine playing a con game on bingo at such proportions! The grand prize was set high enough to raise this alarm. As Bingo Hideout's Editor pointed out in this article, fraud at such a large Bingo Hall is rare. Gala Bingo Hall toots an employee roster of 19,000 people. They also noted that this should not discourage people from playing at their favorite Bingo Halls since this type of fraud is very rare.

According to this article, the police have the matter under investigation and will decide if any criminal charges will be filed. If you want to read more about this alarming incident, visit Bingo Hideout to read their report.

The wheel in this freelance writing and blogging business venture has started turning so rapidly that some days I think I won't be able to step off for even a minute. There is so much work rolling in and so much in the development area that needs to happen. I have to schedule a few minutes to breathe!

Now I'm not complaining! This is a good thing! The Midnight Writer's freelance network and Mountain Spirit Productions is evolving so rapidly that I am astonished at the pace. It's almost as if I had to reach a certain point of exposure and a certain number of posts per blog and achieve page rank on a few blogs for the momentum to speed up.

There are some wonderful new events happening and I have scarcely mentioned them. Let me give you a quick update here.

Last night I purchased a second hosted blog site but it will be a month or two in development before it is primed for release. I hope to dazzle you all with this one. It's titled The Midnight Writer's Journal and has the domain name http://www.themidnightwriter.net. If you click that now you'll get this funky parking page. That is because we have not completed the domain hosting transfer. I purchased the domain a year ago but the provider never enabled it to be mapped properly or else you would have viewed that domain name right here. Well, I've decided to buy a different domain name for this one, but it's a secret for now. I have to come up with more money for these projects. Don't worry, I'll release the news as blogs and updates go live.

On May 4, 2009, The Midnight Writer's Cafe was accepted into Smorty as an approved blog to write reviews for their advertisers. This is really exciting because this quest took over a year, 14 + months actually. Success feels good after putting so much effort into something.

Katy and Ryan at Trapped in the Office accepted me as a guest writer on their blog so that is exciting for me. I've featured this husband and wife team on this blog in The Midnight Special Spotlight. The link is availalbe in the sidebar if you want to check it out. Katy is a guest writer on several of my blogs and I really enjoy having a fellow contributor who loves freelance writing and has valuable information to share. Watch for more news on this team and check out their site. Be sure to click their other blogs while you're over at the office.

This winter I started blogging for President Barack Obama on his blog. I was so excited when the opportunity was first given to me and I really intended to post something there every day. I'm still excited and I'm reaffirming my intention to write more often so watch for exciting links there.

Being stranded and broken down in Alexandria really affected my husband and me physically and emotionally. We struggled very hard to get our van fixed and to survive the whole dilemma. We traveled a hard road returning to California six months later and have not actually crossed the state line yet. We broke down four times on the return trip because of faulty mechanical work and had to layover and buy many more parts. In Tennesee at the end of February and into the whole month of March, Cephas and I fell ill with some unknown illness. I was very ill with trouble breathing and I broke out in strange hives. It put us both in a state of being bedridden for a little while and honestly, we don't have our full stamina back yet. We are both still recovering.

During all these troubles, I strived every day to write something or to work on a project even when I couldn't really get out of bed. My mind and determination never gave up on making this freelance writing project successful. Now I'm more determined than ever to keep working on it until it becomes the dream I envisioned. At the same time, Cephas and I are taking some purposed rest and relaxation to help our recovery. We're placing the same focus on our health and restoring it as we have this blogging business. I'll be really excited to share this with you. As you read my posts you'll see all the great fun getting healthy that we intend to have and you'll see the continued evolution of this blog and our entire network.

The Midnight Writer's Special Spotlight has suffered greatly but I intend to remedy that real soon. I owe a couple great people an awesome review and it will be a pleasure. Wait till you meet these wonderful folks!

I'll be back soon to share more great updates on our projects at Mountain Spirit Productions. Will you share your blogging adventures with us right here?

The Midnight Writer

Anyone who has dropped more than six times a month since January, if you will email themidnightwriter1@gmail.com, I'll post a thank you and your link right here on this blog.

When you log into this site you will notice some changes in the next few days. Watch for a change in the url to http://www.themidnightwriter.net. Please mark this in your favorites. It has actually been a domain for almost a year, but I purchased a service with a provider who did not map the domain properly, so it never showed up in the url. Instead, it led to some parking page much to my dismay. All the troubleshooting in the world did not change it, until now.

I miss the mountains! Being in Alexandria, Virginia has been a very different experience for me this winter.

Today marks the seventh day that our new President has been in office. Happy Anniversary President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. For those who don't know, I am writing on the BarackObama Blog since a few days before the inauguration.

I am preparing some great posts for today and an anniversary tribute. Please visit and read the latest from the White House. The President and his team have put out White House 101 to share information that will help the people familiarize themselves with all the changes at the White House and in the government. Join in the conversation.

Thanks to all my loyal visitors for dropping on my Entrecard and visiting my site faithfully. I really appreciate it.

Thank you to Stormee and Roxy for being so patient in awaiting the feature articles that I promised to write. I am working on them and hope to have them up soon. Please continue to visit their sites.

Today, I have some preliminary work to do like finishing my paid blog posts for a company who pays me so I can eat and pay my debts. So necessarily, I will write those posts and articles first. Next, I'll post an update of the latest news on the President's blog and draft the anniversary article. Some time this evening I will return here to post an amazing story about an amazing seamstress, Stormee Doreen Bryant.

The article to follow Stormee Doreen Bryant will be a feature article about Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, a woman who writes a couple blogs and a friend of mine whom I met on the blogosphere. Isn't the internet wonderful? Roxy also hosts a site titled Roxys Best Of. She has invited me to write about one of my hometowns on a page titled Roxys Best Of Pocatello, Idaho. Watch for news on that site here as well. And I'll tell you all about the special lady Roxy the Desperate Housewife on the Midnight Writers Special Spotlight.

There is so much happening both in my life and in my blogging world to share. I can't wait to catch up!

Remind me to tell the story of The One Hundred Dollar Roll of Toilet Paper!

Be sure to read The Blackberry You Won't Find in a Jam

Till later, have a wonderful day!

The Midnight Writer

Till tomorrow.

The Midnight Writer

Update: Visit Roxiticus Desperate Housewives.

A review about this remarkable blogger and her sites is coming soon. Please come back to visit.

 Photo Gent and I are still living in our camper van in Wal Mart in Alexandria, Virginia continuing our peace and justice mediation in DC. We attended a meeting on December 9 with the Undersecretary of Agriculture, a meeting that went well while it added to that list of things to do.

Since we have not found a way out of our current dilemma yet, we are living day to day accepting whatever God offers in that day and thankful to be warm, fed and dry. Gratitude is the attitude for this season and we are powerfully reminded by being stranded on the streets of a strange city. What we are doing is seeking opportunities in the area for work and housing, but times are tough for a lot of people to include businesses. So I write, and write, and take more assignments hoping to earn enough this month to effect a difference in our circumstance.

What I realize this past two months since we started this journey is that my blogs have suffered since we were so busy making this three thousand mile trip, now surviving and meeting the obligations politically for which we made this journey while keeping up to other writing assignments.

I also realize that it is a good time to one by one assess my blogs, their status in ranking and progress, how effective the planning is for the outcome, and to get back to my day planner hoping to maintain the focus and keep up the posting to at least twice a week until our situation takes us indoors where this might be easier to handle.

Thanks to all my readers for bearing with me. I have missed many planned posts and obligations and for that I apologize. It is my intention to strive to make some of those up by posting belatedly, and to continue to strive to improve my work daily. It is my hope that this first year of my freelance writing and blogging experience coupled with the peace ambassador work will give me enough insight to be of value to others who would benefit from that information once written.

Reviewing my sites will involve reading through each one to evaluate the content, it's frequency, the sidebars and content, to list projects unfinished and design a plan to follow up on bringing those projects and/or changes to completion. I am looking for feedback on all my blog sites, starting with this one.

What would you like to read about on here? Post a comment here with a link back to your blog and leave your email so we can communicate. Or email themidnightwriter1@gmail.com.

I would like questions to be sent to me or listed on the comments to spur content ideas of value to not just me, but more to my readers, to you. Much of my freelance experience involves many companies, so the next step in the evaluation process will involve assessing those companies, my experience with them, what they offer and then put them in an article for reader critiquing.

Soon to come is a feature on a special woman from Tennesee, Doreen Bryant, a clothing designer with a unique talent and unique recipients of her famed jackets. I will share her personal story on one of my blogs while also writing a review of her work, her blog, her business and her incredibly inspired life. Watch for the feature about Stormee.

Would you like to appear in a review, a feature article or The Midnight Writer's special spotlight? Email or post your comment below. Be sure to include contact information.

Till next time,

The Midnight Writer