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A Menu of VACATION PICS, FAMILY PHOTOS, GRNRALOGICAL INFO, HISTORICAL POSTCARDS, BLOG POSTS, and more.
I have always had a love for scenic photography, and will attempt to include my favorites. Many are pictures taken on vacations, or taken during hiking trips, fishing trips, and some were taken during a day off while traveling on business trips prior to my retirement.
Historical photographs have also been a long time obsession with me, and will attempt to include many of these, although I am still scanning many of them, so check back often.
Also blog entries on a variety of topics such as travel, product reviews, genealogy, and more!!
RECENT BLOG ENTRIES
Book: Stories of the American West, Volume 1 Released this week
Book released via Amazon (Paperback and Kindle) and Via Ingram (Paperback)
My book is now published and the paperback is orderable at Amazon, the Kindle version is available on preorder, but should be delivered this evening. Also, I will be releasing via Ingram this week, so smaller bookstores and Libraries can order it that way. For those that have Kindle Unlimited subscriptions, it is now available for free Kindle Reading that way, at least for 90 days. If you are not into westerns, please forward the link to any friends you may have that are into westerns. Also decided after looking into final costs, that I could lower paperback price to $9.99 and Kindle price to $4.99, so those new prices now available via Amazon, in the US.
Press Release Available: https://grizzlycreekpublishing.com/2023/01/29/press-release/
Three Western Books to read for November
Here is a video I did that highlights three western books to read, for November 2022. Included are Louis L’Amour’ s “Reilly’s Luck”, Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”, and “Classic Westerns” by a group of renowned western authors, including Owen Wister. LINK to VIDEO on YOUTUBE
Book Update: Stories of the American West
My book which has, three Western stories (written by real cowboy Rich Thomson, 1904 Saddle Bronc champion), and two non-fiction articles, one written by me, are still on track for mid January 2023 release. Website has additional info>
Also Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/storiesoftheamericanwest
Simple Oatmeal Recipe
Recipe for making one or more servings of homemade oatmeal. In this Oatmeal Recipe, I will use a 1/2 cup measuring cup, to make oatmeal for one person. If you prefer a smaller portion, just substitute a 1/3 or 1/4 cup. Or for serving oatmeal for a larger group, just use a 1 cup or larger, and multiply accordingly.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of Oatmeal (I use typical Quaker or Store brands old fashioned Oats – NOT instant)
1.5 cup (3 X 1/2 cup) water
1/2 cup milk (or 1/4 cup if you desire less milk)
1 packet sugar or low-cal sweetener (I use Truvia) OPTIONAL
2 TBLSPN maple syrup (I use no sugar syrup) OPTIONAL
2 TBLSPN raisins OPTIONAL
Recipe Sequence
- In a small saucepan, place 1.5 cup water to boil at med high temp, if using raisins, add them at this time.
- When water boils, add the 1/2 cup oats. It is important to immediately lower temperature from medium high to median or lower temperatures to prevent over flowing if boiling too high, but still making sure it simmers at least slowly. Usually this means you will lower the temperature to somewhere between medium and low, to keep it boiling/simmering slowly.
- After about 10 minutes, the mixture will thicken. Before it thickens too much, and before 100% of water is gone, add in the milk, syrup, and sugar or sweetner, and stir the mixture.
- To speed the process, I generally partially increase the heat temporarily above medium, until small bubbles reappear, then gradually lower it until it again is between medium and low) {Your stove may require different setting!}
- After another 5-10 minutes, mixture will cook down, as mixture will get thicker. When it thickens to appropriate consistency, the oatmeal can be scooped out to an appropriate serving dish. (See Picture)
- Enjoy!!
Book Review: Ninja Creami Cookbook by author: Joyce S. Cross
Review of “Ninja CreamI COOKBOOK” by Author: JOYCE S. CROSS
CryptoCurrency Day Trading Test – Trades 7-8
CryptoCurrency Day Trading Test – Trades 7-8
Well trade# 7 is not so lucky. As previously mentioned in a previous post, trade #7 was my first venture into the Bitcoin trading world of Crypto. I purchased $57.25 worth of Bitcoin (BTC/USD) which was worth at the time 50,313 per bitcoin. Good thing I only purchased 0.00113787 of a bitcoin, or $57.25 worth. Basically it has been in a multi-week downtrend since that point, with its usual volitivity. As I am writing this on 5/31/21, 1 Bitcoin is worth 37039, a drop of 0ver 26%. During that time it has traded in a range from about 51000 down to just below 30,000. What I should have done is sell when I had a loss of 5% or so, which would have meant, a max loss of $2.50 or so. I was still holding the trade when it dipped below 30,000 per bitcoin. But I did sell when the price recovered on May 26th when Bitcoin was over 40,000. So my $57.25 investment decreased in value to $45.67 on 5/26/21, the completion of trade #7, a loss of 20.2%. Ouch! And besides the loss, I violated several of my trading rules: 1. Don’t hold trades too long (more than 10 days versus goal of several hours)! 2. Sell at a loss, generally at twice the anticipated profit! Since my goal with these Crypto trades is generally to make 2.5% per trade, at 5% loss is when I should have sold. Now in my defense, my broker does not appear to offer stop loss trade options for Crypto, and there is no way to watch the charts 24×7, but still I need to watch it better.
So, now I need to move on. Trade #8 was also in Bitcoin, and a much better result! This was entered on 5/29 a little before midnight, and the sale back into USD happened (via my limit price) at about 2:30am, giving me a profit of $2.00 (or 4.4%), with a new net of $47.67.
I have decided that in future test trades of Crypto, I will not put the full amount on each trade, I will break it into smaller amounts, so as not to risk the entire trading account, in one trade. This is more closely related to how I regularly trade Index options, which I generally trade 20-25% (of my available trading funds) in the market at any one time. For purposes of this Crypto Currency test, I plan to only trade 50% at one time for the next few trades. This will make my progress a little slower, but will reduce risk.
CryptoCurrency Day Trading Test – Trades 3-6
Crypto Currency Day Trading Test – Trades 3-6
Ok here is my update on this little Crypto Currency trading test. Basically my objective with this test is to either lose this $50 in Crypto Currency, OR double it. So far nothing but gains, but I still am not a long term believer in Crypto currency, but OK to trade it with short term trades so I am willing to be proved wrong…
So with trade#3, I purchased $52.32 worth of Ethereum (ETH) currency when the charts looked like it may go up, and as you can see from my table below, I was able to sell it for a profit of 2.9% so the new USD$ equivalent was $53.83. This trade took only a little less than 2 hours, which is what i am trying to do.
My next two trades I went back to LiteCoin (LTC), and was rewarded with gains of 1.9% and 1.6%, although was disappointed that trade 4 took about 1.5 days which is way beyond what I was hoping for, while trade 5 took about 8 hours. So for trade 6, I went back to Ethereum (ETH) on 5/14 and had a gain of of 1.53% for a 3 hour trade. All in all, my net test to date gain after trade 6, was a gain of 13.4% gain, which is not too bad for about 10 days.
Later that day on 5/14 I decided I had neglected Bitcoin(BTC) for long enough, and invested my $57.25 in BTC. I think my timing was a bit off as Bitcoin has not cooperated yet with a gain. As we speak, I have a “paper” loss of around $2.00 but I have hope to at least escape with a small gain in the next day or so. We shall see, I will post it in a future update.
Crypto Currency Day Trading Test, Day 2
Crypto Currency Day Trading Test, Day 2
My trade on Day 2 of this test, was again using Litecoin, happened after midnight May 09, 2021, I checked my technical charts saw a pullback of LTE that looked interesting, so i used my total available funds for this test of $51.09 and purchased LTE again. After confirmation of the purchase, I set a limit order to sell at around 2% gain, and went to sleep. I checked it this morning, and saw that I did sell it, and after transaction cost, saw that I had a gain in this trade of 1.82%, or a new net cash for this test of $52.32, which is a little over 3.5% gain, since I started yesterday.
Hopefully I will continue to see similar opportunities in the days ahead!
Gonna Dive into Crypto currency day trading, starting today
Gonna dive into Crypto currency starting today, May 8, 2021. Better late than never. I have been trading stocks and options, since the mid 1970’s (Off and on) and following investing and trading even longer (1960s). So today I decided to invest a gigantic amount ($50), actually $50.50 to be exact. And I will try and record either my success at increasing this amount, or (more likely) my failure at losing this $50. I do not intend to just buy a currency, and just sit on it, but to trade it at least several times a week, perhaps more, time permitting. I am retired, but do work occasionally and there are also grandkids, genealogy, Atlanta Braves, fishing, etc. Since Crypto currency is traded 24×7, 365 I am not bound by any exchange time rules, just by how much time I have, and how well the trading gods treat me.
First off, while I do know day trading, I know almost nothing about Crypto Currency, or whether it is even a good idea. Basically it is a stored value that some people believe in, and others (like me?) are still skeptical about. There are different types of Crypto currencies like the well-known Bitcoin (which as I sit here is worth over $59,000 per Bitcoin. The equally famous (or infamous DOGEcoin) which supposedly Elon Musk will mention tonight on Saturday Night Live, as well as many, many more types of Crypto currencies are also out there. A very good thing about Crypto trading is that one does not have to purchase a “whole” coin, but can purchase a tiny fraction of a coin. This is a very good thing, given my budget for this experiment.
My first foray into this trading earlier today was with a lesser known crypto currency, Litecoin (ticker symbol LTE). As I continue this experiment I may trade several of these Cryptos with my massive $50, at least the ones my broker supports which are currently Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Etherium (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC)
Trade #1 Today, May 8, 2021. Decided to look at Litecoin for my first trade. After looking at my charts for at least an hour I saw a buying opportunity on my charts, and decided to purchase $50.50 worth of Litecoin at that time (8:11am):
As you can see, I bought approximately .1468 of a Litecoin which at the time I bought it was priced at $343.94 per Litecoin. Once my purchase was confirmed, I looked at my charts some more and decided to attempt to sell it same day, if the price moved in my favor, so I put a limit order to try and sell at just a little less than $348.
So a blind squirrel does occasionally find an acorn, and I was successful (@ 2:06PM) in selling this litecoin at $347.96, which increased my Crypto currency total to $51.09 a profit (before taxes) of $.59 cents. A whole .09 per hour. But it was about a 1% gain on the amount invested so all in all, not displeased with the result.
The real test will be can I continue increasing my cryptocurrency, or not. Time will tell.
One additional thing, I did a lookback at the charts, and had I purchased Bitcoin at the same time with the same amount of USD cash, it would have been a similar gain.