Monthly Archives: October 2025

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Happy Halloween

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Week 44 of 2025

Greetings all!

Sorry about no post last week, I had impromptu grandbaby duty that lasted longer than anticipated. Oh, darn, more grandbaby time!

It’s been a productive couple of weeks. I’ll send off a short story later this week. I made progress on the bigger projects too, plus did a bunch of cool stuff around the building.

Last weekend was the annual cleanup weekend where the Community Empowerment group gets dumpsters and encourages us to take advantage. Well, take advantage I did, getting six truckloads of junk out of the basement.

Yes! The basement. It’s not totally clean yet, but it’s close. It’s a big, open space of about 100 feet by 30 feet. My plan is to turn it into the wood shop. The existing shop is nice, but it’s cramped. This won’t be cramped.

Later this week, I’ll be recording a Blasters and Blades podcast show. I’ll get to talk about some of the gods I created for Okkorim and I’m excited. I’ll let you all know when that gets released.

Of course, it’s Halloween this weekend, which means trick-or-treating. That’s so much more fun with a grandbaby, just saying.

I’ll be pushing along on the various projects during the days, all of which are coming along. It’s a good time to get things done around here.

Happy Halloween everyone!

What I’m Listening To

We’re watching the Addams Family, the original TV show with John Astin and Carolyn Jones. This particular one is the Halloween episode with Don Rickles. Brilliant stuff. Here’s wishing you some happy gloominess!

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to Charlie Daniels. I bet you can get this week’s quote, because it’s perfect for Halloween.

Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard
‘Cause Hell’s broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards
And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold
But if you lose the devil gets your soul

– The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Charlie Daniels

Upcoming Events

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 349.2lbs

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: A Fist Bump to Remember

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Week 42 of 2025

Greetings all!

This has been the Rushiest of weeks that I’ve ever had, at least since the release of an album. First, as I mentioned last week, they’re going back on tour in 2026. I scored my ticket on Friday, and never have I been happier to have a Citi card since it got me in a couple days early.

I’ll see some of you in Fort Worth on June 30th, which will be a fun detour on my drive home from LibertyCon.

Geddy Lee Collection
Geddy Lee Collection

Then, on top of that, Geddy Lee just released a new baseball book. If you didn’t know, he already had a great connection to the Negro Leagues Museum in KC. Some years ago, he donated over 400 baseballs signed by Negro League players and there is literally a Geddy Lee exhibit there.

So, the NLBM was the obvious place to have a signing, and surprisingly it was the only signing he’s doing for his book 72 Stories. I was one of the people there, of course.

Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee

In the presentation portion of the event, Geddy talked about scoring baseball games. When it was my turn, I mentioned that I kept score and that one of my prize possessions is the scoresheet from my slow-pitch softball perfect game.

He said, “A fellow geek!” and gave me a fist bump.

I’ve decided, after some consideration, not to bronze my hand. I’ve even washed it a few times since then.

Still, it was a neat experience for me to top off a fantastic week for this Rush fan.

I finished another Okkorim project this week. That makes something like 25 different projects over the last couple of years, over 1 per month and some of those are hefty pieces. The process is accelerating, too, so that’s exciting.

I also made progress in all three of the projects I’m working on. I’m especially excited about the noir PI project, which I expect to finish this next week.

I’ll keep hammering on the three this week. With that, I’ll see you all soon!

What I’m Listening To

Death in Paradise. A light, fluffy murder show. It’s one of our favorites.

Quote of the Week

“Ow, my eye!”
– Harold Godwinson, presumably

Okay, I made that up, but Happy Hastings Day to those who celebrate.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 353.8lbs

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: We’re On Fire!

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Week 41 of 2025

Greetings all!

We’re on fire! Well, not really, though we’ve had a far more interesting evening than expected. A motor to an HVAC unit decided it was time to quit, and it sent a little smoke and icky smell through the ventilation.

No big deal, in the end, though we did get to meet the fire department.

This past week the wife and I went to Houston for Quilt Market. This will shock you, but it’s a big market for those who sell quilts and quilting supplies. Amazing, huh?

It was like most trade shows, and if you’ve been to one, you’ve generally been to all of them. We saw a lot of cool things, of course, including some amazing new dragon fabrics which we’ll have in 2026.

Plus, I got to see my first drone show, sponsored by Moda Fabrics, who were celebrating their 50th anniversary. It was really cool.

Moda Drone Show
Moda Drone Show

Along the way, the wife and I had a bit of a vacation, something we really haven’t done. We stopped at a variety of interesting places along the way and tried out a bunch of new restaurants. We’ve had little time for such things, so spending time with each other was really the best part.

Even with the trip, I had a reasonably productive week. I’m working on three projects and made some progress on each, including major progress on a new short story. We also finalized next month’s Okkorim module.

Of course, the big news this week is Rush related, and I have two cool things to talk about.

First, Geddy Lee will be doing a book signing at the Negro Leagues Museum for his new baseball book on Saturday. I’ll be there. Gonna be really cool as it’s been a while since I’ve been there.

Second and jaw-droppingly wow, Rush is going on tour next summer!!!!!!!

That’s actually like a 1000 exclamation point statement for me, but you only get 7 for now. Anyway, I’m going, and I think this time I might splurge on VIP tickets. I’ve never done that before, and I thought I’d never have the chance. I’d be an idiot not to at least investigate doing so this one last time.

I’m incredibly excited. I haven’t missed a tour since Signals and I’m not missing this one.

So it was a great week, especially the part where the building didn’t burn down!

What I’m Listening To

More Lewis, which is nice comfort food after tonight’s excitement.

Quote of the Week

Happy 86th birthday to Bill Snyder. If you’re a college football fan, you know he’s one of the greatest coaches of all time, turning Kansas State into a perennial bowl team.

To put that in perspective, one year K-State was the single worse team in the NCAA, even ranked below Wichita State. To put that in ever more perspective, that particular ranking was the year after Wichita State ended their football program, so K-State was so bad, it was worse than a football team that didn’t even exist.

Sadly, he was not a quote machine, so I don’t really have a quote, I just wanted to gloat about that one year the Shockers didn’t even have a team and we were better than the Wildcats.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 355.2lbs

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Dragons Enjoyed

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Week 40 of 2025

Greetings all!

This past weekend, we hosted Dragon Day here in Anthony. We sponsored Eragon at the Historic Anthony Theater and got to take the grandbaby to her first movie. She couldn’t quite make it through the whole thing, but going for an hour at 2 is pretty good, I think.

Also, we got several local joints to make dragon-themed food or drink. All the stuff was tasty, with a spicier burger from Petunia’s, a spicier pizza from Kristy’s Kafe, and a dragonfruit version of a mule from the Idle Hour.

It was an exhausting day, but a lot of fun. We’ll be doing a Dragon Day every year. I would guess we’re sponsoring the original How to Train Your Dragon, which is what we wanted to sponsor this year but the studio wouldn’t let us because of the new version. Ah, well.

I spent time writing on a new project this week as well. I didn’t, quite, get to my goal of 7000 words in it, but I came close at about 6700, so that’s a good start. I’m aiming to finish by the end of November, which is more than doable since the publisher wants me to end up around 50,000 words instead of my customary 100,000.

We’ll see. Brevity is the soul of wit, and there are times I’m witless.

I also finished another Okkorim module. Chunking out at least one a month every month and let me tell you, these are lots of fun.

Tomorrow, we start our drive to Houston to go to Quilt Market, one of the big quilting trade shows. I’m pretty excited, actually, though I suspect I’ll be toting a bunch of stuff for the wife.

By the way, this means the shop will be closed Thursday through Monday so if you were planning to visit, I suggest a different weekend. Feel free to make online orders, though. Our crack staff will be fulfilling those as normal.

I’ll also be taking my computer to see if I can’t get some time just writing. It’ll be nice to be away from the shop for a few days.

I guess I better go pack. Catch you all next week!

What I’m Listening To

It’s baseball playoffs, so right now I’m watching the Dodgers hammer the Reds, having hit 3 home runs off Hunter Greene. That Shohei Ohtani dude might be pretty good, though.

Quote of the Week

Today is the birthday of the Persian poet Rumi. Sadly, I can’t read any of the languages he wrote in (usually Persian), so I can’t truly enjoy all his poetic glory, but even so, we can see he was a master wordsmith.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
― Rumi

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Shattered Spear (6,743)

Upcoming Events

  • I have a number of things in the works, but nothing confirmed yet.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 356.2lbs

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe