Karen and I walked out to Normals for breakfast, then headed over to the grocery store for a few essentials. Ninety-nine dollars and some cents later, we bought gas at the grocery store station which offers ten cents a gallon savings for people who spend a hundred dollars on their groceries. Should have bought a Snickers bar or something. In addition to filling the car, we filled the tank we keep for the lawnmower--I've been horrible about mowing lately. The big excitemetn in mowing--one of the wheels came off and I had to hunt up the nut and washer.

That taken care of, I got to work on the final editing process for Michael Paulson's DEADLY TURN, which I anticipate publishing tomorrow. Karen has produced another beautiful cover and I think Michael and I have worked together to turn a good book into an even better book during the editing stages.

Karen and I have been watching the Tour de France (when I haven't had to miss it because of all my bridge events). Today was the last day--sort of. Actually, the last day is a huge anticlimax. The riders don't attack on the last day--they ride to Paris while sipping champagne and enjoying life. Only when they get to the final laps of the Champs Elysse do they actually ride, and then it's mostly the sprinter teams, looking for one last victory. The sprint was exciting but sort of sad. I've been a fan of Robbie McEwan for years and this year he looked like he just couldn't find his legs. I was also rooting for Cadel Evans to win the overall, but he just couldn't put it together yesterday in the time trial--he needed a minute and a half and barely came up with a half-minute. Good for Sastre, though--the man certainly put in a huge ride in the horrible Alpe d'Huez stage.

In honor of Michael's newest Deacon Bishop novel, I'm going to make DEAD ON, the first book in the series the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Private Investigator Deacon Bishop's client is murdered before Bishop arrives in south Texas and the local law wants him gone. To be ornery, Bishop sticks around--and uncovers a mess of organized crime, drugs, murder, and corrupt politicians. Only $3.99 for this hard-boiled mystery. Learn more, read the free excerpt, or buy the entire eNovel here: www.booksforabuck.com/mystery/mys_06/dead_on.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Palm Reader/eReader and Microsoft Reader formats). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

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