Will Hawkins

I do not think the proper way to grow carrots is by replantimg the tops unless you want to wait several months for the seed to set and with the smallness of carrot seed they would be very difficult to plant. The best way is to buy a roll of seeds which comes with seed stuck to a paper tape, then just lay the tape out on the soil and cover it lightly with a thin layer of dirt then water. That way the carrots grow up nicely spaced and easy to weed. Potatoes are a vegetables best grown by cutting one potatoe apart, making sure there is an eye in each piece and planting that. As the plants grow, they will send out roots and then the growing spuds will be harvested by pulling the whole plant out of the soil. If you grow peanuts, the flowers will droop and the nut will grow from the root that buries itself into the earth. Tou just pull them up at the proper time, allow them to air dry and cut the nuts off their root.

Drsawzall mentioned bigots in his remarks, I believe that bigotry stems from fear. The father who kicks his child out of the home because the boy is gay may be afraid of a slight tendncy on his own part to walk on the other side of the river and is unable to face his own inclinations.

On week-ends, the boys worked in the garden – weedend is one word, no space, no dash.

Do you know how to sex chicks? I had to learn once 70 years ago. I don't know whether I could still do it. it is quite difficult and if you make too many mistakes, the males will fight to determine dominance and you may end up with a number of dead chicks.

With thick stone walls, the windows become the greatest heat-loss item, but replacing the single pane glass with double pane will take care of that. Unless the windows have leaded, diamond panes, then heat loss becomes an important factor and one that is not easily (read 'cheaply') overcome without destroying the appearance of the exterior. Maybe adding shutters to the inside, so as not to destroy the appearance of the exterior, could be a soultion. However, in that case, the views in looking OUT suffers. As the King od Siam says to Anna, "It is a puzzlement!" Mister Will

Well, finally a word I had to look up: 'goosegog' is very British and is mentioned as an 'informal', meaning slang, term for gooseberry in my on-line dictionary. I am constantly dismayed by the number of thos who respond to your stories (and to those of other authors in GA) indicating a pattern of hatefulness from parents, especially for gay children – it seems that many parents fail to understand that 'alternative sexuality' (to use a term that is inclusive of all forms of the sexual spectrum) is as much an innate genetic trait as is red hair or green eyes, and to discriminate against a child because of whom they may love is to indicate hatered for the parent's own background. I was so fortunate that there was in my family an Aunt (at that time called a 'maiden lady) who lived with a 'friend' all during my youth and when it came time for me to 'come out' I had a sister (straight) who became an advocate for me with my Father. It seems that Mothers are always, the 'first to know'!

Two farm boys walking off holding hands, eh? Looks like Eros has raised his head. Well, at least the apartment will be well used.

I took some time out from reading this morning to find out a little bit about you – just checking on the information that you have put on line. There are some similarities in our background, I, too, was born in Colombus, Ohio and I am 88 years of age, a little wobbly on my feet, but otherwise in very good health (considering my age). I still have all my teeth, all my hair, though it is of course now totally white as opposed to the dishwater blond of my younger years, and, until I retired, was a Community Cillege Instructor in Civil Engineering Technology in Washington State. As a result of the financial troubles of 2008, I was forced to abandon my home near Seattle and move to a less expensive place to live. I am now quite comfortable with the income from Social Security and Teacher's Retirement, living in Bahia (northeastern Brazil). The warmer weather here is very kind to my 'old bones' and I see no reason to move back to the cold and wet of the Northwest. I, too am somewhat of a history buff and have even written a couple of stories about my period of interest – the ere of Reconstruction following the Civil War, Probably not researched as thoroughly as your work with the Rome of the Caesars. I have found your writing style to be of fantastic interest and will be following along from chapter to chapter with the thread about the house. Do persue further writing as your style is a great boon to GA. In my opinion there are too many stories here written in poor English by youngsters with little experience in life about which to be creative. Mister Will

In this story the house has so many secrets it is really a character on its own. Marvelous tale.

Marlene strikes me as a person to be avoided –all she has on her mind is 'the family jewels' (Hey that might be a pun")

Your writing, Mark is at once a pleasure to read and a challange to follow. I find I must frequently dive into my history books to bring my ancient brain up to speed. I do recognixe the expedition you describe of our Captains exploits around the south and west coasts of South America as being an adaptation of a famous British Captain from history. But my lack of familiarity with Russian history challages me to dive into the history od England and the Tzar of Russia- I love it!

My interwst in your story jumped 20 points when you started writing about Caspar's empathy bone. Looking forward to each coming event. Hey, I don't remember how to send a 'private message'. I will do a little research and if I cannot find the method, I will ask you for help.

Excelent start to a potentially good story. I figure myself to be so fortunate that my first experience was not traumatic, yes, a little painful, but I was mentally prepared for that and 'coming out to my father' (single parent) was easy as I was guided and helped by an older sister.(straight). One small grammatical error in this chapter "improper pronoun choice" (using 'I' instead of me in 'objective' situation). Perhaps the easiest grammar error to make."You could always speak to your father and I, you know?" A better pronoun choice here would be "your father and me" – to keep from making this error in future, just say the sentence, leaving out the noun phrase (your father and). You will quickly see the pronoun 'I' sounds like the proper choice. " I was informed that these ones should be a decent match", This may be merely a matter of awkward phrasing, but it does not slide easily off the tongue, think about it for a moment and see if you cannot come up with a small rewrite to make it work better. Another suggestion might be in reference to the phrase: "look at me different." It would be happier as "look at me differently", once again, just a suggestion for smoothness. Okay the Grammar-troll will now go back into his cave and quit nipping at the bare toes of the author as he crosses over the writer's bridge on the path toward publication. Do you wish me to continue with my suggestions or not. I do not want to upset you, just to make your writing flow more smoothly. Mister Will

OK, my choice would be a long series (many chapters), but it doe not have to be historical. as I am too lazy to search and too impatient to wait for the day when a chapter is supposed to be on line. I love the fact that your Rome story had very few grammatical errors in it – so many authors on GA have never discovered a grammar-checking program. My location in Brazil is very different from Rio. The nearest town is Itacimarim, but we live on a farm/ranch a long way out in the country. My old bones love the warm weather however, when I first arrived (2008) we lived in an apartment on the beach. I love the ocean, but did not like the crowded conditions there. Where I live now, I cannot even see another house, though there are neighbors along the road to here. That is just fine for me. The property lies on a 40º slope down from the road to a man-made lake and is liberally covered with large trees. We even have a couple of lage mango trees that are just now giving us fresh fruit for breakfast. Mister Will

I will wait for another series to be completed – my life (here in the Brazilian Rain Forest – is very calm and I look forward to good reading. At my age (87) that is about all that is left.

Whhat story of yours would you advise reading next. I have enjoyed 'Rome' very much, I like the ancient history and the relations between the men. If you want to discuss something or ask for advice just email me at misterwill2@live.com

It is a shame that Lucinius never discovered peanuts or vetch. The seeds of both of those plants provide good things for humans to eat and, if rotated with the wheat and barley would increase his crop by another third. While the common vetch has developed over the centuries a bed reputation as far as human consumption is concerned, it is an excellent forage crop (for feeding animals) and is commonly used as a soil restoritive. Bees are especially fond of the nectar and it produces a superior honey.

In my world, one does not lay on a bed (unless they are a chicken), I usually lie on a bed.

The Molassian Hounds that I spoke of earlier are now (21st Century) extinct, but the Mastiff, which is a near relative is thriving and is used for much the same purpose as were the Moladdians in Roman times: as guard dogs, for hunting wild game and as bed warmers. They are not quite as large as were the Molassians, about 90lbs being common, but other than that, are quite similar.

I am going to have to disagree on one small point in your story: dogs and caged birds, both, were frequent pets in Roman times. There were both large guard dog types and small ap dogs, though in this case, I can see a large dog, both as a guard and as a pet (and also ued for hunting). Molassian Hounds – a large dog used for guarding, and hunting, wild boars especialy, also became pets, even sleeping with their masters at night.

I Googled one denarius and found that at the time of the Caesars it had a value of about one day's labor for a man.

Flattery is a form of praise for the undeserving. You, as an author, are far from undeserving; your characterization, pacing and creativity are among the finest of all the authors on GA. Stuck as I am in the wilds of the Brazilian Rain Forest with no way even to go into Itacimarim, the little settlement nearest to me, I depend upon the creativiety of the authors to keep me from going crazy. At least here, though Brazil has been hit hard by the Covid – 19 bug, I am far enough away from infected people that I do not have to worry about that. I just wish I had someone warm to cuddle up with at night At any rate, keep up the good work and know that you have an appreciative audience located in the wilds of the Brazilian Rain Forest. Mister Will

Well, well… Finally the old troll gets to come out from his cave under the bridge and nip at the bare toes of an author crossing over, heading for publication… A little explanation first… I am well known to the authors posting stories on GA as an old troll who is a toe nipper. I look for grammar or word usage errors and jump on authors about them. (My personal problems are in spelling, but we don't need to get into that right now….) My special favorites are 'homophones', (just to save you the effort of googling that, they are words in American English that sound just like other words, but are spelled differently, like there and thier.) Your grammar is so good that I was getting a little frustrated by not finding ANY errors until this chapter. Wahoo, I found one! REIGN means a rule of a king or queen.. the word you need here is REIN, a strap used to control a horse. Note: this is NOT a serious error; it only serves to give me the opportunity to nip at your bare toes! Mister Will

It seeems to me tht Brad needs to get some help from a technician with his prostheses, Stump tenderness and pain this lenth of time after mputation needs to be corrected. Mistr Will

You have no idea about how I have started breathing again now that Trump is no longer President. OK, Biden may not be the very best replacement for him, but at this point anything is better I believe. Mister Will