Dragon Fly Zed and hook a brother up

I was out doing July range and pasture photo monitoring this morning when I came across this fellow skimming above a stock tank.

He appears to be a Twelve-spotted skimmer, Libellula putchella. Very pretty and surprisingly patient with my efforts to photograph him.

What's that? Of course I had my camera with me. I'm never without my trusty new camera. Just like I'm never without my pistol.

Except for this morning, when I had my camera but did not have my trusty Smith & Wesson Shield. That's right, I was running around with a camera and an empty holster. I did have a rifle along though, so I wasn't completely nekkid.

Some of you may recall Chris Kennedy, who made a couple of gust posts here regarding terrorism and his navy career.

Chris is a writer of highly entertaining science fiction tales, and he offers readers an interesting opportunity to appear in one (or possibly more) of his stories.

Those interested can submit their name and subsequently appear as a "Red Shirt" in one of Chris' books. The term "Red Shirt" hearkens back to the old Star Trek television series, where a long list of red shirted crewmen met generally grisly ends at a rate of one per episode.

As you might imagine, Chris' Red Shirts face a similar fate. Which is pretty cool -- an opportunity to have your name immortalized in print and to have the character bearing that name slaughtered in some memorable fashion.

Except Chris has decided to let a few Red Shirts survive. My name finally made the cut for the next novel, and he recently sent me an email offering my Red Shirt character a slim chance at survival.

Who will die? Who will live?

Turns out that it's up to the folks who cast votes. Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Will Shaun "Lucky" Evertson survive the experience? Or will he have his brain slurped out by aliens or succumb to some other nasty fate?

Turns out it's all up to ya'll. You can go here if you wish to participate.

It'll be fun either way.

And you might find some fun books to read.