Thursday This n That

The other morning, just before sunrise, the crows were kicking up an unholy riot out there in the woods.  I tried to see what they were freaking out about and they were pretty focused on one tree.  Just then, I saw something large fly out of the tree, surrounded by crows.  It landed on a leafless branch. Silhouetted by the sunrise, it's species was clear. It was a great horned owl.  Awesome.  It didn't stay long because the crows were divebombing it, but there it was.  Yay.

That's one awesome thing about Fall - leafless trees.  We can see all sorts of stuff in the fall and winter that we can't see all summer.  We're seeing stars again, and birds of all kinds, and planes.  Woot.

Another awesome thing about Fall is the cooler temps.  Well, cooler than Summer anyway.  Yesterday, it got up to 75F.  Blerg.  Pardon me while I whine... I want to go in the woods and play!

I was playing rough with Sawyer and now my hand is scratched up.  He likes to lay between my legs and attack my hand.  I usually cover it with a shirt or something, so it's not too bloody a game, but he got past the cloth.  :shrug:  Oh, the things I do to please my babies.  For some reason, after we play rough for a little while, he settles down and goes for a nap, instead of constantly circling like a shark.  The boy needs active play.  Sure, he's got Finn, but Finn's a lover more than a fighter.

French toast sounds good today.  I probably won't make it, but it sounds good.

The sapsuckers have returned to my woods.  Yay!

I don't think there's enough coffee on the planet to keep my awake today.  Not sure why.  I mean, we stayed up like 15 minutes past our bedtime, and I think I got to sleep okay, but I am pooped.  Derp.

In the spare room, there's a container of green tomatoes.  They're ripening one by one, which is okay.  There's just enough of each tomato to make slices for hamburgers.  Next year, I'm planting potatoes and carrots, too.  Fingers crossed it all works.

Okay, that's enough out of me.  Have a great day wherever you are, and feel free to leave a comment to tell me about your thisses and thats.

Thursday This n That

 I obviously have no idea what day it is.

This coffee is strong this morning.  Yay!  (Of course, I made it, so yeah, not surprising.)

The toadiness is strong with me.  Is it my superpower?  Slower than a sleepy snail, weaker than a reused teabag, able to ignore all tasks with a single yawn... It's ToadLady!  :ribburp:

Anyway...  

Ever since I cancelled DirectTV, they've been sending stuff to us in the mail.  Kinda reminds me of an abusive, old ex-boyfriend - 'I still love you, I'm sorry, I've changed, I can do better, I'll do anything to get you to come back to me'.  Meh.  Like I told the guy on the phone when I cancelled, there is nothing they can offer me that's better than free.  Unless they want to start paying me to have their service.  Wouldn't that be something?  Heh.

I saw something this morning... a teacher who was told she can't mark the black kids as tardy anymore because 'it's part of their culture'.  Wow.  You have to laugh at this stuff or you'll spend your life crying.

It's Labor Day Weekend.  I got all my shopping done early in the week because there's no way I want to be anywhere near town right now.  Vacationers abound, getting in their last hurrah before fall settles around us.  Go forth, ye weekend people, get it out of your system for another year.  See ya after Memorial Day 2026.  Woot.

Someone let two geese roam around the neighborhood.  There was a gray one and a white one, and they had trouble staying out of the road.  A few days ago, Hubs pointed out the profusion of white feathers that started just south of our driveway and ran for about a hundred feet south of there.  No blood, guts, or corpse, but I doubt the goose survived the encounter.  It either got hit and something dragged it off, or it got attacked and the winner took the spoils.  I'll say again... people shouldn't let their domesticated animals wander free in the wilds.  It never works well for the domesticated animal.  I have a feeling it's the same dude who let his guinea fowl roam.  (Btw, he no longer has any guineas left... wonder why?)

Okay, I'm starting to wake up.  Thanks for being around for the process.  Have a great day and an awesome weekend.  Stay safe.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

Sawyer has been playing with his favorite jingly-ball for about an hour now.  He bats that thing around the house like Pele going down the field for a goal.  Yes, he woke me up, but it's hard to be mad at him when he's being good and playing.  I'd rather have him doing that than scratching the bedroom walls and meowling at 3am, as he is wont to do.

My freebie thing this week isn't going great.  On the other hand, people have been reading DE in KU, so I can't be too depressed.

Getting old blows.  I mean, it's better than the alternative, but come on.  The strange thing is I still feel young in my head.  My body is a whole 'nother story.  

I can't believe Ozzy Osbourne died.  I was never a huge fan of his, but he was a fixture of our culture for so many years.  Now, there's a case of Heaven won't take him and Hell's afraid he'll take over, if ever there was one.  (A joke... I hear he was a nice person, and his antics on stage in the '80s were staged or rumors or PR.)

Also, Malcolm Jamal Warner (Theo from The Cosby Show) died this week.  That was a real shocker.  He was younger than me.  The poor man drown.  =o(

Hang on a sec... I need a smoke and some more coffee... Thanks, I needed that.  Now where was I?

Why are the katydids so freakin' loud this year?  Holy crap, it's like an alien invasion out there.  Or Day of the Triffids.  OMG, Howard Keel was in that movie?  I haven't seen it since I was a kid, but I never would've thought Keel was the MC.  By the way, the Joshua Tree National Park looks like a scene out of DotT.  Creepy.

Wow, that was some free range thinking right there, eh?

No matter what you read about what's going on in Gaza, do your research.  A certain section of the populace are putting forward blatant lies.  Don't get suckered.  Actually, that pretty much goes for everything.  Do your due diligence and don't look like a moron.  K?

Finn and Sawyer are rasslin' now.  Finn sounds like he's being killed, but he's the aggressor.  One of these days, he'll really be in trouble, but because of his prior drama, I won't react to his caterwauling.  Cat who cried wolf and all that, doncha know.

Okay, since I've bookended this post with cats, I should probably let you go.  Have a great day wherever you are.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

 Mmm, coffee.

I started writing again yesterday.  A new book.  I know I know I know.... I have scads of unfinished manuscripts weeping from the neglect they've suffered, but when an idea strikes, it's best to just run with it.  Okay, maybe not best, but it's certainly easier.  I'm all about easy.  Anyway, I got about 1300 words down, so I've got that going for me.  We'll see what today brings.  And who knows, maybe I can cobble something I've already written into this.  That'd be good.

My baby tree project is going well.  Out of the scads of seeds I harvested last fall and planted either then or recently, I have 4 dogwoods.  Nothing else came up.  Live and learn for next fall.  On the other hand, I rescued a bunch of volunteer seedlings from around the outside - 4 cedars, 3 redbuds, and 2 oaks.  They're in pots now.  We'll see how they do.  I also have a boatload of volunteer elms that will either have to be dug up and replanted or pulled and thrown out.  They're not in optimal places to have a tree.  

Did you hear the news about the toddler who wandered away from his home in AZ only to be found by a dog 7 miles away?  Yay for the dog.  My suspicious mind wonders, though, how a 2 year old made it seven miles on foot.  Was he snatched and let go?  Was he dumped like a unwanted dog?  Sure, he could've just been a tot on a mission, but like I said, I'm suspicious.

Today, my bird-a-day calendar has a tern feeding its baby a tasty fish.

Earlier I heard a single yip out there in the darkness.  I'm guessing fox.  Coyotes have a tendency to move in a group and when one goes, they all go.  Foxes are more solitary.  On the other hand, neither of them are generally one yip kind of critters.  Since all I have is that one yip to go on, all I can do is guess.

They came and fixed my phone again.  This time, the tech called afterward and it was one I've worked with before.  He said to call him directly next time, and bypass the whole mess that is BS customer support.  And there will be a next time because they can't be bothered to replace what is constantly failing with stuff that actually works.  (He didn't say most of that - only to call him.  I don't want to get him in trouble.)  Anyway, he also said that part of the problem is because someone has been cutting their fiber optic cables.  Most likely they're looking for copper to steal and sell.  Morons.

I'm back to walking more regularly again.  The other night, I saw two rabbits chasing each other around and around.  Bunnies!  So cute.  I mean, they were adults, but still... BUNNIES!  And adult rabbits generally produce even cuter bunnies.  Yay.

No wonder bunnies are associated with Easter.  Spring = Easter. Spring = Rabbits.  Therefore, Easter = Rabbits.  It's simple math.  ;o)

Okay, that's it for me.  I need more coffee and I should probably think about doing something constructive.  Have a great day!

Thursday This n That

:yawn: :stretch:  Good mornin'.  I actually woke up early today, but I couldn't get to sleep last night, so I'm draggin'.  :slurp coffee:

And now Finn wants lots of attentions, so I'm petting and trying to type. With a tail in my way. rofl

Finn's really no small cat by anyone else's standard. He's 13-14 pounds of sleek feline, but next to Sawyer, he's my widdle bebe.  It's not his fault his adopted brother is a moose.

Our phone is out again.  Stupid BS.  Their supposed to be out to fix it again on Friday.  I harangued the phone girl to make sure they actually fix it this time instead of slapping a bandaid on it.  We'll see.  It's going out like every other day.  Then it comes back, then it goes out, then it comes back.  The other day it went out in the middle of a call to Mom.  It's a bit ludicrous that in this day and age we can't get reliable phone service.

Anyway... I saw a news story yesterday about a toddler that had wandered away from his (her?) home in the Grand Canyon area of AZ.  He was found about 7 miles away by a rancher's dog, who led the kid back to its place.  That rancher was out and saw his dog coming home with a kid in tow.  Wild.  Anyway, the tot's fine and the dog is being hailed as a hero.  Not sure how a toddler gets out and wanders 7 miles, but there it is.

I cut my hair yesterday.  Whacked it short because it was irritating me.  I butchered the holy hell out of it.  But I didn't notice until after it dried.  I think I can fix it.  If not, it'll grow out.  Thankfully, I didn't cut it so short it looks like mange.  ROFL

Every morning for the past week or so, I've seen a weird 'star' rising in the east.  When I first saw it, it was about 6am, but it's rising earlier every day.  This morning, I saw it peeking through the trees at 5:27.  I searched online to see if I could figure out what it is, but no luck.  It's not the space station.  It might be like Venus and a couple other planets rising in a line so they look like one big bright light, but that doesn't make sense to my brain.  :shrug:  

Okay, with distractions, it's taken me over 30 minutes to write this and I really need to get my morning marketing done.  Have a great day wherever you are and if you feel inclined, drop a comment about whatever little things are sparking you today.

Thursday This n That

A few minutes ago, Hubs and I were out in the smoking room, which overlooks the woods.  The sun is just coming up here and what do we see silhouetted against the dawn?  Vultures.  The trees are filled with vultures.  I counted 85 and that was just what we could see from those windows.  I expect if I had opened the door out onto the deck, the count would've been well over 100.  As I said on FB, "I'm not dead yet. Go away."  It's kinda creepy out there, but also cool.  

I made cinnamon rolls again yesterday.  It's getting kinda easy to make them now, after all the batches I've done in recent months.  And I think I have the filling down now.  So yay.  I'll try to remember to post the recipe sometime soon.

If you make a cinnamon roll filling that's spreadable, it oozes out when you cut them.  If you do the filling so it's sprinkle-able, your rolls are dry.  So, I devised one that is just short of spreadable and has to be crumbled by hand.  It's messy as hell and you end up with gooey hands, but it's worth it.

I just dribbled coffee on my keyboard and my desk.  Derp.  So wasteful.

WISH IN ONE HAND is free right now.  And it's moving nicely this time.  Without too much help from me, which is good in a way because I've been a toad this week.

There's a lot of craziness on the internet right now.  For the most part, I'm avoiding it.  I block at least a dozen people every day.  These aren't friends, per se, but strangers who've commented on a friend's post - spewing idiocy, etc.  Some of the stuff I'm seeing is really quite shocking, to use an antique turn of phrase.  :shudder:  TDS is high.  Antisemitism is off the charts.  I'm not sure what this world got itself into while I was working, but GAH.

I need coffee.  And I'm about out of things to say, so I'll leave you at that.  Go forth, drink coffee, and try to stay sane out there.

Thursday This n That

I'm enjoying being back on Twitter/X.  I'm reading a lot of interesting stuff that FB isn't showing me.  FB has been a real pain in the ass since the election, putting all sorts of crap I don't care about in my feed and hiding the stuff I've said I actually do want to see.  I've resorted to going to individual pages to see what I'm missing, which is kind of a pain, but necessary.  X doesn't do that.  So yay.

Speaking of hiding stuff, I think FB has shadowbanned me.  I hardly ever get responses to anything I post on my own page... loads of spammy stuff on my marketing posts in Groups, but not on my own page.  :shrug:  I gotta be me.  Of course, I'm not getting a ton of reactions to my X posts either, but I haven't been active on there in 8 years, so I'm not surprised.

Coffee is good. It makes it so I can do thinky things.

I was out of tea and my throat's been scratchy, so I zipped over to the Dollar General to pick some up.  They didn't have a wide selection - green tea, iced tea, Lipton.  I ended up getting the Lipton.  100 packets for like $6/$7 - 4 packs of 25 in little sleeves and wrapped in gold foil.  Ooo, fancy.  I was pretty excited.  It has to be better than Great Value tea, right?  Nope.  It seems like every other teabag tastes like mulch.  I could've gone out and grazed in the yard for free.  Derp.

Editing's coming along.  I'm averaging about 6 pages a day, which is depressing but it's my own damn fault for writing the book in the wrong POV.  Ultra-derp.

This morning, we heard a flock of snow geese going over headed south.  This makes me happy.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned Funky Chicken.  He's a neighbor's rooster and he does not crow right.  It's kind of sad and pathetic.  Well, Neighbor got him a buddy.  The new rooster crows correctly.  We now have the two of them crowing back and forth, like they're trying to teach each other how do it right.  ROFL

Okay, that ought to be about it today.  Have a good one wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  Hasta la bye-bye.

Thursday This n That

 I found this awesome red shirt at the thrift store.  It's long sleeved with a collar and with buttons up the middle and at the wrists, so it's kind of styled like a men's dress shirt.  But it's made from alternating strips of sheer material and satiny material.  I wore it to work yesterday with a black dressy tank top underneath over black silky dress pants.  I was probably way overdressed for work, but sometimes a girl has to put on her armor and wade in, ya know?  Today it's back to a golf shirt and casual slacks, but it's nice to know I can still rock the dressier garb.

I've lost 11 pounds now.  If this keeps up, I'm going to have to buy new clothes soon.  It also means that the two pairs of pants I bought last month that were a tad too tight will be wearable soon.  

Ooo, and now that it's getting cooler, I can break out my suit coats. I love suit coats.  And they're back in style.  I think.  Maybe.  :shrug:  I don't really care about style.  I wear what I like.  (That's appropriate for work, of course.  Otherwise, I'd be in sweats and t-shirts all day every day.)

I hate cell phones.  I mean, they're handy, of course, but having any kind of actual discussion over the cell waves blows.  Echoes, static, blow back, unnatural pauses, volume issues... Humans don't converse like that.  Give me a landline any day, every day, and all day.  Yeah, they aren't without their issues, too, but as I sit answering phones all day, I can tell the difference between someone calling on a cell and someone calling on a landline, because I am more likely to hear them, understand them, and not have to ask them to repeat themselves so I can take accurate messages.  Do the world a favor and call from a landline if the call is important.

And if you are calling on a cell phone, don't treat the other person like a moron if they have to ask you to repeat yourself.  We're doing the best we can with what we're facing.  The other day I had to ask a guy to repeat his name twice and then asked him to spell it because every time he said it, it was coming back garbled.  L-O-N-G, he says with a laugh.  I laughed, too, and apologized, but I really couldn't understand him.

Yesterday, while I was at work, a chickadee slammed into the picture window.  Poor thing broke its neck and poor Hubs had to deal with it.  I'd handled dozens of birds from that window since we moved here 9 years ago, and it always breaks my heart when I can't save them.  I would've done anything to save Hubs from that.  :sigh:

Hubs just refilled my mug, so I told him "I know you love me, because you bring me coffee."  It's the little things that show love, doncha know.  Or maybe he's just refilling my java because out of self-preservation.  ;o)

And that's it for me today.  What's it for you today?

One last thing to add on... I tried on a bra I'd purchased in a fit of optimism.  It was one size too small.  Now it fits.  That's progress.

Thursday This n That

It's been a busy week so it's kinda hard for me to believe it's already Thursday.  

I overdid it yesterday, so I'm moving slow today.  On the upside, I went to bed at 8:30 last night and slept like a rock until 2 when I had to pee and then I finally got up at 4:30.  Believe it or not, that's the best night's sleep I've had in ages.

Yesterday, Hubs saw 5 fawns in the yard at the same time.  He thinks it was Lumpy's twins, another set of twins, and a single.  Yay.  

Oh, I did get a pic of Lumpy's kids.  It's not a great photo, but here it is:

A couple of days ago at work, while I was outside smoking, I found a Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar in the carport.  I brushed it onto a piece of wood with a little stick (because some fuzzy caterpillars have hairs that can irritate your skin) and put it in a safer spot, so it wouldn't get run over.  The next time I went outside, it was gone.  Off ya go, furry dude.  Yeah, moths continue to creep me out, but they still don't deserve to get smushed.

So, anyway, work is going well.  I'm busy all the time, which is good because I hate being bored at work.  There are still a few things I have to learn, but I'm getting there.  I was told yesterday that once I learn those things, they'll add a few more things to my job duties.  I don't remember everything they said, but they gave me a list.  I think I might need more hours in my days, LOL.  In reality, I just need to work more efficiently, so I can fit everything in.  

Which reminds me, I saw a meme this morning that showed a beautiful big cup of coffee and said "You can do it! - Coffee"  Reminding me that with coffee all things are possible.  ;o)

Speaking of which... I need more coffee.  Have a great day!

Sunday Update - Week 13

The thirteenth week... I guess I never noticed before it has April Fool's Day in it.  :cue spooky music:  Ahem... Anyway...

There was writing, but not a lot of it.  1796 words.  Woohoo.  Then I hit a patch of 'why bother?' and skidded out, went in a ditch, and hit the proverbial tree.  I did spent some time working on a marketing thing, which also went in the ditch.  The only thing productive I actually accomplished this week was getting SSS into print format, uploading it, and ordering the proof copy.  That should be here like Friday.  I think.  If the mails are running the way they should and Amazon doesn't fuck something up.

I finished reading two books last week.  And then I started The Three Musketeers, which is slow going, but good.  It's a big book.  :shrug:

On the baking front, I did granola bars, cake cookies, and zucchini bread. Nothing new or exciting, but yummy.

In activity news, I was active 4 out of 7 days.  Wandering the yard, working in the woods, doing a hard target walk, and deep cleaning the fridge.  (And if you think cleaning the fridge isn't active, you've obviously found an easier way to do it than I have.)  I'm up to 13 miles walked for the year.  Weight: 177.6 - so eating less and getting more active is working.  Imagine that.

Speaking of cleaning the fridge... I actually started out yesterday with the idea of deep cleaning the whole kitchen.  In determining the plan, I realized that I couldn't do the floors until I did everything above the floors... natch... and that goes for counters, too.  Well, one of the things above the floor that desperately needed a cleaning was the fridge, so I filled the sink and dove in.  I moved everything out of the door and onto the shelves inside the fridge, then took out all the little shelvey things.  Closed the door and washed those.  Then I washed the inside of the door.  Dried the shelves and put them back.  Refilled those with all their stuffs.  Did the same with the drawers.  Then the big, heavy, glass shelves.  Moving everything around inside the fridge and then putting it back as I went.  In the end, nothing was out of the fridge for very long and the damn thing is clean.  Then I did the outside of the fridge.  Of course, by the time I got done with all that, I was pooped.  I didn't do the freezer, but it's pretty clean anyway.  Today, I'll finish the kitchen or die trying.  *

I also cleaned the coffee maker yesterday.  This new maker beeps when the coffee is done.  And when it needs cleaning, it beeps before the coffee is done, so that's how I know to clean it.  About once a month.  Which is what the specs for this thing say anyway.  

It must be Spring because I'm starting to see bunnies when I'm out walking.  Yay.

Okay, it's time again to take myself in hand.  I've been letting everything get to me and when everything is getting to me, I have a tendency to let the things I need to do slide.  Housework, yardwork, work-work, etc.  I've started cleaning, so that's something.  Now I need to get back to writerly pursuits as well.  Today.  Now.  Alright, maybe not NOW.  It's early and I'm gonna need a lot more coffee before I do anything productive.  

What did your week look like?  How's things?  

* I did our taxes instead.  Now I don't feel like doing anything.

Thursday This n That

 A while back Amazon decided that when they send you a confirmation email after you order a book, it would make the subject some kind of code - which matches neither the ISBN or the ASIN - instead of the book title.  And to see the actual title, you have to click a link in the email.  And then it asks you for your password.  Like this is some kind of state secret.  Blerg.  Are there people out there for whom having the title in the email subject is a real problem?  Are they all like 'OMG, I couldn't bear it if someone saw I'd ordered The Duchess and the Rapacious Rake.'?  Not having the title in the subject, as you might've guessed, is exceptionally irritating to me, since I use those emails to track where I'm at reading the books I've ordered.  Just now, I implemented a new step that fixes it.  I forward the email back to myself and change the subject to the damn book title.  It's an extra step, but it stops messing with my system.  Last year, I ordered 113 books from Amazon.  Try juggling those.  (And yes, I have a spreadsheet with the titles, but that's not the point.)

Why can't people just leave things alone?  Newer isn't always better.  And change isn't always necessary.  Sheesh.

Guess what?  2022 is the year DOOM happens.  (It's a videogame and a movie.  Love the movie, never played the game.)  Since we haven't discovered the gateway thingie yet, I think we're safe from that.  SOYLENT GREEN is also set in 2022.  Not sure we're in a place where we'll be turning the elderly into food, but what do I know?  For the record, I haven't seen this movie, but it's enough of a cultural icon, I pretty much know what's going on.

I heard today that our feckless leader doesn't even know what year it is.  I am unsurprised.  Remember when they hammered Reagan for making small mistakes like that?  Pepperidge Farms remembers.  But Creepy Joe gets a pass.  Feh.

I also read a newstory from the 3rd about New Hampshire and Vermont law enforcement getting called to a report of a dog running loose on a bridge.  They get there and the German Shepherd leads them to where a truck had gone through the guardrail and rolled down an embankment, throwing both occupants out into the snow.  They were seriously injured and hypothermic, but alive.  One of them was the dog's owner.  The dog was unharmed.  Dog saves man.  Again.  Yay.

My new coffee maker has a 'strong' setting.  Hallelujah.  I'm playing with the idea of being able to use less coffee grounds by making it on 'strong'.  We'll see.

I'm running one day off this week.  Yesterday, I thought it was Thursday.  I thought Tuesday was Wednesday.  You get the gist.  Thankfully, I've stopped myself before doing anything stupid.  Part of this is probably my check arriving a day late.  Throws everything off.  Derp.

And that's it for me.  Anything on your this-n-that radar today?

Thursday This n That

 The coffee maker I bought a month ago died.  It was a Toastmaster.  So, $15 down the drain.  Yesterday, I went to Wallyworld to get a new one.  They didn't have my usual Black & Decker model, so I picked up a Mr. Coffee.  And, of course, the less expensive models were all sold out, so I ended up with one that has more bells and whistles than we need.  (Literally on the bells... it chimes when the coffee's done.  As if we actually wait for the coffee to be done before we grab a cup.)  :shrug:  We have coffee.  That's all that matters.  And I really only spent $10 more than I would've.

You'd think with all the nifty things this coffee maker does, it would have a lighted clock.  But no.  And the clock is poorly designed because it's set back a little into the coffee maker and I have to lean over to look at it.  Thanks, Mr. Coffee.

In line at the Wallyworld, a masked-up woman rolled up behind me on one of their scooters - you know the ones the store provides - and she started bitching about how people weren't respecting the 6' social distancing.  She was about 3 feet away from me.  And every time I sidled away from her, she rolled closer.  Chattering away about her mother the nurse and the trials she's had to endure during her shopping experience.  I was pleasant and attentive, but eventually I had to turn my back on her and dealt with my purchases.  After I paid and put my stuff in my cart, I turned to tell her to have a Happy New Year and she said something like 'I'm glad I don't know you'.  Well, gee, the feeling is mutual, ya old bat.

Before that, at the cash register was another old woman on a scooter and she got really shrill when the cashier handed her bills but no coins.  A while back, Wallyworld went to a system where they round up on the change so if you're due a quarter, they give you a dollar.  I tried helping out the nice cashier, and explaining it to the gal, but it only made her madder.  As she rolled off, heading toward the customer service counter to bitch some more, the cashier told me she was only really due 8 cents and got a whole dollar instead, so she wasn't sure where the problem lay.  Maybe the lady collects coins.  :shrug:

Needless to say, the world is more than a little nuts right now.  I didn't let any of it harsh my day.  Hell, I got the dirt I've been wanting to buy and a new coffee maker AND donuts, so it's all good.  

Since it was raining yesterday, the dirt is sitting on the front porch and will go into the bed today.  Yay.  I got three more bags of Black Cow composted manure and two bags of what they're calling 'compressed potting soil'.  Supposedly there are 2 cubic feet in each 1 cubic foot bag and it will expand once it's open.  If it does what it says, I'll have 7 cubic feet of dirt to add to the garden and that should do it.  We'll see.  

You should've seen my little Cavalier yesterday.  Four 50lb bags of corn, five bags of dirt, all in the back seat.  (I have to put heavy things in the back seat.  If I put them in the trunk, it feels like I'm driving down the road doing one big wheelie for 20+ miles.)  I was riding low that day, lemme tell ya.  

I think the neighbors are finally moving into their new house next door.  It's been over two years since they started the project, but then the King Flu hit and supplies got harder to get.  Anyway, it'll be nice.  I wonder if they'll let me play with their dog.  He's a cool dog - like redbone coonhound mixed with Afghan hound.  He's all legs.  What a cute puppy he was.  

Gah, I need a dog.

Anyway, that's probably enough out of me this morning.  What's on your this n that radar today?

Sunday Update - Week 46

Hello again.  It wasn't the busiest of weeks because Thanksgiving dropped right there in the middle of it, but let's see what else went on this week...

I only did editing on 4 days, but I managed to get through 6 pages of notes.  I'm through page 191 of the 342pg manuscript.  And last night the edits pushed the word count over 100K.  :shrug:  It's a big book.  It's an intricate book.  It may be the death of me.  

As for reading, that was just one book.  And it wasn't anything to really talk about.  Bummer.

In baking news, I did a pumpkin cheesecake on Wednesday.  Then threw some rolls in the oven on Thursday night so we could have tiny turkey sammies.  Yesterday, I made no-bake cookies.  Yum.

On the activity front, I really only did two days of burning the calories and both of those were raking.  We're still not done, but the yard looks way nicer than it did.  One other day, Hubs and I wandered the yard.  And another day, we started working on the south property boundary, which really only consisted of standing there, holding a string.  But hey, it got me out of the house.  I weighed myself Thursday morning and it was 180.4.  I haven't weighed myself since but I feel like a cow after all I've eaten.  

I spent a fair amount of time this past week working on a project for the pay-job.  They're looking for a new outside sales person.  And the boss is reconfiguring the sales territories, so he asked if we could pull together numbers for the new territory.  Which is basically my old territory minus the Thumb.  For my part, I needed to go through every spreadsheet I've done (I don't do spreadsheets for everything) for a year and pull sales numbers for all the zip codes included the replotted area.  Minus a list of specific accounts.  And one account that will be split between the two salespeople.  I got it done yesterday.  Go me.  I'll take today off of that and then tomorrow see if I can help the office with their portion.  By the way, if you know anybody who is interested in an outside sales job in Michigan and has some background in electronics or electrical or engineering, let me know.  I don't expect anyone to respond to me.  But they do have an Indeed listing, so maybe they'll find someone good.  :fingers crossed:

The raking is totally freaking the deer out again this year.  They come into the yard and things looks different, so they spook easily.  They'll get over it.  One of the bucks is limping on a front foot.  Another is limping on the back.  The rut isn't kind.  It's brutal.  But it's nature.  Still haven't seen an eagle yet.  I'll let you know when I do.  Shouldn't be long now.

Oh, we finally got a new coffee maker.  Our old one wasn't dead, but it was iffy.  This is a cheap one from Dollar General.  But it works.  As long as I have coffee the world is safe for another day.  

This week ahead, I'll try and finish the edit notes.  Then I'll do another re-read and start a whole new batch of notes.  Woohoo.  I've also got to start thinking about Christmas cards and getting the tree up.  I'm so not ready to think about Christmas, though.  Blerg.  There will also be more raking and we'll get back to working on firewood again.  

And that's about it for me.  How did your week go?  Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  We didn't do anything but eat, but it was nice.  What's ahead for you?

Thursday This n That

 I woke up this morning to a dead coffee maker.  Poor Hubs was making coffee by boiling water in the teakettle and then pouring it over the grounds in the machine.  He had about a half a pot ready for me when I woke up.  Then I went into the storage closet and pulled out the backup machine.  Yes, I have a backup coffee maker.  It's an older one that wasn't quite dead when I bought the new one, so I tucked it away for emergency usage.  So, we have coffee and the world is still safe.  You're welcome.

I will be going out and picking up a new coffee maker today.  Because the backup could die without warning and no one wants that.  I drink coffee and smoke cigarettes for your protection.  Again, you're welcome.

I also have instant.  For larger emergencies.

So, I finally heard back from Amazon about my missing page reads.  They're still not paying me for those, but Amazon assured me my account is in good standing.  Umm... yeah.  So, because they (or their bots) decided someone was using KU to... what, fake read books?... I'm screwed.  I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

It's totally splooshy here.  Big band of rain stretching from the Gulf to Canada and it's sort of stalled, so it's wet wet wet here.  I'll need to find something else to do rather than throw logs for a while I guess.

I did do some edit notes yesterday.  A half page worth.  Which sounds pathetic until you realize on that half page were a couple of things that needed to be changed in the whole book.  Find and replace is a wonder, but each instance had to be carefully reviewed and reworded to make it work.  One of them was the hair color of an important secondary character.  And there was another character with the same hair color, so I had to make sure I was changing the right person's hair.  Blerg.  The other was how the mages address each other.  Yeah, still sounds easy when I type it out, but it wasn't.  What it was was tiring and tedious.

My luck has truly sucked lately.  My poker account went from 330mil to 120mil.  And I'm not doing anything different.  Just getting a heapin' helpin' of bad luck.  Thankfully, it seems to only be in the poker.  Not that my luck is awesome elsewhere, but at least it's not bad.  :knock on wood:

I had a dream the other night that made me totally not want a dog.  Something about two little yappy dogs and my entire house covered in urine and feces.  :shudder:  But I'm over it.  I want a dog again.  I like the looks of this one.  Or this one.  Or this one.  Or this cat.  

And that's about enough out of me this morning.  Have a great day.

Sunday Update - Week 30

 Another week gone by and not a whole lot to show for it.  But hey, it's the summer doldrums, so I'm not ready to flagellate myself yet.  Maybe next week.  ;o)

No writing got done, and very little editing.  But I'm thinking about it.

In marketing news, I have a sale that started today.  Accidental Death and Natural Causes are 99c each through Saturday Night.  

As for reading, it's pretty much stuck in the doldrums, too.  I only finished one book.  It was a pretty good one, though.  But I just don't feel like reading these days.

On the activity front, I did five days worth.  Four of the days, I alternated biking and gardening, and the fifth day was energetic vacuuming.  I'm up to 37 miles on the bike.  Woohoo.  Weight: 183.8

Not really much to talk about in the baking arena.  I did a pizza, but nothing else.  Several mornings, I set out a stick of butter to soften only to put it back in the afternoon because I'd lost interest.  It's also freakin' hot here right now, which makes the urge to bake tend to deflate like a sad balloon.

I transplanted all my zucchini and tomato plants and added fertilizer to everything.  Fingers crossed it helps them bloom and grow veggies.  I do have 2 tiny tomatoes now - on the same plant - but those were there before the transplanting.  Here's hoping they soon have siblings and cousins and neighbor kids.

Like I said, it's freakin' hot here right now with more hot expected.  This is making me not want to do much of anything but sit in the AC.  Unfortunately, I'm at the point where if the AC is low enough to kill the hot flashes, poor Hubs is freezing his ass off.  I think we've found a contented compromise.

I've taken to drinking cold coffee.  I mean, it's still hot in the morning, but by like 10am, I'm switching over to the cold stuff I have stored in the fridge.  Add some cream and it's a fancy coffee drink.  Or something.  :shrug:  It works for me.

I lead such an exciting life.  LOL.  What's up with you these days?

Thursday This n That

Wow, it's Thursday.  I thought it was Wednesday.  Derp.  This does not bode well for the rest of the day...

I got up around 4am today so I would be alert enough to do a bunch of marketing posts early enough for them to be effective.  I just noticed a typo in all the posts to 20 or so groups.  Go to group, find my post amongst the others, delete the freakin' N, save... lather, rinse, repeat.  Guess I still wasn't alert enough, eh?  :takes off the red, rubber nose and floppy clown shoes:

I stepped out to check on my plants and scared the crap out of a deer.  They really shouldn't be hanging out in the south yard.  I hope she didn't eat my lilies while she was over there.  

There is not enough coffee on the planet today.  Personally, I think it's cruel that I can't grow my own coffee.  If the world ever takes a shit, I'm going to be one unhappy camper with no coffee and no cigarettes.  Yeah, that's what I worry about when I think about the collapse of society - coffee and cigarettes.  Shows you where my priorities lay.

Lay... lie... whatever.

The tree we thought was a Bradford pear has fruit this year... plum shaped fruit... I guess I was wrong about the species of that tree.  Or maybe I'm wrong about being wrong.  No clue.  Derp.  I also learned the trees I've been calling Royal Paulownia trees are not those.  Looking at those now, I can't imagine why I ever thought mine were that species.  Derp.  I haven't gone looking for what the real species is.  

I'm feeling especially derpy today.  Need more coffee.  Maybe a nap.

Sunday Update - Week 52

I wish I could say this was the end of 2020, but we still have a few days left to go.  Although, saying that reminds me that I have a boatload of year-end stuff to do this coming week.  But we're not here to talk about what's ahead, are we? 

I wrote every day last week for a total of 8531 new words.  Duke Noble is now sitting at 28536 words and 96 pages.  Not sure how long this one will be overall, especially since I feel like I'm ramping up toward the climax.  :shrug:  If it turns out to be a novella instead of a novel, I'm okay with that.  It'll be tight without a lot of fluff.

In marketing news, I've been working pretty steady on posting about the sale to FB and MeWe.  I've moved a lot - for me - of free copies of Wish in One Hand that I hope will turn into sales of the other books once those copies get read.  And I've sold 3 sets of the entire series.  Today's the last day for all of it, so we'll see.  I haven't seen any page reads from this.  Or from the SCIU sale earlier in the month.  Is KU not a thing anymore?  :shrug:

Last week, I finished a couple of good books and DNF'd a dud.  I'm pretty close to finishing my final goal of 90 books for the year.

In baking news, I made an apple cranberry crisp using a different recipe.  It's pretty good.  I also made a double batch of applesauce bread.  For Christmas, I didn't bake anything but I did do steak with sauteed portabello mushrooms and sauteed shrimp.  Hubs declared it a winner.

We didn't do anything for Christmas.  I called my mom.  Hubs called his mom.  I got a Merry Christmas chat message from Owl.  A certain awesome person - she knows who she is - gave me Black Rifle coffee for Christmas.  Yummers.  It didn't arrive until yesterday, but that's okay because it gave me a whole other day to celebrate.  I made a pot yesterday afternoon and we sat around drinking coffee and smoking and playing poker.  Fun times.  I also made a pot of it this morning.  And it came in a OD green bag with a big red cross on it - emergency medical coffee.  Mobile Army Surgical Coffee.  It gave me a happy.  

Speaking of arriving yesterday, I finally got the Christmas card from my Mom.  And two other Christmas cards.  And my paycheck that was late arriving.  No word on whether my nephew-in-law in the Navy every got the package my sister sent him back in mid-November.  Of all the mail that needs to get where it's going, holiday packages for the troops should've been a priority for the USPS.  Anything with an APO address.  Seriously shouldn't have been that hard to get the stuff to the troops.  Gah.

In yard news, a cedar just off the yard has begun falling over.  The thick, wet, heavy snow that turned to ice last week was too much for it.  The root base snapped on the uphill side and now gravity has a hold of it.  

Not the best picture, but if you look between the reflections, you can see how the trunk has tilted.  It used to be as straight as the other trees.  =o(  I feel like one big squirrel leaping onto it at the right time could push it over.  Sure, it's just one of many trees, but I love my trees and I hate to see any of them die.  On the upside, this could be the key thing that gets me a chainsaw.  When it falls, it'll block off a couple of trails, and we can't have that.  Bwa ha ha.

In other news, it appears that Pierre has moved on.  The leaf litter we put all around the wood pile hasn't been disturbed and the stink is dissipating.

The deer are still coming in bigger herds than usual.  And we've been seeing an old buck lately.  Not anyone we know (we think).  He's lost his antlers already and he looks kind of sad.  I think if this ends up being a harsh winter, we'll lose him.  Everyone else is looking good, though.  Loads of healthy does and yearlings and fawns.  The cycle of life continues on the Sanderson homestead.

How's things in your life?  Did you have a nice Christmas?  Get anything good?

Thursday This n That

I'm trying really hard not to be a downer out there in the world, but it ain't easy.  A friend of mine had a nice, positive post this morning and I wrote a really bummer comment to it, but I deleted it.  I mean, who needs that crap on their blog, eh?  But this is my blog and I can be whatever I need to be here.  So, if you wanted a cheery post this morning, sorry.  It's this or no post at all today.

When I got up, this morning was already looking like it was going to be a bad one so I put extra coffee in my coffee.  Soon I'll be able to hear colors.

Sorry I missed posting yesterday.  It was Wallyworld day and I got an early start on that trial.

Speaking of the Wallyworld trip, what a zoo.  Wallyworld has moved everything around again.  According to one worker there, they're doing this at all their stores to make a sort of uniformity nationwide.  So anyone who goes into any Walmart will be able to find anything.  I guess there will be some sort of map you can access with the app.  Umm, I don't have a smartphone, so nerts to you Walmart.  And I'll say it again: Totally wrong year to be doing any of this, dudes.

When the young gal I was talking to told me about the app, I told her I don't have a smartphone and she continued like I'd told her I don't have the app - explaining where I could get it.  I finally took my phone out of my pocket and held it up to her.  "I don't have a smartphone."  She was astounded.  Then I told her I'd had the phone for over 10 years.  That really blew her away.  Ah, to be young again.

Speaking of the young gal, she was a greeter.  We started talking about the chaos and masks and stuff.  She told me she's been cursed at, hit, and spit on for asking people to wear a mask in Walmart.  I get not wanting to wear a mask.  Hell, I don't want to wear one.  I get wanting to assert your freedom to not wear a mask.  They actually can't make you wear one if you don't want to.  I do NOT get hitting or spitting on a young woman who's just trying to do her damn job.  Animals.  Whoever it was was lucky I didn't see them doing this.  I would've called the police.  And trust me, they'd better not ever spit on me.  I'll end them.  (Or Hubs will.  He was justifiably pissed on behalf of the young woman when I told him the story.)  

I told the young lady to be careful and carry pepper spray, you know in case someone gets really psycho and follows her to her car.  She told me they're not allowed to walk to their cars alone anymore.  They go in pairs.  This is a Walmart in a town of about 5000 people in the middle of a very rural area.  You don't expect that crap here.  But I guess that's the world we live in now and the depths to which we've been dragged, where you have to watch your back wherever you are because you never know if the person next to you is a psycho.

Which reminds me of a line from the song "Heathens" by Twenty-one Pilots: "You'll never know the psychopath sitting next to you."  Cheery.

And on that note, I'll let you go back to your other activities.  Hang in there.  This too shall pass.  Or we'll learn to adapt to it. 

Thursday This n That

Well, yesterday didn't go as well as planned, but I did mention I was going to Wallyworld, so it shouldn't be surprising.  Shopping is tiring, more so when you have to breath through a mask.  Trying to brain afterwards was not happening.  Better luck today. 

I had planned to not get as much stuff as last time, and while that was a little bit true, I think I'm still stuck in hoarder mode, so I ended up with a full cart again.  At least it wasn't two carts like a couple of those months there.

The bird picture of the day is a female common merganser with two babies on her back.  That one makes me happy.

In all this, you have to work to find something that makes you happy.  It's imperative.  Personally, I need to go fishing.  Maybe today. 

Is it just me or do certain phrases always bring a song to mind?  Like 'maybe today' - it always puts the song Jumper in my head.  "Maybe today, you could put the past away."

Gah, I need to do the dishes.  I usually leave them until the morning.  It's a thing.  But this morning, I am so totally not in the mood.  Unfortunately, I am also not in the mood to look at them every time I go into the kitchen, so I'll suck it up and do them after Hubs gets out of the shower.

Damn, the shower just shut off.  Maybe after one more cup of coffee and another cigarette.  ;o)

We have a doe that has a large lump along the left side of her jaw.  Like an abscess, but it's been there about a year now.  She doesn't seem to have a problem with it.  She eats and drinks fine.  Her coat is glossy and she's a good weight.  She's raising two healthy twin fawns.  She just has this weird lumpy jaw.  So, we call her Lumpy Jaw or Lumpy for short.  Yeah, not original, but it works for identification.  Every morning, she shows up with the kids and they get first dibs on the corn before the rest of the herd shows up.  =o)

I saw a post on FB this morning about how a 7-year-old boy and his siblings had a lemonade stand and raised money for a young gal who makes teddy bears for the children of fallen police officers - Blue Line Bears.  It was a happy amongst so much bullshit. 

Find the happy, my friends.  It's out there.

What on your this n that today?  What's your happy today?

Thursday This n That

I saw this on FB, so I thought I'd do it here, too.  What's one movie that you find uplifting?  For me, it's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  It just gives me a happy.

Had a nice conversation with Owl a few minutes ago, me just finishing my first cup of coffee and her going to bed.  Ships that pass in the wee hours of the morning are we.  Thanks to that first cup, I was not a slavering troll and I was able to string sentences together.  Seriously, before that first cup, I'm not much better than a half-born thing crawling out of the primordial ooze.  After that first cup, I can say and spell primordial.  Heh.

I'm thinking about going fishing this morning, you know, after Hubs gets up and I've fed/medicated the cat.  We'll see.  I have coffee in me, but gathering everything up and being gone by sunup may be beyond me.  If I go in the morning, I have to be at my spot before the sun comes over the horizon, doncha know.  Otherwise, I have to wait or I'm driving east right into it and blinded by the light.

Revved up like a deuce another roamer in the...  Umm, never mind.

I really need to start wearing my reading glasses when I'm at the computer.  Blerg.  Getting older sucks.  Speaking of which, I'll be fifty here shortly.  Double blerg.

Yesterday was the 18th anniversary of my Dad's passing.  Eighteen years.  Hard to believe it's been that long.  I told some bad jokes to Hubs yesterday and then said to the picture of my parents 'those were for you, Dad'.  (Bad as in awful, not dirty.  Dad used to tell some hella bad jokes - awful and/or dirty depending on the occasion.  I don't subject Hubs to the dirty ones.  They aren't his style.)

Kira Kitty will be like 84 (17 in people years) on Saturday.  The grand dame of the house isn't quite herself yet, but on the road to recovery.   As the vet put so eloquently, she's a sweet kitty, but you get the sense she'd rather everyone just leave her alone.  Heh, her and I both.

I guess right now, everyone is leaving everyone else alone.  Well, except for online.  People are getting a mite tetched out there on the 'net this days.  Duck and cover, people. 

Okee doke.  Time to refill the coffee mug and wander off to do other things.  Have a great day everyone.