Writtenwyrdd

The Beginning of The End

Well, this is a while coming.  I'm going to close this blog down.  Typepad has been a great hosting site, but it's costing me, and if I am not going to blog, I will switch to the blogger blog for my occasional posts.  I hope to regain the impetus and start blogging again at some point.  But seeing as I am not even visiting and commenting on my blog friends' blogs, it seems wise to close up shop, at least temporarily.

Let's face it.  As my college professor said, if you aren't writing, you aren't really a writer.  So I have been a prolific blogger for the past several years, but not really a writer.  I need to reach back and grab that part of me and get it restarted.  (After I raise a couple of rambunctious puppies to semi-adulthood.  When I have a spare few minutes from working in my yard, working to earn a living and doing home improvement projects.  Oh, and playing silly time-wasting games on Facebook.)

In any case, I plan to gradually move the content from the old blog to blogger.

Please come and see me for new content at the original Writtenwyrdd blog, writtenwyrdd.blogspot.com.

Tah, darlings, for now.  This blog will remain active for a few weeks, and I'll link forward it if possible to the old blog site when it goes off line.

This and that, part...I dunno. And a dog cookie recipe

I'm sliding by briefly to update you on my lack of blogging.   Color that excuses if you wish; it's pretty much the truth.

Anyhow, I have been spending far too much time playing games on Facebook and not writing when I have the laptop open; and I haven't been spending that much time at those activities.  what I have been doing, when I've been doing anything besides playing with silly 10-month-old puppies, is still digging in my yard.  I confess to being sick of it most of the time and only digging in a couple of times per week for several hours.  That's enough for anyone, I'd think.  But I still have to move the dirt I've already removed into the semblance of a flower bed against the bank, edge it with rocks in a semblance of a rock wall, and dig up the rest of the dirt in the yard and replace it with gravel.  Once I get that done, then there's the remainder of the pavering.  But I can live with it in gravel until next summer if I must.  Because next summer I have to get more gravel delivered and dig up the driveway side of the ho use to install drainage tile, so I'll do the other digging projects then...to include the rest of the stuff from this year.

What you can't do this year, postpone until the next year.  Works for me!  That, and my favorite motto: "Pay the man the money."  As in, have a pro do the work properly instead of me screwing up, as it'll be cheaper and far less frustrating in the long run!  (I wish I could have done that this year, actually; but I have been enjoying the labor in the yard, for the most part.  It's just getting a bit old, is all!)

On the puppy front, Luger and Chance are 10 months old now.  They are bouncy boys and full of naughtiness.  Luger is full of nervous energy and we have to practically force feed him to keep weight on him, and Chance, with his bad heart, is a bit sluggish and a bit (just a tiny bit) overweight even on less food than his brother.  As I see signs that his heart condition is segueing into the beginning stages of congestive heart failure (trembling, fatigue, hard pulse, tires easily and hard breathing) we are scheduled to see the doggie cardiologist in Portland (a 4 hour drive each way) in early September.  He'll likely end up on diuretics and who knows what-all else, but the scan will inform the doc as to what's going on.  The murmur is much improved, but the extra work the defect creates is nearly always going to eventually lead to congestive heart failure.  So, my boy will likely have a reduced life span, but that doesn't mean he won't live a long and fully functional life with some minor caretaking my his faithful human servants.  (I'm also giving him l-caratine and taurine, which work to promote healthy cardiac function and don't hurt, either.  And probiotics and papaya enzyme for both of them, as better digestion means better use of the extremely expensive kibble they eat.)

Luger has food sensitivities, and I'm still trying to find a kibble that works best for him.  I'm hoping the red meat EVO will do it.  Chicken, wheat, corn, gluten and soy are all out of his diet at the moment but he's got a worsening problem with the yeasty ears, so I haven't found the cause yet, I believe. 

Also, I came up with a really yummy wheat/corn/soy/gluten-free dog cookie recipe.  Even humans can like it.  See below. 

Sorta Hypoallergenic peanut butter molasses dog biscuits

2 Cups old fashioned/rolled oats milled to flour in your food processor
2 Cups buckwheat flour
2 Cups potato flakes (aka instant potatoes)
2 Cups peanut butter
1Cup molasses (or more, to taste)
5-6 eggs

Mix together all ingredients except for 2 of the eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  You should have a slightly sticky dough that you can roll into balls without having it so sticky it sticks to everything like contact cement.  If too wet, add more oats or buckwheat; if too dry, add remaining eggs, one at a time.  If still too dry, add more molasses or a bit of water.  Heat oven to 325.  Roll dough into small balls, about 3/4" across.  Press them into about 3/8" thick discs on the cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 for 8-9 minutes.  NOTE: These will not spread, so you can place them relatively close together. 

This recipe will make at least 8 dozen cookies.  Freeze excess.

 

Been working on the dirt pile...

I began trying to deal with the dirt pile from digging up 8" of half my fenced yard area.  So I am making a large flowerbed against the bank that edges my property.  I don't own the bank, but my neighbor has given me the go ahead to garden it because he doesn't.  So we both win, and I get some weed control and more sunlight after I clear the bank!  Anyhow, I have to do half again as much as you see planted here before I can go back to digging up the rest of the fenced yard for paving.  I have no idea what can survive Zone 3-4 temps and handle nearly full shade, or, at best, only 2-3 hours of morning sunlight.  So we are applying the "throw everything in there and see what survives" gardening.  Call it research.  But I've got a Hosta, some oregano, some chives, vinca (2 varieties), day lillies, low bush cranberry, catmint, bachelor's button, pussy toes, ajuga, and a couple of other things that are getting placed in the bed. 

newest project

I interrupted my digging to create this "doggie watering hole". Pretty cool, huh?

Alas, I have no toe nails.

My lack of writing has gotten me on the extreme disapproval list for the McKoala challenge, and Goblin has arrived to snatch my toe nails!  Le sigh.

I am presently forced by the nearly continuous rain and the thin "sod" that is my newly fenced, 100% shaded, side yard is a churned up mud pit and I can't let the pups into it until, at minimum, I get the whole thing dug up and a gravel base installed.  I still will have to pave it all, except for flower beds, before snow falls, though.  

On a different front, I am missing my writing, but a few other commitments in my personal life have cropped up and are taking what time I do have away from being a dog mommy.

I didn't even post a happy mother's day here, so I hope all you mothers and dads too had a great mother's day.  Madre scored from me, including jewelry.  I generally always get her earrings or a necklace of some sort because what do you get someone her age that she really needs or wants?  She has it already!  But I did get her gormet coffee and a mug that says "The best child has four legs" and "Dog Mom" on the other side.  It seemed oddly appropriate given our pet-centered lives.

Except for the nagging, pernicious cold that I have which has lingered as sniffling and mild chest congestion for two weeks now, I'm doing great.  And it appears that some work changes are going to cause me to actually not get scheduled to work every day this summer, which means....maybe some writing gets done (after yard work!)

 

Luger at 6.5 months

We go most mornings before dawn, just enough light to see, and go to the park so they can run amok in a fenced area. They are a lot calmer for it!

He's much better looking now...before his features were a touch mongoloid, what with small eyes, narrow head and the ginormous ears that made those feathers seem even more out of proportion.

 

Chance at 6.5 months

 

Ignore how the cats have destroyed my expensive chair.  Someday, when the pups are older, I'll reupholster in leather.  At least that will last.

Haiatus

Sorry, gang.  I've been wrapped up in life and puppies and hardscaping the yard.  I have also been losing my enthusiasm for blogging as my time in which to do it has been reduced to literally nothing.  If I have time to write, it's going to have to go to real writing.  So I wont' be by often to your blogs, either.

I'm not dropping the site, but I might not be posting for some while.  So please don't forget about me, keep me on your feeds or google reader, but don't expect too much from me for at least the time being.

On a personal note, the pups are doing well and so am I.  I'm just tired from being awakened at 3am by puppies who insist they must go pee then.  Sigh.  This will pass.  (No, don't tell me they can hold it.  The thing is Chance is on a diuretic and apparently cannot.  And I don't want their fussing to keep Madre awake.  So I get up, take them out, recrate and go back to sleep on the sofa.  It's the temporary compromise.)

They are awfully sweet boys, though, and I'm glad we have them. 

Housekeeping tip:  If you can afford one, buy teh Dyson vacuum.  We got one and the rug that had been vacuumed the day prior gave up a full cup of hair and dirt.  That's how much the old vacuum missed and left in the 8x10 wool rug.  Wowza.

Tah dahlings.  I'll be in and out with miscellaney, but it won't be often.  I'll miss you and think of you, but I just don't feel like blog writing.

Contest declared a fail

I've got to apologize for the late post on this, but the lack of entries to the contest is resounding, so I'm going to call the thing off.  My readership is down just as far as my participation, so it's not very surprizing. I am not giving up the blog, but I declare myself unenthused for the moment and won't be up to much (unless I feel like it) for the forseeable future.

I think I should set my sights on transferring back to blogger, which is free.  But five years of blog posts, nearly 1600 of them, is daunting!  And I'd lose the great comment trails!

On the home front, the pups are still just under 40 pounds and sweet little guys.  Or not so little guys.  They even give the cat a break and only mob her after a few moments of licking and nose sniffing.  She truly is asking for trouble, but you can't say it's her fault, necessarily, any more than you can say the bikini clad model was asking to be raped.  Molly taunts them, but she should still be safe from molestation in the form of two large dogs pinning her down with their paws and chewing on her fur.  (But I must observe here that a slobbery 'do on a cat, all spikey and stuff, is highly amusing.)  I hope to get some new pictures soonish, but I've been really, really tired and occupied with a few personal projects and walkign the dogs twice a day.  (Chance, by the way, still thinks the outside is for walking and the inside is for peeing on the paper.  He's sweet, but stubborn.)

Madre has been handling the details of getting the electric shifted and a door ordered.  Once the ground thaws, we will have the new yard fence installed, then I will build the stoop/deck from the new side door.  (That means we can get the dogs properly housebroken, and none too soon.)  I got my construction permit last week, and it must be said that small town construction is relatively headache free, at least in my small town.  I just drew a sketch, filled out a few blanks, paid the man my $20, and off we went. Thank goodness! 

And I'm taking an electrician correspondence course so that I can rewire my own house at some point.  Yes, I have a master electrician for a friend who will supervise the proceedings.  But the house is two wire (ungrounded wire) and needs redoing, sooner rather than later.  And it's easier to do it one room, one circuit, at a time so that we can still live in the place.  The best solution is for me to do it catch as catch can. 

Caught napping

Here lies the sum total of my weekend. Stretched out, the pups are almost the length of the sofa. They are very warm and cuddly, though. 22 weeks. How the time has flown.

I had three days off over the weekend, which was great.  One day was a trip to Bangor to see my neurologist, who wants me to get an MRI as I'm either having some med side effects or something else going on.  That was fun, four hours driving and spending $50 in gas to spend an hour in town. 

Saturday I loafed about and did not much except as you see below. I was tired, and the dogs were glad to join me.  The cat was up there for a while, too!  It's not the most flattering picture of me, and the photo quality of Madre's camera stinks, but it is pretty representative of how I am living my wild-child life these days. 

I also bought new collars for the dogs in Bangor.  I was having a devil of a time and coming home from the dog walks frustrated and angry; this weekend, though, walking them was delightful and relaxing.  This was because I gave in to the inevitable and bought them prong collars, aka German choke chains.  They simply will not cease throttling themselves against the regular chokers or a nylon collar, and this can lead to neck injuries and thrachea or larynx damage.  I hated having to use them, as they look cruel; but they are excellent training tools.  (Hopefully, I'll be able to quit using them eventually.) 

Upon being kitted out with the prong collars, the pups lunged as per usual, squealed in surprize and immediately became delightful walking companions.  Madre, the Pug and the boys and I walked a couple of miles without having to wear jackets yesterday, and--due to the new collars--it was really nice.

I'm amazed how many people think the dogs are Dalmations, though.  The pure hound dog faces ought to be a giveaway, but they aren't.

Kickbutt 1st line winners and miscellaneous news

There are some hilarious final entries at the Kick-Butt First Line contest.  Enjoy.  I particular loved, "If at first you don't succeed, strap on your big girl boots and go stomp the shit out of it."

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On the home front, still too busy to write.  I hope to squeeze in some time soon and finish a story I began for Phoenix Sullivan's anthology based on the prompt, Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever.  Wish I'd gotten it finished.  Oh well.  Might get it into a horror anthology, though. 

My puppies are about 40 pounds.  I managed to weigh them and I believe I overestimated their size.  Hard to tell when I'm holding a squirming bundle of furry bones and standing on a bathroom scale, though!  They are getting pretty calm and not mauling the cat like the last bone in existence.  They even come off when we call them back, which is wonderful.  Well, them mostly come back.  And now we are working on leash training, because I can take them for a nice, long walk when I get home from work.

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Life always has something going wrong when you own a house, it seems, because on top of having to get the yard fenced (which entails some electrical rerouting and a new exterior door being installed, which means permits and inspections, too) I have had the sump pump back up and spray water into the basement.  The overhead lights stopped working, making me think something shorted because water hit it.  So a friend who's an electrician is coming over to help me check it out.  Bleh.  I called to see if he could tell me how to check it out myself but he's such a nice guy he insists on coming by to do it.  I have to get him something nice for Christmas this year, lol.

And the snow is melting!  Yay!  It's been above freezing most days for the past week and the several feet of snow is evaporating nicely.  Might get snow as well as rain tomorrow, however.  Let's cross fingers and pray for just rain. 

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And I am sending out prayers and good vibes to the people of Japan as well as Christchurch.  What a horror.  It's hundreds of times worse (literally) than the Christchurch quake, and that was bad enough.

We are experiencing a slight lapse in Winter...

Rain the past 2 days and it's 45 degrees. We are pleasantly surprized.  We want more, but it's supposed to snow some tonight and drop down to single digits again tomorrow night.

In the meantime, don't forget to set your clocks forward an hour tonight, as we are ending Daylight Savings time.  I wish we'd stop doing it all together, but it is now institutionalized and therefore a juggernaut.

On the home front, I'm surviving on about 6 hours of sleep a night and no time for much except puppy minding when I get home from work.  Now that it'll still be light when I get home, I can safely walk the puppies every evening, which I will do as soon as I get home, barring hideous weather.

They are still growing.  I have a few more pictures, but nothing too exciting.  I'll try and get some more this weekend and post them.  They were 21 weeks old as of yesterday, and officially 5 months old next Tuesday.  My babies are at least 45 pounds now, and they're 26" at the shoulder.  English Setters are tall, lean dogs, sometimes described as gaunt.  So I have no idea how much taller they will become, but, judging by the paws on those boys I suspect a couple of more inches in height.  Pappa and granddad are both 60-65 pounds, so that's my best guess as to size.  You can't go by momma's size, as there's a wide variance between boys and girls in this breed.

At any rate, they are cute, and they are listening much better than they were.  The cats are still for chasing, but they aren't as crazy about it as before, and if you tell them to come off, they do (most of the time.)  At the risk of oversharing, the only serious problem of note right now is Chance developing coprophagia.  Yep, poop eating.  The best preventative is monosodium galutamate, aka Accent or MSG in the food to make teh poop taste nasty, but I can't give that to Chance due to his heart.  I really hope he outgrows this behavior.  *shudders*

Dullness pervades

Life has been relatively quiet lately.  I like it.  We have fallen into a routine with the puppies, and I am still living on about 6 hours of sleep a night when I generally prefer eight to nine.  I don't know why I'm not more tired than I am.  Must be the excessive amounts of coffee I have been slurping.

The puppies are over 40 pounds now.  They are both listening better and have more self-control than they did at 12 weeks.  They are 20 weeks old today, and they are so much taller than the Pug that he can walk under their bellies.  They were a scant inch taller at the shoulder than Boomer when I brought them home about 7 weeks ago. Wow. 

I will be installing a fence in the yard as soon as the snow melts and the ground thaws, and then I'm going to spend my spare time organizing the basement so that (hopefully) I can gut the mudroom in 2012 and rough in plumbing, run electrical and insulate so we can put in a new bathroom to replace the funky one.  I'll get the walls in the mudroom and do the laundry area first, and finish off the bathroom and add custom touches in 2013, if not earlier.  I will be doing most of the work to save money, but I still am guessing at about 18k to do it all.  That's still not that bad for extremely well insulated, new bathrooms alone.  And once I have that new bath in I will be able to put the wall back in the living room that incorporated teh front porch as interior space and give us back the front porch.  And I'll open the kitchen to  the living room so we have a great room. 

The most important point of the mudroom project is that I'll have a back door to the yard and a doggie door, and the dogs can be locked into a heated space where they can't hurt anything yet have outdoor access winter or summer.  So if I have to leave them for an extended time, they will have a place to hang out away from cats and hazards. 

Sadly, Luger did something to his foot on Thursday night and after howling in pain for a minute or so, he was limping pretty badly.  He's still tender footed and ki-yies when he steps wrong, and I'll have to get his leg exrayed Monday if he hasn't gotten past that stage.  Not sure what he did, but he was running back into teh room at top speed during one of the boys' tears, and I think he slid and possibly jammed his leg into the door jam.  I'm just concerned that he either tore a muscle/ligament or he may have damaged a growth plate in his leg or foot bones.  That's pretty bad, and I really don't want to pay for doggie surgery at the moment.  But you can't ignore injuries like that, especially when the dog's growing so fast!  Might have extreme consequences later on.

And on the writing front?  *laughs hysterically*  WHAT writing?  I ask you, when would I wedge in some time?

My highly appropriate coffee mug

Madre tells me it's my own fault that the pups insist on 3am potty breaks. I have spoiled them, and they want their morning cuddle/snooze with me. However, I maintain that if they would actually go to the bathroom before bed it might mean they slept until 4:30, which is when the alarm is set. Le sigh...

Close your eyes for the train wreck...

"Two and a half men's "uncle Charlie" should not be replaced or even killed off like they do in daytime TV. He should be kept around as a public service announcement..." commenter on TMZ

I hate to watch celebrity melt downs.  It's far too easy to hate them or scorn them for the things they do that the 'little people' like me couldn't even dream of trying, much less get away with.  So I try to avoid even considering them and their self-involved and -created plights.  (Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Robert Downey Jr., etc.)  I do, however, like to see them fix themselves a la Drew Barrymore. 

On the home front, we are presently experiencing more snow, and it might turn to freezing rain, which everyone adores...not.  Besides that, I am back to work after two whole days off in a row during which I accomplished nothing except to snooze on the sofa with my puppies.  They are both close to 40 pounds now, I think.  It's hard to get a true reading when you are holding a rather large, squirming dog and standing on a regular household bathroom scale.  I find them to be better about not chasing the kitties, and about listening when I tell them too...but I confess to resorting to my military dog handler voice, which is rather loud.  That does get their attention, but it also scares Chance, so I try to resist.  But when it comes to mobbing and pouncing on the cats, I smack butts and holler.  It is not to be borne and they need to learn that that is the one thing with dire consequences.

I can't wait for it to warm up so I can get the yard fenced.  Then I can let them run the silliness out of their systems. 

Brain = mush

Yep, it finally is confirmed: my brain has turned to mush.  Probably something to do with lack of sleep due to puppies who are determined that 3am is the proper time to wake me for a potty break (this despite being, ahem, purged at 9:30 and I know they can hold it 8 hours) and my apparent incipient senility.  I mean, who else do you know cannot remember she received a 40# bag of dog food from FedEx and calls to complain...only to find out from their relatives that the package not only arrived, it was you who unpacked the silly thing?  And you don't remember doing it?  (I still don't, as a matter of fact, but the bag of dog food is unquestionably in my laundry room, smirking.)

I suspect it might be that I've doubled one of my migraine preventatives, but since I've been on the new dose for better than 3 months, you'd think it would have been obvious before now.  But I'll ask the doc when I see him in a few weeks.

As far as puppies go, I got them Rogz collars that have a chain loop inset into the nylon collar, which allows you to have the benefit of a choke chain without having a chain all around the pup's neck.  It works very well to stop the lunging, although it isn't as good as a choker with Chance.  He still leans into the collar and I have to tug on it.  But it's better than one of those nose doohickeys that you have to use all the time.  I prefer suffering through the training process so that my dog (eventually) gets it that he shouldn't act like an idiot on the end of a leash.  (Or at least not act like the idiot at the other end of the leash, viz my confession above. :) )  At any rate, they are doing well, but as they are puppies they are little idiots with zero self control and the sense of, well, puppies.  But they are picking things up, slowly but surely. 

Chance's ultrasound results came in the mail just in time for me to present them to the vet next Monday.  The report is very hard to read, but I got that he had "good function" but there is an approximately .5 cm hole.  Couldn't make out the location due to doctor gibberish writing and it being a light copy, but the vet will understand it when she sees it, no doubt.  But a half a centimeter is about a 1/4 of an inch!  And that's a HUGE hole in a 12-week-old puppy heart!  Chance doesn't seem to be suffering, and he's keeping up with his brother just fine.  We did put him on a diuretic because he seemed to be a bit stressed, but they are growing rapidly.  I gather that it is during the growth that the dog's heart is going to be stressed the most.  We'll see Monday if it's sounding better, worse, or the same.  The worst prognosis involves the hole being situated so that blood that's pumped sort of gets sucked back into the other side of the heart, reducing the oxygen flow and causing the dog to become weak and grey due to lack of oxygen.  That's a situation where I gather you euthanize, as heart surgery is vastly more likely to kill the animal than help.  And if the dog is able to function without surgery, you leave the hole and just see what happens.  It might just get smaller or close. 

In any case, the boys are getting much bigger very fast.  Chance and Luger are 18 weeks today.  And they are at least 7 inches longer in the back than when I brought them home 5 weeks ago.  (Has it only been 5 weeks?  Lordy, it seems like forever.)  They are also 5 or so inches taller.  The jackets I made several days after I got them home?  They were an inch past the base of their tails, and are now short enough the bottom hem is ahead of their kidneys.  I think they are about twice the weight now, too: 30+ pounds, or darn close.  And their spots are still coming in.  I think they might look like their mama when the spots have all comein, especially Chancey.  He's getting the blue belton streaks all over his head and back! (See this delightful page for examples.  The dogs here are a very good example of the smeared dots that are called beltons...and these dogs are very much what mine will look like when older...except my boys are tri-colors, e.g. have both black and brown spots.)

In any case, so long as the boys will still fit on the sofa with me for a nap after they get their business done, I can survive on the five hours sack time.  It's nice snuggling with them, but they are getting a bit large now and I'm discovering that the bony frames of English Setters mean elbows and knees jabbing me when they sack out with me. 

I'll post pictures soon.  I actually have a couple of days off, Sunday and Monday and plan to do that as well as a few things like cleaning my room and office.  I have spent all my time doing dog minding since I got the boys.  Not that I particularly mind, but zero writing or cleaning.  C'est la vie!

Puppy update

Wow, I've had the boys for 2 weeks now.  They have grown and changed so much already, there's barely any comparison.  They have gained several pounds and are quite a bit bigger.  They no longer look quite to gangly and coltish, either, and their coordination is vastly improved.  The paws are huge now, but don't look so oversized in proportion as they did. 

These dogs respond extremely well to positive reinforcement versus correction.  They do get corrected, but I immediately follow it up by giving them something for them to do where I can reward them, such as come and sit.  They get a treat for doing something right and soon realize that Mom gets unhappy if they do certain things, but she gives them food if they do others.  It worked well for potty training too, although they are unreliable on that front unless you watch them.  I did smack Chance's butt yesterday morning when he stood next to me and started to pee, but not hard.  A tap is all it takes with these sensitive boys.

I was a bit surprized that the English Setter breed is as energetic as the boys are proving to be, but I'm going to install a dog run in the back for the summer so they can run amok and work the squirrels out of their system.  Chasing their rubber ducky around the house won't be enough for long, and neither will be the walks they will be going on every day.  My lab and my golden retriever were not this bouncy! 

This morning the boys were too sweet, tails wagging and licking me when I let them out of the crate.  That adorableness is what lets them live when they really gnaw on your last nerve, lol.  Seriously, though, they are maturing quite a bit already. 

Tra la, tra la

Off on vacation tomorrow.  So, as I have a meeting to cater on Sunday, I have to bake my little fingers to bloody stumps (there's a tasty image...if you are a zombie) and do some other prep work.  Then I have to pack and make sure things are all in order and leave the house at o'dark thirty Monday morning.  I'll be visiting with friends a few days and will have limited access, so enjoy the canned posts until I return on the 13th or 14th.  I shall have a new puppy and probably will be occupied with him for the next week and a half.  So enjoy Martin Luther King day without me.

I am trying to think up names for my dog, who is temporarily handled Luger, as an English Setter named after a German handgun is a bit odd to me.  I like the sound of the name well enough, but it's not one I really want to keep.  Basically, I'm a fan of getting a name that fits the dog but also doesn't run the risk of not being careful what you wish for.  (Which is why Cosmo the cat wasn't named Loki, which would definitely have fit!)  So I'm creating a list of possibles for when I get to know the little guy.  I'm fond of names like Buddy, Max, Ralph for most dogs, but I also think of less popular names like Chauncey, or mythological puns like Cyrus (Sirius, get it?).  An old roommate's cat was named Fergus, which was also a great name. Gawain, Mordred and Uther are also rather attractive, but as they are Welsh, I'll have to think about it.  Arthur, on the other hand, would do... but I'd rather avoid the King Arthur reference, unless it's to use Merlin!  (Actually, that one sounds good.)  We'll see.  I know something will come to me that will fit, once I have the pup home. 

On the writing front, I've been working on a short story prompted by Phoenix Sullivan's call for submissions on an anthology, stories prompted by "Extinct doesn't always mean forever."  I give away nothing when I say that there are dodos in it, and it's pretty far along.  I hope to get it drafted this weekend and let it perk for a few days.

 

Weird Book Wednesday & misc. news

 
"Everything Explained Through Flowcharts: All of Life's Mysteries Unraveled, Including Tips for World Domination, Which Religion Offers the Best Afterlife, ... the Secret Recipe for Gettin' Laid"

I thought this title was a hoot.  It might be an interesting little gem of a read, though.  I mean, tips for world domination?  You can't get better than that!

I hadn't done one of these in a while as I hadn't found a doggie head tilt-worthy book.  But this one... Yeah.

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I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.  I'll try to get back to posting regularly commencing today, but I'm going out of town for several days next week and a couple of days the following week.  Not to mention I'm on vacation for 2 weeks, which generally means I spend less time on the web as I'm doing home improvement projects!  (I hope to finish painting a pair of tables, rewire the basement, seal the basement concrete, organize the basement, and maybe build a rolling butcher block table.)

The clean slate

We always seem to reserve the end and beginning times of the year for contemplation.  I suppose it's a hold over from the ancient days when winter struck hard and left folks both with less work to do and more time to contemplate their lives and their mortality.  You could die in the cold season, from cold, hunger, accidents or weather; and you could do far less about it when the wind and snow buried the world, masking food sources and making simple tasks more dangerous.

I tend to do my soul searching around the time of Samhain/Halloween, the end of the year wheel for many pagans.  But like everyone else I also pick the new year to make a resolution or two.  A simple ceremony that you can perform for the new year is that you drill holes in your Yule log and stuff a piece of paper in it with the things you want to change/let go of, and one with the list of things you have accomplished.  Burn that puppy as symbolic of letting go.  Symbolism, you see, is very useful for communicating with the inner you. 

And my list this year is short:

1.    Be kinder, more patient and a better listener, particularly with family.

2.    Write and submit at least one new story.  (That's my ongoing resolution.)

3.    Maintain my 100# weight loss.

I don't like complicated resolutions because you are likely going to fail when attacking a massive project with no prep time.  You need to take up jogging before you can run a marathon.  And you need to develop new habits before you can truly commit to grandiose plans.  At least, that's my excuse!

And some good news

I mentioned on Facebook, but not yet here I think that I was asked to allow a blog post to be used in a text book.  This is really just a long quote, a 'fair use' sort of thing, but it's quite flattering.  An Australian text on English studies by a major publisher of educational books.  Very flattering to my ego, which always likes attention, thank you very much.  I have no idea of when or what book it'll be in, but I'll let you know if and when I hear about it.

More on my 'issues' with the Giant Internet Megacorporation

I'm still dealing with Amazon's draconian closure of my account after it got hacked yesterday, but a found a spot where they will call you if you select it in the help section of their site.  I'd overlooked it yesterday.  They are now telling me that they didn't really close my account, just put a hold on it 'to ensure no illegal activity now that the barn door is opened' basically.

I tell you, the initial email says they closed the account and tells me to open a new account if I want to do business with them, no recourse or offers to straighten out the ensuing mess.  The phone representative spoke perfect English, although she was, I'm sure, Indian by her accent, and she was apologetic and couldn't see into my account due to the hold.  Her supervisor also said the same but assured me that Amazon would get back to me and my issues were being relayed.  (Basically, I've spent my Xmas gift certificates and if they shut me out, all that money is essentially stolen from me by Amazon, as well as all my previous order information and info about pending orders.)

They asked me to be patient and felt it would all be fixed in a day or two.  I'm no overly optimistic.  I'll keep you all updated.

Now, to be realistic, Giant Megacorporations Who Operate On The Internet are used to being faceless entities that can pretty much fire off emails about issues without much thought.  (Not that that's fair to the customers.)  So little puny me having a complaint means that it's not going to be an immediate or immediately human response.  Because that's the way they operate.  It does not make me wrong, however, and when I get this pissed about something, I don't let it go. 

Meantime, I don't have to like their stupid system, but I'll have to work with it.  They need to be fair to me as the victim of the hacking event, though. 

By the way, the rain stopped maybe 2 or 3am and the waters receded.  They got the one road filled with gravel so you can drive it, and the other didn't wash out enough to collapse.  But it was 11 degrees for some friends down in Atlanta area, but 57 here yesterday, which just beats all for weird weather, doesn't it?

My drive home...

weather report:  Maine is experiencing flooding in Southern Aroostook County, where I live and work.  I have two roads where my remote office can be reached, and one washed out this afternoon.  They closed the office and sent us home early because the other access road was a mess.  See the below picture.  I am not certain there will still be a road in the morning...

Sorry this was so dark.  It was overcast and twilight, and my phone camera is not the best.

Well, there's nothing to say today...

This blog is suffering from ennui, or my laziness, or the winter blahs or something.  Hope you are having a lovely winter so far.  We have 19 degree weather at 4pm and just got 6 inches of snow.  It's staying below freezing during the day this week, so I have to conclude it'll be this way for the forseeable future. 

I pick up my puppy in mid January, and I have 2 weeks off then in which to seal the basement concrete and rewire the basement (as well as play with a cute fuzzy puppy).  (A friend, who is a master electrician, will really be doing the work.  I'll just be handing him tools and paying for the stuff.) 

Other than that, I haven't been writing much but I have been doing some drawing.  I like the digital tablet the more I use it, but I don't like Painter 11 yet. 

I am flattered...

I have been approached by a publisher of educational texts to include one of my blog articles in a text.  Totally out of the blue, but very flattering that they liked what I have to say enough to want to use it.

 And that is it for the day, as I just don't feel like posting.  I'm flailing a bit on the blogging thing this past year.  A lot of life changes, I'm told, can do that to you.  And, wow, have I done a lot in the past year.

Doggie head tilt

 
I have placed a deposit on an English Setter pup!  There's a picture of the little guy, who they are calling Luger.  (The litter--all boys-- was named after gangsters...possibly because his daddy's litter were all named after Wild West outlaws.  I know the guy who bred the dad, so I know the story.)  I don't know if I'll keep that name Luger or not, but it's got a good sound to it.  However, don't you think that sometimes you are dooming yourself if you name a pet something that isn't what you really want?  Or maybe that's me being superstitious.  Anyhow, he's five weeks old in that photo, and, after talking to the breeder, Luger is the pup best suited to me.  Apparently he's smart, unflappable, and strong minded--and thus best suited to a strong-minded, former military dog handler like myself.  (That said, you know I'm going to spoil him rotten, even if he does mind when I actually tell him to do something.)

Other than that, life is going along well enough.  Did a bit of home improvement stuff this weekend, and also did the sleeping half the day away on Sunday.  I must confess to failure in the NaNoWriMo challenge, but that's to be expected.  I did make some progress, however.

What really is nice is that my neurologist had me up my migraine preventative meds and the light sensitivity is nearly gone, and the ice pick to the eyeball is gone, likewise the headache that was distracting me beyond belief.  Even the frequent migraine auras have slowed nearly to a half.  Not that the auras were really bothersome. 

And on that note, enough with the oversharing!  I'm going to write now. 

Talking it out

Well, who's got plot? Anyone want to talk plot?

Moi, I am writing a military sf story set many thousands of years in the future during a time when the human Imperium (highly xenophobic) is fighting to encompass (e.g. 'repatriate') all human colonized worlds under their banner. Like it or not. And their enemy is a group descended from the first interdimensional Pilots who enabled humanity to first reach the stars. Problem is, that group rebelled and they disagreed with the Humancentric approach to galactic civilization. This spawned a millenia long war of sorts. Given the vast distances of space and the high cost of resources, the war is not so much pitched battles as it is insurgency and the winning of hearts and minds through social engineering.

But violence does occur, and our hero is a new private in the military, who discovers he's got a talent for snooping out Pilots--one which puts him in a very bad spot, as it looks like he might be one of them.

I'm trying to get a new name for the Pilots, but cannot think of anything. Nor can I as of yet think of a cool gang sign for them. Any ideas?

What plot problems are you having?

Your bucket list?

Sandra Cormier had an interesting post the last month about her bucket list, and it has had me thinking, off and on for the past few weeks, about what use a wish list like that can be to a writer. 

I can think of a couple of things.  First, make your list items pay for themselves.  So, if you want to learn to fly a helicopter, figure out a story plot that requires some knowledge of helicopters, and take a class.  *You can write it off. 

Second, use your bucket list for inspiration.  It may not cost you anything to do or learn or experience the thing on the list, but obviously you have some attraction or enthusiasm for that item, so it has some emotional attraction for you.  Use that in your writing to either infuse your character(s) with interest for you, or to give you an excuse to research the thing you have never gotten around to doing.  (This is similar to the above, but a different focus.)

In any case, what is on your bucket list?  And, more importantly, what have you done that you have always wanted to do and dreamed of doing?  I think it's vastly more important to acknowledge good things and challenges met than most people realize.  So recognize your achievements.

My bucket list is currently short:

• Get 3 novels published before I die
• Do an RV conversion from a box van
• Travel through Eastern Europe
• Visit Italy

But what I've done that I always wanted to do?  Quite a few things, actually:

• Learn to ride a motorcycle
• Visit the UK
• Go down the Colorado River/see the London Bridge in AZ
• learn to scuba dive
• Drove across country by myself
• Take horseback riding lessons
• Join the Army
• Get a college degree
• Get a job I love with a retirement plan
• Own a house (I own two now.)
• Live in San Francisco
• Other things I cannot think of at the moment.

A few things fell off the list, though, as life experience taught me I no longer was interested.  For example, although I wouldn't mind learning to fly a helicopter, I don't have the time or interest in spending the money.  And it isn't logistically possible where I currently live.  And I don't like heights and decided against learning to parachute for that reason. 

It's interesting to contemplate what you thought you'd like to do on paper and then what you later on have changed your opinions about.

What's your Bucket List?

 *Check the IRS or your nation's rules on that first, though.  There are lots of codicils, I am sure.

Blog admin stuff

Obviously I have been slacking on the daily blog posting for the better part of the past year.  I'm going to "go dark" several days a week from now on so that I actually get some writing done.  Writing is a slow and tender process for me, and I have been abusing my writing time by blogging for the past 4 years, resulting in really minimal prose production. And during NaNoWriMo, you can see me here.  I won't be doing much posting here so I can hopefully actually "win" NaNo this year.  (Comment at the link to get added to the blog.  We welcome anyone, even if you don't actually participate in NaNo, just so long as you intend to write.)

I love blogging, but I'm going to keep it down to 3 posts per week, Mon/Weds/Fri with a What Is Wyrdd Up To sorts of maundering on the weekends if I feel like it. 

I apologize, and I really see the slippage in my blog's rating and visit rates (not to mention comments, which have always been pretty dismal!) but it has to be done if I'm ever going to get a book published.

Meantime, go read a good book or write something!  See you!

Why I am redoing my kitchen floor.

Check out that floor, vintage 1942 linoleum.  And, yes, it's actually clean despite appearances.  I just stripped it.  So even the peel and stick sample you can see looks fabulous in comparison.  Yay for clean and purdy floors!

And all of me hurts, especially my hips and knees, thanks.  Getting old...

A Winner! Bethany, claim your prize!

We have a winner for the Carolyn Crane novel, Bethany C.  Unfortunately, her post has no linked web site or email, so I hope she catches this announcement.  Email me with your address and your choice of Double Cross or Mind Games and I'll forward your information to Carolyn.

In other news, NaNoWriMo is just around the corner.  Do you NaNo?  If so, let me know your handle on their site and I'll follow you as a buddy.  If you want to follow my travails there, I am wyrddsmith.

I am doing art in my meager extra creative time, so I haven't been writing yet again.  I think today will mark some work progress, though.  I'm feeling the itch.

But I am also thinking I will reduce the number of posts on the blog to three per week, possibly four, and have regular Monday, Wednesday and Friday posts.  I spend inordinate amounts of time writing posts and little to none writing prose, and that has to stop.  It's not you, it's me, in other words. 

I haven't made that decision yet, not consciously anyhow; but based upon my blogging history for the past few months, I can see that the enthusiasm is not there for constant posting. 

 

 

Honesty is overrated...

Spent all my spare time today writing blog articles, but at least the 3k words on dialog are pretty good.  Imagine if I'd spent 4 hours actually writing prose, huh? 

I hate it when I think like that...

 

Contest for a Kindle 3G, and this and that

If you want to win a Kindle 3G, you can get a shot at one at Hadley Rille Books.  Go here for more information.  If you purchase books from them, you can get additional points as well.

I am not sure I actually want a Kindle (it's an Amazon product and they do tick me off in their draconian behavior and policies) but I do think an ebook is the way to go for someone who travels.  Especially if I decide to snowbird in the winters after I retire.  I won't be able to haul around the 1200 plus books I own in an rv!  Nor can I schlep them from summer to winter quarters!

And a cool site, FCKH8.  Watch the video, but be warned: it's not safe for work!  If you are easily offended, religiously fundamentalist, or opposed to same sex marriage, ignore this link.  But moi?  I'm ordering the tee shirt.

So, anyhow, what am I up to?  Not a whole lot as it turns out.  I had a nasty cold last month that lingered until a week ago.  Now my cat Molly has caught it, but it's only viral and she's sneezing a lot but not in respiratory distress, which would necessitate a "vacation" for her at the vet's.  (Given the way she shredded Madre last week when she was taking Molly to the vet for her shots, necessitating a trip for Madre to the ER when her bitten hand got infected, I would have to make a more expensive emergency visit so I could handle the cat myself.  I have no problem coralling a cat, but Madre is not a cat wrangler by any means.)

The writing avoidance.  I'm also working on a hand pieced duvet cover that will be dog claw proof and protect the down comforters, as I plan on getting an English Setter pup, and it might be this December (only might; I prefer to wait a bit longer, but there are circumstances which might make me change my mind).  I'm piecing high quality polar fleece via blanket stitch, as that looks nice and the seams will stick out, instead of them having to be double stitched with my crappy sewing machine so they lay flat.  (Without looking, I bet you that 'lay' is incorrect.  But I'm too lazy to go to my own blog post on that very topic!)

I also have been doing artwork that I owe Whirlochre for his prize in my blogoverssary contest in August (yes, I'm slow), so I've been working on that.  I am not a particularly speedy worker when it comes to art or writing, you see.  I think I like the process most, and I tend to be a perfectionist.  Anyhow, it's coming along and a few days more should see that project complete and in the mail.  (I hope!)  You've seen the in progress shots of late.  I might hate Painter 11 (so far) but Painter Essentials is pretty user friendly so I've gone back to using that for the moment, and it's really fun to do digital work. 

And I just bought peel and stick tile for the kitchen, which I have to apply some time soon.  And I have a vintage stainless double sink with drainboards on each side that has to go in to replace the current sink, which means a plumbing project as well as retiling the backsplash and counter this winter.  (I'm saving at least $1200 by laying peel and stick tile, and if you saw my house, you would understand that my 1940s kitchen doesn't deserve a really nice floor.  I refuse to dump even 10k for new stuff in that room when I'm retiring in 7 years.  It works, after all.)  So the kitchen is going to eat my one day off a week, pretty much all winter.

Then there's the fact that I'm on the Board of Trustees as secretary for the church.  I have a bit of work in that, too.  But it's worthwhile stuff, so I don't mind.  And it really doesn't take much time once I get all the papers that haven't been organized organized, and scan all the historical documents.  (Yeah.  I know.  But I'll get to that stuff later.)

The writing.  With NaNoWriMo coming up next month, I'm thinking plot for a project.  I'm forced to restart Another Shade of Pale, a military sf story that I really want to write.  The initial plot elements are badly wrought, and I need to start from scratch.  So perhaps NaNo will see me producing some writing at long last! (It's been 3 months, I confess.)  Nothing actually written this month as I successfully avoid working on the thing I most want to do.  *eye roll*  How is it that making excuses to not do what you really want to do is so damned easy???

What about you?  Are you derailing your writing successfully, or are you actually getting it done?

You know when you get there...

October is here now and I find I haven't written a lick during the month of September.  Honestly, that's got to be a record for me.  I at least dink around with something I'd started a while back.  But, nope, this past month I've not even typed a word on a project except for blogging. 

Now that NaNoWriMo is starting again next month, I hope it will help me regain my writing focus.  Of course, I have to finish a couple of art projects and get some stuff done around the house before the snow flies.  That will be a priority because of impending snow, of course.  Might derail myself yet again.  Bleh.

Autumn is here in full force, though.  We had that rainstorm with 50mph winds so there are a lot of leaves down now, but the colors are more beautiful for the damp and grey skies.  And even though the colors aren't as brilliant as they can be, it's pretty darned gorgeous.

Oh, on an aside, we have an archeological dig nearby that is really, really exciting.  But I can't talk about it yet. 

"Punk" fiction defined (repost)

Reposted from June 29, 2009

Maura Anderson on Witchy Chicks has a good definition of "punk" subgenres--Cyberpunk and Steampunk--here.  Check it out.  Below, my understandings to add to the conversation. 

Cyberpunk - To me, William Gibson is the master of this style, although Bruce Sterling is also well known for his work in the cyberpunk subgenre.  These two essentially began it in the 80s!   Read Gibson's Neuromancer or Mona Lisa Overdrive for your bible.  Cyberpunk has an asthetic of tech-merged-with-man, computer reality as real as the world of our five senses, high tech with a fast, fast, fast paced motion like living inside a video game.  Glitter, glam, details and jargon.  Visually:  Bladerunner.  Often rather post-apocalyptic in feel, cyberpunk deals in society run by corportations more than government, taking the current trend of megacorps sucking control one corrupt official and dollar at a time from the governments and peoples of the world and investing it in themselves.  Individual hopelessness fostering a man-versus-machine asthetic and a disdain for the flesh world (body as meat), rebels without a cause, punks as heros.  Cyberpunk Review's definition here, Wikipedia's here.

Now, I've heard that some think cyberpunk is passe, a child of the 80s that has died a slow death.  But, like the mullet, it hasn't quite disappeared from the scene!  There are still some works in that vein coming out in print in the last few years; and the movies still embrace the look and feel.  [And personally I find that dark fantasy, especially dark urban fantasy, has embraced a lot of what makes cyberpunk what it is.  You have the gritty, dangerous feel.  You have magic (standing in for tech) and a disdain for those without magic/supernatural powers, you have either vast supernatural forces or corporations (often of evil) threatening mankind's rule over itself.  In short, you have much of what makes cyberpunk what it is.]

Some of my favorites in the genre:  Gibson (Mona Lisa Overdrive, Neuromancer), Marianne de Pierres (Parrish Plessis series), and for movies Aeon Flux, Dark City, BladeRunner, The Matrix.  Check out Cyberpunk Review to find more reads and films in this genre.

Steampunk - My take: Generally Victorian era with technology resembling modern 21st century tech, except things tend to be powered by steam or clockwork.  Emphasis on flying craft and sometimes an organic design vibe reminiscent of Art Noveau or Art Deco.  Wiki's take: "In general, the category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate-history version of an actual historical period) where the Industrial Revolution has already begun but electricity is not yet widespread, with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets."

Books such as The Difference Engine (by Gibson & Sterling) and the graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, Cherie Priest's Boneshaker.  China Mieville's On Perdido Street Station.  And many moooore!  Films in the genre include The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass., and the anime Steamboy.  (That last title is a bit of a clue, isn't it?)

You can learn more about steampunk (both as a cultural phenomena and as a subgenre of speculative fiction) at Steampunk Magazine.

[Refer back to the steampunk post from last week for more links.] 

Stuff and such

Well, September is 3/4 over, practically and I've yet to write a word.  I'm beta reading a friend's partial, though, so at least there's that.  It's not a lack of desire so much as feeling like my focus is operating in kaleidescope mode and I can't get a clear focus on any one thing for any length of time.  A couple of days off in a row might help with that.  (But at least I get Sundays off when we are on winter hours.  But since I'm on the Board of Trustees now as Secretary, I'm doing quite a bit related to that now, too.)

With winter approaching, I forsee more free time and more writing.  Plus we have the added incentive of NaNoBloMo in October and NaNoWriMo in November.  If you aren't my buddy yet, my NaNoWriMo handle is wyrddsmith.  Be my buddy and I'll send you a virtual cookie.  (Motivational, isn't that?)

At any rate, I'm working on art at the moment as I owe Whirl a prize, and, as I already mentioned, also beta reading a friend's partial, which I better have done by the time this post goes up.  It's slower to beta read than to actually write, I find.  But Bernita thinks I did pretty well at it for her book, so I think it's worth it to help out a friend.  (And it's not like my rather snail-paced production will be affected in the slightest, either.)

Hope you all are enjoying the fall as it gets rolling.  I want some seasonal turkey and pumpkin pie.  Mmmm, pie...

Sometimes, it feels like molasses

It's like when you have one of those running dreams where you aren't going anyplace?  Yeah, that's how I feel about my life at the moment.  I've been pretty good, financially speaking, but the two mortgages and the pain in the ass tenant (who seems to be shaping up now, thanks to an eviction threat and a dose of cold, hard reality) my finances have been, shall we say, strained. 

I'm working at paying off the credit cards, paying extra on my mortgage, cutting back, and socking some away in savings.  A good goal...except I own a 7-year-old, all-wheel-drive car. A Saturn Vue.  The last repair bill was $2,800 for redoing the entire rear end, hubs to the transmission.  (Good thing the transmission was okay.)  It's a good car, it's perfect for my through the woods winter commute as it'll handle all the crappy roads and worse weather (I've driven through a nor'easter with over a foot of snow on the roads and got home just fine) but it's not exactly cheap to keep up because of the type of vehicle it is.  Lots of parts to wear and I USE this car.  I do not baby it.

Anyhow, I took it into the dealer yesterday to get an engine noise checked out and a general going over for preventive maintenance.  I also knew I needed new tires and there was a vibration in the front end, meaning I likely had a bearing or bushing going.  Well, they tell me the whole front end needs work.  A LOT of work.  A lot more work than I guessed.  Okay, so not really surprising, given that the last time I did front end work was at about 35k and the Vue is  at 121,000 now.  And I needed new tires.  And there's a hole in the pipe between the catalytic converter and the engine.  And there's this slapping noise it's been doing...

I went in because of the slapping noise which the local mechanic couldn't identify.  He says it's not the lifters.  I hope it's not the timing belt or tensioner or anything that entails taking the top half of the engine off...  But they couldn't get the car to duplicate the noise because it only does it when it's sat for a while and I'd driven it 120 miles to get there. 

Long and short: The unexptected stuff will be at least $2,200.  The unknown thing?  If it's anything like the usual sorts of repairs that generally make that sound, we are talking at least $1,000, likely double that.  (Before you ask, it's cheaper to pay for repairs than buy a new car with a minimum $600/mo payment.  I'd have to pay over a thousand for Maine's new car excise tax, anyhow.)

Le sigh.  You know, I can pay cash for most of this.  I don't want to.  I want some money in my savings account, sitting there all nice and secure and making me feel all responsible and shit.  But I really don't want to have to use my credit card that I just got paid off. 

Decisions, decisions...

Due to the holiday weekend, I won't know until Tuesday afternoon what the damage will be.  Likely will be driving this crappy loaner car until Thursday.  Then I have to send Madre off to pick up my car because I only have Sundays off. 

I hope you are all getting better financial luck.  Someone on Facebook suggested I sacrifice scrap metal to the car gods. Might not be a bad idea, that... 

Anyone else up for a religious pilgrimage to Carhenge? 

Happy Bloggaversary to Writtenwyrdd blog!

Wow.  4 years of blogging between the old blogspot habitat and here at Typepad.  At this point, including a couple dozen posts in the queue, I have 1689 posts here at Typepad and 512 on blogger, which makes-- wow!-- 2201 posts!  (If I only wrote that much fiction...)

Whether lurkers or regular commenters, I appreciate that you guys stop by and read my blather.  Always glad to share in the writing avoidance. :)

I am not the most prolific writer in the universe, the gods know; but I enjoy it when I have time, and I enjoy talking about it, probably more.  Being able to have a community of fellow writers, many of whom are friends now, has been a wonderful experience.  I hope that we all continue to interact and even meet in person, clink glasses and bend a few elbows together. 

This past year in review. 
Every year seems to bring new things to the blogging world, even though many seemingly stay the same.  I visited with Bernita this year and we had a blast.  I've met a couple of other folks via the internet, none of whom are bloggers, but met via online courses.  It's a marvelous thing, the internet.  Community is being redefined by it, in some respects.

Sadly, we also lost our blog pal Bevie, who died and left a hole in the community of friends. 

But overall there have been a lot of successes in the sphere of the blogs where I natter about. Charles Gramlich has prolifically gotten a number of projects out there.  Bernita Harris has her first novel published, Dark & Disorderly.  Betsy Dornbush and the others running Electric Spec are still doing a fantastic job at the ezine, and Betsy's novel Quenched is out soon.  Stacia Kane has released the first 3 volumes of the super fantastic Downside series.  Carolyn Crane's first novel is out, Mind Games, and the second book in the series is due to release shortly.  Tia Nevitt has a novella releasing soon.  So much good stuff.  (I hope I haven't missed anyone.)

Well, thanks again, and congrats on whoever wins the ongoing contest.  I'll tally the votes and announce the winner tomorrow. 

Goodbye, Mr. Gizmo...

REMINDER: DO NOT FORGET MY FLASH FICTION CONTEST!! Submissions close Sunday, August 22nd. Please see here for the details.

Up at 4:30. Had some bizarrely beautiful dreams, long, epic fantasy sorts of travel-on-a quest dreams.  Met some interesting paranormal beings, had some empowering experiences.  The dream was gorgeous.  Too bad I'm losing it now...  The one thing I take away from it is this, though:  During the adventure (be it life or anything else) you are never in it alone.  The interactions you have with the world, the people, the creatures, all define your journey, like the bowl that holds the water.

Profound isn't it?  Now, what do I do with that? 

But what I really want to remember is the fluffy white bunny-sized creature that had eyes like Gizmo and the wisdom of Gandalf.  (He also liked his throat scritched.)  And he gave me something that saved my butt, something profound and magickal...and I cannot remember what it was, except it was profound.

Why can't one ever remember the wise gnosis that we gain in dreams?  Why doesn't it translate to consciousness?  I can't help but feel that it's because the mind/spirit/soul is bigger than it's fleshy box, and we can't bring the totality of that to the earthly shell...

Or maybe that's my excuse?

[Tangentially, wouldn't Gnosis be a great name for a character?  Gnosis Jones... heh.]

Just checking in

I have to report that I've been busy, busy, busy...doing everything but writing.  I woke at 4 a.m. today, though, and as soon as I get prepped for work and stow last night's canning adventure in boxes in the basement, I plan to sit down and write for an hour or so.

Sips coffee.  Ah!  That's the ticket! 

I "lost" the kitten yesterday, which was pretty exciting.  She apparently snuck out on Madre yesterday afternoon.  As cats "disappear" all the time, Madre didn't think anything of Molly's absence until she was a no show for my return home from work.  That cat always shows up to see what's new when I get home from work.  That, and to get scritched.  And possibly bite me in the lovingest way possible, of course.  She wasn't in the house, either, because I was hands-and-knees looking in every cranny with the flashlight in hand. 

I figured that, with her personality, she would show up soon enough, likely before bed.  And when I was outside walking the Pug for his evening constitutional, she popped out of the woodline and was happily carted inside.  First thing she did was run up and poop in the cat box.  Obviously not a cat used to the great outdoors.

Ever since the extreme haul of cherries from the cherry tree, I've been all about the canning.  Last night, I put about ten pounds of cucumbers into a brine soak to make fermented pickles.  I sure hope that this works, as I've only ever done hot packed pickles before.  At the cost of $5 for all the cukes, it's not going to be a huge loss if they go south on me, though.  And I also canned the first batch of apple butter* and made 15 half pints of pickled beets.  Madre's making another batch of apple butter today, and I'll can that when it gets done.  The first batch was 1/3 of the apples and made 12 pints...so I estimate that the 40-50 pounds of windfall apples** are going to net us something in the area of 36-40 pints of apple butter!

In short, I won't be canning apple butter for a long time!

The elderberries are ripening rapidly, so I'll be making elderberry jelly or jam in a week or two.  I expect that i can get at least a flat of 12 half pints, if not more. 

Sips more coffee...  Ah, even better the second time!  Well, that's the TMI update for the week.  I'm off to get ready for work.  Maybe I'll get some writing in, too.  I sure want to!

*Apple butter: To make: Cut apples in quarters, remove cores, and boil apples down into mush.  Push pulp through food mill or strainer to remove peels, hard bits of the core and seeds. To the simmering pulp add molasses, ground clove, a touch of cinnamon and/or allspice to taste.  

**Windfall apples are the ones that fall off the tree to the ground. With their bruises and ugliness in general, they are perfect to make into apple sauce or apple butter.  So long as they aren't actually rotted, you can use the flesh of bruised apples and it just brings out more apple flavor. And you can use just part of a mostly good apple in this manner, eliminating a lot of wasted fruit.

Cat iiiin spaaaace!

Actually, it looks more like parachute failure.  But it's cute when she pretzels herself up that way.

Preplanning, retirement thoughts, and what am I gonna do???

You know, as writers, we are all experienced with preplanning, aka outlines.  But how often do we apply that to life?  In a loose way, of course, we all do as we budget our paycheck income against the expenditures we expect each month, plan to buy school clothes and supplies for the kids, or budget for your commute costs.  And so forth.  But we tend, to a large degree, to be either unable or unwilling to plan far enough ahead, say, to have a cash down payment for a new car, or to save for our retirement starting in our 20s when the money will grow far more than when you start saving in your 40s or 50s.

Moi, I was one of those who would have loved to have saved back in the day, but I lived in an expensive area and kept being laid off to boot.  Paycheck to paycheck living wasn't by choice or failure to budget.  I didn't live high on the hog and I didn't have satellite tv, cable, or any ridiculous extras.  (I for sure didn't have my book buying addiction. I preferred to have food to eat!) And now that I have been living in a cheaper area where I can own a house and have a well-paying job with a great retirement plan...I bought a money pit house and still haven't saved as much as I'd like (although I am saving a hefty chunk each month.)

Thing is, I retire in seven years as of last Sunday, August 1.  That is, if I feel I have enough money socked away.  This sort of Big Event does make you think about what you need and what you'll be doing with yourself before (and after) to make it work.  Lifestyle and income changes.  Different costs.  Different choices as to what to do with my time.  (Different means of writing avoidance, perhaps?)  My plans are complicated by the desire to travel in the winter for at least 3 months (aka Snowbirding) to get away from the crazy cold and snow blowing that limits my ability to get out and walk; and also by pets and my aging mother. 

Neither the pets nor my mother are problems.  Far from it!  But I have to consider their needs as well as my own in this retirement gig.  Just like the Egyptian vacation was far higher class than I'd likely have bought for myself alone, the snow birding venture needs to be more than a crappy old camper on the back of a pickup truck...which is what I might consider for myself, lol.  (You should have seen how I managed to get a 7-day vacation in Paris for about $1400 including food, lodging and air fare.  Ah, the memories.  And Madre will not be subjected to those sorts of accomodations by me, ever.) 

So I'm thinking about either buying a self-contained rv, or whether to make my very own conversion camper from a U-Haul panel truck.  Or, which may be the likeliest scenario, buying a small house in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, or some other area that doesn't tax federal retirement pensions and also doesn't have ridiculous vehicle smogging processes like California does.  (Some things are just too much trouble to deal with, and I had had it with California's ridiculous smog emissions bs before I left the state.)  Another option is to rv and buy a couple of plots of land with power, water and sewer where I can park my rv for a few weeks each year.  Decisions, decisions... And then there's factoring in how much cost there will be to set up the chosen scenario.  I know it'll be cheaper to just stay in Maine for the winter, after all.  But I really want to travel in my retirement, and winter is the perfect time to leave my state.  I like it here in the summer! 

In any case, I'm sort of inclined to buy a used 24' Class C rv with 2 beds and maybe get the plots of land on which to park them.  Or at least one plot of land in a state where I could maintain residency and save on income taxes.    I'd prefer to have a vehicle along besides my house on wheels, but the compromise for 2 comfy beds and access to the animals is that the Class C's are small enough that you can drive them around towns if need be.  Or if desperate. 

A 24' rv sounds way too big; but I measured, and it is actually only 3' longer than a quad cab truck with a full bed, so they aren't that big in comparison to those bus-sized things on the road that are 10-15 feet longer.  I owned one of those once and found it was way too big to drive.  Hated it. 

At any rate, I've been pondering retirement, saving money, getting out of debt, and I'm putting the old house back on the market soon.  I hope that it sells.  (I'm so close to evicting my tenant right now... Ack.  Just don't ask.  It just ticks me off all over again.)  Anyhow, what becomes obvious when you are faced with what is, essentially, immanent retirement is that seven years is too little time to acquire a massive nest egg.  So take this advice, those of you younger than me:  Save money for retirement.  Do not think that Social Security will offer you anything besides heart ache.  Save, save, save!  And quit spending money on superfluous things instead of saving.  You didnt' need that pay per view wrestling extravaganza, not really, right?

So that's what I'm all about these days.  Trying to prep for retirement.  Thinking too much about things that I can't decide on for six years or more.  Driving myself nuts.  And trying to sell my stupid house. 

Miscellaney for the week

Some daisy-like red thing I found all over Island Pond, Vt.

 

 

A canal behind my motel in Island Pond.  Wish the light was better, but overcast was all I got.

But we had a gorgeous and sunny day on the 1,000 Islands boat tour.  Just look at that sky!

On a less interesting note, I've had a nice 2 weeks off of work.  But I'm putting the harness back on in the morning and have at least the next month without time off.  And I got next to nothing completed about the house this past week except for canning cherry jelly and cleaning.  I read four books, though.  I read 3 the previous week.  No writing, no lawn mowing (good thing it's been dry, it hasn't grown to ridiculously shaggy yet).  I did get the electrician in to fix the problem, and had a fellow regrade the driveway.  And I bought a bunch of canning equipment because I managed to leave it all behind when I left New Hampshire back in 87.  Now, however, I have all the stuff I could use.  Bwahahaha!

If I was sure it would be safe to ship, I'd offer a half pint as a prize in the upcoming blog contest.  Because, peeps, I am going to be celebrating my 4th blogaverssary on August 7th.

What do we want for a prize????  Besides jam, which will break and give the appearance of oozing blood and freak out the postal carriers?

Oh, and do we want a writing contest again?  What say ye?

Road trip photos

I had some lovely weather on the way to Ontario to visit Bernita, and we took a 1,000 Islands boat tour that had some gorgeous weather.  But on the way home it was rather overcast...and that was when I took the scenery photos.  Anyhow, here are a few shots of the lovely St. Lawrence river and my drive through upstate Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. 

 

A nod to my host country.

 

Perhaps the smallest island of the Thousand Islands that has a house on it.  There are a number of these with 'modest' yards.  Cute.

 

Where I stayed in Island Pont, VT.  Built about the time I moved here.

 

View of the lake from the motel. I stopped off to visit a friend.  I hadn't been back here since 1987, and it's pretty much the same.  Rather like the town I live in now, except we don't have a gorgeous lake with a large island in the middle.  The island is the land mass right of center.

Here's a better shot of the island.

And here are a few of the roadside pictures I took as I drove from Island Pond to Colebrook NH and then over to Route 2 in Maine and then up 95 towards home. 

 

The program you have scheduled has been pre-empted...

Firstly, I'm on vacation starting this evening (for TWO weeks, yay!) and I am trying to blast out a few posts before I go off on a road trip to Ontario to visit a blog friend.  (More on that later, if she gives me permission.)  So you are only going to get a few reposts and what I can come up with haven't been as well vetted for clarity as I generally try to do.  So forgive me the even worse than usual quantity of typos and errors.

Secondly, I've been a bad blogger of late, both in the realm of reading and commenting and in terms of actually posting.  I've been doing it for four years, though, so my lagging a little doesn't seem so strange when you consider I have over 2,000 posts under my belt--508 on the old blogger blog and 1593 on the typepad blog for a total of 2001...an auspicious number, lol.  The unfortunate thing is that I am no longer writing essays like I used to.  I like writing the things, actually, and I think it stretches the brain to write articles instead of quickie here's-what-I'm-up-to or here's-an-idea-on-writing-with-half-baked-plot-ideas-too posts. 

Thirdly, I'm going to be having a bloggaversary contest in August to celebrate the possibly underwhelming event of my presence in the blogosphere for four years.  August 7th is the 'magic' date.  I'm going to get a cool prize for this one (still to be determined) and I'm thinking that there should be another themed writing event along the lines of the Halloween/Samhain contest from last year.  That was a lot of fun and showcased some really good writing, too.  A few ideas for a theme include Summer/hot weather/heat, fairs, carnivals, scary clowns or circus acts, and in general a science fictiony sort of story theme as opposed to horror, which was the last contest's overall theme.  Do any of these seem appealing to you all?

And fourth, I am 49 today.  Go out and eat something full of calories for me, as I cannot.  And because it's for me, it won't count against you.  Really. 

 

McKoala Challenge report for June: Bellyflop!

I must confess to slacking off for June in addition to May.  No excuses.  I made about a thousand words again, though.  (About 25% of the minimum goal.  Pretty poor showing.)

The good news is that my neurologist agrees I do still have sleep apnea and I'm getting my CPAP back, reset to a lower pressure level.  I hadn't been able to use it because after losing all the weight it's like sucking on a leaf blower to wear the thing, and doing without has been better than wearing it.  But now I won't have the bad headache, tiredness or difficulty losing weight after the respiratory therapist gets ahold of it.  Because my metabolism has already been getting funky despite the gastric bypass.  Haven't lost weight in the eight or nine weeks that I have been off the machine at night.  Really, being tired and having a bad headache all the time is the worst of it, though.  I'm really only borderline; just enough that it affects me, but I could survive without the machine.  I can thus do without it on vacation or for a night or two, which makes life much simpler when traveling, let me assure you.  Nothing beats flying with a medical device.  I get tired of getting patted down in the airport because every time they swab the thing it comes up positive for something or other.  Sheesh!  ;0

Slinking off to hide now...

There's only so much time in the day

Well, yesterday was a total wash as far as getting anything useful done.  I had it off, sort of, as I had to drive 2 hours each direction to Bangor for a doctor appt.  I did a metabolic test at the nutritionist, and my base metabolism burns about 1200 calories per day if I do nothing but sit on my butt.  I am supposed to lose weight between 1200 and 1550 calories, and yet I haven't lost any weight in nearly 2 months while generally adhering to that window.  Sigh.  I have to exercise most every day over the long haul just to keep from gaining!  Because my metabolism is, indeed, that slow.  Still.  Also, they tell me (now, after all this time) that one's intestine can take over the food absorption ability of the upper intestine that was cut off.  Sigh again.  It is likely that is what is happening in my case.  This is a good thing from the perspective of evolution; I'd be capable of getting the most out of everything I ate.  But in the case of long-term weight loss and keeping it off, this is a pain in the butt. 

In any case, I need to walk a lot just to keep my back from getting crankier and stiffer.  It's generally always stiff and cranky, but no need to let it get really out of whack.  So I should be able to manage the long-term weight loss. 

I also spent a lot of money yesterday buying bulk items at Sam's Club and getting things that I found at Big Lots and a few other stores of that ilk in Bangor.  And I had to hunt for braided rawhide dog bones.  Hard to believe they are that difficult to find.  3 petstores later...finally found them.  Not quite big enough for the Pug to use (he needs big dog chews that are short, because Pugs have the Jaws of, well, Jaws) but they'll do.

I hope to get some writing done, too, but I have this big scanning project I'm working on.  I just got a load of at least 750 more images to copy and distribute to the locals and the archaeologists who are surveying the small town where my office is located.  It's not even something I really care about in particular; I just hate seeing all the local history literally die off as people die.  Their families don't know what the pictures are and they often throw them out or just box them and forget them.  At least if they are annotated and scanned the information can be readily shared and not disappear.

I have to say I encourage people to do this sort of thing, especially if they are interested in geneology.  You'd be amazed what sorts of links old family photos and the notes in family bibles and other documents can provide for others!

Okay, so I'm having a mental vacation

Or something of that ilk.  I just haven't cared a flip about blogging lately.  Back problems did make sitting at a desk difficult for the better part of a week, but, honestly, we all can see that I've been laggardly about the blogging thing for longer than that.  Or maybe it's due to six weeks with only three days off for a bad back (one of the scheduled days off, drat it) and now two more to follow.  Or perhaps it's that my brain is fried.  Dunno, I have just not cared to blog or read blogs or read much of anything lately.

I managed to write a few posts for the next week, though.  I mean, four years blogging is a lot of posts, when you get them in there pretty much daily.  Or more than. 

Anyhow, see you on the flip side.  We have thundershowers and are likely due to lose the net shortly. 

Cool site: Daily Squee

Of course, Cute Overload is the best site for cuteness evahr...but the Daily Squee is pretty amusing as well.

On a personal note, No, I haven't been writing lately.  Shame on me, I know.  I'm presently working six weeks with only one day off in there (happens to be next Saturday) so I'm sort of occupied with getting the summer house and yard stuff accomplished when I get home from work.  And knitting.  I'm finding knitting is making me happy at the moment, more so than reading or writing.  But I have a lengthy to-do list: major things like sealing basement concrete, rewiring the basement, organizing the basement, putting together the flower bed in back (for which I have several plants in pots, sod to dig up, mulch and edging to put in), making my drafting table/art center in the office, general yard work and house upkeep, and doing a 'spring cleaning' of the mudroom and tool room.  And if I'm feeling really energetic, I plan to put in a bunch of landscaping ties and make a bed along the base of the bank that edges my property as well as dig up the sod for a patio behind the house.  (I'm nothing if not overly ambitious.)

Sad news

Just found out a blog friend, Bevie James, has died.  Thank you to Fairyhedgehog for posting the information. 

Bevie had a difficult time in recent months, and his death adds one more blow to the family that loves him.  I extend my sympathies and prayers to his family, and hope that some good arrives in their lives soon.  They deserve some.

I first met Bevie via Evil Editor's blog.  We have corresponded irregularly and commented on each other's blogs (also irregularly) for the past year or two.  At Bevie's instigation, the League of Online Superheros was formed, and the gang there had some fun before most of us dropped the ball on our heroes.  But Bevie kept writing and blogging and producing no matter what was going on in his life.  He loved to write and to share his stories.  A lot of them were sad; but he told them well. 

We will miss you, Bevie!