Writtenwyrdd

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?

View of my new patio...or what I've been up to

Howdy! Bet you all wondered if I'd ever post again? Well, I am toying with closing down the blog but I don't want to lose all the content or comments. Basically, it's been years of my life and I'm not into blogging or talking about writing when I'm too busy to even write. The pups are nearly 9 months and cute. I'm working my tailfeathers off doing yard hardscaping. And I'm actually enjoying my summer!

This is cute...but vaguely disturbing... ;)

the boys at 8 months

 

As I'm heading off to work...

Guilt trip achieved.

I know it's poor quality, but the intense staring was highly cute.

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.

Chance @ 6 months.

I finally was able to get a good shot of Chance! The boys will be six months in a few days. Wouldn't trade 'em for anything, but they are a lot of work. I stopped at Kittery Trading Post on the way home from my Boston doctor appointment, and the staff were friendly and extremely helpful. A young fellow in the hunting section called over a fellow who trained bird dogs and he gave me a number of pointers and assured me that my idea of working them on faux birds was a great way to take the edge off their energy. Cuz, man, they need the edge taken off. I also got a 50' lead so I can work them safely until I can trust them on recall, and some scent and a decoy. Can't find that stuff locally.

My impression that they are sharp is underscored by how quickly they learn commands. They turned a corner last night and "saw the light", e.g. They got the sit/stay and have come when called today. It hadn't sunk in entirely until then. There was an almost audible click, lol.

But, word of caution, don't try training 2 dogs at once for retrieval. It becomes a competition and then a game of grab ass, which is not supportive of retrieval as the 'birdie' languishes, forgotten.

Both boys

 

if I could just get them to actually hold still a second...

Luger, enjoying his Nylabone

 

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.

Puppies...before & after

Okay, remember when?  12 weeks, below.  See how small they are?  Both fit on my lap!  Chance is on the left, Luger on the right.  (I'm the human in the middle.)

Now check out the today shot of Chance:

Now, when you compare the boys' 6 weeks head shots... Amazing change in 16 weeks, eh?

The puppies

Chance (left) and Luger (right, with black ear) taken a few days ago.  They are 5 months/22 weeks at the moment.

These guys look so solemn, don't they?  Chance is really just wondering what I'm doing with that camera thingy.

Luger is not quite as solemn in appearance, perhaps because he doesn' have quite the soft muzzle that Chance does.  Chance, by the way, has started to drool while I'm making their food dishes.  Just so long as he doesn't start with the gross drool strings! 

I have been getting a bit of a break since DST ended, as that translated from 3:30 to 4:30 wake ups...but this morning I got the potty call at 3:30 again.  Bleh.  Hope that doesn't become a trend.

Can't wait until the snow melts so I can get the fence and door up so they can be kicked outside for the potty break.

Puppy update

They are making sad faces because I told them it's time for bed. We are learning leash manners and that you are supposed to potty outside. They are paper trained well now, though. But we are starting to transition. And the boys are growing FAST. They are a bit over 25# I think. Chance is doing very well, but he's on a diuretic due to his heart, and we are avoiding sodium. All in all, they are both fantastic dogs, but they are puppies and squirrely as all get out.

Puppy update

A few cute pictures from week (I think) 15.

Here are my two clowns acting all innocent and stuff.

Here's Chance being coy. 

Wish I could get the demonic flash gleam from happening!

 

They are doing very well, except that they cannot yet resist chasing the cats.  I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can take them for morning walks.  But that will also entail having to train them to walk on leash properly, too.  Ack.  But I'm getting them to listen more with liberal application of food rewards.  They're easy in that regard:  their kibble is sufficient!  How many of your children would do tricks for the reward of a cracker?

The boys at 14 weeks

The picture of innocence.  But do NOT believe it!  Overall, though, these two clowns are really well behaved, considering their age.  I have to constantly correct them, but they do learn.  They are even getting better about not chasing the cats.  Claws slapping their muzzles has certainly helped, though. 

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.

More not writing:

I worked on this a bit more today, just an hour or so.  I cropped it down to an 8x10 proportion and I think I like it better this way.   Now, can you see the minute changes to the face and the bustier?  One thing that bothers me is the near hand looks a bit too large, even though the proportions are correct to the photograph I used as my model from my "cheat book" of posing models.  I hate to have to redo it, but I will likely do so.

Oh, and while searching for some useful information on sword belts and other gear, I found a reference to an interesting item:  the Sword Belt, e.g. a sword that is a belt!  Check this amusing forum about it here.  There are links to the company as well.

Instead of writing:

 

You'll have to click on this to see it better.  This is a partially finished preliminary sketch.  I'm still trying to figure out Painter 11, and I really prefer pencil sketching and drawing to digital painting, so it's a bit of an uphill battle.

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. 

Hairy toes!

OK, not the best shot, but they are very hairy.

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...

Guest post tomorrow by Carolyn Crane!

Tomorrow, October 12th, I'll,be hosting author Carolyn Crane, whose new release, Double Cross, the second volume in the Dissilusionists series, is now on the shelves at a bookstore near you. There will also possibly be something in it for some lucky commenter...

Please help a fellow writer grow her audience and spread the word. Ms. Crane has a great thing going with this series.

Oh, and the picture?  I just thought the clouds were pretty.  I'm at the Dunkin Donuts drive through, getting my favorite coffee, extra large cinnamon with cream only. Mmmmmm.

increments

I am taking my sweet time with this one...not that I am that quick in the first place. It's just that I am not sitting down to work more than an hout or two at a time.

Stage 2..

I'm at the point where I scan this, but I plan on finishing this up as a pencil rendering, too. I honestly think I'm better with pencil or charcoal or pen and ink than color media.

See, tentacular goodness!

I'm being all artsyfartsy today. I wish I could sketch more successfully with the digital tablet, but there's something about the tactile nature of pencil in hand...

Haaaaalp!!!

In a spec fic woorld, these guys are torture victims.

Woo hoo!

(Or, in another reality, you could call this, "Oh, Alexander Skarsgard, get back in bed and bring the whipped cream.") Quoted in entirety from "Vampire Wire" Photograph by Matthew Rolston for RollingStone.com

The cover of this month's Rolling Stone features the stars of True Blood in fake blood-splattered nekkidness.  On the magazine's website is an excerpt from the print story and photographs.

The idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous, True Blood creator Alan Ball says. "To me, vampires are sex," he says. "I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I'm 53. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed."

If you look at the photos, Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman) appears to be only a few inches taller than his co-stars, so the shots must have been set up so he doesn't tower over Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) and Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse).  Well, it makes for a better photograph when all the faces are in the frame.

Anna Paquin has a pretty amusing interview with George Lopez about nudity on True Blood.  All I'll say is "The Sock of Destiny."

I mentioned last week that Snoop Dog is a huge fan of True Blood, but his request for a cameo on the show was unfortunately rejected.  How much does he like the show?  Just watch him perform "Oh, Sookie."

Cat iiiin spaaaace!

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

I have the trend in my head...

If you can decipher my scribbles, you may be able to guess where this is going...

Something's cooking all right...

And it's dark, dark, dark. This ought to be good stuff, just right for urban fantasy.

I'll have your prompt up for tomorrow morning's post, as soon as I find it in the found words.  I'll take this word order as the jumping off point. 

Everyone should try this exercise, found writing.  It's excellent. :)  [This is actually giving me some ideas, too.  I am now envisioning both art and a scene in a story.]

Stir gently...

As for all good spells, the spoon goes deosil...

I'm on the verge of prompting...

Lack of additional words, writing/work avoidance...you decide!

Census of Marine Life

One of the coolest things about living in this time is that there is so much discovery going on, and I get to see it via our technology.  I love National Geographic channel, History, Science and Discovery channel shows that talk (albeit in rather pseudointellectual style) about things that are going on in science and what we know about the universe around us.  Cool beans.

But pictures and videos of sea life a mile or more down absolutely rivet me.  So I find it completely bozoid of me (that's my version of Bozo-like, thanks very much, meaning oblivious) that I hadn't yet heard about the Census of Marine Life.  Their final report of a ten-year study is due out in October.

Check out the site here.  And National Geographic has a ton of cool photos you can see as well.

And a contest prep request.  Please see Sunday's post and drop me a contest suggestion here.  And spread the word so we can have more fun, if you would.

Picture of this new species of copapod via the NatGeo site.

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. 

 

Why I wasn't writing today

I was here. It was the most gorgeous summer day!

See how pretty it is

See how pretty it is today?

Lovely lovely

Lovely photos of Sea Glass beach--sun and surf! Yay!--to cheer you up here.

Photos of volcano

If you haven't seen photos of the Icelandic volcanic eruption, check them out here.

Both gorgeous and disturbing!

Oh, and happy belated Earth Day!

Better pictures of my vacation loot

I've acquired a lot of stuff in both NYC and Egypt.  I finally took some better photos of some of it.

From New York, I bought some art from a local artist.

And here are some better shots of the statues I purchased in Egypt, as well as an adorable leather camel.

Here's how we decided to display the Egypt photos.  Using a montage frame is different from how I usually display trip photos.  Typically, I frame them as tryptichs, e.g. three to a frame.  Lack of wall space meant this change.  We rather like it.  (Sorry for the flash glare.)  There are also some papyrus paintings, and I'll photograph them when I get the frames, which are a special order.  Archivally mounting them is going to be an interesting project for me.  Paper art hinges, anyone?

I'm also placing these in my Facebook photo album. 

And, because you can see a bit of them, here are The Boys, four kachina I acquired in my road trip through the Southwest in 2004.  (Yes, a NYC souvenir on the left hand side.)

comparison photos again

Just thought I'd overshare again.  Here's me at my present weight:

 
Here's me when I started:

  What a difference, right?  (And although the lighting makes my hair look green in the newest shot, I look a lot better.)

Photos posted for the Egypt trip

You can see my Egypt photos as well as my NYC trip photos on Facebook.  My albums are available to the public, so even if you aren't my friend, you can view them.  I should have all the photos up by the end of today, but most are up now.  I hope you enjoy them.

Random Corporate art in NYC

Because it amuuuused me:

Egypt began with New York

As you can see by the Egyptian obelisk in Central Park.  My friend Margaret was taking the picture.  She lives in Brooklyn and we had a great visit.  I hadn't seen her in nine years, it felt like yesterday.  (The litmus test of a great friendship is when it surprises you both that it's actually been so long.)

And I thought you might like this shot of Belvedere Castle:

And for the writerly types, here are a few significant buildings:

Some day...some day...

More Egypt!

The bad about the animals was that I saw far too many horses in this condition, although most were in areas that weren't full of tourists.  I never saw a rack-of-bones camel, though.

 

Temple at Philae, which we had to reach by boat.  The story goes, the temple was being drowned by the rising Nile after the dam was built, so they built walls around it, took it apart, and moved the entire site to an island nearby.  It took 2 years plus to level the new island, redubbed Philae (Love) as the temple if I recall correctly was dedicated to Isis, goddess of love.  (Don't expect me to be all scholarly on this stuff.  I can't even tell which temple pictures were which for a lot of them.)

 

Nubian villager selling camel bone jewelry.  They swear no camels are butchered for bone, but they sell an awful lot of the stuff.  It's very beautiful stuff.

 

Probably the best preserved statue, left where it was unearthed in Memphis.  The striking thing about the statues which had undamaged faces was the serenity in them. 

 

Street scenes, of which unfortunately too many have bus window glare:

 

 

And here you see the typical structure of Egypt: a somewhat reinforced concrete frame structure with brick or mud brick infill between the framing elements.  The quality of the brick work is pretty shoddy, with holes between bricks and inconsistent mortar application.  The floors are generally unfinished with rebar jutting up like some dried up plant sticking out of walls (they build walls that way, too, with mud brick).  The guide told us that they get tax breaks if the building is unfinished: practicality over beauty.  The really scary thing is that the buildings built this way are real hazards in case of earthquake.  I don't know about the concrete frames, which might hold up for all I know; but the masonry infill will fall like dominoes in case of a quake.  AND THERE WERE HIGH RISES MADE THIS WAY.  I'm talking greater than 20 stories at least. 

Lastly, a beautiful Mosque.

Ah, New York. It was fun, but now the overwhelm commences...

My apologies to all my blog pals out there. I sincerely doubt I'll be reading your posts from the past three weeks,much less commenting. I'll probably mark them all as read on Google Reader. And to top it off, I appear to have caught something and now am off to sleep it off.

Below is part of the NY skyline as seen from the Empire State Building.  The Chrysler Building is in the center there.  A bit hazy, but beautiful.

Camel bone bracelet and necklace...no camels were slaughtered for bone, but waste not, want not.

So supposedly these camels died of natural causes.  And I believed they never are slaughtered for any purpose whatsoever.  The thing is, though, the camels are not bred to be slaughtered for bone, they are used as transportation all over Egypt.  And the material is in all sorts of things because it's durable and very beautiful. 

Sorry to plague you all with the unfortunately crappy camera phone photos.  I was too lazy to dig up more batteries for the good camera, not when I could email them here.

Cool hot red caftan

I have a lovely white blouse that is similar (but shorter, obviously) with white on white embroidery, and an Egyptian cotton tee shirt.  Egyptian cotton is to die for soft and fine, very strong and very soft at the same time.  I got the caftan for $15 and the white shirt for $6.  (Remind me to tell you about how I bargained for the white one some time.)  My tee cost more at LE 105, about $21 as in general transactions people give you $5 for LE 1.  Anyhow, the tee shirt is so unbelievably soft it's really incredible.  It feels like flannel.