Thursday This n That

Hey, it's still Thursday!  I meant to post this morning, but I got distracted and then it was time to get ready for work.  

Man, we got slammed at work yesterday.  Thank goodness this afternoon was kinda quiet.  So quiet we were all afraid to say it was quiet and jinx it.  LOL

One of the things I do is collecting on past due stuff.  I figure as of today, I've already paid my wages to this point back to the company in the debts I've collected.  BE for the win.  Go, me.  Okay, so 7 days of work doesn't amount to any huge amount, but it's good to feel productive again.  And hey, it's good to know I'm taking some of the load of the gals who were slammed on a daily basis.

Nope, still not saying where I work.  =op

I had a meeting with the boss.  Kind of an informal, how're things going so far, chat.  He's good people.  They're all good people as far as I can tell.  Funny thing, though.  He asked me about my books and I went all 'deer in headlights'.  I guess I just made a wall in my head between that and this.  I can't think about being a writer when I'm in office worker mode.  

At some point, I need to slip into writer mode and then not think about the office worker.  Maybe this weekend.

It's hard not calling Mom every morning.  I do manage to get a couple short calls into the office first thing before I go to the day-job.  And I'm doing spreadsheets at night.  But the hour and twenty chatty calls with just Mom every day are a thing of the past.  I have to content myself with Saturdays, I guess.

There's an itty-bitty baby bunny who lives by the well-house.  I see it sometimes on my way to work.  It's soooooo cute.  

Okay, well, I'd better post this so it's still a Thursday.  Have a great day wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  :hugs:

Bug-mageddon and Other Fun Stuff

 Is it just me or are the bugs really bad this year?  Not just quantity, but viciousness.  I mean, I'm getting eaten alive even when I only step out on the deck for a minute.  Last night, I went out to see if something was on the roof and came back in with three new bug bites.  I go outside for a smoke at the office and come in with new bites - through my pants.  Come ON.  And these are not just regular bites.  They're nasty.  And nothing seems to make the itch stop - not diphenhydramine gel, not cortizone cream, not calamine lotion.  The aloe gel I have is knocking it back some, but it still itches.  Oak mites, sure, but I saw two of the bugs bite me (you can't see oak mites with the naked eye).  One was pinhead sized and black, the other was grayish and a little bigger.  No clue what they are but COME ON.  

Hubs sprayed most of the lawn yesterday.  He'll get the rest today.  Unfortunately, the spray does little to flying bugs.  They have to land on where he sprayed to die.  Good thing for the butterflies.  Bad thing for these flying biting bastards.  Derp.

Anyway...  I'm pretty good at ignoring the itch during the day.  At night, though... Gah, I need sleep.  Looks like an optimal day to make coffee at the office.  For the first time.  I know, I know... it's shocking that today is my fifth day there and I haven't made coffee yet.  In my defense, it's been hot and I've been trying to stick to water at work.  (I haven't been.  They have a pop machine with Mtn Dew in it.  Gah.)  I think I'll take my big mug that has an old time advertisement for snake oil.  It cracks me up.  

Meanwhile, I'm still doing spreadsheets for the office in Michigan.  Yesterday morning, the big one I do every month came in.  It usually takes me 2-3 hrs.  I did some before work, a little before dinner, and then the rest of it after Hubs went to bed.  I could've taken a couple days, but I hate leaving things lie.  And I promised them I wouldn't let the day job get in the way of what I do for them.  I feel good having it done.  Yay.

And now that I've gotten distracted a dozen times and still don't have this posted, I should probably call it good and be done with it.  How are things in your world?  Are the bugs nasty where you are or is it just me?

Sunday Update - Week ???

Hey Everyone!  I'm too lazy to look up the week number.  It was a busy week.

Unfortunately, not the busiest week for writerly stuffs.  I got 858 words out on Justice Served Tuesday night, though, and I'm pretty proud of that.  Just the two agents talking in the car.  Frank learns Olivia is a closet Cajun and they discuss overcoming other people's perceptions.  I liked how it came out.

I didn't read much this past week either.  

Or get much activity in.  I walked on Tuesday and then last night I watered all the gardens.  Despite the lack of activity, I did lose two pounds, though.  Weight: 179.6

The reason for so little writing, reading, or activity is that I started my full-time job on Wednesday.  I'm loving it and the people are all very nice.  Of course, it isn't easy.  Not yet anyway.  They've been so slammed and without good help for long enough that I was kind of tossed into the deep end.  Good thing I can swim, eh?  Now, it's just a matter of getting used to working 8 hours in a row, 5 days worth in a row, with most of that in a seated position.  I feel like I can do it.  And I feel like I can excel at all the tasks they're asking of me once I get the hang of things.  Right now, the hardest part seems to be remembering to answer the phone as B, instead of my whole first name.  This, too, will pass.  

I do need to find a way to be active while working 8-hr days.  Might be time to start working the exercise bike again.  Twenty minutes in the morning before I go to work or after I get home should be doable.  We'll see how that goes.

Last night, Mama Raccoon finally brought her babies to the yard.  She has FOUR this year!  Wow.  That's more than she's ever brought.  Her biggest litter was 3 and that was last year.  And they're all so cute.  I wish the light had been good enough to get some pics.  

Lumpy brought her twins again.  Also very cute.  I think she's got a mixed set again - boy/girl.  One is definitely larger than the other and I read somewhere that the larger fawn is almost always a buck.  Now, we need to come up with names.  I mean, her last fawns were 2 years ago and we named them Sonny and Sissy.  Speaking of that, Sissy is so tame with Hubs now that he can walk within a few feet of her on the way to the food pans and she just stands there.  Then she follows him the rest of the way so she can be the first to the food.  She only does that with Hubs.  She avoids me like the plague.  And that's a good thing.  It's not safe for her to be too friendly with humans.  Especially during hunting season.

The neighbor I gave zucchini plants to last year started bringing us zucchinis this year.  He planted 6 plants and he said that three of those are ours.  We told him that wasn't necessary, but he insisted.  Anyway, he's probably brought us like 20 zukes so far.  I spent part of yesterday getting those shredded or sliced and put away.  I'm playing with the idea of making pickled zucchinis.  I've left about 6 to take to the office and see if anyone wants them.  If they don't, I'll bring them home and shred or slice those, too.  Tuesday, I finally made bread with the last bag of shredded zuke I had put back in the freezer.  

I think that's about it.  How are things in your worlds?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 06/25/22

Not much to talk about this week, but I didn't want to leave you in the lurch.  Since this was the week I started working outside the house full time, I didn't get much time to read.  I took my Kindle with me on Thursday so I could read during my lunch, but I forgot to download the books I'd bought last week, so nope.  I did start a book on Friday, though.  Yay.

No Books Read.

No DNFs.

Currently reading... the third book in a southern mystery series I've enjoyed.  I'm definitely going to do some reading this weekend, so look for a more interesting post next week.

What did you read this past week?

Thursday This n That

So far the hardest part about the job is sitting.  You'd think I'd be used to sitting.  Apparently, I got enough exercise walking from here to the coffee pot and here to the recliner that it makes a difference.  Eh, I'll get used to it.  I spent the majority of yesterday looking stuff up online and entering data into a spreadsheet.  Yep, dream job.  LOL  

They're calling me BE.  Sure enough, it already lost a letter and by the end of the day I was B.  :shrug:  Maybe I'm just 'be'.  To do is to be.  To be is to do.  Doo be doo be doo.  ROFL

The office manager smokes, too.  So I got that going for me.  Just duck out the back.  Unfortunately, we can't both be out smoking at the same time.  Bummer.  I'd like a chance to chat with her.  

Yesterday morning, Hubs saw a single fawn.  There were a bunch of does present, so not sure whose it was.  It had been days since Lumpy brought her twins and I was beginning to get worried.  But Hubs saw them all yesterday afternoon.  Go, Lumpy!  

I made big juicy burgers when I got home.  Oh, yum.  With Ore Ida fast food French fries.  Also yum.  Hubs offered to cook, but burgers are super easy.  Pat 'em up and then slap them on the Foreman Grill.  2.5 minutes is perfect for medium rare.  And Hubs has taken over doing the dishes, so no clean-up for me.  Yay.

And that's about it for me right now.  What's on your list today?

Making It Work

I start my new job today.  I'd like to say I'm ready, but other than showering, I'm not.  I'm nervous as hell.  Not that I think I'll have any problems doing the job, but what if I do?  What if I got the job but can't keep it?  I mean I haven't worked outside the house for 18 years.  What if they don't like me?  Gah, I feel like a 12-year-old stepping into school for the first time after a long summer break.  

Funny thing there.  The office manager and I have the same first name.  To avoid confusion, they'll be calling me B.E.  :shrug:  Makes sense, since I've been going by BE online for like 21 years.  I was BE Meissner, then I got married and became BE Sanderson.  

Anyway, they all seem like nice people.  Friendly.  Hard-working.  Gettin' 'er done.

I have to watch that I don't accidentally take over and start managing people.  I'm sort of a bull.  Or a terrier.  A bull terrier?  A Taurus born in the year of the Dog.  (I don't actually believe in that stuff, but it kinda works here.)  

The other thing I'll have to watch is my potty-mouth.  And my tendency to talk too much.  No rattling on about stuff not related to work.  My mouth has gotten me into more trouble in the past 50+ years - since whenever I learned to talk, which was early by the way.  

The plan is to step into a new persona, of sorts.  Me, but Office Me instead of Hermit Me.  Public Me instead of Private Me.  I'm just a grunt.  A worker bee.  

Anyway, I'm showered.  I packed a lunch last night and all I have to do with that is make a sandwich.  I still have to get dressed, but it's casual there, so no biggie.  A nice top and a pair of khakis.  (They said jeans, but I don't own any.)  In about an hour and fifteen, I'll get in my car and drive to work.  :panics a little:

It'll all be a learning curve.  And I'll do fine.  I guess.  I hope.  Whatever happens, I'm going to make this work.  I have to make this work.

By the way, last night, I wrote about 900 words on Justice Served.  Go, me.

News Update

I got the job.  I'll be a full-time office assistant, with all the usual stuff that entails, starting Wednesday.  And that's all I'm gonna say about that publicly.  

This should not count toward Biden's employment statistics, since I was never formally unemployed anyway, but that bastard will probably take credit.  I wonder how many others, like me, felt the need to go back to work because our dollars aren't stretching to meet this economy.  

Regardless, I'm in this one for the long haul.  It'll be good for me to go be productive in the world again.  I'll write at night and on the weekends, like I did when I first started writing seriously.  And like I did when I was homeschooling because that was the only time I had available.  Hell, even when I don't have anything else taking up my time, I write at night, so this won't be a big change.  

Hubs will be taking over all my chores.  He's already started.  The man's doing my dishes right now.  We're in negotiations as to whether he'll cook meals.  He says yes, I say no.  We'll see how it all shakes out.  I did everything while he was working because after the job he was doing, he needed to decompress after work and on the weekends.  This job will not be anywhere near as taxing as his was.  

Since tomorrow is my last day off for a while, I'm making my last batch of zucchini bread.  Well, the last of the shredded zukes from last summer anyway.  

I'll still try to do posts on at least Thursday and Sunday.  And Saturdays, if I've finished any books that week.  I'll still be stopping by blogs in the mornings.  Any comments to my blogs will be approved when I get home from work.  And I'll respond to emails then, too.  

I'm excited.  And a little nervous.  But it'll all be good.  

Sunday Update - Week 24

Well, here we are again.  Another week of 2022 in the circular file.  

I didn't get anything even remotely writerly done this week.  My brain has been elsewhere.  

I did get some reading done along with a few DNFs.  

In baking news, I made blueberry muffins, blueberry buckle, and a batch of suet.  I screwed the muffins up.  It called for melted butter.  I thought it was cool enough to be added to the eggs and sugar mixture, but alas, when I added it, it sorta scrambled the eggs.  Rookie mistake.  But I put my finger in the melted butter and it didn't feel that hot.  Sheesh.  Anyway, they're edible but they have an eggier taste than they ought to.  :shrug:  The buckle, which I'd never made before, turned out awesome.  Not too sweet.  Just right for breakfast or brunch instead of dessert.  I'd post the recipe, but I haven't typed it up yet and I'm not inclined this morning.  Sorry.  I also made a vat of chicken rice soup and pulled pork.

I think I already mentioned that we went blueberry picking.  There's a place 13 miles from here (we checked the mileage) where you can u-pick blueberries and blackberries.  The blackberries weren't ready when we were there and the blueberries that were ready to pick weren't the big ones, but we managed to get about 2.5 pound worth.  Yesterday, I heated some up with sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch and we put it over ice cream.  Yummy.  Anyway, it was hotter than hot, but we had fun and it was a nice couple hours away from the house.  

On the activity front, I did 4 active things.  One was the blueberry picking... well, the walking around the site to get to the blueberries really, not the actual picking.  We also wandered around the yard for a while, which totally counts.  Hey, I was sweating.  I vacuumed the house on another day - hard floors and carpeted.  And I watered the gardens, which involves dragging the hose all over the yard.  This heat is playing havoc with my weight, by the way.  Yesterday I weighed myself and I was 183.  This morning I weighed myself again and I was 181.6.  Bloat.  It's a thing.

The big news of the week and the main occupier of everything in my head was the job thing.  I sent the resume a week ago Friday.  They called on Monday to schedule an interview for this past Friday, so I spent the week angsting over that.  The interview went great, I thought.  To my surprise, I'd already met the gal doing the interview and I liked her.  I like her more now that I've talked with her more.  All the job duties seem like things I can do, have done, or could easily learn to do.  Plus, the office is like 5 minutes from here max.  She's supposed to let me know tomorrow.  So, I've been angsting about that since right after the interview.  Fingers and toes crossed.  

If I get this job, I'll be working full time outside the house again.  But since most of my blogging is done first thing and most of my writing is done at night anyway, I don't see too much of a problem.  Hell, I've been slacking off on both of those things this month anyway.  Who knows, maybe having a job will force me to do the slacky things when I have a chance to do them.  You know, instead of sitting around with all the time in the world and no gumption to do anything.  This might be the shot in the ass I need.  Yay.  

And on that note, I should probably go do something constructive before it gets too hot to want to do anything.  Lordy, it's been hot here and more hot is ahead.  Today's supposed to be the cool day this week and that's 90F.  Blerg.

How was your week?  Got anything exciting going on?  Oh, and Happy Father's Day.  Both of our dads are gone and Owl is absent, so it's not something we're planning on celebrating.  What's on tap for you today?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/18/22

Good morning!  Let's get right at it today...

I picked up three new ebooks this week - mystery, historical paranormal mystery, and steampunk.  Which is pretty nifty since, last night, I finished my last unread ebook from before. Here's hoping these new ebooks aren't filled with DNFs.  Those kinda bum me out.

Books Read:

34) Murder of Angels by Jack Gatland (6/17/22) - Suspense*2 - 5 stars.  Not new to me since I'd already read the first book, but underappreciated.  Free after seeing it posted on the Crime Fiction Addicts Facebook page.
Review: "Another awesome installment of DI Walsh's stories. So deliciously twisty-turny and delightfully suspenseful. You can never tell who to trust in this. Wickedly awesome storytelling that kept this reader on her toes, on the edge of her seat, flipping pages to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. I love Declan Walsh and his team of tarnished cops. And in this story, I also loved the unexpected side character of Stripe. Darn good stuff all around.

33) Dead & Buried by TK Eldridge (6/12/22) - Paranormal Suspense*# - 4 stars.  New to me and mine was the 51st review, so I counted it as underappreciated.  Free off the Fussy Librarian newsletter.
Review: "Interesting and attention-grabbing, with likable characters and an intriguing premise, but there's a lot going on in this story, so it was hard for me to not get lost in the twists and turns. Still, an enjoyable read."

DNFs:

6/14/22 - UF - free.  I had great hopes for this.  It had an interesting premise, neat characters, and I liked the story, but it kept switching between present tense and past tense and that was giving me a headache. I held on as long as I could and then gave up.  :sigh:

6/14/22 - Cozy mystery - free.  Ugh, the whole beginning was a great big info dump.  I thought I'd flipped past most of it when it started up again.  And this was the first book in a series, so it wasn't like the author was trying to catch everyone up on what happened previously.  If the info is crucial to the story, layer it in, for petesakes.  

6/14/22 - SF - free.  It started out looking like it was going to be a fun romp, but after I got about a third of the way in, I realized I didn't care what happened anymore and the MC was annoying me.  Life's too short.

Currently reading... since I finished that suspense late last night, I didn't have a chance to start a new book.  No clue what I'll pick up next.

What was on your reading list this week?  Anything you're looking forward to?

Thursday This n That

I hope this intermittent posting thing isn't messing people up.  I promise to try my best to be here Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at least - no matter what else might be going on.  

Finally went blueberry picking.  The farm is like 13 miles from here, so it's not like I couldn't have zipped over there in the past 9 years.  Geez.  Anyway, we came back with a little under two and a half pounds of blueberries.  Yum.  I already made muffins.  Screwed them up enough that I won't post the recipe, but they're edible, so we're eating them.  Rookie mistake.  Derp.  

I have an interview tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

The neighbors put a little blow-up pool out yesterday so the kids could play.  I swear the girl was in it for hours.  Totally pruny, I bet.  I remember when we had a pool.  Vaguely.  It was an above-ground thing my father had gotten for cheap.  I'm not sure how long he left it up, but once we kids weren't keen on cleaning it, he took it down and there was a round dead patch in the lawn for the longest time.   Needless to say, if it gets any hotter, they may find me running across the lawns to bellyflop into their tiny pool.

Lumpy has twins.  Yay.  They're so tiny and so cute.  Aww.

I planted most of the seeds I had leftover from last year's container garden experiment.  The tomatoes are coming up now.  At least they were when I checked a few days ago.  With this heat... I dunno.  I'll be heading outside to water everything shortly.

Hubs is slowly working his way through the bag of carrots.  Go, Hubs!

If I get this job, Hubs will be taking over all my chores.  Except cooking.  I'm not prepared to let cooking go.  Oh, he'll have to do some.  Breakfast and lunch, and maybe things like granola bars, etc.  It's not that he can't cook.  Lord knows the man took care of himself for a great many years before we got married.  If he couldn't cook, he would've either starved or gone broke eating out.  It's just that it's my kitchen and I'm a control freak about my kitchen.  I'll get over it.

I'm also a control freak about my car.  Driving it, I mean.  Hubs takes care of the maintenance without my assistance.  I think it's a fear of something going wrong and if it happens, I want to be behind the wheel.  Probably comes from all the time I spent behind the wheel doing outside sales.  Hubs is a most excellent driver, too, by the way.  This is all on me.

Well, that's it for me today.  I'd better get to doin'.  Got anything on your this-n-that list today? 

Sunday Update - Week 23

Hey there, hi there, ho there.  It's time to wrap this past week up.  

I only wrote on one day this past week, but I laid down about a thousand new words and found a place for a scene I'd written a while back, giving me a net gain of about 2700 words.  On SCUI4.  :shrug:  Gotta go where the inspiration strikes these days.

Perhaps inspiration struck on that because I actually did some marketing.  I posted on Thursday night/Friday morning about Dying Embers being only 99c and sold 3 books.  One each of the series, so yay.  I need to slap some more posts out there.  

In reading news, I only finished one book, but it was a good one.  I also started reading a suspense yesterday.  So far, so good.

On the baking front, I made carrot cake!  I'd never made one before, but I got the idea that I wanted to make one, so I went looking for recipes.  And the ones I found that I liked called for way more carrots than I had in the house.  So, when I went shopping on Thursday the idea was to buy another bag or two.  The little bags looked piddlin' and doing a cost comparison, it just made more sense to pick up the big bag.  The FIVE POUND bag.  I already had a pound of carrots - I didn't realize the little bags had 16 oz - so 6 pounds of carrots total.  I spent yesterday morning cleaning and shredding carrots.  One big carrot yielded 1 cup of shredded.  One carrot.  I cleaned probably 10-12 carrots to start and still had about 3/4 of the 5 lb bag untouched.  Anyway, I got my 4 cups of shredded carrot.  Plus two quart baggies of carrot sticks.  Then I made the cake.  It turned out amazing, by the way.  Recipe below.

I'm still falling down on the activity thing.  Only one day wherein I walked the loop.  So 1.1 miles added to the total.  19.3 miles for the year.  That's kind of pitiful.  :shrug:  I did finally weigh myself and I'm holding steady, though.  Weight: 181.6.  Unfortunately, not moving is making me squonky.  Not that I didn't get a boatload of upper body exercise grating those carrots, but that's not quite the cardio I'm going for.  

I did something else this week that I've been thinking about for a while now.  I'm not ready to talk about it and nothing may come of it anyway.  No, it's not anything bad or medical.  Or relationship related.  Okay, fine.  I applied for a job.  The right job came along and I had to go for it.  If anything, I'm overqualified for it and my resume will probably freak the people out.  But it's like 2 miles from here and it utilizes my office skills with some new stuff thrown in to make it interesting.  And hey, it might even help add a new flavor element to my writing.  :shrug:  Like I said, nothing may come of it.  If something does come of it, I'll let you know because changes will have to be made.  Anyway, I'm kind of excited.  

Speaking of excitement, we found a big ol' rat snake in the garage this week.  He was probably 5-6'.  There were some comical elements to his removal, but we finally got him outside.  Hubs then proceeded to spray the area to deter the snake from coming back.  

Also, exciting... we have a fawn!  And it's Lumpy's!  Yay!  

Okay, that's more than enough out of me this morning.  Thanks for reading all the way down to here and I hope you have an awesome day.  How was your week?

Recipe:

Best Ever Carrot Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.  Coat bottom of 9x13" pan with cooking spray.  Plump raisins, drain, and set aside.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in oil.  By thirds, stir in dry ingredient mixture.  Fold in carrots and raisins until just combined.  Spread evenly into prepared pan.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely and frost with cream cheese frosting.  

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/11/22

Oops.  Forgot it was Saturday.  Not that I have a whole lot to talk about, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things again.

I didn't get any new books this week.  I still have four unread ebooks, though, so it's not a crisis yet.  

Books Read:

32) The Hash Knife Outfit by Zane Grey (6/9/22) - Western# - 5 stars.  Not new to me since it's like Zane Grey there, but it doesn't have very many reviews.  Sadly, I didn't give it one either.  I picked this one up at a thrift store back in January of 2021 for 50c.
No review posted.  What can I say about Zane Grey that hasn't already been said.  It was a good book and true to everything Zane meant as a writer.  Not his best but still worthy of 5 stars because even on an off day, he was excellent.

No DNFs.  I was busy reading Zane and then yesterday I was busy doing other stuff.

Currently reading... I haven't picked up a next book yet.  Like I said, I was busy.  I'll figure something out today.

What was on your reading list this past week?  Anything awesome?  Find any sleepers?  Go with any old favorites?  

Thursday This n That

I have every intention of making a carrot cake today.  It'll be my first ever carrot cake, so cross your fingers for me.  I already bought cream cheese frosting and everything.  I'm also going to Wallyworld today, though, so I may not have the gumption to shred a bunch of carrots by the time I get home.

Hubs saw a fawn yesterday!  It's a little earlier in the summer than usual to see fawns, but yay!  I missed it because I was in the middle of making dinner and the french fries were this close to done.  By the time they were done, the fawn was gone.  

The Prothonotary warblers decided not to use the bird house.  Bummer.  Just as well, though, because they were making life difficult for the other birds who were trying to eat.

I tried quitting ice cream again.  Made it three days.  To substitute, I made rice pudding.  It was pretty good, but it just wasn't the same.  Maybe I'll just try to eat smaller bowls of it.  

Why would someone move out to the back of beyond and still expect things to work like they work in a city?  For instance, we have hard water.  I think it's awesome because I grew up on well water.  Not everyone gets that it's filled with minerals, though.  So, yes, I get calcium deposits on damn near everything.  Back home, the water was very iron rich which meant rust deposits.  You learn to live with it.  Vinegar and baking soda is awesome for removing mineral deposits, by the way.  We also have snakes.  And various other critters.  And we have a lack of rules out here, too.  No ordinances.  No building inspectors.  No HOA.  Personally, Hubs and I think it's perfect.  Other people?  Not so much.  :shrug:

Gah, I keep trying to write this post and then getting interrupted and/or distracted over the past hour now, so I might as well just post the damn thing.

Got anything on your this n that radar today?

Snoozy Squirrel

 In lieu of anything else, here's a snoozy squirrel...

Ah, the wonders of a good digital camera and a sun porch that overlooks the woods.  He's a good ways up in the black oak off the back of the house.  Zoomed in on him through the window after Hubs spotted him.  

As hot as it was for a bit there, I don't blame him for sacking out on a cool dead limb.  (And no, that's not his foot hanging underneath the limb.  It's a bit of branch.)  Usually the squirrels sit on that bit and bark at us.  It was too hot for barking.  

Sunday Update - Week 22

Howdy there buckaroos.  (Not sure why I went there this morning...)  

Not a great week for writing progress.  I worked on the book 4 out of 7 days, but I only added 1539 words.  That was mostly a new scene at the beginning and the rest was reworking what I'd already written to make sure it flowed with the new stuff.  

I did some reading.  Finished two and DNF'd a third.  Yesterday, I picked out one of my old Zane Grey's and started reading that.

In baking, I did a plain ol' yellow cake from a mix on Monday.  We ate most of it with strawberries and the rest plain.  Thursday, I made granola bars and then a loaf of applesauce bread for Hubs.  He does like his granola bars and breads for breakfast.

On the activity front, I managed to get out 3 days where I did something other than sit on my ever-widening ass.  I got some more weeding done.  Then I planted vegetable seeds in the front flower bed and planted my elm tree.  Yesterday, Hubs and I went for a walk.  I need to get back to walking more, that's for sure.  Weight 182.4.

Speaking of my elm tree, that I raised from a seed I planted in a pot about 14 months ago... the deer have already munched almost all the leaves off of it.  Took them two days.  Poor Elmer.  I never did take a picture of him.  He was beautiful.  Now he's a stick with leaf bits.  I still have Cedric and Cecil, the two baby cedars, but now I'm afraid to put them in the ground.  They have to go out there sooner or later, though.  They can't thrive in pots.  Cross your fingers for my vegetable garden.  Between the deer and the bunnies, it's hard to grow things here without a 6 ft fence.

On our walk, we saw three bunnies.  One in the yard, one at the curve, and an itty-bitty baby bunny over by the well house.  OMG, that last one was so cute.  Fingers crossed he does better than Elmer out there in the mean world.  Nature is a bitch sometimes.

As far as we can tell, the deer are still pregnant.  No sign of fawns yet.  

7:13 a.m. update - Lumpy is post-pregnant!  Here's hoping she manages to get this fawn (these fawns - she usually has twins) to adulthood.  Last year, she never showed up with new fawns. Yes, I am excited.

Lumpy is the lighter deer.  I believe the darker deer is her daughter, Sissy.  Sissy's the only deer Lumpy will bother to groom.

Last Saturday, we had a male Prothonotary warbler checking out our bird house and laying a nice bed of moss in it.  Then he brought his lady by to check it out.  She started building a nest and he started defending it.  We had high hopes they were going to raise a brood there.  Then they stopped.  Not sure if that place is too active with other birds or what.  :shrug:

In poker news, the site I use has this round of 5 single table tournaments.  I made it a goal to win them all and I did it.  Yay for me.

Yep, I lead an exciting life.  What's up in your exciting life?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 6/4/22

Hello again!

I picked up three new ebooks this week, since I finished one I hadn't read yet on the 29th and DNF'd the last one on the 31st. The books I picked up were: suspense (which I also finished this week), paranormal mystery, and SF.  No new hardcopies.  

Books Read:

31) Web of Lies by Sally Rigby (6/3/22) - Suspense* - 5 stars.  New to me but not underappreciated. Free off the Book Gorilla newsletter.
Review: "Excellent read! I enjoyed the characters and the plot of this one immensely."
Available in audio.

30) Unlucky Charm by Kimberly Gordon (5/29/22) - UF* - 5 stars.  New to me but not underappreciated. Free off the Freebooksy newsletter.
Review: "Exciting, fast-paced plot, populated with interesting and likable characters. There was a lot going on from the start that kept me on the edge of my seat, and I discovered why at the end. This is more like a 'Part One' than a whole, standalone book. Nothing was resolved. Just more questions. I still gave it five stars, though, because it's a helluva read. Just be prepared to want any other books she's got in this series as soon as you finish this one.

Oops, bought the book and wrote the above before I caught on that this is a PREQUEL. My review still stands, though."

DNFs:

5/31/22 - free - cozy mystery.  Meh.  I think the author was trying to pack too much into the MCs backstory and then overloading the beginning with it.  Major info dump.  Bleh.  

Currently reading... Since I finished that suspense last night about 8, I didn't have time to start a new book.  Maybe I'll pick up a hardcopy next and give my Kindle the day off.

What was on your reading lists this past week?

Thursday This n That

No, the Kansas City woman who was shot by police wasn't unarmed.  Check the bodycam footage.  It clearly shows the gun in her hand.  

No, seeing a bobcat in the daytime does not mean it's rabid.  Bobcats are not strictly nocturnal.   You can also see possums, raccoons, and foxes in the daytime without it meaning they're sick.

The number of rains we get in August doesn't equal the number of snows we get the following winter.  Neither does the number of cicadas equate to how harsh the winter is going to be.  Not sure about the woolly-bear stripes, but they're supposed to equate to length and harshness of winter.  We've been doing independent research on that one.  It's probably not true either.  

If a person is inclined to commit a crime with a gun, making that gun illegal isn't really going to be a stumbling block.  If a person is inclined to commit a crime, and there are no guns anywhere, they will still commit the crime.  The problem isn't the weapon, it's the philosophy and the culture that make committing crimes okay.  Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens because criminals use guns is stupid.

Socialism is a fancy word for enslaving everyone to the government.  Communism is a fancy word for enslaving everyone to everyone else (and also the government).  I don't want to be a slave to anyone and I don't want anyone to be a slave to me.  Got it?

Clay, the bald eagle rescued in OK with a damaged wing, is flying again.  He's so beautiful.  I'm not sure if they'll be able to release him even now, because I'm not sure if he can do sustained flight at altitude.  He may end up living out his life in an enclosure at some raptor rescue.  But at least he's not trapped on the ground anymore.

The secret to oak mite bites (at least for me):  If you have one, don't scratch it.  Wait until it itches so much you can't stand it anymore, then take your fingernail and gouge it out with one motion.  (Just enough to pop the blister... for godsakes, don't go crazy there... there doesn't need to be blood.)  Then soak it with rubbing alcohol and apply a Bandaid.  It should stop itching after that.  If it doesn't, repeat.  Yes, I have oak mite bites again, why do you ask?  

It seems like every time I meet someone with kids, at least one of them has ADHD.  Hell, they probably would've diagnosed me with it.  I was a hyper kid with focus issues.  Why?  I was bored, for one thing.  The other kids took longer to get the lesson than I did, so why they were still being taught something, I was already over it.  The other thing for me was sugar.  Mom took away most sugary things from me, just to save her sanity.  And when she saw I was bored, she gave me something to do.  Or made me go outside and play.  I wonder if it's the same for the kids today.  Just pondering.

A Prothonotary warbler couple has taken a liking to my little birdhouse.  Which is cool.  It's also made the front porch a hazard for other birds, because those PWs are extremely protective of their nests.  This does not bode well for the visitors to our suet and to our hummingbird feeder.  Getting dive-bombed by little yellow birds while you're trying to eat is probably not the most pleasant of experiences.  One poor baby wren decided it wanted to see what was in the birdhouse and P'Dubya (the male) took it down.  Oh, well.  If She'Dubya (the female) wants to raises babies there, I'll let her.  And then move the birdhouse after she's done with this brood, so our regular visitors don't continue to get harassed.

And that's more than enough out of me this morning.  What's on your radar today?

Not Dead, Just Tired

I figured I'd better drop a post of some kind so people don't think I'm dead.  I'm not dead.  Not even close.  I just have little to say that isn't whining or bitching or ranting, so I've been choosing to stay silent.  Mom always said 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'.  Wise Mom.  I don't always follow her advice, but there ya go.

The sky just opened up and is dumping large quantities of wetness upon us.  A sploosherama.  Oh well.  It's supposed to drop the temps significantly, so I'll put up with it.  Not like there's anything I can do about it anyway.  With all the rain we've had lately, I'm kinda wishing there was a reverse rain dance I could be doing.  :smirk:

Talking with an elderly acquaintance yesterday, we learned that she's concerned might not be able to keep her house much longer.  Social security isn't enough for her bills and her house payments along with the rising costs of things like eating and driving and existing.  

Whoops.  Derp.  See?  This is why I haven't been posting.  Bitching about the weather.  Bitching about the state of the nation.  I don't talk about my books, because then I'd be whining.  All of it makes me exceedingly tired.  I expect you're all tired of it, too.

So, not dead, just tired.  I expect I'll still be doing Thursday This n That, Saturday Reading Wrap-up (when I've got something there worth talking about), and Sunday Update.  If I miss those, then you can worry whether I'm dead.  Other posts will come when I have something to talk about, so sporadically.  

What about you?  Do you have anything to talk about?