My Love of Israel: How It Started

One of my favorite pastimes in my pre-teen years was walking down the road to the horse barns near my house and standing in the road watching those magnificent beasts.  Sometimes, if I was feeling especially brave, I'd cross the ditch to stand by the fence, hoping one of the horses would see me and come over for a pet.  And hoping I wouldn't get caught trespassing.  

One particular day, early in 1983 I think, I was engrossed enough in the horses to not notice I was being watched.  A tall, dark man with an exotic accent called out to me waving for me come over to him.  Being the rural kid I was, I didn't think anything of doing as he asked.  It wasn't as if he was a total stranger.  I knew him by sight.  He was obviously the guy in charge of the facility.  

He told me his name was Itzik and he was Israeli.  Over the course of several such encounters, he suggested I take riding lessons, which my family could in no way afford.  Then he proposed a way for me to pay for them.  I could clean stalls - after school and on weekends - in exchange for which, he would give me riding lessons.  

I learned to ride English - which is different from the riding you usually see on TV.  Think more 'equestrian event' than 'cowboy' and you'll get the picture.  It was also an amazing opportunity to interact with the horses.  A couple years into it, he paid me to clean the little house he lived in on the property with another of the Israeli workers, Ophir.  Every Thursday, after school, I would walk up to the house and start cleaning.  Two single guys sure do make for a messy house, let me tell you.

While I worked for this man, I learned.  Itzik told me all about his homeland.  He spoke about his time in the military and his life on a kibbutz.  He taught me some Hebrew.  He showed me pictures of the beauty of Israel.  He also talked to me about his studies and the classes he was taking at Michigan State to become a doctor.

Over the course of a few years, I spent a lot of time around Israelis.  The owner of the stables was an American with ties to Israel and he would bring young people over so they could gain work experience.  His own daughter went the other direction and emigrated to Israel.  They were all very nice people.  For a while, I considered emigrating there.  I even looked into majoring in Hebrew and becoming a teacher in Israel.

Yes, I had a tremendous crush on Itzik.  My first case of puppy-love, in fact.  If he knew, he never let on.  The Israelis I met were never anything but nice to me.  Itzik himself was helpful and encouraging at a time when I needed it.  

Eventually, life took me on past the experience.  Life took him elsewhere, too.  Last I knew, he was married and had reached his dream to become a doctor.  Obviously, I didn't go to Israel or even become a teacher.  Hell, the last time I was on a horse was in the 80s.  The only thing that lasted from that series of encounters all those years ago was my love for Israel and the Israeli people.  

Marketing Monday - UNEQUAL

Good morning.  And welcome to Marketing Monday.  Today's offering is UNEQUAL.

Starting today, this dystopian suspense - UNEQUAL - is absolutely free. (Always free with Kindle Unlimited.) Get your copy today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LDVFWBS

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 11?

 I counted and it was week 11, but I could've miscounted.  :shrug:  I could go online and check, but meh.  I'm unmotivated this morning.  Big surprise, I know.  Bu then I haven't been overflowing with motivation this year, have I?

You know the drill... no writing, no editing.  The usual marketing.  I moved 20 copies of Project Hermes.  No residuals there yet.  On the upside, my previous marketing efforts have gained me 20+ sales this month so far.  It might not seem like much, but it's better than all but 2 months in the last couple years at least.  So yay.  This week UNEQUAL will be free.  The week after that the entire A Model Curse series will be free.  

No reading.  I DNF'd the book I was reading because it wasn't holding my interest enough.  :shrug:  I might try some non-fiction for a while and see if that sparks me.

No baking.  Which works for me because my ever-widening ass could use a break from all that.

On the activity front, I was pretty busy.  I only spent one day sitting on said EWA.  It's Spring and all the things need doing.  Plus, we had what appears to be the last cold days until next fall, so we were in the woods doing work.  I don't know my weight because stepping on the scale is depressing.  

One of the 'needs doing' things is clearing my garden beds of the leaves from last fall.  Yesterday, I hauled about 4 wheelbarrow loads of leaves out of the front garden.  My peonies are happy now.  Today, I need to do the shade bed and the south bed.  That'll leave me with the cedar bed in the middle of the yard, which needs weeding more than leaf removal.  

I've also been working on my deck garden.  (See Wednesday's post.)  Unfortunately, it seems like I killed two pots worth of carrots somehow.  I suspect I either knocked them down the day I had to water with the big jug or the first really hot day zapped them.  It disheartening, but I have more seeds, so I can plant again.  Still no sign of the potatoes.  They have until the next time I hit the grocery store (10 days at least) and if I don't see any signs of growth, I'll buy more potatoes to plant.  

I went to Wallyworld.  Yes, prices are up again.  No, I'm not pissed... well, not much... because at least there's a good reason behind it.  I can bear the burden of higher prices if it means crushing the Iranian regime.  The little bit of pissed I am comes more from the idea that some of these prices were raised in anticipation of rising costs.  

Not much else going on in my life, really.  It's hot but I'll get used to it.  I'm a little sore from bending over the garden yesterday, but I'll get over it.  All in all, I don't have much to bitch about.  (Not that that's ever stopped me before. LOL)

Have a great day out there, whatever you're doing.  Peace out.

Thursday This n That

Facebook is screwing with me again.  Now, it won't let me react to any posts, including my own.  This is the image I screen-captured:

I mean, how ridiculous.  I can post and comment and share, but I can't like, love, or make angwy* face or wow face... turds.  If I didn't need FB to market my books, I'd chuck the whole damn thing.

Finn's walking around the house meowing like he's lost.  Silly cat.  Kira used to do that from time to time, and I never did figure out why.  Oh, the mysteries of the feline brain.

And Hubs just informed me that Finn had jumped up on the bookshelf to get beside the TV and was sitting there like the RCA dog while Sawyer watched from down below.  When I went to investigate, they both ran to the treat cupboard like they hadn't just committed an act of pre-vandalism.  I swear... those boys... bang zoom, to the moon.

I had someone comment on a marketing post for AD this morning, giving me a cover critique like I'd asked for his help.  As if I didn't know what that cover looks like.  I gave the guy what his opinion was worth and blocked him.  If that's a new method to get me to engage so that he can spam me, he's sadly mistaken.  A friend of mine calls that sending them to Blockistan.  Heh.

Have you ever been with a guy/girl who critiques everything you do so you'll never believe you're worth anything and therefore never leave them?  I have.  It's a dick move.  Classic mental abuse.  Don't buy it.  Ever.

So, Monday, it was cold, so Hubs and I went into the woods and worked at clearing out the wet-weather creek so it isn't all junky looking.  Afterwards, we both paid for it.  And I learned something - you never know when you're overdoing it until after you've overdone it.

And on that note, I'll leave you to get on with your day.  Make it a good one.

*I meant to spell it that way.  It's what I call this 😡**.

** Blogger call this 😡 'pouting face', which is just stupid. It's angwy face.

The Deck Garden

Since I just finished moving all the plants back outside, after we had a cold snap and they spent more time inside, I thought I'd talk about my deck garden.  As of right now...

My deck garden:
3 x-large - potatoes
4 large - carrots
2 small cedars, 1 medium cedar (Clyde), 1 large cedar (Cecil)
3 dogwood
6 redbud
1 oak
1 buckthorn
2 hickory
1 black cherry
1 unidentified tree/bush

Plus, I still have 4 green peppers in the spare room that need to go into larger pots and go outside. I'm not even counting the tomatoes because I haven't bought the seedlings yet, but there'll probably be 6 of those. Woot.

The carrots are bursting up out of the soil, so yay. Those will need to be thinned soon. No sign of potatoes yet. If I don't see movement soon, I'll buy more taters and replant.

Of the trees, most of them are showing some signs of life after overwintering in the garage. The ones that aren't showing sings yet are one hickory, one redbud, and one dogwood. Those all might be dead. We'll see. The oak has the cutest, teeny-tiny leaves. If it had cheeks, I'd want to pinch them. (If you weren't already aware that I'm weird, you must be new here.)

The black cherry is actually three tiny trunks that I dug up together and planted together, not knowing what they were. When fall came, the leaves turned a pale peachy pink, which made me think they're black cherry trees. And now with their spring leaves, I'm like 95% certain of the species. Yay. I'll repot those into a bigger container and they'll spend another year being babied before they go into the yard.

Cecil the Cedar is the one I transplanted as an inch-high seedling I found in the garden back in 2021. That means he's probably 5 years old, maybe 6 if I consider he probably started growing in the garden in late 2020. (He had a pot-mate - Cedric - but it died.) Cecil is gorgeous and will go in the yard next month. Clyde was transplanted from where he was growing under the deck. He's kind of retarded, but I love him. He'll go into the woods to thrive there.

One of the redbuds and one of the dogwoods will go in the yard somewhere either this year or next. The rest will be transplanted into the woods. I need to put some out there sooner rather than later because I need their pots for tomatoes. Or I'll just buy more pots and nurture them for another year. I'm goofy that way. I'm trying not to be a helicopter parent to my trees, but after I lost Elmer the Elm to ravenous deer, I'm being more protective of my little trees. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, those are the garden stats right now. I'll post more as things develop. Have a great rest of your day!

Marketing Monday - Project Hermes

So, this morning, it's colder than a witch's nose after being in the mid-70s the day before and I'm not happy about it.  Nevertheless, it's Monday, which means marketing.  Keeping with the whole 'doing the books in order of publication*, here's the fourth book published:

Starting today, get this taut political/medical suspense - PROJECT HERMES - absolutely free! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017Y6G0EW

All thanks, once more, to Silver James, who made me that graphic.  It rocks and so does she.

*This likely won't happen again next week.  The next book in the publication order is the second book in a series and I'd rather wait a bit after the first ones went free before I offer the second ones.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 10

Well, there's another week shot to hell gone by.  What happened?  :shrug:  Drama llama.

Of course, there was no writing or editing.  Marketing was done, but little movement of books was seen.  I moved 28 free copies of WIOH and got one sale for that after the freebie was over.  I'm still moving some SCIU books, though, so yay.  I've actually sold nearly 15 books this month - regular sales and pages reads - so I can't gripe.

No reading.

No baking.

Very little carving.

I did some cleaning and some garden work, so 4 out of 7 days had some activity.  I didn't weigh myself.

In garden news, I have tiny carrot seedlings in all four pots.  I'll thin those when they get a little bigger.  Nothing's happening in the potato pots, except for the ravages of a squirrel that decided it wanted to dig around.  Little bastard.  I've treated all those pots with chili powder and no more forays from Mr. Squirrel since.  It also looks like a majority of my baby trees have signs of leave buds.  Some of them even have leaves!  Everything needs to go in the garage today, though, because we're getting a freeze starting today.  

In other garden news, I've cleared the dead leaves out of 4 beds now.  Only five more beds to go.  The beds should be fine in the freeze.  

Other than that, we've been in the clutches of family drama again.  I can't give the details because they're not my details to give.  Needless to say, though, it's been all-encompassing and there's been very little room in my brain for anything else.  

A couple of days there, I did get out of the house and hit the thrift store for a little retail therapy.  The first time, I didn't buy anything.  The next day, I went back for a couple things I'd seen, since I'd had time to think about them.  Item 1: I got a handmade wood cabinet with shelves and a door for $10.  The door's hinges were wonky, though.  I tried to fix it, but in the end just removed the door.  Now it's a nice shelving unit. The other thing I got was a pair of stackable shelving units ($15 for both).  They're not high enough to put books in, so I gave them to Hubs for the garage.  Woot. I also picked up a cute painting of birds and birdhouses.  The painting is on wood and it was only $1, so yay.  I had intended to buy this neat kitchen island thing, but in the end, I didn't think it would fit in my car.  

Once the shelving unit was cleaned and polished, I put it in the living room and shifted books onto it from the full office shelves.  Then I shifted books around in the office.  I have room on my shelves again!  It was getting pretty close to me needing to thin my library out, so yay.  (I hate thinning my library.)  

On the upside, it seems like the family drama is finally actually over and all is well again, so we can get back to using our brains for something other than that.  Woot.  I actually have been feeling like I need to write, so maybe next week you'll get to see something about that.  I'm not promising anything, though.

Anyway, that's it for me.  Have a great day wherever you are.  :hugs: