Thursday, May 31, 2018

Thursday This n That - The Plant Edition

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?  Well, I ain't Mary, but my gardens are growing pretty good this year.  I got my first lily blossom.  It's pink!  One of my new columbines bloomed - it's white.  My hollyhocks have buds aplenty. No clue what color they'll be.  That's the fun thing about buying mixed bags of bulbs.  You never know what you're going to get.  (Yeah, Forrest Gump moment there.)   My original hydrangea is covered in big conical poofs of white flowers - which will turn pink.  My new pink hydrangea shipped yesterday.  (Still waiting on the 'kaleidoscope' version.)

Our black walnut trees are full of little green balls.  I just heard one drop off, hit the roof, and roll down.  Looks like it might be another autumn where we'll be breaking out the golf clubs and knocking nuts into the woods. 

The black cherry trees are filled with even smaller green balls that will turn red and then black. Black cherry trees produce little pea-sized cherries that are mostly pit.  They are not the black cherries you get in black cherry ice cream.  I think those are actually Bing cherries.  These are used in medicines and for flavoring, I think.  I tried one.  Meh.  But the critters like them.  And the trees are HUGE.  Definitely not cute, little, cultivated things.  Here's a link to the Wikipedia page on those suckers, if you're interested.

Reading that Wikipedia page just now, I learned that black cherry pits can be used to create cyanide.  Hmm. 

I think I planted my new sedums in the wrong place.  I forgot to allow for the peonies, so those poor sedums are mostly in the shade now.  I'll move them later.  Probably to the place I put in the ornamental grass because that stuff is not doing well.  I planted five and they all look dead or near dead.  :shrug:  You win some and you lose some.  I get a little sad when something I plant doesn't thrive.  I'm probably batting about 750, though, so it's all good. 

We've been playing with the idea of building a brick retaining wall at the back of the flower bed under the cedars.  There's such a slope there that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep that bed flat.  I build it up, it rains and washes the build-up down the hill.  My local building supply place even has bricks on sale this month.  Now I have to measure the area and figure out how many I need and what kind.  Then figure out how to transport all those bricks.  Looks like a job for Hubs' Jeepster.

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

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The Mondayest Tuesday of the Year

Okay, maybe the Tuesday after Labor Day ties for the Mondayest, but it's the same principle.  Today is Tuesday, but it feels so much like a Monday one could weep.

And you know damn well that we'll be spending today thinking it's Monday and then 'D'oh! It's Tuesday'.  All day.

Now, this seriously should not matter to writers.  Because as we all know, writers work 7 days a week.  Even when we're not working, we're still working.  Maybe there's an idea that pops up in our heads when we're supposed to be relaxing on a Sunday afternoon.  Maybe there's marketing that needs to be done at 5am or 10pm or noon on Christmas Day.  Days off don't matter because we don't actually have days off.

Still, this is a day that continually, year after year, screws me up.  I'll be off all week.  And I have a hard enough time telling what day it is anyway.  Sheesh.

And because I also have an other work, it's time to open the Outlook and get ready to hit Monday... err, Tuesday... running. 

Plus, I have errands to run, so I have to get my buns in gear at some point this morning.

But first... more coffee and another cigarette or two.

What's on your agenda for the Mondayest Tuesday of the Year?  How do you cope with this screwed up day?

Monday, May 28, 2018

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day here in the states.  I've been seeing a lot of talk this weekend about the meaning of Memorial Day that goes something like this:

Armed Forces Day is for active military.
Veteran's Day is for previous military.
Memorial Day is for service members who've passed on during active service.

And I get it.  Each group deserves their own day and never the twain shall meet.  Except...

My father didn't die during active service and I'm still going to remember him on Memorial Day.  I'm still going to thank my husband and my brothers for their service on this day.  Because what's the harm in it?  And don't all of our military - past and present - deserve to remembered and thanked 365 days of the year, not just any particular government-mandated day?

And I think don't think remembering them all today takes anything away from the men and women who lost their lives defending our country.  I'm remembering them, too.  Always.


Sooo....

Thank you to all members of the Armed Forces, past and present, and most especially to those who've given the ultimate in defense of their values and mine.  We have them to thank for our freedom.  And I, for one, am incredibly grateful.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Sunday Update - Week 21

Okay, so between the extra coffee in my coffee and the early external interaction, I'm more awake than usual when I write the Sunday Update.  Let's see if that helps...

Writing:  I got the 2nd round notes finished for Sleeping Ugly.  Only 8 pages worth this time.  Then I took Friday off.  I meant to work my ass off on Saturday, but I started a book Friday afternoon that sucked me in and made me not want to do anything else.  I finished that and got to work last night.  Almost two pages worth of notes are tackled.  Yay. 

Reading:  The book that sucked me in was A Grave Mistake by Alexander Tarler.  So totally different from any other zombie story, which is why I bought it.  (I don't usually get into zombie fiction, but the premise was worth the chance.)  It reads more like a fun fantasy novel and the necromancer and his zombies are the heroes of the piece.  So cool.  It took me about 24 hours to read.  (Not all of them, but throughout the course of one evening and the next day.)  I didn't read anything else because I was focusing on getting the editing done. 

As for the early external interaction, I had a PM from the author of above novel waiting for me when I woke up this morning.  My first thought was 'ut-oh, I wonder what I said that would make him PM me'.  My second thought was 'I'm going to need more coffee before I reply'.  After I got the more coffee, I read what he wrote and replied.  It was all good.  He seems like a cool guy.  A young writer.  And he said my review and my comments helped him, so it's all good.  I hope he does well. 

Gardening:  My anemone bulbs came in.  They looked like rocks.  They might be dead, I think.  I planted them anyway.  If they don't come in, someone is getting a terse letter, lemme tell ya.  I also did some more weeding, because weeds don't stay weeded.  On an up note, my roses are still blooming like crazy and so's the hydrangea.  Plus, my hollyhocks have buds for the first time.  Yay!

Exercising:  Did 6 out of 7 days again of active stuff.  Only 4 were actual exercising.  The rest were cleaning or gardening.  No weight lost last week, but I'm holding steady considering how naughty I was with my eating habits.  Going back for seconds, even when the food is healthier, is a bad idea.  But the cheesy salsa chicken was so yummy, I couldn't help myself. 

Cheesy Salsa Chicken

1 whole chicken breast
mild think-n-chunky salsa
colby-jack shredded cheese

Place breast in baking pan.  Cover with salsa.  Sprinkle cheese over it all.  Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until juices run clear.  (Which is kind of hard to see with the salsa all over it.  You kind of have to take it out and cut it in half and make sure the meat is white all the way through.)  Cut in half and serve.  (Hubs didn't eat all of his half, so there was my second helping.)  I served it with Uncle Ben's Ready Rice - Pinto Beans and Rice variety.  So yummy.

Okay, there's probably more, but I'm tired of being social and I have stuff to do this morning.  Ta-ta for now.

How was your week?

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Thursday This n That

My ad comes out today and the waiting is kinda killin' me.

We've been updating the drainage system here.  We live on a hill, you see, and so when it rains, the water comes straight down the hill toward our house.  Which means we realized the first month we were here that we needed some kind of drainage system.  And what we created works for the most part.  Except that ditch I created next to the driveway.  I mean, it works, but it's eroding .  Soooo...  We've come up with an idea to line the ditch with larger rocks.  Lord knows we have enough rocks around here.  It's about 60% done now and yesterday's gullywasher proved that it works.  The fast moving water was slowed down by the rocks.  Yay.  Now to finish it.  Hubs has been a champ, filling the wheelbarrow with rocks from the downslope, rolling it back uphill, and adding them to the ditch.  He's awesome.

I haven't exercised since Monday and I'm feeling like a toad.  I did some gardening yesterday - enough to break a sweat - but not really a lot.  I'll rectify that later this morning and do my exercises.

I looked out the window just now and saw 4 deer and 3 turkeys.  I told Hubs "Your entourage is here."  He's feeding them now.

I need to bake something, so Hubs has treats.  I have the ingredients for cake cookie bars.  I just need to get off my butt and make them.  

Raspberry sherbet with chocolate ice cream is yummy.  And I found this 'choco-politan' ice cream at Wallyworld.  It's like Neapolitan, but with three strips of different chocolate instead of the usual brown/white/pink. This is dark/white/milk chocolates.  Yum.

The more I exercise, the more I can eat treats without gaining weight.  Funny how that works.  I mean, not A LOT of treats or it defeats the purpose, but still.

Ugh, I need to vacuum.

What's on your this n that list today?



Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Randomosity

My posts this week are like a box of chocolates...  Sorry, slipped into Gumpian mode. 

Anyway... Wish in One Hand is on sale starting today.  99c here in the US.  .99p in the UK.  Sorry if you're elsewhere, but Amazon doesn't allow me to have Kindle Countdowns in other countries.  It'd be cool if they did, but I don't have that kind of decision-making power at the big A.

By the way, if you've accidentally purchased a box of chocolates without a map to tell you what's in each one, you can poke a hole in the bottom of each one to tell which ones are the best without anyone knowing they've been examined.  ;o)

Unless they're hard caramels.  Those suckers don't allow for poking.  Too hard.  Which is why I don't eat them.  Plus, they stick in my teeth.  I hate that.

My eyes are gritty and gluey this morning.  Too much time on the Kindle, I expect.  But it's because I'm using it to edit.  Read on the Kindle, make notes in the big notebook.

We got a hailstorm the other day.  Beat the living hell out of my peonies.  =o(

I pronounce PEONY pee-a-knee.  Yesterday, I ran into someone who pronounced it pee-O-knee.  Hmm.  Might be a Missouri thing.

We watched Best Baker in America last night and for the initial challenge, the chefs had to make strawberry shortcake.  They all had to make them using some kind of biscuit.  Ew.  In my world, we mean it when we say shortCAKE.  It's best with pound cake or hot milk sponge cake.  I had it with biscuits once.  It was gross.  Might've been the chick who made it, though.  She was evil and her strawberries had no sugar.  Blech.


Okay, that's quite enough out of me.  Feel free to spread news of the sale around, if you're so inclined. 

See ya in the funny papers.



Sunday, May 20, 2018

Sunday Update - Week 20

Good morning.  The coffee is strong here today by necessity.  Grab a cup.

Another week of not much going on in the writing/editing sphere.  I finished round 1 of the edits on Sleeping Ugly.  As I lay in bed last night trying to sleep and failing miserably, I started writing SU#2 in my head.  Desperate for sleep, I did not get up and write any of it down.  Needless to say, I lost all that between then and this morning.  SU is sitting my Kindle waiting for me to get back to work on it, which I will do today.  I have 11 days, but I will have it ready for the editor on June 1st.

I read four books last week.  A crime novel (Deadly Welcome by John D. MacDonald), a fun mystery (Hitwoman in a Pickle by JB Lynn), a fantasy (Dragon's Child by DJ Salisbury), and a romance (Where There's Smoke... by Laura Abbot).  Which puts me only 6 books behind on my Goodreads goal. 

On the get-healthy front, I did something active 6 out of 7 days (took my birthday off) and lost about another half pound.  Bringing me to 3.2lbs lost since I bought the new scale during week 16.  So, about a month.  If you're keeping track - which you probably aren't - that leaves me at 191.2 as of yesterday morning.

Other than buying a cheesecake sampler for my birthday, I ate pretty healthy, too.  Fish or lean meats and salads and fresh fruit at mealtimes.  Nuts and prunes and dark chocolate or baked chips and crackers for snacks.

For my birthday, I had a choice to either go fishing or go shopping.  Since it was hot and sunny, I went shopping.  Bought stuff for my birthday dinner and dessert.  Picked up eight books at St. Vinny's.  Made it home without stopping at KFC.  It was a good day.  But I was so hot and tired by dinner time, I bypassed dinner and had cheesecake instead.  Hubs made himself something or other.  It's all good.

The trout for our anniversary dinner turned out amazeballs. 

I also went fishing once last week.  You can read about that here, if you want to.

That's about it for me.  How was your Week 20?

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Saturday Fishing Report - 5/19/18

Hello!  I know I haven't done one of these in a while.  It's been a slow fishing year for me so far.  And the rest of the year ain't lookin' all that great either.  I'll fish when I can and report when I think I have anything interesting to say.

I only went out once last week.  It was a cloudy afternoon when Hubs and I decided we both had cabin fever and needed to get the hell out of the house.  We went to the recently opened park and had the whole place to ourselves.  I decided to fish the cove by the boat ramp.  And I was getting a lot of hits. 

One interesting thing is that something kept taking my worm and not taking it down, per se, but moving it to one side before releasing it.  I'd heard about this behavior.  It's a fish removing annoyances from where it's bedding.  Supposedly, you have to be really on your game to catch a fish right then because they're technically not eating it. 

I was not on my game, but I did get a fish to finally hit it like normal and I reeled in a 13" smallmouth.  Then the bite dried up and the sun came out.

We moved west to follow the clouds and ended up at my go-to spot.  The sun came out there, too.  And I got fried because I was too lazy to put on sunscreen.  I also caught a 6" bluegill.  And learned where they get their names - because this one had strikingly brilliant blue lining its gills. So cool.  I'd never actually seen that before.  Gotta love spawning.

Hubs didn't catch anything, but it was his first time out this year, so just being at the lake was enough for him.  All in all it was a nice afternoon. 

If you get a chance, go outside sometime this week and enjoy whatever's left of Spring. 

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Thursday This n That

I just did one of those 'list challenge' thingies.  This one was supposedly all the books that have ever been on the AP English test.  I'd read 35 out of 350+.  A lot of the books on there I'd never even heard of.  As I expected, there were few I hadn't read that I'd want to.  Bleh. 

Today is our anniversary.  14 years and still going strong.  Marrying Hubs was the best decision I ever made.

I'm making trout for dinner.  They just happened to have some at the Wallyworld, so I thought 'why not?'

After several days of hot hot hot, yesterday we had a break in the temps.  I had to actually put on pants for our walk.  (Instead of shorts, silly.)  And because it was cool, we ended up walking about a mile and a half round trip.  Which was awesome. 

Anybody else watching Long Lost Family?  There was one the other night where the adoptive mom told the gal that she'd been put up for adoption because her birth mom had a new boyfriend who didn't want to be burdened with another man's child - which totally wasn't true.  But even if it was, what kind of monster would tell that to their child, adopted or not?  Made me want to poke that lady in the eye.  Gah. 

Yes, I am constantly amazed by the stupid, ignorant, cruel things people do.  I shouldn't be amazed, but I must hold out some kind of secret hope that men can be better than they are.  (Men as a general term referring to humans regardless of gender.)

It's kind of sick that I have to put in qualifiers like the above.  But there's a lot of weird in the world right now.  :eyeroll:

On a happier note, my birthday is tomorrow.  I'll be four dozen.  (I've been saying it that way because it amuses me.)  I was telling a friend of mine that and said 'four decades' by mistake and she corrected me to five decades.  Umm, not quite.  LOL.  Then we talked Chinese New Year and how this was the year of the Dog and how me being a female born in the year of the dog made me a...  She stopped and thought about it for a second and then burst out laughing.  I've been using that schtick for years and it works every time.  And that's why I don't let it bother me if someone calls me a bitch, because technically, I am one.  :cheesy grin:

Have an awesome day out there folks.  Don't let the stupid and the ignorant, the cruel or the thoughtless, bother you today.  Or any other day, for that matter.  =o)

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Riding the High

Yesterday my ad was accepted by Ereader News Today.  And I was squeeing like I'd won the lottery.  I even posted to FB with a snoopy sticker of him doing a happy dance, I was so excited.  Suddenly everything was brighter and the world had a happier outlook.  Over one ad.

And I told Hubs later that it was silly to be so inordinately happy over one stupid $40 ad.  But I was. 

I mean, let's put this into perspective a little.

Getting an ad with any of the big venues is incredibly difficult.  I had an ad with ENT back in May of 2015.  It was the best sales month I have had since I started this 3 years ago.  Hell, 2015 was the best sales year I've had.  I got another ad with them a couple months later and that did almost as well.  Then I couldn't get an ad with them to save my ass. At one point, I gave up.  Why keep submitting ads with them only to get shot down every time?

And then I got over it and began trying again.  I requested an ad earlier this year.  Oh, they shot that down, too, but I tried again.  This time it worked. 

Which, like I said, suddenly made everything better.  I suddenly became like a bipolar, swinging on the happy side.  I was laughing and smiling and filled with the hope of better things to come.  Hell, even dinner turned out awesome - with the salmon cooked to perfection and the sweet potato chips full of salty-sweet goodness. 

Kind of sick when you think about it.  One $40 ad.  They're like freakin' drugs, those ads.  Once you get the high of an awesome sales day, you're forever chasing it.  And it gets really depressing when you can't have it.  Yep, when they reject your ad, it's like they're denying you the drug and you're totally jones'n. 

So, I'll be running an ad with ENT on May 24th.  Wish in One Hand will be on sale for 99c/.99p from the 22nd thru the 29th.  I'll probably put some more ads out for that, too.  Smaller ads with like Author Billboard and PUFB.  We'll see what happens.  The hopes are that people will snag WIOH and then get the other genie books, too.  :fingers crossed:

For now, though, I'm trying to ride the high of getting the ad and I'll worry about whether it pays for itself later this month.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Sunday Update - Week 19 (I Think)

May, glorious May, wonderful May... 

Okay, so you may have seen where I finished reading through Sleeping Ugly and was stuck at a crossroads as to what to do now.  I'm still working on the plan, but what will probably happen is I will send Sleeping Ugly off to the editor on June 1st and then write like a madwoman for the month of June on the next book, tentatively called either Ugly and the Beast or Cinder Ugly, so that I can have it ready to send to the editor in August when she finishes the edits for SU.

As you can see, I did some brainstorming this week and that's what I came up with.  I still have no idea what the next book will be about, but I did write the first paragraph in my handy dandy notebook.  So I got that going for me.

I finished the read-through, note-taking thing for SU and started to input edits.  If I keep my head down and work, I can do this.

Other than that, I did some reading.  I finished a book I can't review yet, so I'm not going to talk about that until next week (after it releases).  I also read a book I picked up on a whim that was loads of fun and a checkmark in my 'new-to-me, underappreciated author' goal.  Yesterday, I started a John D. MacDonald crime novel.  It's really good so far. 

And I did a boatload of weeding and gardening this week.  Well, it was kind of more prep than actual gardening.  I pulled my dead/dying azaleas and then dug up those two beds in anticipation of the arrival of my new hydrangeas.  Let me tell ya, there were a lot of rocks in those beds.  I don't remember there being that many rocks when I transplanted the azaleas there five years ago.  I pulled all the big rocks out and left them in a pile because I have a plan for them.  Which I'm supposed to start today but I'm so darned sore I may put that off 'til tomorrow.

I also went fishing once.  Caught about a half dozen little bluegills.  It was fun, but it don't put fish in the freezer.  Ya know?

Other work was light last week.  Only one spreadsheet and some computer support stuff.  Which is why I had so much time for gardening.

Thanks to the gardening and its general workout, I lost another half a pound.  And I got active 6/7 days last week.

Oh, and Happy Mothers' Day to all them what has kids.  I don't expect anything celebratory will happen today.  The Kid might call.  I'll call my mom.  Hubs will call his mom. 

This coming week holds both my birthday and our anniversary.  Hubs wanted to bake me a birthday cake, but I told him not to.  I've been doing so well on my 'get healthier' thing, I don't want a cake to ruin it.  Which it would.  I'll probably make an applesauce-walnut coffee cake instead, which is chock full of health and goodness.  If the heat lets up enough to make me want to turn on the oven, that is. 

Ugh, what is it with the early heatwave crap this year?  We went from having the furnace on to having the AC on.  So much for the two weeks of low electric bills we usually get this time of year.  Bleh.

Okay, I think that's it for me.  What've you been up to?

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Thursday This n That

This this n that is all about my whole getting healthier thing.  Consider yourself warned.

I can make it through the Walmart without weeping over pizza and fried chicken now.

KFC sent us a coupon book.  Dirty bastards.  Hubs kept it on the table for a few days and then finally chucked it so we wouldn't be tempted anymore.  All I can say is thank goodness the KFC is 30 minutes away or I would've fallen for their rotten trick.

When I first started doing the exercise thing, I could easily get to my target heart rate.  Now, I exercise for a half a freakin hour and my heart's all like 'bring it'.  Too bad my legs can't push as hard as that.  Half an hour and my legs are whimpering.

My exercise thing is dance/exercise/dance.  I started out with 5 minutes of each.  Now I'm up to about 10 minutes each.  And about 20 reps on the exercises I'm doing, plus I added some exercises I wasn't doing at first because I couldn't do them.  I use 2 lb weights on the arms and no weight on the legs, because frankly, the legs carry enough weight on their own.  Da dump bump.

As for the diet thing - diet as in what I eat, not a set of guidelines I am forcing myself to strictly stick to - it's going well.  Like I said, I hardly miss the really yummy foods now.  Still eating ice cream, though.  And the occasional Hot Pocket or mini-pizza.  Hubs has cut those out entirely. I'm not that strong.  But we are eating loads of fruits and salads.  Rivers of fish.  Chicken.  93% lean burger and lean cut steak.  And smaller portions.  I'm down about 2 pounds since I bought the new scale and sent myself into a conniption.  (For the record, the 189 I said I was before was actually 197 because my old scale was off by 8 pounds.  So, from whenever that was, I'm down 5 pounds.  Let's not even talk about the dark days when the old scale said 195. :shudder:) 


Anyway, this is my journey.  Not sure if any of the same tactics would work for any of you, but you're welcome to try.  Increase activity, decrease unhealthy foods.  Sounds easy, and it does get easier after a while, but it takes time and commitment.  :shrug:  It's lasted a few months now, so maybe this'll stick.  Lord knows nothing else has.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Data Collection... Or Lack Thereof

First off, let me warn you ahead of time.  I didn't sleep well, I woke up too damn early, and I haven't had nearly enough coffee to be a courteous human being.   If you're down with that, please proceed.

I keep seeing and hearing about Europe's new data collection (supposed protection) law.  I'm unmotivated to do a goddamn thing about it.  It's Europe for petesakes.  They're on the rapid slide to a police state.  I'm here in the US, I never plan on visiting the EU, and I don't do police states, so they can kinda kiss my lily white cheeks, if you catch my drift.

However, since Blogger and the rest of the collective care and I use their services, I guess I should probably give a great goddamn about it.  I'll be researching it later when my brain is more fully engaged to see if and how this effects me.

But here's my less-than-informed answer to it all.  I don't collect data on my blog visitors or my newsletter subscribers.  Blogger collects data, which I rarely bother to look at.  And my newsletter service collects data, which I also don't bother to look at.  Sometimes I might see a jump in visitors to the blog and wonder why and then go to Stats and see where all the hits are coming from.  It's usually Eastern Europe.  Not sure what they're looking at over there and I don't really care other than in a purely curious way.  Like 'hey cool, someone from Lithuania has read my blog'. 

My general blog visits average around 35 people a post.  Sometimes it jumps to over a hundred.  Woohoo.  I'm burning up the internet there.  I have about a dozen newsletter subscribers who haven't seen a newsletter from me since sometime last year.  (Sorry about that, guys, but newsletters are a pain in the butt and since almost all of you stop here, too, I'm just repeating myself there.)

So, let's say I don't jump through all of the EU's hoops to adhere to their silly law.  What's the worst that could happen?  They find me guilty of something over there and request extradition from the US so they can punish me for doing something I don't actually do?  I'm almost at a point in my life where I'm ready to say "Bring it".  So much has gone wonky and stupid in this world, I'm about ready to take my chances.  I think if it weren't for the fact that I'm married and my actions might bring about ramifications for my husband, I'd tell them all to take their GDPR or whatever it's called and shove it where the sun don't shine. 

Ahem...

Anyway, right about now - since the law takes effect on the 25th - you'll be seeing people asking for you to resubscribe to their newsletters so they can make absolutely certain they're adhering to the law.  I'm ignoring those, too.  I don't actually read 90% of the newsletters I'm signed up for, so I probably won't notice if they stop arriving.  If you've signed up for a newsletter and you get it and you decide you don't want to get it, you can always unsubscribe.  It's not that hard.  If you stop at a blog, this or any other, and you're worried about having your data collected, don't visit there anymore. 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know your data isn't being collected by me for any purpose.  And if Blogger is worried about it, they can certainly stop collecting data on my behalf.  No skin off my ass. 

And as I said before, I haven't researched this and I'm grumpy, so if I've said anything above that is incorrect or whatever, deal with it.  I'm off to find more coffee before my head implodes.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Sunday Update - Week ???

I'm not sure what week it is and I'm too lazy to go look.  It was a week, the first one of May.  So there.  =op

I made a little more progress on Sleeping Ugly, but not much.  As I've said before, it will get done by the deadline, but I'm guessing RIGHT before the deadline.

Once again, I'm in a reading slump.  It's not that I have nothing to read or that none of it would interest me.  I even have a pre-release of the 18th book in a series I've been following for years.  I'm just in a spot where reading itself isn't blowing my skirt up.  Or like the gal at the feed store said, "I'd read more, but it's too lovely outside."  Maybe that's it.  Maybe it's that I have too much to do outside to be inside reading.  :shrug:  This, too, shall pass.

And I'm still not fishing.

What exactly am I doing?  Hell if I know.  I did a bunch of gardening stuff.  I've been exercising.  There's been some spreadsheet stuff.  Shopping.  Cleaning.  I did the windows last week.  And some dusting.

Oh, yeah, and last week was the well thing.  The well pump went kerplooey.  But they got it fixed quick so we were only without water for 24 hours.  Of course, then the well had to be chlorinated, so we had a few more days on bottled water until the bleach was washed out of the system. But it's all good now.

Spring is in full swing here.  The trees are no longer naked.  The flowers are blooming or getting ready to bloom.  Hubs has already mowed the yard twice and done the first bug-spraying of the year.  The birds are stopping by on their migratory route.  The bucks' antlers are growing and so are the does' bellies.  Life is good.

How are things where you are?

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Thursday This n That

It's May!  My favorite month of the year.  The month of emeralds and Lily of the Valley.  My birth month.  The month when Spring is at its best.  (Well, except for the storms.  I can do without those.)

Speaking of storms, last night's missed us entirely.  We didn't even get the wind they were predicting.  Now let's see if the storms due later this morning will be a hit or miss.

Yesterday, we had a female cardinal go mental on us.  She kept flying up and hitting this one window in the sun room.  Flap, flap, thump.  Flap, flap, flap, land in the tree.  Over and over.  Then she'd take a break and sing.  Who knew female cardinals sing?  :shrug:  She was still doing it as the sun set.  I hope she doesn't come back this morning.  It's disconcerting watching her thunk into the windows.  I did try scaring her off.  As soon as I left the room, she came back.  Oh, gads, I just heard her.  =oO

The batteries arrived for my camera!  I am back in business, baby.  So I walked around and took pictures of the flowers in the yard.  Here's the iris bed:
I told ya they were going crazy this year.  Here's another bed:
The irises by the rock up near the road aren't blooming yet, but I'll get pics of those, too.  I'm hoping some of the blue irises bloom this year. 

In that last pic, you can see my pathetic azaleas.  They're mostly dead.  =o(

When I got the new battery in my camera, I discovered I had pictures from December and January on it.  Here's Half-Rack the Deer from December.
Poor dude went along with only one side of his antler rack way before the other bucks started dropping antlers. 

Did I mention how much I missed my camera?  I'm so happy it was just a battery problem.  It's 8 years old, so I'm seriously surprised the battery lasted that long and that nothing else went kerplooey.  I got it and a new computer for my 40th birthday.  The computer went wonky first.  Nikon makes an awesome camera.  Unfortunately, they discontinued this model.  I went looking for a replacement camera, just in case it wasn't the battery and I can't find an exact replacement anymore.  :sad:  Thank goodness I don't need to replace it!

I think that's enough rambling from me this morning.  You got anything to ramble about?





Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Stuffs

Since I can't seem to hold a cogent thought for long this morning, here's some random stuffs...

Whoever's beating me with a stick in my sleep needs to stop.  (Not seriously.  No one is beating me with a stick.  It's just feels like someone has beaten me with a stick when I wake up.)

My camera battery died.  It actually, eventually, said 'Battery is Exhausted'.  Well, ain't we all?  (The new batteries will be here tomorrow, so no worries.)

Something is wrong with the neighborhood well.  It went out yesterday afternoon.  El Presidente of the Water Association is on it and the well people will be here this morning, but right now, it's a pain in the buns.  Luckily, we're prepared people and have jugs of water stored for just such an emergency.  Bottled water for drinking and coffee, etc.  Huge amounts of water stored in old kitty litter containers for flushing toilets.  Also, through luck and foresight, El Presidente has made sure there's enough in the water association fund to dig a whole new damn well if need be.  Hopefully, it's just something minor.  We'll make it through.  And, if worse comes to worst, the park opens today and they have showers over there if you're a paying camper.  So, for like $16 a day, we can wash ourselves if need be.  (Hubs is El Presidente.  Which is why I'm not worried.  It might take a few days, but it'll be fixed.)   

Had to take q-tips to my computer's fan vent.  So much dust was clogging it, it was starting to make funny noises.  And the only things that'll reach are cotton swabs.  (You know, in case yours needs cleaning, too.  Or am I the only one who still has a desktop computer these days?)

Things generally go wrong in threes, so I'm hoping the computer thing was an 'almost went wrong' and I've avoided the third thing.  If not, another thing is on its way.  (Yes, I am a bit superstitious, why do you ask?)

Anyway, I hope y'all have a lovely day.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, k?  (You know, if you're into that stuff.  :wink:)