Sunday Update - 2026 Week 33?

 I think it was week 33, but what do I know?  Anyway...

Last week was not the best week by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn't my worst week, so what the hell am I bitching about?

I only wrote 1629 words last week.  Again, better than nothing.  Things happened.  I fell down a blackhole of not feeling good about myself.  And, as you can see from the last sentence, I'm having word-finding difficulties, which makes writing not good.  Also, I got it in my head that a couple of characters need name changes, and I got stuck on that hamster wheel.  (It's still spinning like the hamster is mainlining Red Bull.)

Marketing was depressing.  I moved 12 copies of SSS.  I did wake up this morning to two overnight sales - DE and WIOH - but that only gets me 70c profit.  "I'm rich! I'm rich! I'm a wealthy miser!"  But seriously... Not sure what I'm going to do for the coming week.  Something.  Nothing?  :shrug:

I thought about reading this week, but right now, I'm afraid if I pick up a book to read, I'll be less likely to want to write.

As for activity, I watered the plants 3 times, exercised twice, and spent some time reorganizing the spare room.  Let's not talk about weight.  I'm fat.  It's affecting my joints which lessens my gumption to exercise, which makes me hurt more, which makes me... It's a vicious cycle.  The short invective is I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT.  :mumbles:lazyfatfuckgetoffyourass

Speaking of being fat, baking happened.  I did a batch of OCC cookies, but being lazy, I turned them into bar cookies.  They turned out okay.  Then Friday, I made pizza.  Also last week, I did a vat of BBQ pulled pork that turned out pretty yummy.

In case you missed it, Lumpy died.  Hubs found her under the sunporch first thing in the morning, so we assume she died in her sleep overnight.  He moved her body into the woods using our firewood sled, so nature could run its course.  Nature is, of course, a bitch.  Trying to keep a more positive perspective, Lumpy's genes now run through the majority of this herd, which strengthens it and makes it better.  In this way, Lumpy will live forever.  Her daughter, Sissy, is now one of the leaders of the herd, and Sissy's twin, Sonny, is one of the leading bucks.  Sissy's son, Scout, is the new buck on the scene, and will be breeding next year along with his wingman, and probable cousin, Ranger.

In garden news, I had moved some plants out of the greenhouse and the garage to give them more sun and fresher air.  They were doing fine.  Then something started eating my redbud trees and digging in my carrots.  I put the trailcam out, and it was a fucking squirrel.  The redbuds are back in the garage.

The rest of the garden is okay.  It's been too hot for flowering or fruiting, but there's hope that once the temps drop, I'll start seeing peppers and tomatoes.  The heat killed my last potato, though.  And, like I implied, the carrots are pretty much toast.  Here's hoping next year will be better.

Okay, I think that's it.  Life is life, and all that rot.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  I'll try to be more betterer this week so you have something positive next Sunday.

Saturday Trail Cam Snaps

 First off, I did not have the trail cam out when something ate one of the redbud trees we planted yesterday.  It also wasn't out when the mama deer brought her brand new, teeny-tiny baby past the house this morning.  I swear, I'd need like 5-6 different cameras to catch everything.  

Anyway...

Here's another version of "Is that a camera?":

And here's a shot that's a bit blurry, but it gives an excellent view of a doe's pregnant belly:

This is Mr. Possum:

And Rocky Raccoon:

And a turkey:

Finally, here's the money shot I've been waiting for - a little fox!

Tune in next week to see if I catch any fawns on the Trail Cam!

Thursday This n That

 FB is screwing with me again.  I get maybe one... two posts before they slap me for 'spamming'.  Turds.  And there's a spot where you can complain, but it says right on the window that it doesn't do anything to change their minds.  It's just for training purposes or some such nonsense.  Blarg.  

I'm writing again, which is a good thing.  Unfortunately, writing again means wrist pain again, which isn't such a good thing.  Yay for Blue Emu.

The foxes seem to disappear when I put the trail cam up.  I only see them when it's not out there taking pictures.  Camera shy little buggers.

Pizza is awesome.

So's coffee.

The weather is pissing me off.  A couple days ago, it was so hot I couldn't stand myself.  This morning, I had to put on socks, sweats, and a sweater because I'm chilly.  Make up your damn mind, Mother Nature.

I saw a cute thing online yesterday.  Down in Texas, someone with a door cam got photos of an armadillo playing with their dog's tennis ball.  Cute!  Generally, armadillos are cute, if somewhat stupid.  They have baby armadillos at the wildlife rescue I follow on FB.  Again, cute!  Did you know that every member of each armadillo litter is genetically identical to its litter mates?  

Nature is awesome, too.

Of course, nature's also a bitch sometimes.  

And with that, it's time for me to go call Mom.  Have a great day everyone!  :hugs:

Sunday Update - 2026 Week Something or Other

First off, Happy Mother's Day to those who are moms or have moms.  My furbabies are unimpressed by the holiday, as is my human baby.  I'll call my own mom in a while.

Not much is going on in my little portion of the world.  I'm still stuck in what basically amounts to neutral.

The gardening is going okay.  I planted some more carrots this week and I fertilized everything using used coffee grounds.  One heaping spoonful per plant.  Then I watered everything.  One of my munched green peppers has itty-bitty leaves, so it's trying to live.  My black cherry and persimmon trees are showing signs of life.  Also, I picked more nettles to refresh my 'weed tea'.  In about 10 days, I'll use it to fertilize the plants again.  (I saw a video saying potted tomatoes need to be fertilized every ten days, so I'm going with that.)

If you missed yesterday's post, I set up my game camera and have started taking pics.  Except I messed with a setting somewhere and last night's trial was a bust.  No night pics at all.  Derp.  The worst thing about this camera so far is the lack of instructions.  And no, the company's website doesn't help.  At all.  Derp.  I'll fuss with it later.  Anyway, here's me feeding the deer this morning.  

Yes, I look fat and old.  No, I don't really care.  Like Popeye, I am what I am.

Early in the week, Hubs and I mowed the lawn.  I love the new mower.  It's so light and so easy to start.  Yay.  I got in some other activity this week, too, but not really anything specific.  I doubt any of it had any effect on my EWA.  Earlier in the week, I weighed myself, so... Weight: 177.8

We've been seeing foxes in the yard.  At first, I thought it was one fox, but over the past week, I've gotten better looks at them all.  From my estimation, we have three young foxes and one older fox.  Or rather, 3 that are about 2/3 size and one full size.  One of the little ones has a white patch on its side, another has a dark patch, and the third is uniform in its grizzled gray/red.  So yay.  I hope they stick around.  They're good for eating vermins.  I do hope they don't eat the baby raccoon.  Then again, I hope the coyotes don't eat them.  Nature's a bitch sometimes.

Other than that, not much going on around here.  I need to get off the net call my mom and wish her a Happy Mother's Day.  Later, Hubs will call his mom.  All is well.  Have a great day, wherever you are.  

Saturday Trail Cam Snaps

 I finally set up my trail cam yesterday.  I tried putting it a couple places, just as a test.  Here's from the morning:

It's not a super-quality photo, but it does what we need it to do, which is snap pics of critters.  There are a couple squirrels there, a bluejay, and a dove.

Here's one from the afternoon:

That's a pileated woodpecker hanging on the suet.  (The rest of that bunch of photos was pretty much Hubs going back and forth because he was cleaning the gutters... hence the ladder.)

And finally, here's a night shot.  This one was taken after we went to bed.

Baby Raccoon!  Yay!  I also got some primo shots of a neighbor driving home for the night, because between the light in the upper right corner and the tree where the raccoon sits is a road.

The camera itself isn't a top of the line model.  It only cost like $50, so I wasn't expecting super great things from it.  I'm pleased with the photo quality, which is the most important part.  It's not a wifi enabled model, so I have to actually plug the thing into my computer to download photos, and there are some hiccups with that.  Still I give it 4 stars.  Well worth the money.

=o)

Thursday This n That

 I forgot what day it is.

Tuesday, we voted in the municipal elections.  One measure on the ballot failed by one vote.  ONE vote.  Never let it be said that your vote doesn't matter.  It does.  If we hadn't voted, it would've changed the outcome.  (And we'd be paying more in property taxes this year, which we do not need.)

Why do people vote to raise their own property taxes???  I mean, yeah, I could see if it was something important, but this wasn't.  

Yesterday, there was a squirrel in the yard that was acting like it was having a stroke or something.  We didn't go anywhere near it, but we kept an eye on it from the window.  First, it was just laying there in the sun underneath the hickory tree.  The next time we looked it had moved into the shade.  The next time it was back in the sun.  Then Hubs saw it from his bathroom window and another squirrel had walked up on it and they were jumping around at each other, after which it went right back to laying under the tree.  A little while later, it was stumbling toward the water pans and got itself a drink.  Then it was right back under the tree - about a 15 foot distance - where it was digging with its front paw and then eating what looked like some kind of root.  After dinner, it had moved to the backyard and was again eating some kind of root.  By then, it was looking decidedly better.  I wonder if those roots have medicinal properties.  Anyway, the next time we looked, it was gone.  Either it got better and went away, or the fox got it during its dusk rounds through our yard.  Still, it was all very weird.  

What does one do for a messed-up squirrel?  I'd call a rehabber, if we had any anywhere near us.  The only good one I know of, though, is in OK and they can't take out of state animals.  Bummer.  I thought about going out there with a net and catching it, but then I'd be violating some wild animal ordinance or something.  Around here, the wildlife better get better on its own.  I just wish the critters would stop having medical dramas on my lawn.  If they're going to die, they need to do it in the woods and far enough away that I don't see it.

Okay, time for me to go take a walk... which is what I was getting ready to do when I realized I hadn't posted today.  Derp.  Have a great day, wherever you are.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 3

Who had Civil War II on their 2026 bingo card?  It's not north vs south this time.  It's law-abiding citizens vs law breakers.  Anyway...

I didn't do any writing this week and I did very little editing.  I think I got one page of notes which amounted to only 1% of the book.  Then my hand started to cramp and I set it aside for a while, which ended up being a longer while than I had intended. (Sno-pacalypse prep didn't help there.)

Marketing was done.  I moved 100 copies of EG and someone read the book in KU, so I have that going for me.

I'm about halfway through The Night Manager.  Maybe setting my goal at 35 books read for the year was wishful thinking.  

In baking news, I made a quick bread.  I started out to make that raisin-pecan bread and was about halfway through when I realized that the milk in the fridge had gone bad.  Since I wasn't inclined to hop in the car and drive to the DG at that time, I searched for a substitute.  I ended up settling on vanilla yogurt and water.  The loaf baked up nice and looked lovely.  It also tastes pretty good.  Cutting it was the problem.  I tried cutting it hot and it fell apart.  :shrug:  It cut fine after spending the night in the fridge, yay, so I sliced the whole loaf.  Now it only falls apart if we microwave it to warm it up.  And that's okay.  I may make it again with the yogurt and tweak it so it holds up better.  

On the activity front, I did an hour in the woods, throwing logs before the snow flew.  Yesterday, we shoveled snow.  I also did a double-load of grocery shopping, which was definitely exercise.  I haven't weighed myself - it's too cold to be naked in the bathroom right now.  My last weigh-in wasn't good, though.  Blerg.

Speaking of throwing logs, the newest pile I created ended up with a big empty spot at the bottom, next to a downed cedar.  I got the idea to make it a critter hidey-hole, so the last time I was in the woods, I reinforced that idea.  It has two openings and a windbreak, plus as many leaves as I could pack around it.  I hope the critters use it. I'd use it if I was a critter.  For his woods-work, Hubs moved the remainder of the wood he'd already cut, so it wouldn't be sitting there when the snow hit.

Speaking of snow, we shoveled about 2-3 inches off the driveway yesterday.  It was light, dry snow, so not that big a deal itself.  It was really COLD though, so that was a kicker to the proverbial nuts.  We weren't out there too long, but we accomplished what we set out to accomplish.  We'll see what daylight brings and how much more we'll have to do today.  The plan is to clear our driveway and, if necessary, get the driveway across the road.  Those folks are both in their 80s and he's not in the greatest of health, so we do what we have to.  That goodness I bought that new snow shovel last month.

This week, we also spent a lot of time getting ready for the winter storm, but I already talked about that.  I guess that means I'm done with the update.  Have a great week, wherever you are.  Stay warm.  Stay safe.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 21

 I missed last week, which messed me all up, but I'm pretty sure last week was week 21.  Anyway, here goes...

I did some writing.  Not much, so don't get yourself too excited.  Still, it was better than nothing.  I also did some marketing.  Woot.  

Loads of reading, but not many books finished to show for it.  Hey, I did remember to do a Reading Wrap-up yesterday, so go look at that.  I finished a book yesterday, but that'll be on this week's wrap-up.

Last Sunday, I made pizza.  Yesterday, I made pulled BBQ pork.  Woot.  Other than that, nothing exciting to speak of in the baking/cooking category.  I really need to get off my butt and make cookies for Hubs.  He's earned them.

On the activity front, I walked three times for 3.2 miles worth (20.10 YTD), I gardened some, and did a bit of cleaning.  Weight: 172.4, down 1.2 from last week, so whatever I'm doing is working.  Increase activity, decrease food intake.

Gardening... Well, I've been working on cleaning up the rock path in front of the front flower bed.  That's slow going.  Lots of shoveling to turn the rocks over and then bending to pick out the weeds, then smoothing it down and tamping it down.  Patch by patch, so it's still walkable between exertions.  (I can't do the whole path at once anymore.)  Week before last, I repotted a bunch of the little trees into bigger pots.  They seem happy.  My tomatoes are getting big.  I'm seeing some new growth on most of the little trees.  And yesterday, I planted green peppers seeds from the green peppers I used to make deconstructed stuff peppers.  If they grow, they grow.  If not, not much time or money wasted.  

Yesterday, we saw our first fawn of the year.  It was Lumpy's!  Yay!  Then later, when I went for my evening walk, I heard a fawn beeping and looked for it, and there it was with what had to be Sissy.  (She's so tame, it had to be her.)  Double yay.  They had to have been born within the last couple of days.  Aww.  Unfortunately, it's been raining.  And raining.  And raining.  I'm a little worried about those little babies.  They're so tiny. 

Also, we had a HUGE raccoon on our porch the other night.  That hasn't happened in a while.  And we had bobcats tussling in the backyard one night.  Spooky, but cool. 

Okay, I think that's it for me.  I'm sure other stuff happened.  (Like I turned 55 in there somewhere and we had an anniversary.  Oh, and I got TTW's print version approved and up for sale.)  I'll try to be better about posting this week.  I hope you have a happy rest of the weekend and a nice Memorial Day.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

 Mmm, coffee.

I started writing again yesterday.  A new book.  I know I know I know.... I have scads of unfinished manuscripts weeping from the neglect they've suffered, but when an idea strikes, it's best to just run with it.  Okay, maybe not best, but it's certainly easier.  I'm all about easy.  Anyway, I got about 1300 words down, so I've got that going for me.  We'll see what today brings.  And who knows, maybe I can cobble something I've already written into this.  That'd be good.

My baby tree project is going well.  Out of the scads of seeds I harvested last fall and planted either then or recently, I have 4 dogwoods.  Nothing else came up.  Live and learn for next fall.  On the other hand, I rescued a bunch of volunteer seedlings from around the outside - 4 cedars, 3 redbuds, and 2 oaks.  They're in pots now.  We'll see how they do.  I also have a boatload of volunteer elms that will either have to be dug up and replanted or pulled and thrown out.  They're not in optimal places to have a tree.  

Did you hear the news about the toddler who wandered away from his home in AZ only to be found by a dog 7 miles away?  Yay for the dog.  My suspicious mind wonders, though, how a 2 year old made it seven miles on foot.  Was he snatched and let go?  Was he dumped like a unwanted dog?  Sure, he could've just been a tot on a mission, but like I said, I'm suspicious.

Today, my bird-a-day calendar has a tern feeding its baby a tasty fish.

Earlier I heard a single yip out there in the darkness.  I'm guessing fox.  Coyotes have a tendency to move in a group and when one goes, they all go.  Foxes are more solitary.  On the other hand, neither of them are generally one yip kind of critters.  Since all I have is that one yip to go on, all I can do is guess.

They came and fixed my phone again.  This time, the tech called afterward and it was one I've worked with before.  He said to call him directly next time, and bypass the whole mess that is BS customer support.  And there will be a next time because they can't be bothered to replace what is constantly failing with stuff that actually works.  (He didn't say most of that - only to call him.  I don't want to get him in trouble.)  Anyway, he also said that part of the problem is because someone has been cutting their fiber optic cables.  Most likely they're looking for copper to steal and sell.  Morons.

I'm back to walking more regularly again.  The other night, I saw two rabbits chasing each other around and around.  Bunnies!  So cute.  I mean, they were adults, but still... BUNNIES!  And adult rabbits generally produce even cuter bunnies.  Yay.

No wonder bunnies are associated with Easter.  Spring = Easter. Spring = Rabbits.  Therefore, Easter = Rabbits.  It's simple math.  ;o)

Okay, that's it for me.  I need more coffee and I should probably think about doing something constructive.  Have a great day!

Sunday Update - 2025 Week 8

Woke up late, got distracted, and here we are...

I finished inputting the second round of edit notes this past week, and I started making the next batch of notes.  This batch is the one where I make notes and then go enter them, so I'm done with about 61 pages worth of manuscript now.  Woot.

Marketing this week was focused on Blink on an I.  I only moved 50 copies.  :sad trombone:  I don't have anything set for this coming week because the majority of my books are set to renew their 90 days in KDP on Tuesday.  The only book that isn't with the others is SSS and I'm not sure I'm up to another week of lackluster downloads.  I'll probably wait and hit the genies books starting in March.

Still no reading.

In baking/cooking news, I made some awesome soup that I've now decided to call Chicken Cheddar Chowder.  Say that three times fast.  With that, I whipped together some biscuits.  Yum.  And later in the week, I did Parmesan-crusted pork chops.  Mmm.

On the activity front, I cleaned the dishwasher.  (If you don't think that's an active thing, you try getting in there and scrubbing the inside of your dishwasher.)  I also went grocery shopping - also an active thing if you do it right.  And yesterday, I went into the woods.  Walking up and down the hill in melting snow with mushy ground underneath will certainly get you using muscles you didn't know you had.  I'm feeling it this morning, lemme tell ya.  No stepping on the scale this week, though.  It's too cold to get naked unless it's for a shower and I'm not showering first thing in the morning until the temps rise.  

Speaking of temps, this past week gave us here at Sanderson Inc. LLC a low point of MINUS 5.  (Which was about on par with my mom in Michigan, but way too cold for SW MO.)  We also got like 6 inches of snow.  On the upside, we're supposed to hit the upper 60s sometime this coming week, so most if not all of the snow will disappear.  The robins I saw this week will certainly appreciate that.

Oh, the reason I went into the woods was to see if I could locate tracks near the hole where I suspect some critter has taken up residence.  Well, if they have, they've been inside since the snow fell because I didn't find any tracks near there that I couldn't identify as deer.  Coming back up the hill, I did see fox tracks, though, so yay.

Well... I think that's about it.  Sorry I was late today.  Have a great rest of your day, wherever you are.

Sunday Update - Week 40

Wow.  40 weeks into 2022.  Twelve weeks from 2023.  :shrug:

No writing this week.  Unless you count writing the same verbiage over and over in an endless stream of emails.  Yes, I could copy and paste, but there are sufficient spots where I have to make the emails customer specific and I type fast enough, that no time would actually be saved.  

I didn't finish reading a single book this week.  I'm pretty close to getting that Heinlein thing finished.  Maybe today.

Also, I didn't really do any baking this week.  I did make a big vat of chili yesterday.  Just right for fall weather, I think.

Yesterday, Hubs and I took a 2 mile walk.  I actually don't feel too bad, considering it was the first walk we'd taken in two weeks.  It was a lovely day and we didn't push it.  I was feeling it on the way home, though.  Oof.  Getting up that last hill to the house was a bugger.  

I also did Wallyworld yesterday.  Big fun was had at the pavilion.  (Bonus points if you know the movie that was paraphrased from.)  A while back I discovered the Wallyworld versions of several Little Debbie snacks.  Way cheaper and super yummy.  Not like we actually need Nutty Buddies, Swiss Rolls, and chocolate cupcakes, but who cares?   

Earlier in the week, I was helping move a box through the office.  I was walking backward and bashed my left wrist on a door molding, then about ten feet further on bashed my right wrist on a door knob.  I'm not even sure why there's a door in that spot.  My wrists now look like I was being held hostage.  Fun times.  

Ooo, we have a fox!  We saw him Thursday night, Friday morning, and Saturday morning.  Cool.  He's beautiful with a big fluffy tail and a lovely coat.  (Confession, I don't know if it's a male and I'm not even sure it was the same fox all three times.  Wouldn't it be great if it was a fox family?)  The only issue with having a fox in the neighborhood is it drives the dogs nuts in the middle of the night.  Eh, I'll learn to sleep through the barking.

It's so dry here.  We haven't had any rain since the beginning of September.  They've teased that we would get rain, but it never happened.  Bastards.  The stock ponds in the area are either dry or in full algae bloom.  Hubs is done watering the gardens though.  What lives lives and what doesn't wasn't meant to be anyway.  We're still filling the water pans for the critters, though.  

The bird migration should be coming.  We're already starting to see some of the little birds - warblers and such.  I'm keeping an eye out for eagles.

And that's about it for me today.  How was your Week 40?

Thursday This n That

I woke up way too early.  Like 4:30 early.  Hubs was up before me, so at least there was coffee waiting for me.  Yay.

Last night, after dinner, I got a hankering and made cookies.  Big ass cookies with plenty of chocolate chips.  I took one while it was still hot and slid it into the bottom of a bowl.  Then I covered it with vanilla ice cream.  Then I drizzled caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over the top.  It was awesome.

By the way, I accidentally bought sugar-free chocolate syrup.  It doesn't taste bad, but it's super runny and it freezes weird on my ice cream.  :shrug:  I bought it, I'm going to eat it.

Every once in a while, one of the guys in the office brings in food his lovely girlfriend has made.  It's pretty awesome.  The smoked steak was to die for.  The beef and mushroom thing with loads of gravy was yummers.  (Not as creamy as stroganoff. Could've been bourguignon.  Dunno.  Duncare.)  Yesterday, he wandered through and offered me sushi.  Umm, nope.  It was probably most excellent sushi, but I don't do sushi.  I also don't do spicy, so the chicken enchilada dip was a big no.  Didn't even bother to try it because he said it was a little spicy, and his 'little spicy' probably would've burnt out my o-rings.

I'm down 13 pounds now.  The unfortunate aspect of this is that my clothes are starting to not fit.  I know I know, what gal doesn't like shopping for new clothes, right?  I love new clothes.  What I don't love is the expense of new clothes.  Anyway, I had to order a new bra.  The old ones still fit, but almost not.  I'm back down to a 38D.  Luckily, I had saved one of that size from the before times when I was thinner.  Playtex all the way, baby.  They're the only brand I could order online and be certain it would fit right.  In the back of the closet, I also have a 36D I bought in a weird fit of optimism back when I dropped from 194 to 180.  I'm 168 now and that one is still a long way from fitting.  

Like I said, my clothes are starting to not fit.  It's mostly a pants issue.  All my cool comfy work pants are falling down.  But I'm not quite to the next size down.  (I was an 18... who knew?  When all you wear is sweats and elastic waist bands, it's hard to tell.)  So, the 18s are sliding, but the 16s are still a bit too tight.  So, I'm alternating swimming in pants or strangling in them.  Might have to hit the thrift store this weekend and see what I can find that fits.  When you're losing weight, it doesn't make sense to pay full price for clothes.  

Wild Heart Ranch rescued a coyote.  The poor thing had the mange.  It was horrifying.  They got its skin all cleaned up and on the mend.  Then it was just pitiful.  Poor little bald thing.  Now its fur is starting to grow back and this morning I saw a picture of it where it's covered in all this lovely, golden-brown fuzz.  It still pretty shocking to see, but it's on the road to recovery and release.  Yay.

Okay, that's probably quite enough out of me.  Got anything on your this n that radar today?

Thursday This n That

Hubs found an auto mechanic that makes house calls.  

Paper towels are becoming scarce again.  

Speaking of paper towels, we have this dispenser at work that pulls sheets through a little hole in the bottom.  I swear you need a degree in physics to load the damn thing.  First, you need to rip the tube out of the center.  Then you need to pull the center towels such that they come out in a line so you can feed them through the little hole, but they don't want to come out in a line, they want to come out in a clump.  Ah, the little annoyances.  

Yesterday was a day of little annoyances.  And that's all I have to say about that.

FB is doing this thing where they're filling up my feed with 'suggested pages' instead of showing me the pages I actually chose to see.  Smart.  Not.

The other day, I saw this post about a police officer who rescued a puppy from some homeless people.  It was thin and had a horrible skin condition that looked like mange.  Poor ugly, little, bald puppy.  He took the puppy home and made it his family's puppy.  It wasn't mange.  It just had a bad flea allergy.  In no time, the puppy's skin is clearing up, the hair is growing again, and it's the happiest puppy ever.  It has its own FB page, so I'm following its progress.  Such a heartwarming thing to see.  They've named it Sir Charlemagne Buckington the Third.  Too fun.

I see a lot of things online about how horrible people are to drop their dogs off at a shelter and how if you get a dog, it's your dog for life.  But sometimes, giving a dog up is the best thing you can do for it.  When I left Michigan, I took both of my dogs to the Humane Society.  I was moving to Florida.  Aside from the fact that I would've had to drive 1000 miles with two big dogs (and my kid) in a little car, and the fact that I would never have been able to find an apartment that allowed two big dogs, I figured the heat would kill those dogs.  They were cold-loving dogs.  One was a malamute mix for petesakes.  Anyway, I did what I thought was right for all parties concerned.  It broke my heart, but I did it.

And now, I don't have any pets.  Not because I don't want a pet or seven, but because it wouldn't be fair to a pet to bring them into my life at this juncture.  Sure, there are tons of pets needing a loving home.  But pets need more than love.  They need loads of attention.  And they require a ton of money - food, toys, vet bills, etc.  If all I have is love to give them, but not the essentials, then maybe it isn't the time to have one.  Even if I know there are tons of them in shelters across the country.  Jus' sayin'.

Although, I keep thinking that a cat would be nice.  Hubs would have someone to keep him company while I'm at work.  I mean, he has the herd of deer, but he can't pet them and they definitely cannot come in the house.  LOL

One last thing... We have frogs hanging out in the front garden.  Frogs.  Leopard frogs.  In this heat and drought.  I was amazed.  You go near the front bed and they're hopping all over the place trying to escape.  So, I put a little flat pan of water out there on the ground for them.  And I filled the bird bath.  I put a rock in the center for perching and because I read that butterflies also enjoy a birdbath, as long as they have something to land on.  

That's me, kind to critters of all varieties.

What's on your mind today?

Thursday This n That

Yesterday, I was getting ready to copy a snippet of SSS to share on someone's blog and noticed a typo.  It's okay.  I fixed it in all iterations of the book and uploaded them all.  But seriously.... After all the times I went through this manuscript... :pulls out Harakiri knife:  

Is it still called Harakiri or is it Seppuku now?  Asking for a friend.

We voted on Tuesday.  Two different 'raise your taxes to pay for things we don't need' issues.  We, of course, voted no.  And both of them, of course, passed.  One raised the sales tax.  The other raised the property tax.  yay.  With most everything outside our control getting more expensive, I can't fathom why people would actively vote for a increase in expenditures we can control.  Derp.  There was also a school board member thing.  We didn't vote for anyone because we didn't think any of them had a clue.  The incumbents lost, so that says something about people around here recognizing something is wrong, but from what we read about the two who got in, it'll be more of the same.  I hope I'm wrong.

A 93c head of lettuce is now $1.78.

In happier news, my peonies are coming up.  Unfortunately, they seem to be the only plants that survived being out of the ground for an extended period of time.  Mums... columbine... lariopes... all appear to be dead.  :shrug:

Wait, I was supposed to be doing 'happier news' there.  Umm...  Elmer the elm tree is starting to make branches, so he's not just a stick with leaves anymore.  And the baby cedars - Cecil and Cedric - are coming along nicely.  

The deer are starting to show their pregnancies.  Yay, fawns!  

I've been following a wildlife rescue in Oklahoma - Wild Heart Ranch.  (If you don't do FB, here's their website.)  They're pretty awesome.  And they're fighting the good fight.  Helping animals that can't help themselves - hurt animals, orphaned animals - and then releasing them back into the wild.  They got a baby beaver in the other day.  It's black.  =oO  Definitely not your normal beaver color.  And they have this crow they raised and then released who is amazing.  She's a free crow, but she doesn't want to leave, and she even helps out around the place.  (When she's not stealing things and leaving them on the roof. LOL)

I actually did some writing last night.  It pretty much sucks, but I have permission to do that.  It'll all work out in the end.

And before I start down the unhappier road again, I'll let you go.  What's on your this n that radar today?

Thursday This n That

I swear to god whoever's sneaking into our house at night and beating us in our sleep needs to stop. (This is not really happening.  It just feels like it.)

I taught Hubs how to make cake cookies last night.  He had a sweet tooth thing going on and I told him to go make cookies.  I ended up doing most of the work (which is not much work anyway), but now he knows how for future reference.  (Considering the fact that I am a total control-freak in the kitchen, this was a bigger deal than you think.)  I made them BIG because it was necessary.  And as soon as they were cool enough for the chocolate chips to not burn our mouths, we ate some.  Yay.  Warm chocolate chip cookies are da bomb.  

I'm also a control-freak in my car.  His car? Nope.  My car?  I'm in control, baby.

It might snow today.  And that's just about enough of that already.  Sheesh.

We've had a red-shouldered hawk hanging out around the yard lately.  I've named him Rufus.  Yesterday, I saw Beauregard in the woods.  (He's our resident broad-winged hawk.)  Luckily, I think they have different prey.  Unfortunately, I fear Beau might be prey in Rufus's eyes.  Hope not, but nature's a witch sometimes.

Did I tell you someone hit a beaver on the highway the other day?  There's a wet-weather creek right there leading to the lake, about 3/4 of a mile away, and for some reason the beavers cross the highway at that point.  No clue why.  I just know this is the second beaver that's been hit right there since we moved here.

My brother traps beavers in Michigan.  He provides a service for people whose land is being ruined by the pesky buggers and he takes the skinned carcasses to a raptor rehabilitator.  He also makes maple syrup.  This is probably a busy time for the maple thing and according to this, nearing the end of beaver season.  Plus, he works a 'full-time and then some' job.  Bro's a busy dude.  If more people had his drive, this world would be a better place all the way around.

We're a pretty industrious family.  Stop laughing.  I can be industrious.  =op  (I'm not, but I can be.)

I quit watching Grey's Anatomy cold turkey.  I'm not even sure why I liked it.  Don't even get me started on the dysfunctional relationships it regularly portrays as normal and good.  It's certainly addictive, though, which is why I had to stop cold turkey.  Like football.  I'm not a 'wean myself off' kind of person.  It's really hard to not walk in the living room right now and turn on the TV to watch it.  But I'm pushing through.

Speaking of dysfunctional relationships, I have had more than my fair share.  I was talking to Mom about it yesterday.  One in particular was especially nasty and I was telling her I still have nightmares.  They're only about once a year now, but they're always bad.  And no, he never hit me.  He just tormented me mentally and emotionally to the point where I thought about killing myself to get away from him.  And THAT was the point at which I realized I needed to get the hell away from him.  And I still tried to stay.  It took one more week of being treated like crap to put some starch in my spine and I was outta there.  Whew.  Did I learn?  Nope.  Fell into a similar relationship about 2 years later.  Eventually, I did learn, though, and I'm with Hubs.  Who is awesome, by the way.  

Wow, I was a little wordy there, wasn't I?  Got anything to share with me this morning?

Thursday This n That

The coffee is hot and strong today.  May yours be, too.

I finished looking up and saving all the songs I have written in my little notebook.  Then I shared some with Hubs last night.  He seemed to enjoy the video for Someone to You by BANNERS.  (Watch it all the way to the end.)

Yesterday, while I was on the phone with Mom, Hubs saw a coyote trotting through our woods.  He went to grab the camera, but the bugger was too fast.  We also saw an armadillo a few days before that.  Since the dude who used to kill critters died, and the gal who used to live-trap animals and move them moved herself,  the 'nuisance' animals are slowly coming back.

On the other hand, we've had a big brown dog wandering the neighborhood, too.  Someone we didn't recognize stopped yesterday and asked Hubs if he'd seen the dog, because it had gotten into their garage and stolen a bag of food.  As soon as she drove away, it wandered unconcerned past our house.  I hope it belongs to someone and isn't a drop-off.  Although, a dog as smart as that needs to be my dog... you know, if he doesn't already belong to someone.  I shall call him Rogue.

The unrecognized neighbor (after almost 9 years, we still haven't met most of the people in here, by the way) said Jerry tried to catch it but it ran away.  The only Jerry we could think of is old and doesn't strike us as a dog lover.  Then I remembered there's a female Geri on the other side of the hill who owns a corgi.  It was probably her.  (Turns out there's another dude Jerry, but he is also old and probably not spry enough to try and catch a dog.)  Funny how this gal we'd never met assumed we knew who she was talking about.  Anyway, we think she might belong to the house that's being remodeled.  

In our neighborhood, there are lakeside people and hill people.  They rarely associate with one another.  The gal who moved in next door has lived in the neighborhood for years, but at the beginning of the neighborhood.  (I've known her husband, but just met her.)  She doesn't know many of the people back in here either.  So, maybe there's a third group of people.  

It's an interesting dynamic in this little rural neighborhood, I tell ya.  Like the gal who used to be married to the guy across the street, but now she's married to a guy who lives down the hill.  I don't think I could live in the same neighborhood as any of my exs.  Hell, I don't live in the same state as any of them.  LOL

Okay, I should probably go do something constructive this morning.  Got any this-n-that going on in your neighborhood?

Thursday This n That

The other day, the phone company guy gave me his direct number and told me to call him if the static problem returned.  I have tried the number on several occasions and always get a 'voice mail box has not been set up' kind of message.  Thanks for nothin', phone dude.

The other night, we heard a strange noise outside.  It sounded like an owl, but not like any owl we've heard before.  I thought maybe it was a barn owl, so I checked out that call.  Nope.  So I went through every owl that lives in MO/AR but that I didn't think I'd heard before.  Nope.  Then I checked out the great horned owl to see if it made any non-typical noises that it could've been.  Not that either.  My last hope was the barred owl, but I didn't think it could be that because we hear their standard call quite often here.  Yep.  It was a non-typical barred owl noise.  

The next night, we heard a different strange noise outside.  Kind of between a growl and a yowl.  Checked out foxes.  Nope.  Not a raccoony type noise either.  Tried bobcat.  Yep.  It was a sound they usually make in series when they're looking for another bobcat, but this was only once.  Silly kitty.

Ah, livin' in the woods.

Hubs just stopped by my desk to fill up my coffee and he was chuckling.  I asked him why and he chuckled some more before he finally said "No, I don't want to get that stuck in your head."  I then said "Well, if it's giving you a chuckle, maybe it'll give me one, too."  He chuckled some more and replied, "No.  I don't want to risk it."  He's so funny.

Tuesday, I was at the bank chatting with my BFF when she suddenly whips out her phone and tells me she's got to show me something, saying it always made her smile.  It was an old video of Allan Sherman singing 'Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.'  Too fun and it definitely made me smile.  I'm not sure when or where I first heard the song, but it's been my head for decades. Hubs and I are both fond of it and often quote the line I'm sure we'll have some fun if it stops rainin'.

That line is kind of apropos for this week.  Holy sploosh.  It's rained every day this week.  Wet wet wet.  Good thing Hubs and I worked on repairing the drainage before all this started.  All the rain is nicely flowing around the house instead of straight at it and puddling up in front.

And on that wet note, I'll let you go.  Have a great day, everyone.  :hugs: