Sunday Update - 2026 Week 32

 It's Sunday again.  How does this keep happening?  Yeah, yeah, time... social constructs... the inevitable march toward death... Wait, what?  Never mind.  It's time again to wrap-up the week, so here goes:

Writing went pretty well, but not great.  I got 4271 words out during 4 writing sessions.  Old Magic is now at 33078 words and 101 pages.  That title is subject to change.  I thought Hex After 50 sounded awesome, but then I googled it and saw that someone else has a whole series with a similar series title, so nope.  Hex in the Ozarks?  :shrug:  I'm not even sure if I want it set in the Ozarks.  Eh, it's neither here nor there.  Right now, Old Magic works as a title/filename.  I hate not having a title of some sort - hence my irritation with DN3 that still has no working title*.

Marketing occurred.  UNEQUAL moved.  Only 15 copies, but better than nothing.  And someone is reading UEQ in KU, so I've got that going for me.  This coming week, Up Wish Creek will be free.  After that, Song of Storm and Shroud will be free.  Then my KDP 90 days resets and I can start all over again.

No baking for me this week.  Hubs made a batch of my chocolate chip cookies on his very own, which is good.  The man wants to learn to bake, I'm not going to harsh his groove.  Otherwise, it's been too damn hot to bake.

On the activity front, last Sunday, we washed the windows out on the sun porch.  Just the insides and the storms, but it took the two of us an hour to do that.  It looks so much better.  I convinced Hubs he didn't need to climb the ladder to do the outsides.  Maybe when the temps drop sometime this fall, we'll revisit the outsides.  I also did a little other cleaning and the groceries.  Otherwise, it was a lot of greenhouse stuff, every other day.  Weight: 180.4

The garden is doing well in the greenhouse.  The beefsteak tomato is taking over, and has been named Audrey II.  As I told someone recently, Audrey II is encroaching on the peppers, but the peppers are mounting a counter offensive.  I planted carrot seeds and they're starting to come up.  One of the seed potatoes I planted is coming up, too.  If all goes well, I might still have a good harvest, but fall instead of summer.  Yesterday, we ate the fingerling potatoes I harvested last week.  I sliced them thin-ish and sautéed them in butter with a little black pepper, and we ate them with pork chops.  Yummers.  Next spring, I plan on trying to grow strawberries in the greenhouse.  And maybe a blueberry bush.  We'll see.

In deer news, most of the deer are doing well.  The fawns are getting big and they all look healthy.  We saw Sonny this week.  Yay.  We were pretty sure he didn't live through the last deer season, but there he was in the yard, looking awesome.  On the other hand, his mom, Lumpy looks like shit.  I'm pretty sure she isn't long for the world.  Her foster baby isn't with her anymore - although that could mean it's back with its own mom or transferred to another foster mom.  Lumpy is mostly just laying around in various spots, and when she has to move, it's the deer version of shuffling down the nursing home hallway.  It's sad to watch, but there's nothing we can do for her.  We figure she's probably about 9 years old, which is pretty old for a wild deer.  Still, it's tough to watch.  

On a happier note, the twin little foxes are doing well.  I need to come up with a name for them - Frick and Frack maybe.  Rusty and Dusty?  :shrug:  I'll think of something.

Other than that, not much is going on around here.  Life, the universe, and nothing (to riff off Douglas Adams).  How are things in your world?

*Maybe that's why I can't seem to get excited about editing that sucker.  It doesn't feel like a real book if it doesn't have a title. Derp.

Friday This n That

 Maybe I should just give up trying to remember to post on Thursdays.

I wrote 31545 words between 7/7 and 8/6.  Not exactly NaNo amounts, but hey, whatever gets words on the page, eh?  (It would've been more, but last night's storm put the kibosh on writing.)

I don't write during thunderstorms.  The idea of a power outage while I'm in the groove makes me nauseous.  It's not like I don't have autosave on, but it only saves every 5 minutes and when I'm in the groove and the fingers are flying fast, that could be a page or more worth of writing gone in a flash.  I'd rather not chance it.

Somewhere this morning, I saw where walking in the woods improves your immune system.  Between that and the benefits of drinking coffee, I should probably be immortal.

Yesterday, Sonny was in the yard.  We honestly thought he'd been taken during last year's deer season, so we were extremely happy to see him.  How do we know it was him?  Well, we don't with 100% accuracy, but between his tameness and his total level of comfort in our yard (not easily spooked and knew where everything was - went right to the food and water), we're like 95% sure it was him, which is good enough for us.  He looks awesome, by the way.  Go, Sonny!  

My beefsteak tomato plant has taken over the NW quadrant of the greenhouse and is starting to encroach on the peppers I have growing in the center.  I keep trying to tame it back into the spot it's claimed as its own, but I think I'll have to move the peppers.  I think I need to name it Audrey II.  (Bonus points if you got that reference.)

The fox twins are hanging out around here regularly.  They're so damn cute I just want to snuggle them both up.  Too bad they're wild critters and would probably run away before I could get my arms around them.  (Which is a good thing, I guess, because if I could get my arms around them, they'd probably bite and scratch the hell out of me.)

I keep seeing this old chick hanging out in my mirror.  I really do wish she'd find somewhere else to go.  

Good news from this week's election.  The chick who is our county prosecutor lost her primary and since she usually runs unopposed - both in August and in November - this is a good thing.  (I actually whooped when I read of her loss and scared the cats.)  I don't know how well the guy who beat her will do, but she's been so ineffectual, he'd have to work really hard to NOT improve on her work.  (I don't know if he's running unopposed for November, but around here, the R's take the race, so even if there is a D on the ballot, he'll win.)  

And on that note, I really should get back to work.  Marketing, doncha know.  Have a great day wherever you are, and stop back by on Sunday to get the weekly update.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - Week 31

Sitting here right now, after waking up late, the past week is a blur.  Let's see if I can recreate it.

I only got out 4018 words last week.  That's three night's worth of writing.  Not great, but could've been worse.  I'll be working toward a better week this week.  On the upside, the writing I did get out is really fun.  I mean, it was fun to write, so it should be fun to read, right?  

Marketing happened.  I still only moved 10 copies of Sleeping Ugly.  FB being up to its usual tricks hampered some of it.  I think FB is also shadow-banning me.  Not much I can do about that.  I'm not in a position right now to pay for ads, so I guess I get what I get and I'd better like it.  Last month's sales totals were 4.73 books for like $9.43.  I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm a wealthy miser.  Umm, yah.

In baking news, I made Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies again.  Other than that, it was way too hot to turn on the oven.  

On the activity front, I mostly did stuff in the greenhouse - watering, moving plants around, repotting stuff.  I also did a bit of cleaning.  I weighed myself at one point and it wasn't good, so I didn't jot down of the exact number.  Weight: around 180.

Speaking of greenhouse activity, I harvested my oldest pot of carrots.  And :drumroll: there were no viable carrots in there.  Loads of greenery, but maybe a half dozen piddlin' things that wouldn't even qualify as baby carrots.  I tossed the lot of them into the yard.  Then I took an empty pot and planted a new batch of carrot seeds for fall harvest.  We'll see.  I repotted a couple of peppers, so they have more room to grow.  I also added more dirt to a few of the pots that looked like they needed it.  I'm watering every two days and everything seems to be fine.  I have flowers on a couple of my tomato plants, so yay.  Also, the beefsteak looked like it was growing roots on one of its branches, so I snipped that off and poked it into its own dirt.  Fingers crossed there.  Oh, one more thing, I harvested some more potatoes.  I got about 6-8 potatoes big enough to eat... fingerlings, so they're small anyway... and a few potatoes I can replant.

This week, we saw a mama raccoon and her 4 babies.  Yay.  The deer are doing fine, the fawns are growing like weeds.  Lumpy, on the other hand, is not doing well - which sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it.  She's an old deer.  I just hope her foster fawn does well without her.  Then again, we've done a death watch on Lumpy before and she's pulled through.  Time will tell.

Today, we're talking about cleaning windows.  yippee.  I know it needs to be done, I'm just not motivated at the moment.  I need more coffee to jumpstart my gumption.  

Okay, I should probably toddle off.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  

Sunday Update - 2026 Week :shrug:

 Hey all.  I just got back inside from tending to the greenhouse and now I'm sweaty, dirty, and tired.  I'll take a shower in a minute, don't rush me.  That pretty much sapped my motivation for the day.

Writing went pretty well this week.  7665 words during 5 days where I wrote.  Not great, but not bad.  Those two off days were necessary to my existence.  Anyway, OM is up to 23331 words as of last night.  I'm pleased with where I am and where it's going, so yay.

No marketing.  No sales.  Blerg.  Okay, fine, I'll so something markety this week.  Maybe.  We'll see.

I was baking this week.  So was Hubs.  I made pizza and a loaf of banana raisin bread.  Hubs made cake cookies.  Considering the impending furnace, I doubt I'll bake this week.  But hey, it was like 99F when I made the BR bread, so take that stupid heat.

Activity?  Well... it's hot.  Mostly, I tended the greenhouse by watering every other day.  I did some grocery shopping.  I vacuumed.  But I haven't weighed myself, so meh.  Again, it's hot and I am unmotivated.

As for gardening, like I said, I water everything every two days.  Today, I also harvest potatoes - mostly to get them out of my way.  I came up with about a half-dozen fingerlings, which is better than nothing.  And I replanted about 4 tiny potatoes that had started to grow roots themselves.  I'm hoping for a fall harvest.  The peppers are doing good.  A couple of the tomatoes are, against all odds and the heat, flowering.  Fingers crossed for those.  

Other than that, I mostly laid around in the AC.  Hell, the day I went grocery shopping was the coolest day and I still got it done early so I wouldn't broil.  Bake, yes; broil, no.  

The deer and the fawns are mostly doing well.  There's a dead doe about a quarter mile down the road.  I stopped the car and got out to see if I could recognize her.  I couldn't.  I know it's not Lumpy - she was here in the yard later that day.  It might be Lily.  Or it was that one skinny doe I saw last week.  I don't know if she was hit by a car or died because she was sick or the heat got to her.  Her body had already been fairly wrecked by the vultures, so no real clue.  Nature really is a bitch sometimes.

Anyway, I need to pour some more coffee down my gullet, have a smoke, and then take a shower.  Have a great day and stay cool*.  Peace out.

*That reminds me of when I was in middle school and everyone seemed to write 'stay cool' in everyone else's yearbooks.  Heh.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 29?

 I think it's Week 29, but I'm too lazy to check.  Anyway...

I wrote 8379 words this week.  That's writing 6 out of 7 days.  Woot.  I skipped Wednesday because I was frickin' tired.  I was frickin' tired Friday night, too, but I made myself sit down here and at least try, and I got 875 words down, so yay.  Old Magic is now up to 15666 words.  :muppetflail:  Last night, my brain decided to shift the title to a series title and try thinking up other titles.  I amused myself by remembering an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where he mixes magic words up... ABRACA-POCUS!  HOCUS-CADABRA!  So maybe I'll use one of those.  Teehee.

Marketing... Meh.  I did it, but it didn't result in too much movement.  Only 17 copies of WIOH went out the door, which sucks.  WIOH usually moves more copies than that.  :shrug:  This month, sales started out really well and went downhill fast.  I don't think I'm going to market anything this week.  I'll focus on writing instead.  Let's see if I can't get over 10K words out this week.

In baking news, I made a loaf of Banana-Raisin Bread.  Yum!  I also did another batch of OCCC.  And I did a vat of pulled pork.  Life is good.

On the activity front, I wasn't really all that active - mostly watering the greenhouse garden - then I did some cleaning yesterday and I moved some furniture.  I haven't weighed myself.

On the subject of moving furniture, basically, I rearrange the dining area.  I like what I did, except for the artwork.  When I moved the table, the big painting over it didn't look right anymore, so I put a couple smaller pieces up there, but it still looked wrong. Today, I might rearrange the living room.  We'll see.  

As for the greenhouse, it's still doing okay.  I'm watering every other day to keep everything happy.  The heat means I'm not currently getting produce, but the plants themselves are green, so that's a win.  We'll see what happens when the weather starts to cool again.  Last year, I got my best output from the tomatoes after it shifted toward fall.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, and I moved my last few redbud trees back out onto the deck.  They didn't enjoy being in the garage - mostly because I kept forgetting to water them.  They seem happier outside again, the rat is leaving them alone, and they're growing new leaves.  Yay.

The fawns are getting bigger.  Lumpy still has her adopted kid, which is still weird.  But it seems to continue to thrive, so :shrug:  Our little foxes are still coming around.  They're so funny.  We'll look out the window and one of them will just be sitting there in the yard, staring at nothing or scratching, and then it'll wander off.  It's so cool that they're comfortable here.

This morning, I clipped Sawyer's claws.  He was being a turd and trying to push me out of my chair.  Well, I usually let him do that, so I can't complain, but this morning I didn't want to give up my chair.  I grabbed him up and went to put him on the floor when something startled him.  He ended up perforating one of my boobs and an arm.  I swore a great deal and bled a little.  After I applied anti-bacterial cream, I wrangled him up and clipped those stilettos of his.  Later, I'll do Finn.  Ah, the joys of cat ownership.

Okay, I think that's all I've got on my hit parade.  How's things in your world?

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 28

 Well, it's morning.  I feel like someone beat me with a stick, and I didn't even really do anything yesterday.  =op

This was a banner week for writing.  I got an idea, I ran with it, wrote for 4 days straight and ended up with 7287 words I didn't have before and a brand new story.  I'm feeling pretty good about it.  Last night, I hit a wall physically and, instead of writing at 9pm, I went straight to bed.  I have been writing from like 9-10 or 11.  It's good work, but this gal is not used to staying up late. That first day, I also did two writing sessions during the day, which is weird for me, so I didn't do any other day sessions.  Night time is the right time... or the write time, I guess.  ;o)

Marketing this week didn't not go well.  Since I was staying up late every night, I wasn't getting up early and early marketing is the best kind.  Thus, I only moved 13 copies of Accidental Death.  :sad trombone:  Not sure what I'll do for marketing this week, if anything.  :shrug:

Let's forget about reading for the time being.

In baking news, I made another batch of OC³ (Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies) and one night I did stuffed chicken breast for dinner.  Yummers.  I'm thinking about teaching Hubs to make the cookies so I don't have to, but I'm a control freak in the kitchen, so probably not.

Not hugely active this week.  It's too hot for too much activity.  I did work in the greenhouse three days, but that's not really that active.  I also vacuumed the office, which involved moving furniture.  And I grocery shopped.  Weight: 179.0

In the garden, I've been trying to water at least every other day.  I repotted some stuff and moved some stuff around.  This isn't the right time of year for exciting gardening news.  It's too damn hot for anything spectacular to happen.  I've been watching a lot of gardening videos lately, and I have plans for a fall harvest, but that planting should be done at the end of July, so not yet.  I'm also thinking ahead to next year.  We'll see.  

The fawns are starting to come to the yard more often and they're getting more independent.  We know for sure we have four fawns, because we saw them all together.  Other than that, I think we might have at least a couple others.  If I were motivated, I'd take pictures of every fawn I see and compare spot patterns.  I am not motivated for that.

Other than that, not much going on.  The cats are well.  Hubs is well.  I'm well... well, other than being fat and achy.  :shrug:  This too shall pass.  Have a great day wherever you are.  Peace out.

Thursday This n That

First off, I'm up to 4421 words. Not bad for two days work.  Secondly, my hands hurt.  I think the two might be connected.  ;o)

I never thought I'd reach a day where I was happy my hands hurt.

Yesterday, I went out to water the plants in the greenhouse and discovered the last time I went out to the greenhouse, I forgot to 'close' the door.  Usually, I unzip the floppy plastic door and, rather than mess with rolling it up and tying the roll, I flip the whole thing up over the top of the greenhouse.  Then when I'm done, I pull it back into place and zip it all up.  It was still all flipped up on top, and everything inside was super dry.  Drat.  I watered everything and now I'm crossing my fingers my tomatoes can recover, because the grape tomato and the Early Girl looked like crap. Derp.

I found a new place to get gardening videos.  The guy is calling himself The Millennial Gardener and he's pretty awesome.  Now that I finally figured out how to get YouTube on my Roku, it's super easy to watch videos like these.  I wonder how many other things I can learn.

We've been seeing Lumpy with a fawn.  Now, we were and still are sure she wasn't pregnant.  She doesn't have visible teats either.  So, we're wondering whether she kidnapped someone else's fawn or whether she's babysitting for Sissy.  I hope it's the latter because, like I said, she doesn't have milk and the fawn is young enough to still need a occasional boost from its mom.  One thing I know is that she will protect that fawn like nobody else could and being a grandma gives her something to do.  

I stayed up late writing last night.  Finn generously took it upon himself to make sure I didn't sleep too late.  Yay Finn. :grumble grumble grumble:

During my trip to Wallyworld, I accidentally bought decaf coffee.  I don't know about you, but for me, decaf is a crime against nature.  The bag is sitting on the counter, judging me.  Still, I'm thinking about keeping it.  Maybe I could drink coffee in the afternoons again.  Then again, why not drink regular?  I'm not sleeping well anyway.

Okay, time for me to get doing stuff.  Have a great day, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  :waves: bu-bye.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 27

First off, Happy Independence Day!  A day late, I know, but it's still a valid sentiment.

The past week was one of my toady weeks.  I didn't write.  I didn't market.  I didn't read.  

I baked.  Earlier in the week, I made banana muffins.  Yesterday afternoon, I made a batch of Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Yeah, it was 90 degrees out, but Hubs wanted cookies... frankly, so did I... so I made cookies.  They were yummy.  And I have AC so what's the problem?  I also did a batch of BBQ pulled pork yesterday.  Also yummy.  

It was an active week, despite my toadiness.  I did yardwork.  I watered everything in the greenhouse a couple times.  We moved furniture in preparation for window installation, and then moved it back.  We tag-team mowed the yard.  Busy busy.  Not weight loss, however, which is kind of a bummer.  I'm blaming the heat and calling it water-weight gain.  So there.  Weight: 180.6

The windows were installed.  They did the big picture window in the front on Tuesday afternoon.  It was a bitch to get out, due to an abundance of silicon caulk.  (The previous owner/builder was big on silicon caulk.  He slapped that shit everywhere.)  Thus, by the time they got around to the broken window in the sunroom, it was already 5.  They took the storm window with them to fix at the office and off they went with promises to return the next day.  I took them at their word, and sure enough, they were there bright and semi-early on Wednesday.  While they were installing the window, I made muffins so I could give them some when they left.  They were very happy.  And I'm very happy because we now have no broken windows... well, except for that one in our bedroom, which I totally forgot about until after they were gone.  Oh well.  Next time.

The yard work was more of me de-weeding the front path.  It's about 75% done now, but now, it's too damn hot to want to finish it.  It'll get done.  Eventually.

Out in the greenhouse, things are going okay.  Despite the heat, the beefsteak is flowering.  Fingers crossed.  The other plants seem to be doing well.  The buckthorn is getting TALL.  I had to move it to the floor so it isn't hampered by the enclosure.  One of the peppers is also getting tall and was moved to the floor.  Fingers crossed I see some produce down the road.

I think that's about it.  It's hot.  I'm a toad.  Nothing new there.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 26

 Halfway through the year.  Woot.  It's been a better year so far than a lot of years, even with the Iran thing, so I'm calling it a win.

Writing last week wasn't great, but it was better than the week before, so yay.  I ended up adding 2218 words to Shroudlands #2 (Song of Dream and Dragon?  Dream of Demon and Shroud?  Song of Mage and Shroud? Meh.), putting it at 40970 words total.  I'll try to do better this week.  I really need to stop overthinking it and just get the damn dirty draft done.

Marketing was lame.  FB started the week by being turdy.  And it didn't help that this week sucked for sleeping, which meant I woke up last every damn day, which makes getting those important first-thing-in-the-morning posts impossible.  Anyway, I moved 19 copies of Thicker Than Water.  :sad trombone:  I don't think I'll do any marketing this week.  

Don't ask me about reading.  

In baking news, I made a batch of Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies on Sunday.  We tore through those by Friday.  Yesterday, I tried a different recipe for cookies.  I tried halving the recipe, fucked it up, and ended up with what I'm referring to as Retard Cookies.  They're tasty and we'll eat them, but they're kinda like a cross between a regular cookie and a florentine.  I also made a pizza yesterday and the crust was not right. Not as far off as those cookies, but still.  It must've been brainfart baking day.

On the activity front, I did active things on 4 days - yardwork, cleaning, gardening, groceries.  (And making pizza counts as exercise, so there.)  Weight: 178.4 - yep, lost a pound last week.  Imagine if I could lose a pound a week.  I'd be at my target weight by the end of the year.  Heh, like that'll happen.

Hubs just came in from feeding the deer and informed me that we have 4 fawns down by the pans.  Yay.  I love fawn times.  

Gardening... I harvested Pedro this week.  He produced 6 small potatoes.  (We ate them, sliced thin and sautéed with chicken and mushrooms. Yum.)  I checked the other potato plants and no more potatoes.  Several of those plants got pushed back into the ground in hopes they'll continue to grow.  Fingers crossed.  Nothing else is ready to harvest.  Nothing is blooming at the moment.  I think I need to re-dirt the tomatoes or refeed them.  The peppers and the carrots are doing good, so yay.

My path project is coming along.  I'm about halfway through weeding the front rock path than runs along the flower bed.  Meanwhile, Hubs has been weeding the whole driveway and he's almost done.  He works harder than I do, but then again, he's a dude.  He said he'd finish my project when he gets done with the driveway.  ENABLER!  Anyway, that usually gives me the kick in the ass I need to get 'er done, so expect to see that in my update next week.  

And speaking of that, the day's not getting any cooler.  Time to get dressed, get covered in bug spray, and get digging.  Have a great day and an awesome week.  See y'all soon.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 25

Okay, so it's Week 25.  Imagine that.  It makes sense, though, since we're about halfway through 2026 and half of 52 is 26.  Look at me, mathing in the morning and junk.

I was a slug this week.  I only wrote once for 909 words.  I could make excuses, but meh.  Marketing also didn't go well, but even so, I moved 57 copies of DE.  People must not read much in the summer because my page reads are way down.  :shrug: I'm halfway between marketing a book this week and not bothering.  Tune in tomorrow to see what the choice ended up being.

No reading.

I made a batch of my Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies this week.  We finished them yesterday.  6 days for 2 people to demolish 35 cookies.  I might make more cookies today - only because I'm tired of paying for cookies.  Then I'll get tired of making cookies and go back to buying them again.  It's a vicious circle.

This past week, I did all sorts of active things.  I sewed the cover for the cat bed I made, took two walks, did stuff with the greenhouse garden, worked in the yard, and went grocery shopping.  I don't think any of that was particularly calorie-burning, though.  (Maybe the yard work.)  Weight: 179.4

I'm not sure if I talked about the cat bed I made a couple weeks.  I took a 'feather' topper for a queen-sized mattress, folded in half, and stuffed into a queen-sized flat sheet that was folded in half and safety pinned.  Well, one evening, Sawyer being Sawyer, discovered the safety pins and decided to attack.  I had to remove them so he wouldn't hurt himself.  The next day, I sat down and sewed the seams where the safety pins had been.  Then Hubs and I wrestled the topper back into it.  It looks good and the cats enjoy it, and now it's safe.

The greenhouse garden is chugging right along.  Still only two tomatoes - both of them ripened and we ate them.  I learned this week that carrots don't like it hot, and it's hot in the greenhouse, so there ya are.  The tops of the carrots are still pretty small and I'm not seeing the shoulders of the carrots yet, so I'm not harvesting, even though that pot has been growing since early March.  The potatoes... same.  The two surviving green peppers from last year that got munched... One is thriving.  The other is pathetic.  The three peppers I rescued from the feed store are doing okay.  Some of the trees are getting big, but I had to give the last rites to two oaks and a hickory.  I don't think pot life is good for those species.  The redbuds in the ground - Randy and Rudy - are trying to live, but critters aren't making it easy for them.

Working in the yard... Well, I had planned to go out and start digging up the rock paths to remove weeds, etc., but Hubs was out picking up sticks left by the last few storms.  I ended up helping him and then I got the idea that it was about time to prune back the cedars, so we did that.  Then we had to go around and pick up all those limbs.  By the time we did all that, I was tired, so the weeding project got put on hold.  We're starting that this morning - me on the paths and Hubs on the driveway.  Gah, the driveway... we haven't hit those weeds in years and it's so bad that you can hardly tell where the driveway is.  It all looks like yard.  None of this will be done in a day.  Tune in next week to hear how well we progressed.

The fawns are coming into the yard more often, but I keep forgetting to put out the trail cam.  Maybe I'll remember today, so I can post pics next Saturday.  

And I think that's about it.  Busy busy... or at least the illusion of busyness.  Have a great week wherever you are.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That - Late Again

After waking up late yesterday, I started this post, then got distracted and called Mom, then went grocery shopping.  Woke up this morning to see I'd never completed nor posted this post.  Derp

I read something last night about carrots - they thrive best between 60 and 70 degrees F.  Oops.  The inside of my greenhouse these days has to be topping 100.  :shrug:  So, they either steam or they get eaten by critters.  I'm letting them steam.  We'll see what happens at harvest time.

Today's bird is a Barred Eagle-Owl.  Weird looking dude.  Possibly stoned.  Could be an extra in Disney's The Sword and the Stone.  

If you're into super-intense crime shows, check out Line of Duty - a UK show about a special group of police officers who investigate police corruption.  It's so intense I sometimes have to take a break in the middle because the villains are PISSING ME OFF.  But it usually works out in the end.

I'm calling the little fox Reynard. (Rey for short.)  It's after a mythological fox figure I reached while writing the Once Upon a Djinn series.  Yes, I am a nerd.

This morning, I read a neat story about a dude who'd just gotten out of prison and was on his way to a job interview when he saw a car accident.  He got off the bus and saved the man who was trapped inside, thus missing his job interview.  Online donations afterward gained him over $50K and three job offers.  As Hubs said, this is what sites like GoFundMe were created for.

I have encouraged Hubs to jump on some type of social media so others can benefit from his sparkling wit, canny insights, and wry humor, but he'd rather douse himself with gasoline and play with sparklers than use social media.  I can't say as I blame him.

While I was out and about yesterday, I stopped at the local store to pick up smokes for Hubs and I.  There was a brand-spanking new cashier there - like first hour of first day new.  I'll call him Jay.  Anyway, I told Jay I needed two cartons of smokes and the types, and he went over to the rack.  After much assistance on my part, he finally located what I needed.  Then he rang everything up and told me the total.  It was about half what it was supposed to be, so I let him know he hadn't rung up both cartons.  After we went through the whole 'first time processing a check' thing, Jay thanked me for being honest.  It's a sad world when pointing out that a cashier hasn't rung up all the items is worth a thanks because honesty is shocking or something.  I'm glad I caught it.  The guy seemed nice and I didn't want him to get fired.  Also, it doesn't help local businesses when they don't get paid for their products.  While my smokes are the cheapest smokes a gal can buy, they aren't cheap in the scheme of things.  Miss ringing up a candy bar?  Eh.  You're out a couple bucks.  Miss a carton of smokes and you're out anywhere from $30 to $80.  After I left, I mused about it being nice if they'd given me an 'honest customer' discount, then I laughed.

Okay, time to get this post posted and let you get on with your day.  Have a great one!

Sunday Update - 2026 Week... :shrug:

 I've been up for 2 hours and the coffee still hasn't kicked in.  This does not bode well for the rest of the day.  Anyhoo...

I wrote stuff early in the week and then I tweaked my wrist, which made writing ouchieful which got me out of the habit so after the wrist was better I still didn't write.  Still, I got out 2578 words out, which is better than nothing.  I'll try harder this week.

Marketing occurred.  Near the end of the week, FB started being less of a turd, so that was something.  I'm also trying to shift all of my marketing from my personal page to my business page.  The problem with this is that my personal page is shown as a top contributor to most of my marketing groups.  Starting over with my business page, without that 'top contributor' thing, means I'm climbing my way up from the bottom again.

Reading also occurred.  I'm making progress through Leadership by Rudy Guiliani.  Unfortunately, I've been reading this same book in tiny spurts for months now.  It's not the book.  It's totally me.

No baking.  It's too hot and I'm too lazy.

On the activity front... well, like I said, I'm lazy.  I did some gardening, some cleaning, and some shopping - but not nearly enough to make a difference in my health or weight.  I did weigh myself... Meh.  Weight: 180.0

If you were paying attention yesterday, the big news in my week was the broken picture window.  It hasn't fallen out yet, but Hubs has covered the front porch in plastic, so when it does fall, it'll be easier to clean up.  

In gardening news, I picked my first tomato.  It was a grape tomato, so nothing spectacular.  Not even enough for a small salad.  There's another tomato ripening out there that's bigger.  It might give us enough slices to adorn two hamburgers.  There are loads of tomato flowers, but no more fruits yet.  The taters are huge and bushy.  The carrots are growing right along.  I had to put two tiny oak trees out of their misery, but loads of other trees are still doing fine - including several of the ones that the critter munched.  Randy and Rudy Redbud are... wait for it... still alive!  Hubs was in the yard and noticed that while all their leaves were eaten, the stems were solid and now they're starting to grow new leaves!  Yay!  

Last night, we had a humdinger of a storm.  Actually, we had storms throughout the day, but last night's was larger.  And it came with two tornado warnings within minutes of each other - neither of which was actually close to the house.  Eh, it's better to be alerted about these things than get blindsided, so there ya are.  Between the day storms and the night storm we lost power probably 4 times.  I hate resetting clocks.  I hate flashing clocks more, though, so there ya are.

The does are all post-pregnant, I think.  I saw the first set of fawns yesterday.  Yay.  I still have no pics of fawns, though.  

And I think that's it for me.  Here's to a stress free week for us all.  Feel free to drop a comment and tell me how your week went.  

Thursday This n That

 You know how people say they can predict the weather by the body parts that hurt?  I've decided it's not the weather, it's the barometric pressure that causes previously broken bones to ache.  Yeah, I've been thinking about this because the ankle that I probably broke (but never went to a doctor for) a few years back is shrieking at me.  Oh, and my broken bones scream at me in reverse order - newest to oldest - which is why that ankle is taking the stage ahead of the foot, the pelvis, the thigh, or the collar bone.  Actually I'm kinda thankful the pelvis breaks are being quiet.  When those hurt, it feels like someone kicked me in the crotch.  Not fun.

Potatoes.  The package of seedling potatoes I bought says 90-120 days from planting to harvest.  Several sites online say you harvest potatoes after the green parts turn brown and die back.  I need to research this further because why would they die back if they're happy and well-fed in the greenhouse??  But if that's not the key indicator, how will I know if they're ready at 90 days or at 120 days or somewhere along the way?  It's not like I can see the potatoes growing under the dirt there.  I told Hubs I need ground-penetrating radar, like they use to look for bodies, but small so I can look for potatoes.

I've been procrastinating about going shopping, so I really have to go today.  I have Old Mother Hubbard's freezer.  There's one chicken breast and one container of soup.  Oh, and a boatload of frozey-pops.  This does not bode well for a yummy dinner, so off to Wallyworld later this morning.  The cats are also down to one can of food, which is tragic.  Or will be if I don't get them more food today.

Hubs just came in with the coffee pot to refill my mug.  I picked it up and hovered over it like Golem, saying 'my precious'.  We laughed... well, I laughed anyway.

Roku 'monsters' channel was having an Abbott and Costello marathon yesterday - A&C Meet Frankenstein, A&C Meet the Invisible Man, A&C Meet the Mummy.  I watched part of the first and part of the last.  (The Invisible Man one was never my favorite.)  I used to have the mummy one on VHS.  I do love me some Abbott and Costello.  

Speaking of The Mummy, the best book of that sub-genre is Anne Rice's - The Mummy (or Ramses the Damned).  I think it's her best book, but that's me.  

Okay, I'd better get back to marketing.  (Not that it's doing me much good, but it's better than nothing.)  Have a great day wherever you are.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 23

Well, here we are at the start of another week, which means wrapping up the week before.  Lemme warn ya, though, it wasn't that exciting of a week...

I did write.  I got out 3025 words over 3 days.  Then I fell into the lazy pit.  I think I have a title for the book now, though - Song of Dream and Dragon.  Although, that doesn't feel quite right.  The dream part feels right, but the dragon part... not so much yet.  And the song part?  Meh.  Dream of Dread and Dragon, perhaps?  We'll see.

Marketing went rather crappily this week as FB twisted the rack on me.  When I switched marketing images to one without the word 'dead' in it, things went easier, but for pitysakes, how does one talk about FB's forbidden subjects without using any of the forbidden words?  Nope, still don't have the funds to pay for marketing, so there ya go.

Not much reading this week.

In baking news, I made Irish Soda Bread, which is so insanely easy I wonder why I never tried it before.  Oh, yeah, buttermilk.  I never have buttermilk in the house and I thought making my own would be a PITA.  Turns out, it's not, so there ya go.  I made chicken stew to go with the bread.  Mmmm.  And yesterday, I made pizza.  Yum.

On the activity front, I was pretty much a toad last week.  We did get one walk in and I did some stuff in the greenhouse, but other than that, nope.  Weight:? - don't ask.

The inside of the greenhouse looks like a rainforest.  Still only two tomatoes, but plenty of flowers on all three plants.  I planted the three peppers from the rescue I did at the feed store.  They're doing okay, but they came with issues, so I'm not holding out too much hope.  I thinned the carrots again.  Then I watered everything and fed the food plants (with store-bought food this time... the weed tea stinks so bad I'm giving that idea up.)  I'm thinking about taking more of my potted trees and transplanting them back into the wild - to free up space in there and to give them all a better chance at thriving.  As long as the deer don't eat them, that is.

Speaking of deer... The deer are pretty much all post-pregnant and they're starting to bring their babies to the yard.  Yay.  In Boo news, several of the deer have developed a taste for my irises.  When I see them eating my irises, I go out and chastise them, but they don't care.  One of the does looked up at me with an iris leaf hanging out of her mouth and then proceeded to munch it whilst I was scolding her.  On the upside, they haven't bothered my second redbud tree - Rudy - yet.

Not much else going on around here.  I'm hoping for a better writing week and to up my activity.  Tune in next Sunday to see how that goes.  Anyway, thanks for stopping by.  Feel free to chat about your accomplishments in comments.  Peace out.

Thursday This n That

FB sucks.

X is pretty okay, but I haven't figured out how to use it for marketing.  (Not free marketing, that is.)

We have fawns!  Yay!

Chex Mix Bold is addictive.  Unfortunately, my intestines do not enjoy it as much as my tastebuds do, so I stay away from it.  Additionally unfortunate, Wallyworld had a big ol' bag of it on sale and right there by the checkout.  Thus, I couldn't stop myself from buying it.  Also thus, I am paying for it.  But it's soooo damn good.  Especially when you add a handful of mixed nuts to a bowl of it.  Yummers.

Getting old blows.  I used to be able to eat whatever whenever and never worry about it.  Now?  I look at wheat the wrong way and I get into issues.  Stupid.

The inside of my greenhouse looks like a jungle.  It's scary in there.  And hot.  When the tomatoes finally fruit and are ready for picking, I'm not sure how I'll get back there to pick them.  The potatoes are taking over.  I expect them to reach sentience any day now.  Oh, and I picked up three new bell pepper plants, because they were free, so now they're in there, too.  If I disappear, it's entirely possible I got lost in the jungle.  Send help.

It seems like everyone I know is neurodivergent, which begs the question 'if everyone is neurodivergent, is it really divergent?'  Think about that for a minute.

I made Irish Soda Bread for the first time, and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  It's a super simple bread to make, too.  Messy, but easy.

For a woman who enjoys making bread, I have a weird quirk.  I can't stand having dough on my hands and I have to get it all off or I feel like I'm wasting food.  This is not a problem when I'm making a stiff dough bread product, like pizza crust, but for a wet dough... GAH!

Also, enjoying making bread and having issues with digesting wheat definitely do not go together.  Good thing Hubs enjoys eating bread, so there's less for me.

Okay, that's probably enough out of me.  Have a great day and feel free to drop some of your own observations about the world.  Peace out.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 22

Here we are again at another Sunday.  It's the last day of May, which is my favorite month, but all good things must come to an end, eh?

Writing went well this week.  I wrote every day Monday-Friday and added 4758 words to my manuscript.  I think I'm finally in a place where I can tell you what I'm working on... :drumroll: The next book in the Shroudlands series.  It's up to 32240 words now, so yay.  I'm not laying out a whole shit-ton of words each day, but it's enough.  No clue when it'll be finished.  The point here is that I am writing again.  And once I get comfortable with being a writer again, I might finally get back to editing Duke Noble #3.  

Marketing occurred.  Not a lot of it, but it happened.  I moved 29 copies of Early Grave and someone bought a copy of Fertile Ground, so yay me.  May wasn't the best month this year, but it was better than nothing.

Reading... don't ask.  Despite my reading slump, I bought 8 new-to-me books last week, because I am a book-buying addict.  I picked up some NF books we didn't have and a Ken Follett I haven't read before.  Woot.

On the activity front, I wasn't too awfully active, but I did get some stuff done.  I vacuumed and dusted the whole house - 1700 sq ft worth - so go me.  I also did some gardening stuff.  And yesterday, we took a walk.  Weight: 178.6 - which isn't as low as I'd like, but better than I feared it would be when I stepped on the scale.

As for gardening, we planted two of my redbud trees in the ground - Randy and Rudy.  By the next morning, Randy was gone.  I haven't checked Rudy today but I am not holding out hope for his continued survival.  (Yes, I could surround him with wire, but if a critter REALLY wants to eat him, they'll get to him no matter what I do.)  Inside the greenhouse, everything seems to be thriving.  I need to repot some green peppers, now that I have two vacant bigger pots.  I still only have two tomatoes, but there's hope.  The potatoes have taken over.  

In exciting news, we've seen the first fawns of the year!  Brand new, still wet off the factory floor, baby deer.  New deer are so tiny!  (Of course.  They have a small door to go through when they first enter the world, so that have to be tiny.)  They grow fast, though, so we've already seen one that's less tiny.  Some of the deer were still pregnant as of last night, so there's more to come.  

I think that's it for me today.  Other things happened, but nothing of note.  Have a great day out there and a wonderful week.  :hugs:

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 21

 Good morning.  I'm not quite up to speed this morning.  I think it's Week 21.  :shrug:  Anyway, here goes...

I wrote stuff this week.  I managed four days in a row, but then I fell off the wagon and didn't write for three days.  Blerg.  I did get 3437 words out, so I'm not kicking myself.  Not hard anyway.  I'll write tonight if I have to stay up late doing it.  (No, I still have to write at night.  My creativity doesn't wake up until after 5pm. It sucks, but there it is.)  As of now, my WIP is up to about 27500 words.  For the record, this is a book I started writing 4 years ago (almost to the day* as it turned out).  I got to 20378 words before I stopped.

Marketing was pretty much a bust this week.  FB cracked down on me and I was only able to make one or two posts a day before it shut me down.  Bastards.  I did manage to move 25 copies of Natural Causes... which is kind of pitiful.  Not sure what I'll do this coming week.  

Not much reading occurred.

It was a slightly active week this week.  Mostly, I messed with the gardens.  I also did some cleaning and shopping stuffs.  I didn't bother to weigh myself.  Who needs that kind of negativity?  ;o)

The gardens are doing well.  Everything in the greenhouse seems to be thriving.  I gave them all a healthy drink of nettle tea a couple days ago, which I guess they like.  It's supposedly full of nutrients.  Stinks to high heaven, but nobody ever promised homemade plant food would smell good.  I have two little tomatoes and plenty of tomato flowers, so yay.  The carrots in pot #1 are getting taller.  Carrot pots #2 & #3 need thinning again.  The potato plants are HUGE.  Pedro is a monster.  I just hope they're growing tubers underneath all that greenery.

The foxes are back.  I watched one for quite a few minutes yesterday.  It was a little fox and I think it was practicing hunting.  It said there, staring into the grass beside the neighbor's driveway and tilting its head back and forth like it was hearing something yummy.  Then it got bored and trotted away.  

I chatted with a neighbor who told me they had a fawn in their yard the other day.  I'm totally jealous.  But still, it means the fawning has begun, so yay.  Not sure which doe is post-pregnant yet.  It's not Sissy - she's still fat pregnant.  Fingers crossed that soon I'll have baby deers on my trail cam.

It was my annibirfsary week.  We ate a boatload of cake.  Other than that, not much celebrating happened.  I mean, kisses and snuggles and all the good things that come with being with the one you love for 22 of your 56 years, but no prezzies or singing.

 Other than that, not much going on around here.  What's going on around there?

*I started writing the book on 5/13/22 - wrote words for about a month and gave up.  I picked the book back up again on 5/12/26.  I didn't plan that.  It was just the book that called to me.

Sunday Update - 2026 Week 20

Here we are again at another week.  Let's see what happened.

I wrote.  I still don't want to talk about it much.  Suffice it to say, I wrote 4 nights in a row and ended up with around 2800 new words, all on one WIP, so there ya go.  I'm not celebrating, in case this is an anomaly.  The hardest part about writing after so many months away is retraining my fingers to type as much as I want for as long as I want.  Derp.

I marketed.  A little.  Blink moved a whole 17 copies.  Woot.  Not sure what this week will bring.  I'm at the end of a 90 day KDP reup, so this week might be a little iffy.

Reading still isn't a thing, but I made a little progress with Rudy.

In baking news, yesterday, Hubs made me a cake from scratch - yellow cake, chocolate frosting with a layer of strawberry jam in the middle.  Yum.  It's not the prettiest thing, but it's been more than 20 years since he made a cake, so I'm not harshing him too much about it.  He was going to make the frosting, too, but after the cake wouldn't come out of the pan and ended up kinda roached, he left the frosting to me.  Hey, it tastes good and he tried, so that's all that matters.

On the activity front, I wasn't.  I did some garden stuff and I went shopping.  Meh.  Didn't bother weighing myself.  Weight: Fat.

The trail cam has been fun.  See yesterday's post.  The new mower is awesome.  So's the new greenhouse.  Shopping for the win.  Woot.

The garden is growing right along in the greenhouse.  I have one little grape tomato growing and one little Early Girl tomato.  The green peppers are trying to come back from getting munched, as are the black cherry and the persimmon.

Yesterday, I cut my hair.  Short.  It was bugging me, so off it went.  It looks pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  No, there aren't any pics.

Speaking of cake... Today is our anniversary.  22 years.  Go, us!  And tomorrow's my birthday.  56 years.  Go, me!  (Yes, people shouldn't leave important dates lying around the internet, but we make sure we never use those dates in any security questions or passwords, so there ya are.)  We aren't doing anything for either.  We don't give each other cards or gifts anymore.  I think that stuff stopped about 15 years ago.  We're happy with each other and celebrate each other every day, so no prezzies are necessary.

And that's it for me today.  What's been up with you lately?

Thursday This n That

 I'm having fun with my trail camera.  Look for pics on Saturday.

I'm writing again. No, I don't want to talk about it.  Just saying it here makes me nervous that I'll ruin it and make the inspiration run away and hide.  Shhh... be vewwy vewwy quiet, I'm hunting word-bits.

Two of my tomato plants have a tiny tomato each.  Since one of them is a grape tomato plant, I'm not hopeful I'll get anything close to sated off that one tomato.  Itty-bitty it is and itty-bitty it shall stay.  The other plant is my Early Girl, and that one should get sizable enough to slice and put on a sandwich at least.

There's every possibility that my greenhouse could double as a sauna in the off-months.  Man, it gets toasty warm and damp in there.  

Some days, I get really tired of seeing liars out there in the world.  It's even worse knowing that peoplle buy the shinola they're selling.  The IDF has trained dogs to rape innocent civilians??  Really.  And people believe that shit.  Derp.  Morons.

Oh, I forgot... you're not allowed to use the word rape online anymore.  If you do use it, they harsh your reach on social media.  Can't use kill or murder anymore either, and assassination is flat out.  Bah.  I'm a writer.  I'll use whatever words I see fit, and if that retards my reach, then so be it.  My reach wasn't that great to begin with.  Whatevs.

"Life is hard.  It's harder when you're stupid." - John Wayne  (It's attributed to him, so I'm going with it.)  I do love John Wayne.  

I watched a true-crime show out of Australia the other day and a serial killer, who was convicted of murdering three women only got 21-28 years.  The earliest date he could get out was 2017, which would make the latest date 2024.  So, unless he was killed in prison, he's out and on the streets of AU again.  Sorry, ladies.  I'd say arm yourself, but I don't think you can down there anymore.  Good luck and godspeed.

And on that note, I should probably get my buns in gear and do something constructive this morning.  Have a great day, wherever you are.  :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.