Thursday This n That

May day!  May day!  (Heh, I like doing that every May 1st, but I'm weird.)

Reposted from yesterday's FB status update: So, I just got back from the thrift store.  I picked out two books to buy - a paperback and a hardcover.  When I get to the register, the chick there tries to tell me the paperback is $5. When I balked at that, she said 'well, it was printed in the '40s, so it's vintage.  I told her no and that was the original print date.  She tried to tell me it was the only print date in there, so I opened it to the copyright page, scanned it briefly, and then pointed to where it said 20th printing 1975.  She backed down and only charged me $1, but she was kinda snotty about it.  Kids these days.  She's probably never opened a damn book in her life.  

It's bad enough that this thrift store jacked the prices of their books up from 5 for $1 to 4 for $1 to $1 each for paperbacks, from 50c to $2 for hardcovers, and $5 for anything older than 1970 (vintage to them).  The other two nearby stores charges 25c ea for paperbacks.  Last time I get books at today's place, lemme tell ya.  I can handle the price, but dealing with snotty little twits just ruins the experience for me.  =o\

This morning, Hubs looked out the window and saw what he thought were several deer, then he realized one of them was actually the neighbor's dog, Copper.  (He's an old red-bone coonhound, so deer colored and about the same size.)  Well, ol' Copper was just sniffing around he own yard and the deer were standing there watching him - no more than 10-12 feet away.  They'd advance a step and then back up a step while Copper continued sniffing and not paying attention to them.  Finally, he wandered over to sniff another part of the yard and the deer walked away.  It was pretty funny, but I guess you had to be there.

I want cinnamon rolls, but I'm too lazy and I'm trying to cut back on the baked goods anyway.

Right now, there are all sorts of birds twittering away in the trees every morning.  I'm pretty good at identifying birds by their songs usually, but I'm hearing some stuff I've never heard before.  Fun.

We had a big ol' rat snake in the yard the other day.  Hubs and I went out to encourage it to leave, and it was going pretty well until the snake decided to turn and confront us.  I took the rake and got the tines up under it and flung it into the woods.  It was last seen headed down the hill and away from the yard.  No snakes were harmed in that encounter.  It better not come back, though.  Our courtesy only extends so far with snakes - harmless or not.  

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

Sunday Update - Week 31?

Sorry I'm late.  I don't really have anything to talk about.  It was a week.  It was busy at work and veggie at home.  (More of both in the coming week.)

I read one book and DNF'd several others.  I didn't bake anything.  I didn't do much in the way of activity and I only lost two tenths of a pound.  (Which I probably gained back after yesterday's see-food-eat-it festivities.)  We did just get back from a walk, so that's something.

If you missed it, I finally got my squeaky brakes fixed.  The silence is wonderful.

There's a doe around here with three fawns following her.  Not sure whether she had triplets or adopted some other doe's baby.  One is decidedly bigger than the other two.  We had a mama raccoon stop by this morning with three babies.  (It's not the same raccoon who came by with 4 the other day.  This mama is noticeably smaller.)  Someone ran over a copper head near the house.  :shudder:  Then this morning, we saw a dead Rough Green Snake (I assume it was this and not the smooth, because the smooth kind hasn't been seen in MO in a long time.  I did not touch it to verify my assumption) in the road. Bummer for that one because they aren't venomous and they eat bugs.

Other than that, it's been pretty quiet here.  Keeping my head down and working for the most part.  

How are things in your world?

Sunday Update - Week 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recipe:

Best Ever Carrot Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 cups grated carrots

3/4 cup raisins

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

Sunday Update - Week 24

Yeah, there was no update post for Week 23.  I forgot it was Sunday and then I didn't really have anything to say.  I don't really have anything for today either, but I don't want to disappoint you again.

No writing or editing occurred.  I have been marketing as much as I can take.  No sales whatsoever for Duke.  I've moved 41 free copies of Wish Hits the Fan and sold one copy each of the other books (in the UK).  I'm hoping this spurs some page reads, but I'm not holding my breath.  WHTF is still free through the end of today.  The sale on the other books ends Tuesday.  Wednesday the SCIU books go on sale.  99c/99p each through the end of 6/22.

In reading news, I read some good books and DNF'd some dreck this week.

I didn't do much in the way of activity.  I mean, I washed the car one day and did the windows the next/  Other than that, there was grocery shopping and moving the container garden around.  The week I missed was more active and I'm up to 35.55 miles walked.  It's probably why I dropped a pound.  Weight: 186.2.

A couple neighbors stopped to chat while I was doing the car windows.  They had just seen a fawn.  Only one deer still looked like she was pregnant and she's probably dropped by now.  In fact, they said the fawn was super small and wobbly, so it might have been hers.  Yesterday, I saw a buck with a busted antler.  Snapped right at where it meets the head and laying over like it was attached by skin.   Poor baby.  That probably hurts like a bitch.  It wasn't bleeding, though, so that's something.

The heat spiked here so it's been hotter than it ought to be for early June.  Blerg.  Unfortunately, this means less baking and less fishing.  So, none of that.  

Yesterday, we had a big Texas black rat snake in the yard.  I tried to encourage him to leave, but he hid under a pile of boards we have under the smoking room and I didn't want to mess with it.  I really didn't want to kill it.  I mean, he serves a purpose for the most part.  And he might eat the pack rat, which would be awesome.  Did you know those snakes shake their tails when they feel threatened, so they sound like a rattler?  Silly snake... I saw your tail.  Derp.  I guess it would've been a bit disconcerting if I hadn't seen that it wasn't a rattler.  Since we do have rattlers here and all.  I guess it's time to spray the yard again.  

Chester the Chipmunk has made a home under one of my peonies.  I hope the snake doesn't eat him. Hubs thought he saw a baby bunny at dusk yesterday.  I hope the snake doesn't eat it either.  (Maybe I should've just whacked the snake with a shovel and been done with it.)

Last night, something occurred to me and I got a serious case of the sillies.  I started laughing and couldn't stop because every time I tried to tell Hubs why I was laughing the thought hit me again and I'd start laughing all over again.  What was it?  I was in the process of turning down the bed when I farted and my brain said: Farting is only your butt laughing.  That's what set me off.  And the more I laughed the more I farted and the more I farted, the harder I laughed.  It was a vicious circle.  Getting old is gross.

On that note, I'll leave you.  I hope you weren't bored reading this.  Lord knows, I've been boring the hell out of myself lately.  

How was your week?  

Thursday This n That

Yesterday, the Owl woke me up from my nap.  Not really, because she's like a thousand miles away from here now, but I was sleeping and I must've dreamed she was out in the living room talking to Hubs, which woke me up.  Ah, the things our brains do. 

Looking for something different to listen to, I loaded my Paul Simon Graceland CD.  Now it's stuck in my head.  On random.  And repeat. 

Years ago, on the MDA Labor Day Telethon, Tony Orlando sang 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes' from that album.  I'll never forget it because he screwed up the words.  Instead of 'slipped into her pocket with her car keys' he said 'slipped into her pocket and took her car keys'.  ROFL  Now every time I hear that song, I think of that.  My brain works in mysterious ways.

Does anyone even remember spending the whole of Labor Day watching the telethon?  All that talent and music and fun pulling for a cause.  Sometimes Dad would take us to where the fireman were filling their boots with donations so we could throw some change in the boot.  Does anyone do that anymore?  Do they even have a telethon?  I don't want to think about what it's turned into/  The last time I watched, it was lame and talentless and boring as hell.  I miss Jerry Lewis.

Anyway...

The fawns are losing their spots.  :sadface:  The buck fawns will start to get antler buds soon, but right now, they all look like little does.  They're also starting to show their independence and moving away from their moms.  Good thing, too, because they have to be on their own before the rut comes.  It seems early for losing the spots, but what do I know. Does this mean an early winter?  Time will tell.

I found another itty-bitty, teeny-tiny snake on my walk the other day.  I never did figure out what kind it was.  Black head, tan/taupe body.  Definitely non-venomous because the head was in line with the body.  Might've been a northern red-bellied snake, but since I didn't turn it over, I'll never know.  I just picked it up by the tail and moved it out of the road.  It was totally chill. 

Okay, that's enough out of me today.  What's up with you?

Thursday This n That

I'm currently adding words to that mystery thing I started back in June.  For the most part, it's slow going, but I am still writing every day.  (Except Sunday.  I took Sunday off.)

Welcome to the next round of 'people have gone shitpants crazy' in America.

I did some much-needed weeding yesterday.  The last time I weeded was early June, so yeah, it needs it.  I had big plans to get a bunch of it done.  I did three smaller beds and quit because I was soaked in sweat and plum tuckered out. 

This is the last day Owl will be here.  Laundry and packing for her.  I'll be making pizza.  I think the old hands can take it.  And if they can't, well they need to get the hell over it.  Tomorrow, we'll head north to the airport.  Then I'll collapse. 

All this 'start, stop, start, stop' 'constantly wondering what's next' crap is exhausting.  Which, by the way, is the general consensus of people I've talked to around here.  Everyone is exhausted.

On one of my walks this week, I came across the teeny-tiniest, widdle-bitty baby snake.  Probably no more than 4 inches long and about the diameter of a piece of yarn.  It was a baby ring-necked snake - black with a pretty yellow necklace.  So cute.  I picked it up and it sat in my palm for a minute before it wanted down.  I set it off the road and it went its merry way into the long grass.  I'm so glad I didn't see it squashed in the road.  That would've given me a sad.

Well, I guess that's it for me today.  What's on your this-n-that radar?

Watching Where You Step

Yesterday, as I was moving the three landscape blocks I already had to the project location, I happened to set one down to get a better grip on it.  (Those things aren't light.)  And as I bent down to pick it back up again, I noticed a small, gray, ropey looking thing in the grass.

Snake, of course.  Probably about as big around as a pencil.

I knew from the lack of pattern on it that it wasn't anything venomous, but I still searched for the head.  And there it was a few inches from the spot I first noticed.  A pretty little ring-necked snake with a bright, red-orange ring.

Okay, so maybe the ring-necked snakes are slightly venomous, but not harmful to humans and totally non-agressive.  Anyway, I picked it up - knowing this because I'd already encountered and researched the species.  It just looked at me like 'oh, hello' and then did the whole 'see my belly?' thing in my hand to try and dissuade me from eating it.

And here was me:  "Oh, you so kewt.  Wook at your scary belly.  Eek."

I almost brought him up to the front door to show Hubs, but I didn't want to stress the little bugger out.  I mean, he was pretty chill in my hand, but no clue what traveling with him would've done to his overall outlook.  Instead, I put him in the iris bed so I wouldn't risk trodding upon him as I trudged up and down the hill.   Have a nice life, little dude.

Then I went back to work under the deck.  A short while later, I was moving some crappy broken cement block pieces when something jumped at me.  And I jumped with a little actual eek.  It was a toad.  Just your standard American Toad who was trying to get away from my big, lumbering feet.  They blend in so well, I didn't even see him before he moved, and I am so careful about watching because it would wreck me to step on something cute and kill it.  I tried to catch him and move him, but since he was actually hopping away from where I was working, I gave up the chase and let him be.  Hop and be free, my friend.

So, yeah, around here, it pays to watch where you step.  Aside from not wanting to hurt the small critters we share our yard with, we have plenty of venous snakes around here.  Not sure if those can bite through a tennis shoe, but I'm not interested in testing that out either. 

Interesting and wondrous things abound all around us, if only we watch where we step.  ;o)

Thursday This n That

The other day I was out walking when a neighbor I'd only met once before drove past me, giving me two thumbs up and mouthing 'Good job'.  I was totally confused.  It's not like the one time I met her we discussed my activity regime or my hope to lose weight or anything.  Then I got to wondering, in a playful and jocular way, if I'm so fat she felt the need to give me encouragement.  Did I look like I was losing steam and needed a boost?  I mean, I was stopped on the side of the road.  I always stop and wait for cars to go by - because I don't want to get hit from behind and would like a chance to jump out of the way should someone lose control of their vehicle.  It wasn't even a particularly hard walk that day - coolish with a slight breeze.  I wasn't even sweating like a pig, which I often do, or huffing like a freight train, which I used to do before I started walking all the time. She should've seen me 6 years ago.  Man, I was out of shape and 14 pounds heavier then.  Then a 1.6 mile hard-target walk would've done me in.  :shrug:

I don't understand why people ride motorcycles.  Sure, I've never been on one.  But I've been on a four-wheeler and on a snowmobile.  Pretty much the same thing, I'd imagine - flying down the road, wearing a helmet and no other form of protection around you.  The four-wheeler was fun, but I was young and stupid and we could've easily been killed.  I screamed myself mute during the snowmobile ride and it wasn't from fun.  Sheer terror.  It was dark and snowing and I was riding behind a guy who didn't even have his driver's license yet.  Getting pelted in the face with ice.  Loads of fun.  Substitute bugs for snow and that's how I imagine riding a motorcycle would be.  I'll keep my car, where I can sit in air-conditioned or heated comfort, listening to my tunes and feeling pretty secure that if someone hits me, my crumpled body will not be thrown 30 feet or have its skin scraped off by asphalt.  Someone once told me there are no open casket funerals after motorcycle accidents.  Yeah, sounds like fun to me.

Monday I was scrolling through my blogroll and noticed a post on swearing in fiction.  The poor guy had a reader actually take him to task for swearing in his violent epic fantasy novel.  He, of course, schooled her good.  And he pointed out that while she had a problem with his use of curse words, she apparently didn't have a problem with the violence and had even laughed about a reference to a minotaur harming a prostitute.  (Apparently she was reading it in some form of posting a story wherein readers can immediately comment as the story goes along.)  What a world, eh?  I may have to actually pick up this guy's book at some point because it sounded awesome.

I found the above guy through a fantasy novel competition I've been stalking for potential good things to read.  I've wishlisted a couple that I'll buy as soon as the budget frees up a little.  I'd enter one of my books but apparently this thing is so popular, the spaces fill up almost as soon as he announces it's open for entries.  Right now they're in the middle of a cycle, so I don't even have to think about it until next year.  

Yesterday, I went fishing.  Nothing spectacular about that.  Caught a few little pumpkinseeds and a keeper redear sunfish.  After I put the sunfish on the stringer, I went back to fishing, occasionally glancing over to check on Burt.  (Yes, I name the fish I catch.)  The last time I glanced over, I noticed a kind of longish stick in the water I hadn't seen there before.  And then I noted how the stick was jutting out from the water.  And THEN I noticed it wasn't a stick.  I was a big honking snake.  Unsure at the time whether it was a water snake or a copperhead, I sprang into action.  To save my fish.  My fish had taken refuge under a rock.  I needed to reach out past the fallen limb I'd attached the stringer to to nudge him loose, but the snake was in the vicinity.  In fact, the snake had swum to the side of the rock where Burt was hiding.  After I pulled Burt in, I tossed a small rock into the water.  Snake didn't even twitch.  I grabbed a larger rock and tossed it closer to, but not AT, the snake.  When the water cleared, the snake was lying on the bottom with the bigger rock next to it.  'Oh, crap, I hit him in the head.'  My aim was never that good, you know.  But then the snake rose up from the bottom and stuck his head back out of the water again.  No damage done, but he still looked intent on Burt.  I grabbed a longish stick and swung it near the snake's face.  It opened its mouth as if to strike.  So I tapped it on the top of the head with the stick.  Poof!  It disappeared.  Okay, it actually moved away so fast, I missed exactly where it went.  Which meant I wasn't sure if this potential copperhead was going to visit me again.  I packed up my stuff and scurried up the ledges to get the hell out of there.  I researched it when I got home and it was a water snake, which are non-venomous but exceptionally bitey. 

Burt and I made it home with no snake bites.  And now Burt is in my freezer for future dining pleasure.

Okay, I think I've bored y'all enough this morning.  Have an awesome day.  I might go fishing again, so if you leave a comment and it doesn't show up right away, I'll approve it when I get home.

Randomosity

Randomosity occurs when I don't have enough thoughts to put together a post on a single subject.

They really need to move mornings to later in the day.

Autumn is supposed to start on Monday.  Yesterday, we matched the record high for the date at 95F.  It was like a freakin' sauna out there.  Umm, what the hell?

Hubs is out of cookies again, so I guess there will be some baking this morning.  A man needs his cookies and I like to keep my man's cookie reserves stocked.

Made what I call quesadillas yesterday.  They probably aren't really quesadillas, but that's what I call them.  Whatever they are, they're yummy.  Two tortillas fried in butter until they're crisp.  Put one on a pizza pan for the bottom, layer it with taco stuff - refried beans, taco meat, cheese, olives, etc.  Put the other tortilla on top, cover it with salsa, cheese, etc.  Bake until the cheese is all bubbly.  Cut it into quarters and serve with a side salad.  Last night, I did chicken and mushrooms.  So good.

Yesterday, I was walking up the hill toward the house when I saw a snake in the road ahead.  I approached with caution, sticking to the opposite side of the road, just in case.  Most snakes I come across are friendly.  This was a copperhead.  And it wasn't moving.  But at the time, the morning was a mite chilly, so I wasn't sure if the snake was dead or just cold.  (It wasn't squashed or anything, so it was hard to tell.)  I kicked a black walnut at it.  The walnut hit it and bounced over, but it didn't move.  90% sure it was dead.  If it's there again today, I'll be 100% sure.  Of course, if it's not there, could be it was dead and some animal made off with the carcass.  Crows love dead snakes.  Anyway, it reminded me why I always watch where I'm walking.

My sale ended last night.  I'll think about putting together a wrap-up post on it.

I'm reading an interesting mystery centered around a theme park.  It's got way more casualties than I expected.  Like every time the author got stalled a little, they threw in another disaster.  It's beginning to stretch the boundaries of my disbelief, but I'll keep reading.

We got a spam phone call with a semi-colon in the number.  How do you even get a semi-colon in the phone number??

That's it for my randomosity this morning, I think.  What's going on in your world?
 

Thursday This n That

I'm too old for dissenting opinions.  I mean, people can certainly have them, but I'm tired of looking at / hearing them.  Scrolling down the FB feed, I hide them and block them.  I spent a lot of time in my younger years having debates and poking people with pointy sticks to try and make them see things my way or to try and see things their way.  I'm so over it.  Meh.

The other day I was talking with a younger friend of mine about dating and relationships.  She told me that some numbnuts told her (an unsolicited opinion, btw) the reason she didn't have a boyfriend was that she was too lazy to look for one.  :eyeroll:  Fortunately, my friend's with me - it's better to be alone than be with the wrong person.  I spent enough years with the wrong people to have learned that one the hard way, lemme tell ya.  Lucky for me, I've been with the right one for almost 15 years now.  My friend wants what we have and she's not settling for anything less.  Go her.

Yesterday, the whole area filled up with smoke.  Again.  This time we didn't bother blaming the neighbors. (Tons of them regularly burn leaves and/or trash.)  It was obviously not from around here.  Sure enough, it was out-of-state smoke.  Two controlled burns in AR.  It's like an annual Spring thing.  They burn down there, it gets smoky up here.  I joked with Hubs we could probably hang strips of salmon on the porch and they'd be smoked by morning.

It's time to spray for ticks again.  While the spray we use doesn't kill snakes, it does make them feel weird, so they avoid it.  Win-win.  Particularly good since we had what I believe was a smallish cottonmouth (as in not huge, but still probably over two-foot long) on the deck earlier in the week.  He'd seen it the day before, poking its head out from a hole in the wood siding, and the next day it came out to sun itself on the deck.  We weren't sure what kind of snake it was, not until it started to strike at us with its white mouth open.  We kept it from going back in the hole and Hubs has since stuffed the hole with steel wool.  Unfortunately, this means no more woods time for me until fall.  =o(

I've started watching a couple game shows - America Says and Common Knowledge.  They're a hoot.  If you get the Game Show Network, they start at 4pm Central and run 'til 5.  It's a nice break from the bullshit.

Speaking of hoots, I watched a video yesterday of a dad trying to get his toddler to try ketchup on her fries.  When she solemnly shook her head no, like the thought of anything on her sacred fries was disgusting, I about fell apart.  "Try it.  It'll change your life," he says.  ROFL.  She finally tries it and she has such a look of utter contentment.  Ketchup on fries... it's deep and it's real.

Sometimes the only thing keeping me from going all apeshit on the world is funny videos of puppies, kitties, and kids.

What say you this week?