Thursday This n That

I remembered!  And on the right day and everything!  Nothing's gonna stop me now.  (Crap.  I started this at 6am and now it's almost 11.  I guess I suffered from an excess of exuberance there.)

This morning, we heard what I think was a screech owl.  It was calling and calling and calling, and then it made this really weird downward trill and went silent.  Suddenly, it all made sense.  Fledgling was calling for its parents to feed it and when one of them arrived with food, it was really excited.  :shrug:  I could be right.  Anyway, against the early morning light, I think I saw one of them fly past.  

On another note, if you've ever heard a screech owl, you know why people thought there were such things as Banshees.  

Man, this heat is sucking the will right out of me.  I mean, yeah, we have AC, but we're still going out back to smoke, so there's that.  Okay, maybe it's all in my head and I'm just lazy.

The post office is pissing me off again.  This new guy they have on Mondays when my regular guy is off (he works Tues-Sat) is as bad as the last Monday guy.  Derp.  

Sawyer just tried to jump into my lap, missed slightly, and skewered my leg.  I love him, but dang, he's a spazz sometimes.

Like I said, I start this early and now it's late morning and I am bereft of things to add, so I'll just wander off.  Bye.

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.

Friday This n That

 What the hell is wrong with me?  I totally didn't even think yesterday was Thursday, so I then totally didn't do a damn post.  This is becoming a regular thing with me.  Derp.

I saw a neat news story about a kid in Montana who lassoed a guy drowning in a river and pulled him to safety.  Awesome.  I like news about good kids.  It kinda makes all the bad stuff a bit better, ya know?

Speaking of good stuff, yesterday evening, we had four baby raccoons and their mama in the yard.  They were all just sorta hanging out together near the deer feed and munching on leftover protein pellets.  Then mom left.  A few minutes later, the four babies trundled after her in a line, following her scent trail like she'd drawn a line behind her.  She walked through the two water pans, so they walked through the water pans.  I mean, she was already out of sight when they went after her, so it had to be a scent trail, right?  They were so cute.  And yes, I know raccoons can be destructive little bastards, but we haven't had a problem with raccoons being destructive.  Ours are just cute.  :knock on wood:  And no, I didn't have my trail cam out.  I keep forgetting to put it up.

Growing old sucks.

I have been a total toad lately, especially about being active.  Thus, everything hurts.  I know it's anti-intuitive, but it's true.  The less active I am, the more I end up hurting.  Now that the temps are finally beginning to be not-gross, I'll get back outside and do some active things.  Maybe I'll take a walk today.

Speaking of toads, we had one in the garage.  Hubs saw it about a week ago, but he couldn't catch it.  I saw it yesterday and tried to catch it myself.  It was probably quite a sight to see this old lady bent over trying to catch a toad.  Anyway, it hopped under the Jeep, so I got the fishing net.  I'm happy to say the toad is now outside and no one got injured in the process.  (Okay, the toad peed on my hand.  That's what toads do.)

Yesterday, my Roku kind of freaked out and disappeared most of my saved programs, so there I was trying to figure out what was missing, which ain't easy for a memory like mine.  Later in the day, it showed that stuff again, so yay.  Except now it's trying to put all my programs back at the beginning.  It better fix that crap, because I have no idea what seasons/episodes I'm at in those programs, damn it.  I mean, MasterChef UK has a ton of seasons and each season has a ton of episodes, so it'll be a bitch to locate the exact one we last saw so we can watch the next one.  I think we're on season 4 or is it 6, and episode twenty-something... Argh.

I cut my nails yesterday and now I can't type.  Derp.

Okay, I probably should go do something constructive.  Have a great day, and drop some comments if you're of a mind to.  Peace out.

Friday This n That

 Yeah, I'm a day late.  I had intended to type up a post yesterday, but I was running late and then I got distracted, and well, you know what my father always said... "Intentions are for shit."  So, here I am on Friday again.  And I was doing so well last week.

I just saw a post on FB coming from someone who works at a university.  He recently received a letter from a university administrator, telling him that keeping books on his shelves is 'the unnecessary storing of combustible material.'  Think about that for a second  You can't keep books on your shelves AT A UNIVERSITY.  I'm seriously losing hope for this world.

Last night, I went to bed on time.  I've been really good about staying up to write every night, but last night I was tired.  So tired.  And guess what?  I still rolled around in bed like a damn gas station hotdog for hours.  Hubs keeps trying to fix my insomnia by giving me suggestions, bless his heart.  You know the ones - past a certain hour, stay away from the sugar (check) and the caffeine (check), cut down on the TV before bed (well, I'm writing before bed, so there's that).  I've tried listening to gentle music, nope.  It gets added to the mental jukebox that plays every song I've ever heard while I'm trying to sleep.  Mom has suggestions, too, and I've tried those.  I don't know what to think about it all.  Maybe my brain is just overly active lately.  I am writing a new book, after all, and the neurons are firing like Independence Day up there due to that.  Of course, the heat doesn't help.  If I could just get cool, I could get comfortable, and if I was comfortable, I could shut my brain up.  Maybe.  Eh, it's a theory.

I need to go grocery shopping while it's still cool.  It's supposed to get ungodly hot next week.  Problem is, I don't want to go grocery shopping today.  Meh.  I probably will, but I'd like it on record that I went under protest.

We have two yearling bucks hanging around the yard.  One is Scout, which is Sissy's fawn from last year.  The other we have named Ranger.  

Okay, I think that's it.  It's after 8 and I need to get my ass in gear.  Have a great day wherever you are and whatever you do.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

 I've woken up after six every morning since I started writing again - even after the nights I don't write.  This isn't doing my marketing any good, but... :shrug:  I'd like to say it means I'm sleeping better, but it doesn't.  For instance, I didn't write last night.  9 o'clock hit and I was TIRED, so I went to bed with Hubs.  And I laid there, and I rolled around like a gas-station hot dog, and I got up several times to 1) take an Aleve, 2) use the bathroom, 3) get an antacid.  The last time was like 12:30 - then I slept 'til 6.  Anyway, by the time I'm alert enough to do anything, it's almost time to call Mom.  I could call her later or skip it, but then she'd worry.  She says she doesn't worry, but when I call later than usual, she always picks up and is all like 'what happened?', and then I feel guilty, so I don't call late.

Hel-LO, rambling paragraph.  

Sawyer's bugging me for treats.  He gets treats at 7, but he starts pestering around 6:15.

Coffee is awesome.

I have a pile of sticky notes for my WIP.  When I write whatever it is they're reminding me about, I toss them, but I've got notes for closer to the end that will sit here until I get there.  Underneath those are notes for Shroudlands #2.  I really should get organized, but I'm lazy.

My greenhouse has become a mosquito sanctuary.  I unzip the door and bzzzzzzz.  And those suckers are HUNGRY.  It takes me about ten minutes to water everything inside and in that time, I get at least a half-dozen bites.  I mean, at least they're not oak mites, but still.  They get inside through the slats in the deck and then I think they're too stupid to get out, so they wait and while they wait, they don't eat, which makes them ravenous by the time I walk in to water the plants.  I need to bug bomb the place, but I don't want to bug bomb plants that will eventually make food.

I'm constantly amazed at how stupid people are on the internet.  I shouldn't be, but I am.  Not that I'm not occasionally stupid, but I usually keep my stupidity to myself.  Or I treat Hubs with it.  I try not to broadcast it for the world to see.  Remember folks, just because you CAN say something doesn't mean you NEED TO.  Comments aren't always necessary.  Of course, if you're here and you'd like to make a comment, go for it.  If you accidentally say something stupid, I'll make sure it doesn't make it out to the world.  ;o)

Okay, I'd better get this cat a treat before he shreds my legs trying to get me to notice him.  Have a great day.  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.

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!

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:

Thursday This n That

 I'm late, but not as late as I was last week, so that's progress, right? 

I woke up later than usual today and somewhere between the bathroom and my first cup of coffee, a thought occurred to me... IT'S THURSDAY!  And panic ensued because 1) I hadn't sent in my timesheet for the week and 2) I hadn't done the spreadsheet I received yesterday which needed to be done so it could go on the timesheet so I could get paid for it this week.  Needless to say, I got my cup of coffee, had a quick smoke, and got to work.  I got it all finished before 7am (which is 8am office time and when my sis gets in and starts doing payroll) and finally took a sip of my coffee.  It was cold by then, but hey, I got 'er done.  

Nothing like a bit of panic first thing to really wake a gal up.

I'm a bit sore today from wrestling the feather topper thing into its newly-created pillowcase.  Derp.

Since I didn't do any marketing this week, I'm sitting at 38c in earnings.  3c in page reads and one 35c sale of Dying Embers.  Woot.  Go me.  This shows me that I really need to get off my ass next week.  

We have a little fox who's been hanging around the general area lately.  We see it just about every day now.  It's super cute.  It's probably from last year's litter.  Awww.  I'm happy to have foxes around the house.  They eat destructive critters and I'm rooting for it to eat that blasted packrat, which is probably the reason why all my lilies recently got munched.  (Probably since I moved all the deck plants out of munching range.)

Living in the woods is awesome, but it does have its downsides.  One being critters munching my plants.  Another is that once the leaves fill out with leaves, we don't really see much in the way of stars at night or rainbows during the day.  :shrug:  It's a tradeoff.

I keep forgetting to set up my game camera.  Derp.  Maybe today I'll remember.  We'll see if I make it from doing this to doing that without the TV getting in the way.

Speaking of the TV, I'm convinced that Roku is evil.  There are so many awesome things to watch that I get distracted by it easily.  I sit down to eat breakfast and watch one show, and the next thing I know, it's bedtime and I've wasted the whole damn day.  I really need to start policing that.  And I will, right after I eat breakfast and watch my one show.  XoP.

I had a thought the other night that I would get back to wood carving and start my own like Etsy store or something and I would call it XoP Designs.  (If you don't know what XoP is, turn your head sideways and look at it again.  It's the old way of doing a face with squinty eyes, a little round nose, and a mouth with the tongue sticking out.)

And on that note, I should probably go be productive or something.  I really need to tend my garden, clean the house, cut my hair, and sequester myself in a room until I edit or write something.  (For the record, I am NOT ready to retire from writing.  I may not be doing it but retiring isn't in the plans either.)

Peace out.

Thursday This n That (delayed)

ACK!  I started this post yesterday morning and never finished it.  Derp. Here's what I said then...

I made pizza last night and now my hands are killing me.  It was totally worth it.

Yesterday, my new greenhouse arrived.  I'll work on putting it together today, I think.  We'll see if the hands allow it.  Then we'll see if it works to foil the critter's plans.  Our new mower arrived, too.  That's Hubs' job.  We'll help each other if we need it.

We're going on 22 years married.  For the most part, the us part has been pretty easy.  That's what happens when you're with the right person.  Yay.

And now for the stuff I didn't write yesterday morning...

I did put the greenhouse up, put blocks around the base to hold it down and keep critters out, and populated it with plants.  This morning, no signs the critter has been back, but it's early yet.

No sign of the marauding mouse from the other night.  

Hubs put together the mower and mowed a little to see if he had the height settings right.  It works like a dream.  Yay.

Gah, Sawyer's being really annoying this morning.  This is an especially bad morning for him to be a turd, as I am really sore from the activities of yesterday.  Putting together the greenhouse was pretty easy, except for being on my feet for so long, and then the moving of all those pots, and the sweeping beforehand. 

I really should go grocery shopping today, except the aforementioned soreness is making me really not want to go.

Bitchbitchbitchbitch.  Why yes, I would like some cheese...

What's on your this-n-that list today?

Totally Forgot Thursday

 LOL, Totally Forgot Thursday should be a thing and it should always be posted on Friday.  I could make it a list of things I totally forgot, which would be long... if I could remember to write down all the things I forgot.

Pedro Potato fell over yesterday.  I totally didn't think about staking him up and how does one stake up a potato plant that's already a couple feet tall without staking potential potatoes??  I managed it, I think, but time will tell whether I harshed any spuds.  Anyway, he seems fine this morning, so no harm done, I guess.

I went out of my way to hit the other local thrift store and while they did have a lot of books, I only found two I wanted.  What a waste of gas.  The books, you ask?  The Surgeon by Tess Garretson and a three book volume of 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain.  Cost?  75c.  I would've made out like a bandit if I'd been into Danielle Steel or James Patterson, but alas, I'm not a fan of either of those authors.

Sawyer woke us up this morning at 4am.  He was trying to jump to the top of the big chest of drawers.  He missed... he always misses... but he managed to knock the bottle of antacids on the floor.  Scared the crap out of himself and woke us both up rather rudely.  Sometimes... to the moon, cat.

I hate when I get an email touting 'free shipping' and it's only on order over a certain amount.  This last one seemed like it was for any order and only for a limited time, but it's their regular free shipping amount.  Dirty pool, chaps.  That's one way to get me to not buy anything from you ever.

Sawyer's being a picky eater right now.  Turd.  I mean, Finn's always been a picky eater, but Finn also doesn't bitch when he doesn't get fed his favorite foods.  He simply chooses not to eat what he doesn't like.  Sawyer?  Nope.  'FEED ME... I don't LIKE that... FEED ME SOMETHING ELSE!'  He's my problem child.  We do love him, but ugh.  (And before you wonder, he's fine.  He's also not in danger of starving to death.)

Ugh, I meant to take a shower yesterday, but I wasn't in the mood.  I figured I could take a shower when I got up this morning.  This morning?  Thunderstorms.  Blerg.  That'll teach me.

Okay, that's probably enough out of me.  Any snippets of wisdom from you?  Anything you totally forgot that you'd like to mention?  Comment away.

Thursday This n That

On a short continuance from yesterday, let me just say that I did not have roaming hippos in Columbia on my bingo card. (Was talking about it here a HIPPO violation?  ROFL)

Yesterday, I removed the 'feather bed mimic' topper thing from our bed.  The dang thing was lumpy as all get out.  That and the constant fluffing of it were getting to be a pain in the everywhere.  Last night, I did have a devil of a time getting to sleep, but I must've slept better.  We'll see how it goes.

Getting old blows.

Okay, I'm old.  (Yeah, yeah, not as old as some.)  I was thinking the other day about my grandmother and how she was.  I realized I will never be as old in my head as my grandmother was.  Then again, Grandma was never as old as I thought she was.  Hearing stories from Mom about her tell me that I was mistaken about her on several points.  Oh, she was not a pleasant woman and would never be mistaken for the warm and cuddly grandmas some people have.  I was talking with my sister and we agreed that Grandma was a bitch.  But really when Grandma was younger, she was a tough, pants-wearing, hard-working chick who liked parties and doing things women weren't supposed to do back then.  Maybe she was bitchy because as she got old, she couldn't be the woman she knew herself to be, which would make anyone bitchy, I guess.

You hear all the time about men withholding stuff from the wives during a divorce, but I just read a case where it was the woman.  She's in jail now until she forks over the stuff that the court already said belonged to her ex-husband or pays him the value of those things.  Equal rights for women means being equal in this shit, too.  Good for the judge.  Feminists wanted everything equal, where there ya go.  Choke on it.

Pedro Potato is getting tall.  Go, Pedro!  I'm not sure if he's actually making potatoes under there.  The only way to tell is to dig him up, the thought of which makes me sad.  It'll have to be done eventually, but until then, I'll enjoy him as the healthy plant he is.

We had a hell of a storm last night.  Thankfully, I'd already moved all my pots under the eaves, so they got at least some protection.  At around 2am, it got really nasty and I wondered if I did indeed hear a train in the distance.  (We have no tracks anywhere near here... by train, I mean tornado.)  I checked the yard this morning and all is well.

And on that note, I have to go make my daily call to Mom.  Have a great day everyone.  Peace out.

Thursday This n That

The saga of Brightspeed still lives.   In case you don't remember, we kicked Brightspeed to the curb last July and have since continued to receive information from them.  I've called and called, to no avail.  I finally gave up on them in October.  I figured if they wanted to continue to waste money on me, more power to them.  Well, I gave up on the giving up.  You see, a few days ago, we started getting calls from Brightspeed, giving us updates on the service repair in our area.  After the third time of one of us running across the house to make sure it wasn't family only to see it was Brightspeed, I went to their website, found a complaint email addy, and wrote them a stern missive.  Lo and behold, yesterday afternoon, we got another call about the service repair and I was pissed.  Minutes after that, the phone rang again and it was Brightspeed again.  I picked up with every intention of shouting at the recorded message.  Needless to say, I was shocked to find an actual person on the line.  She was calling about the email I sent.  I explained everything to her, reiterating what was in my email and adding additional info.  She was nice - and American, I might add - and she vowed to get this cleared up.  Fingers crossed it actually happens this time.  No offense to her, but I've heard it before.  :shrug:

I don't know about you, but I get tired of dealing with the same shit every day.  And no, I don't want different shit.  I want a cessation of shit.  Is that too much to ask?

Speaking of dealing with shit, Facebook is intermittently preventing me from reacting to posts.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.  I just can't do it and get a snotty message when I try.  Blerg.

From the tiny acorn grows the mighty oak.  Well, yeah, but have you ever seen a sycamore seed?  Those things aren't much bigger than dandelion seeds and from those suckers grows an even mightier sycamore.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of oaks, but sycamores are huge.  (Says the woman who just watched her husband chainsaw a 50 ft sycamore that had fallen on our land.)  For that matter, have you ever seen an elm seed?  They look like tiny frisbees - smaller than a dime - with a lump in the center.  From those grow the majestic elm.  All I'm saying is trees are amazing.

I just started reading Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani.  The first chapter is all about 9/11.  It's a hard thing to read about, but I guess I'm finally ready to revisit that horrible day.  I never realized how close we were to losing Rudy in all that.  I wish he'd run for President in 2008 and beat what we ended up with.  He would've been an amazing President.  I wanted him to run with Connie Rice as his VP.  They would've made an awesome duo for the leadership of this country.  

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

Thursday This n That - The Saga of the Recliner

Okay, so Hubs' recliner... well, both of our recliners... are going on 13 years old and frankly, they've seen better days.  But Hubs' chair has always been a little iffy in the seat.  Well, his springs started popping ages ago and the last time I vacuumed underneath it, I saw he only had one unbroken spring left.  I sat in it the other day and felt like I was falling through to the floor.

So, I got this idea to use strapping to replace the springs.  It was actually pretty inspired, if I do say so myself.  I ordered the strapping from Amazon - 2" heavy-duty nylon strapping in brown.  A 10-yard roll of it costs like $14.  Yesterday afternoon, Hubs reminded me that it was here and we were going to do something with it.  We flipped the chair and surveyed the problem.  

I had initially thought we could just go in there with the bolt cutters, snip off the broken springs, and then nail in lengths of strapping.  Well... It ended up being more complicated than that.  We wound up removing the entire apparatus of the rocking/reclining part of the chair.  Once that was off, yeah, it was pretty easy to cut the springs off and put the strapping on.  Then we had to put it all back together.  Which was not easy.  The whole thing took about 3 hours.  I hurt.  Hubs hurts.  But it's done.  And I curse the day Ashley, and all those who assembled these chairs, were born.

We discovered an interesting thing when we started taking the chair apart.  There are way more holes for bolts than there are actual bolts.  And the bottom part of the assembly is held on with only two wood screws.  I mean, it made taking the thing apart easier, sure, but all told, the entire assembly only had two wood screws in the bottom and four bolts in the top.  One would think there would be more.  Hell, they used two bolts just to put on the lever than makes the chair recline, for pitysakes.  Sheesh.  

We are NOT tackling my recliner any time soon.  It's only got one popped spring, so it's still viable as a sitting apparatus.  On the upside, we now know how to do it and the length we'll need to cut strips of strapping to (and the # of straps we'll need).  

The cats, who were locked in the office the whole time, were not amused.

Thursday This n That

Hang on a sec... I need more coffee... Okay, I'm back.

My Amazon order was supposed to be delivered yesterday. It was on an Amazon truck, headed this way.  We waited.  And waited.  And when it got dark, we turned the porchlight on.  At 9, we finally gave up, turned the light off and went to bed.  This morning, Amazon says it's been delayed due to weather.  No biggie.  We did have one hell of a sploosher.  Still, it would've been nice if they'd mentioned the possible delay yesterday afternoon.  Sort of a 'hey, it looks like there's a possibility of our vehicle getting either blown off the road or submerged in the deluge, so we're probably not gonna make it' thing.  Anyway, now they're predicting delivery on the 7th.  Two days?  The weather wasn't THAT bad.  No swirly-whirlies or anything.  :shrug:  Yeah, there's nothing important in my order.  Carving design stuff mostly.  It's the idea that irritates me.

I wonder what all this rain is doing to my newly-planted carrot seeds.  Eh, time will tell.

The coffee's not helping yet.  I need a smoke.  Hang on.  Be right back...  Okay.  Thanks.

Yesterday, the neighbor kid was walking the road by himself.  He's like 7, I think.  He's a good kid and this is a fairly safe neighborhood, but we were concerned.  I wasn't allowed to leave the yard by myself until I was 10.  Of course, we did have those boys that got murdered about 10 minutes east of town when I was little.  Maybe I worry too much.  It's the grandmother genes I will never use poking their heads out, most likely.

Of course, after that, the episodes of the crime shows we wanted to watch seemed to be all about kids - one was cops tracking a pedophile ring, another one had a guy who'd murdered a kid.  We settled on an episode of Harry Wild that only featured teens peripherally and none of them got hurt.  Then we watched a true-disaster show.  

I had planned on making my first cuts into woods yesterday, but it was so damn gloomy out that the light sucked out on the sunporch where I wanted to carve.  Oh, well.  The wood's not going anywhere.

Okay, I think that's it for me.  Anything you want to add?

Thursday This n That

Yesterday, I got a wild hair to mop the smoking porch floor.  First, I had to vacuum, then I had to move all the furniture to one side, then I mopped.  Wait for it to dry, repeat with the other side.  Yes, I'm paying for it today.  Even though Hubs did help move furniture.  Ah, well, it looks nice and it smells good.  Murphy's Oil Soap for the win.

Today, it's a Wallyworld trip.  I need groceries, but I also need a new coffee maker.  This one isn't dead yet, but it's on its last legs.  And I need a new phone.  This one is only holding a charge for about a 45 minute call and I like to talk to Mom for about an hour.  It's really annoying when it starts its low-battery beep before I'm done talking.

Dollar General ice cream is better than Walmart ice cream.  There, I said it.  And I mean it.

I'm really getting jazzed about my new wood carving hobby.  My tools are supposed to be here tomorrow.  Yay.  Yesterday, I researched wood while I was waiting for the floor to dry.  Turns out cedar is excellent to carve, which is good because we have A LOT of cedar.  Yay.  I'll practice on that before I dive into the better woods.  I'm thinking about carving beavers on my pieces of beaver-chewed wood.  I know that a little obvious, but it works for me.

DE is still flying off the shelves.  I'm up to 562 downloads.  And now I'm seeing page reads, so there's another yay.

Hubs made me dinner last night, bless his heart.  I was bushed.  

When is Easter?  :googles:  Sunday, April 5th.  Whew, I don't need to think about it for another month.  Not that we do anything special, except dinner.  Easter dinner is always a thing.

We've been watching Killing Eve.  Yeah, I'm probably the last person to watch it.  I had to wait until it was free, so there's that.  Anyway, it's really good so far.  Although, it seems to me that Sandra Oh is just making Eve be Christine Yang as a spy rather than a surgeon.  :shrug:  I'm okay with that.  I liked Yang.  We also found a neat medical drama called Monroe.  It's kinda like House, but Monroe is nicer and he has a brogue.  Love me some Irish brogue.

Okay, I should probably get off my butt and do my shopping.  Have a great day wherever you are.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That

Rumors of my death are probably circulating.  Don't believe them.  I'm not dead, even if I would've wished for it after a week of this creepy crud.  Just when you think you're done with it, it circles back and kicks you in the nards.  Today, I almost feel human, so fingers crossed.  Yesterday, I felt almost human and zipped to the DG for a few things, which laid me out for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow, I definitely have to go grocery shopping whether I'm up to it or not.  

I've been watching the Olympics... well, watching little bites of the Olympics anyway.  Most of the Olympics are behind a pay wall, so I'm only watching short videos that are free.  It's not as exciting as usual, because I could already know what happens, but it'll do.  I refuse to pay NBC for anything.  (Like I already refuse to pay PBS or BBC.)  If it ain't free, I guess I'll go without.  

Okay, so maybe I'd be willing to pay a subscription if I could find a service that wasn't run by leftist assholes.  I was really into getting a BritBox subscription, but then I found out they're owned by BBC, which is run by such loathsome people I can't see sending them even a penny of my money.  This, of course, makes me sad, because I was really looking forward to a long stretch of watching Inspector Morse from start to finish, followed by Lewis.  Not sad enough to send money to the BBC, of course, but still sad.

Thank goodness for coffee.

Sawyer is being a pain the ass this morning.  I guess I should be happy that he's doing this in the morning rather than at night while I'm trying to sleep.  I know what his problem is... it's the same problem every morning...  He wants to eat.  And he doesn't want to eat kibbles.  He wants wet food.  NOW.  Not after 9am which used to be after 10am which used to be noon.  I've drawn the line at 9 and no earlier.  Meanwhile, Finn is sleeping.  

It's been so warm lately, I'm getting the urge to garden.  Except I know as soon as I garden, the weather will turn and it'll freeze, killing all my hard work.  So I wait.

And that's it for me today.  I'm going to wander back to my recliner and veg.  Take it easy today, wherever you are.  :hugs:

Thursday This n That - Plague Version

Sorry I'm late.

Being sick sucks.

Good news: I'm on the road to recovery. 

Bad news: Hubs had got it, too, and he's about 2 days behind me, plus he got a worser version of it.

Yeah, I know worser isn't a word.  But it fits, so there ya go.

Bad news Part 2: Since I'm feeling better first, I'm the one doing all the things left undone while we suffered.  Next time, I'm making sure Hubs gets over it first.  ;o)

Once I get done with the honey-dos, I am getting in the shower because ew.

I haven't had ice cream in like 4 days.  You know it's bad when I don't eat ice cream.

I managed to get to the DG.  Didn't want to. Had to.  We were out of cough syrup, chicken soup, and honey.  And lemon juice, but I forgot that so we're still out of it.  Nerts.  I've been mainlining tea and cough syrup.  

I haven't eaten much other than soup for days.  I'm having a fucking hamburger for lunch.  Dammit.

Okay, that's about all I'm good for right now.  Have a great day and don't catch this crap, whatever it is, if you can help it.  (Probably got it from some unwashed heathen touching stuff at the Walmart, which I then touched and brought home with me.  Purell, people.  Seriously.)

Thursday This n That

I just stumbled across a British psychologist pimping his services in a FB book marketing group.  Sure, writers probably do need loads of mental help, and thus, it could be a brilliant strategy for this dude to gain more clients, but I blocked him.  Turd.  Those groups are for marketing books, not services.  Shoo shoo.

I've got cabin fever.  (Cue song from Muppet Treasure Island.) I really need to get my lard-ass outside today before I start dancing around in a turban made of fruit.

We found a neat new-to-us show - Touching Evil - with Robson Green.  I really do love Robson Green.  And those piercing blue eyes... :swoon:  The show only ran a couple seasons, but it's really worth watching if you're into gritty crime dramas.

Everything is covered in snow.  Which is weird for here.  We got about 9 inches worth and it's not warming up enough to melt it quickly.  Plus, it's supposed to be freakin' cold again this weekend.  Bleh.

On the upside, the cold is making all the critters so fluffy.  Cuteness overload.  The birds are balls with legs.  The deer look like stuffed animals.  I want to snuggle them all up.  I won't, but I want to.  Deer do not LIKE to be snuggled.

I'm at that point in my writing career where I'm doubting everything I've ever done.  woot.  It happens every now and then, and it will pass.

I've been blocking a lot of people on FB again.  Frickin' nutburgers.  

Last night, I made pizza for dinner.  It's been a while since I did pizza and let me tell ya, I can feel all that kneading this morning.  Derp.  It was worth it.  It always is.

Okay, I think I've run out of witty things to say today.  Anything witty on your end?

Thursday This n That

I went to Wallyworld yesterday.  They've already put out a bunch of gardening stuff, including seeds.  It's too early!  Oh, and I got an email from Tractor Supply about it being time to start planning my garden.  No.  (Okay, yeah, I've already been thinking about it, but it's too early to actually do anything about it.)

Wow.  You can really see the dark side of the moon this morning.

I love the internet sometimes.  Oh, sure, it's rife with misinformation and morons abound, but it's pretty cool, too.  For instance, Hubs and I were talking about something the other morning and I mentioned how I babysat 3 kids when I was 13.  Which got me to thinking about those kids.  Which led to me running a search on them, starting with the oldest.  And well, shit, he's a clinical psychologist now.  Good for him.  He was a good kid and pretty smart at the time.  And now he's 50 and life seems good for him.  Yay.

What we were talking about is, on the off chance we have to both go out of town at the same time, we should get the neighbor girl (age 13 almost 14) to watch the cats - give her a key and instructions, etc.  He was worried that she was too young to cope in the event of an emergency, which was when I pointed out that I watched 3 children ages 8, 6, and 4 when I was 13.  Of course, times have changed and 13 ain't what it used to be.  Hell, in the olden days, some girls were married at 13.  (Jerry Lee Lewis married a 13-year-old, for instance.  I mean, ew, but it happened.)

Mom and I were talking the other day about swearing.  She never swears.  (Okay, every rare once in a while, she'll say ass or bitch, but that's it.)  She feels it shows a certain amount ignorance and laziness, and if you're smart / not lazy, you can find other words to use.  My standpoint is to use the best word for the situation and sometimes a swear word fits better than any other.  She had to admit my point, but she's still not for it.  For the record, Hubs doesn't swear much either.  Although, if certain situations arise, he can belt them out with the best of us cursers.  (Yeah... about that... I'm a foul-mouthed chick sometimes.)

Night before last, we were just falling asleep when something in the backyard started barking.  LOUD.  And it wouldn't shut up.  Even after I went to the window and banged.  Even after I walked into the bathroom, opened that window and told it to shut up.  It was only slamming the window shut that encouraged it to move off - but not to stop because I could still hear it barking as it moved off into the night.  We think it was a fox.  After doing a little research, foxes bark for three main reasons - defining their territorial boundaries, alerting others to a predator, and looking for a mate (which generally happens in late winter... which is now, I guess.)  

Okay, I think that's enough out of me for now.  Anything good in your this-n-that basket today?