Thursday This n That

 I'm up early and I remembered to write a post. That's one for me. You can thank the cats, darling little turds that they are, for getting me up.

Ut oh.  It looks like Sawyer is stalking my desk chair.  He thinks it's his kitty bed and he's more than prepared to oust me from it whenever the mood strikes him.  His standard operating procedure is to jump onto the back of the chair and then pat at my shoulders until I move.  If I don't move quick enough, he slides down the back of the chair behind me and thunder-butts his way onto the chair.  I usually give up and switch to my back up chair.  Life's easier when you just let him have his way.  Spoiled brat cat.

I haven't weighed the brats in a while, but I'm pretty sure Finn finally caught up to Sawyer.  I like big cats and I cannot lie.

I'm pretty close to the end of Old Magic.  (Not final title.)  I just need to scrap the last 1300 words I wrote and re-do that scene, then write the ending and the denouement.  I'm not going to try to guess how many more words.  It'll be what it'll be.  Maybe when I finish the first draft of this, I'll finally edit DN3.

The fawns are losing their spots.  :sadface:

This heat has got to go.  It's the middle of September, for pitysakes.  I mean, this is getting a little ridiculous.

And I walked away from the computer and forgot I was writing this, so an hour has gone by.  Derp.  I'm like that all the time.

Which reminds me, I've been watching Steven Wright videos.  He slays me.  If you don't know who he is, go forth and find him.  Watch the videos of him.  If you don't laugh, you're probably not going to get me either.  :shrug:

I've also been finding videos made from old footage of people doing things in the old way - an 80-year-old guy in Kentucky making a chair, a group of dudes in Finland building a log home.  Those two were made in the 1970s and they're pretty awesome.  Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

Okay, I know I thought of other things to put on this post this week, but I can't remember them now, so they'll have to wait or remain lost to the recesses of my addled brain.  Have a great week, wherever you are.  :hugs:

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.

I Need Some Good News Baby

 Wow, the world has definitely gone crazypants lately.  I mean, have you seen it?  I can't seem to get away from it when I'm online.  WTF is wrong with people?    

Anyway, here's a song that kind of speaks to me today...

https://youtu.be/TX9ODx2_Vqk?si=a-PcrBVqo0Loe1_x

Other than that, I just don't have words...

Life and Song

 Let me tell ya, for a while there my life was all like:

And I was trying to be all...

Now it's pretty much:

But...

And I have...

How are things in your world?

Got to Have High High Hopes

Thursday This n That

Every time I see a non-book post in a FB book group - like people trying to sell furniture / real estate / clothing /etc. or throwing up videos of all sorts of crap - I get the urge to comment with 'This book sucks.  1-star.'  I haven't done it yet, but the urge is growing stronger.  For now, I just 'Hide All' from the person posting.  

I'm currently grooving on We Don't Know by the Strumbellas.  It's an awesome song...  "We don't know the roads that we're heading down, but we all know if we're lost then we'll find a way."  Deep stuff, man.  And the video cracks me up.  I remember that video game.  LOL

When I was a senior in high school, I spent a lot of time hanging out at the local arcade.  Playland, if I remember right.  It had video games and a go-cart track out back.  It was fun.  Made a lot of friends.  Then I went off to college.  I grew up and changed and it was over.  :shrug:  But I rocked at Tetris, man.  And there was this game where you could be one of four characters - barbarian, dwarf, etc. - and fight D&D type monsters that was cool.  I wish I could remember the name of that one.  Ah, the glory years.  ROFL

Speaking of D&D, I wasted untold hours playing that when I was in college.  I also think spending that much time on that game probably was a contributing factor to both my not getting a degree and to my ever-lowering GPA.  Live and learn, eh?  Shout out to Tim and Matt, though.  They were awesome friends to me and cool players.  Also, nods to Mike, Chris, Otis, Mark, and Mary Jo.  Go, them.  Last I knew, Tim was a teacher, Matt worked for the government doing forensic audits, and Mike owned a bar.  Mark and Mary Jo ended up getting married - I was the maid of honor - and they're still together.  I lost track of Chris and Otis.  (I don't remember Chris' last name and Otis... who was actually Jim, but we called him Otis, has such a normal name I can't find him online.)  We were a hella-good bunch of characters, lemme tell ya.

It's sad that I've lost contact with all the friends I've ever had.  In person friends anyway.  I've got a few internet friends I've known a long time.  :waves:  But like my best friend from high school... Margaret...  I lost touch with her and it makes me sad sometimes.  I don't think if we got together right now, we'd have anything in common anymore.  But man, we were thick as thieves in high school.  And my friends from the computer club in college - Kathy, Curtis, Pat...  Okay, I screwed that one up bigtime... long story.  Along with a bunch of people I only remember by their user handles - Beez, Coastie, Boo.  (I was Razz.)  And those D&D friends... I know where they are and what they're doing because I searched them online, not because I'm in touch with any of them.  Every job I've had, all the places I've lived, and we try to stay in touch but we don't.  Bummer.

Wow, I didn't mean to go down that rabbit hole this morning.  Regrets... I haz them.

On a happier note, I put up my Christmas tree yesterday.  I should snap a pic.  It's about the same as it always is, but this year I got to put on ornaments my mom sent me last year.  They're three little hummingbirds made with real feathers.  So pretty.  She bought them for her own tree, but they're too small, so she sent them to me for my little tree.  I'm not really in a Christmassy mood yet, but I needed to look for my cards and since I already had the boxes open, I figured why not?  Maybe it'll help me get into the holiday spirit.

What's on your this n that list today?  

Thursday This n That

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

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

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

Ah, livin' in the woods.

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

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

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

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

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?

It's Good to Be Alive

Just a little reminder... It's good to be alive...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDu93pdyBDE

 "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)"
by Andy Grammer

Uh huh
Uh huh
Ooooooh
Uh huh
Alright
Alright
Uh huh

I've been grinding so long, been trying this shit for years
And I got nothing to show, just climbing this rope right here
And if there's a man upstairs, he kept bringing me rain
But I've been sending up prayers and something's changed

I think I finally found my hallelujah
I've been waiting for this moment all my life
Now all my dreams are coming true, ya
I've been waiting for this moment

And it's good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say yeah
It's good to be alive right about now

I was dead in the water, nobody wanted me (Uh huh)
I was old news, I went cold as cold can be
But I kept throwing on coal tryna make that fire burn (Uh huh)
Sometimes you gotta get scars to get what you deserve (Uh huh)
I kept moving on and now I'm moving up (Uh huh)
Damn, I'm feeling blessed with all this love

I think I finally found my hallelujah
I've been waiting for this moment all my life
Now all my dreams are coming true, ya
I've been waiting for this moment

And it's good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say yeah
It's good to be alive right about now

I almost can-, cannot handle it
I could get u-, could get used to this
I almost can-, cannot handle it
I could get u-, could get used to this

I think I finally found my
(Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah)

And it's good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say yeah
It's good to be alive right about now

Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Alright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm still waiting for my moment, but it's still good to be alive right about now.