Month: June 2019

Dogs, Life, Writing

Falling Down and Getting Up

1972italy

Do you ever get mad with yourself because you do something that you know you shouldn’t but do it anyway?  The consequences could’ve been worse.  As it was I slept the whole day away.  Which I supposed I did need but still.  What did I do, you ask.  I didn’t pay attention to how much beer I was drinking while I was yapping on the phone to a friend.  So when I hung up it hit me all at once.  So I laid down.  That was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.   I didn’t really get up but to go to the bathroom.  We got up at our usual 7am this morning.  Essie has been my constant shadow this morning.  When I woke up Moose was stretched out beside me and Essie was sleeping between my legs.

I did get a lot done yesterday though.  I pulled my interview together and got ok’d on the first draft.  I also pulled together the paperwork that Dad needs.  We also got some training done in the morning.  And I did have good talks with Mom and my friend.  So there is that.

So what does today hold for me?  We’ll see.  I need to get reading on the second review book.  This one story is good but the author chose to use big words and a lot of them to make a point within the story.  I understand that but it makes the reading hard going.  I am almost done with it.  I should also try a few lines on the first book review.  I have it started but I’ve never reviewed a story collection before.  It’s different to try to write about.  Instead of just one story to tell there are many.  But instead of talking about it I had better get to doing it.  Thanks for listening!  Have a great day!

Dogs, family, Holiday, Life, Thinking, Travel, Writing

Notable Things, Like Certifying in a Cemetery

1972italy

The morning has dawned foggy with a little chill in the air.  Today is the start of the National Cherry Fest in Traverse City.  With a bit of luck I will miss most of it.  I know that I will be there atleast one day because we want to go spend some time together out of the house.  I’m not driving so I am ok (mostly) with that.

I was able to sleep in today.  Moose was behind/draped over me and Essie was curled up in the crook of my legs.  Stella was towards the top crowding her Daddy. But she was in a small ball.  Everyone is back inside and asleep.  I am still yawning myself.

Today I need to get atleast my interview done and submitted.  So I may bail on helping a friend move.  Chris said he would go regardless.  When I agreed to help move him I did not realize that cleaning would be involved.  I don’t mind schlepping things from one place to another but it sounds like this is more of a cleaning party.  I am not up for that.  Even for free pizza and beer.  Although I am tempted to be honest.  It is something to get me out of the house and in a new environment.  So I may still go.  The plan was to get the front lawn mowed while Chris was gone due to his bad allergies.  Otherwise he will be here when I mow (he works in Traverse and took the week of Cherry Fest off smart guy that he is).  I will need gas for both the mower and my car.  I should also see if I have enough to do the notary thing.  I still don’t have the money from Dad but I might have enough to do it on my own right now.  I know he needs it asap.  That would need to be done well before noon as I would have to got to the post office for a notary and to send it.  Nuts.  I don’t know what postage will be.  I want to get it to him fast but I am worried about cost.  This is so he can renew his permeant citizenship status in Canada.  Bless him he waited until the last minute so I am rushing around.  Well there it is.

Ok, I kid you not.  I did a Google search for notaries where I live.  One was the UPS Store.  The other?  The local cemetery.  Whaaaat?!  Do I just knock on a random gravestone and hope for the best?!  Or is there a special section or grave I go to?  What are their hours?  Do I leave it overnight and pick it up in the morning?  What is the payment?  I could probably pull together a story from this.  Hmmm.  As a matter of fact my imagination is already going with it.  The rest of this may be garbled.  lol

I should probably get on with things.  I have a lot to do this weekend behind the keyboard.  If I start now all will be quiet and I will be (mostly) uninterrupted.  I hope everyone has a great day!  Cheers!

Dogs, Gardening, Life, Nature

Butterflies!

1972italy

This will be a short read.  I almost slept through my alarm.  I got to bed at a decent time but more storms rolled through.  The kids started around 3am this time.  So I don’t know if I am coming or going.

I was exploring our back jungle (also known as the backyard) yesterday and I found that I had caterpillars on four of my milkweed plants.  I an so very excited!  For those of you who don’t know milkweed is a plant that feeds Monarch butterflies exclusively.  The plant makes them taste bitter so that predators don’t eat them and they can complete their annual flight.  A lot of people don’t recognize what milkweed is and does so they will pull it as a common weed.  I know I did for the first few years we lived here.  Now I get more plants every year.  This year though I seem to have a bumper crop.  Over 30 plants.  Thankfully all the rain has made the plants grow large and quickly.  Past years have been too dry for them to even bud.  This year I have bud clumps the size of my fist!  When I took the kids out this morning after breakfast I noticed that some of the buds are beginning to flower!

And the clock tells me I need to get moving.  I hope everyone has a great day!

 

This is where all of my milkweed is located
These caterpillars should all grow into Monarch butterflies

 

Dogs, Emotions, Life, Nature, Thinking, Writing

Feeling a Bit Like Alice Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

1972italy

Everything feels off this morning.  Including us.  Essie started at 5am.  I got up and opened the sliding door to the backyard and left it open.  I went back to bed.  I would sleep in bursts.  Maybe 30 minutes, maybe and hour.  Essie was constantly trying to get me up.  Stella came back to be around 6:30am.  Moose was glued to me all night.  The next time I looked at the clock (after asking for more sleep from Essie about 3 times) it is 8:30am.  I thank the dogs quietly (Chris is still asleep) and get up.  All three dogs immediately go outside and stay there.  I mostly had breakfast made when Stella came in.  Essie wasn’t particularly interested but finally ate.  I had gotten my laptop and such all set up when Moose finally came back inside.  I brought him his breakfast and like Essie he wasn’t very interested in it but he ate.  Stella kept trying to get in my lap as I was doing this and finally just laid down next to me on the floor.    She has just gone outside and laid down in the sun.  I have Essie behind me on the loveseat and Moose has laid down by me on the floor.  By now he normally has moved to higher ground like the couch or his mancave.

I feel out of touch with everything.  I don’t know what to make of things.  It doesn’t feel real.  Lack of sleep?  Doing too much?  No down time?  Maybe.  Not sure.  I have the day off and plan to try to relax.  I may go and get a battery for the lawn mower.  Or I may wait til after Chris gets up.  Chris suggested that I take the kids for a ride but it is already getting too hot to do that.  So if that is the case then I would be happier if he was awake and home before I go.

Garage update: the boards around the cement were removed.  End update.  Sad isn’t it?  Mom is hitting the roof.  (As in angry lol, sorry about the pun.)

Today I really don’t want to do anything.  I just want to stay home to read and write.  We need to do our training today.  It has been almost three days now.  The kids have still done well but I want to try to keep going with that.  I don’t know how much will happen if Essie and Moose are not up for the hot dogs I use for training.  It might just be a Stella thing then.  We’ll see.  It is already 74F out.  Our high is supposed to be almost 90F.  I think I will be one of the few people that will enjoy the day today.  Well those that are at the beach will.

I hope I don’t have to go into Traverse for anything this weekend or next week.  Idiot season starts (or Fudgy season (because the tourists love our world famous fudge and buy tons of it).  The National Cherry Festival begins tomorrow and goes through next Saturday.  You do NOT want to have to be anywhere near Traverse.  Driving beside any body of water (and we have a LOT up here) is a game of patience and avoid the idiot.  They are all over the road (not in the slow lane or gosh pull over) trying to drive and look at the water.  It is very frustrating.  So gas and food prices will go up for the next week or so.  Most locals dread this week.

Goodness… I have been going on.  Sorry about that.  I will hold off more words for now.  Thanks for reading.  I hope you have a great day!

 

Last night’s sunset
After I got home last night I was surrounded
Did I mention I was surrounded?
Dogs, Life, Travel, Writing

No Rest For the Wicked

1972italy

I am whooped.  I got my article written and sent out.  When I left yesterday morning it was around 10am for work.  I got home around 5pm.  I had to feed the kids, load up some bottles and cans in the car (here we get 10 cents for every one we return, that comes in handy when you are short money before payday) for gas then head back out the door to cover a meeting (I left at 6pm to make sure I had time to return the bottles and cans and put a few gallons of gas in the car) at 7pm.  The meeting lasted til around 8:30pm or so.  That got me home around ten minutes to nine.  I did my best to play with the kids the hour I was home between jobs.  I guess it worked because I had no accidents when I got home.  Yay!  Sadly big storms hit just as we were going to sleep.  EVERYONE was freaked out last night.  I stopped looking at the clock after 11:45pm.

For those wondering what I did those seven hours of work I drove.  A lot.  I did my first stint helping to repo cars.  He needed someone to drive one of the vehicles back and I needed the hours.  The fun part is driving cars I otherwise would not have access to.  The downside is getting the cars from the people.  You feel a bit like an undercover detective driving around trying to find the various vehicles.  It was an interesting experience all in all.  I almost got to ride a repoed motorcycle but it was a huge bagger (essentially a big engine Harley with saddle bags) and I didn’t feel comfortable trying to ride something that big.  So I bowed out.  I’m also a bit anxious about the possibility of riding someone else’s bike (nevermind my own) sooooo future adventured may await!  lol

They are supposed to finish our garage today.  I am not holding my breath.  We had that promise last Thursday and they never showed.  Didn’t call either.  I left around five messages over the course of a few days before he finally answered the phone.  And that was Monday.  So we will see.  With the short hours they work I don’t see it happening with what still needs to be done.  I need to leave work on time today because I want to be here before they leave to make sure they are doing things right.  Unless things are done correctly and the way I want them no money.  It has been almost a year now for a garage that was supposed to be done in a few months (last fall if any of you remember).

So far no seizures for Stella after that one the other day.  Atleast none that I have been present for.  The kids are all back asleep and making their various sleep sounds.  Stella sounds like a human sometimes with the sounds she makes.  Ok, by the clock I need to get moving here.  I will try to read more of your blogs when I get home since I am short on time.  Cheers!

 

Essie and Moose
Miss Stella
This is how she slept after I got home last night
Books, Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Life, Thinking, Writing

Writing, Writing Everywhere

1972italy

I have been up since 6am.  Stella came and got me to go potty.  Despite being tired I praised her for getting me up and let her outside.  Essie went as well.  By the time they came back in I was more or less awake.  So here I am.  At this time tomorrow I will either be doing this or wrapping up my article to send in to the paper.  That will depend on the length of the meeting I’m covering tonight.

I finished reading one of my review books so I need to get moving on that today.  I also need to set my interview together.  I think that will be fairly easy.  We’ll see.  If I can cut and paste what I need I will be good.  If not then there will be a lot of typing going on.  My free copy of WordPerfect has expired so I don’t have that to fall back on.  I am also going thru a friend’s novella to doing an edit.  I started that last night.  I do need to touchbase with him and let him know I am still working on it.

Moose is doing his soft woof just outside the door to let me know that there are dogs barking in the area.  The girls barely registered his going outside.

I want to start another long term writing project but I don’t know what to do.  Should I get one of my novels cleaned up or just start something new?  I want to do both and I probably could if I wanted to.  But do I want to?

And this whole Twitter thing… I have no idea how it works or doesn’t work.  So many people seem to spend their time on there talking about writing (or talking about anything but) and they are on there all the time.  How do you get anything done?  And what do you do when someone retweets something you are mentioned in?  Like it?  Ignore it?  How often am I expected to Tweet?  I have other things to do other than troll through all these tweets.  I don’t care what so-and-so just liked or that they shared someone’s Tweet.  I just don’t.  There seems to be some sort of edict manual that everyone but me has read or had access to.  I just don’t understand that world I guess.

It has started out chilly and wet this morning.  A nice break from the heat.  We are supposed to get up to 81F today.  I don’t know if I am going to go on a run with a friend today or not.  If not then I can spend the day working on my writing.  I am pretty pleased with how I am actually making a consistent effort to do this.  Despite fears and anxieties.

Well I’d better stop before this gets much longer.  I try to keep this to a readable length so you can buzz in and buzz out in short order.  I hope everyone has a great day!

Dogs, Life, Thinking

A Calm, If Not Too Early, Morning

1972italy

For whatever reason the girls were up early.  Stella came to bed around 6:30am and a few minutes later (because I moved to make room for Stella) Essie assumed we were getting up so she got up and tried to get by Moose to get to me.  No one moved so she laid down where she was (pushing Chris over).  Stella thought that things were moving too much so a few minutes later she gets back down and comes back out to the living room.  Essie now gets back up to claim the spot where Stella was and drapes over my legs.  So I guess we are getting up.

It started clouding up around 6 or 6:30pm last night.  We got rain sneezes but not anything significant til after dark.  I think it has been going pretty steady ever since.  It is chillier than the 80F+ that we had yesterday but that is ok.  The weekend was beautiful.  This will cool things off.

I need to makes sure I am out the door a few minutes early because I have people coming to look at the damage to the lot and see about repairing it.  They are slotted to be there from 8am til 11am.  So I need to get my stuff done before they get there.  I have gotten everything packed so all I need to do is get dressed, refill my coffee and water and take care of the kids.

I didn’t do much of anything yesterday.  We spent most of the time outside and I read.  We did our training early on.  The only bad thing that happened yesterday was I thing Stella had a mini seizure.  I remember them from when Minion was alive.  I was hoping not to see anything for a few years.  Minion was gone within a year or so after the first symptoms.  I hope Stella has more time.

Everyone is back asleep.  This morning is a good one for that.  There is a quiet breeze coming in through the door (I’ve got is open wide enough for them to get in and out) that is cooling things nicely.  I could stretch out and snooze myself.  But no can do.  I will leave you with pictures of snoozing pups.  Have a great day!

 

Aging, Creativity, Dogs, Life, Thinking, Writing

Worries and Fun Stuff

1972italy

I find myself worrying more and more about Essie.  She doesn’t seem as carefree as she once did.  I’m not sure if it’s just that she’s getting older (she will be 9 years old on July 3rd) or if she hurts (she is starting to have problems getting up and down on things like the bed or in and out of the car).  Yes she and the others are on supplements for hips and joints.  She has problems getting up and walking some days after laying down.

img_4840

Little stinker.  As I was typing that she came bebopping in and gave me kisses with a big Pitty smile on her face.  I gave her her frisbee.  She wants to play “tea kettle” but she has to wait until Daddy gets up.  (“Tea kettle” is something I played with her big brother Max long before she ever arrived.  I have no idea how she found out about it unless Max told her about it.  (Yes, Max was one of our many dogs.)  With the game I will click the small lid of the tea kettle at her and she will bark and attack it then rush off to find a toy to shake the shit out of (it’s that violent) while she barks and does circles and attacks the kettle some more.)  But every time I go into the kitchen she follows and looks hopefully at the stove top when her kettle sits.

The kids are now rotating being out in the sun.  Essie is behind me on the love seat and the other two are outside in the sun.  Before they were in with me and Essie was outside.  It was supposed to be overcast with thunderstorms.  Hmmmmm.  I beg to differ.  I don’t see a cloud out there.  Oh!  I stand corrected!  Moose is in here as well.  He just stretched and he is on the floor mostly in front of the table I am sitting at.  I never saw him come in.

I have one more short story to read in the first review book then I can get going on the review.  I’m not sure what to do with my interview as I thought I put it together and then sent it in.  I may just have to send them my questions with the response and they put it together.  That would be handy.  But we shall see.  I  am looking forward to getting this stuff ready to go.  I seem to be able to spend a month or so on a project (small one) before I will get bored with it.  Some times I’m ok.  But if I don’t get through a book in a month I’m not going to finish reading it any time soon.  Usually I can crank through on in a week or so (say about 400 pages).  Some of my mysteries I have devoured in a day (about 230-300 pages).  Normally I have two books going at one time.  That way if I don’t feel like reading one I have something else to fall back on.

The kids are insisting that I stop doing this and go outside with them.  Stella has wandered in and sat in my lap.  Soooo I guess I’d better!  Have a great day!

 

 

Dogs, Emotions, Life, Motorcycles, Thinking

Feeling In a Funk

1972italy

I should be in a better frame of mind.  But I’m not.  Anxiety is kicking in.  Today should be beautiful.  I don’t know if that will help.  I probably could’ve slept in but Essie needed to go out and I couldn’t shut my mind up.  So here we are.

I have a lot of reading to do this weekend.  I also need to make sure we do our training as well.  With everything that was going on yesterday I never did it.  Now that I’m thinking it I should’ve realized that I would feel like this today.  Whenever I have a really good day the next day seems to just put me in a funk.  I need to go out and back into Traverse again when I am done with this.  I am 60 cents short for a bill that will come out on Monday.  So I have to scrounge my coins for that and drive back in.  I may or may not take the kids.  This early I hate to have them make too much fuss because Chris is sleeping.

For once I have the time to write.  But I’m sitting here staring at the screen listening to the dogs sleep.  Moose has the occasional nasally intake of air.  Essie you can hear breathe interspersed with the occasional snore.  Stella just readjusted herself and sighed sounding just like a human.  (Note to self: if you need to make corrections do it when it happens because if you go back and try to fix it you will have to rewrite what you have written.  I don’t know why computers do this.  One day you can go and edit and be fine then the next you try to edit the same way and as you type your changes in you are literally typing over what is already written.  It won’t just change a word for you.  You delete a letter and try to retype it it just continues right over the top of what you have written.  Very frustrating because you never know when the computer will change back and forth from one format to the other.)

I guess all the death in the news this morning did not help.  There was a massive crash that involved six motorcycles and a truck (domestic not a semi).  I think it was in New Hampshire.  Many dead.  Then there is the random violence you read about everyday that seems to pop out more when I feel like this.  A man shot is fiancée’s Mom and killed her.  But I keep coming back to the motorcycle deaths.  There seem to be more this year.  Well each year to be truthful.  And with the week of idiots almost upon us (Traverse City is the Cherry Capital of the World and as such we have Cherry Fest every year the week of the 4th of July which means that we and inundated with tourists) I hesitate to ride my bike.  Atleast we are not in Traverse but we still get our share of them.  And they are too busy gawking at the water, each other, their phones trying to take pictures or trying to figure out how to get somewhere to be bothered with driving.  (Dammit.  I see a typo further up in the paragraph and I can’t fix it without rewriting the whole damn paragraph.)  I just don’t want to deal with the bullshit.  We are expected to be nice and grateful because they are bringing all this money to the area.  But what they are bringing is more stupid people on the roads, price hikes in everything for the locals, crowds all over…. Sorry.  I worked retail too long.  I will stop.

I also see by the clock that I can head out to the bank soon.  I think I will leave the kids here.  I am anxious enough.  This morning I will worry that I will get in an accident with them in the car.  Yes, that is how my mind is working this morning.  And I am getting angry because everytime I go to change something or if I miss a space the damn machine starts overwriting everything.  Time to step away before I get too angry.

I hope everyone has a good day…

Life

A Little (very little) Solstice Blog

1972italy

Blessed Solstice!  Today is the Summer Solstice or Beltane for those of who follow the Pagan path.  Sadly the days will start getting shorter after today.  (I always wondered if those living in the southern hemisphere switched the holidays and celebrate Yule since this is really their winter.)  But here it is supposed to be a beautiful day (although it is starting a bit chilly).  I have packed shorts for work.

I am running out to Mom’s after work today.  She is helping me out and I need to drop some stuff off for her.  So I will be home well after Chris has left for work.  I think he is leaving early to pick up some groceries as well (he may be stopping on the way home).  At any rate I won’t see him until tomorrow.  I had a grand scheme to write about the Solstice this morning but I managed to wake up late (despite my alarm) and so I’m running way behind.  If I think of it once I get home I will write another blog about the Solstice.

I hope everyone has a blessed first day of summer!  Sorry this is so short!  Cheers!