Month: September 2019

Books, Dogs, Life

Getting Ready For the Day

1972italy

This might be a bit short.  I am moving a bit slower than normal.  One of those days I just don’t feel like hurrying.  Essie seems very restless as well.  Up and down from various spots and to me to get attention.

The sun is up and the sky is a soft pink with gentle slashes of sky blue.  It is suppose to get up to 74F (23C) today.  Which feels odd not just because tomorrow is the first day of October but because the governor of Montana has declared a state of emergency because they got 40 inches of snow…  Better them than us but still.  That’s a lot of snow and it’s awful early for that to happen.  I’m just grateful I still get to wear shorts!

Not much will be going on at work today so I will probably be reading a lot.  I am on the last story in Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghost Stories.  I may or may not finish that today.  I should do some writing.  But we will see what happens.  I am going to give myself 5 more minutes with this then I need to get moving.

I hope everyone has a great day!

img_6248

Life

Gratitude

1972italy

We have such an amazing group of writers on here!  Each day I am amazed at not only the talent but the things we have all been through.  I want to thank everyone for sharing.  You are heroes and survivors!  I am sorry I cannot read and like everyone’s posts each day.  I feel bad because sometimes I have to go nd search for someone because I know they follow me and read my work but neither feeds on here or my phone seem to have everyone I follow.  And there are times when I cannot “like” anymore posts but I do try to read as many as I can.

Yesterday was a much needed time spent with my family here at home.  I was up til 5:30am this morning (which is why this is so late… I think I will curl back up once this is done).  We watched all of the first season of “The Masked Singer” and had a great time guessing who was who.

The morning is a vey dark one and that is ok with me.  I am pooped.  I think a wee bit more sleep will be much easier in the dark.  lol  Oh!  And before I go the garage is actually moving forward.  It is a little each day and I am grateful beyond words to actually have some forward motion with this seemingly endless project!

The kids got some new toys yesterday and everyone got tired out from playing (Moose even played tug of war with both Chris and I and he will usually just catch things and chew them).  Everyone really had a good time yesterday.

Thank you everyone for reading and liking my posts.  It means a lot that you folks care enough to come back every day and see what is going on.  I hope everyone has a great day!

this was Essie beside me last night
and my Moose
Dogs, Emotions, Life, Nature, Thinking

Blah to Frustration

1972italy

And here we are at the weekend.  I’m not sure what will happen this weekend.  Despite being happy at not having to work today I’m feeling rather blazer (I cannot get the accent to print so please read as “blah-zay”) about the whole thing.  I got solid sleep but again broken up.  It is chilly and dark out this morning.  My mood is very similar.

The birds were active (I had a group of Blue Jays right outside the door for a bit) but now have gone strangely silent.  Hmmm… should I cue the horror music?  I am not in a bad mood per say.  I just feel very blah.  I know we are going to get groceries later today.  Maybe that will help.

One a good note there has been some forward motion with the garage.  Cement has been brought out to redo the entrances to both doors and there will be more supplies coming the next few days.  I hope and pray that it can be finished by next weekend.  A lot of that will depend on when the main door arrives undamaged at Mynard’s.  This is the second door from them to be damaged.

I am sorry that this post isn’t more upbeat.  Work was steady yesterday but I was so very tired and then broken sleep again last night.  I only took one photo yesterday.  There was nothing that pulled me.  I tried to get the ripples in the clouds to be more defined.

img_6228

The kids seem no worse for wear after Thursday’s bee encounter.  I am grateful that no one is allergic.  Ok I am going to stop here because I am very angry with WordPress.  Once again it has completely wiped out what I as writing and started over.  I lost about a paragraph and a half when it reset itself.  When I tell them about it they say it is not their site but my computer.  Grrrrr.  So I will bid you all a wonderful day.  See you tomorrow.

Dogs, Life, Nature

No More Bees Please

1972italy

I am so very tired this morning.  So much seemed to happen last night.  (And this is going to take forever to write if this laptop keeps stopping of seemingly indefinite periods of time to do whatever it is doing.  Honestly!)  So I apologize for the oddness of the post (if it does get odd.  It may not.)  I talked with both my parents last night.  The bad thing happened while I was FaceTiming with Dad.  The kids all went outside and I followed because it seemed like they were going to chase something.  They apparently spooked whatever it was and proceeded to sniff around.  Then Moose relieved himself.  Right into a ground bee’s nest.  He came flying at me and I got all the bees off save one.  Then Stella managed to drop her ball in the nest.  Right in the hole.  So she comes flying at me.  I get all the bees off her but maybe two.  Once everyone is in the house (Essie for once remained bee free) I got rid of the remaining bees on them (I was able to shoo them back outside toward the nest) I went out and rescued Stella’s ball with a rake.  The door remained shut for the rest of the evening.

Moose has one or two stings and I think the same for Stella.  It is hard to tell with her due to her coloring.  You can see raised spots on Moose.  I gave both allergy meds to be safe.  Neither had been stung before and were acting a bit lethargic.  Paranoid as I am I wasn’t sure if that was due to playing or bees.  This morning everyone seems to be ok (pardon the unintentional pun).  I don’t think Stella liked the groggy effects of the medicine.  She kept randomly barking all night.

I did take a few photos yesterday (I found some awesome rocks) that I will share.  I need to wrap up as I have to go to work.  I hope everyone has a great day!

A cool fossil
This has quartz in the center
A flower on my strawberry plant!
Essie before the bee incident
Moose before the bee incident
Stella before the bee incident

 

Creativity, Dogs, family, Life, Photography

Not Much Sleep But Still Picture Perfect

1972italy

I am in a daze of sorts.  Stella started fussing around 2am.  It started as barking but I got her down to her talking (which we say she is “chewing her words” because that’s what it sounds like).  Up, down, up, down. On and off the bed she went.  Then is see the bathroom door burst open.  She only does that when she is scared.  By now it’s 2:30am so I get up.  I go to the living room with everyone in tow and open the sliding glass door and ask if she has to go out and go potty.  It’s then we notice the rain starting.  That is also when we hear thunder.  Well dammit.

Chris rode his motorcycle to work so I message him to let him know that he should gear up as he might be riding into some weather.  Once I share that info I herd my quaking pups back to the bed and turn the light on.  Before long Chris is home safe (he chased the storm home so missed everything) and we stay up and chat for a bit.  He unwinds in his office and I head to bed.  To read because I am now wide awake.  Next thing I know Chris is coming to bed and it is 4am.  I am still wide awake.  I turn the light out so everyone else can sleep and stare into the dark.  I think I finally made it to sleep around 5-5:30am.  We got up around 8am.  Needless to say I will be drinking a lot of coffee today.  The cold snap we are getting today won’t help either.  Being cold just makes me sleepy.

Well I just had a moment of panic.  As I was typing my screen went completely blank.  When it finally reappeared there was nothing on it.  Everything I had written was gone.  Fortunately everything (mostly) was saved under Draft (freaking out I checked on my phone).  And here we are.  I have no idea what happened.

I have uploaded a few photos I took yesterday.  I have started taking pictures at work as well.  This could become a very expensive habit.  For the most part I am pretty proud of what I can do with the camera on the phone.  I just get frustrated when what the camera sees is not what I see.  I find myself looking and oooo!  That would make a cool shot!  And try to grab the phone before I lose the light or moment.

Sunshine is pouring into the windows.  I think I might wander out with the kids and see what I can see.  Thanks for reading!  I hope you have a great day!

Some of last night’s sunset
There are lots of pine trees
The sky at work
My little darlings…
Creativity, Dogs, family, Life, Nature, Photography, Writing

Trying Photography

1972italy

When we got up this morning it was pitch black out.  Last night it got dark even before 8pm.  It seems to be darker a lot more than normal this year.  Usually you see the gradual encroaching of the dark.  But this year is seems to be hitting all at once.

Yesterday I took a ton of photographs.  I’m not sure how many to share with you because of the limited space here on WordPress.  But I will share some.  I pulled out Mom’s old Cannon camera as well last night.  I am going to have to find a new battery for it.  I just can’t get the detail and depth from my phone camera.  And the colors are always off.

Ok.  I picked a few to share.

This is the morning sunrise from today
This is last night
My butterfly bush still has blossoms and thus visitors
My Faery rosebush has a bunch of blooms
I found a pretty string of daisies growing along the fence
I wanted to get the definition between the clouds

I think photography would be a good creative outlet from me right now.  I didn’t do any writing besides this and my journal yesterday.  I went through my phone battery pretty well taking all the pictures (I think I did close to 100 photos all told).  An aunt (by marriage) has offered me her husband’s photography stuff.  I asked what he had and I’ve offered to send her money to ship things if we decide to make a deal.  I’m kind of excited.

Essie is really restless this morning.  She will lay down for a little bit and then start pacing.  It rained pretty good last night and she was fine.  There is nothing going on this morning so I’m not sure what the deal is.  Nuts…. I just looked at the clock.  I’m running behind.  I hope you all like the photos!  Have a great day!

Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Life, Photography, Thinking, Writing

Floating…

1972italy

This morning I’m just not feeling it.  I am trying to work up to writing something -anything- and I just don’t want to.  Read yes.  That is what took me so long this morning.  I was busy reading everyone else’s blogs instead of working on my own.  I feel empty this morning.

Last night I found myself out in the rain a lot with my phone trying to take photos.  I was getting frustrated because the beautiful colors in the sky were not being duplicated in the pictures I was taking.  It didn’t matter the angle or shading.  I just could not get the same richness of color in the photo that I saw with my eye.  They literally paled by comparison.

I have taken to long to get to writing my blog that the kids are extremely restless.  They are trying to chill out since I am now typing this but (Essie especially) I am being watched for any sign of stopping.  I guess part of my problem is that I found out my meeting was cancelled.  I guess I was looking forward to doing it because I feel kinda bummed out today.  I am going to double check to make sure that the meeting is cancelled after I am finished here.

The sun is actually out this morning.  I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I should be happy after around two days of rain.  But I enjoyed the dark because I watched a lot of horror movies and horror related documentaries over the past two days.  (This is another problem with winter for me.  It gets cold enough here and there is so much snow I have no desire to go anywhere or do anything.  I become a lump.)  I feel like I am wasting sunlight but I have no motivation to do anything.  I will force myself to complete something and hope that leads to something else.

So will I sit and read all day?  Probably.  Will I write?  That will be a hit and miss proposition.  I will do a little writing but not near as much as I should be.  Also to be interpreted “not the projects I should be.”  I am trying not to judge myself but I don’t think that will work.

The sun is gradually drying out all the wet and water logged spots.  Maybe I will take the phone out and try some photos.  I really need to get one of my cameras going.  I am taking a lot of photos and I haven’t put anything together.  Not to mention I might be able to get better colors from a regular camera.  I need to find something that works for me.

Well I suppose I ought to get moving around a little before the pups go stir crazy.  Thanks for reading!  Cheers!

The colors were much deeper in my eyes
This is last night
I wanted to get the definition between the clouds
Too cute!
Moose was cleaning Essie’s face
Dogs, family, Gardening, Life, Nature, Thinking

Wet

1972italy

It has been raining since yesterday.  I’m sure once everything has had a chance to dry out things will be green.  Now a lot of it is under water.  It is supposed to rain thru this afternoon then, hopefully, we will have drier weather.  I need to start thinking about bringing the plants in at night.  I sort of have room in the house for them.  There would be more if we had the garage full functional.

We spent most of the day inside watching tv yesterday.  I tried to get the kids outside between downpours.  I’d throw toys or walk out with them.  I think the kept busy enough despite the rain.  I worry that some of my potted plants won’t drain the access water properly.  I guess I will see this afternoon.

It looks to be busy today at work.  That will be good.  Hopefully I stay dry and warm.  It is barely supposed to get out of the 60s (15C).  But I will be busy so that will help, wet or not.  I should have a meeting tomorrow night.  It will be interesting I think.  Something out of my norm.

The kids have fallen back asleep despite both of us being awake.  I’m sure once I go everyone will go to bed and sleep.  Atleast I hope so.  The weather should help.  I know I wanted to stay in bed this morning.  And I see by the clock that I need to get my butt moving if I’m going to get out the door for work on time.  I hope everyone has a great day!

Some of the fog behind the house
Our drive way is a bit wet
Bored pups
really bored
More pictures Mom?
Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Life, Thinking, Writing

Talking With Myself

1972italy

This is shaping up to be an odd day.  The rain comes and goes.  It was dark enough that I had to turn on some lights so we could see this morning.  Chris is up as well.  He normally sleeps til 11am or so if I am home.  Stella has been busy chewing her toy like mad (I think she has finally given up and gone to sleep) and also annoying her brother Moose with the noise.  At one point he picked his head up and gave her the stink eye.  Then he moved from the couch to the love seat.   With all this busy-ness my schedule has been thrown off.

Do I work on my writing?  Do I spend time with the family?  My first reaction is to guard my writing time because it is my writing time.  But it doesn’t happen that often sooooo maybe I could make an exception?  But if you do that then you will mess up the schedule that has been working so well for you for about a year now.  (See how I argue with myself?)

I guess I could argue for my time more strongly if I did anything with it.  You know had an article or was working on a story.  (I so dropped the ball yesterday.)  But I will be tinkering.  But it’s still my time.  It doesn’t help that I didn’t do everything I was supposed to with my writing yesterday.  The sun stayed out pretty much the whole day.  And I did all kinds of stuff around the house (besides the mouse cage).  If I don’t take my writing seriously why should anyone else?  So maybe I do need to stick to my writing schedule.  Even if I am tinkering.

I am trying not to get frustrated with myself.  It is easy to do when I don’t make a decision or when I do make a decision and wonder if I did the right thing.  I want everything to work out right.  I want everyone to be happy.  I want everyone to like me and what I do.  But that is not possible all of the time and I feel guilty on a deep level for days or longer when I can’t fix  everything or atleast make things all right.  Times like that I take too much responsibility.

Well if I’m going to use my writing time for my writing I ought to get to it instead of bending your collective ears.  Thanks for reading!

Creativity, Dogs, Emotions, Life, Thinking, Writing

Creative Flow

1972italy

My muse is calling  to me.  Right now it is a gentle exhale of my name but getting stronger.  I find more and more “how I write” articles popping up so I think today might be a writing day.  The sun is drifting in and out of the clouds.  The forecast for this afternoon is rain.  So I will have that working for me.  I notice that when I decide to settle in and work that things around the house suddenly need to be done now because I want to have it all done so that I can write without distraction.  Ha ha ha.  The joke is on me because once everything is done so is the day.  The most I will do is clean out the mouse cage.  (The little buggers are starting to stink and they are currently located in the kitchen.)

So this begs the question what am I going to write?  A fine question to be sure but I have no answer.  I don’t know if it will be a short story or a novella or a full length book.  I feel the need and desire to create a world with my words.  To tell a story, some of it mine some of it someone else’s yet it belongs to all of us.  Time to create characters and situations and places to exist.

Since we slept in a bit this morning the kids are ready to go out but won’t go hang outside without me.  Stella just walked outside and stood on the porch sniffing the air.  Every little bit she would turn her head and look in at me.  Now she’d walked back inside and curled back up on the couch giving me the eye as she did it.  Essie is watching out the sliding glass door from a top a pile of blankets on the love seat.  Moose is draped across the other side on top of the pillow.

It feels more like an August or July day than a mid September day.  For that I am grateful.  I’m not ready to give up my warm days.  Neither are my little sun bunnies.  The kids love laying out in the sun.

My mind is wandering.  That is not  bad thing.  It means that the juices are starting to flow again.  That makes me happy.  So I guess I will step away from this and see what else I can write about.  Cheers!