A Comma's Story

This week I'm sharing a blog I read. I hope you enjoy it. As an editor, I see so much drama with commas, lack of or overuse of. Enjoy...

The comma stood on the corner, bleating, “Please, can someone help me? I know I belong somewhere, but I can’t quite remember where.”

Devon Taylor, copy editor, sat at the counter of the diner counter across the street and watched as passers-by skittered around the pitiful punctuation mark. They looked away determined to not notice it.

Devon (destined to become The Nib) couldn’t really blame them. Commas were notoriously slippery creatures. But there was something about this comma that made Devon think it was truly in trouble.

The editor set down the empty coffee cup and wandered across the street.

Continue Reading...

Until next I ramble on...

Last Chance - In More Ways Than One

For those who don't know it ... I'm running an edit special.  I'm taking "appointments" for editing of short stories and novels.  Assigning them 'down the road' so to speak.  If you know you will need an editor, say mid-Feb, I'm willing to lock you into a time so when the time comes, you'll have my services available... and at a reasonable price.  Yes, rather than my standard $1.50/page (which by the way will be changing later on) — I'm only charging $1.00 per page.  You save 30% on my editing services.

Okay, that was last chance #1 — this offer will be expiring soon. Remember two things, prices are going up and this offer won't last forever, although you can lock it in now.

Now, about last chance #2.  Sort of off-the-wall.  I bought me a new knit hat.  Yeah, big whoop, but this one has LED lights.  Again, big whoop.  Let me explain.  I got an LED thinsulate knit hat for the "men's" Christmas exchange this year for our family get together.  My granddaughter's boyfriend got it in the 'drawing of the numbers" as we call it.  He was thrilled and personally, I found a lot of uses for it around my house. I wanted one.  I found this one on Amazon, costing a lot less and not quite as delicate to remove to wash the hat.  This one has dual lights.  I mean, it has 4 white lights just like the one I gave, but this one also has 2 red and 2 blue lights which flash red, then blue, then red and blue together and finally repeat the pattern over.  I think they said it was supposedly for emergency aid.  Not sure about that.  I found the white lights work great when I'm away during the day and have to go collect chicken eggs in the dark.  The coop doesn't have electric, per se.  It has an electric cord run to it that keeps the watering dish heated, but otherwise, it gets dark, it IS dark — no lights.  The chickens didn't mind the white LED light when I collected the eggs.  I reached up to turn it off and the next option (red/blue) kicked in.  I thought my chickens were going to start dancing.  Suddenly I felt like I was in a disco.  The chickens got quite vocal about the red/blue flashing lights.  Now, my son came up with a better use for the red/blue lights.  He says when I'm driving the roads at night, with limited traffic, as I come up to a slow poke, hit the red/blue and they will probably move to the side thinking a state trooper is behind them.  Hmm?  Just not too sure I want to give that option a try — my luck, I'd do it to a law officer off duty.  I don't need slammer time, especially at my age.

My next last chance —  I can't believe I'm actually saying this.  Food.  I weighed myself and was not happy with the way the scale numbers spun on the dial.  I've gained weight. SO, last chance was today.  I am now on a rigorous diet and exercise program.  Okay, not really... well, sort of.  I am watching my intake of carbs and portion sizes.  Last Friday was my last all-you-can-eat fish fry... or, at least, limiting them to maybe once a month. I might be able to skip them if I do baked fish on Fridays.  Again, it won't be all-you-can-eat, but it should sooth the crave.  I love fish.  Of course, I can basically eat all the shrimp, crab, lobster and scallops I want.  Scallops are hard to get here in this locale. Lobster is too expensive to gorge on.  So, crab and shrimp it is... and I love shrimp grilled or baked and who can pass on steamed crabs?  Not me!  Again, they are proteins so they don't have a lot of effect on my blood sugar, but I'm sure glutting on them will have an effect on my weight, so once again, it will be portion control.  I'm going back to my breakfast of kale smoothies.  I love them. My wife?  She'll pass on the green mixture.  I'm giving you my secret recipe...

1 cup almond milk

1/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/4 cup frozen mango chunks

1/2 cup chopped kale (I usually just put in a leaf of kale, including the stem)

2 T chia seeds

1 T honey

1 t cinnamon

1 t turmeric

juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon

some chopped ice - maybe 1/4 cup?

Blend it all together until a nice pure green silky drink.  I say YUM. If you try it, let me know what you think of my special breakfast go-get'em.

Of course, my cooking habits will have to change, too. No more all these gourmet meals of decadent yummies laden with butter.  I will need to streamline my cooking habits to a healthier ideal.  I know it can be done.  Goodbye double-stuffed twice baked potatoes. Goodbye cheesy-garlicky biscuits.  Goodbye thick soups. Hello brothy soups.  Hello zesty, spicy foods baked or broiled.  Goodby weight.

Another last chance? I have just a few more days to order my seeds to start growing them inside before Spring arrives.  This is January. If you calculate 3 weeks for a turn-around on delivery of my order(s) — that gets me into February.  If it takes 12 weeks to grow the seed to put out by May 1st, uh, I'm pushing it.  Twelve weeks is the equivalent of 3 months — Feb, Mar, Apr... which pushes me into May.  I will be ordering my seeds tomorrow. The bigger the tomato plant going in the garden, the sooner luscious tomatoes can be harvested. The same holds true for flowers  I want blooms in late May, early June — not the middle of July.

My last last chance to place here. I will be attending a 'get-together' soiree at Terra State Community College on Thursday, January 19th to discuss with others about my class I am teaching.  Yes, I am teaching a class in writing.  It will be a 6-week course and be an intense explanation about writing and handling the aspects as an author in today's publishing world.  I have been working on my classes and I think I know what I want to handout at the soiree, but I need to put that together. I got a couple of days.  I will be busy.

A final last chance?  There is never a final last chance. They just keep coming and coming.

Until next I ramble on...

Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo

Once more, as we speed around the sun, National Novel Writing Month AKA NaNoWriMo approaches. Yes, November is coming and coming fast. Are you ready?

Of late I have repeatedly said, I'm not going to do it this year.  And, of course, each year I plunge into extravaganza event, thrashing about, ignoring sociability and family in my pursuit to write 50K in 30 days.

Seems this year will be no different except I've decided early on to engage in wild abandon.

How many years have I entered into this pursuit?  I can proudly say I started participating in 2000. That was the 2nd year of its existence.  I'll be honest, I attempted to do a cookbook. Let me tell you a little about that - DON'T ever try to write a cookbook for this event.

The following year my father passed away in October and I considered attempting it but realized I had too many obligations to ignore... so I didn't participate.

Okay, first year I failed to complete the 50K words, but I did get 35K written.  Good attempt. The following year I skipped out for personal reasons.

Since 2002 I have participated and completed the challenge.  That's right, folks.  I have 13 novels written.  And, yes, some of them have been published... not only self-published, but also via other publishing companies.

Now for the sordid truth. Some of those novels are so bad. In fact, once of them I went back and deleted almost 35K words. There are those who would claim that the effort was an obvious waste of time if I deleted all that text. Not really. I got the story down. I know what I want it to be. I deleted what I don't want and now need to rewrite what I do want.

Call it editing. I have several of those novels that have some text deleted that I wrote just to get my 50K words in. They were finished stories. They weren't the best stories. BUT they are being edited to make them better stories. Four of them have been published. So that leaves me with 9 novels to be edited. Let's just say they are in various stages of completion at the current time.

So, how to prepare for this event?

1. Get your research out of the way. Do it now. Get it all saved, printed, stored, whatever - so you can access it quickly and not waste a lot of time. Make copious notes.

2. Prepare you mind. Going in with the proper mindset is critical. You have to know you can do this. Thinking you can will work against you. If you want to win, you have to see the finish line and that means you have to know you will do it.

3. Realize that each day you will need to write a minimum of 1667 words. I set my goal at 1700 words each day with a final word count of 51K.  That allows for some gravy on the word counting app to verify your winning at the end.  I made myself a little word counter printout that I'm willing to share, if you're interested. It is 1700 word per day. Simple to use. Know today's date? See the number of words you should have written to be on target. Get It Here! Print it out and give copies to your friends. I've had mine taped to my desk hutch upright for about 8 years now.

4. If you fall behind, apply yourself and catch up.

5. If you're having a good day writing and can actually write more than the required word count, by all means, do so. I've had days where I was able to write 5, 8, even 10 thousand words. Now, if you do have a great day like that, don't sit back on your laurels because you're ahead - stay ahead. The next day, write the required words.

6. Remember that Thanksgiving Day (that's for all U.S. residents) is during the month. The family will expect you to come out of the cave and socialize. Be sure to shower and cleanup before doing so and enjoy the day.  Of course, there is a two-fold blessing to the holiday. If you work, you most likely will have off that day and maybe the Friday, too.  Use them to your advantage - WRITE.

7. Now this is the one that really is hard. Don't edit. Don't go back and fix. Don't . Don't. Don't. I mean it. The object is to get the story down - bad or worse... uh, er, I mean, good or bad. If you need to correct something - make it a note and continue on. I changed my main character's name about half way through - I typed: (RSN-NAME CHANGE - Mark is now Daniel, go back and fix) and continued writing.

8. When stumbling for a name of a character or place that you can't remember - do as I do. Type your initials and what you want.  For me that would RSNFirstName, RSNName or RSNCity and continue on.  When it is time to edit, the first thing I look for is "RSN" and see what I need to fix.  Did you note the RSN in my #7 rule?  Whenever I need to make a note, I toss my initials out there, that way they're easy to find later on.

9. Some writers will suggest that you lock yourself in your room or designate a certain amount of time at a certain time of day. That doesn't work for me. My life is hectic and varied. I write when I have the free time and free time means sitting at the doctor's office, riding to work or home on a bus, late in the evening, early in the morning, during lunch. You'll be amazed how much writing can be accomplished in 15 or 20 minutes. When I worked in the big cities and would get caught in rush hour traffic or an accident snarl, I would dictate into a small cassette recorder. (I know, giving away my age here.) Use your cellphone and when you get home, type it into your laptop.  Of course, if you have your laptop with you, depending on the situation, you 'could' attempt to enter it direct, but I'm not really suggesting that. Much easier, safer and conscientious to dictate.  Oh, I don't recommend dictating while driving. You want 50K words, not 50K words of spoken eulogy.

10. Enjoy yourself. If you don't succeed in the event, don't beat yourself up. Remember, if you only have 18K words when November 30th arrives, that is 18K more words than you had one month earlier. If you do succeed, congratulations, you now have a novel that needs an immense amount of editing, re-editing and maybe another set of eyes to review before you edit yet again.

Now, I need to get busy on my research. I have a great story to write this year. Getting excited. In fact, I think this novel will easily reach 80K without any trouble - maybe even bigger!  I won't give all the details right now but I'll tease you - it will be somewhat historical and is based on a segment of "Aliens" I watched on the History Channel. Giorgio Tsoukalos and that gang can get my imagination jumping and then, can I write fast enough to get it all down?

Until next I ramble on...

The Proud Farmer

This was an exciting week. I didn't plan to transplant my seedlings and hoped to just move them into the final spots in their dinky little 2-inch peat pots.

WRONG!!

I noticed roots spreading along the sides of one of the pots, took another look and noticed that several had roots showing.  Not a good sign... well, yes, a good sign of healthy plants, but for growing, it is like discovering your pants are two inches too short, or the sleeve not reaching the wrist... or worse yet, buttons being stretched to the full bulge limit.

My baby plants needed bigger homes and needed them sooner than I wanted to admit.  We're still having nights that get a little brisk and tender seedlings like tomatoes just wouldn't make it and since I'm not an early riser - uh, 9am is early for me - having them covered and protected from the harsh night would mean under covers that would overheat them in the bright morning sunlight.

So, like a good parent, I transplanted my seedlings into bigger pots.  The tomatoes all went into 5-inch peat pots where I know they can grow sufficiently for the next week or two with no repercussions. The geraniums, petunias, and impatiens moved into 3-inch peat pots.  So far, everybody seems happy in their new homes.  Take a look:

Most of the seedlings in their new homes - tomatoes (Roma, Rutgers, Beefsteak and Mortgage Lifter) along with mixed geraniums, impatiens, and petunias

A couple of the 10 geraniums, don't know the colors - yet.

My two impatiens, colors unknown. Notice the size difference, same day planting. Hm?

Two of the 4 petunias - African Sunset, a true orange petunia. To see the color,Click This Link

And, I promised pictures of the finished chicken coop and as promised, here they are. The coop is basically an 8x12 building and the fenced chicken run is 10x16 and about 5 ft high at the peak. The run has fence on 3 sides, along the base of the coop and, of course, over the top.  There is a door on the side of the coop nearest the RV and another one to access the chicken run.  The run door is originally a display sign at a local hardware chain store where we purchased the windows you see in the pictures, two on the front and a larger side window.  My son cut a small section from the base to make it fit and with the 4x4 base to help secure it, the door is great.  All the fencing is secured with tie-strips about every 4-6 inches to keep it 'critter' proof.  I still need to add the fencing for the base to completely enclose it, but I need to find somebody to help bring in a truckload of pea gravel to pour over the fence when I put it in.  I want about 2 inches of gravel so the chickens don't have to walk on the wire - plus the gravel might invite some "live" chicken food.

Some of my chickies - two types: Red Cross (bigger ones in brown) and ISA which are light brown and white and about 4 or 5 weeks younger.  But everybody gets along - for the most part.

Another angle of the chicken run

The door I described, and to the left, the white-ish chicken is "Snow" as my one granddaughter named it.

We had a lot of rain and I had some rubber mats out and worms and other bugs collected under them for protection.  That was short-lived.  My sons, while finishing up the coop decided to have some fun. As the #2 son worked on the coop chicken door inside the fenced area, #1 and #3 decided to pick up the mat and grabbed several worms and bugs to throw into the chicken run.  The chickens had a field day with the delicacies. #2 happened to see it and yelled "Sure, go ahead, teach them to be carnivores while I'm still in here! Just what we need, Killer Chickens." They all got into a fit of laughter until I told them, due to the height of the roof of the run, I was going to have my youngest grandchildren and then the great-grandkids go in when needed.  Suddenly it wasn't so funny to them. "No way, dad!" they exclaimed. "Not in the pen with the Raptors! Have a heart!  They'll be pecked alive!"

Needless to say, farming can be fun.

And, on that note, so can writing... and editing.  Right now I'm editing a story for a client. The story is really exciting and I get reading and forget to edit until I read a really blatant mistake.  Edits are going slower than anticipated but I love the storyline.

Hoping all the mothers, young and old, had a great Mother's Day.  We have four sons - they all checked in for the day.  In fact, one brought over t-bone steaks to grill. My darling wife had a great day and I topped it off by taking her out to Burger King, using a coupon to get us 2 Whopper Jr burgers, 2 small fries and a big cup of icy cold water to drink. Okay, I also got her an order of onion rings that she so loves.  I'm such a romantic and expense was no issue, obviously. LOL.  We ate our meal as I drove around on some back roads enjoying the scenery, even going almost 20 miles to the church where we got married and it all started.  It was just an enjoyable evening.

Until next I ramble on...

Writing Spree

First, let me make a little announcement.

For a short time, I am offering my editing services at a discounted price of $.75/page which should be double-spaced, 12 pt Times Roman, and have 1 inch margins.  If you have any other questions, please check out my editing page: http://www.bobnailor.com/editing.php

Now, with that out of the way - I can't explain what happened last week.  Call it "Miss Muse" came to visit.  Call it "enlightenment."  Call it 'creativity.'  Call it whatever you want.  It was a writing fury.

Yes, I was in a writing frenzy.  For some reason, a novel I worked on for NaNoWriMo back in 2013 caught my attention and I decided to do a complete rewrite of the story, changing, of course, the main plot line quite a bit. The original plot was:

Jolene works at Pop's Burger Joint with Henry who constantly asks her to marry him. The restaurant is owned by Ben Masters who once prospected for gold and invested in the restaurant. Now Ben is old and is considering retirement. He has contacted his only next of kin, Ben Jr., his estranged son, who finally shows to find out why the cryptic letter was sent. Ben Jr's wife has already made plans for the restaurant. Ben has set the stage and all the players must perform their part. The one who performs in the manner which Ben has established in his will gets to inherit the restaurant and the treasure within. But what exactly is this treasure... within?

Now I have changed things up a tad.  Sure Henry is still asking Jolene to marry him, but Ben, the owner, has discovered he has only months to live. He has pancreatic cancer. He has contacted his estranged son who has responded to the cryptic message and brought his wife and son back to his hometown. But we now discover Ben has another child who is eligible to inherit. Things only get more interesting. But the bottom line is ... exactly what is this treasure... within?

Last week  (Saturday) I was at 8,000 words but realized I needed to add a couple of new characters and change some of the plot lines. The week had been a frenzy of writing, indeed.  Right now I have a total of almost 14,000 words written on the new story.

In addition to everything else I've done this week, by the end of Friday, I had written another almost 6,000 words in five (5) days.

This weekend was a total loss for writing.  My sons came to visit and work on projects around the house, mainly, the chicken coop, so I was busy helping my wife fix meals for the 'crew.' LOL.  Good news!  The chicken coop now has a working 'slide' door for protecting the chickens at night. In the morning, I pull a rope and the door slides up.  At night, I can release it and the door slides shut. I no longer need to bend over to walk in the chicken run to open the door in the morning and close the door at night.  YAY!!  Plus, the shingle roof was put on.  Now I just need to stain it for the summer and then get the siding and inside paneling this fall so I can insulate the building for the winter.

My new neighbor from the down the road came over to introduce himself. He bought the property next to me last Friday.  He was impressed with the chicken run.

On a different topic - health - I decided to go back on my old diet this week and I already am noticing my weight dropping.  It appears I've lost a couple of pounds.  I won't know for sure until I go in later this week, but I'm feeling better... okay, somewhat.

Let me explain.  I've been having sharp pains on my right side, directly underneath the lower rib cage. I thought I might have pinched myself when trying to catch the chickens when I was leaning over the walls of the brooder area in the basement.  My granddaughter, a medical type, thinks it could be gall bladder issues since she just had her's removed.  My wife tends to agree with my granddaughter.  The pain let up somewhat yesterday and hasn't been as intense today.  I noticed I sat hunched over, pushing my rib cage down into my protruding tummy ... which may have caused the pain, so I've been sitting upright with a straight back the last few days.  So the family can rest assured I'm okay, I've agreed to see a doctor this week... or so I said.  I'll see how I feel over the next couple of days.

As mentioned above, I was so involved in writing, I almost didn't notice that my garden plants I had growing inside the house were getting thirsty.  I almost lost the tomato plants - they wanted water.  I watered them and prayed they'd survive.  Whew!  They drank the water and pretty soon were standing back up again.  Almost time to plant them outside - I don't want to lose them now.  In fact, this week I'll be re-potting them into larger pots before they go outside in about 2 more weeks.  Yes, they are getting THAT big.  I have to move them into 5 inch pots.

Until next I ramble on...

The Bobs Update

And now for some updates from Bob - The Farmer, The Cook, The Writer, The Grandpa, The Traveler and The One Who Wants to be Healthy...

The chicken coop is complete and the chickens have been transferred to the new enclosure. Of course, they weren't too happy with the idea of being moved but now, with the chicken run available, I think they're getting acclimated to the new home.

Yes, the younger ones are still terrified and intimated by the larger hens but when the 8 brown hens go out into the yard, the little brown and white ones run wild in the coop, eating and drinking.

Sure, go ahead and think I'm crazy. Every time the little ones attempt or think of coming out of the coop, one of the crazy (what my sons call her) hens goes flying up in their face, pushing them back into the coop.  At least it has been that way for the last two day.

Tonight! Tonight was a day of liberation for the little ones. One of them (I think it is the one my granddaughter named "Snow") strolled out onto the ramp. The crazy hen came fluttering up and it just jumped down into the yard. Shortly thereafter, two more joined the first one.  So, in the end, there was five little ones out in the yard with the eight bigger hens.  That means that there were still five more little hens inside plus two very BIG meat chickens.  Those two are so huge they can barely walk and - sorry, folks, but they will be butchered this week.

The remaining eighteen hens will be allowed to mature to lay eggs... which should start maybe in late June or mid-July.  When all eighteen start laying, the possibility of eighteen eggs a day is a fact, BUT, more than likely, it will be more like about twelve to fifteen eggs a day.  Still, seven to ten dozen eggs per week is more than I can use.  Notice I didn't say eat.  Plain eggs or heavy egg items and I don't get along. Fried eggs, hard/soft boiled eggs, eggnog, even eggs in potato salad - I become sulfuric - and trust me, you don't want to be around.

So, as my neighbor stated, get that sign-up and out there when eggs are available and he'll be over to get farm-fresh eggs.  He said I'll have a thriving egg business in no time.  He was checking out my coop and said I may want to enlarge the chicken area and cut back my shed share of the building.  He thinks I should up the ante to about thirty hens. Hm? Maybe he likes eggs?

Also, as Farmer Bob, my plants I started inside are coming along fantastically. My tomato plants are growing even larger and I will probably need to transplant them to five-inch pots this coming week. The geraniums are getting big, as are the petunias and impatiens... but I think I may be able to keep the last two in the current pots, the geraniums might need bigger pots.

Yesterday I planted two rows of peas out in the garden. Hopefully, they will do better this year than they did last year, but still, last year was really nice.  I mean, a full gallon of peas to freeze. I don't know how many of you are familiar with "Tater Tot Casserole" but those fresh frozen peas tasted absolutely wonderful in the casseroles during the winter. Here's a quick recipe from Cooking Bob:

1 lb ground beef, 1 can cream of mushroom soup (or celery or chicken), 2 cups frozen peas, cheese slices (cheddar or Colby) and a bag of frozen tater tots.  We do NOT cook the beef prior.

Set oven to temperature for tater tots - usually about 400.
1) Spread the beef thinly on bottom of 9x12 pan.
2) Spread soup across the beef (do NOT add water)
3) Spread frozen peas on top of soup
4) Put slices of cheese to cover entire pan
5) Place tater tots in a layer. (my sons line them up for easy cutting, but...)
6) Bake as directed for tater tots, about 30-35 mins.
7) Cut and serve.
NOTE: Use a clear glass dish the first time so you can see if the meat has cooked properly. Some people prefer to crumble and fry the beef with diced onions prior to layering - your option.

Now, as Writer Bob, it has been very good the last couple of weeks. My latest book, "At Death's Doors" has done well on Amazon. Sales skyrocketed at its initial release sending my book into Amazon's top 100.  Writer Bob has really been busy this past week working on an old novel, rewriting "The Treasure Within" which is more of a literary work than my usual fantasy or horror genre. I've been making myself accountable to another author friend for word counts. LOL. And she has been making herself accountable to me for her word counts.  Great incentive, eh?

And Grandpa Bob had a fabulous time last weekend celebrating three birthdays: one granddaughter, Keeley, turned 6 while her sibling twins, Jaxson and Mikayla, turned one. It was a fun party because, as Grandpa, I got to see ALL my grandkids and a lot of their friends. Party! Party! Party!

Now, for Health Bob - not so good. I can't seem to lose any weight. And my sugar has been all over the place.  I'm trying to get it all under control.  Maybe I just need to toss out what the doctor and dietitian want me to eat and go back to my diet I was on back in December which dropped my A1C from 10.3 to 7.2 and my weight from 268 to 240.  The diet they have me on, I now weight 251  HUH?  What part of losing weight and blood sugar control don't they understand?

Trying something new - I was told to be interactive with my audience. So, now I will ask you a simple question.  Not everyone is a writer, nor a farmer, nor grandparent, or a health expert. So exactly what kind of question can I ask that everyone can participate with?

You're going on a simple trip, call it a day trip. Where would you go? What would you see? Why would it be fun? And how much would it cost?

Does that sound like a silly question?  Not really.  My wife and I like to travel and sometimes we miss those little "secret" places that only the locals know about.  We've stumbled onto a few of them, especially one in Iowa, one in New York on Long Island, a few up in Michigan, a couple over in Indiana, and some in Ohio. Well, actually I wish I could remember the one in California and the other in -- I think -- Arizona? It can be a campground, a scenic view, a landmark, whatever.

So, tell Bob The Traveler about your favorite hideaway.

Until next I ramble on...

Updates to Updates

As we go into the third tri-mester of the year (the last four months), I thought I'd give a little update to what is happening.

Weight.  Good news, bad news.  Remember the 28 pounds I lost back in June when I was sick?  As a friend said, I found some of them. The good news is: Only half of them - so I'm still 14 pounds down which makes my target of 25 pounds by the end of the year - well, it is something I can possibly attain.  At least, I plan to make it.

Overall Health.  I'm not up to par.  I bought into the "you can't do this and that" and my sons have tried to make sure I don't do this or that.  So... now I can't do this or that without getting totally winded.  As stated last week, I bought a lot of mulch to put down.  Of course, having temperatures up into the high eighties and low nineties isn't helping, but I do a little and then need to rest.  I mean, like work for maybe 15-20 minutes and then break for 40 minutes.  It is all about bending over - pushing the gut into the lungs.  Still, I think it might be why the weight hasn't all come back... all that bending.

Mulch.  By the way, the mulch is looking good.  Of course, I didn't buy enough while it was on sale so the one area that I wanted to do probably won't get done - the swing set area.  Just as well.  I think I should put ALL rubber mulch there rather than a mixture of wood mulch with a light sprinkling of rubber mulch.  Since the rubber mulch wasn't on sale, I'll keep an eye open for it to better priced in the next few weeks.

Camping. Took the grand kids camping and now my wife and I can go alone and enjoy some quiet time at the campgrounds during the week since most families have their kids back in school.  OH! Went shopping for a new RV.  We own a 28 foot 1998 Allegro motor home.  Yes, a land-yacht. I'd like to get a "wider" motor home - not necessarily a bigger one.  Let me explain.  I want slide outs in the living area.  If my current motor home had a slide out, I'd keep it since I'm more than thrilled with the mileage I get with it.  Uh, we're talking 10 mpg and up to 14 mpg on flat interstates on cruise.  The new one I looked at would get "maybe" up to 7 mpg, possibly 9 mpg.  LOL. Sure.  I think we're going to hold off on it until maybe next year... unless the salesman comes back with a deal I just can't pass up.  (Like that's going to happen!)

Writing.  Has been stalled.  I've been doing a lot of editing for clients, so I don't have a lot of time for writing.  I've done some - a little - on my second Amish novel.  Was stumped for a while but with a little brain-storming with another writer (thanks, Elyse!), I've now got some great ideas to weave into the tale and give it depth.  With NaNoWriMo coming up in November, I have to decide if I want to attempt it yet again.  I  mean, I've competed 14 years, accomplishing 50K+ words 13 of those times. I've done NaNoWriMo since it's 2nd year of inception and only failing to complete the word count when I attempted a cookbook and my dad passed the month before.  Hint: Don't attempt a cookbook.

Gardening. The garden is coming to an end - sort of.  The corn is done and I've removed all the stalks from the raised bed.  My wife finally agreed that the green pole beans were finished, as were the wax bean plants.  Unfortunately I didn't tie-up my tomato plants - so they've sprawled all over but are doing fine.  We've canned a lot of salsa, diced, and stewed tomatoes - with more to come.  The shelves are filled with beans for the winter.  Still growing are the beets and carrots which appear might be a good crop this year.

Publishing.  I wanted to publish 3 books this year.  So far, only one book out. My Amish novel which has been selling like hotcakes at signings and shows.  On Amazon?  Not so well.  It would seem that the book hasn't sold well at all.  I've order copies twice now and figure I might have to order again before then end of the year - maybe twice!!  If you haven't checked it out - http://amzn.to/1ynQnzQ - you won't be sorry.  But, back to publishing.  Maybe with a little luck I'll be able to get out book 2 of my writing tips and book 1 in my Jewyl adventures is complete, for the most part, just some minor edits and a book cover design.  It's all about time.

Do you remember your New Year's Resolutions?  How are they coming along?  Given up?  Have you accomplished them?  Share.

Until next I ramble on...

A Needed Vacation

Retirement!  One doesn't realize just how exhausting being retired can be!  Think about it —

Sure, I don't have to go to work every day, but still, I must decide what I am going to do to fill my day and make it an exciting event.  Trust me, waking up in the morning is great (that means I'm still breathing!) but there is more to retirement than just sitting on the front porch, rocking.

The garden needs tending, the flower beds seem to sprout more weeds than posies and well, if I don't go get the mail at the end of the lane each day, who is going to do that?  Plus, the lawn needs mowed, the dog wants to go out and there are those constant doctor appointments one must make and attend.  In a hindsight thought, going to the doctor can be a good thing since it proves you're still kicking.

But, it is the little things that make retirement worth the wait.  Imagine the excitement of a broken/leaking waterline?  Or the phone ringing?  Who could it be?  Remember, with retirement comes a very dubious honor: pallbearer or mourner.

If your name didn't make the "obit" column, there's a great chance today is going to be a fun one!

Hold on a minute.

Remember?  You work 50 weeks a year … okay, take away another 2 weeks for sick time, another 2 weeks for holidays and extraneous non-work days — I could continue but that isn't what this blog entry is about.  Out of each year, at least 2 weeks — that TWO weeks, could be more since I was up to 5 weeks when I retired — that is dedicated to that family favorite: VACATION or HOLIDAY for my non-US readers.

Yes, when I worked, I took vacation. It was a my get-away moment; that time when I grabbed the family and escaped to some idyllic locale and vegetated.

BUT, YOU'RE RETIRED. IT'S A FULL-TIME VACATION!!

You're wrong.  Strangely enough, being retired can appear and seem like an eternal vacation.  My joke is 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday.  If it wasn't for Sunday and going to church, I'd lose complete count of time.

Just like a person who works full-time, a retiree needs a break from … well, being retired.

I did just that.  I just got home from a week in the wilds of mid-Michigan's southern section.  I realize that sounds a little silly but let me explain.  My wife's sister and her husband have a small place on a private lake.  It is down in a valley.  To get a better idea of ownership, think of a pie with the lake being in the center.  Each slice of pie gets a portion of lake and then anywhere from a minimum of 10 acres to over 25 acres.  They have about 250 feet of shoreline.  Being a private lake and "ruled" by the owners, there are no motorboats allowed.  Electric motors only.  The water is pristine clear.  The wildlife is amazing: loons, eagles, beavers, deer, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks, of course.  Would you believe bear?  Yup!  Got them, too.  I saw the tracks of one AND the night camera picture, catching one in a berry patch.

A perfect place to sit under the shade of an oak tree and look out on the lake, listening to the wind whisper through the leaves and nearby pines.  What could be better?  Being on the lake, fishing.  I had two of my granddaughters along and we spent many hours on the pontoon, fishing.  Caught some nice bluegills and a couple of bass.  The girls are hooked on fishing.  They enjoyed catching small bluegills in the ponds at home but to catch the monsters we pulled from the depths — WOW!  Our first day fishing was astounding!  We caught enough for a great fish fry and the next couple of days brought in enough for us to bring some frozen fillets home.  As you can see, the fish were nice sized.

Corra with her bass

Corra with one her many bluegills

Hailey with her bass

Hailey with one of her four bluegills

A very proud ME with one of my many bluegills - no bass!
Notice the size - just a little over 10 inches!!

Some of the fish in the scaler - getting ready to filet.

No Internet and we barely had cell phone service.  My sister-in-law has a land phone and finally took the plunge for DISH TV since they live up there 6 months of the year.  Meals were simple.  Okay, we did have a couple of "big" meals: the fish fry and then a wonderful pork loin roast dinner.

I took my laptop along and was able to do a little editing and writing — very little.  I was relaxing, getting away from the frenzied life of retirement.

I might just have to make another trip up there real soon, maybe next month.

Until next I ramble on...

There Are Plans...

and there are plans.

This weekend was supposed to be a somewhat restful, yet busy, weekend.  The plans included a Friday night out with friends to a seafood all-you-can-eat buffet and fish fry.  Saturday would be a day for me to start planting seeds for the garden, relaxing and watching the snow come down since the weatherman was threatening us with approximately 4+ inches of new snow.  Come Sunday, it was the day to elect officials for the next church year with a potluck afterward including some great fellowship with the members.  Of course, that was if church would be held on Sunday morning pending the snowfall.

Okay, that was the plan.  As I stated... and there are plans.

Wednesday was an evening with the eldest son and his family and a great meal of Mexican food. So far, the plan was still in place.

RING!  RING!  RING!  (Telephone)

#3's car needs to go in for repair.  #4's wife has doctors' appointments - and she is expecting twins and their one daughter needs to be picked up from pre-school.

Mom and Dad to the rescue.  We are now headed to Michigan, an area south of Detroit to help out

Today is now Sunday evening and we've stayed with #4 for a night, then #3 for 2 nights and now back to #4's for tonight.  What does the next 2 days bring?  Not sure.

Tomorrow's plans: #3's car should be repaired and ready for pickup.  BUT, will be it be done before he needs to go to work.  Only time will reveal that answer.  #4's wife has a doctor's appointment at 8:30am - should be easy enough.  Oh, wait.  Their daughter has to be at pre-school at that exact time, too.  My son will take his wife to the doctor and I was scheduled to drop my granddaughter off at school.

Yup!  That plan got changed.  She doesn't have school.  It has been so cold in the area, the schools are not opening since they don't want the kids out in the sub-zero weather.  Personally, I think we're pampering today's kids too much.  I remember walking to school, in foul weather including cold winds and the walk was a full mile - each way.  And no, I'm not over-exaggerating. It was 1954 and if you want me exaggerate - it was uphill, both ways.  I've shown my kids and they found it hard to believe... they wanted to know why grandma didn't drive me.  It was beyond their comprehension that we only had one car and dad had it to go to work - mom stayed home. But that's a different story.

So, now we hang in until we find out what the status of the car is and also, #4's wife goes back to the doctor on Weds which is the same day #3's daughter's pizza sales comes in and needs to be picked up.  That would be 300+ pizza kits she sold. I don't believe my son's car can carry 300 pizzas.

With a little luck, maybe, just maybe, I'll get home late Wednesday night. If so, on Thursday I hope to plant my tomato seeds.

Oh, my #1 son had scheduled himself to plow all that snow out my drive so when I got home, it would be all clean for us.  From what I've heard, a skiff of snow, less than an inch, fell.  As he said, barely worth the effort of driving over to plow.  So I'm guessing he didn't plow the driveway.

If things calm down, maybe next weekend I'll get the wood necessary to build the new chicken coop.  We'll see what happens.

Plans get changed and I'm willing to go with the flow.  In fact, I got my first edit job to work on and have two more scheduled to come at me over the next couple of weeks.  Everything is subject to change. I'll just take a deep breath and move forward.

Until next I ramble on...