And The Snow's Mostly Gone

It's been warm-ish the last few days and the snow is melting rapidly. This squirrel was doing its best to hoover up the fallen seed and cracked corn under the round feeder. You may also notice that this is a favorite spot for visiting rabbits.

 

This other squirrel took possession of the suet nuggets feeder and did its best to nibble down the nuggets. It hung there for a long time until the wind really picked up and the feeder started swinging. The Mourning Doves had a wonderful time riding the swinging platform feeder but I didn't get a picture.

 

A Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet cakes and hung there pounding away at the base of the cakes. I can't believe how hard they work to get a bite. All that hammering would give me a headache.

 

It took me until the afternoon to draw yesterday's gratitude journal page. I didn't have a lot to put on it but I was happy with and grateful for every item, especially crocheting with LC. She's really getting the hang of it. I'm so proud of her.

 

The flower today, the last flower of the challenge, was Peony. I'm happier with the paler flower and I like the lowest leaf on the left the best. Now I have to find another class or challenge to paint along with.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I worked a little on the Llama Gathering Hat. I added a few more rounds to the ribbing and then started the crown decreases but found following the chart too difficult when I was talking and listening. So I switched to crocheting on the pink owl but realized that it was just too big a project for me or OJ. I searched Ravelry and found a much smaller, much simpler owl pattern that I'll make and hope that it's more suitable for a beginner. 

Tomorrow is the Market on Military and so I have to get up earlier than normal so I'm presentable. Fingers crossed I sell a book. The February dates were a bust. Here's hoping March is better.

--Barbara

Slightly Perkier

I managed to shed a bit of yesterday's blahs this morning. I got out my old shovel and made a path from the patio door to the birdbath so I don't slip and slide around out there when it gets cold again. Which it will, I am certain. After all, it's only the end of February.

 

The Sparrows discovered that I'd refilled the feeders and were industriously working to empty the round feeder as quickly as they could. You can kind of see the level of seed has fallen. The squirrels got busy eating the suet nuggets too but I didn't get a picture of that. 

I realized that I forgot to take a picture of the little skeins of yarn I bought the other day. They're only 87 yards each and are acrylic which will be good for crocheting little creatures.

 

Today's watercolor flower is Foxglove. I thought I'd done a terrible job but looking at it now it isn't so bad after all. One more flower to paint and then the 31-day challenge/class is done.

 

I got to spend the evening with LC. We crocheted. Her unicorn head is starting to look the way it's supposed to look. Mine got to the point of having eyes put in. Next it gets stuffed and the rest of the body gets crocheted.

 

I also worked on the bottom of the pink owl that I'm making with the same pattern OJ is using. He wasn't there tonight so he didn't get a second lesson but I'm sure we'll have another chance soon. 

I spent most of today finishing the read-through of Spies Don't Retire. Once I get the blurb where I want it it'll be publication time. That's exciting!

It's late. I'm tired. Good night, all!

--Barbara

Midweek Slump

Today really felt like Hump Day. I couldn't seem to dredge up much enthusiasm for any of the amusements available to me. I spent a few hours rereading Spies Don't Retire, getting halfway through the manuscript and making a few vocabulary and punctuation changes. Ho hum.

 

First thing I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page which seemed to consume all of the oomph I had for the day. The things I drew and put on the page made me smile and it made today seem grayer than it was by comparison.

 

Then the Red-bellied Woodpecker female showed up and posed. You can tell she's a female because the red on her head doesn't go all the way forward down to her beak.

 

After she left two different woodpeckers landed on the suet cakes but didn't stay long enough for pictures. First was a male with a red swipe behind his head. It was a lot bigger than a Downy but not as big as the Red-bellied. Then a female landed for a nanosecond, then flew up to land on the top of the fence where I managed this not-too-blurry photo. It might be a Hairy but it looked too sleek for one. I don't know. Here's a picture of an unknown Woodpecker on the fence.

 

I picked this... creature out of Seuss-isms to draw. It's from The Foot Book. I don't know what it is supposed to be. It kind of looks like a person but not really. Plus it's all one color except for its feet. I don't know what it is but I drew it.

 

 In the afternoon I put on my fleece vest and leather work gloves and went out to fill the birdfeeders. The snow on the patio was squishy and wet so it was a good thing I put on boots too. As soon as I came in a pair of Sparrows landed on the ground under the feeders but didn't venture up to them to discover the new seed. I'm sure a whole flock of them will show up tomorrow to start emptying the round feeder as fast as they can manage. And the squirrels will sniff out the refilled suet nuggets and do their very best to gobble them up.

--Barbara

Not Quite As Warm

But still sunny and 48 degrees. I was able to run errands this afternoon without a jacket, only a hoodie. Imagine that! I actually got too warm walking around the soon-to-close Joann store this afternoon. I got a bunch of eyes for softies and some small skeins of acrylic yarn for crocheting little monsters and other amigurumi. I want to be ready in case one of the grandkids hits their stride and takes off on a crocheting jag.

This evening I crocheted on the Billy the Unicorn head. LC is crocheting it and I got out some white yarn and started it too. It's more challenging that I think a beginner pattern should be but what do I know. In a couple more rounds I'm supposed to stick the eyes in the head and then stuff it. 

The acrobatic squirrel was back on the suet cakes today. It started out investigating the suet nuggets but they're all gone and evidently even the dregs are gone because it came back to the suet cakes and had a fine time nibbling and stretching out. I am so entertained watching it stretch out and then curl back up for a bite.

 

This morning I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page. The big item was yesterday's high temperature of 54 but I was also grateful for cda's good comments on my writing and the fun I had painting.

 

Speaking of painting, today's flower was Delphinium. I like the way it looks and it was pretty fun to paint. My flowers aren't as uniform as the teacher's were but I like the colors and the centers. Only two more flowers to paint before the class is over.

 

In between doing loads of laundry (ugh) and having MB the cleaner here (yay!) I did a little drawing out of Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers. I don't know what these flowers are supposed to be but I like the lower one better than the upper one.

 

I tried working on the monthly writing progress newsletter today but didn't get very far. I was too distracted by laundry, drawing, painting, and chatting with MB. I'll do better tomorrow.

--Barbara

54 Degrees!

That was the high temperature today. I couldn't believe it. I actually opened the window over the kitchen sink for a little while to let real air into the house. When I opened the drapes this morning and looked at the birdbath I knew it was warm out there. What had been a glacier topped by a mound of snow was a wimpy little ice floe that disappeared by noon. The birds had a field day with all of the seed and cracked corn exposed by the melting snow but it looks so dirty I couldn't make myself take a picture. And some of the rabbit raisins tint the snow blue. I have no idea why or how. I'm not letting myself get too excited because we're supposed to get a snow/freezing rain mix on Wednesday. Yippee.

 

The snow on the ground went away quickly too in that high heat. The snow on the roof was melting so quickly I could hear the snow melt cascading down the downspouts from indoors. The six-inch-deep snow on the patio table is nearly gone too.

 

I had a critique Zoom this morning with cda and then spent most of the rest of the day working through the next manuscript. I had been making this page of notes and got a couple of them crossed off but I'm confident that I'll have more notes soon. I should probably be doing other things (like laundry) but I'm kind of on a writing jag and want to take advantage of the urge and energy. I have got to get back to Spies Don't Retire for a last read-through. Tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. Well, start it. I got the final files of the cover back today from GetCovers and I really like it.

 

I took a break from writing to paint this watercolor of Alstromeria, a kind of lily that's popular in grocery store bouquets. I like the way it turned out and I liked painting it. Only three or four more days of painting flowers with this class before I have to find someone else to paint with. Maybe I'll go back to this teacher's beginner class on Creativebug and paint that one again.

 

I heard from a friend today that all of the Joann stores are closing. I need to get myself over there because I need some safety eyes for the little softies that OJ and I are crocheting. Can't forget to pick up some white felt too. Just a little square if there are any left.

--Barbara

More Mashing & Rearranging

I couldn't keep away from the next manuscript. I spent most of the day rearranging scenes and writing new scenes to weave the characters together. I need to get these people tangled up together so that I can untangle them by The End. Oh, and this is my new laptop. I don't think you've seen it before. It's black. The last one was silver. So you'll know if I post an old writing picture.

 

The squirrel couldn't keep away from the suet nuggets feeder even though the nuggets were all gone. It hung there nibbling on the bottom grid of wires as if it was getting something to eat. Maybe there were crumbs?

 

I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page after breakfast. I tell you, I'm crazy with this next manuscript. I promise that I'll go back to Spies Don't Retire and get it finished and ready to publish. Cross my heart. I got the cover back today and it looks great. I'll reread the blurb tomorrow and post it on the Ad School FB page for comments but I think it's as good as it's going to get. One more manuscript read-through and it'll be ready to upload to Kindle Create for the front matter and back matter to be set up and then it'll be time to hit "publish."

 

A Mourning Dove perched on a crook this afternoon and stayed there for quite a while. It didn't try to eat at any feeder, didn't fly down to the birdbath for a drink, didn't swoop down to the ground under the feeder to peck at the fallen seed. It just sat there thinking and looking around. If Mourning Doves think.

 

Today's watercolor flower is Cosmos. It was a very short instruction video, not even 4 minutes, but there was a long drying period between the stem, leaves, and petals and the center. It turned out pretty well.

 

After supper I resisted coming back here to play with the manuscript some more and drew today's gratitude journal page on THE DAY. Imagine that. It was overcast all day but it didn't snow and for that I am extremely grateful.

 

It was warmish today. Got up to 37 degrees so the top layer of snow started melting a little. The heaps of snow on the tops of things got smaller too. I only went out to throw things in the trash and to pick up the package that was delivered. I see in the weather forecast that it's supposed to hit the low 40s in a couple days and then have what looks like a rain/snow mix. I'm not in favor of that at all. Not at all. It's a good thing I have another bag of ice melt salt in the garage.

--Barbara

Mash Them Together

This afternoon I sat down at the table with a pencil, notebook, and two versions of the blurb for my next novel, Spies Don't Retire, and spent some time working to make one coherent blurb out of them. I might have managed it. I'll let it sit for a day then reread it and post it on the Ad School FB page for feedback. I'm so impressed at the way HH took my pallid words and made them sparkle with her word choices. I went through her suggestions, underlined the power words, then worked to get them into what might be the final version.

 

The squirrels were back today. This one spent a long time on the ground under the round feeder where the Sparrows tossed a whole lot of the cracked corn and birdseed from the feeder. The rabbits have discovered the bounty and now show up after dark to eat their own share of the largesse leaving their calling cards behind. This morning I also saw a lot of tufts of rabbit fur in the snow. I don't know, maybe they had a brawl out there last night.

 

After lunch but before writing I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page. I'm having so much fun going through the next manuscript. And yesterday was the day of so many squirrels. Durwood would have had a fit. He had a vendetta against squirrels gathering around to eat the birdseed.

 

I went back to Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals and found this picture of Horton who heard a Who. I liked that he was peeking at the edge of the page. It's hard to see but he's a very light blue.

 

And I knitted a few rounds, okay, only two rounds on the Llama Gathering Hat tonight but I was watching Finding Your Roots. It's a pattern that I have to think about when I'm knitting and I have to look at what I'm doing because the yarn is a little splitty. But I'm not going to let myself cast on another bulky yarn hat until I've finished this not-bulky one. I will allow myself to crochet on the not-really-a-Wooble though. A girl has to have something to look forward to.

 

I spent most of the afternoon working to integrate the two pieces of manuscript into one document so that I can add in the extra parts that will make it one story. I have a couple pages of notes. That should help. I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'm sure going to try. No, not try, work on it. It sure is handy having these old manuscripts laying around to play with.

--Barbara

Just Made It

I played a little yarn chicken tonight and finished the Campfire Hat with about a yard and a half of yarn left. Whew. As I was getting toward the crown of the hat I thought how frustrating it would be to run out with only a round or two left to go but the yarn didn't run out. I still have to weave in the tails but the hat is essentially finished. And now I know that I can knit a hat out of one skein of that Landscapes yarn. I have two more balls of the campfire colorway and a couple partial balls of other colors. I foresee more hats in my future. Maybe I'll go back downstairs for some more alpaca yarn, um, once I finish the llama hat, that is.

 

The feeders were popular today as was the mess of seed and cracked corn on the ground under them. At one point there were five squirrels around. One on the suet nuggets, one on the suet cakes, and three on the ground jockeying for position. I watched them for quite a while. One would leap up to a crook dislodging the one on the suet cakes and then the dislodged one would leap to the suet nuggets and take over that place. They went like that for quite a while, each of them taking a turn on the suets. And they didn't bother the Sparrows on the round feeder either.

 

The acrobatic squirrel was back too. It's the only one that nibbles and then stretches down to eat whatever it has in its paws before curling back up to nibble again. For a minute there it lost hold of one of its paws and hung there holding on with only one back foot. Daring!

 

I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page this morning. I had a lot to be grateful for yesterday and managed to squeeze it all on the page. This isn't my best work but I'm glad I got it all on there.

 

After supper but before Friday Night Knitting I drew this whale out of Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals. I like it. I think in the book it has a rabbit on its tail. Or maybe a cat. But I ran out of time so all I have is this whale. And I didn't even have time to color it in. Pretend it's gray, okay?

 

First thing at Friday Night Knitting I worked on the bottom of OJ's owl softie (it's too big to be an amigurumi, I think). Next there are eleven or twelve rounds of straight single crochet that will be much easier for him to manage than doing the counting of stitches in these increase rounds. FYI--the blue yarn is my end-of-round marker.

 

I'm letting the next Seaview Series manuscript marinate for a while but I made it through the manuscript after it this afternoon. Five pages from the end I switched from past to present tense so I spent at least an hour changing "is" to "was" and "says" to "said" and "was" to "were." I'll have to reread that part because I was a lot more irritated at changing all those tenses than paying attention to what was written.

I also posted a rewrite of the Spies Don't Retire blurb on the Ad School Facebook page this evening and got a wonderful comment from one of the Ad School team. I can't believe how she took my pallid words and made them zippy and interesting. I'll be studying what she did and how she did it all weekend to see if I can't learn something.

And this morning I emailed GetCovers to redo my cover. Over the last week I realized that what I thought I wanted just didn't look right and the previous version was much better. So I emailed and asked them to change it back. They'll do it and for no more money. I do like them, they do good work and are very reasonably priced.

--Barbara

I Shoulda Worn My Snowshoes

This afternoon I went out and filled the birdfeeders. I should have worn my snowshoes because it was tough walking in the deep snow on the patio and I didn't even try to go up the hill to fill the cob corn feeders. Maybe I'll do that this weekend--with snowshoes.

 

Even the empty or almost empty feeders were popular today. The Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up twice, once on the round feeder where its long beak lets it get at seeds that the short beaked birds can't reach. Then I heard knocking and looked out to see it hanging onto the suet cakes feeder and pounding at the remnant of suet cake. It hung around for a while working to get something to eat.

 

The most amusing was this squirrel that tried time and again to get something out of the round feeder. It was completely empty and the weight of the squirrel closed it so that even if there'd been something in there it couldn't have reached it. Silly tree rat.

 

Today's watercolor flower is Anemone. Fun to paint but irritating that the teacher didn't pronounce it correctly. She said "ann-enemy" which is wrong and like fingernails on the blackboard to me. But I like the painting.

 

I did the last two days' gratitude journal pages this morning because I was busy Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I'll do today's tomorrow because I was busy tonight too.

 

The most fun thing of the day was teaching crochet to the small people (who aren't all that small anymore). I'm crocheting along so that they can see how to make the motions and where to put the hook. It's harder than I thought it'd be. I guess sixty plus years of doing it makes those motions second nature. Anyway, the white one is the top of a unicorn's head and the pink one is the bottom of an owl's body.

 

First thing this morning I signed on to my account on The Clearing's website and signed up for the classes I want to take this coming spring/summer/fall. I'm on the list for watercolor in May and the Women's Writing Retreat at the end of September. Can't wait!

I spent most of the afternoon reading the next manuscript, putting sections in, taking sections out. I can't see how I can integrate these characters together but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I meant to work on the blurb for Spies Don't Retire but got distracted by the "new" manuscript. And I think I'm going to contact the cover artists and have them redo the cover, or go back to an earlier version. The longer I look at this one the more I think it isn't right.

 --Barbara

Warming Up

It got up into the teens today! The sun shone and made an icicle hanging from my gutter. Just one. Not a whole row of them. Only one.

 

The Downy Woodpecker came to hammer away at the remnants of the suet cakes. One day soon I'll have to wade out in the snow and refill all of the feeders. Maybe I'll strap on my snowshoes to do it.

 

The Sparrows worked really hard yesterday and today emptying the round feeder. When I opened the drapes this morning there was a thick layer of cracked corn on the snow under the feeder and one squirrel made inroads. Finally the Sparrows and a Mourning Dove took charge and worked on cleaning up. You can see that the rabbits have visited too. They left their calling cards (rabbit raisins).

 

I found a picture of these bell flowers in Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers. They were fun to draw and color in with a black pen.

 

When I went to close the drapes in the living room I saw that the horizon was tinted that beautiful pinkish orange so I had to take a picture. 

 

I got to do the school run today and spend the evening with the small people. We're planning a crochet lesson date because they both want to learn. LC has had one lesson and OJ hasn't. He asked tonight what would happen if he goofed up. I told him that all he'd have to do was pull out the stitches and try again. That there's no problem with mistakes, they're not permanent. I think he was relieved.

Tomorrow morning is The Clearing signup day for Life members, of which I am one. I'll be on here at 8am sharp so that I'm certain to get into the classes that I want and get the rooms that I want. With any luck, in just over two months I'll be going up for watercolor class. The Women's Writing Retreat isn't until the last week of September but I'll be at The Clearing for a weekend writing retreat the second weekend of March which is coming right up. Hooray!

--Barbara