I Saw One

One squirrel showed up in the yard today. It didn't leap up on the suet nuggets or climb into the square green feeder but it was there, prospecting under the nuggets feeder. Right after I took its picture it scampered off toward the west.

 

A knitting friend posted a pattern for a pointy red hat that is a quiet rebellion against the things going on in Minnesota. I found some red yarn but mine is thicker than what the pattern calls for so I found a basic beanie pattern for my yarn and I'll follow the method when I get to the top so it turns out pointy with a cord and tassel like the real one. I cast on this afternoon and got through the ribbing and into the hat body. I just went on Facebook to check something and saw a post by DD that she bought the pattern and is casting on today too.

 

This is the last drawing out of the book Drawing Cute. It's a Hammer. I don't remember why she said she'd put in a hammer but she did and kind of made a big deal of it. I put that book on the shelf and chose another drawing book. I think I've drawn some of the things in the book but I want to draw more of them.

 

I stepped out of my comfort zone this afternoon and entered one of the short story contests online. The one with the February 1 deadline is for new or emerging writers. I don't think I'm either new or emerging so I chose the other one. Before I could think too hard about it I saved the story as a PDF, paid the entry fee, and uploaded it. Now I'm committed. There's no turning back. I have no illusions about winning but the category I entered is for people over 70 so maybe I have a fighting chance.

 

After supper I painted these Cosmos. I'm not thrilled with them but will try again. I have to keep reminding myself that I can practice them over and over until I like what I get. I wish I could see how the author of the book used her brush to paint the petals. She described it but when I tried my petals looked like feet with toes. Not what I was hoping for. Maybe next time.

 

 Hey, it got up to 1 degree today! It's -5 now but the feels like temperature is -5 too so there must be no wind. My back doorknob is still a little frozen but not completely unusable like it was yesterday. Today I could open the door to toss my banana peel in the outside trash.

I wrote a little today--386 words--working through an emotional time with Rose and Iggy. I have a really hard time stretching it out. I keep wanting to solve the problem on the next page and have to resist the temptation.

--Barbara 

Not Going Anywhere

Why not? Because not only is it -15 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of -30 degrees but the door from my kitchen into the garage was frozen shut this morning. Not that I was planning to go anywhere but that door's the only access to my car. If by some chance I needed to go someplace, I couldn't because the knob wouldn't turn. I had to get out the hair dryer and an extension cord so I could heat it up to be able to open the door. I sprayed it with WD-40 but that only made it turn easier for a while, then it went back to being frozen. I turned the knob every hour or so but won't be able to do that overnight so I left the hair dryer out for the morning. I was surprised and rather horrified to see the mail carrier walking around the neighborhood this morning. You'd think he'd be allowed to drive the route in weather like this but maybe he likes walking.

 

I worked on adding the murder accusation and arrest parts to the manuscript today. I put the additions in red so that I'll know what's new when I go back through it again--and again and again--before it's ready for publication. I have no illusions about having to change things to accommodate the new twist in the story. Many changes will be needed. 

 

Today's drawings are a Coffee Maker & Luggage. The coffee maker was more challenging to draw and now that I look at it, I see it's kind of cockeyed.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished the Campfire Hat #2. I'm going to soak it and block it hoping that the yarn will bloom. I double checked the fiber content and it isn't 100% wool like I thought it was. It's only 50% wool and 50% acrylic so it might not bloom so much but I'll still do it and see what happens. It's a little scratchy so maybe a bath will soften it up.

 

There were no birds or squirrels out and about today. I did see a rabbit sniffing around under the feeders at suppertime. It's just too cold out for man or beast. I'm glad they cancelled school today.

It must be short story contest season because I've gotten emails from two friends in the last two days with information about contests, so I looked at my remaining stories that haven't hit Substack yet. (Entries have to be unpublished and social media counts.) The only story I thought was worth submitting was scheduled to be published next Wednesday so I yoinked that off and substituted a different one. Now I need to decide which contest to enter. One has a deadline of February 1 so I have to think fast. 

--Barbara

I Meant To Stay Home

But I didn't. DS invited me to visit the brewery this morning while he brewed the new hazy IPA. I wasn't doing anything so I went. It wasn't too cold and it's never cold in the brewery. It's always hot and humid in there. Anyway, he was testing the ph of his brew in this picture. It was too high so he dumped some powder into the kettle that will lower the ph. Then he transferred some Good Dog Porter from one tank into the fermenter so he'd have room for the new hazy IPA. All very scientific and wet. Lots of water in beer brewing.

 

Last week I asked my assistant, KM, to use part of my webpage banner to make a publishers logo for me. I can put it on the title page of my new book and when I republish all of the earlier ones, because I want to issue them with my own ISBN number instead of the free one from Amazon, I can tack it on there too. 

 

Today's drawings are a Mailbox & a Bathtub. Both fun to draw, especially the bubble bath. Only two more pages left in the book and then I can move on. Or maybe I'll move back to a book I've already finished and have a do-over. Only time will tell.

 

After supper I got out the paints and painted Dill Stems. I thought they were an odd flower choice but they were simple to paint and turned out okay.

 

I didn't see any birds or squirrels today, not that I was sitting at the table much. It got awfully windy late in the day so I'm sure they were all hunkered down.

I wrote a bunch today but not on one page so I could count the words. I kept working in the suggestion of my critique partner to have one guest die and another be accused of his murder. I'm reading through what's already written, taking out a few references to the arrested guest and salting in Rose's reactions and emotions. It's a little tricky but I'll have plenty of time to make it pretty on subsequent edits.

Tonight I met with three writing friends to talk about marketing again. We're trying to brainstorm ideas and search out ways of getting our books out there in front of people. I may have volunteered to help someone learn how to set up ads on Amazon. It's a good thing I have a file of instructions on how to make the different types of ads.

I really don't plan on going anywhere tomorrow or Saturday. It's supposed to be REALLY REALLY cold, like -45 degree wind chills. I think school's cancelled so the kids don't have to walk in it and freeze.

--Barbara 

Getting Ready

Today I ran around and did all the things I wanted to accomplish before the deep freeze sets in on Friday. I went to the grocery (no, the OTHER grocery) to pick up a prescription and stocked up on a couple of my new favorite frozen meals. I stopped to fill up the gas tank so I'll have a full tank so that there's no gas line freeze happening when the temps fall below zero. I also got to do the afterschool run so I saw LC and OJ for a few minutes. We even stopped on the way for a treat. Yes, I'm that grandmother. A little bit of a pushover.

 

While I was yoga-ing this morning, the Red-bellied Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets for a snack. I paused my practice to take its picture because I couldn't rely on it sticking around until I was done.

 

Today's drawings are a Kite & an Airplane. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I especially like the kite's tail.

I moved slowly this morning. Just didn't have the motivation to do much. I did my yoga, then took a shower, and reread what I'd written yesterday and decided that I'd jumped the gun having the guest arrested right away. So I lopped off that part of the writing and pasted it on a separate page to use later. Then I read on to see where I needed to change things and where I could ramp up the tension by having her arrested. Haven't gotten there yet, but I will. 

And that's it for today. Not much to say or show but it was a good day because the sun was shining and it got up to 21 so I didn't freeze solid while I was pumping gas. Just got a little cold. Oh, and I noticed that one of my favorite mittens has a hole in it! How that happened I do not know but I'm hoping I can find the remnants of the yarn and fix it because they're my warm car mittens.

--Barbara 

It's Good To Have Friends

I had a Zoom with my writing friend, cda, this afternoon. She critiqued a piece of my newest manuscript which might be called Sailing the Seas (or not). When it ended she asked if a character was going to die and another one be accused of the murder. !!! That hadn't occurred to me but as soon as we got off Zoom I buckled down, figured out where to put it, and wrote it. Or the beginning of it anyway. I wrote 1503 words altogether today, 979 of them about the death and arrest. Now that's conflict! 

 

It was bright sunny again today but not quite as cold. It was -5 when I got up at 7am but was 10 degrees when I was making supper, so not too bad. The squirrel was on the suet nuggets when I was finishing lunch this afternoon and it was even in the sunshine.

 

No so the little Sparrow that visited the square green feeder a couple times that I saw. He was in the shade no matter where on the feeder he landed.

 

There was a murder of Crows in the big tree behind the house. Really, that's what you call a flock of Crows. Five of them were lined up on a branch but as soon as I snapped the shutter one flew toward me and another one lifted off on its way to follow. They're surprisingly big.

 

Today's drawings are a Washer & Detergent. I like them. For some reason I like the Detergent the best. No idea why. Every time OJ sees what I draw he says that I draw "stuff." He draws stories.

 

And I repainted yesterday's Soft Blue Flax. It turned out better, I think, although the petals aren't quite symmetrical on the left one. It's better though. Maybe I'll try again.

 

After my haircut this morning I went to the grocery and one thing on my list was another 25# bag of ice melt salt because I'm using the stuff I bought before faster than anticipated. Well. The Meijer app said they had some more of the 25#ers, but all I found were 50# ones. I could lift one, but couldn't get it on the bottom shelf of the cart and figured I couldn't get it into the car or the bin in the garage. So I ended up getting 2-12# jugs of pet-friendly not-salt that's supposed to work as well. We shall see. I was just glad that the car started this morning. It's been so darned cold and I hadn't gone anywhere for a few days so I went out early to crank it over. It started right up. Whew. It's supposed to be bitter cold this coming Friday and Saturday. I don't have to go anywhere but will make sure my gas tank is full before then. It's best to have a full tank when it gets very cold. I'm not sure why but that's what the big kids tell me.

--Barbara 

Better Late Than Never

I lay in bed this morning watching the shade move in and out with the breeze coming in the window over my head. It was a very cold breeze. I berated myself that I hadn't plastic-ed the window sooner, like before the new bed arrived when I could have done it from the security of the step stool instead of being on top of the squishy mattress that kept trying to tip me off balance. But I took my time and kept the tape and scissors in my hoodie's pouch so I didn't have to keep leaning over to get things off the nightstand. And survived. I'm considering just leaving the plastic there after winter because I can't guarantee I'll be brave (or foolish) enough to do it again next winter.

 

I can show you how windy it was today. When it (eventually) stopped snowing the day before yesterday the snow was a smooth blanket of white. This morning that changed. Look at the way the wind sculpted the snow in the backyard. Just to the left of this picture the grass is partly exposed because the wind blew all the snowflakes to the right. I don't even want to know how much snow encroached on my nice clear driveway but I'm not going out to shovel it because it's just too darned cold. It got up to 4 degrees today but the feels like temperature was in the -15 degree range. I have to go out to get a haircut tomorrow morning and then I'll go to the grocery on the way home and stay inside for the rest of the week if I can manage it. It was also clear and sunny today. I love the sunny part but I'm not a fan of the bitter cold and the strong wind.

 

Today's drawings are a Toaster & Refrigerator. Fun to draw and color. Five more pages to draw in this book and then I'm on to something new.

 

The watercolor today is Soft Blue Flax. I don't know that I've ever seen it in real life but it was fun to paint because I used a filbert brush. Its bristles are basically the shape of the petals so I could use it like a stamp. I want to try painting this one again to see if I can't get better at spacing the petals.

 

I wrote 726 words today, words of conflict. Yay, me! We all know how conflict-averse I am so I was very pleased with myself for putting Iggy in a situation that Rose misinterpreted and stormed away from. Maybe I can do it again tomorrow. I started by rereading the critiqued part of the manuscript to see if I could insert some emotion and conflict but only managed to do a little editing and break that beginning part into chapters. Baby steps.

--Barbara 

Shoveled & Salted

The day of snow showers yesterday meant that I got to go out this morning when it was 10 degrees to shovel the driveway. Yay! It wasn't too bad, not really windy, and the snow was light and fluffy so I was able to shovel instead of snowblow. As I always do, I salted the top half of the driveway with ice melt salt so that I won't have any trouble getting traction when I pull in. Naturally we're having snow showers again so there's a thin film of snow on there again.

 

Here's the suet nuggets squirrel hanging upside down and enjoying a nibble. The squirrels are all fluffed out and furry this time of year and they're not shy about getting up there to stoke up for the cold weather. I haven't seen one in the square green feeder lately.

 

The drawings today are a Blender & Cutlery. I wasn't so sure about drawing the cutlery but it wasn't a problem. Those are shapes I'm familiar with.

 

Today's watercolor is Stock. I'm not very familiar with it but the artist said it's popular in bridal arrangements and bouquets. It turned out okay. It's a little blurry looking I think, especially the stem. Maybe I'll try again.

 

And I made time to draw a gratitude journal for today. I was mostly grateful for the few minutes of sunshine we had early in the morning. It went away pretty quickly but was nice while it lasted.

 

Today's word count was 549. Not great, but better than no words at all. Still haven't come to an end. I'm getting a little worried.

--Barbara