Spending Your Inheritance, Kids

My morning did not start well. My alarm didn't go off because my phone had a dead battery. Somebody forgot to plug in the charger last night. I woke up only 15 minutes after it was supposed to go off, so that was pretty much okay. At 8:00am sharp, the air conditioner installers arrived and got to work. They finished in about 5 1/2 hours and then I handed over a nice, fat check. Fortunately I had the money in savings so I didn't have to finance the thing and end up paying more. Made it sting a little less. But now I don't have to worry about the a/c failing and having to have an emergency installation when the new baby next door is here. Her due date was a week ago so the baby is taking its time.

 

One of the juvenile squirrel delinquents spent quite a bit of time on the suet nuggets today. It hung there, head down, for the longest time in the morning nibbling away and then it was back later in the day, head up, but I didn't take its picture then. I can't swear that it was the same squirrel both times but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

 

Here's yesterday's gratitude journal. I was most grateful for the homegrown tomatoes. I had another bacon and tomato on toast with mayo for supper tonight and it was just as delicious as last night's. There are three more tomatoes in the kitchen. I have a feeling that none of them will disappoint.

 

Today's drawing is a Dragonfly. I was kind of intimidated when I turned the page and saw what was next in the book, but I mustered up my guts and got to work. This is the last drawing in the sketchbook. Tomorrow I'll start a new one. I've got a couple piles of filled sketchbooks in the guestroom closet. One of these days I'll page through them to see how my drawing has changed and maybe improved over the years.

 

When I came back here just now it was thundering and then it rained for about twenty minutes. There was a little lightning and pretty good rain but not nearly long enough. It's been pretty dry around here for the last few weeks. I'm sure the gardeners and farmers are praying for rain. 

My cleaner, MB, came today and now my house smells nice and there are vacuum cleaner marks in the living room carpeting. Everything is clean and I have a month to dirty it up again before her next visit.

Almost as soon as she left, I got on Zoom with cda to go over two weeks' worth of chapters. She sent some first draft pages of her second novel and a query letter that I really couldn't help her with. I've never sent a query letter to an agent or a publisher so I'm no help in that department. What I send her for next Monday's critique session will be the last three chapters of Sailing the Seas. After that, it'll be pages of Three Cheers for Murder which is very much less polished. I contacted GetCovers last week to order the cover design for Sailing the Seas. I found some sailboat pictures I liked and told them I want to have a corner of the building that's on the previous Seaview Series books to tie them together. Now I wait until they send me the first draft. Then I ask for changes and we go back and forth until I'm happy with it. In the meantime I can get the manuscript uploaded to Kindle Create and get the front and back matter all arranged and set up so when I get the cover, I'll be ready to publish. Ooh, I can't wait. I have to assign ISBN numbers too. Can't forget that. I'll do that tomorrow.

--Barbara

No Lettuce

I stopped by my friend GBB's this afternoon. She had extra homegrown tomatoes that needed a home. I obliged. On my way home I stopped at Aldi for a loaf of their L'oven Keto Friendly wheat bread and went to Meijer for regular shopping and picked up a package of turkey bacon. Two slices of bread is one WW point. Two slices of bacon are one point too, as is a tablespoon of light mayo. The tomato is free. It was a fantastic supper. I have enough tomatoes to have the same thing four more times before I need to resupply. Yum.

 

Today's drawing is Blackberries. They were very putzy to draw. All those tiny circles (that are called druplets, btw) took forever to draw and then outline with ink. I'm not crazy about the green I chose to color the leaves but they're acceptable.

 

I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page this morning again. I was most grateful for taking a walk and spending quality time on the manuscript.

 

For the last few nights I've been adding a couple rounds to Scrap Hat #8. The ribbing is finished and I'm into the even rounds of hat body. Six more rounds and then I start the crown decreases. The red ran out so I've added in a charcoal gray. It's a little plain looking right now--black, white, and gray with a tiny thread of purple--but I'll introduce more color when the next one runs out.

 

This morning I worked on a critique for tomorrow afternoon, then I got to take some people to the airport for a little vacation, did some grocery shopping, and met with the air conditioner salesman in the afternoon. They had a cancellation so they can come tomorrow to replace the a/c on the renter's side. The old one's about 20 years old and on its last legs. I want to replace it before it fails altogether. And the salesman gave me a nice discount because I'm such a good customer. And I know the owner. Gotta love a small city.  The salesman remembered me, asked about Durwood because he said he was a nice, friendly guy. I had to agree.

I saw a squirrel leap from a patio chair to the new feeder but it only swung away. The squirrel then hoovered up the seed it made drop from the feeder to the ground. Jerk.

--Barbara 

Less Humid

Thank goodness it was less humid today, so I could take a walk after supper when it wasn't 80 degrees. This is not a picture of my feet today (I had on different shoes and socks, but not red ones) but I forgot to take a picture and I figure one picture of my feet with the same street works just fine. 

 

A Red-bellied Woodpecker was on the refilled suet nuggets today and moved around to the side so I could see all of it. Naturally it was on the shady side so it's not as bright as it might be but I was just glad to see the whole bird. Also I think this is a young one because it's kind of skinny and its head isn't very red.

 

I finally managed to capture a picture of three Sparrows on the new feeder. They decided today that the feeder was acceptable and spent quite a bit of time squabbling over the ports and learning that even though they can see the seed through the tube there are only four ports where they can get to it. Live and learn, birdies.

 

There isn't much grape jelly left in the dish but this young House Finch had a few nibbles before flying away. I haven't seen any wildlife on the orange half but it's been shifted so I'm guessing an early morning squirrel has been there.

 

In the morning I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. I had a hard time finding things to be grateful for since yesterday was pretty uneventful, but decided that my new portfolio and new birdfeeder would do just fine.

 

At lunchtime I drew today's flower which is Borage. I think it's an herb, a hairy-stemmed herb, but it was fun to draw and easy to color.

 

I spent the afternoon expanding places in Three Cheers for Murder. I propped up the brainstormed sheet of ideas for what the how-to author calls the backdrop, something that goes on behind and alongside the murder parts. It has the places where I can drop red herrings and present other suspects. It's hard for me to do because I'm not very devious but I've got some ideas and there's always the suggestions in the book to help me. 

 

Tomorrow afternoon I get to meet with the air conditioning guy to find out how much it'll cost to install a new central air in the rental half of the duplex. It's times like these I wish I either lived in a single-family house or an apartment. Maybe a condo. But I don't want another mortgage or to pay rent. Right now I don't have a car payment or a house payment, life is simple.

--Barbara 

Hope Springs Eternal

Well, I did it. I went to the birdseed store, picked up the suet nuggets, and fell prey to a metal caged birdfeeder. I wasn't sure I'd do it since the last feeder was gnawed to death in just over a week, but I've missed seeing the Sparrows and House Finches, so I caved. I tried to take a picture of a Sparrow on the new feeder but none of them stayed long enough.

 

Just as I walked in the door from the birdseed store I looked out and saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the barest remains of suet nuggets. It was fiercely defending its perch there, fending off marauding Sparrows, but this time I didn't see any feathers flying.

 

Once I filled the nuggets, it didn't take long for one of the squirrels to hang there having a snack. All of the birds take a turn too, so it isn't only the squirrels eating the nuggets.

 

And I was just quick enough to snap a photo of a Sparrow having a bath with two buddies watching. I took this picture, it hopped to the rim of the birdbath, shook once, and flew away.

 

This morning I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. I enjoyed my shower, loved painting the butterfly, and had a nice evening knitting with friends on Zoom. Doing this the morning after makes me work to remember what I did the day before. I figure it's good for memory retention, or something like that.

 

Today's watercolor flower is Asters. They would have been more satisfying if I'd have been more patient to let the centers dry before I painted the petals because twice I touched the center so the yellow bled into the pink and purple in places. My petals are thicker than the demo in the book. I should have used a smaller brush than the one recommended. But they look okay, I think.

 

This afternoon I worked on Three Cheers for Murder, adding non-murder scenes to beef up the manuscript and conversations between the sleuth and detective trying to build some tension between them. I'm not very good at the tension part, I need to keep working on it.

--Barbara 

Am I Blue?

Not really, but the Bluejay is. It landed on top of the crook and then flew over to try to get some of the suet nuggets. The feeder is nearly empty so I've got to go to the birdseed store tomorrow to get more. I'll look at the birdfeeders there, but I don't think I'll buy another one since the last one I bought got gnawed to death by squirrels in less than a week.

 

In the morning I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. My highest excitement was for the Hummingbird I saw at the feeder but I'm most grateful for the good financial news at Edw. Jones.

 

I wanted to order the cover design for the next Seaview Series book today so I uploaded the manuscript to Kindle Create thinking it'd tell me how many pages I've got so I could pass that info along to the cover designer. Well. it didn't number the pages. So I guess I'll just tell them how many manuscript pages I have and hope for the best. I searched a couple of photo sites for downloadable images of sailboats for the cover. I found a couple that are adequate but yoinked a picture off an Anguilla sailing regatta site that's exactly right. Of course, they won't be able to use that one but maybe they can find something similar.

 

Today's watercolor is a Monarch Butterfly. It's in the watercolor coloring book which is the only way I'd be able to paint something this complicated. All those little segments of orange-ish color and the skinny black parts between would have been impossible without the pale gray lines to follow.

 

Last night I added a few rounds of ribbing to Scrap Hat #8. I am enamored of the colors and the way they change and shift as I knit.

 

At Friday Night Knitting tonight I got to the crown decreases on the Dark Teal Chemo Hat and managed the first decrease round before time to quit.

 

There is a whole raft of fruit flies on the yellow sticky trap in the kitchen. There's still one flying around me right now and one seeming to be trapped in the bathroom but I'm impressed at the success of my low-tech solution to the problem.  

--Barbara 

Hummingbird!

I saw one! Really. And it hung around long enough for me to take two pictures. Oh, I'm so happy that I saw a Hummingbird in real life and didn't have to just assume they're coming by because the nectar is lower in the feeder.

 

Then the Bluejays were back. First I saw one on the Adirondack chair arm but by the time I got the camera up and ready it had flown down to the patio and hopped over toward the patio table. Then three of them showed up--one on the crook, one on the retaining wall, and one on the fence. I'm posting this picture because it's the sharpest one.

 

And in the afternoon a Red-bellied Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets. Naturally it only showed me its tail but every once in a while I saw a flash of its striped back. Also there were Sparrows trying to share the tiny bit of nuggets left and it lunged at them with its beak and feathers flew. Fierce!

 

In the morning I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. I was most grateful for being able to do yoga and for seeing a Bluejay on the suet nuggets feeder.

 

Today I went back to the In the Forest watercolor coloring book and painted these flowers. It said to paint dashes and marks on the flower petals but I didn't like the way that looked so I didn't. I'm such a rebel.

 

 I had an appointment with my Edw. Jones financial advisor, CLM, this morning and she told me that I still have enough money to last until I'm 90, and probably longer since I'm not spending as quickly as she thinks I can or should. She added up all of my assets to calculate my net worth and I was surprised at the number. I thank Durwood for forcing me to learn a little about investing and because of him I can at least read the financial reports and understand what they're saying. I looked at one graph and realized that the accounts have done much better since I took over the reins which surprised me. Go, me!

My fruit fly sticky trap is doing its job. There's a nice fringe of tiny brown bodies on the edge of the trap. They're not going anywhere. Although there's one that keeps flying past me as I'm sitting here. I wonder what's attracting it since I don't have any fruit back here. 

--Barbara 

It's Fruit Fly Season

Just when I think I've avoided it, they show up. I de-stemmed grapes this afternoon, rinsed them, and left them in the colander to dry. When I lifted them to pour them into the bowl I keep them in in the fridge, a small cloud of fruit flies rose up. *sigh* So I got out a little Pyrex bowl, a fruit fly sticky trap, and the apple cider vinegar and got it set up to trap them. Or actually for them to trap themselves on the sticky part. They're drawn to the cider, land on the yellow part, and are stuck. It works well, except now my kitchen smells like pickles. I'll get used to it.

 

Look at what landed on the suet nuggets this morning. A Bluejay! I've never seen one up there before. Usually they're on the ground pecking around to see if something interesting has fallen but here this one was up where the Sparrows and Starlings usually are. It stayed only long enough for this one picture but it made me happy to see it so close to the house and with its back turned so I could see its beautiful feathers.

 

While I waited for the air conditioner tuneup tech to arrive, I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. I was especially grateful for having been at CS's cabin at Pickerel Lake and for DM driving. But the best thing on the page is that I exercised my right to vote. I hope that everyone who reads this did the same. It's so important to vote every chance you have. It'd be too easy to lose the right.

 

Then while I waited for the tech to do his work on the rental side and on my side, I looked out and saw a pair of Flickers in the grass. I've never seen two of them together before. While I watched, one of them crouched and fluttered and the other one fed it so it was a parent and child. Very cool to see them.

 

I wasn't in the mood to draw the next flower in the 10-step Flowers book, so I went and found the 10-step Nature book and drew this Blue Tit bird. I don't think we have them in the States but it was fun to draw and color. Mine didn't turn out as chubby as the one in the picture but it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

 

Once the a/c tech was finished and gone, I spent the afternoon reworking the chapters of Three Cheers for Murder I laid out last week. They were too spread out, so I fixed that and while doing that I wrote a scene outline to get the story straight in my head and found some gaps that need filling. Then I uploaded Sailing the Seas to Atticus (formatting software) and made the title page and copyright page. In two more Mondays, the final run-through will be finished so I can upload it to Kindle Create, write the blurb, and order the cover designed. All of that needs to be done before I can move forward with publication. I ordered more author copies this morning of my old titles so I have enough on hand for the shows coming up in September and October, too.

 

While watching a little TV tonight, I cast on Scrap Hat #8. I had to cast on four times, FOUR!, in order to have the correct amount of yarn. First I was short. Then I was long--twice. And finally I got it right. Geez. I could have had more than one round of ribbing done if I'd only gotten it right the second time. Oh well, this is not a race.

 

I was anticipating that the a/c tech would tell me that the air conditioner on the rental side was at the end of its life, and he did. It's the original one we had installed when we moved in over 20 years ago. So I've got an appointment with a salesman next Monday to talk about a new one. *sigh* If it isn't one thing, it's another. Although I'd rather replace it before it breaks and cooks the renters while we wait for a new one. Or have to pay a weekend service charge.

--Barbara