Not Too Hot

And with a nice breeze so I could take a walk this afternoon. I waited until the sun was lower so there was more shade and walked up to the stop sign and back. I can tell that I'm walking more; I still get out of breath but not as badly as before and I recover more quickly. Both good signs to keep going.

 

A Downy Woodpecker, or maybe THE Downy Woodpecker, landed on the suet cakes today. This one has red on its head so I'm thinking it's a male. It flew by another time but swooped back and forth and never landed. I couldn't decide what its problem was. There wasn't a Hawk nearby or a big, mean squirrel on the empty suet nuggets feeder.

 

One Crow was back on the fence today. I hear them cawing in the morning when I'm waking up, but not when they're on the fence. 

 

I drew a Radish today. It was fun and I like the way it turned out, especially the leaves.

 

My watercolor wasn't as successful. It's from the first year's watercolor class at The Clearing and my notes weren't the best that year so I fumbled around. Painting a rock wall is hard for me. It ends up looking like a brownish, greenish smudge across the page. I should practice that more. The trees didn't turn out too badly though.

 

After supper I sat down and started knitting another bear. I have another skein of that fuzzy super bulky yarn in a different color that I'm determined to use so I went down another needle size to squeeze the stitches together more. I've got the first legs knitted and joined. Next comes the belly and arms. We'll see how this one turns out.

 

When I was rereading chapters in my manuscript today, I realized that I had one couple stay over an extra week and then in the next chapter I had too many people arrive to check in so that there weren't enough rooms. That meant I had to scrape out all of the references to the eliminated couple and tidy up the language around the places where I took things out. But I saved the parts I took out and transferred them to my "Darlings" file so they're not deleted, just moved.

I checked on Libby to see how far down the line I am to get Iron Flame, the second book of the Empyrian series I had to return before I finished it. I'm number 2, so it shouldn't be long, but I was surprised that I could have borrowed the third book without waiting. How come I have to wait for number 2 and nobody's reading/listening to number 3? I don't get it. Watch, when I want number 3, there'll be a waitlist. Oh well. I have other books to listen to while I wait.

I have got to concentrate on sitting up straight and not slouching when I'm sitting here at the computer. It's a bad habit. I have to stand up straight when I walk too. Focus, Barbara! 

--Barbara 

 

Happy July 4th!

I had an unexpected visitor this morning. I was eating my breakfast, saw movement outside, and looked up to see the hen turkey strutting through. I thought she'd peck at the seed in the grass but she just moved on through. I left the birdbath in the picture so you can see how big she is.

 

Then a little later I saw a flash of black and white and there was a Downy Woodpecker on the Slinky. It stayed there for a bit and then flew over to the suet cakes, landing on the back side out of sight, of course.

 

I spent most of the day in Shawano with DIL1's family. There was a lot of food, lots of laughter, and plenty of splashing in the pool. After swimming and dessert (the brownies were a hit), there was a water balloon fight at the house across the street. I did not take part or witness it, but by all accounts it was loads of fun.

 

When I drove up to my house this afternoon, I saw that the peachy day lily on the side of the house was blooming. I forget about those flowers on that side and usually miss their blossoms, so I was glad to see this one today.

 

And I snapped a picture of the newest Dad's rose. The rest of them are all faded or fading, but I spied a couple buds that look promising.

 

I didn't draw or paint today. I did spend a few minutes reading a couple manuscript chapters so I can mark that off my to-do list for the day.

But I found out that Project Hail Mary was free to watch on Prime (thanks for the text, CP!) so I plopped down on the couch when I got home and watched. It was good, but I think the book was better. But then, I always think the book is better than the movie. I recommend them both.

I can hear fireworks from every direction. Some are close, others are far away. 

--Barbara 

Proof

Here's a section of the retaining wall without weeds, proof that the weeding crew was here and did a good job. It looks kind of odd without all the weeds but I like it.

 

The bird of the day is a Crow. There were three of them on top of the fence, too far apart to be in the same frame but this one had its beak open like it had something to say.

 

Today I drew a page she called Little Critters. It wasn't until I was finishing coloring them with markers that I realized I had all three green critters lined up on the right side of the page. They look kind of funny like that but it was too late to change.

 

I baked a double batch of brownies this afternoon. And I only ate one little corner one. Okay, I also ate the crumbs left in the pan after I put them all into a Tupperware box for the drive to Shawano. They stuck around the sides which made prying out the first one messy. That's why I had to eat it. Really.

 

Late in the day a House Finch came over to sip the rain-diluted grape jelly. He was alone, no female accompanying him as usual. Maybe it was her turn on the nest.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I worked on the Antipasto Chemo Hat. It's almost long enough to start the crown decreases but I want to make sure it's long enough to cover the ears so I'll add another inch or so just to be sure.

 

That was my day. I slept until 8 o'clock, did the Wordle, did yoga, and took a shower, so it was late when I got dressed. It's so nice to be retired and not have to leap up, get dressed, and race off to work. Retirement is luxurious. I braved a trip to the grocery store this afternoon, not thinking that there'd be a lot of people in there buying 4th of July party or picnic food. It wasn't too bad, I even got a decent parking place.

--Barbara

The Saga of the Weeds

The weeders were supposed to arrive at 8 A.M. this morning so I set my alarm for 6:30 A.M. (I'm a slow waker-upper.) They texted at about 7:30 A.M. that they were calling a rain delay and would arrive around noon. Now it was barely sprinkling here when I got that text but okay. Turned out it was raining buckets at their house on the east side when it wasn't raining here but they're teens and didn't think to ask. I didn't think to say it wasn't raining here either. Anyway, they arrived just after noon and got started. Two skinny teens with gloves and bins for the weeds. They got to work and pretty soon uncovered a nest of fire ants so they skipped that part. They weren't speedy but they worked steadily, stopped to eat in mid-afternoon, and finally quit when there were way more ants at the end of the retaining wall. By then I was ready for them to be done because they charge by the hour. I might call them again. Oh, and they hauled away some wood that leaned on the garage wall next to my car and fell over on it every once in a while. That cost extra.

 

I decided I wanted to paint something easy so I tried painting lavender with the Creativebug course I have done in the past. It's okay. Not my best effort. I just couldn't make the brush do what I wanted it to do. Maybe another time.

 

I saw a Hummingbird this afternoon! Finally. Naturally it didn't stay long enough for a picture so I've gone back into the archives for a substitute. I was becoming convinced that something else was sipping the nectar because the level went down but I never saw a bird. Now I've seen one and it was a male. Yippee!

 

This afternoon I listened to an audiobook and finished Teddy Bear #1. I'm not sure I like it. It's cute and everything, but somehow it's just not right. I think using that super bulky yarn was a mistake. It made the bear too big and the stitches aren't tight together enough. There's time, I can try again.

 

It's hard to share a bird picture when the bird doesn't cooperate. This morning a Downy Woodpecker was on the suet cakes but I didn't see it until it flew into the patio door. Oops. Later it came again, or another one did, and this time it landed on the back side of the suet cakes feeder so all I could see was the tail. So that's what you get, a Downy Woodpecker tail.

 

Tomorrow I get to bake a double batch of Hershey's "The Best" Brownies for the July 4th picnic. That's what I volunteer to make every year. They seem to like them since I never have to bring any back home. Let's hope the rain holds off so we can sit outside and watch the kids swim instead of sitting in the house listening to the kids rampage through the house.

--Barbara 

Another Hot Muggy Day

With bonus rain! It was so dark this morning when it was raining I had to turn on a light to start the dishwasher and see what buttons to push. And the rain came from the southwest which made a puddle in the mailbox. I think that was a first, at least in recent memory. It rained again around lunchtime but with less enthusiasm. And less darkness. This does not feel like a Wisconsin summer. It feels like a Southern Indiana summer felt when I was a kid.

 

I went out and filled the suet nuggets feeder and it didn't take long for Sparrows to figure it out and come to visit. They mostly didn't stay long enough for a picture but this one finally did.

 

Then a male Downy Woodpecker visited the refilled suet cakes. He even considerately hung onto the side of the feeder so I could see him and the red swoop on top of his head.

 

I had a meeting this morning with KM, my online assistant (no, she's not AI), and she helped me finish setting up the delivery actions linking BookFunnel and Square so I can offer people the chance to purchase eBooks and audiobooks at vendor and book fairs. As soon as the sale goes through they'll get an email with a link so they can download their book purchase. It didn't cost me anything but time so I hope it will help me make a few more sales.

 

This morning's rain beat up Dad's roses pretty badly. They were fading anyway so I'm going to post the picture of them looking beautiful the other day and then wait for the next batch of flowers to bloom.

 

I wasn't in an arty mood today so I just drew a dragonfly--and not very well. I picked what I thought was a light blue marker for the wings. It turned out to be more turquoise. Oh well, I think it was supposed to represent iridescence. Close enough.

 

I finished knitting the last six rows of teddy bear leg this evening, embroidered on the face, and clipped the sides together. I started sewing it up but that's going to take a while. Then I have to stuff it, oh, I probably have to stitch across the head's corners to make the ears before I stuff it. I'll read the instructions. What a novel idea!

 

My alarm is set for 6:30 A.M. because the weeding crew is supposed to arrive at 8 A.M. I hope they don't take too long because they get paid by the hour and my budget can only stand so much but I'll be glad to get rid of all those unsightly weeds.

--Barbara 

And Rainy

We had a couple bouts of hard rain this afternoon. It's still hot and humid. I nearly suffocated when I went out for the mail and walked over to the front window to make sure it was all the way closed. It was all of about six steps and I could feel the heaviness of the air. They're talking about more rain tomorrow and then almost 100% chance of rain on Friday. I've got my fingers crossed that Thursday morning isn't rainy so the weeders can come and work without getting drenched. Hopefully Saturday will stay dry so people can celebrate the Fourth outdoors. It's definitely a picnic day.

 

One of the squirrels figured out how to get into the square green feeder. I suspect that this is the regular squirrel because I saw the young one on the ground when it was up in there chomping up seed and digging for peanut halves.

 

I did laundry today (ugh) and was looking for a snack. I remembered a WW recipe for apple dip made with powdered peanut butter (which I had), Splenda, and plain Greek yogurt. So I whipped up a dish of it, sliced an apple, and gobbled it up. Yum. Only 2 points!

 

Today I painted a Rose. It wasn't very difficult. I checked in the book of Easy Watercolor Flowers but that one looked complicated. Then I looked up the video of the 31 day floral course on Creativebug. That one was doable. So I did it. And it turned out just fine. I added the faint cobalt teal background to anchor the flower in place. I like it.

 

A juvenile House Finch paid a visit to the orange half this afternoon and was really enjoying it. At one point, it pecked up a bigger piece of orange flesh, surprised itself, and flew up to the top of a crook, but it soon went back to work pecking away at the fruit.

 

A Downy Woodpecker flew over to the suet cakes. Unfortunately the cake on my side of the feeder is pretty much gone so the bird hung from the bottom of the feeder to peck at the other side. So you get a view of the underside and tail end of a Woodpecker.

 

I'm half a leg away from being done knitting Teddy Bear #1. I'll finish that last leg, clip it together, sew it, stuff it, embroider on the face, and find some thinner yarn to use to knit a scarf to cinch the neck. Then I get to knit another one. But I enjoy this kind of knitting much more than garment knitting.

 

This afternoon I found a file folder of short stories I'd forgotten about. Oh boy! Six more stories to tidy up for posting on Substack. Every little bit helps the cause. These were stories I wrote to submit to The First Line, a literary journal that gives you the first line (duh) and you have to write a story from there. I submitted stories but never got selected or published, so they'll just get published on Substack. One of them is quite long and very unlike me. I was amazed when I reread it today. Totally not my story style. Fun!

--Barbara 

Beastly Hot

I had to go outside to take pictures of my weedy retaining wall for the guy I was trying to hire to send a crew to come and weed the thing. Mercy, it was hot out there. Humid too. He quoted me a price, I agreed, and they're coming on Thursday morning to do the job. I just hope it's a little cooler and not raining. Also they'll haul away some water-ruined wood that's leaning on the wall in my garage that has a habit of falling onto my car every once in a while. I suspect I'll be glad I found these guys. They've gotten rave reviews on Nextdoor.

 

The roses don't mind the heat. They're out there perky as ever and spreading their beauty to all.

 

I decided to try drawing a Rose today. It turned out okay. Even the coloring is okay. Maybe I'll try painting a rose tomorrow. That should be a challenge. I think I've got a painting lesson online and one in a book to help me not make too big a mess of it.

 

A Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets and stayed on my side of the feeder long enough for me to take its picture. Naturally the camera focused more on the Oriole feeder between the Downy and me but you can still see the bird and it's beauty.

 

Then a couple House Finches landed on the grape jelly. When I took the picture I noticed that another House Finch was on the orange half. At first I thought this was a polygamous relationship, but then I realized that the third bird was probably a juvenile from this year's nest tagging along with Mom and Dad hoping for a handout. 

 

One of the young squirrels leaped from a patio chair to the top of the square green feeder. It looked at all four sides, trying to figure out how to access the seed that was so temptingly near and yet inaccessible. It finally dropped off without ever getting to the goodies.

 

I got smart today and wrote an email page telling my newsletter subscribers about the two sales promos I'm in this month. I've put them both on my personal Facebook and my author Facebook pages and will do it again, probably Sunday, but I need to share the links with my subscribers to fulfill the requirements of the promos. Then I shipped it off to KM so she can send it out. Her help is worth every penny. I have a meeting scheduled with her on Wednesday morning so she can help me figure out the last step of getting BookFunnel and Square totally connected.

Then I listened to the end of an audiobook and they directed listeners to the author's webpage for a recipe from the book. That reminded me that I have recipes published in the back of Open For Business so I sent KM an email with the six recipes attached asking her to make a page on my site for them. People like recipes, right?

The Hummingbird feeder needed refilling yesterday so I did that. I still haven't seen one but something's sipping the nectar. I looked up how much a feeder with a camera attached is. Um, nevermind. It'd be great to have but not for that much money, especially not since I'll be paying the weed guys in three days and they won't be cheap.

--Barbara