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