I Didn't Think It Was That Hot

But this squirrel sure did. I looked out at around noon and there it was, sprawled out on the patio like it was 95 degrees. It was maybe 73 degrees and the humidity was in the 60s. Not exactly squirrel melting weather. It makes me smile to see it like this.

A lot of Sparrows ganged up with a few Mourning Doves and landed in a big flock below the round feeder.

Other Sparrows were on the feeder and they were throwing seed down as fast as they could for all of the eaters below. At one point a pair of wrestling squirrels chased all of the birds away and the squirrels continued to roll around in the fallen seed. I could hear their low growls and grunts as they fought. 

I pulled out Drawing Cute after lunch and here's the result--bananas and cheese. I like the way they turned out and I especially like the second banana's frown. I even like the mouse but only cartoon mice, not real live ones. BTW, I haven't seen any more or caught any since I saw the baby mouse last month. Whew.

In the afternoon I pulled up a YouTube video and watched how to pick up sock gusset stitches using Magic Loop again so I didn't have to get out DPNs, transfer the stitches, and then transfer them back when the gusset was finished. I especially like it because I don't have DPNs the same size as the needle I'm using. Now there's your problem right there. I got the stitches picked up and knitted a couple rounds to make sure that I've got the idea. I'll keep knitting on the One Skein Hat on Friday so that I can finish it first before I go back to the sock.

After supper I drew a gratitude journal page. I didn't have much to be grateful for so it's a little sparse. I tried to draw the figures a bit bigger to compensate.

I gave in to temptation this evening and bought a new book writing and formatting app. It's supposed to be better than Word for formatting books for publication and it's a one-time charge so I figured it might be worth it. There are a raft of tutorials to watch and there's a 30-day money back guarantee so I have to try to learn it fairly quickly.

I got an email from Lion's Mouth Bookstore, the local indie bookseller that I need to come pick up my books that have been there on consignment. They've sold one but they've been there over a year so I'm not too fussed.

You know, one of these days I'm going to think ahead a little bit and not have to go to the grocery every other day when I run out of fruit. Grapes don't go bad as quickly as bananas do. Just sayin'.

--Barbara

More Tired Than I Thought

I didn't really do much today, not much physical anyway, but I sure am tired tonight. I mowed the lawn after supper. It was longer than I thought it was so I had to go slow and stop frequently to let the mower throw out extra grass clippings. I run it on mulch but when it's as humid as it's been the grass sticks to the mower deck instead of getting chopped up. I know you probably don't care about that but it slowed me down, made the job longer, and now I'm extra tired. Just have to whine a bit.

Birds showed up today! Hooray! First this Sparrow and Chickadee shared a ride on the round feeder. The Chickadee didn't stay long before flying up to land on the Oriole feeder but I was glad to get its picture. They're hard to capture.

Then a Cardinal came. No other birds had the guts to try to share the feeder with him so he was able to eat safflower seeds in peace.

 

A Goldfinch came again today and it landed on the round feeder. Naturally it had its back to me but that's better than a picture with only a tail.

And of course a squirrel leaped from birdbath to crook to another crook so that it could hang there upside down and nibble away at the suet pellets. I don't know how it manages to get much out of there because it's a pretty small mesh meant for birds but that doesn't deter squirrels.

I spent a couple hours writing this afternoon. I didn't write as much new stuff as I did yesterday but I added to it. I'm happy with the way it's going. I set up the rock stars to go to the jump-up at Johnno's beach bar so maybe that'll make something happen. Maybe one of the teenagers at the party recognizes them and goes all fan-girl on them. Never having been a fan-girl I'll have to make it up but that's why they call it fiction.

After mowing but before taking a shower (I really needed a shower!) I sat down and drew a gratitude journal page. The weather today was the thing I was most grateful for. It only got up to 70 degrees, there was a nice breeze, and it was sunny. I am happy to say that the breeze did not come from the direction of Burger King so I wasn't tortured with the aroma of grilling hamburgers while I was mowing. Sometimes it's very hard to resist hopping in the car and going around the block for a burger. I suppose I could just walk there... Hm.

Just as I was leaving on errands I got a text from DS asking if I wanted to come visit since he was brewing today. I did since one of my errand stops was just a few blocks from the brewery. 

My errands were to places where I could drop off charity knitting donations. CS said she had a laundry basket full of charity knitting and when we all sorted out the 71 hats to send to Mayo, we also all sorted out the rest of the stuff. I took preemie hats to the NICU at St. V's and slippers and a big stack of knitted washcloths to the NEW Community Shelter. I was going to take a bag of knitted toe caps for people with casts but I was smart enough to call ahead and was told that they didn't want them. There has to be another ortho place that will take them. Maybe when the weather starts to get cold.

After I mow I take the mower to the end of the driveway, pull the hose down there, tip over the mower, and spray off all of the grass stuck under the deck. Once that's done I spray the grass clippings down the gutter and off the driveway. There was a small clutch of kids from down at the end of the street, little kids, riding scooters and little bikes up level with my driveway and then coasting down the hill whooping and laughing. They saw the grass and water in the gutter and wondered where it came from. I was spraying off the driveway so I lifted up the hose and sprayed toward them but plenty short so I didn't get them wet. They loved that. "You can't get me!" came from the biggest boy, about six years old. I told him I wouldn't spray him so that his mama didn't come up and scold me. "She won't. She's not home," said Mr. Smart Mouth. "Besides I have to go home and have a shower." Oh, he wanted to be sprayed so badly but I just kept rolling up the hose and putting it away. But now that we've made a connection maybe they'll wave when I drive by. They had a cookout last year that smelled so good I was tempted to walk down and introduce myself but I don't speak Spanish so that wouldn't have worked. I don't know how to say "please feed me" in Spanish.

--Barbara

One Bird Hiding

Yesterday afternoon I filled the bird feeders. No birds came. No birds were there this morning when I opened the drapes. While I was eating breakfast I saw a flash of yellow so I grabbed the camera and got ready to shoot. The Goldfinch landed on the finch feeder but on the back side of the finch feeder so I took one photo of its tail, then I waited. And I waited. And I waited. Then it flew away. So if you look closely on the left side of the feeder you can see the tail of the bird. Only the tail. *sigh*

 

I spilled a little seed when I filled the feeders yesterday and the chipmunk made short work of cleaning it up. It's very thorough but always very panicky. I can't imagine living with that level of fear all the time.

 

After lunch I hauled out 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and drew a few figures. I think this is the best pine cone I've ever drawn. It's in the middle on the left and you're looking at it from the top down.

 

I spent all afternoon writing. I wrote two new scenes and not one page scenes either. Three and four page scenes with dog bites and maybe rabies and writers and rock musicians. I have to thank cda for the idea to have rock stars come to stay. I've made them British and not super famous so it's logical that they can vacation semi-incognito. They've just arrived and are terribly jet-lagged so right now they're napping but soon I'll wake them up and start to have fun with them.

 

After my walk I drew a gratitude journal page.  I think I'm most grateful that it was a breezy day so having the kitchen window open let the sound of the wind chimes accompany my writing and drawing today.

I did some online research over the last few days and this morning I bit the bullet and made two Facebook ads. I set a budget of $5/day for five days so I won't break the bank. Hopefully it'll drive traffic to my FB page and sell some books. Fingers crossed.

--Barbara

And It's Changing Fast

I went out to fill the birdfeeders after supper and noticed that the tomato is a lot oranger than it was yesterday. A. Lot. I'm keeping my eye on it. Maybe the rain we had yesterday had some special properties that sped up the ripening process.

A Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet cakes feeder this morning and I managed to snap a picture just before it flew away. I only got one shot and it's a little blurry but like I said I only got one shot.

Today's drawing was out of 20 Ways to Draw a Jellyfish so it's a lot of sea creatures. I like the crab at the top, the seagull on the right, and the sea urchin on the bottom.

And I managed to eke out a Gratitude Journal page today too. It was cooler and partly sunny but still pretty humid. I filled all the feeders except the suet cakes which aren't empty yet. I don't mind that it's taking the birds and squirrels longer to devour them. I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

I downloaded iTunes on the laptop so I could double check and make sure that my audiobooks really are available there and they are. That means people don't have to have Audible to buy my books, they can get them on iTunes and not have to pay for membership. Of course it's kind of a trade off, paying to belong to Audible and then having credits to spend or paying for the books outright on iTunes.

My free eBook promo on Amazon started on Friday and I've "sold" 16 free Open For Business eBooks so far. The ad runs until Tuesday so hopefully having one of my books for free will steer people to buy another one. Fingers crossed. If you read eBooks, head on over before midnight on Tuesday and snag a copy for yourself!

And the ad that I set up on BookBub launched today. I've gotten a lot of impressions which you have to pay for on that platform but no clicks so far. I set the ad budget at $20 so I'm hoping for a sale or two before the ad finishes on Saturday.

I wrote another page or so that I tucked into the manuscript this afternoon. I have to keep conflict in mind. Even though I know I need it in the story I have a hard time adding it although I'm starting to see where it's missing. Seems like a good first step. Learning all the time.

--Barbara

It's Changing Color

I looked out the patio door this morning when I got up to see how my pitiful tomato plant was faring. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the biggest tomato is changing color. It doesn't look great. It looks like something's been nibbling at it. There are insect marks on it and yet it has the determination to stay alive and ripen. I figure I can carve off the gnawed parts once it's red and eat it. If there's anything left.

LC, OJ, and I went to a LEGO event this morning. We could have spent hundreds of dollars. It never occurred to me that most of the sellers didn't take credit cards so luckily I set them small budgets. We came back here to look at our purchases and wait for lunchtime so we could go to MickeyD's. As soon as we arrived here it started to sprinkle and by the time we'd walked through the garage and into the house this is as hard as it was raining. The raindrops were hitting the water so hard that it looked like there were fountains in the birdbath. It didn't rain for long but it sure rained with enthusiasm.

Today's drawing is out of Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers. I think they might be roses. I like the way the colored one looks, kind of abstract.

Speaking of roses, Dad's rose is blooming again. One flower and it survived the hard rains. It's not as pretty in its wet state as it is when it's dry but I figure I'd better take its picture anyway.

A gratitude journal page finally got drawn today. I skipped it four days in a row but then I haven't felt very grateful lately. Kind of makes me a philistine, doesn't it. There's always something to feel grateful for, even it it'd just being alive for another day.

The purple mums are still blooming away too. I never did get around to trimming them back in July when they started making buds and blooming. I'm interested now to see how long they stick around. The other mums are showing tiny buds so maybe all of the mums will be blooming at once. Time will tell.

I took my own advice and pulled out an old notebook with a pencil stuck in it and opened it to a blank page. I sat staring at the blank page for a while and then I took the plunge. I wrote a couple pages worth and one paragraph of that made it into the manuscript. I'm thrilled.

Oh, and I figured out how come I've "sold" a whole bunch of Open For Business eBooks. I set up a 5-day free book promotion that started yesterday. I really should write this stuff down.

--Barbara

Just Sparrows

Sparrows were the only birds around today and they were all over the suet cakes, what there's left of them. This trio were up on the cakes and flew down to the patio with beaks full of suet then gobbled it up. It kind of sticks to their beaks so they have to wipe it off on the concrete and then peck up the bits.

Here's another Sparrow this time happily eating away on the suet cakes. The cakes look disgusting--squares of fat with cracked corn suspended in it. Yuk. But the birds love it.

This afternoon I whipped up a batch of Egg Drop Soup. I bought scallions and baby bok choy at the grocery the other day so I had to make it before they got all droopy. It smells so good, I can't wait to have a bowl of it for supper tomorrow night. I made it a day early because everyone knows that soup is better the second day.

This is the last page of my current sketchbook and these are the last two things with wings in 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly. The top one's supposed to be a Cardinal, stylized but I think it kinda looks like one. And the other one's a Turkey which looks like a Turkey I think. I'm sure there's another sketchbook in the closet so I don't have to miss a day of drawing.

At Friday Night Knitting tonight I added rounds to the One Skein Hat. I've just about run out of the second skein of the three. I already made one hat out of this yarn using the same pattern and used about a skein and a third so I'm fairly confident that there won't be enough yarn left to make the same size hat. Maybe I can find a kid size hat pattern to make.

 

I gave The Seaview a new cover today. I liked the original one but heard from a couple people that it looked more like a guidebook than a novel so I changed it. This is the same female figure that's on Open For Business so they look like they go together. I'm thinking once the change is through review I'll order one with the new cover and make a Facebook ad with both books in The Seaview Series. I've sold four eBook copies of Open For Business today which makes me very happy.

I got a haircut this morning, came home and immediately took a shower. I hate when the little hair schnipples filter down under my shirt and make me all itchy. Then I spent some time looking into getting my audiobooks onto a different website to advertise them and maybe sell some. Well. Turns out that I signed an Exclusive Distribution contract with ACX so can only sell them on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. I have to remember that they're available on iTunes for people who don't have Audible. I wonder if I can put ads on iTunes. I'll have to do some research. There's no Amazon Ads for audiobooks which kind of gives me a pain. I guess they figure that people will see the audiobook option when they go to my sales pages but I want audiobook people to find them. I did some research on how to make a Facebook ad and will look at what I found again. There's a tutorial that I can follow and I'm not locked in to spending $70 for a week's worth of ads.

--Barbara

Not My Best Day

I thought that yesterday was a melancholy day but today was worse. Maybe because it rained most of the day. Maybe because I spent most of it trying to figure out how to get my audiobooks listed on Chirp so that I could make BookBub ads for them. That was sooooo frustrating. Every time I tried to "Learn more" I got sent to a site that just sat there with a blank screen. When I tried the site without Chirp on the end of the address it said that they were now a part of Shopify or maybe Spotify. Either way I didn't know what to do next. So I contacted them and asked how to get my books listed. Now I wait for a response. 

I did set up an ad for one of my eBooks on BookBub which is a site that sells eBooks exclusively so maybe I'll get some sales from that. I just did one book as an experiment. The ad starts on Sunday and runs for a week. I want someone to lead me through all this confusing ad stuff. I read about Facebook ads and Instagram ads but I don't know how to set one up and when it asks if I want to boost a FB post it mentions $70. That seems like a lot of money for an ad. Is that a one-time ad or is it $70 every time it shows up on FB? How do I find out this stuff?

Then I got an email about a new program made especially for novel writing that sounds intriguing but what if I can't learn it. What if it's too confusing or loses my manuscript? I'm still thinking about it.

Once I reached maximum frustration over the ads I shifted to the manuscript and got exactly nowhere. Not my day.

I got a text this morning from DD. She wondered if I knew where the picture of DS's first day of kindergarten was and could I find it and send it to her. See, she was 3 years old and insisted that I set her hair in rollers the night before and she got all dressed up convinced that she would get to go to school too but had a real mad on when I told her that she had to stay home. There was only one place I thought it might be and I went there and found it. I found it! Anyway, here it is. One of my all-time favorite pictures of my children. DS chose his clothes for the day--a shorts and shirt he got at a rummage sale, really long tube socks, and new shoes. And it was evidently before backpacks became ubiquitous because he's got his school supplies in a dufflebag.

The only other thing I have to show you today is my drawing of a burrito and a taco out of Drawing Cute. I like 'em. The drawings and the foods.

--Barbara