This has been an interesting, if not tiring past six weeks. I ended November by getting a cold, not an ordinary cold; this cold drained me, and hung on like a leech.
Uriah during this time, actually, right at this moment- four-o’clock in the morning-Uriah has taken to barking. Every second, he barks! Like a clock ticking down. Then, once and hour he decided to go all out and get angry at his bedding, which he has torn to shreds. I ask him over and over, “What is wrong with you?” He looks up, wags his tail and heads for his water bowl.
Now, Uriah is in a dog cage. He is untrustworthy to allow free rein to the house while I am sleeping. He loves to tear into the garbage, his favorite pastime, second to eating cat poop.
Uriah’s water bowl is outside his cage, it used to be in his cage with him. I had to remove it this past December, because the first thing he has taken to doing, once he is put in his cage for the night, is tipping that bowl over… on purpose…
No! He doesn’t have to pee!
I found that out by standing outside in the freezing, yet beautifully quiet darkness. While Uriah sits at my feet, and looks around… I have to walk him out into the snow, and point to the ground. Even then, all he will do is drop to the ground and roll in the snow.
He can hold his water longer than any dog, or person for that matter, that I have ever known, and I am counting my youngest daughter’s ability, or inability to hold it. I can ask, beg, and order her to hit the bathroom before we get in the car. I will stop three times on the road, and each time she will say she doesn’t have to go, at least not until we are five minutes from our destination and she needs to stop immediately.
Kids and dogs –gotta love ‘em…
It is well below freezing. Somewhere outside the coyotes are barking. Every night wandering and dawn roaming creature must be laughing at Uriah’s barking. Or, they are highly irritated by it.
I think, his age has caught up to him and he is going senile. Michael wanders past me, muttering his opinion, “He is just a bad dog who won’t listen.”
I roll my eyes as I hear paper rustling in the kitchen. I catch Michael rummaging around in ‘my’ hidden bag of cookies.
Uriah starts up his tick-tock barking. Michael, points past me with wide eyes, “He’s a bad dog, told you so!”
I frown.
“What!” Not even trying to hide the handful of cookies, he mutters, “If I eat these cookies, I’m helping you lose weight.”
“Really! Really!” I growl back at him. “Just like Uriah helps me by eating the garbage, so I don’t have to drag it down the driveway on garbage day!” I raise my hand up silencing him before he can answer.
I wonder if they sell husband cages…
My Sony camera is back in for repairs…
My novel is making an attempt at writing itself…
And I didn’t make any new resolutions this year, I decided to try and catch up with all the past ones first.
I hope everyone is doing well.
And, If you have any ideas on how to stop Uriah from barking, well, I’m listening.
I have been keeping up the word count for the National Novel Writing Month. But,… there is no way I can write a good novel in a month, at least not without a year of editing.
I started out without an idea, storyline or characters.
Then, I decided to use an odd character I drew up a few years back, she was never developed. Problems in my writing are caused by not rounding out characters, or just over thinking them.
I have a different storyline I have been working on and I didn’t want her to take over that universe.
So this one had to tell me who she was, what was her secret and flaw.
To keep her straight in my head, and allow her to move about. I followed what Michael told me, keep your ideas in one universe. I thought that will work! It would keep all my characters, and their reality’s straight.
So this character, -protagonist- is in the same world of a different storyline I am working on.
Once I set her in their world, the words started to flow.
She was not part of my first idea. She has her own problems. I am having fun.
I have no idea on what I will say in the videos beyond the date and word count. The videos last about two to three minutes. On Saturday, I was watching a Doctor Who marathon-well; we went hunting out the Doctor! I think lack of sleep is getting to me. I have to laugh at myself 🙂
This is to let everyone know, I am alive and well-crazy.
Yesterday, started out as a beautiful day, blue skies, white puffy clouds, and a slightly cool breeze. Within a few hours the day changed drastically.
Winds picked up, as the clouds literally touched the ground. The view was magnificent!
As I faced east, the blue sky had disappeared and the sunlight came out of that dense and dark low cloud. I could see its top. A yellowish-gray, making everything look oddly, dirty yellow, like I was wearing yellow tinted sunglasses.
I took Uriah for a walk, in that defused yellow light
When I turned and faced west, the sky was filled with higher, puffy white clouds slipping underneath a beautiful deep blue sky. I turned back and forth so many times I though I would get whiplash.
I stood off on the very back of the path, and watched the clouds touch the ground east of me. The rain in that area must have been heavy. Streaks of blue-black clouds raced across the sky, some of them losing the battle to stay air borne, and dropped to the ground in an equally dark curtain of rain.
Uriah decided to take a break from sniffing and running between the trees. He stared at my pockets, where I remembered to put his biscuit.
“Uriah! Look the rain is coming towards us!”
He gave me a goofy grin, and then stared out over the empty corn field.
I watched the dark line of rain marking its path across the plowed field, edging slowly towards us. I heard the pattering sound, before I felt the sharp pieces of ice rain.
Uriah stood up, shook the ice off his coat and started back towards the house. He looked once back at me, as if he were telling me to get moving.
I laughed, and held my hands open to catch the frozen water. “Hey, Uriah! It’s snowing!”
Uriah shook his head at me and looked miffed, as he disappeared into the tree line.
Once again, I am participating in the 2010 National Novel Writing month. I have posted four articles on the Examiner, dealing with writing. And I will add short videos that will be posted with the articles.
I went into this without a plan. I had a character that I created a few years ago. Every so often I try and pull her out, she refused to be involved in any story line, until this year.
If anyone has an idea for a topic or if there is something you want to see. Maybe you’re busy with your own NaNoWriMo writing, that’s great! Drop me a note, when you’re done.
If you want to, add comments you can do it here, or go at the examiner, or on Youtube. Email is even great. gerardinebaugh@gmail.com
I was in the local grocery store yesterday, I was reading the bulletin board, and someone was giving away a rooster free of charge.
I pointed it out to Michael and mentioned we could get some hens and have fresh eggs. He started laughing, and told me to re-read the flyer and if I really want it, it’s fine by him. He just wants my camera to take the video of me and the new rooster..
This is what the flyer said:
Free Rooster- it hates kids and women- if you want him he’s yours..
Later that evening;
I was typing with one hand while Michael was muttering and snickering.
Earlier, at sundown, I was pulling weeds in the garden. Uriah was wandering, sniffing around trees and piles of cut grass for rabbits, ground squirrels, and moles.
I saw a large clump of grass, about a foot high, next to the strawberries. With my tunnel vision turned on, I knew that area had to be cleaned out. I had only a few more minutes and then I would be pulling weeds in the dark.
Working quickly, and using both hands, I grabbed a handful of the thick, woody, very dry grass and pulled.
The grass stayed in the ground.
I tugged harder.
I had a very tight hold on that grass, as it slipped through my hands. It gave me an Indian burn and sliced along my palm and fingers.
Uriah had wandered back, and was sitting in front of me, when I made an odd sounding squeak. He jumped up, with a look that said. “Whatever bit you isn’t going to get me!” And he ran and hid under the deck.
One of those heavy blades of grass, had sliced my little finger open wide and very deep. I saw that with the first glance. Clutching my hand, I headed into the house.
Michael was on the Xbox, playing; Red Dead Redemption, when I walked in trying to not drip blood on the carpet. He kept looking at me like I was speaking a different language.
Calmly, while holding my left hand out in front of me in a tight fist, I said for the third time. “I think I cut my finger off with a blade of grass..!”
Then he started laughing. I was not amused!
Then he began describing how he had to have stitches on his finger years before.
If you don’t know, you will now. I am very phobic of needles and sharp objects! Really! Michael is use to me not freaking, just warning doctors who take blood, then I get up and run.
So here he is telling me how they stitched his hand. Deadened the area, laid it open, scrapped it clean, and used a sharp needle to sew him up, five stitches…Wow! I’m getting very dizzy writing this.
Michael kept saying, “Time for the ER!”
I insisted that it wasn’t bleeding that bad- it finally stopped two hours later.
Michael asked, “You’re not going to bleed to death on the couch are you?”
I was sort of positive I wouldn’t. No blood squirting on the walls and I was still awake, all was good!
“No! I’m fine! I am stronger than a blade of grass! It was really sharp!” I shook my head and held my hand tight.
I washed off my hands and danced around the kitchen. I realized later the stinging was from the Indian burns and slices on the rest of my hand.
“Are you sure, you’re fine?” He asked again.
“No problem!” I smiled a goofy; I’m going to pass out look if you keep mentioning how they stitch up your fingers! “All’s good. The finger is attached!” Even if it wasn’t I would just flap over the skin, and use some old fashion duct tape to hold it in place….
So no surgery for me!
Not even my pinky finger.
Time for leather gloves!
When I took Uriah out this morning I had a hard time looking at the grass. Each blade seemed unusually sharp today.:-(
I found this site on needle phobia.
http://www.needlephobia.info
This past week I watched as a farmer harvest his soybean crop in the neighboring field. I grabbed my camera and took a video as he roared past me, kicking up the usual intense dust storm, which always comes out of a soybean harvest.
The grey heavy dust had me coughing and teary eyed, I made a fruitless attempt to blink away the haze and itch behind my eyelids.
As I watched, twigs and rocks spray back onto the shaved off field. The harvester moved slowly, roaring past me.
Holding the camera in my right hand I waved with my left and the farmer waved back. I could barely see him between the dust and the darkness inside the cab.
Vibrations from the massive John Deere Harvester rippled under my feet. The tractor’s size and close proximity, passing a few feet/meters in front of me- reminded me of a charging elephant in a Tarzan movie.
Add in a sunset and lengthening shadows. Then toss in a thick, grey swirling dust cloud that quickly encompassed the world.
I could feel the hair rise on my neck. This scene had an eerie feel…
I kept thinking something bad was about to happen.
Guess I’ve been watching too many horror movies…? Too close to Halloween..?
Uriah kept rolling his eyes and pacing. Finally, he gave up trying to get me to move away from the fence and walked back to the house. Smart dog!
From across the field, on the end of ‘Bob’s’ property, I saw a flicker of light.
I headed up on the deck to get a better view. I saw flames shooting up illuminating an old Oak tree that sat at the backend of his property. Not quite on ‘Bob’s’ land. It belongs to the farmer.
I haven’t lit a fire for a couple of months.
This summer’s air may have water soaked, but the ground and foliage has been very, very dry. Dangerously dry!
I watched the flames licking at the lower tree branches and then blazed higher. Orange, red and yellow flames reached up into the branches, so bright I could make out each limb. I was positive that tree was toast!
About fifty feet, to the north, is a cornfield. A very dry, not yet harvested- cornfield.
The farmer’s tractor’s lights glowed white; I noticed a second tractor in that field. I have never seen a soybean field stripped that fast. I wondered, if they were worried that fire?
When I couldn’t stand on the deck and breathe, I headed inside.
By midnight the air had cleared.
The fire was out, it hadn’t spread. (Add sigh of relief here)
Still today I am wondering, “What was that guy thinking- lighting a fire when a field was being harvested?”
