Hello, everyone! I finished the NaNoWriMo , with 50,163 words. Articles with writing tips, on the Examiner, totaled out at 9,508 words.
Add in the thirty videos, and I had a busy month.
Then I got sick, and posted this video. Cold medicine makes me loopy.
The past few days have been just gorgeous. The air is cooler. The sky has been a range of clear blue, to heavy thick grey clouds and rain. The trees haven’t changed color, even though the past couple of weeks the leaves have started to fall and dried leaves crunch beneath my shoes.
The yellow jackets are cranky with the cooler air, and the over abundance of fermented fruit. Drunken bees are interesting indeed.
The grass and the wildflowers are now orange, red and browns mixed with dirty yellows. Even the air smells like fall, dried grass and hay, mud, mold and Halloween.
I feel a little sad; this summer was so hot, I couldn’t enjoy it. Each day was a steam bath of heat, making it nearly impossible to breathe, and walk at the same time. Even when I made an attempt, the mosquitoes forced me back indoors.
Now, I have to make my fall list of chores, I still haven’t finished my spring’s time list. Summer, forget it. That list was eaten by Uriah and I didn’t even care.
This past Friday the garbage was still sitting out by the curb, not having been collected on Thursday, the normal garbage pick up day; by Friday it was ripped open and spread around the mouth of the driveway by a skunk. I wanted to make sure it didn’t spread out into the road, so I rushed out and picked up the paper towels, and chicken bones scattered along the ground.
As I shoved the very smelly garbage into a new plastic bag, I wondered, why the skunk hadn’t finished off all the bones. At that exact moment, when that question rattled around in my head, I saw a black nose, with black fur and a white stripe slip out of the drainage tile that stretched under the road connecting the east side to the west.
We shared a look and I stood up fast, “Oh no you don’t! I said out loud as I backed carefully away. “You are not going to spray me!”
I thought I was safe, the skunk was in the drainage ditch and I was near the road. He would have to spray upward to get me. I decided to ignore it. I watched out for the cars whizzing by me, mere inches from my head.
Hurrying with the cleanup, I failed to notice one important thing.
That little skunk had sprayed the other garbage bags.
I tossed the bag I was holding onto the pile, and then decided to straighten them all.
Right now, as I type this, I wonder why I had the compulsion to straighten the garbage bags….
The smell hit me hard, rotten chicken and the odd, burning green smell of skunk!
That skunk didn’t need to spray me, I did it myself. Then with all the brain power I had left, I covered my nose with my sleeve. The sleeve, which had skunk juice on it!
I headed back home, fast! Uriah happily following behind, his nose pointed up as he kept sniffing the air around me. I gagged and blinked multiple times. Having to stop when I thought my stomach would end up in the driveway if I moved to fast.
Next week, Michael is checking on the garbage!
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Sorry, I haven’t been here a lot. I missed reading your Blogs. I will get back in the game. Sitting is a real pain.
Uriah is doing great. New dog food he lost a little weight. He needed to.
The examiner isn’t paying out like I hoped. They made some changes and the numbers aren’t posting correctly. Still I keep trying. I wrote my first article June 27th, I am on number 44 today, and I only made $17.97, that’s with 2,476 hits. Hmmm!?
I am trying my hand at cartooning myself. I jumped around on the internet checkout sites to make your self into a cartoon. Then I pieced together a character, redrew it, and colored it in paint. It is a work in progress. I posted it with this article on the examiner. ( I tried to add a link and wordpress just wouldn’t let me, here is the full link)
My camera started acting up. 90 % of the pictures came out blurred and the camera started making odd noises. Luckily I had a store warranty I took it back to Best Buy and they gave me a different camera. Maybe I should get an under water camera. It’s a thought.
**Don’t read this part if your squeamish about women’s issues.* I’ve been doing the doctor run for Michael. Then I had my normal routine -yearly exams. My doctor thought it would be a great idea to do a biopsy of my uterus. A fast decision he made. He said, instead of me coming back in a few months; let’s do this now…. I was in no position to argue. Michael said, I looked like I saw a ghost when I came out of the doctor’s office. perimenopause is so much fun! Results sometime next week.
Last night I was woken up by an odd sound, ‘Pud-pud-pud-pud’! Sanosuke was standing on his hind legs and digging at the door mirror. I watched him sit back on his haunches and stare into the mirror, past his own refection.
He wanted into the mirrored image. A part of the bedroom he thought he needed to explore. ‘Sanosuke in wonderland’…
I rolled over and fell back to sleep, but within the hour the same noise woke me! Pud-Pud-Pud-Pud! He looked like he was practicing on a boxing speed bag. That was how fast his little paws were moving.
I sat up and got his attention away from the mirror. “Sano! That’s a mirror! You can’t get inside a mirror!” he reverted back to the mirror with a shake of his ears and a downward turn to his whiskers, frowning, first at me, then at the mirror.
This went on two more times during the night.
I even got up and stared into the mirror to see if, maybe, a bug was crawling just out of Sano’s reach. It wasn’t.
Sanosuke wanted to find a way into that other room.
He does the same fast run on the sliding glass doors in the kitchen. Now, that, I understand! He wants to either catch a bug, or have me open the doors; allowing him to sit by the screen and stare outside at the birds…
But what did he want in my bedroom mirror?
Uriah hates the humidity!
Most summers he seemed to enjoy the heat.
Well, he is getting older, twelve now.
This summer he will only head out for a walk if he really has to, or when the sun is going down. Then, the puppy in him will come out. His head will go down and his nose will nearly rub along the ground. He will catch a scent and be off- in a slow flash. But once his face is buried in a hole, I have to literally drag him away. I learned never to do that, some of those little burrows are occupied, and getting sprayed takes away my taste buds.
This past week, Michael had an appointment for his asthma, back, and head, lots of running around.
I ended the week with vision problems. On Thursday morning. I crawled out of bed and my vision was blurred, my eyes swollen and my face hurt, time to take me to the doctor.
The verdict: allergies…
I loved when the doctor said, “Well, as you get older” (notice she didn’t involve herself in this aging process) “you will develop allergies you never had when you were younger.” (She really was beating those words up!)
I was so upset about getting old… I forgot to mention, the eyeliner pencil I tried out earlier in the week.
Michael gave me the told you so… and a “Ha! He’s not old!” speech, as we drove home.
I needed eye drops, which my insurance wouldn’t cover. I could buy them outright for, $179.00 or wait another day until the doctor was contacted and changed the prescription.
Thinking about it for a minute, and realizing my pocket change was in a jar in the back of my closet. I decided to wait.
While I waited for my eye drops, I relaxed in front of the television. I sliced up a cucumber and propped my feet up. Did I ever mention that the newest kitty, Kaoru, loves cucumbers? Well, she does, she jumped up next to me and we shared. She can really chow!
At one point I fell asleep with a cucumber on each eye, and she tried to steal them.
I would highly recommend putting cucumbers on your eyes; they helped cool the allergies and brought down the swelling.
I finally got the eye drops, and I may not have to use them at all, because of those cucumbers.
I love this picture. I kept referring to them as ‘cows’ Michael set me straight, bulls, not cows. I wonder what they were thinking?
I have a streak of competitiveness that runs through me. So when I signed up for the Examiner and found out that they won’t pay me until I hit twenty-five dollars and only then on the twentieth of each month through PayPal. Well…
I had to get money in that first full month!
They have rules.
I growled at my monitor, “Alright examiner I am up to the challenge!” I have to fix some of the earlier articles to follow the rules, while I am writing new ones.
What I found is that writing about a specific ‘subject’ is a lot harder than it sounds.
Sometimes my odd sense of humor comes out.
Like this one:
“Why go to Spain on vacation when you could visit Hampshire instead”
My number are slow, or at least the money amount. Here is today’s tally.
Today I made $0.49 and I had 51 hits…
The average for the, Home and Living section was 16..
Hmmm!
Is my math right on this, I would need over 2,500 hits a month to get that twenty-five dollars…
Anticipating all that cash from the examiner… I started a laptop jar in the back of my closet. As of today I have a whole dollar-eighty! And a fake mouse…added by the cats. Woohoo!
Ahh! I love a challenge!
Here is a poem I posted in my last article.
party in the mushroom rings
by Gerardine Baugh
the garden faeries laughed
and planted seeds of fun
they whispered, it was they, who
mixed up the garden, and
planted the green beans far from their trellis
eggplant was placed next to the pumpkins
tomatoes rolled into the neighbor’s yard
they sang and danced inside the ring of mushrooms
table set,
feasting on strawberries and corn
potatoes and cucumbers
glasses rose
a toast to the gardener
drink of dandelion wine
the fey cheered and sang songs
of times past, and those to come
some sat under mushroom umbrellas
wide and white, others
sat atop, and
scrutinized with words of nettles
peals of laughter danced across the lawn
this, the dark end of the new moon
I took a walk intent on what I was to see
Tall grass and wildflowers
Mud and toads, grasshoppers and birds
But my intent was not to be
Even though each flower had grown spirited and tall
The winds interfered with my view
Grasshoppers hopped under my clothing,
And the mud enticed me to fall
I sat in the middle of a pattern of lace
My intent shifted over wind swept fields
I connected within that moment, and
I watched the bees and butterflies race
I have a few plants growing that I never planted. One looks like a Gourd. Or, maybe it’s yellow squash??
Sanosuke and Kaoru love Zucchini. It can be raw, or cooked they will gobble it up.
Here’s another what is this..Eggplant? Watermelon? Audrey II?
Here’s the pumpkin..
Purple Martins are very brave or very stupid, I haven’t figured out which, yet.
Martins will dive bomb anyone that comes out the door. They have a fit when I’m standing on the back deck. They will swoop and whistle. Nearly hitting me and Uriah! The cats watch from the inside windows and love the attention they’re getting from those beautiful little birds.
I have never seen feathers that matte black, it reminds me of charcoal. I have to admit my camera isn’t able to capture their beauty.
I love having them around. I will overlook their mud nests because they eat their weight in mosquitoes daily.
Purple Martins have nested around my house for years, sometimes with dire consequences. They can build a nest fast; within two hours they can set up home. My first summer in this house, I made a mistake of leaving the garage doors open while I cleaned out the garage. I had no idea they had made a nest on the electric overhead garage door opener. So when I was finished I closed the birds in the garage, accidentally. The only reason I knew they were trapped, was when one of my cats brought a bird into the house and let it go…
Last night I took Uriah for his walk a little later than usual. I was trying to avoid the mosquitoes by heading outside when it was nearly dark. That didn’t work. They were busy buzzing, and bugging me just as they did and hour earlier.
Wednesday is garbage day. I have notes posted to remind me of the fact. I only had a couple of bags I debated dragging them down the driveway, but last week when I attempted that, Uriah though we were playing and grabbed one of the bags, breaking it, and spreading the trash all over the driveway…
This week, I tossed the two bags on the hood of the car and slowly pulled out of the garage.
I rolled down the car widow as slowly passed that large Blue Spruce when I felt a pinch on the side of my face. My immediate thought was, “Mosquitoes!” I tried to brush it off out the window, except it wouldn’t move. The small inset struck itself to my skin. Without even thinking, I peeled it off with my nails. I was still slowly moving towards the road. (I have a four hundred foot driveway.)
I glanced at what I pulled off the side of my face and stared at it. It was upside down and wiggling its little legs furiously. It was cute in a way. Sort of! The shiny back body sparkled in the sunlight. I was not amused, when my eyes adjusted and I recognized it as a tick. Still irritated when I pulled back into the garage, I told my husband all about being ticked when I rolled down the car window. He couldn’t stop laughing,..at me! He said, between laughter, that he never met anyone who attracted so many ticks the way I do.
He called me a tick magnet!
I would rather be a money magnet!
*I have been out of it for the past couple of weeks. I realized I had written the above post on Thursday, July 1st and never posted it to my Blog. Way too many things have been creeping up around here and I’m not including the mosquitoes, or the odd looking flying bugs. I even made a video that I never posted… Ooops! Had to find it! Here it is! It is a little long- four minutes. You are walking with me among the milkweeds near the front pond, and you won’t be bothered by the bugs.
The weather has been interesting. High heat and humidity and storms that attempt to blow the house down.
Today, July 10 is our eighth wedding anniversary. I know I’m on the internet updating. Michael is still sleeping so it’s okay:-)
My husband’s health took a turn for the worse. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a new neurologist. He now has tests all this month. He can’t drive until we know what’s up. He is not happy about that..
I have had thyroid problems my entire life, I no longer have a thyroid and it still causes issues. Heavy Sigh!
Just before my husband’s doctor’s appointment, I decided to try for examiner.com and they accepted me. I will write articles on, Hampshire’s plant life. If you stop over there I would appreciate any comments. Or, just send me an email and tell me what I am missing. Or, just read. I need to work on the set up of the articles.
If anyone wants to try to write for the examiner and needs some advice on how to get noticed- ask me. I will be very happy to help.
If you give them my examiner ID number 56021 I get a referral fee.
I will keep posting here, this Blog is for me and all of you who like to take a walk without the bug bites:-)
I hope everyone is doing well. Be happy and safe!
Captain Jack Harkness ~ “Wanna know a secret? So did I. And just for a second there I felt so alive.”
Yesterday, in the middle of a thunderstorm, with multiple warnings flashing across the television and of course being me, I stood outside on the deck watching the clouds.
Stupid? Yes!
It was amazing! At one point lightning streaked across the sky in a vein of pink and white. Then in the same spot, the lightning flashed again, this time with multiple tentacles stretching outward, looking like a fireworks display.
Silver white and pink!
Followed a few seconds later by a cracking roll that shook the ground!
That flash had sent me in for my camera. I wanted to capture a picture of that lightning!
Ready! Set! Okay sky smile!
Each time I pointed the camera upward, the lightning would flash in a different spot, above, or behind me.
I noticed a low hanging cloud that seemed to swirl all on its own. I thought, just maybe this was makings of a tornado and I should be inside. I turned off my camera and glanced up before I pulled open the door. A solid object half appeared for a second, as the clouds drifted slightly. Before I had a chance take a picture, the cloud moved back around the object, covering it and as it moved upward.
Can you see it? Shaped like an upside down triangle with rounded edges. It is nearly invisible behind the cloud cover.
It was solid, not part of the clouds. Any ideas? Guesses? Funny captions?
Weather balloon?
No lights! And it didn’t move fast, it just hovered.
Maybe I witnessed one too many lightning hits!
My eyes were playing tricks on me.
The Jupiter II slipped out of storage!
With all the odd weather we have been having I would guess at a weather balloon. If I were a meteorologist I would be recording these weather patterns.
Ever see anything odd in the clouds and wonder; Huh! ?
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”~ The Wizard of Oz * Michael took this picture after the storm.