Tag: coon cat logic

Diary of a challenging few days

I have, apparently, been having too much fun, and my back decided to take revenge.

Deets below, but first — have some day lilies:

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Wednesday:
And today’s snippet to live by, from Diviner’s Bow: A contract negotiation between a master trader and a trader. The master trader has just asked if the trader has reviewed the proposed contract and found it sufficient. She replies that she wishes to change one thing.

“You astound me,” [the master trader murmured]. “Expose, I pray, the contract’s deficiency.”

“I found no deficiency. Merely, I wish to amend the initial period to three Standards, rather than six.”

“Six Standards is our usual term,” Shan said, sternly.

Padi opened her eyes wide.

“Is it, indeed?” she asked wonderingly.

Shan laughed. “I taught you that,” he said.
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Thursday. Sunny and going to be hot.

Yesterday afternoon fell apart in a big way because my back started hurting, and it all went downhill from there.

On top of the pain, or because of the pain, I have had a very dicey stomach and today seems to be more of the same. Sitting in the window right now with Kelly on my lap and a cup of well honeyed ginger tea. Pretty soon I’m going to have to figure out something to eat.

Hope everybody is feeling better than I am. I’ll check in as can.
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Friday:
Business first: “Kelly” cited in yesterday’s posting to the internets, is actually Tali. Speech to text is not always very smart.

Well. Friday. Sunny, though the weather beans insist that it’s cloudy.

Woke up this morning pain-free! I immediately started making plans more fool I, though I did manage to eat food for breakfast before my back started in again. So win, I guess, and I really do need to eat, before I get to the point where I just don’t bother, a known danger which needs to be avoided at all costs.

To be fair, my back still doesn’t hurt as much right now as it did yesterday, even yesterday evening when I convinced myself to eat an apple tart with ice cream, on the theory that even dessert is better than no food at all.

I had hoped that I would be able to write today and I’m still trying to figure out how to make that happen. On the one hand, it doesn’t do anyone any good to just sit at the desk and stare, so the first assessment should be: Is my brain clear enough to allow me to write? And I guess the first test for that is sitting in the office chair and seeing if it hurts so much that I can’t think.

What fun.

I should report that Tali is very much in favor of the sitting/ lying around doing nothing schedule. She’s been my more or less constant companion in this. The other two have given up in fustration, and I really can’t blame them for that.

I did yesterday finish listening to Neogenesis, and I must report a notable lack of “AI technobabble.” Also? Boy, does a lot happen in that book! It’s a trilogy all by itself.

I’ll be taking a break from Liaden books for the next while to read Hornguard by Elizabeth Moon, which I’m looking forward to.

And now that my teacup is empty and Tali has gotten up to have a wee snack, I guess I’ll go back and see how the desk chair likes me.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Friday.

PS. Apologies in advance for typos (voice-os?) that may appear in the above.
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Later that same day:  Sat with the manuscript and added about 500 words.

I’ve been alternating ice and heat every hour and a half, I guess, to try to help get my back to normal.

I have eaten lunch!

There are many chores that I should be doing– clearing the dishwasher, reloading it, putting things away and etc. That’ll happen later, by I which I mean–oh, tomorrow, or maybe even Sunday.

For now, I have dared a Tylenol against increasing pain, and hoping it won’t make me sick.

My plans for the afternoon are taking my book to a comfy chair, turning on the heating pad, and reading.

This is even more boring than writing all day. My apologies.
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This is one of Rook’s whiskers. It is four-and-three-quarters inches long.

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Sigh. So, I was warned a couple days ago to expect delivery of a package via USnail, which was not delivered and in addition vanished from Informed Delivery.  It showed up in the timeline again today as an expected delivery, so I went to look at it on the Informed Delivery page.

The package under question left Maryland on July 7, and made it all the way to the Southern Maine sorting center, from whence it was sent on to the Essex MA sorting center–which is to say in the Completely Wrong Direction. Essex decided to send the package to Rochester, NY, where it languished for a day or so before this morning hopping on a mail truck going north.

The package is still listed as Going to be Delivered by 9 pm today, which probably means to the local post office, and not my house, but even so.

Even so–it still needs to get through at least one, and probably two, sorting centers in Mass, then the Southern Maine sorting center, which is the center that sent it back to Mass in the first place.

I wonder if I should start a betting pool…
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And that’s what’s been going on at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. Fingers crossed that this will all be History tomorrow.

The angels have stolen my red shoes

What went before: Sunday. Sunny, breezy, and … seasonal. Hopefully, the heat wave has broken. We’re not built for heat waves up here in the northlands.

At the end of today’s writing session, I can report that! (1) I wrote 1590 new words, and! (2) the WIP has broken 100 pages, standing at +/-23,700 words.

Time to eat lunch, do my duty to the cats and some housetending.

I was surprised at the relatively low fireworks action last night. There was a display at Rummel’s Field, a couple blocks over, which I could hear, and also see some of the sky displays out the front window. Next year, the trees will be tall enough to block them.

Rookie sat on the cat tree in that window, and watched the show. Firefly retreated to Steve’s office, and Tali valiantly stayed with me on the couch, pressed against my leg, ears twitching at each boom! Every so often, she looked at me with a kind of “Are you sure about this?” expression. I would squint my eyes, and she would sigh and put her head down again.

So, there’s that.

Tomorrow, I may go to the lavender farm in the morning. Or not. I am fluid as to timing. I do need to find particulars of the boat tour of the Messalonskee on Saturday, but I can’t call the Adult Ed office until tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing day.
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Forgot I was out of bread. Guess I’ll make this box of Scottish Toasting Bread.
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A notable day. Not only did George RR Martin (if that really was you, George–thanks) write to praise Diviner’s Bow and the entire Liaden Universe, but Steve’s In Memoriam on the SFWA site lists as his co-author/wife some woman named Sharon Lee Miller.

OTOH, the bread’s out, and it’s being very hard to resist, and I’m working toward a solution for all the photographs Steve just pitched willy-nilly into paper boxes and shoved into the back of his closet. I had had a go at straightening them out a couple years ago, and gave up, but this time, I have A Plan of Attack, so maybe the photos can at least get ordered by Where/When Was This Taken, which will do for a rough first sort, and if I want to fine it down, I can do that later.

All that said, I’m kind of tired, so — shutting down for the evening.

Everybody have a good night. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

Today’s blog post title comes to you from Elvis Costello, “Red Shoes.”

Saturday at the Cat Farm

Saturday. Sunny and not quite so hot as previous days.

I’m trying to up my daily word count, at least for this bit right here, where I really feel like I know all of our old friends Who, What, Where, and Why. So! The goal is 1,000 words for each writing session.

I do have some more Writer’s Days Off upcoming. Monday or Tuesday, for instance, I wish to visit the lavender farm in Appleton. And on Saturday, the boat tour of the Messalonskee I signed up for in Coldest January, will finally take place. Also, there’s the gem show in Oxford on Sunday. Which is almost looking like Too Much Fun, but! Summer is short and Winter is long.

Speaking of word count, today’s efforts produced 1,098 new words, for a WIP total of 22,110. Ish.

After lunch, which is up realsoonnow, I need to change out the cat fountains, feed the cats, scoop the boxes, and do some bookkeeping. A Theme!

Tomorrow, I may be able to return to writing after lunch, if I’m very ambitious this afternoon.

So! box lunch out of the freezer today. Yesterday’s hot dog from FiveGuys hit the spot, and the vanilla milkshake, too, so I should be good on the radioactive poison front for the next few months.

The cats all joined me in Steve’s office for my writing session, and they’re all still there, napping in sun puddles, and living their best lives. Or so I hope.

How’re you doing today?

Then I am the King of the Cats!

Nonsense first.  Back when, I collected retellings of “The King of the Cats.”  This one came across my FB feed last night.  I’m not sure the link will work, but on the off-chance:  The King of the Cats
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I’ve been needing a lot of extra therapy sessions lately.  Happily, my counselor is flexible:

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Monday. Sunny and starting to warm up toward our climactic Unsafe Heat Event, scheduled for Thursday.

Plans for the day include calling the peach ripe, cutting it up and having it for breakfast with cottage cheese. Because I can. After, I’ll go on back to Steve’s office and do some writing.

Yesterday afternoon went pear-shaped. I threw the bedclothes in to wash and the washing machine lost its mind — it entered the spin cycle, and then would start over with a rinse, over and over and over (the water district sent me a message last night that my water use was 2.5X over the average, and I might have a leak). I finally managed to get a half-spin, and dragged the soggy sheets out to the wooden laundry dryer I’d gotten out of the basement and set up on the (sunny at that point) deck, and — long story short; everything worked out, but I always feel like it’s somehow my fault when stoopid technical stuff happens, and that if Steve were here, it wouldn’t have happened.

Which! Is patently wrong, and I can very vividly remember several times when Technology Struck and Steve was standing Right There.

Given the above, I did not attempt to double-string my mobile, but settled down with my ice tea and a book, and then there was the non-thunderstorm, and from there it just all spiraled into an unhappy evening.

Hoping for better today.

I’m about 230 pages into Alliance of Equals, which I recall many people complaining about. So far, I’m finding it much better written than Dragon in Exile, which surprises me, and not at all off-putting. Of course, I don’t mind books that jump around, so long as the author makes clear where we are, and so far the author has done so. Well. Maybe it all falls apart at the end. We’ll see.

And all that said? I’d best get breakfast and start the day.

What’s the weather where you are?

And, for those who are still with me — here’s the rest of the story:

Half-a-Sunday

Sunday. Sunny and warmer than latter days.

This morning’s work was going through Kin Right in search of those errors and fixing them. I herewith report progress: One was not an error, merely the time has not yet arrived. The other two … can be explained, in-world, and therefore are not errors.

The last load of towels is drying and the bedclothes are washing.

I have retired the trade station while Further Thoughts are Thunk.

I believe that I shall, as they say, Take The Rest of the Day Off. Perhaps I shall descend to The Studio and have a go at double-stringing my stars. After that, maybe I’ll make a big glass of iced tea and read a book.

Decadence, thy name is Rolanni.

The cats are distributed thusly — Tali is in the box on the corner of Steve’s desk; Firefly is in her Usual Position at the top of Mount Circular Logic, also in Steve’s office. Both are napping.

Rookie is curled up on top of the cedar chest in my office. He is — surprise! — napping.

They may be on to something.

What are you doing today?

Addendum: Sigh.

<complaint> I am getting Deeply Tired of the folks who are convinced that every piece of writing that’s come out since Steve died is a “wrap up,” or “the final.” We’re not at The Final yet, right? I’ll tell you when.</complaint>

Of puffins, whales, and the futility of doing good

So, yesterday, I finally went and booked myself into a combo whale watch/puffin cruise.  That will be next Thursday, and I’m under orders to present myself to Cap’n Fish at crack o’dawn thirty so we can get underway.

Which brings us to — today!

Friday. Raining for a change. Sarah’s due in a couple minutes, and the generator guy is supposed to stop by to do his annual inspection of Station Systems.

Breakfast was cream cheese on toast with a side of cherries. Lunch will be leftover lentil-and-sweet potato stew that I managed to screw up when I was making it (put in twice too many lentils, and no, I’m not really sure how that happened). Still, it can be recovered, and so it shall at lunchtime.

So, the blood pressure med returned an amazing result for, eh? four days? And I’m back into alt. Stress is a remarkable force.

I found just recently that a person of known ill repute is seeking to align with my life’s work in order to make themselves seem legitimate and lovable. Said person has a history of harassing me, and the problem with the current tactic is that the target can’t even talk about it without sounding crazy, which is quite apart from the damage that can’t be blocked. Because the way these things work is that my lustre will not bestow grace, but will in turn be tarnished by this person’s actions.

I’m also in receipt of a contract for an interview, and my first reaction on reading it was “I wouldn’t sign this if it was a contract for a story.” Which, in essence, it is. So, that’s set aside for another reading in a day or two, in case the words rearrange themselves.

Also! I realized last night that I have made two errors — possibly three errors — in Kin Right that I ought to fix if I can, so have written to Baen Traffic with a query. And lucky I am that the book’s scheduled so far out.

Let’s see, what else?

Ah. The birds who nest in the rain gutter have returned, and Rookie is climbing the screen. Rookie being much bigger than he was last year this time, I expect the screen to shortly be in ribbons, so! New screen on the list.

Plans for the day include — writing! At least I know what the next scene is in the WIP, so there is that.

What’s the cat doing at your house, today?

Speaking of cats — yesterday, I had to call in my counselor, who was able to get me settled enough to write.  I may be making another call this morning.  Thank goodness I can pay her in tummy rubs.

 

City Livin’

Yesterday, I set up an Impromptu Crow Feeding Station, complete with a plateful of peanuts and a shiny Canadian dime.
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Impromptu Station, Thursday 6:30 am. I suspect squirrels.

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This is a cat whisker; it is five inches long. It was donated either by Firefly or Tali. Rook’s whiskers are black.


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Thursday. Sunny and going to be warm.

The Rule of Three is barely restraining me this morning.

Moving on.

An inspection of Impromptu Station finds that the peanuts are gone, and the dime remains. Having no better ideas at the moment, I have replenished the station, though at this point I’m doubtless just feeding squirrels. I’ve also entertained several requests from house finches for PEANUTS! so I shelled some and scattered them about. Turns out that aggressively shelling peanuts is a good outlet for anger.

And now, having been both put out, and put off schedule, I’m going to go get myself a piece of toast and go to — nope. I’m not. There’s another wasp in the house, so wasp removal first. That’s the third since last night. I wish I knew how they were getting in.

And how’s Thursday at your place?

Fragmented Friday

This morning, some of us slept in:

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Friday. Juneteenth, I’m told.

640ish new words written, bringing the total words to 10,700ish.

Stopping for lunch. Rook and Tali helped me do my PT homework, and Firefly oversaw the writing part of the morning. My duty to the cats has been performed, and now I need to eat lunch and go outside with my chair for half an hour and weed.

Speaking of the new meds — my blood pressure dropped 30 points overnight (taking it from Scary High into the vicinity of what I consider to be Normalish) and I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified. That’s some quick work, if it isn’t a fluke. I guess we’ll see.

How’s everybody doing?
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Today’s Done-To List:
1 Wrote 670ish words
2 PT exercises
3 Duty to Cats
4 Walk
5 Cooked and ate lunch
6 Weeded side of garage
7 Worked on “lesson plan” for the characterization course
8 Washed dishes
9 Read 20 pages of book club book (Sourdough)
10 Updated FB

Still to-do
1 Answer a couple of notes
2 Feed cats
3 Compile blog entries and post
4 Serve Tali Happy Hour right now (ahem)

Thursday at home

Thursday. Rainy and cool. Sitting in the comfy chair in my office with an orange cat on my lap. Drinking my first cup of tea.

First load of towels is in the washer and in a minute, when Tali lets me, I’ll get up and get some breakfast and then I’ll go write for a while.

Yes, that’s boring. I can probably use some boring.

How’s the day shaping up at your house?
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Lunch break. I have done my duty to the cats, and also due diligence on my new medication, which leads me to believe, given the other Real Medication that I take daily, lisinopril needs to be taken at lunchtime. Since linsiopril holds out the tantalizing possibility that it may induce dizziness and I should be cautious on stairs*, cat box cleaning is hereby shifted to before lunch, rather than after.

I’ve had a pretty good morning of writing, and intend to go back to it after lunch, since I haven’t finished my scene yet.

I don’t know that I’ve mentioned this before, but Rookie da Cookie has taken to curling up with his head on the pillow next to mine at bedtime, which I’m at the moment finding adorable, and also canny. Tali sleeps tucked up under my right arm, and Firefly sleeps across my ankles. This way everybody has room, nobody gets swatted in the face with a tail (including me), and there are therefore very few midnight squabbles.

. . . and it looks like lunch is warm.
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*I remain amazed by the people who scold you for being Old and At Risk for Falling who then prescribe med after med that “may make you dizzy.”
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And that’s a wrap. For local definitions of “wrap.” One thousand six hundred fifty-five words, bringing the WIP Entire to!

+/- 10,660 words.

Time for a cup of tea and a cookie, is what I’m thinkin’…

Marchin’ Monday

What went before:  So, Sunday afternoon. I’m a bit late getting lunch, which I guess will be hummus and crackers, because — easy, and late.

The WIP now stands at +/-8,230 words, which might make some arithmatically gifted persons to suppose that I had written 2,500 words today. While I grant the appearance, the fact is that I only edited two pieces of Steve’s work to fit them into the frame I’m building. Still, progress is progress, and it’s looking like — ow!

Sigh.

Tali likes to sit under the lip of my stand up desk and nip my elbow occasionally, to keep me on my toes. I think that one was a little harder than she had intended.

Continuing — progress is, indeed, progress, and — fingers crossed — it’s looking like the WIP will be breaking 10,000 words this week, by hook or by crook.

So! Lunch, then correspondence, including filling out my “paperwork” for Wednesday’s doctor’s visit.

No, the fun never does stop. Why do you ask?

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Monday. Raining like a raining fool when I got up, now sullen and damp.

Wrote a couple hundred new words, to kick an existing scene into a shape that will align with the next scene upcoming. Outlined the next two scenes so I can hit the keyboard typing on Thursday, which will be my next writing day.

Out to bookclub in 90 minutes or so, then back home to bookkeeping and getting the trash and recycling into the garage so it can acclimate itself before it’s moved to the curb tomorrow morning.

. . .brief pause while I go outside to Speak Sternly to the groundhog, who is as big as a baby black bear, stoopid rodent.

I finished reading (listening to) Ghost Ship yesterday and am into Dragon Ship. I hadn’t recalled that Joyita appeared so quickly, and I’m reminded again about Cresthaller, which I really ought to rectify. In my spare time.

The listening to the books is working out amazingly well. Lately, my vision is too blurry by the end of the day, when I typically read for pleasure, to even focus on an ebook (I had to give up paper books a couple years ago, because I couldn’t focus on the page), and — bonus! I can “read” and do something else, or just sit resting my eyes. I suppose I ought to try listening to a new-to-me book at some point, to see if that exercise is as pleasant, else I’m going to have to find another way to read. Always exciting, life.

So! How’s the beginning of the week looking from your side of the world?

Here’s how Firefly’s Monday is going so far: