Launch day for Eternity Began Tomorrow!
https://kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/launch-day-for-eternity-began-tomorrow/
— Read on kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/launch-day-for-eternity-began-tomorrow/
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Book launch countdown!
https://kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/book-launch-countdown/
— Read on kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/book-launch-countdown/Every so often a light shines during these dark times we live in. Today’s bright light is courtesy of Kevin Brennon. Kevin’s latest novel, Eternity Began Tomorrow, will be available as an ebook starting September 18, 2019. I know I’ll be in line for my copy. How about you?
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One of the few things I like about my work place is my immediate access to nature. Why, just the other day a moth tried to hitch a ride on my leg. When I tried to transfer it to a tree, it went trekking up my arm like nobody’s business. I did manage to change its direction (God help the poor thing if it had gotten into my hair) and set it on the closest tree. It then traveled straight up, its orange wings fluttering to keep balance.
The next day I found one of these moths inside my building. Assuming it wasn’t there applying for a security guard position, I decided to usher it outside.
A moth in the hand tickles. I set it on a tree and then went back in to work.
Later that day I found a number of these moths in a seemingly comatose state on the three oaks that line the sidewalk outside my building.
I was enchanted.
I’ve learned that these are Orange-tipped Oakworm Moths. Such lovely creatures. I also learned they can be pests. They can and have defoliated oak trees. Yet, these trees seem as yet unharmed.
Shumard Oaks These oaks give us very necessary shade during the hot days of summer (and fall) in Florida. I’m hoping the Orange-tipped Oakworm Moth doesn’t find their leaves too tasty.
. . .
And for something completely different: Cinthia Ritchie’s memoir Malnourished is now available for preorder! You can order a copy from Raised Voices Press here: https://www.raisedvoicepress.com/2019/07/18/malnourished-now-available-for-preorder/
Raised Voices Press also has a nice little write-up about Cinthia. In case you don’t already know how awesome she is, click here. You can also learn more about Cinthia on her blog at https://cinthiaritchie.com/
. . .
How are you about picking up insects? Or am I the only weird one in the room?
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Check This Out: A Mother for His Twins and An Apple Orchard Reunion
Check This Out: A Mother for His Twins and An Apple Orchard Reunion
Great interview between host L. Marie and author Jill Weatherholt.
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A Liminal Space. Am I coming or am I going? - I’ve changed the theme of my blog. I hope you all like it. It was a tough journey to get here but right now it’s all warm and fuzzy.
- This is my 1,000th post on WordPress. Cheers!
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Lest you think all we did for our thirtieth wedding anniversary was go for a fourteen-mile bike ride, here’s a continuation of the happy day. We went bug hunting. Well, actually, my husband was the bug hunter. I took pictures.
Bug hunting is so easy in Florida. While the bike ride was refreshing, standing around in the hot, humid air of a Florida afternoon in August was the antithesis of refreshing.
Before I could experience any symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion, I got some nice pictures of the longleaf pines that grace this forest tract.
Due to logging, longleaf pines now only cover about three percent of their original range of 90 million acres (https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Plants-and-Fungi/Longleaf-Pine). Fortunately, private citizens, nonprofits, and government agencies are working together to restore longleaf pine forests. They can withstand many natural disasters such as tropical storms and hurricanes. Florida in particular shouldn’t take these trees for granted.
I know less about flowers than I know about trees. After searching around a bit on the internet, I believe these pretty yellow flowers are Partridge Pea. This link will take you to some more detailed pictures: http://myfloridabackyard.blogspot.com/2010/07/yellow-days.html
Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) After a short and slow walk (you know, when you’re bug hunting, you really do have to watch where you step), we found that we aren’t the only ones who enjoy being out in nature.
Almost makes me want to rest my feet for a spell. But I’m not sure we’d care for the company of these strangers.
Spent ammunition because nothing says Florida more than a recliner and guns in the forest. If you have a fancy for insects or macro photography or magnified insects, take a walk over to my husband’s Flickr account and have a look-see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/calopteron/
You know, I would never go bug hunting if it weren’t my husband’s interest. It just wouldn’t occur to me. Thanks his interest, though, I now know about the Elephant Mosquito.
Male Elephant Mosquito Do you engage in activities because of a spouse or friend or family member that you otherwise wouldn’t even think about? How has that expanded your world?
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Coming soon: My new novel!
https://kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/08/28/coming-soon-my-new-novel/
— Read on kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/2019/08/28/coming-soon-my-new-novel/Coming soon! A new (and very timely) novel by Kevin Brennan!
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Wednesday, August 21, 2019, was our thirtieth wedding anniversary. My husband and I often lose track of how long we’ve been married. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have children, those biological markers of time passing. Our cats are no help since, on average, they age out at eighteen, and they always overlap.
The best reminder we have of our years together is the aches and pains we’ve both accumulated since we married. The morning of our anniversary, my husband greeted me in the kitchen with slight twists and turns of his torso while I microwaved my neck pad. My husband has three separate and distinct problems with his back, the worst of which is spinal stenosis. I have cervical osteoarthritis and lately have been suffering with torn muscles and cartilage in my left shoulder and left knee. The injuries seem to take much longer to heal than they used to.
Without those aches and pains, we could pretend we’re still in our first decade as a married couple with many more decades to look forward to. Instead, we’re hoping for at least another twenty years, thirty if we’re lucky.
So what did these two old farts do to celebrate their anniversary? Well, they went for a bike ride, of course.
We had planned to go to Gainesville, Florida, to bike the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. Our furred kids derailed that plan so we settled for the second best thing: the lower fourteen miles of the St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail. We could have started further up the trail and logged more miles, but the day promised to be hot and we didn’t want to overdo it. Plus, the lower fourteen are the prettiest miles of the trail.
After stopping at the Wakulla River Park to stretch and gaze at the quiet water, we headed back up and made a slight detour for cold water, hot coffee and bagel sandwiches at The Shack. We usually eat as many calories as we burn.
We’ve had a few intense storms come through the past week, leaving a couple of inches of standing water in the low spots of the trail. On a hot day, those bigger than life puddles are most welcomed.
(Oh, yes, that’s my husband at the end, on the ground, trying to collect bugs to photograph.)
All in all, it was a fun day. I love my blue 1981 Peugeot (bike, not car), and I love that biking is one thing I can do that doesn’t hurt my aging joints.
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Giving a shout-out to long-time friend and longer-time writer, Jill Weatherholt. Jill’s latest and THIRD novel is now available! For details, go to http://jillweatherholt.com/
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Well, I can’t quit just yet. For those who read my post last week (click here if you need a refresher), let me assure you that all is now well in the Bailey & Brown household. Still, it was a rough week. Now, here are the reasons why I have to keep my day job (for now).
Reason #1: Wendy
What? Who? Me? Whadda I do? Reason #2: Maxine
“Why should I lie in a fancy fleece bed when there’s a purrfectly good box here?” Reason #3: Junior
“In solidarity with the girls, I went on a hunger strike too. Plus I wanted a new safe place to eat.” La Historia de los Tres Gatos
A week ago Thursday, Wendy got the ball rolling with a diagnosis of bladder stones. She hadn’t been showing any symptoms of blockage or pain. No, she was just in for her annual physical when the results her urinalysis suggested something was amiss. We left with a case of prescription cat food and a long waiting period for the stones to (hopefully) dissolve on their own.
The following Friday, Wendy decided she didn’t like the new food and went on strike. She refused to eat anything. Given that she was overweight, we figured she could fast for awhile and eventually get hungry enough to start eating again. By Sunday, not only did she continue to refuse any food, but it was obvious that the smell of cat food nauseated her.
That refusal resulted in a trip to to the vet on Monday afternoon. Our mistake was in giving her the prescription food right away and not transitioning her by mixing a bit with her regular food over time. Over the weekend she had lost two pounds.
A crash diet is not good for people or animals, so my husband brought home an assortment of prescription foods (dry and wet) for tummy troubles along with a few doses of Cerenia, anti-nausea medication. Wendy took to the dry food right away, but still turned away from wet food, even her old favorites. In desperation, I bought an assortment of “gourmet” cat foods that came in pouches: shredded chicken in broth; chicken and tuna bisque.
While all this was going on with Wendy, by that same Sunday, Maxine and Junior also decided to go on a hunger strike.
Imagine: Three cats all refusing to eat!
Thank goodness my husband is retired and could keep an eye on the kids. Even though Wendy had gone off her food two days before the other two, we suspected there was some common reason all three were now off it.
Heat
That week the heat index in Tallahassee was well into the three digits with high humidity. Up until Monday evening, the kids had free access to the back porch during the day. We had been marveling at how all three couldn’t wait to go out onto the porch only to drape themselves on the chairs and table like Dali’s kitties. When my husband ushered them in for a break late Monday afternoon, he noticed that Maxine was wobbly, like she was drunk.
He promptly locked the cat door to the porch. No salir!
Our cats love heat. They’re southern kitties and when temps dip below 90 degrees, they act like the ice age is settling in, burrowing into blankets and seeking out our body heat.
But, in hindsight, the heat this weekend was way past the boundaries of what they should be exposed to. So my husband kept them in, and they didn’t complain. Maxine found a nice box to curl up in, Wendy decided to settle in on my bed, and Junior played sentry on a desk in our living room.
Still, they didn’t eat anything but the dry food and only nibbles at that. Wendy, though, was getting better. After a couple of days on Cerenia, she started to eat her dry food with gusto. A call to the vet, and by Thursday evening, all three were taking Cerenia.
At this point in my writing (Sunday afternoon), they are finally back to eating wet food. We’re being cautious though, trying small portions of different over-the-counter varieties. Today, for the first time, I mixed a little of prescription food in with some Fancy Feast Gourmet Naturals beef pate and crossed my fingers.
They licked their bowls clean. Can you say “Hallelujah”? (And I don’t mean “Hello Julia“!)
So what’s all this got to do with my day job?
Well, just this week:
- Two vet visits.
- Prescription food for Wendy to (hopefully) dissolve the bladder stones.
- Possible surgery if Wendy’s bladder stones don’t dissolve.
- Teeth-cleaning for Wendy once the bladder stones dissolve or she has surgery.
- Three weeks of antibiotics for Maxine because she has E. Coli in her urine again (oh, did I ever tell you that I now have to wipe her butt after she does #2 because the vet suspects poor hygiene?)
- Prescription food for Maxine because she also is in early stages of kidney disease.
Not on this list is the teeth cleaning (and removal) that Maxine had last month, and the removal of Junior’s last few remaining teeth earlier this year.
Am I complaining? Nope.
Times like this we are reminded not to take our furred babies for granted. I never felt so much joy as when they gobbled down their wet food today.
This week my husband and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We had plans to go out of town for a couple of days, to enjoy a getaway in a favorite place, to bike a favorite trail, and to eat out at a favorite restaurant.
We canceled.
At the time we decided to cancel, the kids were getting better but we were still on edge about them. We also decided, that after going through such a rough time, we just wanted to be with them.
Pray, tell me, what “sacrifices” have you made for your furred babies?
I know some people think we’re crazy, but then, we are crazy about our kids.
Marie at 1 Write Way 