Goofed off yesterday, but atoned tonight

20,532 words so far! And tonight's progress has encouraged me that this isn't like, the worst dreck ever to disgrace a computer screen. It's just starting to get more interesting...

NaNo word count MET

I hope not to take TWO days off in a row again. That's scary enough NOW when I'm still having fun with this thing; later on it might be fatal. Well, for the novel I mean.

NaNo Saturday is here!

And I'm doing much better today. It's 3 pm DST (or is it CST. I can never remember.) and I've got almost 2,000 words so far. I'm aiming to reach a total of 15,000 yet today, but we'll see.

WTA: YAHOO I DID IT! I broke 15,000 words. That brings me right up to date with the necessary daily word average. I had fun doing it, too. I got some more of the setting sketched out and firmer in my imagination, and added a bunch of characters to my list who will come into it later. At this point, it's still fun.  :^)

NaNo Saturday!

Been in the doldrums the past couple of days. No work on the NaNo novel, no progress on the Secret Project.

Today I am devoting to racking up lots of words in my NaNo novel. I'll report back later.

Uh-oh. Again.

+

=

?

I'm hoping to replace that question mark with the answer by tonight. 

4:30 p.m. The question remains unanswered.

I don't want to talk about it.

:(

NaNo Day 6 Goal Reached!

I did a few less than the 1667 per day average, but for Day 6, I'm still ahead of the game. It's still going pretty well.

Letting go, little by little

I've had an industrial metal and particle board shelving unit in the garage full of stuff I'd either tried to sell online, and failed, or just pushed into boxes and sacks to wait until I felt like doing a yard sale - for at least two years now. Not long ago I finally admitted to myself that I will never, EVER "feel like doing a yard sale," and decided it's time to take that stuff to Goodwill. I told myself, I haven't had to look in those boxes for two years for anything, so there's nothing there I need, so I should just toss it all in the car and deliver it all to Goodwill without even looking at what's inside. That's sensible.

Ha, ha, you think you know where this is going, don't you.

Well, I did crap out on the resolve. I did look inside the bags and boxes to see what I'd put out there. I'll give you your point for that. And I did retrieve something from them. But don't get too excited. You want to know what it was?

A box of staples. As in, office stapler staples.

Everything else went. All of it. As soon as the shelves were empty, I moved all the hand yard tools over onto them, instead of on top of an ancient metal trunk that is full of ancient rusting woodworking tools. And several electric sanders whose guts have probably rusted into solid masses by now. So I can dig into that chest and figure out what to do with all the stuff in *there*.

I am very, very slow, but I do make progress. Eventually.

My reward is that I made apple crisp.  :^)

NaNo Day 5 Goal Reached!

It's like they say - the First Week is a *breeze*.  Ima gonna enjoy it while I can.

Day 4 NaNo Goal Reached!

I spent ten minutes before my writing session, trying to figure out why Scrivener wouldn't show me the 1667 words per day target in its Session Targets panel. It was only after fruitlessly searching the Scriv for Dummies book AND my class notes from the online course I took on Scriv, that I realized, Scriv was doing exactly what it's supposed to do: it's dividing the number of words left to the novels' goal (50,000) by the number of days until midnight, November 30! So of course, since I've been writing a bit more than 1667 per night, it's going to tell me my *session* goal is less than 1667.

DUH!

At least I got that little burr out from under my saddle.

I don't know about this novel. It's not bending to my will much, even though I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe it'll end up being something entirely different than I'd imagined. I guess I'll find out.

Day 3 NaNo Goal reached!

My seat got really sore sitting here this time. Have to find a different place...

ETA: So, that's good, but I'm not very impressed with the new blog look. Considering it was free and took me about ten minutes, I guess I can't complain that much. I guess it'll do.

Day 2 NaNo Goal Reached!

So far, so good...

Day 1 NaNo goal reached!

So, it's started. 2090 words this time, not bad.  I've introduced the five main characters and part of the main setting. I feel good!

It's that time of year again!

I just signed on for National Novel Writing Month 2013!  I finally succeeded in 2011 after several failures, and I didn't have anything in mind to write last year, but a story's been simmering in the back of my brain for a long time and I think it's time to take the plunge again.

They've gone with what I think is called "8-bit"-style logos this year, which leave me pretty cold, but I'll post one anyhow just to participate. I have my own ideas as to how to stimulate interest in a potential pep-squad of my local friends, to keep me flogging the keyboard. I think the secret to my 2011 success was my fun kit of stuff I sent them, which included chocolate.  ... Maybe the chocolate was the secret to my success, now that I think on't.

Anyway, here we go again!

Well, crud.

(Not Omaha, just the mood.)

(Found with public domain google search; if this is proprietary let me know and I'll take it down.)

The temps have taken a nose-dive here in Omaha recently, and if Weatherspark is to be believed, and in my experience they get it right about 80% of the time, they're not passing the 50s for at least the next week. This irks me because 1) I had hoped to get the damned shed painted this week, and 2) I had hoped to NOT have to turn on the furnace until November. Well - #2 was more of a vain hope, but still, it would have been nice.

I guess I'll have to settle for being grateful for the mostly glorious and season-appropriate weather we've enjoyed all year so far. OK, I can do that. Mood: lightened.

Some science, and some science fiction

In honor of this story, I'm posting a little short story of my own that no one ever wanted to buy. I've always liked this little story, and I'm happy to present it here now. Be sure and go visit that TRUE SCIENCE story about the lonely sunless planet first. The link should open it in a separate window.

========
COURSES

by

Terry Hickman

"Hey, watch it!" Chad, the shorter by a head, grabbed Jake's string-bean arm.

"What?"  Jake squinted in the warmth of one of those sunny mid-June days that stifle when the
breeze dies but preview Heaven when it plays.

Chad's head was down.  "Lookattem!" he breathed.

Jake squatted, all knees and elbows, and peered at the sidewalk. A house finch in a crab-apple
branch above bombed the pavement. "Gross," Jake muttered.

"There's dozens of 'em!"

"What?" Jake asked again.

"Centipedes!  Man, they must've just hatched." Chad scowled, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"If centipedes hatch," he added doubtfully.

Jake surveyed the scores of inch-long, midnight-copper creatures criss-crossing the sidewalk.
Each had all its feathery feet rowing like mad, propelling it steadily over the concrete. They
seemed so purposeful that he felt relieved that they were all going in different directions.  If they'd
been heading for some common point, it would've been spooky. "Neat," Jake said.

Chad held one up on a grimy fingertip.  "They're *dispersing*," he pronounced, as it curled into a
shiny spiral.  "They're getting out of the old home place as fast as their foots can carry them.
Bye, Mom."

"'March of the Teen-Age Centipedes'," Jake said.

Chad replaced the creature delicately on the sidewalk, and stood up grinning.  "'Nothing Could
Stop Them'," he added, gleefully reverting to the ongoing Cheesy Movie Poster game.

The two boys resumed strolling, now watching their steps.  Jake: "'Challenging the World'."

"'With Only Their Raging Hormones to Guide Them'," from Chad, but he glanced uncertainly at
his buddy, who'd had a bad argument with the Acne Gremlins right after Christmas.  The
dermatologist swore it wasn't stress, but Chad figured Jake's parent's divorce hadn't helped. He
changed the subject. "So have you decided which college?"

"Cal State." Jake sounded glum, though his only reason for preferring U.SoCal, Wendy, had
dumped him *after* getting her Christmas present from him.

Chad reflected that Jake's winter and spring weren't much fun. "That's cool, though," he
encouraged.  "Bernie and Greg are there.  Remember over Spring Break?  They said it rocks."

Jake grunted.  "It rocks 'cause *they* rock...Where you going?"

"Metro.  Can't afford a U, yet.  That's okay, though--once I get a few 4.0's under my belt, it'll be
easier to get scholarships."

Jake smiled like his mind wasn't on the topic. "'Dispersal'," he whispered.

Chad shot another sharp look at him, then double-timed a few steps to catch up.  "Yeah, that's
what they call it.  I don't think it really applies to centipedes.  Mammals, reptiles   frogs,
salamanders.  In mammals it's usually the immature males that have to get out before the Old Man
bites big hunks outta their hides."  He thought about his dad and nodded.  "I 'spect it applies to
people, too.  Except I don't think college counts 'cause you're not really earning your 'own way in
the world.' According to my dad."

"Yeah, well, it seems to be the opposite with me, huh?" Jake said ruefully.  "My old man couldn't
wait to disperse, himself."

"Shit, Jake--you know it wasn't you."  Chad winced again, wishing he'd quit opening his mouth
and jamming his Size 13's in it.

"I should be glad," Jake said.  "He ain't around to give me crap about what to study."

"Your Mom care you want to go into Astronomy?"

"Naw.  She's still numb.  I could take Meth Distribution 101 and she wouldn't even notice."  The
light turned green and Jake strode on.  Chad stared after him for three beats, wondering if
now was the time to ask his best friend about those drug rumors. He twitched awake and trotted
after him.

The opportunity passed.  Jake tilted his head in that way he had, and asked Chad about Suzanne.

"Ah, you know," Chad waffled. He felt guilty talking about Suze because things were so good,
when Jake's love life had turned so sour.

"You going to marry her?"

It felt like a light punch to the solar plexus.  "Shit, man."

The tall boy's mouth bent in an a-ha smile.  "You are! C'mon, Bud, that's great!  Don't look like
you swallowed a pickle.  I'm happy for you.  She's great."

The rims of Chad's eyelids stung.  "Jeez, Jake, thanks.  We haven't told our folks yet--and I didn't
want to bum you."

"Naw, I think it's great.  Wendy--she wasn't ever--it couldn't have gone anywhere.  I'm over her,
long time.  So when are you tying the old knot?"

Chad stopped in the middle of the block and gazed at Jake. "Real soon," he said sounding odd
even to himself.

Jake's face changed.  "Oh, crap, she's not--"

"No."  Chad went on, slowly, his voice unaccustomed to such seriousness. "But I want you to be
my best man.  So we want to do it before we..." It hit him then, in the gut, and his view of
Jake's face went swimming.  He tried to gulp down the alarming knot in his throat. "Before we..."

Jake smiled and cuffed him on the shoulder.  "Before we. . .disperse?" he asked gently.

Chad only nodded.

"...to make our own way in the world."  Jake turned and resumed walking.

***  ***   ***   ***   ***  ***  ***   ***   ***   ***   ***
SUZANNE MILENKE AND CHAD STORZC WED

...
                                                                CAL STATE SOPHOMORE BOUNCED - 3RD DUI

BIOLOGY SCHOLARSHIPS TO STORZC, SMITH

...
                                                                         REHAB POETRY: ART OR THERAPY? NEW
                                                                                           CHAPBOOK PROBES QUESTION

MAGNA CUM LAUDE STORZC ADDRESSES FELLOW GRADS

...
                                                                                          TWO CONVICTED IN BURGLARY


STORZC WINS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHING, RESEARCH POST

...
                                                       CLASSES IN PRISON U: FAIR TO THE LAW-ABIDING?

STORZC FAMILY CHRISTMAS VISIT: SURPRISE! IT'S TWINS!

...
                                            MECHANIC BY DAY, ASTRONOMER AT NIGHT; HUSBAND,
                                                                        FATHER, POET, FELON: A SUCCESS STORY


RESEARCH GRANT LARGEST EVER TO PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL

...
                                                                                AMATEUR ASTRONOMER DISCOVERS
                                                                                            FIRST ROVING BROWN DWARF

CRASH CLAIMS MOTHER, SON; FATHER & DAUGHTER IN STABLE CONDITION

...
LOCAL FAVORITE RETURNS TO TEACH IN HOMETOWN SCHOOL

...
RETIRING EDUCATOR VOTED GENERATION'S FAVORITE

...

***  ***   ***   ***   ***  ***  ***   ***   ***   ***   ***

Chad Storcz, thick in the middle and nearly bald, trod across the Gas'n'Belch asphalt, enjoying one
of those mild Nebraska nights whose distant crickets made you feel like running away and
joining the circus.

He set his coffee and candy bar on the counter, digging for his coin purse with the other hand.

"Chad?"

He brought his gaze up to stare at the counter attendant.  His lower jaw eased toward the floor.
"Jake?  Jake Pender?"

"Good Lord, it is you!"  The scrawny, seedy old man leaning on the cash register laughed
disbelievingly.  "By God, I'd know you anywhere!  How the hell are you?"

Chad unaccountably felt a lump grow in his larynx.  "It's been so long..."

"Sure has--what, forty years?  More!  So what brings you through the Sandhills?"

Chad cleared his throat and got past his surprise.  "Ah, just me and the wife," he gestured toward
his car outside. "Heading out to California to see my daughter's new baby.  My second wife," he
added, awkwardly.

Jake's wrinkled face softened.  "Oh, yeah," he said.  "Jeez, Chad, you know it wasn't til years after
it happened that I heard. . .I'm sorry, man.  That was terrible."

Chad nodded.  "Well, it happens." He nodded toward outdoors again.  "I've been lucky twice
now."  He turned back to Jake. "How 'bout you, buddy?  How you doing?"

Jake waved a dismissive hand.  "Aw, shit, you know me.  I screwed myself up back then, took me
awhile to get it right."  He grinned.  "I got lucky too, though.  Found the only woman on earth
who'd put up with me.  Two great kids, well, they're not kids any more, 'course."  He jerked his
head indicating the convenience store.  "This is ours. We'll never be rich, but we're okay."

Chad thought something special lurked behind his old friend's smile, as though he was wanting
Chad to ask him something in particular.  He wished he knew what it was.

Jake took a business card out of the cash register tray and handed it across the counter.  "Now
you know where I am, keep in touch, why don't you?  Look, there, we even have e-mail!"

His delight was infectious.  Chad gathered up his snack and the card, and promised Jake he'd be
hearing from the Storcz's real soon.  He was halfway across the lot, still grinning, when the
light bulb finally went on.  He u-turned and went back inside. Jake looked up at the jangle of the
door, his face puzzled when he saw Chad again.

"By the way, Jake.  Thought you might be interested. . .my daughter Angela?"  Jake's smile
spread, Chad thought he was touchingly pleased that he had returned just to share a bit of
his life.  He finished: "She grew up and became an astronomer."

When he realized Jake was too overcome to answer, he just nodded and pushed the door open
with his butt, ready to leave.

Just as the panel swung shut behind him, he heard Jake call: "Watch out for them centipedes!"

=== the end ===

Achievement locked!

(I think the cool kids say that.)

Remember the Yard Tools Project? I finished it today.

Before:

And now:

That's the design I came up with after several tries - the cheapest (about $3 for the hooks & eyebolts) and simplest. By far. LOL I don't know WHAT my brain is doing sometimes. Anyway, it's ugly, but it's mine.

If anyone reading this has any kind of traditionally male skills, and a daughter or daughters - or traditionally female skills, and a son or sons - TEACH THEM WHAT YOU KNOW! DON'T WAIT DO IT NOW!

My dad was a carpenter. He built houses - from scratch. He was also a car engine mechanic. If I had been a boy, I would have HAD to learn all he know, he would have made sure of it. But I was a girl, so Somebody Else would take care of all these things for me, so he wasn't interested in teaching me anything.

They did/do, all right. They're so helpful, they'll fix things that aren't broken. They'll add all the bells & whistles to make sure the bill is as high as possible. Or else I do things myself, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. (When it doesn't, the bills get even higher.) But now I'm 63, and I intend to do things for myself when I can - like this stupid little garage project. It's ugly, but it works. And it didn't cost me anything (not even a skinned knuckle - this time!) So I don't care if a "real" wood shop guy would laugh at this - screw him. I just hope he's teaching HIS daughter what he knows.

There's a story there, I'm sure of it

Note that tiny white and gray thing on the far left:  a little mousey toy. It vibrates when you pull its string, but that, it turned out, is kind of a dumb cat toy. 1) Cats can't pull the string. DUH. 2) Even when you pull the string, the vibrating only lasts about 3 seconds, then it lies there, inert.  The scenario goes: Cat: HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THA-- Oh, nothing.  HOWEVER, when it is left out of sight, say under the sofa, or behind the bookshelf, long enough, then when it is accidentally happened upon, it is a source of great joy and much batting and racing and rolling and dashing about in random directions. 

Note the sun - spot: Adams haz it, AND the mousey.

Note the cardboard claw-sharpening/catnip-scented box on the right: O'Keefe haz it. 

I feel quite sure that a few minutes before I glanced over and saw this seemingly peaceful tableau, some extremely complicated bit of diplomacy/warfare had been negotiated.  It is clearly diplomacy, despite the visible tuft of gray fur behind and between them, because the catnip-scented cardboard box is Adams's favorite thing EVAR DOODS, while sun - spots are O'Keefe's domain. They've both been playing, on and off, with the mousey since it resurfaced yesterday. Since neither cat has ALL THE THINGS, I deduce that this event *was* diplomatic, perhaps (probably) backed up with demonstrations of military might.

Now see the next photo, which I took trying to get a better version of the first one:

I AM O'KEEFE, DESTROYER OF PHOTOGRAPHS.

She does this Every. Damn. Time. The first flash goes off and gets their attention, and by the time my camera's ready for the second picture, she's on the way toward me to see what I'm doing.

That is all.

Looks like we'll have some cool weather for awhile, anyway

and I have so god-awful many yard and garage and shed projects I need to do, I am going to try to get out there and work every single day on them. If I take it in little bits, my theory goes, I won't get so worn out or so sore that I'll dread going back.

Today, I used my saw!

My first target area was next to the rollup garage door where I keep the yard tools:

Tidying up this scene will, I hope, also encourage me to keep my tools in better repair.  

After moving all the tools out of the way - and sorting which ones will go to the back yard shed - I used a broom to sweep away (most of) the cobwebs and leaf bits.  Then I yanked out all those old, bent, rusty nails someone had pounded into random locations.  This looked much more promising:

I wanted to wedge another board between the front wall of the garage and that brick pillar on the right, on top of the in-place board. These won't have to hold much weight so they don't really need to be nailed extensively. A tight wedge of the upper board should be sufficient. The length should have been 51 1/2 inches.

And it fit perfectly, first time! (I measured twice, cut once. Somewhere, my dad's doing a slow clap.)

That really *is* a tight fit - I had to hammer really hard, a lot. It's not coming out.

That was when I discovered I lack hooks to finish the job. So, I turned my attention to the plus one for the day:

That workbench-top space was NOT there before. The far end looks jumbled? Well, it's quite organized, really and each item will have its own place when I ultimately get done organizing. When I went out there this afternoon, there was stuff piled up level with that middle screwdriver shelf across the whole bench-top! And now I have more working space! I'm chuffed!

Getting Ready for All Hallow's Read!

(one of last year's posters. Come ON, you guys, it's time to be getting this year's out to the world!)

=======

The Friends of Omaha's Public Library has a sale the first Saturday of every month. I went over there today to see if I could find any good kids' books (age-appropriately scary, preferably) for All Hallow's Read. LOL - I really made a HAUL!!!

That's THIRTY books.  Grand total bill:  $9.00.  Woohoo I'm in business, friends! So now I just need to clean them all up a bit. Peel off the OPL and other stickers, wipe the covers down, and go through to make sure there's nothing untoward written in any of them. I saw that one has a workbook-like format, and one of the blank boxes had been filled in, so I'll figure out some way to cover that up. Stuff like that. Then I'll sort them into Little Kids - Grade school - YA piles.

I was astounded at how excited the kids last year were to get books! So I'm doubling down this year. I'm *ready*!

Give a scary book for Hallowe'en! See details by going to All Hallow's Read.

Where angels fear to tread...

I have a habit of plunging into the deep end of the pool. I won't beat around the bush here (am I collecting cliches today? Oh well): This past week I bought enough eggplant, zucchini, butternut squash, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers to make several gallons of ratatouille.  Up until the movie "Ratatouille" came out a few years ago, I'd never heard of the stuff. I went online to find a recipe, and discovered hundreds! So I made one. Loved it. Made another. Loved it. Etc etc etc. I am a ratatouille convert. I love it more than spaghetti sauce (and that's saying something). I love how I can freeze it and later pile it on top of noodles, potatoes, or rice, or have it with salad and a baguette or even pile it warm on crackers. Or pita and goat cheese...mmmmm.

And we have the wonderful Wenninghoff's here in Omaha for all of your fresh produce needs. So this week I went there and bought all that stuff, and today I'm going to make ratatouille by the vat-full.

Yesterday I went back and bought 25 pounds of Missouri peaches. I hadn't realized quite how many peaches that is until I got them home. *gulp* I'm going to freeze those, too. I have about half the volume in my chest freezer available for all this stuff.

And today I'm freezing peaches. (I'm using the lazy way; washing off the fuzz, slicing them and laying the slices on cookie sheets and freezing them then putting them into freezer zip-style bags.)

This is a LOT of work. But I'm going to love myself this winter. And I'm very glad I have Netflix to keep me company during today's labors.

3 hrs later: Well, 21 of the peaches are halved and sitting in the freezer, freezing. The two giant pots of ratatouille are cooking. There is about a half-gallon of tomatoes left over, which I don't know what I'll do with, but they'll get used.

And my feet hurt and I'm tired, and I still have to bag up all this stuff for the freezer.  *groan* but here I am groaning about having too much food? in THIS world? Really, Terry? Shame on me. So instead, I shall be grateful down to my sore arches.

2 1/2 hrs later:  Got about 2/3 done with all this. Will finish tomorrow. Too pooped to keep going tonight!

ETA photos:

Freezing peaches!  The butter tubs are to hold the next tray above the peaches.

Next: my two batches of ratatouille. It turned out really really good.  :^)

And, because there aren't enough pictures of cats on the internet, here are my cats:

They both HAD been lying on the floor, one right behind the other, so I thought it'd make a cool floor-level picture. Of course, as soon as I put the camera down O'Keefe had to come investigate it, so you can only admire her toes here. As if she'd never seen it before. That's her more nonchalant brother Adams being cool about the whole thing.