This seems like it's been a ridiculously hot summer so far. I don't remember ever having so many 85+ degree days in April/May/June before! As I write this, it's July 3rd, and I should be looking forward to taking Penny out to Turtle River State Park tomorrow on my day off.
However, it's forecasted to be 77 degrees at sunrise tomorrow. And when you walk in the woods, what do they always advise as protection against disease-carrying ticks and mosquitoes? Wear long sleeves and long pants.
No thank you.
So we'll be walking here in town. We'll still be walking early, before the sun is high and hot and has a chance to heat up the sidewalks, but on paved in-town trails where I can wear shorts.
That's one of the things that's disappointing about living here. Winter is six months long, and I'm not an outdoors-in-winter person.
Once it warms up, you get a month or two of decent (but unpredictable) weather. Then for the next three or so months, it gets so warm that you have to try and cram all your outdoor activities into the early morning hours.
I still need to get the needles taken care of under the last pine, but I've been prioritizing walking time. Eventually, though, I'm going to have to give up a morning or two and take care of it.
And then, if we are lucky, we get a month of nice fall weather. Then all the leaves blow off the trees in one very windy day and winter is back again for six months.
So I prioritize the walks. If I end up having to rake up pine needles when it's 30 degrees, so be it!
This month's writing update.
I have made it two meetings of my local writer's group and am currently working on two stories!
The first story I'm working on is a revision/polish on one of the last stories I was working on before I stopped writing. I'd like to get it polished up and submitted somewhere before the end of the summer.
The other story is a new one. I'd call the genre, "Summer nostalgia horror." I got the idea of maybe coming up with some summer-themed horror stories, and this was the first idea that popped in my head. It's kind of cool, so I ran with it. The draft is still in progress, but it's about 3200 words so far.
And going to writer's group has been awesome. I've been a member since the very first meeting, but I haven't attended in years. Going back to it, though, was just like I never left. There are new faces, but enough familiar faces to make it really seem like I'm just picking back up after a long weekend or something. I absolutely love it!
What I'm reading this month.
I finished Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies, by Heather Fawcett, and I really liked it. I might even read the second book in the series. It wasn't anything like what I normally read, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Now I've doubled up and am reading books for two separate book clubs: Stranger in a Strange Land, by Heinlein, and Tress of the Emerald Sea, by Brandon Sanderson. I really don't know what to make of either of them.
Heinlein is closer to what I normally read, and I've read several of his works in the past. And while I love the premise, this book is SO DATED! I keep getting "kicked out" of the story due to all the dated references, wrong assumptions of what the future would be like (oh look, everybody smokes tobacco these days), and the sexism.
Tress started out giving the feel of a young adult novel or one of the classics like James and the Giant Peach because of the young-ish character and the voice of the narrator. But then it move firmly into science fiction with the several moons and ships that navigate on a sea of spores.
But then absurdities in the characters and situations once again placed it in "Peach" territory...and then someone's death due to spores was described in horrifying enough detail that I don't think it would be appropriate for YA or younger.
So while I'm enjoying Tress in general, it seems like a bit of a hot mess of a book, as far as genre goes. Out of the two books, though, I'm enjoying Tress more.
What I'm learning this month/class report.
Most of the "lessons" I'm working on are still the same, but the frequency that I'm doing the lessons has changed.
I've been prioritizing Duolingo Spanish, Udemy Spanish ("Spanish for Beginners. The complete Method"), and Codecademy Full Stack. Those three I absolutely do every single day.
I'm still taking four other Udemy courses--Java, Javascript, Mindfulness, and Intro to Biology--but those are less regular. If I have extra time in the day, I knock a lesson out in one of these.
And I am very much looking forward to getting back to a university class in the fall. My last university class wasn't that long ago, just last fall (spring was my failed and quickly abandoned internship), but it feels like FOREVER!!! I can't wait for classes to start!
This month's playlist. The ten songs I'm listening to on repeat.
This month's pondering/share/rant.
So much has happened since the last post, it feels like I've lived a year in a month. It's better to summarize it all in tidbits.
Hubby's recovery from ankle surgery (removal of the failing replacement joint and fusion of the joint with a spike up his shin) has proved challenging. As of this writing, we still don't know how the bones are healing because everyone is focused on the surgical wound, which isn't healing. It's required a skin graft and wound vac, and we aren't sure if that's going to help. By this point, hubby was supposed to be able to start putting weight on his foot, but that's not nearly in the cards yet.
As part of the other testing with related to trying to figure out why his wound wasn't healing (and a rehash of "let's test bone stuff since he's had a problem with bone healing in the past"), they've found some troubling hormonal and blood results that are leading to cancer and endocrinology testing. So, on top of the fact that he's been dealing with pain/no healing of the broken ankle for SEVEN LONG YEARS, now we've got the big "C" word hanging over everything.
While I was practically cracking under the stress, my fridge decided to be a putz and go out again.
The fridge had been a constant problem almost since we moved in. It was a fancy double-door fridge with a bottom freezer. And, periodically, the freezer would freeze over and the whole thing (fridge and freezer) would stop cooling. The first time it happened, I didn't realize it for a while. So I had to throw out hundreds of dollars of food. And while it only happened once every six months or so at first (and was blamed on dog hair by techs we talked to by phone), it started happening more and more often, in spite of monthly vacuuming to make sure no dog hair was caught in the works. And when it happened when I was already overwhelmed and exhausted from hubby's surgery/health stuff and had NO patience for any nonsense, I bought a new one.
Another source of stress was all the traveling. Hubby's doctors are in a town 70 miles south of here, and we've been traveling two or three times a week for his medical stuff. When the door lock system malfunctioned in my car, making it so that the passenger door could only be opened from the inside, it was a wake-call. Stella was ten years old and just about completely out of her warranty period--even for the door lock thing, an known problem that Kia was covering for her model...for 10 years. So if the problem had waited a few more months and occurred in year 11? I probably would have to pay for it out of pocket. And a working passenger door is pretty important when you are the sole driver and the passenger is someone with health problems.--The new car was because, first and foremost, I deserve a treat for how this year has been going. But also because my prior car (Stella) was nearing ten years old. So a reliable car is quite helpful. While I never had any real problems with Stella, I knew it would just be a matter of time before she would need some major maintenance.
So it was a practical choice to buy a new car to ensure reliable transportation. But I also deserve a treat to brighten my days...so I bought a bright blue 2026 Sportage loaded with bells and whistles. Her name is Matilda, or Tilda, for short.
I started wondering what on earth was up with Hamilton, my hamster. He's always been a snack fiend, but he was starting to act like a corgi. Every time I would stick a snack into the cage, he would snatch it from my hands like he was starving.
When I gave him one of his favorite treats, a piece of cheese, I realized he wasn't taking bites of it...he was licking it.
Turns out, he's lost teeth. How many, I don't know, but enough that he's having trouble eating. It's impossible to tell by the quantity of food left in his dish because he has always tossed most of it out, anyway, because he's a fussy eater.
It makes sense, because he's elderly for a hamster. I'm just glad I realized it before it was too late.
So now he gets his regular food (a mix of seeds, nuts, etc.), plus he gets an "old man" mix: baby food veggies, soggy dog kibbles, and soggy oat mix.
Also, Penny and I made our first hiking video in June. I decided I love the virtual hikes enough that I want to give a go at making my own. And while our first video didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would, it does need a reshoot because the camera view isn't quite how I like it for a virtual hike. All in all, that's a small problem and I'm really surprised by how well everything turned out.
I thought making my own hiking videos for the treadmill might be a hobby I'd like to take up, but I figured it would require special expensive equipment. So I just bought a cheap chest harness for my phone to try it, and if I liked it, I would do an upgrade on equipment.
I read stuff where people were talking about upgrading their action-cameras-of-a-certain-brandname because the entry-level ones had batteries that ran out after 20 minutes, or that shook too much while they were walking, etc. I know some people talked about having this "geo floating cage" apparatus they wore for stability. It all sounded completely overwhelming, so I didn't hold out a lot of hope for my first attempts.
I bought a $20 chest rig from Amazon and put my Samsung Galaxy in it. And off we went.
I recorded an hour walk, and my phone still had well over 50% battery left. And there was no more bouncing of the camera than in the semi-pro hiking videos I watch. The Galaxy apparently has really great image stabilization.
The only problem with the amateur hiking video Penny and I shot was the viewframe. Because the camera is attached to my chest, and it's in a brace that covers part of the screen to secure it, it's hard for me to judge if the camera is pointed at the optimum angle. The videos should mostly focus on the actual path, with the scenery filling the rest of the screen. My first video is mostly scenery and very little of the path itself showing (camera too high).
But I think that's a problem I can overcome with trial and error. So for a $20 investment, it's a pretty good result. If we get a few good videos, I'll share them on my youTube channel. We'll call them, "Walks with Penny," lol.
That's it for this month. Until next month, Stay Spooky, my friends!
~~Here be monsters . . . and corgis.~~