First Day of Spring and a Little Cleaning

 The calendar says it is the first day of spring but the temperatures this week have been leaning more towards summer.  I have to report back to work next Monday and I am slowly knocking off a list of chores that need to get done between now and then.  

Spent the afternoon making multiple trips up and down the basement steps removing “old stuff” and hauling it to the curb. These trips haven't emptied the basement but did put a large dent in the clutter.  After paying the “Junk” company to haul a truckload away from Dad’s property in preparation of getting it ready to put on the market and after thinking private thoughts regarding all the things that my niece and her husband left behind still to be cleaned out, packed up, moved out or thrown away, I realized that an afternoon of stair climbing was over due.  Kate, my darling daughter, has warned me on several occasions that she is not planning on cleaning out any of my “old stuff” (only I think she used a different s word.) after I am gone. See if she finds any of those hidden stacks of $100. dollar bills.

Stuart likes his job.  He provides complete turn down services.

And Herschel said he was just minding his own business

 Thumbs are very useful.  Injured thumbs are reminders to those that are injured of the benefits of opposable thumbs.  I injured my thumb yesterday breaking up a dogfight. A large Mastiff mistook my thumb for Herschel.  Herschel will be fine soon enough and no matter what you read in the tabloids, he did not start the fight and he barely fought back, which is probably why he did not get injured. Well compared to what could have happened he didn't get injured much.

But before going on to the important Herschel part of the story let me remind the reader of how difficult it is to open medicine containers without using your thumb. Try opening jar lids. Try zipping and snapping tight pants. I would speak to appropriately fitting pants but I don’t seem to have any of those in my closet at this time so I can only report injured thumb effects on tight dockers.

Now on to the important Herschel details.

My nephew, Josh, has been foster a 5 year old Mastiff for a friend. My nephew is a very nice, kind, young man. The Mastiff is a very large, big, untrained dog. When Josh has both his nine month untrained boxer/lab mix and the Mastiff on leashes the two of them out weigh him.

I had been out and met the dog on several occasions. The dog has always seemed well mannered enough but big and strong and my nephew is not all that large.  Well, Herschel and I had taken off into the woods to check out the winter “wind falls” and damage to what trails are left back in the woods.  Here came Josh with the dogs. The Mastiff pulled the nephew directly towards Herschel who was walking calmly towards them ready to say, “Hi.” Next thing Herschel knew he was on the ground on the bottom with a very large dog on top of him.

I have always read that the dangerous dogs are the ones that don’t give any warnings. Half way through the dog struggle I realized that my nephew had only put a loose soft collar on the Mastiff which came off the first time he tried to use the leash to pull the dog off Herschel. A few dogs bites later that seemed like hours but of course were only moments the dogs were separated and I got Herschel away so that Josh could get the Mastiff under control.

Josh was on his phone calling his friend letting them know that they needed to pick up the dog before the end of the day.  Josh realized immediately that he did not have the training, time or money necessary to deal with this particular dog.  I reminded him the good news part was that the Mastiff had the melt down with the two of us and not someone one else (or one of his young nieces round) and with a fairly non-aggressive dog. Had Herschel tried to fight back I am sure he would have had much more than an ear puncture.  

Herschel was already on antibiotic so he didn’t have to go see his Dr. Daphne.  I did shave his ear down so that the puncture wound could get some healing air and topical sprays. Then I suggested we trim his neck so that the air can circulate and finally trimmed some of the hair of his right ear so they wouldn’t look too mix matched.  

She said they looked just fine. So explain the covered mirrors again.

Remi made some crack about buying Herschel an earring so that Herschel could develop his pirate side but I reminded him of the danger of the snagging bushes and low tree limbs. Either way we all agreed that maybe we should cover the mirrors for a few days until the hair grows out a little.

Remi thinks a pirate hoop would give certain style statement.

An interesting find yesterday. I read an article while sitting in Urgent Care waiting for my thumb to be looked at. A woman wrote an article about the journal she wrote consisting of writing one sentence a day. She started her Journaling when her children were young and wrote how wonderful it was to capture in just one sentence the flavor of childhood days and memories.  She also wrote how much more doable it was to write one sentence that it was to blog whole essays. It was a habit that she was able to develop and support.

I think I sort of like the idea of that. There is at least one brief thought that makes a smile dance across my mind or one moment of irony that is worth capturing in a journal. Should we take bets whether I can remember one mundane thing a day to write down?

Back to earlier topics of publishing and self-publishing, the women writing the article now has available in an e-book format the first, I can’t remember how many, years of her children’s lives, one sentence a day. The examples she shared did sound precious. But my children are now both thirty and above so my chance to create a credible revenue stream off a memoir of their childhood delights has sailed. 

More About Reading

While my mind is still thinking about reading, I have to admit after all the previous talk about love for my library I do enjoy my Kindle.  I do. I do. And I did pick up the flyer that Florence, my favorite head librarian, handed me that explains how I can down load certain library books to my e-reader for free. They have figured out the Kindle thing apparently. So now I have to feel a guilty because, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am thinking that my favorite head librarian is counting on statistics to let her know if this is the wave of the future and I haven’t used the downloads as of yet.  Okay, I haven’t even gone out on line to check if the limited selection had anything I was interested in perusing.  I am not supporting her in developing these statistics of use.

I have, on the other hand, become addicted to the, inexpensive and free Kindle buys. Fortunately/unfortunately depending on how one looks at it, I seem connected through Facebook with enough e-book writers and their want-to-be writing friends that post connections to both their writing and want-to-be-writer friends.  Can you see where this is going? Soon I am “liking” the Free “Ink” sites and getting forwards for the “Free just for today” deals.”  And we won’t mention the “My friend just published his first book and here it is.” deals.  The thing is, some of these are good.  Self promotion is the first rule of self-publishing so it does all sort of flow together.

Even before Kindles and self-publishing I have always enjoyed discovering new authors, new voices. I would tooling down the highway listening to NPR and suddenly realize, “Hey, I’ve already read stuff by that author.” Something about reading those first novels or that new memoir before the writer gets the movie contract is nice.

What I do want to point out is that in the e-book world of self-publishing not everyone has the same support group around them to help edit and prepare their works. And it shows in their products and the lack of “polish”. Many of the authors must have a talented multitude of friends and/or family that assist them with the editing and overview of their ideas. Yes, people, you can self publish but please let some one else edit your work.

E-mail me if you really want to know what I feel about some of the characters and dialogues that I have read lately. As you can tell I have a few opinion on this.

It is one thing to post on a blog. I think another level of professionalism is needed for e-books. (Must remember not to eat my words if I ever get that far. Must remember.)  The little voice in my head reminds me that we often get what we pay for.  

Others writers seem to have more of the multitude of friends that will give them 5 star reviews regardless of what they have written. Good reviews are important in the self-publishing world. I find reading the three star reviews more interesting and some how more wholesome and often more telling to fact. I will still down load the story but with full understanding that I paid 99 cents and in the end I can feel that A got a good deal because I can like the story for what it is. Not great fiction but a good story.

I admit that I do not take advantage of downloading the sample first. As it is I often don’t read the book until weeks after I have downloaded it. I download it as I find it, in someone’s blog, on his or her Facebook page, on one of those other “get this book now” sites.  I did mention that I am a sucker for books.  But as I am reading some of these I am very glad that I did not pay money for them. Or I am very glad that I did not pay much money for them. 

Other finds are true gems and I wonder and hope that they will find their way out of the e-book maze to some higher awareness.

Of course, I still have my library card for those books by famous authors that publishing houses think I should purchase for some ridiculous e-book price.

Love of Libraries

I am not Nick Russell.  I so admire his work ethic. He posts everyday. Even the day after his rally when he was bone tired, he posted that he was bone tired. He apologized for not having the energy or brainpower left to post. He wrote more than two sentences coherently then signed off to head to bed.   Me? I just don’t write. I have however in my quilt, been reading.  Make me feel more righteous.  Must use brain for something. Must use brain for something. Cannot sit on couch with TV emitting toxic messages and evaluate the sad affair of non cable TV shows and TV marketing. I believe I have touched on my reactions to that scary stuff earlier.

Back to reading… I love my public library card. I understand that being retired and not traveling full-time I have the freedom of selecting and returning books without paying large fines that include naming new additions of the library after me.  Actually even when I am traveling modestly for a month or so at a time, if the dogs will kindly remind me to call and renew the books every two weeks before they are overdue, I am good to keep driving around listening to the books on tape till I make it back to Ohio…whenever. Florence, my favorite head librarian, reminds me that as long as no one puts a reserve request on a book they really don’t care how many times I renew them.  Rather they do care. They like it. It all shows up as circulation numbers on their statistics. And good statistics can translate to funding and grants.

I have always loved books.  Meeting the characters and exploring the places books introduced me to were my first experiences with the love of journeys and adventures.

When my mother left Ohio with my brother and sister and myself, she took us to Houston, Texas, and enrolled me in the third grade. I found myself in the SLOWEST reading group.  I was smart enough to realize which “bird” group I was in. Only later would I figure out that it had to do with Ohio’s curriculum and when/if phonics was ever taught. And I also figured out that the answers to those math questions on the board were listed in the back pages of the math book and you could flip to the back of the book and look them up. And they thought the Ohio girl was slow! 

Anyway, I spent many hours that year in the library and with books.  Besides the fact that I was uprooted from Ohio and not so happy being in Texas away from what was familiar. I missed my animals but I still had books.

After that year, my father came down to Texas in the summer to pick us up for his month of visitation. We headed back to Ohio and after going through the courts it was decided that we did not need to go back to Texas.  But my affinity for libraries was established.  Where else in the world can anyone walk into a building and gain access to almost unlimited learning. If you want to know something or teach your self something (or escape something) you are only limited by your ability to read.  

So, even if my books are over due, I smile and pay my due to keeping knowledge available to the free world. 

Marketing a Revolution to Health

 Ohio is definitely showing some signs of moving towards spring.  There have been several 60-degree days of balmy weather to inspire us to hold on through the last damp, chilly, nasty days that Ohio seems to find joy in throwing down in March.  I definitely am feeling better. Believe me that sunshine alone cannot convince me that a dog needs walking. The truth is that I can hibernate from sunshine and sparkle as well as the gray damp chill. But this past week my energy, outlook and the weather all agreed that I needed to go for a walk and the Stuart dog readily agreed to accompany me. 

Exercise is said to be the best thing for improving how one feels. Well I did feel pretty good but also realized, again, how out of shape I have gotten.  Remaining prone on a couch waiting to regain your senses adds even more negatives to an already disadvantaged body.

Spending so much “down” time did permit me a window into another world. Daytime TV programming. I admit to catching a few of them here and there since I retired but these are definitely a new market.  Dr. Oz, The Drs., The Revolution…They all are filled with information and research results that can change our lives and help us live better.

Now I realize that there are all sorts of work schedules and people are watching TV at all times of day. But I still wonder. The watcher on the couch (in the recliner, etc) gets to learn how to eat healthier. We get to learn about new exercises, new surgical procedures, and new health supplements that will change their life.

Since my eyes hurt to read and my head hurt when I moved I got to listen. I got to watch the personal five-month transformation (The Revolution) of individuals. The miracle of film shows them losing 40 plus pounds over 5 days. Neat, huh?  This is all inspiring and good information but I notice that I am still flat on the couch.

Most of the people that I know that are truly fit don’t spend their afternoons on the couch. They are already in the gym or out riding their bike or walking their dog or kayaking down the river. 

I also can’t separate the image of my prone TV listening/watching body from some of the individuals I see parked in the nursing homes that that dogs I visit.  Most of the time the TV seems to be just noise to fill up the hours in the background.

I still watch some of those evening dramas but I get to think, “Someone got paid to write that script. Really!”  And the dogs all agree that they love to pile on the prone "couch body" in the evening for pack snuggle. (They do permit room for one laptop computer and the use of one hand. The other must be available for doggy body rubs.)

So, I am not sure what the point of all this is, except that I have to wonder about all those “improve your health shows” and if the seriously motivated “improvers” have not already left the room. 

It is a good thing, too.  They needed to get off the couch before all the fast food commercials. Between the Good Mood Food, and implied brilliance of ordering off of the Value Menu they might have just headed out directly to their cars.