When it's Time

 

I was undecided about writing about this because why make others sad about our loss. Whenever we lose a pet, the beloved ones, it's tough and we get reminders of that loss whenever others speak about their losses. Still, there was something about this one that seemed to me should be shared and so here goes.

 We knew Tigger had a serious disease with cat FIV, which is like human aids. But the information was that they can live a normal lifetime if symptoms are treated. We were doing that. When my brother visited, Tigger was on his lap every time he sat down. He seemed okay.

Right after Dan left, things changed. I won't go into details as they're not what this is about. We saw the end was coming. We called our veterinarian to ask if they gave euthanasia house calls. They did not. They recommended a mobile veterinary unit, which we had already found online. The unit no longer took calls for general health care for new pets, but they still did euthanasia calls.

Desert Paws

One thing we had learned in 2013, that if we had to have a pet put to sleep, we wanted it to be in our home. We waited though to see if he could cross over by himself. When we heard him crying in pain, we made the call. It was with great relief that they said they could be there within an hour and a half. Nobody wants a beloved pet to suffer when nothing can be done for them. 

The doctor arrived, we put Tigger on the sofa where he relaxed. She gave him first a shot to relax him and take away pain. Then after she saw it took effect, she gave him the one to stop his heart. It might have taken half an hour or less, but he was gone. We felt sad but also grateful that he didn't have to continue to suffer.

No photos of him here as I don't want others to feel bad. In a way, this was a victory. I don't know how old he was as we got him as a stray that had been around the farms for years, but not sure how many. We had had him since 2017 and he leaves a big hole in our life, as well as the little female that had followed him to our farm, who I believe was one of his offspring, but who can prove it. We left his body in the living room a day for her to understand he's dead, if they understand such things.

The stones at the top of the page are where he and our other male cat are buried here on our piece of desert. 

The photo below is from a card Desert Paws, here in Tucson, sent us sympathizing with our loss. We appreciated the care the doctor had given him and also her handwritten note about our loss. She added what he had gained for our love of him. That was sweet as is the image. We won't replace him right away as we have to travel north soon, and it would be hard on an adopted cat to deal with that kind of change. We will though when we return to the desert. Two cats is not enough *s*

I am writing this because I believe that sometimes we do have to let our beloved pets go and when we do, if we can afford it, it's very nice to have it done in the house where they live. We still cry, of course, but it helps to know we didn't have them die in fear as happens when they go to the veterinarian's office. We have done it twice now and would let go of them no other way. 

If there is a rainbow bridge for our beloved animals, I hope he traveled over it, maybe with the other one buried here, Blackie, who died without needing euthanasia but also was much missed. They all are.

 

Backlists

This time I have a question for readers. I know that most of you don't comment here (sad as I used to get a lot of comments but thus goes the times), but I'd very much appreciate it if you'd think about the question below for yourself and then share your answer for the benefit of other readers here, including me.

Here's the question: If you like an author, I don't care what genre, will you look for older books by that author or is it all about the newest books, perhaps even by that, author?  Along with it-- if you like an author and they change genres, say had been sci fi but now want to write mystery, will you give the new direction a chance if your favorite has always been where they had always written?

There is not a right or wrong answer, but I am curious how many readers do follow all the work by a favorite author-- even from years gone by. Should a writer consider pulling those older books or let them set with the hope someday they will be discovered? 

An adjunct to that question is for writers-- how do you deal with your own backlist? Most of us have one. One possibility is pull them and rewrite them with our current skills. I've seen writers do that, before working on new ideas.

 

one aspect of editing

 

For more than four months, I've been working on re-editing my Arizona historical romances. Because we needed to pull some, in order to have title changes, we decided to pull all eight in that series, re-edit and add onto them, as well as give them all new titles. Amazon said we must then bring them back as new books... 

To avoid reader confusion, I was not comfortable with that, but it's currently the only way when you know your titles are not working for the books. Amazon is following ISBN requirements. It makes sense but just a surprise-- if you don't read your emails.

So far, I have done four and am just finishing the fifth. I have actually enjoyed it since I hadn't read them in a long time-- and I feel I am a better writer today. In writing, you always improve-- if you keep writing. I also came up with some ways to add to their stories without losing the basic plots but instead elements to make them feel more complete and that there is something new.

We are in no hurry to put them back, as we attempt learn more about what launching a book should have meant when we originally brought them out beginning in 2013. There is so much I still do not know about the marketing end of books, but turns out there are a few things on writing that I also have had to look at.

For instance, using the word just too many times is a no no. I use it a lot in my ordinary life-- i.e. just in time, etc. etc. But writing is not so much about fitting what is 'ordinary' but instead what is readable to others. Yikes. I could see where I'd used it, and it wasn't needed. Other places it was better than writing a whole lot more words when one would do. I think I have cut out half.

I am going to ignore a few other rules that are claimed to be important-- like not using adverbs. I am not sure why a word that modifies a verb is bad but a word that modifies a noun is okay. I am going to keep my adverbs, as often to get rid of them would lose meaning or require too many other words. I also believe too many adjectives for a noun can seem overdone, but I was never fond of heavy usage of either. It can become humorous.

Another word the editing gods don't like is very. Often a different word will do but sometimes it doesn't fit the action. Other times, it's a word less people would know when romances are not supposed to be written with a lot of big words, words that often are perfect, but less known. Romance readers don't want to read their books with a dictionary in hand. 

Maybe I should say most as I've read their writing should be aimed at an eighth grade level for readability. At one time, eighth grade was pretty advanced in knowledge (I've seen what once an eight grade education meant-- good luck with passing such tests today). Now, who knows what even a college degree means for vocabulary. If it's dialogue, of course, then it depends on the background of the character.

For a while, I am going to be writing, in this blog, about the whole process of putting together books. The next one will involve a question that is of interest to me. I will though get more into the issues of editing-- as I know it.

snakes

Photos below all are related to snakes. If such bother you, skip this blog.

 It began the afternoon of April 7th. I went to the door to tell Ranch Boss, who was working in the vacation trailer, preparing it for the visit from my brother, that he'd had a call. When he walked back toward the house, he had news for me. On the front porch was a diamondback. 

We have been lucky here with king and gopher snakes but have only seen a rattler at the back of the property. I have worried about them despite having a fenced yard for the cats. They consider snakes playthings with no idea, from our part of Oregon, that they can be dangerous.

So, what to do? After spraying it with water, the snake curled up under a big rock. Ranch Boss said let it be and figured it'd go away. I worried with my brother coming and he'd use the trailer out front. So while Ranch Boss wasn't concerned, I called a snake removal company. They would come within half an hour but were a bit costly. 

 

Again, Ranch Boss said it'd be okay. It seemed pretty subdued after the water spray. I said, I want to do it even at $150. They remove them and put them in better places. So the guy is on the way and Ranch Boss sat out front keeping an eye on the rattler to make sure it stays where it is. The guy would have found it if it had left but better it stayed put.

Such a relaxing day until... I only hoped the guy would get here before snake left. It seemed satisfied to have the warmth and big rock for shelter. When the guy arrived, he came well equipped with snake tongs and a long stick that I guess is called as snake hook, tall boots, and a bucket with a locking top. He went right for it and captured it using the tongs and the hook to put it in the bucket within moments. 

 

 

He said it was what we had thought, more officially a western diamondback rattlesnake. He said males are out right now looking for females. The females will be out later looking for food. Because Ranch Boss had kept an eye on it, it was an easy capture, he reduced the cost to a regular customer. I hope we won't be one but was relieved this snake has been safely taken elsewhere (where it is legal for them to be moved as there are restrictions). I'd have been stressed if we hadn't done this; so definitely worth it to me for it to be taken away alive for hopefully a new life. He mentioned they have a one mile range... That might mean we will see it again *s*

 

The day after, we saw the other snake that looks like a diamondback, only is not. He's a gopher snake. You can tell by the head shape and no rattles. They are good snakes to have around although they do not kill rattlers. They do though compete for food, which might help to reduce the number of rattlers. We used to call them bull snakes but turns out they don't live in our part of Arizona. They look pretty much the same; so not sure how they are differentiated other than geographically.

 

Since then, we've seen no snakes but they are for sure here.

 

Horse stories

 

image from Stencil

This will probably seem way different from my recent blogs, but it's not for my life experiences and isn't that what blogs are about.

I came across this YouTube through one of those things we get if we are on YouTube-- recommendations. Not sure why but it's interesting to me and might be to some of you.

Five Friends who died with horse accidents.

Although I have had my own interests in horse, I have only a few experiences to share. In my historical novels, I have horses as part of the stories-- more rarely in the contemporary but also in the urban fantasy novels. I base some of that on my times on horseback--though i am not remotely a good horse person. 

Growing up, my favorite books were the Black Stallion series and had almost all of them from various Christmas or birthday gifts. Because my father was allergic to horses, we couldn't have them-- with one exception. He decided to give it a try and we got a gelding, which worked for a while before it began to make my father sick. I had enough experience with him (don't remember if I knew his name). One of them was life experience kind. I saddled him and rode up the dirt road on our property that led to the back of our 80 acres. All had seemed well, until I turned him to head back to the farm. He began to run. I had little control and pulled on the reins to stop him. He stopped all right and I went right over his head. I was not hurt but definitely got scared by it. Not long after that he was gone from the farm but not because I told anybody. I did not. it wasn't the horse's fault.

I had a couple of trail ride experiences in later years. One went smoothly, along the Metolius River. Lovely time. The second was heading into the pine forest in that area. The horse I was riding apparently was what can be called barn sour as when we all turned, he broke into a run to head for the barns. I remembered my earlier experience, thought I can never stay on and ahead was a paved road. So, I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and rolled to the right side of the trail, all loose dirt. If i hadn't been wearing a sleeveless shirt, all would have been well, but I was, scraped my shoulder and had to head to a nearby town for a tetanus shut.

Horses continued to fascinate me. I debated taking lessons when I was in my 50s but just never did it. Our Oregon farm wasn't good for horses, too wet, although we boarded a friend's horse for a few years before she died of old age. For our limited land, we had enough cattle and sheep, sometimes too many, and horses didn't make sense.

My other horse experiences were pretty much without incident. At my age, there won't be more as starting over with horses would make no sense now. I still love them but do see the need to know what you are doing with them-- and even then, things can go wrong as you will see in the link, if you read it. . 

spring and an important holiday

 

Although I had two possible blogs lined up, when I thought about this being Easter week, I delayed them for a week and then two because this is a holy week for more than just Christianity and the resurrection of the Christ. Passover is also this week. This historic celebration began April 5th and ends the 13th. It's not all that is right now. Ramadan began March 22nd and ends 30 days later. It is a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. As for religions without Abrahamic origins, check it out online as most have interesting stories and some coincide with each other.

 

I thought this article-- 7 Pagan Festivals we still celebrate was interesting for some of the origins of our own traditions. I know, we tend to think it's all about us, but studying history of spiritual traditions says it's not. It is a season of rebirth like you see in the photo below with the dove feeding her babies.

 

For my life, I've known many ways to celebrate Easter from Easter egg hunts for the family on farm where I grew up, decorating eggs, attending Mass, celebration at the cemetery above the country church at dawn, and as it is for me today-- very simple quiet, often with ham and deviled eggs.

Today, flowers and the time of warmer weather and longer days is a big part of it for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth. It's a good time to be considering growth and new beginnings.  

 

However you celebrate tomorrow or whether you have other traditions important to your life, I hope you enjoy this time.

for the writers and readers

 Despite this being April Fools Day, this is not a joke. It's very real for what is happening.

 

Someone might think that wokeism shouldn't a big deal for authors today. I have an example of how it even applies to authors from the past.

Rewriting historical authors

So, if it's not okay to say certain words, rewriting what sometimes have been seen as classics, even when it takes all the spirit out of the stores, what about today's authors?

Recently, I read that a writer had their book ad removed for using the word alpha? That's not a sexual term but does relate to powerful male figures. It apparently does not suit the woke culture-- strong male figures to them apparently mean bullies and abusers? Men are supposed to be more feminine or what exactly?

Wokeism isn't the only issue for writers. For a long time, and this includes all of the arts, cultural appropriation has been the complaint. A writer should not write or paint a Native American theme unless they are Native American-- as what can they know about it like someone would who had lived it. This has gone so far as hairstyles, jewelry and clothing in any ethnicity. 

By that thinking, a writer should not have a protagonist from a culture unlike their own. Except, the whole idea of writing fiction is to get in touch emotionally with stories other than our own. I guarantee that in my books what the characters experience I generally have not.

Where does that leave me when I come up with an idea for the books I write? I have dealt with some of these issues with my previous books, before woke became a term. I have had three male protagonists who were half Native American. Two were raised away from reservation life and by their fathers. That saved some questions, although I had studied a great deal about the cultures of their mothers. I had chosen their heritage based on interest in how that works for those with such divided backgrounds. I have another book in mind to write but have held off on it due to some of my own mixed feelings as it'd be a Native woman. I could relate to her due to how she lived but still have held off. Maybe someday...

One more thing, involving woke is the belief writers have to choose whether to write to the market (which means the money) or to write to the muse (the inner vision) and accept choosing the latter may mean not as many sales. Some need to earn a living and there is no real choice-- as with many other ways we market our wares. I had a choice, which doesn't mean I don't want sales. Every writer does as it's a sign of work being appreciated. In the end though, sometimes you can't satisfy both. I always hope that I can. *s*

An historical presents a different problem. We live in one era but when we write about another, we have to research what it would have been like for the ones living there. We rely on what others wrote and that might be accurate-- but will it suit a different time with different customs?

When one of my historical heroes had a half black brother, it gave me an opportunity to get into the cultural differences from back then and that many don't understand all of that in today's world. The hero had fought for the South due to his family being there. I wasn't pleased when it was due to come out, as we suddenly were bombarded by feelings against the South and the Confederacy. That hasn't abated much, but I did not want to change the hero. I don't know if it hurt its ratings. You never really know with such things as to what influences popularity of books.

Regarding the new woke rules, I don't see they'd be a big deal to romance readers-- but who knows. I can't see how you could write a book with proper pronouns for the genders (if the word gender is even okay). They, them, their just would not cut it in most novels given people want to know what the characters look like. A trans woman could work, but it has to have the woman/man in there also to be understood and carry the action forward. In romances, no way could it be other than male or female whether it's two males or two females or whatever else relationships might come across.

For language, I have never used crude words for other ethnicities and that includes European ones. I don't much like the word "white" as who is white-- who in America is not a mix of various groups? We are mutts. That's good for strength and longevity not to be purebred.

 

 

code of ethics

 

After I wrote about woke, I felt I'd write about how it relates to writing books. Naturally, I can't go into it for all authors, just myself. I began thinking about the whole subject of ethics, which is to what I think this comes, which is why we decide a certain code of behavior is correct for us. 

That's when I came up with a different question. How do ethics influence my life and from where do my personal ethics come? That's no easier to write about than how it influences creative work. From where do any of us get our own code of ethics? Is it family, tribe, peer group, schools, culture, books, entertainment, or is some sort of code born in us? 

Today, I am relatively sure schools are having a huge role in teaching ethics, and some of that relates to both parents needing to work or single parent families. Both parents are gone more than I think was true in the past. 

Most likely, for today's kids, another big influence is social media, which didn't exist back in bygone eras. Game playing may be doing more of it than those of us who don't play games understand.

When I went to school, subjects were like English, literature, math, science, foreign languages, along with shop for boys and home economics for girls. No classes that I remember were about ethics. That was taught by our teachers' deportment, how well they taught, and the order that was expected in the classroom. They didn't tell us how we should vote, and I have no idea, even years later, to what political party any of them belonged-- if any.

So, I began to think from where did my own code of ethics come. Certainly my family, not just my parents but grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As for a tribe, my parents mostly socialized with family-- both sides. We didn't go to church; so that wasn't much of an influence for things like Sunday school classes. I did though get my first Bible at a pretty early age. I didn't read it all the way through, until years later. I understood the basics--  you know, the words in red 

As for my tribe, it was likely mostly family, Growing up at the end of a gravel road in the country, there were no immediate neighbors. As a child, I was outside a lot; so nature was an influence and our animals, which involved pets but also cows at one time and then sheep. When you grow up around animals, taking care of them is a big part of how you learn what's okay to do. 

Guns were in my life always with rifles on the wall in the utility room. I got my first rifle when I asked for it as a Christmas gift. I was twelve. I was taught how to care for it and use it responsibly-- definitely an ethical value as responsibility has been a big deal all of my life. I wanted that rifle to protect our sheep from our nearest neighbor's dogs, who tore them apart too many times. I learned about death early, that way also, as farm life tends to do.

Books were another major influence in how I saw what was right to do. From the time I could read, I was in a library at my parents' encouragement. My parents both read also. I graduated from the little kid room, to the teen's room and then the adult room where I read all kinds of books from John Steinbeck, Janice Holt Giles, Zane Grey, Pearl Buck, Ernest Hemingway, and more. Probably books were the influence that today the internet can be. 

There were some romances too, but this was before sex entered into such books. They were more about how you treat a loved one-- presented generally in a positive sense. I don't know if books like Lolita would have been in my small town library. It was pretty controversial when it came out in 1955, but I preferred historical books anyway. I read a lot of those like Frank G. Slaughter's, and they did have ethical standards. If a major protagonist went against the right kind of behavior, they had to change by book's end, or punishment was their lot.

I doubt that peer group was much influence on me given my limitations in getting to town, until I drove. School buses might have been more so with strict bus drivers running the show. I was on them for a significant time, considering our stop was the first and then end of the line.

However it totally came together, I ended up with a code of ethics, which has been with me all of my life. This involved a sense of responsibility as well as consequences of actions. If ethics don't have an action component, they aren't really ethics. What I believe about that has influenced what I write and how I make my choices for themes. A bit more on that next Saturday when I also write about how the woke culture may change a lot-- or not.

 

new words and times

 

This week, it occurred to me that a topic I wanted to write about was the word 'woke.' Immediately, I next thought, are you nuts! I mean, this is a hot button topic, very incendiary. I have tried to avoid such... but then regarding some of my other recent topics, maybe I haven't avoided it. Well, either way, I am about to tackle what being woke means-- to one group or another. Also, how i feel about the word.

I started by looking for definitions online... not easy since it has various supposed meanings depending on who is putting them out. There is a racial context evidently originally to be woke, which meant "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination".

Then, there is the current usage of it by the intellectuals or those who consider themselves such-- ''well-informed' or 'aware', especially in a political or cultural sense.' And I assume by those who created the definition in terms of what you are aware of.

Where it comes to how I see the word woke, it basically comes down to those who have used it and what I think about what they've done or said. In general, I dislike the word, though what it should mean is positive as being socially aware and seeing where prejudice (a biased view as to what is true) might be still influencing too much of our culture.

Recently, we've seen where a dean at a university law school attacked a judge, who had been invited to speak, by spending his time tearing him apart as she saw it. The students who were in the audience also blocked listening to him. Very woke since he was the bad guy in their eyes.

Which led me to think of a word (which I also had to look up its meaning when I first began reading it), which I think has shaped at least some of how woke changed. Intersectionality, the theory regarding the overlap of social identities-- race, gender, sexuality, class, and how it contributes to a systemic oppression and discrimination as it's experienced by individuals. Mostly that's what woke and intersectionality seem to be today-- looking for oppression and ways to right wrongs that they see as past but also still ongoing.  

What it seems to me happens when people claim to be woke is they see there is one way to see what is fair-- to not be woke is to be wrong. Woke has often gotten to a point of not only being unwilling to listen to other viewpoints but to block others from hearing them also.

How can you be culturally aware if you only know one side of a cultural issue? To those claiming to be woke, it appears, there is only one side and the other side is bigoted, misogynistic, white supremacist (even if they are of another color), destructive. etc. No wonder they won't listen to the other side, to them it's evil. 

Where it comes to racial wrongs, it is in history and still seen today-- the question being how do you fix it? I thought that affirmative action was intended to address past unfairness, as well as other laws, where it comes to race, but it isn't even discussed today. I think it's still out there, but is it? Now it's about reparations-- first for blacks but maybe soon for many other areas where people there have been mistreated, like to the LGBTQIA (initials keep being added to that one) community. As it is used today, woke goes beyond race to gender identity where some don't like the words woman or man and want to refer to all as they/them/etc.

What I thought made this subject interesting for me, as a writer, is how this wokeism, which seems to be wide across the land, applies to the books we write, which often, when historical, were based in a very different time than our own. How do you stay historically accurate and still satisfy the desire to not offend? 

When I got interested in defining how I see my own writing-- ethically speaking-- and how today's cultural climate might influence me or other writers, I saw it as a separate blog, way too complicated to add onto more length here. Hence, it'll be next Saturday.

In the meantime, if you have definitions for how you see woke, I'd appreciate it being put into comments here-- pro or con.

 

 

 

 

 

losing weight or not

 barrel cactus are not blooming at this time of the year. This is from 2022 and something positive to think about.

Like most ,who are tempted by diet tricks to lose weight whether it's surgical, a pill, a shot, or a new way of eating, I understand the appeal of such schemes. 

While I grew up pretty slender, I saw the family had weight issues. I worried about that for myself. When I got married, I put on some weight with a new way of snacking. I went yuck and used one of the canned drinks to take that weight off. You take that for two meals and one real meal. I lost most of the weight.

Then, along came baby-making years, and although I watched my weight when pregnant, I had gained weight. In my early thirties, I found a diet plan, very like the later Keto, where you minimize carbs for protein and fats. I again lost the weight and felt satisfied with the results. In the following years, I did a few other techniques, which led to weight loss but also gaining it back.They weren't ways of eating I could stick with.

That lasted until my 70s, when I really gained--way more than I'd ever imagined-- and more or less accepted it's old age. I lost again but more for a dietary change than a desire to follow a diet as such. Then I got into this thing about loving jelly bellies, which led to my own jelly belly (sugar is sugar, baby). And it's where I am today, interested in reading about supposedly miracle ways to lose weight but suspicious that if you don't change your way of eating in a healthy way, it won't matter.

I thought about Keto when so many lost weight that way, like what I'd done in my 30s, but felt I'd never stick with it. YoYo dieting is bad for our health. 

Most recently, I came across a friend on what is called the carnivore diet. It basically is protein and fat, which means, eggs, meats, fish, butter, and cheese. While I love eggs, I am not a big meat eater. Plus, it's working for that person but they are the age of my kids. When someone is in the old-old category, I think different rules have to apply for living well. 

My other concern with the carnivore diet, is without vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, etc., how do you get the vitamins your body needs. Weight loss is nice but scurvy not so much, and generally speaking supplements are not as beneficial as the actual food.

Ozempic is the instant weight loss for the movie stars-- or so I hear, and even one multi billionaire. But now it comes out that it has some potential side effects down the road that could be catastrophic-- like enlarged small intestine.  One of the ones I know uses it, is very happy with the results, but also younger and claimed it would prevent a heart attack. The thing is that person wasn't obese, but just wanted to be slender as she'd been when young. Don't we all lol 

In the past the instant cures for overweight have all proven to have big drawbacks. I will settle for trying to eat healthier-- and keep my blood sugar at a healthy level (I tend to get low blood sugar if not careful with eating often enough). 

That reminds me, among the supposed miracle answers was fasting so many hours a day. Eat at say 9am and then at 3pm; then your body will burn the fat you want gone. I don't know about you but that seems like a good way to end up with low blood sugar (I'd done that but not to diet but because I didn't desire three meals. I don't recall losing weight that way but did definitely end up with blood sugar issues (I take mine every so often at home as one of my ideas for living healthy without having to run to the doctor all the time).

I suppose there are those who will claim all the things I have no faith in have worked for them. Good. Hope it does long term as that's where the problems lie with easy answers. At my age, I am going to try to stick to healthy eating... pretty much. *s*

It was snowing

Living in the desert, there is one certainty-- nothing is certain. Are we in a drought? Is the weather changing or is this how it's always been-- shifting sands, so to speak. 

My experience with desert life began in 1965 and then off and on since then, where we vacationed there with our young children; and finally, in 1999, bought a small home centered on a little over an acre of desert. We didn't live there year round given we still had the livestock and property in Oregon to manage, a life to live up there, but also a place in our hearts in the Southwest. 

We still divide our time between Arizona and Oregon with no clear idea of what will end up for us in our old age... Uh wait, we are in old age, both of us turn 80 later this year. It's not that we don't recognize we are old, it's just we love two places equally but can't keep going between them forever... but we can for now.

That brief history was to establish how often we have been in the desert and seen snow falling. It's not a common thing, but it happens probably more than some imagine. Never as much though, for us, as we saw this week when the snow fell enough to turn our world here white. It's kind of thrilling to get snow when it's rare-- and when we know it won't last long. 

We had heard the predictions. Wednesday night, around 10pm, we saw it was lightly covering the ground. When we got up at 4am, it was coating shrubs and ground. Ranch Boss went out and got a few photos as we weren't sure how much more would come.

When it got light, we saw more than there had been. 3" to be approximate, and it coated everything with a glistening coat of fluffy snow. The branches on trees were bent over. As far as we could see, our world was white. More photos were taken, and now I am going to try to share some to show the details and the landscape. 

Not easy deciding which as to see the cacti with snowy caps is definitely unique. For a while, the world was light and dark. Then the sun returned to turn the sky blue as the clouds began to depart. By around 1pm on Thursday, most of the snow was gone on our property and the plants had regained their shape-- snow was only to be remembered and in photos. 

 

On writing and other thoughts

 

When I began to think about this thing of writing, I saw several ways to break it up. That has expanded a bit as I came across a good article in a Missoula, Montana newspaper, about an author who thinks a lot like me in terms of the writing world from her perspective based on her experiences. I related to a lot of it, though there are also differences. Here's the link to the article.

https://missoulian.com/entertainment/books/as-a-professional-romance-novelist-she-publishes-books-at-a-furious-pace-it-s-never/article_856af382-1abc-5322-9484-cf4a252aa56a.html#tracking-source=home-entertainment

Another article I had recently seen is something we all need to consider-- how much will we let AI, as in ChatGPT, influence our reading, world, and what we do.

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11775455/FOCUS-ChatGPT-launches-boom-AI-written-e-books-Amazon.html

It turns out that Amazon already has 200 books written by what is basically a bot-- and that's only the number where the author shared how they wrote the book. ChatGPT already has 100 million signed up-- or what it had when I read the article, with probably more by today.

This is a big deal for authors dependent on making an income from their creative work. But even for someone like the author in the first link or me, we want our books to be seen. Selling is how that happens, but the most important part is that others read our work-- and ideally like it. If the system is crowded with bot generated work, how will that influence what is out there.

Those who use something like ChatGPT, can turn out books like hotcakes. Are they as good as those by creative authors? Who knows. Not for my reading taste, but then I am not fond of reading formula writing either and it's been around a long time.

Stephen Hawkins wrote his concern that robots and AI would take over the world. I don't see how it could but maybe it could take over creative writing and what will it do to children as they find they don't have to write their essays-- something many of us learned much by doing whether successfully or otherwise.

More next blog about my own writing life as this time, I hope you will read those links.

We have been reading a new book by Rick Rubin-- "The Creative Act: A Way of Being." Here is one of the many worthy quotes from it.

"The ability to look deeply is the root of creativity. To see past the ordinary and the mundane and get to what might otherwise be invisible."

This is what those people lose out on when they allow a bot to write their books or essays. I wonder though what it does to those who read such works. It would be more fair to readers and writers if it was required that the book was written by a bot. As it stands, there is no such requirement. Unless a reader is familiar with the author, they might have no clue from the blurbs.

who to trust

photo from our Arizona home with unusual morning cloud pattern

 After writing about the State of the Union address, I came across things I had written (years ago but that's the beauty-- or not-- of blogging). What I had written in 2009, makes it sound as though I have changed my mind on my political thinking regarding issues today. I do not believe I have. What has changed is my belief on who can fix what I think is wrong. 

I had planned to make this blog about my writing; but it seems that this is more important. What did I want to see done then versus what I want to see today. I have lost all faith in either party solving things-- and worse, now I distrust most of the agencies on which we depend. That means leadership, not the boots on the ground but those who rose to the top to run things.

My real question now is-- who can we trust? I think this is a worldwide problem and not just for the United States (not so united these days). A recent example regards the recent downing of four unidentified objects, which were balloons or were they? We were told the first, a spy balloon from China, was downed over shallow ocean-- turns out not so much as they didn't have all of it retrieved, when I wrote this blog. First, they said they saw it over Alaska... Now, we learn they followed it from its launch site in China... or did they? See the problem and it grows with the next three that are balloons, or were they? And have they retrieved them? Not any word that I know of. Were they from aliens? They weren't sure, then they were. Most of us figured they were from this world; but they, whoever they are, weren't sure, but now are-- or are they?.

The President said he didn't want to talk about it as it'd lead to panic. Really, he didn't figure people already understood this was an unknown situation. Now I read he might give a speech, but who will write it for him and will it tell us anything more than how great he is?

There is another thing out there, regarding this...Who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline? Russia, unknown, or did the current administration do it? Who can we trust to tell us?

When I wrote in 2009 that I liked the idea of dealing with health care, so people were not bankrupted by unexpected illnesses (insurance or not), I hoped there was a realistic plan to do this. It turned out not so much. People get hit by disastrous health issues, and there is no current answers. Who profited from the 'plan'; so far as I can tell-- big corporations.

I see the problem with a neighbor here where she is trying to treat her husband, who had a stroke, at home where it's wearing her out. What is her choice given what care facilities cost? Prescriptions are pretty well helped by Medicare and supplemental insurance, but what about everybody else where the prices continually escalate. An example is a test for Covid. I could get one free (on Medicare), haven't ever needed one; but our family has to pay $8 per test, which when it's a family and you need at least two each incident-- positive and then negative-- adds up fast.

Who can we trust? That's what I want to know today as it is certainly neither partisan party for me, where each have their own agendas that are not mine. Worse though are all the agencies, where nobody votes these people in, and they control a lot of regulations where we have a Congress that does nothing that isn't suiting their partisan agendas. The ordinary people??? It seems they have decided that we are too stupid for them to care what we want!

That's what has changed for me-- who should I trust? It's sure not most media, where it should be if we had reasonable journalism. Scare talk maybe, but I think it's unfortunately where we are and most countries probably suffer the same problems-- even when they are not totalitarian controlled. I want, at the least, a media that actually researches and tells us what they learn-- not what they want us to believe or what they are told they should say.

Hopefully next blog will be more upbeat. Although since it's on marketing books, maybe not lol

Update: I debated where to put my additional thoughts regarding health care-- in comments or here. You can see which won out and virtually became another blog (but I already wrote the one for Saturday).

There are two ways to approach issues where costs are growing too fast-- like health care. One is you try to bring costs down by looking at why so high. For instance with prescription drugs, is it real cost of new development (claims by corporate interests), or greed with wanting higher returns or making the stock market happy. It could even be all the advertising (didn't used to be legal to do) to get patients to want this or that prescription drug instead of letting doctors make the decisions. That advertising is not cheap and might even have someone asking for a more expensive drug when a cheaper one would have done the job-- or when they didn't actually need that one but it has some side benefit they want (recently with a very popularly advertised drug that also causes weight loss).

Looking at why costs rose in so many areas might give clues as to what could be done-- true in rapidly increasing costs of higher education where we could look at the kinds of buildings they claim to need, which might be not simple, safe structures, but more elaborate ones oriented to make the university look more Ivy League. Is it too many aides, high incomes given to only occasional professors (like one class instead of full work loads) for their name prestige? That's not the approach right now, which is more government loans (given at high rate of interest) to keep the students and no concern for why tuition has been growing faster than the cost of living. 

Same is true with many things-- an unwillingness to look at the reasons but instead find more government the answer. We can agree there is a problem-- easy to see sometimes; but what do we see as the answers-- corporate and even individual responsibility or government being the sugar daddy. This is not true of all things, but it's where we should look

This even applies to the recent train derailments. It's the fault of not enough government regulations according to one group. How about instead it's the fault of corporate interests who declare short term profits more important than wise infrastructure updates? Do we have to be forced to do what is right or should we look to responsibility as a big factor?

SOTU

  

image from Stencil

Where I don't generally do politics here, this seems a good time to discuss the State of the Union. Why do we have such a yearly address, and what is its stated purpose?

The 1790 state of the union address was the first one given to Congress, required by the Constitution to have the President report to Congress what he saw happening at the current time and what he saw needed to be done. That one, not titled state of the union, was delivered by President George Washington.  Not sure about Adams, but in 1801, Thomas Jefferson delivered his address in writing, starting a new tradition, which lasted for 112 years. The thinking is he wasn't a gifted public speaker, and he was nervous in front of large audiences.

In 1913, that changed with Woodrow Wilson, who again delivered his message with a speech to Congress. He might be the first who recognized how it could be used beneficially by a President for what he wanted to see done-- setting the stage for the modern SOTU, which has become partisan and about political rhetoric-- where we are today. 

Two more things were added-- first its name, called that by FDR and officially named it by Harry Truman. The second was when it was broadcast to the people with first radio and then television. At that point, it wasn't just about information to Congress but also the American culture, or sometimes defending a war. Reagan enhanced using it as a tool when he began to invite special guests, which hit on issues the President cared about most.-- or thought would register with the American people.

For those most interested in more about its history, an online search finds many articles. I didn't do that, as frankly, I am turned off on it and have been for some years, when I believe it became solely political and not really about the state of our country. This year was no exception to my dislike for it as I only read about it later, with no desire to see partisan rhetoric given such a broad stage.

Some have said this year's SOTU was the beginning of a campaign speech. Probably not the first, given the time a Speaker of the House tore up the papers she held with the words of the speech. She did it right after that President's speech and in front of the cameras. She wanted to make as strong a political point as she believed the President had just tried to make. 

After the most recent speech, on Wednesday, I figured the left would like it and the right not. Pretty much, how it went. We see what we want to see, which is another reason (besides not believing they tell us the state of the nation), why I don't watch it. Bad enough to read about it later.

For my SOTU, I'll give my take on what I think should have been dealt with as it stands right now. It's not about what was said-- as none of it was; but rather what we need to deal with and understand as people living in the United States-- or sometimes those around the world impacted by us. I am not providing all the problems or answers, as the SOTU didn't necessarily need to do that, but rather what are some of the issues that impact daily lives. These are not in order of importance.

First would be the downing of the spy balloon (there has since been a second but this is about the earlier one). It's not so much what the spying nation got in terms of information that it could not have gotten other ways, but because it could have carried anything with it (think diseases, destruction of cyber systems, or even bombs). Since it was a remotely controlled robot, what else was it capable of doing? Plus, should one nation allow another to cross their whole country that way? We know the answer even if our President, apparently, does not.

It is claimed this one had antennaes, which means it could listen in (potentially) to conversations on the ground. Which discussions? We shouldn't care?

It is also an issue that citizens weren't told about it until a man took a photo from his window in Billings, Montana. When the military said it wasn't an intrusion could they possibly know that it was not preparing the way for a lax attitude and something different coming as a payload?

To me, it's also a big deal that many are being, and have been, sent out from a site that manufactures them and from which they are launched around the world. Are we facing a war, as why else are they used other than preparation? Maybe to find important minerals, but this one didn't go over such sites but rather bases and missile sites.

To go with this, there are currently at least two nations that could want to attack us, have threatened us. Shouldn't we be told the details and our own readiness for such a possibility? Are we in another Cold War or might this become a hot one? This isn't about fear but a realistic attitude for what might be coming. If the President doesn't tell us, what is the point of a state of the union that doesn't reveal possibilities, which could be so important! With grandchildren of the age to be pulled into fighting a war, I have selfish concerns, as well as for our nation as a whole.

Second, impacts some of us to a greater degree than others; but most of us notice it-- inflation in the grocery store and at the gas pump. We are told it's getting better; but when we get to the store, we don't see an improvement. I would guess it is even more of an issue at restaurants (but we almost never eat out; so I don't know for sure). 

Instead of saying inflation is decreasing (rah rah talk) why not talk about the pain it causes and what could really be done with a realistic look at how the dollar is losing value and prices are going up up and have for many years to some degree. I have books I purchased years back for $1.29 on their jackets but today would be $20. It should be a real concern-- also for those who save money and find those dollars decreasing in value by the year. I do have some ideas why this is happening, but not sure what should be done instead-- other than this is disconcerting.

Third, while it was emphasized in the speech about the need for more training for police (or so I read), but what was there, regarding crime, random violent attacks, thefts (such that some insurance companies refuse to insure some brands of cars)? The reason we might find some of our police overly violent could be what they face daily and never know when a domestic violence call is really a trap. Add to that the haranguing they receive, which has led many to leave the job. I am all for more training, weeding out bullies and thugs, who should never have been there, and higher wages to draw the best possible candidates. We have to recognize what is going on in terms of violence as it has increased and like a black swan, randomly could hit any of us.

Rather than blame one party or the other for this anger and violence, ask the question as to why is that happening??? The answer is likely not simple and involves mental health along with many other possibilities. At least, acknowledge this in any state of this nation.

There are many more issues but I want to put two together here; since they are used by both parties in partisan ways. I believe they should have been addressed if someone really wants to talk about the state of this nation. 

One is Social Security and the other abortion. They are used in different ways to inspire fear and anger with different age groups-- old and young. It seems that our leadership should delve into answers for these. I have two ideas. On SS, increase the income level on which the taxes can be levied-- way up-- and lower the percentage for all. It's an easy fix to bring in more money and was regularly done in the past. For some reason, that stopped. It's not as though anybody gets a lot of money for the checks when they reach a certain age, but it'd be a big deal to the nation,all of us, if the program failed. 

The second very partisan one, abortion, could be dealt with in Congress by passing a federal law allowing it up to certain times in the pregnancy-- in all states. As it stands, even the so-called morning after pill could be called murder in some places. Do Americans want abortion returned to back streets and turned criminal for women and doctors? Some do, but the big thing with it, as a partisan issue, is votes-- not concern for women or babies.

Should not our President discuss his ideas for both of these important issues? IF state of the union actually meant what the people in that nation actually need for concerns.

There is more I could say about each of these issues and a ton of other critical ones to evaluate for risks and possible solutions; but this blog is already too long. My main point is the SOTU has become a rallying cry for either party and a campaign speech where Presidents toot their own horns, more than discuss real issues facing the nation. Some are cultural; but this time, one involves war, which could involve attacks on our own country but also sending more of our young off to fight wars. We've been there, and it's a big deal, but no reference to it-- or other major issues impacting the country-- some with obvious fixes and some not so much. If it's not a campaign speech, issues and reality should be at the head of the list, not ignoring or casting blame but looking for real solutions. Currently, they are not while each party rah rahs their own side while the other side groans and Americans suffer.

Update: Turns out the second UFO is not thought to be a balloon, but they are still not saying what they think it was until they can identify what they shot down-- if they ever tell us.

 

pet problems

Well, I have to say one of the big concerns for me is the other beings that share our home-- 5 of us, which means 3 cats. They are varying ages with all being rejected somewhere or feral. That means staying very aware of their health. We have always had cats since we got married. Having pets that many years, we are familiar with loss. We just don't want to hurry it.

Tigger loves finding new places to sleep-- probably a product of his feral years. This was a box that we had no idea would become one of his perches.

Our orange male, also one-time feral after being dropped by a previous owner in the country. Some city folks appear to think country will help their cats survive. Not so. In Tigger's case, he did pretty well for several years (we're not sure how many) before we recognized he needed to be adopted by us. We had him tested, shots given, and neutered. That was five years ago and all went well until recently when he had trouble eating. He had lost 3 lbs. We took him to the vet for major blood work, etc. (i.e. about a thousand dollars overall including meds). He had gingivitis, which is an early indicator of the real problem

That's when we learned he had what is sometimes called feline AIDs (Feline immunodeficiency virus is a Lentivirus). That scared me big time until I researched it. I was angry at first that we'd had him tested for feline leukemia, and it showed negative, but these tests are not the same. Generally they don't test for FIV as it's far more expensive and not as common. It is there most in previously feral cats, who have been in fights as it's spread by biting. I felt reassured that our other cats were not at risk since Tigger is not a biter in our home-- though he'd been in fights previously.

It turns out that cats with FIV can actually live full lives, but it takes being aware of symptoms as secondary infections is what will kill them. It was not good news but knowing he won't infect our other cats (unless he bit them) has been reassuring, as feline leukemia is far more easily spread by saliva, etc. and he doesn't have that.

Now, he has an abscess in his leg after beating the mouth problems. He's been eating well and staying active, but we just need to aware that an immune problem can be a big deal on many things. He'll see the vet Monday morning.

Our oldest female cat began throwing up yesterday-- new worry. It might be a new food she had eaten-- but it's another thing to keep an eye on. Loving pets, family members as they are, requires that.

I thought that this doctor's recommendations for keeping pets healthy was good for dogs or cats. We often don't know all -- though it'd be good if we did.

Recommendations for keeping pets healthy