Diary 2/10/12

SPROUTS!

Diary 2/9/12

Warm days are fooling us for now.  I know there is still some cold out there somewhere.  Strange winter for many areas of the nation, us included.  Sprouts are beginning to show and peas are swelling about to break through. Garden Girl will be back in two days.  I am just about ready for her.  I am hoping she will live up to her name.  The last time she "helped" me in the garden, it was challenging. I am thinking of making a more official play area and have hauled some toys out to one greenhouse already.  Que sera, sera.

Diary 2/8/12

Finished the third rewrite of "the Book".  I have been working on it for the last five winters, it is hard to write and farm.  Anyway, I know I will have another edition, but I have reached a stopping point for a bit.  I have been consumed by the Georgian period of which I am writing.  I need a mental break and some new feedback from my next set of "editors". My sister is willing to straighten up the margins and get the punctuation of the conversation correct, bless her heart.  Another friend would tear it apart if I want. A friend may illustrate it.  Remember when books such as "Little Women" and so many others had lithographs or colored paintings?  It would go with my story line.  I hate to speak of "the Book" around my friends too much more or it is gonna seem like BS, but I am nearing the end.  It is a lousy time to sell anything, let alone a book.  There are issues like self-publishing and the eBook market to decide upon.  The first goal was a finished manuscript and I am getting close.  The second goal will be to get an opinion from a professional. There is a writer's conference this summer which I may be ready for.  You learn to pitch your book, write a query, and even talk with agents, screen writers , editors, and publishers. We'll see, and I will let you know when it is available at Barnes and Noble or as an eBook on Amazon!

Diary 2/6/12

 My husband caught this Steelhead trout just upriver from the coast.  He took the picture of the edge of the ocean which I really like.  I can almost see the waves moving and it feels cold, just the colors of it. It's a rough life, but someone has to go fishing.

Diary 2/4/12

Planted spinach and carrots in lower greenhouse as the soil is really warming up in there with the sunny days.  The first seeds planted over two weeks ago are finally germinating.  It is all very slow right now, but exciting to see the first of the 2012 garden poking up.  Cats are adjusting to each other.  Took Gopher Getter to the greenhouse to hunt and spend some important one on one time with each other.

New Cat Needs Name

So far no name for the perky huntress with the white and charcoal short hair coat.  Her face is pretty cute, and she is very lovey dovey. If you have suggestions for the new member of the farm, let me know.  As you know the chickens have been given the names of some of Jane Austen's finest characters, but feel free to branch out from there.  Garden Dog and Gopher Getter are obviously aliases to keep those animal's true identities secret on the blog. Can't be too careful these days, ha-ha! The only name I have thought of is Pussy Willow because of the color of her grey areas, but I am not sold on it. For one thing it is a mouthful, Willow isn't enough, and PW seems too hiphop.

Diary 2/2/12

Happy Ground Hog Day!  The official Punxsutawney (sorry, sp?)ground hog, Phil, says six more weeks of Winter because he saw his shadow(however that works). The other two ground hogs came up to clouds and a prediction of an early Spring.  Go figure.   We don't even have ground hogs here, so we look at stripes on Wooly Bugger caterpillars!  In Vermillion,a suburb of Cleveland, they celebrate these guys with a festival. Here, it is Happy New Cat Day as I brought home a 3 year old spayed female cat yesterday from an elderly lady who needed to find new homes for 3 cats, the mama and 2  11 month old kittens. Anyway I thought Gopher Getter, who is a neutered male, would prefer an adult female cat over male kittens.  I think it will work, just gonna take some time. He is following her around and spying on her. She seems delighted with what she knows of her new home so far.