Posts

Bright July skies

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The breaks in the cloud are faint, but cannot be dismissed! The sun isn't shining, a menacing marine layer keeping those of us along the North Coast aching in the gray. However to the southeast a break in the mundane is trying to emerge. This delicious light stirs me to write this post, because despite it being the high days of summer, our landscape has felt like the dark days of late autumn for too damn long. A metaphor perhaps for all that blankets our current world scene? Sure! Big ugly legislation, miserable conditions everywhere we turn, natural disasters wreaking havoc, tender souls wrenched from reality; all these traumas want to strip our joy, leave us bereft. I woke to another gray morning, assuming the flat dull horizon would remain. However peeks of brightness remind me that all is not lost. Goodness prevails. Does this mean the sun and blue sky are about to muscle in, shoving the dreariness aside? No. The marine layer is far too entrenched for that to occur AT THIS MOME...
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Not always about chickens

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Those chicks are doing well, although coccidiosis remains an irritant, and I had to add Corid to their water again this morning. Our bossy chick Camilla was quite docile in my care earlier today; hopefully her spunk returns, as well as good health. Good health cannot be overrated for chicks, and certainly not for us humans. Dear friends have been struggling for the last three months, as my pal Teri is back in hospital, where she has resided for much of the last ten weeks. Teri remains feisty, but her cognitive abilities are strained, and her spouse Anson is reaching the end of his emotional tether. They are the age my father would be had he lived, yet my husband and I view them not as parental substitutes. They are our contemporaries, as well as inadvertent guides on our aging journeys. I sent out a prayer request to my sisters this morning concerning Teri and Anson, asking for love, support, and especially strength. Only now I realize I didn't seek healing, which might seem like a...
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Chicken post #3: To perch or not remains the question

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  Chick party tonight! Chicks are pretty funny. One has earned a moniker for her behavior at the feeder; Camilla relentlessly roots out anyone near her slot, taking it back if someone manages to push her aside, and scratching while eating. My husband suggested the name when I mentioned that Camilla thought she was the new queen, but no one could take Queenie's place in my heart. Lol. We didn't plan to name any of them until personalities emerged, and Camilla takes the freaking CAKE for personality right now. The rest are figuring out their places in the pecking order, yet not a single one has managed to actually grasp the perch rungs, hah! They are starting to play under it, attempting to fly on top of it, a lot of wing-flapping this morning when I opened the brooder. A dear friend is visiting, who saw them last week, and she said they have grown! Which was good to hear because we think they're bigger, but we see them daily and other than a few tail feathers having sprouted...
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Chicken post #2: RIP Queenie

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So named for the dark gold tiara on her head, Queenie was a feisty and sweet chick, bless her! It was bound to happen; we lost another chick last night, my beloved Queenie. She was fine early in the day, but became shy, staying under the heat plate that we've nicknamed Mama. No obvious malady was apparent, and after dinner my husband checked on the chicks, finding Queenie just past Mama, lying on the shavings, already in chick heaven. Sigh.... Today's adventure was finding another chick suffering from suspicious poops. I diagnosed coccidiosis, then headed out for Corid so I could dose the entire flock. Was this what struck Queenie? Perhaps, but we'll never know as we didn't witness her eliminations. (Sorry if this is chick TMI.) For the next five days the chicks will drink water spiked with Corid, then have a two week break, with four more days of treatment to follow. The afflicted chick was out and about this evening, and I cleaned out under Mama, not wanting them to s...
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Chicken post #1

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The original ten chicks. They never used the tap-waterers, so those are now gone, as is one of the gold chicks, sad face. Been a busy few days, what with friends visiting, chickens arriving, and the reality that not all baby chicks survive into a third day. A gold star chick who I call Queenie due to the tiara-shaped dark gold on her head. She's a very docile, sweet gal! Aside from that last sobering truth, the rest of the weekend has been AWESOME! Chickens, dude, lol! They scurry from one edge of the brooder to another, to under the heat plate, then back out again. They napped for over two hours not long after we brought them home, so of course we fretted (needlessly) until they started peering out from the sides of the heat plate, then emerged into the brooder proper. Today they were active most of the day, scratching chick crumble out of the feeder, investigating the perimeter and finding interesting spots to peck. I held several (hopefully all of them, although five look very s...
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D2D transition update

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Just a quick post to inform readers that in the following books all line breaks indicating a change of scene within a chapter have been removed. I will address this issue ASAP, but in the meantime please accept my apology for the abrupt alterations within the novels listed. Many thanks for your patience as I continue to grapple with moving from Smashwords to Draft2Digital.   A Love Story: The Enran Chronicles Book One Life Stories: The Enran Chronicles Book Two Far Away from Home: The Enran Chronicles Book Three   The Possibility of What If: That Which Can Be Remembered Book One Gracious Mysteries: That Which Can Be Remembered Book Two That Which Can Be Remembered: Series Conclusion  
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Never prudent to assume anything

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A heart quilt. Just finished Part One of On Being Brave. And other incidents of bravery, lol. Welp, as my eldest daughter sometimes exclaims, I finished the first part of my current noveling WIP. Should probably update my WIP page, I do believe. But first I wanted to write this entry, posting pics of the beautiful Mr. Carter hearts English paper piecing quilt. This pattern , from Tales of Cloth , was an easy and uplifting project I began late last year after my nation elected a president I do not find at all appealing. Cutting, basting, then stitching heart blocks was SO NECESSARY. There aren't enough exclamation points in existence to exemplify how imperative it was to construct those blocks, then begin to place them accordingly. So many gorgeous prints in heaps of beautiful colours! So, scattered within this post more to do with writing are shots of a quilt I am still missing in my evening repertoire. Not sure when I'll make another, but dang, one day I hope to! Yet, as today...
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