Category Archives: Blatherings

Life as a Gardener #2

Posted on March 21, 2012 | 7 comments

Well, today was a better day.

Did not get the garden watered yesterday, exhausted from working on the front sidewalk path. Our front garden area is filled in with lava rocks. I hate them and they are not very good when trying to start new flowers from seed. I don’t like the way they look either. So, I decided to take them out of the garden area and line the sidewalk and surround the mailbox with them. Possibly the driveway as well. This will prevent us from having to edge those areas when we mow the lawn.

However, I did not think it through. I spent four hours sitting on my numb arse, taking lava rocks out of one area putting them in a bucket after I cleaned them off, and then putting them into the new area. Of course, I had to edge, dig out, and weed the edge of the sidewalk before I could put the rocks back. But as you can see from the picture, I think it was worth it.

When I got up yesterday I had one new sprout in the green bean pot. It was barely poking out, but it was pretty exciting. So this morning I go out to check and that little sprout was full up. He was lovely. My first bean sprout! So a little while later it began to rain, which continued for most of the afternoon. When it finally stopped, I went out to make sure none of the pots had standing water. None did, but what do you think I found?

The bean pot has SEVEN full popped sprouts now. They are magnificent and they look so happy in that big yellow pot. I was giddy with pure joy. Might sound silly, but damn I love how it feels to grow things.

So, I mosey around to the back and low and behold we have a second cherry tomato on the plant. Woohoo, two at a time. A record for us. LOL Sad, but true. The tomatoes in the bed look good and strong and the pepper plants are looking stronger as well. I think I might actually do better with tomatoes from seed.

As a side note, I am going to dream about new ways to hunt and eliminate squirrels. I keep trying to explain to them–in rather colorful language–that I am feeding the birds, not their fat little hineys. So, they had better stop flipping my bird feeder over.

The cucumber plants, are splendid. The plants look lovely and hardy and I just know they are going to give us tons of the best cucumbers ever. My goal is to have cukes as yummy as those Zieglers. Lofty goal, I know, but I think I can do it.

Spent the entire day today watching repeats of Army Wives on Netflix and updating files and ISBNs and eBooks and all manner of things. Tomorrow it is back to editing.

Well, I have a lovely turkey, freshly roasted by me today in the kitchen waiting to be carved up for dinner. Hope you all have a super-duper night.

7 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Gardening, Just for Fun

My Life as a Gardener #1

Posted on March 16, 2012 | 2 comments

Well, with all the mess of the audit and my need to volunteer to be on the BOD and some committees for our Homeowners Association, and the day to day of running the business, I have once again over-extended myself. Moghis came home last night (I love my time alone, but I missed him horribly) and I woke up in tears this morning. Poor man might wish he had stayed gone.

At any rate, I did a bit of business this morning and then decided I needed to relieve some stress. What I am about to say may shock many, and make others giggle. I needed to go out and work on the gardening. I know, right. I needed to fuss in the dirt and plant things. So after an hour outside in my little garage/garden shed (heehee) I am back in and feeling tons better.

I began by planting some Derby (Bush) Beans in a big, bright yellow pot! I have read mixed reviews on whether beans grow well in pots, but I decided to give it a try. Once I get the next bed cleaned out and set, I will plant the rest of the seeds out there, then I will know for myself.

Next, I cleaned out all the yogurt containers that I had started the onions in and I started 8 Hale’s Best Jumbo Cantaloupes. We really like cantaloupes, but they are too expensive to buy right now, so this will hopefully solve the problem …hopefully. We have these two trees in the backyard, quite small and don’t offer much shade at all, so I have decided to build a base around them (probably with bricks) and then build a sloped bed and use that when I transplant the cantaloupes. At some point I hope to plant strawberries inside the holes of the bricks. Should be lovely.

Lastly, I found two good size plastic (terra cotta-colored) pots. In each of those I planted a combination of Purple Coneflowers and Black-eyed Susans. When they bloom they should be stunning!

I am very shocked to find how soothing the act of planting things and watering and even weeding is for me. I used to view it as work and avoided it at all costs. But now it has become something I thoroughly enjoy.

Wednesday evening when I got back into town, I transplanted my onions–all 81 of them. And I am thrilled to say that one of our three concord grape plants has its first leaf!

How are your gardens doing?

2 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Gardening, Just for Fun

What did you say?

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 7 comments

I recently read a blog post by another author about the large variety of different ways to say “said” when writing fiction. There were quite a few on the list, and while most were correct, several were simply incorrect. I’m curious to know what you, as readers think, after reading the following. Do unique dialogue tags impress you? Amuse you? Annoy you?

What is the one dialogue tag that you’ve seen that has stopped you cold in a book?

The problem with all these choices is that writers become lazy in their writing. When you choose to use physical actions as dialogue tags, you are taking shortcuts that will often leave a reader jolted out of the story. Things aren’t always simple, and many readers, myself included are very visual when reading a book. A few examples of what I mean are.

*spat is the past participle of spit. You do not spit words. You can spit while you speak, but take a moment to spit, now say a word, then try to say that word while spitting.

*flount is the act of treating with contemptuous disregard. It is an action, not a way of speech.

*guffaw is the act of laughing in a loud and boisterous manner. Again, guffaw then try to speak. It is almost impossible because of the manner of the action.

*a smirk is a smile or smug expression, a physical action. You can say something WITH a smirk, but to smirk something is just not a physical possibility since it is a an action not a tone.

*dazzling is an action that happens when you look into a bright light or the act of impressing someone. Again, it is not a tone it is an action.

*scrooge – a type of person. We all know what it means, to be miserly, how can you speak miserly? You don’t speak actions, you speak in tones.

*onomatopoeiad – while this certainly could be a tag, it is so outrageous in its attempt to be “different” that if I read it in a manuscript I was considering, I would stop reading and reject immediately.

Writers need to be aware of the huge difference between physical acts and tones. To use these words improperly is simply incorrect and there are entirely too many other ways to display what you are trying to convey when using them. And if you take a poll, you might be surprised to find that readers are often annoyed by a writers attempt to use so many different words to replace “said.”