Thinking out loud...

Bit of a late start this morning. Not too late, but later than usual. Pushed two of the three N critiques out the door early on, then sunk the rest of my energies into the Broadmoor project research. A lot of ground to cover for a ten minute video, but that's the way it works.

All's quiet on the literary front. Haven't heard a word from anyone in a long, long time. Guess everyone's on vacation. Or gone off to slit their throats. Anyway, gotta keep an eye peeled on a handful of month-end deadlines. Hard to believe it's only seven days until August.

Woke up this morning with a wild urge to delve back into Riverbound. See if I can't make some changes and start querying agents again. Not exactly sure where I'd start cutting, but reworking an old draft of a novel suddenly seemed simpler than starting a new one. Besides, I liked a lot of that book.

 

Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be...

Nature is its own absolution.

Went fishing today. Got a late start, but no matter. Went fishing. Elevenmile was busy--lots of campers, fishermen, picnic-ers, and whatnot--but still managed to take a few small brown and have a good time doing it. Beautiful day, even when it started raining. Never felt more at home.

Saw some deer today. A snake or two. Was lost in the water, otherwise.

Filleted a brown for young J. He was so excited. Christ, but I love that boy. 

Rejuvenated now, and ready to take on the new week. Gonna have to move fast and hit top end early. A lot of work to do.

Fire and rain...

Friends over for dinner last night. Cooked salmon on the grill, and corked a couple of bottles of wine. Everything was going along fine until we went out on the patio for dessert. I'd built a fire, and just as it started to get going, a voice called out over the fence. Went to see who it was, and found the neighbor, standing in the dark in the middle of the driveway. She was outfitted in an oxygen tank get-up, and said she couldn't take the smoke. Was a tough decision to douse it, given the neighbor in question has been a major league pill since the day she moved in, but did, and that put an unceremonious end to the party. The woman has no manners. Never has. The annoyances she's created go on and on.  Had to dig deep and remind myself of my Catholic upbringing to find a charitable conclusion to the matter.

Up late after a fitful night's sleep. Some new kind of sinus infection. Downed Sudafed trying to get back in the game, but it hasn't made much difference. Guess I'll be looking at another trip to the doctor. Maybe an ENT specialist this time, I don't know. Whatever I'm packing I'd sure like to divest myself of it and get back to breathing again. Didn't get much of anything done today, a few revisions aside. Need to see about a better night's sleep and aim for a more solid outting tomorrow.

Thunderclaps outside the window. More rain on the way, maybe. We'll see.  

 

Terms of Endurement...

Felt the heat the second I walked out the door this morning. Humidity, too, owing to the big rain last night. Glad for the moisture, but whatever allergens it's bringing down with it I can live without.

Couldn't breath last night, and the later it got the worse it got. Downed a Sudafed around midnight and got enough relief I could doze off, but antihistamines make me crazy and I woke with that jangled feeling of having been run down by a dose of cheap over-the-counter speed. Still, did manage to knock out some good revisions on "Frank the Redeemer." Should have it tidied up and ready for the mail in a few days.

Got to the gym later in the afternoon, the grocery store too, to pick up my thyroid RX. Made the mistake of a rush hour jaunt, but still lived to tell about it. Good for another 30 days! Maybe longer.

Can't believe we're up against the end of the week. Seems like this one flew by. J and K coming over on Friday for a birthday celebration. Guess we're looking at a run to Whole Foods soon. As always, it comes together at the eleventh hour. What would life be without deadlines?

I remember reading about an island on the pacific rim. They had no word in their language for work. It was a concept foreign to them.

 

These days I sit on cornerstones and count the time in quarter tones to ten...

Coming at this late.

Got a little time at the keyboard this morning, then spent the better part of the day in Cheyenne Canyon with young J., fording streams, sharing peanut butter sandwiches, and pitching rocks. Got in some time at the gym early afternoon, then came home and worked out a couple of accounting issues. Hate worrying about money. Hate thinking about it. Had a hand in a lot of different jobs over the years, but nothing demanded more and paid less than writing. We call that irony.

Need a win here. Doesn't have to be big. Just some small thing to put in the plus column.

Hot summer day, carry me away...

Well, another Monday in the books. That's gotta be a good thing, right? Managed a little bit of everything today. Early walk. Solid time at the keyboard. Some good revisions on an old ms., and a successful trip to ReStore to recycle scrap lumber and other odds and ends. Later, a trip to the gym.

Talked to Mom last night, and sister Mary for a while. Caught up on family news, which was tame this time out, and uneventful even by the most boring standards. Happy to hear everyone's doing well. Like to make a run into New Mexico sometime soon, providing it's a fishing/writing excursion and nothing too hard on the brain. A lot of nice water down there, a lot of wide open space. Maybe this fall. Maybe sooner, though not likely.

Hot today. High eighties, with hot winds. Supposed to be the same all week. Hope not.

 

Sunday, 6:08 pm...

A day of many goings-on. 

Wrote early, then off to visit. Had a nice brunch with family, near and far. Knocked around the woods with young J, ate a bagel, downed a virgin bloody Mary and chased it with a cup of joe, cream, no sugar.

Home around noon to do a little more writing, then out to cut my lawns, one of which looks pretty damned good. Cleaned the garage a little later, loading salvage wood, windows, and flooring for a trip to the ReStore tomorrow. Felt good to do some honest work for a change.

Looking forward to Monday. Don't say that often, but I am. Got a lot on my mind, eager to get back to the keyboard. Promised myself I'd make more of an effort with these posts, but haven't done it yet, have I? 

 

  

Angler of Repose...

Up early, out the door to Lake George, Elevenmile Canyon. Drizzled most of the day, and must have rained like hell before that because the river was high and roiled and swollen. Still, no complaints. Had a good day getting away from everything, finding time to reflect, do nothing. Wild flowers were beautiful from all the wet. Plants and trees too. I don't believe I've ever seen the willows up there as thick and lush as they are right now. Came across a few deer. A couple of snakes, too. (I imagine they were trying to dry out.) Been a lot of bear sightings this year, so kept my ears perked while hiking through the underbrush, but it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution. Aside from a handful of anglers, didn't run into anyone (or anything) besides campers and rock climbers. Rained big on the way down the mountain and all the way into town. Glad to get home without crashing. Tired, but in a good way.

Wading in...

More rain. Glad to see it come.

Spent most of the day reading, writing critiques. Organizing story material. Felt productive, though I only spent a small amount of time with my own revision work.

Been saving old pics and newspaper clippings hoping to stir up ideas for some new stories. Most of them have been collecting dust in a satchel beside the bed, and I think it's time I dug into them and started sorting out what's good from what isn't. Get my ducks in a row.

Going fishing tomorrow. Can't wait to get on the water again. Need to pull my gear out tonight so I'm ready for an early start.

  

Give and take...

Rain. Looked like it this morning, came down tonight from high gray skies. 

Put "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" in the mail today. Finished B's memoir excerpt too. Tried to get in a few revisions on an old ms., but found two new stories in my N queue so went to work on them instead. Finished one. Figure to take on the other tomorrow after a get in a little writing of my own.

Managed some billing, which almost made up for the day's low points. Almost.

 

 

Darkness, visible...

What's the opposite of Gestalt? Where the sum of something's part equals less than the whole? That's what today was.

High point: MB's memoir draft. Low point? Why play favorites?

Looking ahead, I've gotta wonder whether it's me or the rest of the world. Given the odds, I suspect it's me.

Comings and goings...

Heading off to the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in a few. Haven't been for a while, but will never forget my first all those years ago. A lot of fun. 

Talked to Mom tonight. Sounded well. She's just coming off a visit from my Uncle J. Think they had a good time together. Wish I had a little more flexibility this week so I could take him fishing, but don't see it in the cards.

Made some good revisions today. Looked after small stuff most of the morning, then headed for the gym. Got a nice rain this afternoon. Grass looks like hell, but the trees were grateful. 

I'll kill the next person who looks at me funny...

Dropped a stitch in the narrative. K popped in yesterday for dinner, and by the time the show was over I was too tired to make an entry. Steaks on the grill, blueberry cobbler. Evening crept up fast and went down even faster. Sat out on the back patio a while, but the air wasn't moving and it was too warm to have a fire.

Sorted through some mss this morning, looking to see what sort of anthology material might be available. Was disappointed to find at least two mss I'd considered finished that needed serious revision. Don't know what the hell I was thinking when I sent them out. But at least I caught them in time to withdraw.

Don't know why, but I've caught that bug again. The one that makes me feel like I'm going nowhere, fast. Been punching back, hard, but it's there. Can't seem to write fast enough to outrun it. Seeing windows and doors slamming shut all around me, and getting the feeling there's nothing I can do about it. Screw it. Just put another foot forward, right? 

Bureau of missing books...

The Russians have gone missing. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky anyway. Turgenev's still there, on his shelf in the library, but the other's have disappeared. So has my clothbound edition of Thom Jones second short story collection, Cold Snap. Gotta make a trip to the storage unit and open some of the boxes in there. Take a hard look around. Don't know where else those books might have wandered off to.

Weather people said monsoon season's come. They were right for a change. Rained off and on all day. But nice rain. Cooled everything down.

Sloughed off a trip to the habitat store in favor of a quick run to Costco to pick up allergy drugs and a couple of bottles of wine. Looking to stuff some mushrooms tonight and take it easy. Maybe make a fire out back if the kindling isn't too wet.

Finished what felt like the last of the edits on "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" this morning. Looking to send it off tomorrow and move along to a new story. Got high hopes. We'll see if they're worth anything.

I am my own weakest link...

Hands on day.

Walked early, wrote a little, took care of a v.o., retrieved the shop vac, read a little, then off to the gym. Posted an email or two between gigs.

Ran across a nicely written essay by a man named Robert Stothart in the new edition of the Florida Review, titled "Nighthawks." 

Need to clean up "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" tomorrow. Get it out the door and move on to something new.

Praying for rain, or even a cloud...

Progress!

Took a walk early this morning, then came home and sent "Love Triangle" out into the world. Felt good to get something new in the mail. 

Took care of a few small revisions on some commercial work, then spent the rest of the morning looking after little things. Another trip to the Biedleman Center. Big fun. Ladybugs, water skeeters, a stray dog, and a robin whisking worms to her brand new hatchlings from up and down river. Took a few unexpected spills, a nick or two on the shins, but all turned out as it should. Grand time all around.

Hit the gym later in the afternoon. Walked past the lawn like we'd never met, and drove away thinking I can't wait to dig you up! 

Hot today. Hot, hot, hot. Hope to get some sleep tonight.

 

This just in...

Well, it went by kinda quick, and I'm not sure I accomplished much, but the workday's over and here I am. Minutes away from a chili dog.

Sent off some belated correspondence, finished a paying gig, and took care of the two N reviews I've had in my submission queue for a week. Found my way to the gym, too.

Been tracking the info on the big eclipse coming this August, trying to settle on the best spot to watch it. My granddad's ranch is directly in the path, but it looks like the cabin in the Bighorns is too. An embarrassment of riches as they say.

Thinking about the grass, it looks like maybe the whole lot of it ought to be peeled up and replaced. Can't stand another summer of it looking the way it does. Sounds brave now, but we'll see how that attitude holds up once the work's for real.

On a positive note, "Love Triangle" goes out tomorrow. Hell or high water.

Funny. Didn't feel like a holiday...

Up early to the kid's parade on Wood Avenue. Lot's of folks showed up this year. Quite the spectacle. Bicycles, wagons, scooters, walkers. Even spectators sitting on their lawns, drinking mimosas. Had a lot of fun with the boys.

Worked on a commercial project when I got home, hoping to get a jump on tomorrow. Still have the critiques for the N stories, which I figure to push out the door tomorrow. Need to take care of some overdue correspondence, too.

Woke up this morning, looked out the window, and decided I need to rent a sod cutter and go to work on the front lawn. Grass looks like hell, and there's no making it better under the current system. Most of it's shade grass left over from the days when we had those great old silver maples, and it's struggling to stay alive even though I've seeded it with full sun fescue twice. I used a sod cutter once. Years ago. I was young and it was awful, and I swore I'd never touch one again. But I can't allow the current tragedy to go on.

Volunteered to babysit this evening. That, too, a decision of questionable judgement. Worn out from a "walking adventure" followed by fuss budgeting, creeching, back sassing and other sundry atrocities. Too tired to fix dinner. Expect to sleep through the fireworks, which should be starting shortly. Signing off.