Paksworld

There are still bits of good writing news I can’t talk about yet, and thus am required to look carefully blank about when asked.  But I can say that besides dealing with many other things yesterday, a Paksworld story sold to an anthology showed up with Editor’s marks and comments and would I please get it back to Editor by the 28th.  It went back last night.   Editor did a good job of pointing out some things to fix, one of which I really wish hadn’t been necessary to fix, but…Editor had a point.  Read the rest of this entry »

So what’s been going on is four days of the Great Backyard Bird count (Friday through Monday) and unearthing the septic tank as well as the kitchen drain and grease trap, in preparation for having someone come out with a sewage sucking service to pump it out.   Among the exciting discoveries in the archaeology project (along with bits of pipe and other things from earlier repairs and installations)  was the rediscovery of the exact route of the electrical line from the service box to the outlet by the lily pond for the water garden pump.

Read the rest of this entry »

In Paksworld, as here,  clothing quality and style is determined not just by personal taste, but by wealth.  Wealthy people can “slum down” in cheap clothes, or rough clothes, if they want to, but they can also afford fine clothes in a variety of fabrics, up and including “bespoke” clothes made especially for them.   Poor people now wear cheap mass-made garments, but in the past, though they were limited in both the amount of clothes and the materials available, they could make clothes sturdy and hard-wearing–and fitting the individual, if “fitted” was considered desirable.  Durable definitely mattered–the kind of farm family Paks came from did not have a closet full of garments for anyone.   Garments that wore out in one place would be cut down for someone else; knitted garments might be unraveled, the sound yarn salvaged to knit something else.  Socks were darned, of course, and so were small holes in other garments. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s nothing like real life to give a writer an idea for a story or blog post.    Like many people we sometimes have trouble with drains.    Sometimes a lot of trouble with drains.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Herdwick yarn I bought is exactly what I hoped for–a yarn that belongs in a fantasy novel, in that its feel (like the breed itself) is old, traditional, and suits a rugged pre-industrial setting.    Here’s a small swatch knitted on US #5, (3.75mm) needles, from the Aran-weight, light-colored yarn.   I’m getting five stitches per inch.

Read the rest of this entry »

January is the month in which I have to turn in the annual report on our wildlife management program.   Some years I get it almost done in December.  This year I didn’t,  so I’m working on it now.  Also on another official report.   Husband does the last quarterly tax stuff, but I’m supposed to gather paperwork (whimper) and hand it to him.  Hence, bustling through. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve mentioned before (maybe even with pictures–my memory’s shot),  I’ve been knitting socks for a little under two years (will be two years January 28, 2014.)   When I started out, I used 100 gram balls of Ella rae Classic, 100% wool, worsted weight.  That established a baseline for me and it’s proven to be a good yarn for the kind of socks I like: thick and sturdy and easy to work. Each sock used up most of a 100 g. ball; I saved the remnants, of course, and soon thought of using them to make striped socks.  Meanwhile, riding the bike in hot weather, I decided I needed short socks.  Short striped socks seemed a good idea.  The first pair used up the remnants from two pairs of red “regular” socks, plus a little blue for a single stripe. Read the rest of this entry »

So with one story accepted by its anthology, another now with the editor who might or might not choose it…two things remain, one of them a story.  One is an invitation to write a story for an anthology series where a Paksworld story won’t fit, and the other is the problematic Paksworld story I thought didn’t fit the second anthology invitation.   But I’m withholding that for now, because if Editor doesn’t like Story B, maybe he’ll like Story A and I was wrong about it being problematic.    It does have way more obviously-fantasy stuff in it.  Read the rest of this entry »

Illusion, out of Silver Enchantress  (half Pryor mountain mustang, half unknown)  by Incantator (Trakehner) was bred, imprinted, raised and trained by my friend Kathleen, who died of cancer almost exactly 13 years ago.    In the last phase of her own illness,  she left him to me,  trusting me to care for him the rest of his life.  And yesterday,  Illusion’s life ended.   He was 14 when Kathleen died,  27 when I called the vet and asked for an emergency visit. Read the rest of this entry »

My computer monitor died this afternoon, but thanks to Rancherfriend and his habit of not throwing things away, I have a replacement.  YAY!  (I call both my friends at this ranch “Rancherfriend” online.   A remarkable couple we’ve known for decades,  having met at a small church right after they’d bought the ranch and before there was a livable building on it.    They invited us out to celebrate, as they’d just had power restored to one light pole.   Plugged a crockpot into the socket on the pole (meant for power tools) and we all ate sitting on an old blanket.   E- and I loaded and moved hay a few times; we worked cattle in the chutes with them a few times;  I bought my cows from their herd and traded off calves for pasture lease until the drought.   We have enough shared experiences and shared jokes to go on with.  Good people.  Read the rest of this entry »