Fall is finally here!

While our weather up here on the Cumberland Plateau is usually not too hot, this summer seems to have been a bit warmer than usual. I remember growing up and Labor Day always marked the start of fall for me as did Memorial Day and the start of summer.

This year, the cool weather has been elusive - well, until this past weekend when the rain moved in bringing temperatures in the upper 60s to mid-70s. A nice change, although we don't need a lot more rain. Stu says the grass is growing an inch a day and the pond is overflowing. The good news is the French drain he constructed is doing its job and the middle-lower section of the pasture isn't a swamp ground now.

He's been busy continuing to prep the Backend of Nowhere Garage for the concrete pour. So busy, in fact, he's behind several blog posts of the steps taken so far.

Yeah, SOOOOO busy!

I'm staying busy just washing his daily work clothes...including leather gloves (which got soaked yesterday). They weren't quite dry when I pulled them out of the dryer so had Stu puff them out so they would dry inside. They look kind of creepy sitting on the dryer now...LOL!

On Saturday our good friend, Earl, came over to help Stu put up the foundation boards for the concrete pour. He was designated babysitter for his four year old granddaughter. She kept me company all afternoon while he worked with Stu. The weather was nice so after an hour of watching "Paw Patrol", we moved outdoors.

She was drawing nature things - the sun, butterflies, caterpillars, bees - then moved on to writing her name as well as her sisters' and mother's. A little dancing for me and I asked if she could draw a ballerina. She did and asked me if I want to tear it out of the book and keep it. It's now on my refrigerator.

She and Murphy hit it off immediately...

Cooper was a bit more shy and she was so good about not pushing him...

She and Murphy watched Pop-Pop and Mr. Stu work for a bit...

Back inside, some fun for the two of them [video]...

Then watching "Ice Age" for a bit...

All in all, a good day. She and her Pop-Pop headed off to Cracker Barrel for dinner.

I've been busily working on defining new characters, plotting the back story, and doing research on life in the 60s on religious cults and communes in both California and Hawaii. Going to be an interesting book. I did a little cover reveal on my author blog if you want to take a peek!

Ciao for now!

A little catsup, errr, catch up...

Stu's trip is winding down, he hopes to be home by the end of the week. We can't wait! Yesterday was our youngest granddaughter's birthday party.

Our older grandgirls were more than willing to help get the house ready for the party. After all, what are cousins for?

Yes, she (and her mom) are obsessed with unicorns!

I've stayed busy writing and monitoring the excavation for our pole barn build. Hopefully when he gets home, he will start writing up the text for the new blog, Backend of Nowhere Garage.

I've been fighting a cold - allergies - a cold - allergies. Not sure, but it's kept me under the weather for almost two weeks. SOOOOO ready for it to be gone. I have gotten in some writing AND some reading (finally). I've caught up on most of my Hallmark romance and mystery movies, too.

The #2doods have settled into a routine, even sleeping in till 8-9 am for me. Bless them both! They play hard and the sleep hard. Cooper was chasing his little squirrel, at times flipping up the rug to hide it, then getting it back out. He slides all over the foyer, chasing it (or an elk antler).

Then Murphy joined him, starting their lazy play.

I grabbed two videos of them playing, getting a kick out of their growling play sounds. Their voices are slightly different... CLICK HERE for the first video, then CLICK HERE for the second one.

Remember the carpenter bee trap Stu made before he left? I had forgotten all about it until I went out to refill the hummingbird feeders. One angry bee joined the others....


Ciao for now!

"What's Going On" - Thank you, Marvin Gaye

If you think we've been busy lately, you're right. Me with writing and Stu with a new-to-him motorcycle trailer. He is prepping for his group ride with the Run for the Wall group, leaving from Cookeville on the 22nd, headed to DC and then spending several weeks in Maryland with family. His old partner, who now lives in California, is riding the whole route.

Oh, the trailer. Last year we sold BRAT2, believing we had no need for it since we didn't foresee any long motorcycle trips in our future. Fast forward to now and even though I won't be doing any long trips, Stu still has the itch.

Here is BRAT (Big Red's Attack Trailer):

Here is BRAT2 (ditto #2):

Here is BCAT (Black Cherry's Attack Trailer), as is-where is (when he picked it up):

BCAT now has new tires, new rims, new coupler, repainted frame, new locks, new lights, all new wiring, and spray paint job (for now). He also installed a new trailer hitch on the Tri-Glide (Black Cherry).

Here is Stu working on the final touches:

So I will be a motorcycle widow till the middle of June. At least I have the #2Doods to keep me company (and bark away any intruders - if the sound of our security alarm doesn't do it). LOL!

If you haven't visited my author blog in a while, maybe it's time to check it out. I'm writing a lot of flash fiction (ultra short stories) as well as sharing a few personal tidbits from time to time.

Ciao for now!

Reflections on the A to Z of Goldendoodles

Well, April came and April went. Now it's time for some reflections on the April A to Z Blog Challenge. This is not my first year. In fact, it was my fourth year. But it was my first year where I did two blogs, this one for the Goldendoodles and flash fiction on my author blog.

This was also the first year the staff at A to Z tried using Google docs to master the beast of link signups. The first two years, they used LinkyList. Last year they tried another method that was so bad, I can't even remember how it worked. LOL!

So here is my take on the good, the bad and the ugly for 2018, both for my posts and the challenge overall. [NOTE: This post will be repeated on my author blog.]

THE GOOD:

• I prefer themes and easily set them for both my blogs and then participated in the theme reveal.
• I pre-wrote all 26 blog posts for this blog. I kept it simple, a little text and a several fun photos.
• I pre-wrote 65-75% of my blog posts for my writing blog.
• The Theme Reveal list helped me choose blogs to follow.
• Being able to add my blog links to the Daily List in advance was a HUGE advantage. I suspect I would have missed many days of posting as I often did last year.
• I managed to reply to EVERY comment left on both blogs. Phew!
• I visited the blogs of all my commenters, often adding them to my blog reader to follow.
• I commented on 60% of the blog posts I read.
• I checked out the blogs of commenters and found some new ones that way (not all were A-Z).
• I found way less folks who posted they were going to participate but didn't! Yay!!

THE BAD:

• I got sick in the middle of April. A nasty cold that hung on for weeks. I barely got the last three posts written in time. Phew!
• There were a couple of folks that didn't make it easy to find their blogs (from the comment profile). Hoping they will realize that and fix it. It's the one way folks find their way to the blogs if they don't have a direct link.
• Still not a fan of Google+ but I did join a group and post all my links there (and they post to my G+ profile automatically from Blogger).

THE UGLY:

• I really can't think of anything other than the personal time sacrifice - and I'm retired. LOL!

Would I do anything differently? Not much that I can think of. I would stick with writing in advance

What were my goals and did I accomplish them? My first goal was, and always is, to increase readership of my blog(s). I definitely did that as compared to last year where I had very few comments and no gain in readership. I also found some new blogs to follow, non-writing related blogs (of which I already follow too many). In addition, I gained a couple of new friends on Facebook, folks who had interesting blogs and got me invested in their lives.

My second goal was to get my writing mojo back. I was ready to retire from it and writing flash fiction re-ignited the fire. But, I still plan on taking a couple months off to read. It's been too long!

What's next? Well, this blog (our personal blog) will continue to be about our daily life as well as the life of the #2Doods. I hope you will continue to stick around for my ramblings and our meanderings. My author blog? TBD [to be determined]

Ciao for now!

The A to Z of Goldendoodles

There are many different Doodles...
Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, Bernedoodles, Sheepadoodles, Cadoodles
and those are just the standard sized!

We have two adorable, funny, lovable Doodles - Cooper and Murphy. Join them in the A to Z challenge to learn more about them and Goldendoodles.