Monthly Archives: October 2012

22 10, 2012

Monday Motivations: Testing the Waters

By |2012-10-22T09:23:29-05:00October 22nd, 2012|Monday Motivations|2 Comments

A friend recently shared this video titled Neglected Ducks Get Their First Swim from Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Great music, btw.

My first thought after watching the ducks repeatedly turn away from the water was that we writers are sometimes like those hoarded ducks-afraid to test new waters with our writing.

When was the last time you tried to write

  • a different genre
  • a short story if you normally write novels
  • a novel if you normally write short stories
  • a blog instead of just reading blogs
  • a tweet – now that will test your skill
  • a 1st person POV if you usually write 3rd person POV
  • 3rd person POV if you usually write  1st person POV

To me the pond in the video represents possibilities for our writer creativity. If we’d only venture forth and test the waters more, I think we’d see brave new worlds open up for our muse.

Did you notice how much fun those ducks were having once they took the plunge?

And who knows, we might find we like writing something new and different more than what we’re comfortable writing.

YOUR TURN: Have you ever written something out of your comfort zone? How’d it feel?

19 10, 2012

Miller Farm Friday – Barnyard Bullies

By |2012-10-19T08:21:26-05:00October 19th, 2012|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

I think I figured out why the new little chicks are not going into the coop at night.

I went out before the sun was completely gone last night and watched one of the Bantam hens stand at the door of the coop, refusing to let the little chicks in. When one slipped inside, she chased it back out. 

I explained to her that she was behaving like a bully and it had to stop. She didn’t listen very well and continued to chase the little chicks away.

Bully Bantam

Thinking a distraction might discourage her bullying. We decided to let three quail out of their cage so we could use the cage to transport other quail (another moving day – this one less traumatic). 

Watching freed quail is quite fascinating.

They are not interested in leaving the chicken yard. In fact, I’m not sure they know how to fly very far. They can get away from the dogs if necessary, but prefer to walk around with the chickens. 

Perhaps, living with chickens, they don’t know they are quail.

Anyway, one of the newly freed quail began chasing the chickens around. Why the chickens run from something a fraction of their size is beyond me. I think it is the bird brain phenomenon.

Chicken Chasing Quail

I must confess when I saw it chasing Bully Bantam, I felt a certain sense of justice. 

Apparently, Bully Bantam learned her lesson. All six little chicks were safely in the coop tonight.

However, I did notice a frog in the chicken waterer. I was afraid he was planning to move in and worried about how he would be received by the Chasing Quail and Bully Bantam.

 This morning Mr. Frog was gone so maybe he just came to get a drink at night when all the bullies were sleeping.

By definition bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful, (physical and psychological), and/or threatening and persistent (repeated). There is an imbalance of strength (power and dominance).

In the Miller Farm Barnyard, the imbalance corrected itself when the small quail took on the Bantam hen.

In real life, if we see someone being bullied, we have the power to step up and be a bully chaser like that quail in Chicken Wrangler Sara’s email today.

I love this quote by  Taylor Swift “If you’re horrible to me, I’m going to write a song about it, and you won’t like it. That’s how I operate.”

That’s being a bully chasing quail!

For another example of how  an overweight television newscaster handled being bullied, check out fellow WANA tribe member Ginger Calem’s blog about the much publicized bullying episode.

YOUR TURN: Have you had any experience with a bully? Did a quail come to your rescue? Or have you ever stepped up to be a bully chasing quail?

16 10, 2012

Bonus Tuesday-Blogs you may have missed

By |2021-10-18T05:36:26-05:00October 16th, 2012|Uncategorized|0 Comments

If you’re like me, you follow lots of blogs and skim. Shoot, there are some weeks I don’t even skim, I press delete.

SOURCE: http://www.gograph.com/stock-illustration/delete-key.html

Last night I played catch up and found some great blogs you might have missed and thought the links were worth sharing.

  • For bloggers: How to get more readers

The Write Conversation: Drive Traffic to Your Blog Using Twitter

  • For writers: Great tips on increasing your fanbase and sales

Author Media:. Ten ways to get more FB fans

The Creative Pen: How to get Amazon book reviews

  • If you use Gmail, a how-to prevent HACKERS

Nathan Bransford: Two-step e-mail verification for G-mail users

  • For Trivia

Smithsonian Magazine: The Accidental History of the @ symbol

  • For Fun

Today.com Why CBS still loves I Love Lucy

ENJOY!

YOUR TURN: If you’ve found a blog, you think I missed, tell me your comment.

12 10, 2012

Miller Farm Friday – I love my chickens

By |2012-10-12T07:56:09-05:00October 12th, 2012|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

This week’s email from the farm…

I love my chickens and my chickens love me – especially when I feed them.

I was checking for eggs in the nest boxes this morning when one of the black hens started moving hay from one next box to the other. I guess she is the designated interior decorator.

Meanwhile, Essie (short for Survivor Girl from the Christmas Eve massacre at Barneyville) follows me around the whole time I am in the chicken yard.

In fact, I have accidentally stepped on her before. That hasn’t stopped her. Anyway, she hopped up on the door to the nest boxes and watched the redecorating process.

She is the only chicken we have who will let you pet her. I guess I now understand how people can have pet chickens. But, she’s not coming inside. Already tried that with Einstein and look where it got him.

I know that is shocking to you, but this made me think of a song.

I have a chicken my chicken loves me
I feed my chicken on tender leaf tea
My little chicken goes bak bak bak
My little rooster goes cockle doodle doodle
doodle doodle doodle do.

Anyone else remember that one?

I did remember the song, but had no idea who wrote it or when. After a quick Google search, I discover Arkansas folk singer named Almeda Riddle (1898-1986) was the first to publicly sing “My Little Rooster.”

Also known as Granny Riddle, her acapella recording of the song appears on the 1997 cult film “Gummo.” If you’d like a listen click below:

If you’ve got a preschooler or kindergartener, gather them up to the computer screen and have a watch of this more pleasant sounding variation. They’ll love it.

Chicken Wrangler Sara isn’t singing, though it could be her. She is a professional musician and music teacher. It’s exactly the sort of thing she’d do.

Well, on second thought, maybe not. She’d probably bring Essie so the kiddos could pet a real chicken and sing!

YOUR TURN: I’m sure we have you humming the “I love My Rooster” tune by now. If you don’t have a rooster or a chicken or a pig or a cow or a …, what would you substitute for rooster in the song?

8 10, 2012

My Alexander Day and Small Town Love

By |2021-10-07T07:52:42-05:00October 8th, 2012|Make Me Think Monday, writer, writing|4 Comments

I’m having an Alexander day. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day where nothing goes right.

I’m sure you’ve had those days too, but you may not be familiar with the term Alexander day.

If not, you HAVE to read, Judith Voirst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It’s a delightful children’s book that will warm your adult heart. Click on the cover to read more.

Like Alexander, I must decide what to do with this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I could grump and get nowhere with my editing or…

since I believe action can alter attitude,

I’m choosing to blog about a recent experience in a wonderful little Panhandle city called Clarendon.

For the non-Texan blog readers that would be the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The part that looks like the handle of a pan.

Panhandle counties

On our travels between Houston and Colorado, we’ve gone through Clarendon on US 287 many, many times. Not a big city. The population is under two thousand. It’s home to Clarendon College (established 1898), the oldest center of higher education in the Texas Panhandle.

On our most recent trip through, I was having another Alexander day. This time  because I had strep throat. The penicillin hadn’t fully kicked in so I was feeling pretty rotten.

We arrived in Clarendon late – 7:30 p.m. – and hungry. For all you city dwellers who think that isn’t late, small towns tend to roll up the sidewalks early.

We saw a sign for the Clarendon Steakhouse and pulled in praying it would be open. I was hoping the buffet had some soup that would soothe my very raw throat.

The building is a former grocery store converted to a restaurant with funny cowboys on the windows and friendly people inside. Very friendly and very kind people.

When we went inside, the place was about empty and the buffet was bare. My hopes sank. They were closed.

A waitress, in an apron that Vera Bradley would give her eye tooth to claim, greeted us. Turns out the waitress’ grandmother made her apron. I asked.

I explained how we were passing through, tired of driving, hungry, and really wanted some soup. Okay, I admit I shared more detail than necessary, but I am a storyteller.

She walked us to a back table to check with the owner whose name was Mary. I think. Remember I was not having a good day and that affected my memory.

Mary pointed to her husband’s soup bowl filled with the most delicious-looking chicken soup I’d ever seen. I know I looked a bit peaked and I must have drooled because Mary said she had enough for a couple of bowls.

She directed us to the “non-smoking” section. A booth at the store window under a ceiling fan. (to disperse cigarette smoke)

Sitting in the next booth was Fred Gray, a local columnist for The Clarendon Enterprise. We shared writing stories. He even went next door to the newspaper office for old editions so we could read his “The Quick, the Dead and Fred” column. Check out some of his columns in the newspaper’s online edition you’ll enjoy them.

Naturally, I shared my business card with my website and told him all about my writing. And, I’d love for you to check out my Judythe Morgan books page. :-)

Sarah, a lovely young Clarendon High School student, served as our waitress. She was excited and bubbly about her coming class trip to Washington, D.C.  Needless to say, we gave her a generous tip to go toward her expenses.

Suddenly our tiring, drive of 540 miles with another 145 more to go before we stopped had become a pleasant visit with friendly people and delicious down-home chicken soup.

And Mary wouldn’t let us pay for our dinner! Isn’t small-town America wonderful?

Sharing has helped refuel my creative juices and improved my terrible, horrible, really bad day dramatically. I’m back to editing.

YOUR TURN: What about you? How do you combat a really bad, terrible, horrible day?

5 10, 2012

Miller Farm Friday – Wax Bees and Bananas

By |2012-10-05T08:17:27-05:00October 5th, 2012|Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|2 Comments

For an urban city farm, the Miller Farm produces a wide variety of products. I love the eggs. And, the honey Beekeeper Brian extracts is equally tasty.

Chicken Wrangler email today is about the bees on the farm.

Today has been a bit busier than a normal. I added blood donation to my already full errand list.

 When I returned to the Farm, I discovered an interesting object on my kitchen counter. 

It is a two liter bottle (which I had saved at Beekeeper Brian’s request) which is about a quarter full of clear liquid with what appears to be a banana peel in it.

 This last part was confirmed by the discovery of both ends of the banana peel in the sink. Now being married to Brian for 25 years, I know this is something he has done.

I suspect it has something to do with the bees. Just in case you need a little humor to lighten your day,  any other guesses?

I’ll let you know what this contraption is when I find out.

Then the next morning this Chicken Wrangler email arrived.

A moth trap! 

 Apparently there is a type of moth that takes up residence in bee hives and greatly hinders honey production. They are extremely attracted to the clear liquid in the two liter bottle which is actually a mixture of sugar, water and honey.

If you look closely, you can see the moth mite on the bee’s neck.

The banana peel puts off some gas thing as it ferments that is extremely unattractive to the bees so they are not tempted to join the moths in their final swim.

The banana must ferment for two days so tomorrow the  bottle will go out back near the bee hives. I’ll report back on the success of the “two liter bottle/banana peel moth trap.”

 

A hive destroyed by wax moths. Note the larva in the honeycombs.
Learn more about the wax moth and bees: http://eberthoney.com/honeybeeblog/blog4.php/main/?paged=12

Now I am sure we will all sleep better having solved this mystery. 

~~Sara – who never ceases to be amazed at the wonders her husband discovers

I, too, am amazed at the things Beekeeper Brian can do. Some blog we’ll talk about his fly-fishing skills or his woodcrafting bowls or his dulcimer building skills. A multi-tasking beekeeper-farmer that Brian.

YOUR TURN: Ever found something unfamiliar on your kitchen counter?

1 10, 2012

I Missed National Punctuation Day. Did you?

By |2021-10-18T10:07:37-05:00October 1st, 2012|Monday Motivations, Uncategorized, writing, Writing Craft|0 Comments

Last Monday, September 24th was National Punctuation Day. Thanks, Steve Laube and Janice Heck for sharing on your blogs and putting me in the know about this yearly celebration.

I’m a week late this year, but next year I’ll be on time to celebrate the day Jeff Rubin established as the “celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semi-colons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis” in 2004.

Enjoy this Victor Borge skit with Phonetic Punctuation. It’s hilarious any day of the year.

On a more serious note, if you have as much trouble with punctuation and grammar as I do, I recommend:

Nitty-Gritty Grammar
A humorous guide to correct grammar.

Or for the serious student: The Elements of Style

Click on either to read more and/or add to your writer resource shelf. I’m guessing many have the Strunk and White. It’s been around as long as Victor Borge.

 

YOUR TURN
What’s the worst grammatical/punctuation error you’ve made or seen?

Go to Top