Judythe Morgan blog

9 09, 2019

Took A little Trip to the Gulf of Mexico

By |2019-09-09T06:54:24-05:00September 9th, 2019|A Writer's Life|0 Comments

As I rode in the car, a line from an very old ballad played in my head.

“In 1814 we took a little trip … on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Chances are you won’t recognize the lyrics.

The song, “The Battle of New Orleans,” was #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1959 and Johnny Horton won Best Country and Western Performance for his rendition.

I love those oldie ballads that tell such great stories. “Trailer for Sale or Rent,” “Big Bad John,” and all of Harry Chapin’s song are other favorites.

“The Battle of New Orleans” was an educational ballad. If you’re a history buff, you know there was a battle for New Orleans in 1814. And, the story song was accurate.

But New Orleans wasn’t my destination on my trip to the Gulf of Mexico.

I was headed to Corpus Christi with my youngest daughter and her oldest son to get him settled at the A&M campus there.

Taking a child to college is such a mixed bag of emotions. Exciting and sad at the same time.

My eyes teared up as we bid him farewell at the end of the day. Grandson looked a little apprehensive at the prospect of being totally on his own so far away from home and family to me.

His Mom managed the drop off better than I did. She knew her kid, had confidence in his ability to handle the new situation.

By Marcom.tamucc – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

I made a second trip to The Island University on Labor Day weekend with his Pepa. This time  to bring him back home for the holiday.

Grandson was all smiles. He’d loved his first week and couldn’t wait to get back!

Growing up and turning loose can be so hard on those of us watching. At least for this Nana it is.

1 12, 2012

Rush, Stress, and Busyness – Blogs last month you might have missed

By |2012-12-01T08:08:47-06:00December 1st, 2012|Uncategorized|0 Comments

NaNoWriMo 2012 has ended. (btw, MAJOR congratulations to those who stayed the course and wrote 50,000 words. I’m so impressed.)

Today’s December 1st. The holiday season is upon us and closing in like a speeding bullet.

ticking clock

If you’re like me, you’re skimming and skipping on social media sites and blogs. 

Here are some blogs with writerly news or information I thought you’d want to know about:

Fictionwise is Now on Life Support – They’re Pulling the Plug in 3 Weeks’ Time

  •  Digital Reader advises now would be a good time to go download any ebooks you still can.  After December 21, 2012,  you will not be able to access any of the ebooks you bought from Fictionwise sites (including Fictionwise.com, eReader.com and eBookwise.com).

Very latest on Fictionwise’s demise:

What People Talk About When They Talk About Bad Writing

  • Writer/agent Nathan Bransford’s take on a definition of bad writing.

Why is your second novel so important?

  • Agent Chip Macgregor discusses the biggest pitfalls in a second novel.

Sell More Fiction by Activating the Power of Book Clubs

  • How to employ bookclubs and discussion questions to increase your   book sales.

6 Common Myths About Book Reviews

  • Debunks common misconceptions about book reviews

How Twitter Hashtags Help Authors Find Readers

  • Loved this list of handy hashtags to connect with readers

Your-e-reader-is-watching

  • Interesting discussion about trackers in eReaders: Your data profile shows when you read and when you don’t. Will it soon determine what you read? 

YOUR TURN to SHARE: If you’ve found a blog, you think I may have missed, tell me about it in your comment.

17 08, 2012

Friday on the MILLER FARM – A Day in the life of a Chicken Wrangler

By |2012-08-17T09:09:29-05:00August 17th, 2012|Friday on the Miller Farm|7 Comments

Gathered in the shade to stay cool.

Yesterday morning when I (Sara the Chicken Wrangler extraordinaire) went to let the chickens out and give them food and water I discovered that one of the quail had gotten itself stuck in the space where the eggs roll out of the cage. This is not the first time this has happened so I was not at all surprised. After all quail, do have bird brains.

As I was getting it unstuck, I saw that the cage looked like something out of a quail horror movie. There were blood splatters all over the feeder. The stuck quail didn’t appear to be wounded enough to produce that much blood so I looked at the other quail.

One had what I guess would be the equivalent of a bloody lip — if quail had lips. Its mouth was bleeding and so every time it shook its head, blood went everywhere.

Not being as attached to the quail as I was dear Einstein (the rescued rooster from last week), I decided that what happened in the quail cage, stays in the quail cage and returned to the house.

Later that afternoon I went to retrieve eggs and check on the birds. One of the quail had in fact died. Since there was nothing I could do for it (I only revive roosters.), I went to play another round of “Get the egg from the small coop,” a game in which the challenge is to get the egg from the back of the cage (which is slanted away from the door) to the door and get it out before it rolls back down.

To make the task easier, I have found the perfect branch with a hook in it to scoot the egg forward. So far, my record is three tries before the egg goes into my basket.

Then I checked the other coop, which had a stunning lack of eggs. I thought perhaps the dirty condition of the nest boxes prevented the chickens from laying. After all, I would not even consider laying an egg in that filth even if I were prone to laying eggs – which I am not.

So I headed back up to the house for a shovel to clean out the nest boxes. I filled water jugs and headed back to the chicken yard with the shovel balanced on top of the chicken waterer. [In case you don’t know what a chicken waterer is check out this site.]

As I approached the coop, I saw something I never hope to see again. Bella (one of the four daschunds) had one of the chickens by the neck. I assumed she pulled it under the wire covering in the gate.

Anyway, I dropped everything to the ground and ran towards them yelling at Bella to stop.

Bella was distracted long enough for the chicken to head under the shed. Little did the chicken know that dachshunds are bred to go into small spaces after animals.

Bella headed under the shed. I, being much larger than the chicken and Bella combined, decided to approach the shed from the side in the chicken yard. I pulled the hen out from under the shed into the safety of the chicken yard.

Chicken wrangler – 1, Bella – 0

But Bella is watching, waiting…

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