Today’s inspiration is short, pointed and graphic.
The Writer’s Glock created by Kandi Rich and shared with her permission. For more great graphics check out her website at Kandi Rich
Now go WRITE
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.”
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?
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?
My latest email from the Miller Farm
PLACES I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE…
In a feed store parking lot next to trailers full of cows waiting for my chicken feed
Standing two feet from thousands of bees while filling a waterer
And the latest addition:
Laying under a car in my driveway wearing a Vera Bradley floral apron while holding some piece of the car up while Beekeeper Brian puts in bolts.
I wouldn’t trade my life for anything, which is good since nobody else would want it ;-)
With talent like this, I’m not sure any one would be able to trade places with Chicken Wrangler Sara.
The following reply arrived from my other daughter (who takes her children to Miller Farm on field trips) minutes later …
One question: why were the cows waiting for your chicken feed????? LOL
I know three kids (OK, 2 1/2) who would take your life any day of the week…we had a blast!
Stick my hand inside to get the egg!?
A short exchange this week, but one that raises a great, thought-provoking question: Would I trade my life?
My answer: Not for all the tea in China.
YOUR TURN: How would you answer?
No recipes or no recommendation for the best fast food restaurant serving chicken nuggets.
Although if you’re ever in South Fork, Colorado, I do highly recommend the chicken strips at Rockaway Cafe & Steakhouse.
Rockaway is a small family owned business with a casual atmosphere. Reminiscent of eating in someone’s home. John handpicks the fresh chicken breasts and carefully breads with his secret recipe.
You’ll love ‘em. We do.
But back to the Miller Farm.
Today our resident chicken wrangler is sharing some observations and a follow-up on last week’s acrobatic chicken.
The follow-up first – Butterscotch, the acrobatic chicken, seems to have recovered nicely. I had intended to clean her hurt foot every morning but I have yet to be able to catch her. Since she is moving faster than I am, I would say she is doing pretty well.
Observations on the concept of pecking order…
We have introduced new chickens into our flock on several occasions. Usually we have a group of birds that have gotten large enough to move outside but are still somewhat smaller than our mature hens, putting them on the bottom of the pecking order.
One evening I noticed that there was some “discussion” about who got to roost on a particular perch. Little Grey Hen come running out of the coop then she ran back in.
I heard all kinds of noise and saw that a smaller black bird was trying to roost on the end where Little Grey Hen usually sleeps. She would have none of that and before I (or the smaller hen) knew it, the black hen was on the ground and Little Grey Hen was back on her perch.
My first thought was “They all rolled over and one fell out.” (from the song Ten in the Bed).
Thoughts on hatching…
We have an assortment of fowl (chickens and quail) in the brooder in the garage. They hatched over a period of two days.
The last chicken to hatch seemed to have its shell stuck to its back side. We left it alone for a while, knowing that the struggle to get it off was making the bird stronger.
At a certain point, however, we could stand it no longer, and I held the bird while Rachel carefully cut away the shell which was hanging on by a thread.
We added the chicken sans the large chunk of hanging shell to the brooder where its feathers were able to dry and the last tiny bits of the shell came off.
I thought about parenting – sometimes we have to help kids get completely out of their shell so they can begin their own life.
The baby quail in the brooder nearly drove me nuts. They started sleeping on their sides with their feet stretched out making them look dead.
I guess I opened the cage and woke them up enough times that they decided if they wanted to get any sleep at all, they’d better sleep on their feet like fowl are supposed to do.
I’m definitely getting more sleep as well.
MY TURN:
Sara, the Chicken Wrangler, observed that a chicken’s process of hatching is like watching our children growing up. We need to help them out of their shells before they can begin their own life. Seems to me, that’s what writers do for their protagonists. We help them out of their shell. The literary term is character arc.
YOUR TURN: Do you see your child or your main character’s growth as hatching out of a shell?
Today is Labor Day. We pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. To celebrate the writers in the workplace, I’m sharing a blog and a video about the writing process.
Nathan Bransford’s blog, “The Publishing Process in Gif Form,” made the rounds on Twitter, FB and many boards and loops. It’s worthy of another view.
For those who haven’t read the blog and don’t know him, Nathan Bransford is a children’s author, a former literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd., and is now the social media manager at CNET. Bransford knows the emotional process of writing from all angles and his blog illustrates a writer’s rollercoaster ride perfectly. His blog is hilarious.
Another blog I read, especially for humor, is The Steve Laube Agency. I met Steve, president and founder of the agency, at an ACFW Conference many years ago. Wise man.
He’s a 30-year veteran of the bookselling industry. His career began in the bookselling arena with a store in Phoenix. He worked with Bethany House Publishers. In 2004 he formed The Steve Laube Agency which represents everything from sweet romance to systematic theology.
Fridays on his blog are FUN days. Recently he shared this great video by James Andrew Wilson titled The Five Emotional Stages of Writing a Novel. Make sure to watch through the credits.
Wherever you are in your writing process, I hope I made you laugh today.
Happy Labor Day and labor on! Our readers are waiting.
Happy Release Day to Jody Hedlund for Unending Devotion!
If you like historicals, you’ll love this one!
High-Stakes Drama Meets High-Tension Romance
In 1883 Michigan, Lily Young is on a mission to save her lost sister, or die trying. Heedless of the danger, her searches of logging camps lead her to Harrison and into the sights of Connell McCormick, a man doing his best to add to the hard-earned fortunes of his lumber baron father.
Posing during the day as a photographer’s assistant, Lily can’t understand why any God-fearing citizen would allow evil to persist and why men like Connell McCormick turn a blind eye to the crime rampant in the town. But Connell is boss-man of three of his father’s lumber camps in the area, and like most of the other men, he’s interested in clearing the pine and earning a profit. He figures as long as he’s living an upright life, that’s what matters.
Lily challenges everything he thought he knew, and together they work not only to save her sister but to put an end to the corruption that’s dominated Harrison for so long.
Author Bio:
Jody Hedlund is an award-winning historical romance novelist and author of the best-selling books, The Preacher’s Bride and The Doctor’s Lady. She received a bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and a master’s from the University of Wisconsin, both in Social Work. Currently she makes her home in Michigan with her husband and five busy children.
To celebrate the release of Jody’s book I’m paying tribute to my dogs who have given me their unending devotion in exchange for so little—food in their bowl and a pet on the head or rub on the belly every now and then.
My love affair with Old English Sheepdogs began with Obadiah who never quite understood he was a dog.
Next came Micah.
A furry bundle of energy for Christmas.
He joined my granddog Bernie, a terrier mix, who came to live with us when our son went off to seminary. Rhinestone was our rescue OES.The three of us made quite a spectacle walking in the neighborhood.
Micah, Bernie and Rhinestone
As happens with large dogs, Micah’s hips played out. We lost him and Bernie (at age 17) about the same time. Rhinestone became even more attached to me. When we emptied our house to have hardwood floors installed, I worried the stress would be too much for her.
She went to live with my sister-in-law who had never married.
The two became best buds. I wrote about their story in The Dog Next Door.
For the first time ever we were dog-less.
I hated it.
So we found Tobias (Toby).
A couple of years later Buster, a twelve pound Maltese, came to live with us.
And once again we’ve become a big happy family.
You can read all about a sister’s uneding devotion in Jody’s book. Available on Amazon.
What about about you? Do you give or receive unending devotion for someone or pet?
Today’s email from the Miller Farm…
I went to Target last night in search of, among other things, a biscuit cutter. The handle has come off mine making it a little bit of a challenge to use.
I try to minimize challenges in the mornings and replacing the broken biscuit cutter would definitely reduce my morning stress.
Alas, I found a cupcake corer , cookie cutters and muffin pans in every imaginable shape but no biscuit cutters. I didn’t know cupcakes had cores, did you? See picture below.
I woke this morning up singing:
O where, o where have the biscuit cutters gone?
O where, o where can they be?
Is there no one left who makes biscuits from scratch
Except for crazy ole me?
When you teach music – all of life is a song.
(NOTE: Besides being a chicken wrangler extraordinaire, Sara is also an amazing pianist who has her own music studio in addition to teaching music at a private school. Music abounds on the Miller Farm.)
But the email wasn’t our only communication on the broken biscuit cutter.
Sara called. Naturally I asked about the tune to her song whereupon she sang to the words to the nursery rhyme tune of “Where O Where Has My Little Dog Gone?“.
Then she asked if I had an extra biscuit cutter she could have. I quickly searched my gadget drawer and found four antique biscuit cutters, two plastic flute-edged cutters, one petit four cutter and a fancy Pamper Chef cut-and-seal cutter.
Before you wonder why I have so many biscuit cutters…I must declare I’m not a hoarder.
Not at all, I’m a wannabe Martha Stewart who loves cooking gadgets. I have all manner of gizmos and gadgets in my kitchen. One of my favorites is Piercey the hard-boiled egg piercer.
No master kitchen should be without this clever little tool shaped like a chicken that pokes a hole in the broad end of a raw egg. When the egg is hard boiled, the shell peels off with ease.
Want one? Check out this site.
FYI: I get no kickback from the site, but you’ll find peeling eggs much simplier. Like Sara, I’m all about simplifying stressful tasks and not just in the mornings. Using Piercey the egg piercer makes life simple.
Which brings us back to chickens. Next week we’ll discuss another of Sara’s emails from the farm. This one on chicken food and chicken lips.
Do chickens have lips!?
It’s Monday again time to begin our writing week. I thought it would be fun to consider how other writers write (wrote).
So what method will you be using to write this week?
Where will you be writing?
How much do you play to write?
I’m inspired. My goal this week is to complete revisions on the first five chapters of my current WIP.
How about you?
This month’s guest speaker at my local RWA chapter was Adrienne deWolfe.
Being in on vacation, I wasn’t able to hear her program, but I did check out her website and found a wealth of helpful resources. You might want to do some checking yourself.
I also discovered this delightful video Ms deWolfe created which inspired me to get my butt in the chair and WRITE. I’m sharing so you can start your week with Wit and Wisdom from writers, too.
Okay, so did the author inspire you to write?
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