Scatterbrained Ramblings

Blue Balls Be Damned!

Welp, no takers on my request for commission ideas, so I finally figured out something to write about. Hopefully Amazon will accept it—I’m always nervous when I submit stories involving animals and non-animals—but I’m hoping that I skirted the line well enough that they’ll let it go.

Other than that, diverticulitis sucks. I was supposed to be visiting my parents today for Thanksgiving (happy Thanksgiving, by the way), but instead I’m drinking liquids and taking antibiotics. Bah! Oh, well. At least I did some writing, and hey, I’m not in the hospital this time. Yay!

Anyway, given it’s Thanksgiving and it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, I figure I might ought to list some things I’m thankful for.

  1. This first one is horrible, but I’m glad that of the herd members that went, it was Cloudy instead of any of the others. I don’t wish death on anybody—least of all my own herd—but at least it was the one who was mean to the others who went and not one whom the others would mourn.
  2. I’m glad I’m not in the hospital. I know I already said that, but yay!
  3. I’m glad that—if all goes well—I will have the tiny house paid off in a couple of weeks. After that, it’s just the truck, and then I’m (finally) debt-free again. Hopefully this time, it will stick.
  4. I’m glad that although Ebony’s eye is discolored and Casper’s still twitching occasionally, she doesn’t seem to be in pain, he seems to be putting on weight, and they both seem to be in good spirits. I’m also glad Ivory isn’t ill or injured, as best as I can tell.
  5. I’m glad that I came clean to my boss and told him that I don’t really like being in management. I’m hopeful that by March, I’ll be back in an individual contributor role and won’t have to spend all my time creating Jira tickets.
  6. I’m glad my family seems to be in reasonably good health and that my sister and parents seem to be getting along.
  7. I’m glad I was finally able to get the pasture mowed (it’s been 3 years) and have started removing the fencing from places it doesn’t need to be. (Was hoping to finish that over Thanksgiving, buuut I really don’t wanna antagonize the diverticulitis…)
  8. I’m glad my neighbors and friends seem to be in good health.
  9. I’m really glad sweet tea is on a clear diet; I’m pretty sure I would be consuming 0 calories if it weren’t for sweet tea right now.
  10. As much as I don’t like the diverticulitis, I’m glad that this time is forcing me to 1) fast (my weight has been creeping up again) and 2) abstain from alcohol (I was drinking almost every day before starting the meds).
  11. I’m glad I was finally able to write something. I’ve got a bunch of half-baked ideas for Jack’s Blacks, but I didn’t feel terribly motivated to work on any of them. This one popped into my head last night or night before last (possibly fever-induced?), and I got it written up and submitted today.
  12. I’m glad that the toilet flush valve—which decided to go out on me yesterday morning—was fixable in 30 minutes for under $30. I was really not in the mood to deal with it, so I’m glad it was a cheap and easy fix.
  13. I’m glad my latest attempt at tomato gardening hasn’t died on me, yet. In fact, it put out flowers! For those who don’t know, I’m a terrible gardener—like, if plants had the death penalty, I’m pretty sure I’d be the unwitting executioner every time—but I really love this particular variety of tomato called Black Krim. I had moderate success back in, like, 2017, but ever since, I’ve had a devil 冷of a time getting them to grow. My latest attempt is indoors using an auto-waterer I designed and built myself (smug head-toss) and (as of today) two grow lamps. I started it from a seed and have learned a lot already (like why there are holes in the bottom of planters [hint: the water turns septic if you don’t let it out—yuck!]), but it has not one but two flowers today, and I’m super excited. A bit more fine-tuning on the watering, the planter, and the pollinating, and I might actually get some home-grown tomatoes—in December! Gosh, food sounds good right now…

Anyway, I think I’m gonna wrap this up for now and play Factorio for a bit. Assuming Amazon actually accepts the latest story, I’ll update the Books and Links page with the URL. Until then, happy Thanksgiving, all, and be safe on Black Friday!