Fall Reading
Well, the weather is definitely turning cooler. I was hoping it would hold out until November. The END of November! I am covering the tomato plants at night in hopes that several more ripen properly. We were down to 44 last night. With covers, I can probably squeak a couple more weeks out of the tomatoes. I made pico de gallo three times this week. And another Lasagna and more tomato sauce!
cover of dragon freehold. Lady warrior on front T.M. Baumgartner had a new book out this week, so I paused life, brewed a cuppa and had a great time reading it. This is book two of the series, Dragon Fortune, and it was nice to visit some familiar friends and make a couple of new ones. Baby dragons always add to the intrigue and we all know from reading Dragon’s Egg what a egg-sitting dragon is like! No one wants to visit, that is for sure!
Book one is Dragon Freehold and it remains one of my all-time favorite reads. Cozy fantasy, thief shenanigans, and dragons. A perfect read really. At all retailers and also in Kobo Plus.
In other news, I’ve just started working on pumpkins. Hmm. I’m not too sure about this. But I’ll have some sort of decoration for my booth on Oc 25th at Espy’s winery. Speaking of which, paperbacks are in for the sale. If you want a signed copy of any of my books, now is the time to speak up. I’ll sign it and ship it!
The decorations as they…exist today. Any idea yet what I’m making??? Don’t worry. I’m not too sure myself!!!
Cozy Fantasy Sale and Bear Turds
Those two topics are completely unrelated, just so you know.
EXPIRED DEAL: First, there’s a big cozy fantasy sale this weekend, two days only. And she means two days only (It used to be one day only, but too many people missed out). The sale pages are only up for Oct 11 and Oct 12. I’ll also update this post with a link to my newsletter. It contains all the sale info and some book recs as well. For those of you looking for the links to Dragons of Wendal, look here. Audio for Witch Way (Null Witch audio will be out Dec 2025, narrated by the fabulous Lori Barkin.) Links for One Good Eclair. END EXPIRED DEALS.
[η»ε:Probable pile of bear shit]I don’t know how big this bear was, but it left behind impressive cow-patty sized turds. We’d been seeing what I assumed was coyote scat along the fence on our property where we walk for a couple of days. Yeah, I didn’t look too closely until this pile showed up. Then I realized that the turds were too big for coyote droppings. The two smaller piles we saw might be cubs (but they are not small cubs from the size of the leavings). So now we’ll have to be on the lookout and a bit more careful when we take our walk. We could set up a trail camera and catch the visitors in the act. For any of you who read the blog, do not send these pictures to my friend Christine. When she was here visiting this past summer, she didn’t want to park her RV at my house because she is afraid of coyotes. I reassured her that the coyotes are noisy, but highly unlikely to show any interest in her RV. I’m not too sure I could say the same for bears. I mean, they probably aren’t interested. But she does travel with bacon in her fridge…
Okay, so you probably want more cheerful photos. As you know we had to evacuate this summer in June due to a nearby (very nearby) forest fire. So my garden didn’t do very well. Most of the plants died and I had to replant late. This included the flowers. So here we are in Oct and I am getting tomatoes in, but also some very nice wild flowers.
[η»ε:calundula flower]
[η»ε:pink cosmos]
[η»ε:white cosmos]
I invited all my newsletter readers to stop by and tell us what they are reading or to just opine in general. So welcome and feel free to drop a comment.
Stealing Words
As if it isn’t bad enough that we have to worry about cattle being stolen, we have to worry about words being stolen. One of the first AI class action lawsuits is at the stage where we authors need to see if our work was stolen and submit a claim. Here’s where you can look up by name, publisher or title. There’s also instructions on the page for submitting a claim. The judge did not rule against AI scraping/stealing per se–but Anthropic, the AI company in this case, actually stole the works by downloading via a piracy site instead of paying for the works and THEN plagiarizing. The judge ruled that downloading and using stolen material is against copyright. So, there may someday be a payment if the lawyers leave anything on the table. If you are an author, go see if your books are listed. Perhaps we should post “No Hunting” signs in the front and back of our books.
My thanks to author John Scalzi for posting about the lawsuit and providing appropriate links.
No Hunting Signs
Today I trekked around the nearby ranch fence line and replaced the no hunting signs that Dad put up ages ago. Dad and I replaced the plastic facing part (attached to wooden boards) about 3 years ago. The wind and sun destroy the face side so we have to keep replacing them. We always post in hopes no one will shoot a deer and then cut the fence to drag the deer out during hunting season. Cut fences mean loose cattle that have to be put back in.
Lately, there’s been a slew of cattle thefts too. We’re not telling anyone when we’ll bring the calves down to this pasture because we don’t want anyone to know they are there. A few weeks ago someone (several someone’s) drove to a ranch and stole 200 head of cattle. TWO HUNDRED. That is not a small effort. It had to involve several people and multiple vehicles. Beef prices are finally up and now, instead of getting very little at market, thieves come and steal the cattle! This was the second theft we heard of in the area. You can bet the paperwork wasn’t in order for whoever bought those cattle or took them to another ranch!
I doubt my “no hunting” and “no trespassing” signs are going to deter too many thieves. Mostly we rely on being remote and the cattle being scattered over rough terrain. The near ranch is a bit too close to civilization for our comfort during these times. We still have rough terrain in our favor. And my signs. Of course.
Craft Festivals and a Lack of Decorating Talent
I decided to sign up to sell books at Espy’s craft festival this fall (Oct 25). What I did not know is that this year, because the date is so close to Halloween, we are supposed to decorate the booth. With Halloween stuff. Uhm…
I called my niece, Samantha, ten minutes after I learned of this “decorating” assignment. She’s young! Talented! Can draw! And apparently has carved pumpkins before. The only carving I’ve done on a pumpkin is to cook them. I cook things, I don’t decorate them! I can hike, so I hiked out and found some gourds. Apparently you can dry them and paint them. I also emailed LeAnn and Cathey and April the Dragon, all of whom have actual decorating talent. I think if I can get six or seven people to help, we can manage a pumpkin and a gourd. If I’m lucky, maybe two gourds!!!
I am not dressing up. Look, I’m already a witch. So I’ll go as a human. DRESS UP???? I haven’t done that since I was six. Maybe seven. If I could, I’d take Leo the Cat and let him be the Halloween representative. But I’m pretty sure he’s having none of it. If anyone asks, I’m going to tell them I’m really a frog, but I’ve turned into a princess. Anyone have a crown I can borrow????
I do like flowers, but I am not sure there will be any flowers for a vase by Oct 25. Maybe some dried lavender? Bother.
So what are your plans for October? Surely you must have some good books to read!!!
Peonies and Books
Okay, it’s time to plant garlic and peonies. No, these species are not related. I planted some garlic, but the usual place I buy bulbs is out. I haven’t planted garlic in a few years because fall passed me by so quickly, I didn’t have time to get them in the ground. This year, I had three cloves left from the farmers market, so I planted them. Yeah, I kinda wanted to eat them because they were the last three cloves…
Anyway, anyone out there know where I can find some peony roots? Obviously I want the fall planting ones, any color. Who grows them and who knows a reliable place to buy them???
I was able to finally harvest some Indian Paintbrush seeds this year. They are native to NM, but the seeds don’t germinate well. Partly because it is so dry, but also because they are a parasitic (there’s another name for it…hemiparasite) plant. They have to be grown on or very near grass or another plant so the Indian Paintbrush roots can steal nutrients in hard times. I have already planted some of them from my harvest and I also ordered some extra. I’ve only been trying to populate them around my house for 6 years now.
cover of starter villain with a cat head in a business suitIn books I think you will enjoy, I finished reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi. It’s a superhero/supervillain a category I don’t read often, but that has been a little more popular in the last few years. Think comic book in a novel. This one has a lot of satire, some very good humor and is safe for cozy readers other than the occasional f-bomb. The artwork was done by Tristan Elwell. Very good book.
What is everyone else planting? Or reading???
Null Witch Audio Book News
As you probably know, I narrated Witch Way a while back. Yes, yes, I am no actress, but I gave it a whirl. I uploaded it on Google Play and Kobo. It’s in KP in case you subscribe. I’d tell you not to laugh at me when you listen to it, but half the point of books is humor, so it’s really okay if you find yourself grinning and chuckling, even if it is at my expense! Witch Way is technically the first book in a series, although all the books in the “series” are stand alone stories.
[η»ε:cover of null witch silhoutte of woman with cougar overlooking a sunset]Null Witch, technically book two in the series, is a rather long novel, over 100k words. I was not about to try narrating that behemoth. The good news is that I hired the adorable and talented Lori Barkin to narrate it! She officially started on it a couple of weeks ago. If all goes well, the audio book will be published in time for Christmas shopping! I will publish it first on Google Play and Kobo. Unfortunately, due to the cost of producing audio books, I will not be able to make Null Witch audio available in Kobo Plus, not for a few years anyway. I will probably publish it on Amazon eventually. Unfortunately Amazon doesn’t allow me to control pricing for audiobooks and has a lot of other rules too. They are also the number one place to sell audio and ebooks. And probably print books too. But their terms are not the best and it could take me years to earn back my investment. If you have thoughts on where you’d like to see Null Witch published, let me know!
In a few weeks, I hope to have a sample chapter of Null Witch narration up on the blog so you can all experience Lori’s voice and acting. But do click over and check out some of her samples. She’s both hilarious and talented and I’m having a lot of fun working with her.
A few of you helped me select Lori–huge thanks to all of you for listening and opining. I listened to over fifty narrators and received samples from two. Because audio books are so expensive to produce, I needed to pick out a voice that stood out from the crowd, was pleasant to listen to, and someone with the talent to bring the characters and story alive. I can’t WAIT to listen to more of Lori’s fabulous narration!
Feel free to share the names of your favorite narrators/narrated audio books!
Some Tomatoes
[η»ε:tomatoes, apple, pear]Finally have some tomatoes. We also ate two small cucumbers. It doesn’t appear we will get any more zucchini and I only got one. Hmph. What a year. In the good news category, Tony is all moved in. He’s taking good care of Mom and his wife is also a big help. I don’t have to run over to water or clean or even take meals, although I do still take some food and desserts. Mind you, I add a lot of fiber to desserts these days. The sugar does a bad number on her. I use the white wheat flour from King Arthur, now called Golden Wheat. I guess someone noticed it’s not really white. It’s delicious and not overpowering like red wheat flour.
The apples in the glass container came from Dad’s tree. The deer ate MOST of the apples, but I managed some. The red apples are from a farm stand up the road. The lemons are just from the grocery store. We’ve eaten a couple of BLTs and are definitely enjoying the tomatoes. I have muted hopes that it stays warm enough for me to harvest many more tomatoes. I have two plants that are loaded, but most of the fruit is still green.
What are you harvesting this week? And what are you reading?
Gila Cliff Dwellings Visit
We had company come in from out of town for an overnight visit. On Saturday we drove them to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Anyone who has read Year of the Mountain Lion (kobo) may recognize the description of the dwellings. It was quite beautiful and while we saw wildfire damage on the drive there, the ruins and that area were untouched. One weird thing was that when I checked with mapquest to make sure I had my roads in order, the Gila Cliff Dwelling Monument showed up in two places on the map and neither place was where the dwellings are actually located…No idea what that was about. I called my brother, who works for FedEx and has the route up there, and he confirmed they were open and not burned in the wildfire, so there was that.
Since I’ve been there a few times over my life, I forgot to actually take pictures, but I’ll ask my friends to send me a couple. Well, better yet, here’s a picture from the official site and it’s a great one. It was a beautiful hike this time of year and not strenuous. The drive out there was nice too. There’s a lot less water in the Gila River than there should be, but I guess after two years of severe drought, that’s going to happen.
What are you up to this weekend and what are you reading?
Great Horned Owls
For you peeps up North, it’s possible that migration has begun. We had two great horned owls around our place a few nights ago. I hoped they’d stay and eat up all the mice and critters running around, but after two nights, I haven’t heard them. I know they winter in Texas. We have had owls winter here too, but not last year. There’s less forest to the north of us due to the fire, but there’s plenty of room for some owls. I’m always hoping some will move into our barn, but it’s a fairly typical aluminum? panel one so while a few birds do nest along the beams, so far no bats, swallows or owls. We did get bats roosting on the side of our house and believe me, that is not where we wanted them. Excrement can eat right through paint, stucco, concrete, drywall…you get the picture. I told them to go to the barn too and we put up yellow lights to keep them from roosting. The swallows at mom’s appear to be moving south as well. Hummers are still around, and I can’t tell if more are coming through, but it’s quite possible. There’s still plenty of sage in my garden for them to stop and fill up.
Meanwhile, I’m starting to get two to three tomatoes per week. Not a bumper crop, but enough to supply tomatoes for our chicken salad sandwiches. I might get three or four cucumbers as some have finally set. Maybe I should try roof gardening…no, mice can get up there too. The skunks can’t, but even the chipmunks get up there. Guess I’ll save the roof for solar panels or a windmill.
Do you see any migration in your area?