Friday Frying

Summer has set in with its usual severity. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A quick post to chat before I put up the next one -- it's another "dog dish" post, and I don't normally do two a week -- but LOOK at that cover! How could I resist?

It's sweltering here. In the high 90s with about 800% humidity (which is what makes it so bad) and we have no A/C in our house. Even with my fan, my laptop gets so hot I almost can't touch it. My glasses won't stay up .... just slide on down on the sweat that drips from my skin. By 9:00 it's not safe to be outside doing much of anything. I walked the dog yesterday at 7 a.m., and by the time I was home I was dripping.

We have two more days of this coming (today and Saturday). While I'm reasonably certain I'll survive it, it's really very uncomfortable.

And, although we still have no monarchs, we're making up for it in Milkweed Tussock Moths. Check it out:



They stay in a group like that until they're quite big, completely decimating the leaf they're on and moving to the next. It's really pretty incredible.

Wishing everyone a cool, pleasant and fun weekend! Anyone have plans? I do! My friend, Michele, is coming up for a visit. I can't wait.

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You Should Play Classical Guitar

You have an idea of how the world should be. You have a very clear vision for your life. People respect you for holding on to your ideals. You don't stray from what you believe in. You're the type of person who still believes in changing the world. You passionately believe that things should be better. You have strong emotions. You listen to your heart... it has rarely led you astray.

What Classical Instrument Should You Play?

That's about 80% right!

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Summer, She is Coming to an End

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

Signs that summer is nearly over:

It was DARK when I got up this morning...

Yesterday I peeled, chopped, steamed, smashed and froze five butternut squash. My SIL said I should just store them like the pioneers did, whole and down in my basement, but I HATE processing them so just want to get it over with.

I cut back most of my perennials because they're done blooming and look ugly now. Plus, some of them have a tendency to reproduce like CRAZY if I don't dead head them immediately (the coneflower, black-eyed susans, columbine and bachelor buttons are the worst, but they're all pretty bad).

My tomatoes are beginning to ripen. It's mostly the cherry tomatoes right now, but a few of my larger ones are beginning to blush (either that or they're embarrassed).

Back to school sales (office supplies, how I love you).

The nights are getting cool and crisp (except for last night, which stayed quite warm).

We only have four more monarch pillars, and they are all pupae (so far, the one I glued to the roof is still green, leading me to believe he's still alive -- but only when he hatches and is NOT deformed will I truly breath a sigh of relief).

*sigh*

The summer flew by. It's just not right considering how slowly the winter drags.

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You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything. You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life. You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you. Given enough time alone, it's easy for you to find inner peace. You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life. Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times. At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you. You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others. You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperament Are You?

This is only about 25% correct.

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Heatwave

Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme heat kills, and so extreme cold... - George Chapman

Okay, I realize for those of you down south, it may not sound like much ... but we're in the middle of a massive heatwave up here in the northeast -- temps in the high 90s to 100+ and incredibly humid. What makes this worse is that we don't typically get temps like these, not for more than a day or two, so just aren't prepared for it.

I have no A/C in my house. Not even a window one. So, I sit and sweat and suffer.

This morning, our sediment filter for the house was full. DH changed it out this morning, and it's already getting full again. What this could indicate is that our well is drying out and we're hitting bottom. We aren't expecting any rain for almost a week so it's conceivable that we may run out of water. He seems unconcerned. I'm exactly the opposite, and am VERY concerned about the possibility. I'm praying for rain, and a lot of it.

I can't walk the dog, even first thing in the morning. I tried today, but it's already almost 80 out, and feels like I'm swimming through the air. I don't know if I can take four more days of this. Today is supposed to be the worst day and then it's "cooling off" into the low 90s for the rest of the week (but the humidity is increasing -- I didn't think that was possible).

I want a summer home in Alaska.

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In Pillar Place: Swallowtail -- just to prove me wrong, we had two butterflies emerge yesterday: Epsilon and Zeta (both males). This morning, five more were fluttering around: Nu, Mu, Eta, Beta, and Theta (three males and two females). This leaves three more (I think ... the butterflies are still drying their wings so I don't want to open up the box and check).

In Pillar Place: Monarch -- Xi has about doubled in size. It's incredible how quickly they grow. We found Omincron, inside a small curl in the leaf, little bugger. We'd like to go on another egg hunt, but it's just too hot to be tromping around outside in the sun, so it may have to wait until next week.

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Got more writing done yesterday. It's a bit frustrating, though. I can SEE the scene in my head. See the characters as they move and speak, but I'm struggling to convert that into words that bring it to life. Still, I like the story and the characters, so I think it'll work itself out.

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You Are Sideburns

You are quirky and a bit of a goofball. You don't take yourself too seriously, but you do pride yourself in being unique. You take something ordinary and put your own twist on it. You have a naturally funky sense of style. You are the last person you know to get stuck in a rut. In fact, you're well known for not really having strong habits or patterns. You shake things up before they get boring. You're constantly changing and evolving... no one can keep up!

What Kind of Facial Hair Are You?

HAHAHAHAHAHA... no.

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A Perfect Summer Day

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade. ~Gertrude Jekyll

What a gorgeous weekend we're having! Yesterday was sunny, in the high 80s and a slight breeze. I ended up having to mow (normally my DH does -- he loves to do it), a task that would have gone much quicker if I didn't have to keep stopping for frogs. The frustrating part was that they looked like the mushrooms we have growing in our lawn so I'd be toodling along and then... a mushroom would hop! LOL...

In any case, I'm fairly certain no reptiles or amphibians were injured yesterday on our lawn, which is not always the case.

Today I'm going to look for a systemic pesticide -- something I hate to use -- for my squash bug problem. Every year my plants get hit by the squash borers. Last year, I managed to catch and squish a bunch of the moths before they laid their eggs, which gave me a little extra time with my plants, but they still ended up dying well before the end of summer. Since I can't "pick" the larvae (they drill into the base of the squash stem when they're born), I have little choice but to try to kill them systemically. Organic controls are dubious at best, and I've tried them with little success.

My SIL had a moose in her backyard on Friday. A teenager, she thinks, all legs and head. I'm telling you, the wildlife this year is crazy.

Now, I'm heading out to take the dog for an early walk before it gets too hot. Have an awesome day!

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You Should Live in a Mediterranean Home

You are warm, friendly, and welcoming... and your home should be these things as well. You like to work hard, but you also appreciate your down time more than most people. You know how to kick back and relax. Other people find you a joy to be around. You may not be able to be on vacation every day, but you like to bring a little vacation home with you.

What Kind of Home Should You Live In?

Um... not really.

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I'm Bugged!

Cockroaches really put my "all creatures great and small" creed to the test. ~Astrid Alauda

DD and I were taking a look at the garden yesterday. A couple of days ago, she'd found a tomato worm, but he was infested with wasp eggs, and she knows the rules on that: we encourage natural predators so we left him in order to let the eggs hatch.

Unfortunately, it appears that mama wasp missed some of the other worms in our garden. We found them yesterday and HOLY COW were they huge!!! I've never seen tomato worms this enormous -- my bugs are on steroids. Check it out:



Sadly, I discovered that the hummingbird (or "sphinx" moth) is the mama of these critters. I LIKE hummingbird moths. They're really cool to watch. **sigh**

In other news, we also found a monarch pupa on the echinacea around my well pump. At first, we were VERY excited!! It was dark, which should mean it would hatch soon... but on closer inspection, you can't see the wings through the pupa wall, which probably means it has the black death. We're leaving it for now and watching it and hoping for the best. But I do wonder how we missed finding a butterbaby on our milkweed -- we checked it quite closely.

Still, the light is fading earlier each night, I have to grab the birdfeeders and bring them in by 7:30 (so the bear doesn't get them overnight) and I don't put them out until 6 a.m. -- next week, the temps will be in the mid-70s and fall is in the air. Summer was far too short this year, and it's time for school to start (tomorrow! DD is distraught) and time to think about splitting the wood we took down last fall. Time to winterize the lawn and gardens and put away the fans.

I miss summer already.

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Summer

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock

Yesterday was a gorgeous summer day. FINALLY. We did get some thunder-rumbles in the late afternoon, but they passed without rain. It was great!

I have blossoms on my squash, one blossom on my cucumbers (which aren't doing very well -- as opposed to last year when I actually ended up throwing cucumbers away because I had so many and had already canned a zillion jars of pickles, and my neighbors were beginning to run for cover), little bitty green baby maters on my tomato plants. It's exciting.

Pillar Place was busy, too. We had THREE "J" bugs:



And we got a picture of 'pillar Diana kicking off the last shred of her former life as a pillar. It's a 2 minute video, and a bit out of focus because I couldn't pull the camera back far enough (the box was too narrow), but you can see how hard she had to work to get her 'pillar skin off. What amazes me is that they are suspended on each end by one slim thread -- a thread so strong it can take that kind of thrashing around.



Here is how she looked when she was done (though after about an hour, she turned brown to "hide" on the stick):



Ichabod and Abigail went through the same process last night. Ethel went on walkabout late, and is now a "J". We have two more that are about big enough to go walkabout soon... I suspect things will be very quiet for a bit in Pillar Place as they all become pupae, but then butterflies will be busting out all over!

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No writing yesterday -- I was far too busy putzing around outside. Today, though, it looks like rain. So I'm going to attempt to put fingers to keyboard and words to paper.

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And the Winner Is....

My favorite weather is bird-chirping weather. ~Loire Hartwould

I ran all last months comments through Random.org and the winner of this month's contest is: LYNN REYNOLDS!!!

Lynn, email me at authormariannearkins AT gmail DOT com and tell me which prize you'd like to win from this page here.

Thanks to everyone for commenting... a new contest will start later today, when I've had a chance to peruse recently read stories and decide which one I want to share with someone.

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This weekend was absolutely lovely. Warm! Okay, warm for NH -- in the 40s. Sunny! The snow is melting like crazy -- almost my entire front lawn is exposed. Of course, we get brutal, full sun all day long there. My crocus are coming up like CRAZY. I'd forgotten how many bulbs I planted last fall -- I hope they all bloom at the same time. It'll be amazing. There must be 150 little plants all over the place.

Even better? The birds are beginning to sing up the sun. I LOVE that! It's such a happy way to start the day -- just as the sun begins to lighten the sky, the air fills with song. Yep... spring and summer are the best times of year.

I took LONG walks both days. One was 90 mins, the other an hour and my legs HURT today. I am so out of shape. It's so easy to turn into a blob in the winter. There's something about sunshine that begs you to go outside and DO something. Snow and clouds? Not so much.

I've finally talked DH into getting a treadmill for all of us (including Dakota!), but now I have to do my research and get the best bang for the buck. I'm looking for something with a wide enough track I'm not going to fall off with a misstep, something that inclines safely and will take a 200+ lb man running on it. I'd prefer something that folded, but that's optional. And I don't want something that's going to break down after a year. Anyone out there have any suggestions? I could use your help.

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I was going to do a test I found on a quiz site -- but I had some reservations as to its accuracy. The title? TEST HOW HIGH YOU'RE IQ IS.

So instead I give you:

You Are Fairly Skeptical

You're not the type of person who will fall for anything... But you do keep your mind open to all sorts of possibilities. You figure that anything could be true. After all, the world is a strange place. However, you're going to need some convincing before you can believe in aliens or reincarnation!

How Skeptical Are You?

Yep.. that's about right.

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Is is Summer Yet?

In summer, the song sings itself. ~William Carlos Williams

It snowed last night. I took Dakota out at 2:30 a.m. and it was snowing. A lot. And had been snowing a lot for a while. Clearly I am not paying close enough attention to the weather reports, as I had no idea it was supposed to snow. Or perhaps I am in denial.

My local Agway has their seeds out. And the starter kits and peat pots and other horrible temptation. I don't have a greenhouse. I need one, oh-so badly, but I don't have one. So when I opt to start seeds, they end up taking over all the windows in the house. Since I usually start in March and can't plant until the end of May... it's a little crazy. Last year I chose to buy plants instead, and I probably will this year as well. But those little packets of seeds? They call to me.

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Dakota has her AKC Canine Good Citizen test today. Excuse me while I laugh..... :::collects self:::
Okay. The simple fact is this: although she is a sweet, smart dog without a mean bone in her body -- she doesn't always behave. She's a baby with a bundle of energy and tons of goodwill toward nearly everyone.

So? "Sit for a greeting"? HAHAHAHAHAHA! Nope... she stands with her entire body wagging. She doesn't jump (much), but to keep all that excitement under control enough to SIT while she meets someone? Doesn't happen.

Then there's the ever popular "Heeling through a crowd". Note: that's a "crowd" of people AND dogs. So, uh... nope. She's supposed to not pay any attention to anyone, and simply stay calmly glued to my side. There are two flaws to this plan. 1. The 'heel' part. You all have been with me since the beginning and know that I have NOT been able to leash train this girl. 2. the "through a crowd" part. She's ridiculously friendly, and wants to say hello to EVERYONE.

The rest of the stuff is a no-brainer for her. She sits, lies down, stays, doesn't care if you handle her at all (look at her teeth, ears and paw? No problem... see: (forgive the sepia tones -- I have a budding professional photographer on my hands)



She doesn't have separation anxiety ... so that's all good. But the fact is, if she flunks one part, she flunks the test. There are no grades here -- it's Pass or Fail.

Ah, the joy.

Still... she's cute and even smiles for the camera:



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Saturday Sunshine

No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
~James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal, 1848

Re: Yesterday's post -- a few of you mentioned heading over to look at the new LASR, but it's not there yet. Monday morning it will be launched (actually I have my suspicions about my ability to sleep Sunday night, so it may be up earlier than any of us suspect, LOL).

Judy worked like a dog (not MY dog... but, yanno) yesterday working on an HTML template I built her for reviews. It gave me hope that we might just make this in time. When we started this, just over a week ago, I fluctuated between, "This will be a breeze!" (that was the first day), to "We'll never make it." (sounding like Glum in the old cartoon, Gulliver's Travels... remember him?). But, by golly, we might just make it... down to the wire, but still.

Phew.

Then I'm going to sleep for a week.

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Dakota has progressed to the sneezing phase of whatever germ she caught. Last night, she snored with a rattly sound from congestion in her nose. It was actually sort of cute, though probably not for her. Hopefully, she'll be herself again soon.

Poor puppy.

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Hot today. Humid. Sunny. It's rained for three days. Despite not being thrilled about the "humid" part, I'm really ready for some sun. Of course, I'll mostly be inside working on the site, looking out at the sun, but I imagine I'll find time to enjoy it at least a little bit.

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Belmont Stakes today. Despite all the hullabaloo about Big Brown and steroids, I'd be happy to see him win. I remember very clearly watched the Triple Crown races for the last winner, Affirmed. Those were AWESOME races... bet there will never be races that are nose-and-nose like Affirmed and Alydar again. Amazing. Still, it's been quite a while, and we're due. Should be good.

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Your Punk Band Name Is...

The Tired Octagon

What's Your Punk Band Name?

Yeah... that's me.... the tired octagon. I feel a bit more like a square, though...

LASR News and Friday Ramblings

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown

Okay... I got lots of questions and comments on the LASR relaunch coming up on Monday (::fingers crossed::) -- So I thought I'd share the big news.

The reason for the relaunch is two-fold.

First, we wanted to host the reviews onsite. We really always have, but didn't have the hosting space available. Last month, our webhost increased the available space given automatically...and may actually have unlimited space. So -- now we can host all reviews onsite!! Yay!

However, this required that we have content, so we're going back and building April, May and June reviews onto the website -- that's approximately 150 pages (thankfully, I have some help, or it would never get done in time!!).

Second, we have had a HUGE outcrying from erotic romance authors to give them their own space. Neither Judy nor I have much of an interest in erotic romance, but we certainly understand an author's need for promotion. Thankfully, we have two HUGE helpers on the site who do read erotic romance -- and they threw their support behind this. So, we started slowly, originally by offering reviews on another blog, entitled Whipped Cream, and run by Michele and Chris (for the most part -- I was tech support). Next, we began a Yahoo group expressly for erotic romance authors. Most recently, we decided to begin hosting the reviews onsite, but in order to do so we needed to decide on a way to separate the non-erotic content from the erotic content. Though we realize most reviews sites put them all together, we have chosen not to, in an effort to keep The Long and the Short of It a reviews site for non-erotic romance.

So...

In a nutshell (are you sorry you asked?): beginning on Monday, we will have a new front door with links to what are essentially two different sites: LASR and WC. Each site will offer like content -- author interviews, contests, free short stories, reviews, and more. LASR will remain the place to go for non-erotic content, and WC will be exclusively erotic romance.

What this meant for me, though, was this... I had to recreate two entirely new websites. New folders. New links. New pages. New buttons. New headers. New everything. Your old bookmarked links will no longer work -- you'll have to start at the front door (which remains http://www.longandshortreviews.com/) and find the new pages.

Please feel free to take a look around. And, if you happen to find broken links (I'm certain there will be some... there was a lot of input in a short amount of time), please let me know.

Now... back to our regularly scheduled program.

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So, Dakota was really hacking yesterday, especially when she got excited (which was, well, constantly -- **sigh** Irish Setters **sigh**) -- so I took her to the vet in the afternoon.

Her tonsils and lymph nodes are swollen, which indicates some sort of infection. Is it bacterial or viral? Who knows... I do know, though, that when she coughs it sounds like a lung is coming up. So, she's on antibiotics -- dang horse pills! Sheesh. I cut them in half, but still... She's getting them ground up in soft food because I don't feel like trying to shove them down her little throat.

The other dog on the street who goes to daycare, Star, is also sick -- he had nasal discharge in a lovely shade of green. My suspicion is that they picked something up in doggy day care. Not an auspicious beginning to our day care experience.

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It's supposed to be in the mid-90s this weekend. My DH is thrilled and can't WAIT to get out on the boat. Same with DD. I will be home in a house without A/C with a sick dog working on the website. Whee.... lol.... seriously, though, I don't like boating.

And my garden is going to LOVE the heat.

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Your 1920's Name is:

Wilhelmina Queenie

What's Your 1920's Name?

It's.... Tuesday?

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato. ~Lewis Grizzard

I hate Monday holidays. They really mess up my already muddled perception of the days of the week!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

It finally got warm here! Yay! In fact we got warm enough that DD wanted to play in the sprinkler. You need to understand that we use well water -- absolutely frigid -- and yet, she doesn't seem to mind the temps.

So, I give you a sure sign of summer:



Incidentally, I discovered that Photobucket has an editing program where you can blur faces, so I may be able to post pix of DD a bit more often sans visage. That's always good to know.

I also nearly killed my squash and cucumbers -- I didn't realize how dry every thing got. Between the heat and the wind, by midday (despite a watering in the morning) it was dust dry in the garden. The tomatoes can take some heat and dry, but not squash and cucs. They were laying, wilted and flat, gasping for a bit to drink with their dying breaths.

I watered them thoroughly, and the squash perked up immediately. Seriously, I do believe I could see it moving as it changed from utterly wilted to exceptionally perky. The cucs, though? Not so forgiving. Even after a good soaking, I couldn't see much of a difference. I'll check today, but there are two plants, especially, that I may have accidentally sent to the great beyond. Of course, it's not like I don't have a ton of them, but still...

To those wondering what I'll do with "so many" tomatoes? In this house, there is no such thing. The best part of summer is going out and picking them, giving them a quick dusting on the pant leg and eating tomatoes until you're sick.

Whatever is left, I'll can. IF there are any left. I can buy canned tomatoes any time -- but yummy, vine-ripened, warm from the sun tomatoes? Priceless.

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No writing yesterday. Shockingly, I took the day off. Today, I need to finish my short story for LASR and then start to work in editing Stiller Creek for submission. Then I need to work on Camilla and/or Playing House. They both need a LOT of work. But I love them.

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Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are. You are incredibly cautious. You rather miss out on something than make a mistake. No one would ever call you wild... but they would call you responsible. You are a fairly open minded person with a wide range of tastes. You are quite accepting of unusual ideas and people. You are a natural multitasker. You feel alive when you're doing more than one thing at a time. You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way

The Ice Cream Personality Test

Okay... I'm on the fence about the "cautious" one, I don't think I'm THAT cautious, but I do tend to at least give a passing glance before I leap. I am definitely a multi-takser, without a doubt. "Bold in every way". Hmmm... I like that. *G*

Loving Summer

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

I love the summer.

DD picked two burpless cucumbers yesterday, cleaned one off and ate it like a banana. Tons of pea pods went to Grandma, who loves them as a snack. We're getting lots of squash, too, for a change. The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes, and once those babies start to ripen, my life will be perfect.

The flowers are blooming. Butterflies abound.

No... I'm not going to talk about Japanese beetles, or &^%$ deer flies. That just ruins the whole picture.

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I wrote a little more on "Kitchen Matches", another light-hearted little romance. I'm enjoying it quite a lot, and hope other readers will, too. It all started out from a writing prompt at Paperback Writer's blog a LONG time ago. Let me see if I can find it... Hang on a sec (insert hold music here)...It took me a minute, but here it is!

So, thanks PBW.

I also only found two mistakes in the gallery for Pregnancy Cravings, so finished that up and sent it back. I can't wait to have a release date for you!

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No new news from Pillar Place: Swallowtail -- Jill is still eating up a storm, the pupas are still just hanging there -- though I suppose I could tell you that Phil shed his skin -- and, just to be different, his pupa is green instead of brown. The interesting thing about that is, the swallowtail matches is pupa to what it attaches to. So, a stick? Brown. A leaf? Green. Of course, the cardboard is brown, but the netting is white, so I guess green was as close to white as Phil could get.

Now for the new series -- Pillar Place: Monarch

DD and I went hunting for Monarch eggs yesterday, and found more than we needed -- we brought in a bakers dozen (it would have been twelve, but one leaf had TWO eggs!). To be honest, if they all hatch at the same time, the container I bought won't be big enough. That could make life interesting.

We picked up one of the eggs on a walk yesterday, so he's probably from a different momma than the rest of ours. And... he hatched last night as I was going to bed. I'd show you a picture, but my camera just won't get that close to something so tiny. I'll swipe a photo from Bird Chick, so you can see what they first look like:



And, for a peek inside how my brain works, I named him Otto. Here's why: He's the first, but calling him "One" or even something like "Uno" just sounded weird. If you're the first, you're the premiere, right? And, well... doesn't Preminger sound like premiere? And, you all have heard of Otto Preminger, right? So. It should be obvious.

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Your Beauty Element is Air

You're quirky, fresh, and fashionable in a surprising way. You have a beauty that's all your own, and it changes as quickly as the wind!

What's Your Beauty Element?