Of Red Beard and Persnickety Doors by Konnie Enos

 

Yesterday, I was sitting on my bed doing something on my computer when my attention was momentarily grabbed by the sound of the nearby bathroom closing. I glanced up, not expecting to see much if someone had just gone in there. However, I did see my son walking away from the bathroom.

Now I know I did not mix him up with any other member of the family because well, he’s huge. Maybe not by most standards because he isn’t even six feet tall. However, he is more than 50 pounds heavier than his dad and sister, not to mention about 5 inches taller. He’s nearly 11 inches taller than I am.

But beyond his obvious size, he is also the only person in this household with whiskers since my husband is clean shaven. Then again, if my husband had a beard, it would be as white as his hair is. My brunette-haired son has an obvious red beard. Even if his brother still lived here and was growing out his beard, his brother’s beard is the same color of his hair (which is brown).

This is all to say that my son sticks out. I could not have mixed him up with any other family member.

I assumed because the bathroom door was clearly shut, one of the other two family members had gone in there as he was coming out. Since my husband tends to spend quite a bit of time in the bathroom, I assumed it was him.

Now to what happened a few minutes later.

I needed to use the bathroom, but I had not seen anyone else come out of or otherwise anywhere near the bathroom. My husband had come into our room, and I asked if anyone was in it.

Not only did he not know, but he said he hadn’t been in there or where he could have seen the door, though he did comment that the door was closed.

Normally, if it’s closed I’ll just hurry to the other bathroom. This time, I decided to check merely because I had not seen my daughter near it, and I could hear my son talking to someone in his bedroom. (I assumed on his phone since no visitors were causing the dogs to react to their presence.)

Since all my family members, including my husband, tend to always remember to lock the bathroom door, I figured if it was locked, I’d ask who was in there. Though my option was my daughter since I was talking to my husband and could hear my son.

The door wasn’t locked, and the bathroom was empty.

Well, when I was done using the facilities, and making sure I left the door open, I went to my son’s bedroom, stuck my head in and chewed him out for shutting the door.

I then promptly returned to my room.

It was sometime later, after he got off his phone call, he came to discuss it with me.

He insisted he hadn’t shut the door though did indicate that he often pushes it so close to shut that I cannot tell the difference from my bed.

Okay, true. I do generally have difficulty telling if it is latched or not from my bed. However, this time I had gone up to the door and grasped the handle. If it hadn’t been completely latched it would have moved. It didn’t. I had to turn the knob to unlatch it.

My son maintains that he did not shut the door. The evidence suggests that he did.

He even admitted that his dad was in the other bathroom when he went into the nearest one so there was no reason for his dad to go in there.

I also know it was not my daughter. Not only because I had not seen her, but because she never closes the door when she’s done. She always leaves it most of the way ajar.

On the other hand, Royce is notorious for closing it far enough for it to appear completely closed. Though I can’t say he’s the only one because I’ve done it occasionally and I’ve seen my husband do it.

Due to that bathroom being tiny, the door opens out. So, as you are leaving it is really easy to put enough backward motion on the door for it to swing mostly shut. I can only assume that’s what my son did yesterday.

Although to accept that outcome, I also have to assume that the persnickety bathroom door that prefers to be slammed, firmly pulled or otherwise have some real effort put into it before it will fully latch, actually did so without any effort at all.

It’s mind blowing.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Computers and Heat by Konnie Enos

There has also been so much going on this week that I haven’t even thought about opening Word to do any sort of writing until today.

I believe that I mentioned my old computer had died and I ended up having to share a computer with my son and husband. At first, this wasn’t a big deal because they rarely use it, and I was only using it when necessary. Basically, just doing finances and dealing with our blog posts.

However, I eventually got back in the groove of working on my writing. Specifically editing. I started by reading though and working on the edits to my fantasy. This did take a week or so with starts and stops but this isn’t that long of a novel.

Then I started editing my sci-fi. This is five books long. I’ve been working on them long enough that the first one didn’t need much editing. The second one needed a little more but was nearly perfect too. When I got to the third one, I had to make some needed changes as well. Changes which I had to continue working on as I worked on the fourth and fifth one so that the story flowed well through all the books.  

Now the fourth book needed some work on getting to the right finish for it. I’d already written it, but it wasn’t in the fourth book. Mostly because I’d ended it in the wrong place and put it in the fifth book instead. I fixed that.

Now, although I had most of the story for the fifth book, it was missing needed elements and scenes. Not to mention I’d deleted about two chapters from it to finish the fourth book. So now I was doing both writing and editing. Not to mention still going back to book four and sometimes book three to correct the flow of the story. And I did okay on getting all that work done but I only made it to the exciting last day of the story before I hit some roadblocks. I have the ending of the whole series but not the ending for the storyline in the fifth book, so it still needs work because I don’t know the best way to end that storyline yet.

Anyway, after hitting that snag, I realized I’d been neglecting important things like keeping up with balancing our checkbook register. So, I was still on the computer a lot.

This is where the men in our household started to get frustrated with my using the computer all the time. My son wanted to play his VR games and my husband just found more reasons to use a computer rather than his phone.

My son was relatively easy to deal with since he’s a night owl and usually wanted it when I was going to bed anyway. My husband, however, was getting on my nerves. He’d say he needed the computer as soon as possible so I’d stop working on whatever I was doing, often trying to fix the last book in my sci-fi series, and he wouldn’t even touch the computer for hours. Several times he didn’t get on it at all that day.

I decided it was time to figure out replacing my computer, so I didn’t have to share with him. The issue was, I didn’t have four hundred dollars for one. My son helped me find one that was small, light, refurbished and under two hundred dollars. I’m still getting used to the size of the keyboard. It also lacks a ten-key pad so I will probably have to get one to plug in since I use the ten-key for so much. (Our finances being a big one.)

Anyway, while I was waiting for my computer to arrive, my daughter contacted me, wanting me to come see her. Money being what it is, and our far too recent issues with large unexpected, but necessary expenses, we didn’t have anywhere near enough money to cover round trip airfare for me to go to the other side of the continent and back. It took a few days for us to figure out a flight for me. In the meantime, my new computer arrived so I could take my own with me instead of taking the shared one.

Now I’m at my daughter’s place trying to type on a keyboard that is clearly smaller than what I’m used to and some of the keys aren’t in the same position as I’m familiar with. Delete and backspace being the two most obvious ones that I must hunt for when needed.

The temperatures here are also higher than I anticipated. I should have packed my shorts and worn my sandals. Such is life.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Research, Notes, and Writing by Bonnie Le Hamilton

The other night I had a dream that someone asked me if I’ve ever played football. I was about to say of course I haven’t when a kaleidoscope of events that occurred when I was around twenty-one crossed my mind and I had to amend my answer.

The thing is that is the only time I ever played!

All my roommates and I joined up with a bunch of guys at a nearby park to play. As we divided into teams, I kept trying to tell them I’d never played, but no one would listen. As the team I was on formed a huddle, I finally got our captain to understand I knew nothing about the game.

He pointed out one of my larger roommates and told me all I had to do was keep from her passing our scrimmage line.

Okay.

I still wasn’t sure I could do it. This girl was taller and broader than my then less than five feet, 125 pounds body. But I lined up with the rest of my team directly across the field from said roommate.

When everyone started running forward, I took a couple of steps, planted my feet firmly in place, and then held my arm out to my side, the side for which she was aiming.

As she got to my arm, I put my whole body into moving my arm in front of me.

Within seconds she was flat on her back at my feet, staring up at me totally stunned I managed that.

My team captain yelled, “We’re playing tag football not tackle!”

I faced him and said, “You said stop her; I stopped her!”

My roommate spent the rest of the evening commenting on how I was stronger than I looked.

She was probably glad I stopped playing because soon after that my hip started bothering me and I sat down on the sidelines for the rest of the game.

I’ve never played football again. But some years later I came across a booklet titled “A Football Widow’s Handbook” which I studied thoroughly because my husband was into watching the sport.

Nowadays, anytime Konnie needs any information related to football for a story of hers, she asks me.

I lost that booklet decades ago, and I lost my husband over a decade ago, so it’s been at least that long since I’ve watched a football game, but Konnie still turns to me for such information.

Though it’s been a while since she’s asked me about football. More recently she asked me about makes of cars and their sizes. You know, to be more specific in her story. In other words, telling the types of vehicles wasn’t going to cut it.

Good thing I have a computer. I just looked up some of the makes I could think of. Konnie couldn’t come up with any.

So, I guess I do know cars better than she does but let’s keep in mind I have one story where the two main characters are auto mechanics. And boy did I have I have to do quite a bit of research for that!

Of course, I’ve also got one where the female lead is a pilot. And yes, I did a lot of research for that one too.

Now I’m working on my sci-fi and I had to do a lot of research, more than any of the rest.

I had to look up military ranks because the hero is in the military. But I also had to research the Greek Alphabet and study how fables were written for my backstory for the series which is an ancient fable for the world I’ve built. I did write the fable.

Then I also had to look into things like kings and their heirs, because that plays a role in my story, and for good measure, I looked up ranks of nobility.

Let’s not forget looking up a bit of science so my solar system I’m making up works!

Yeah, I’ve done more research for my sci-fi than I’ve ever done for any of my contemporary romances.

But then when I’m not researching, I have also done a lot of drawing up floor plans for the characters' homes, and for my Moose Creek series, I have a file on the family groups, including birth and marriage dates, and another file of who graduated in what year from the local high school. I also have the genealogy of the main family in that series, back several generations. I also have a file on family groups for my speculative fiction. Yeah, I take lots of notes.

As I write a story, I note character names, ages, and whatever else I need to remember, including my research notes.

How about you?

Happy writing all!

Appologies by Konnie Enos

 Bonnie is having technical issues and is unable to get her blog post up or send it to me so I can get it up. Her tech issues include that she was unable to text, or email me to warn me about the issues in time for me to get something up. I assume she didn't call me because she was dealing with this in the middle of the night. 

Hopefully, she'll have her technical issues fixed before our next post needs to go up.

Enjoy the holiday (July 4th) and check back next week.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Emergencies and Busy Schedules by Konnie Enos

Almost two weeks ago I noticed the symptoms of a UTI. I knew what it was and how to treat it. UTIs are common and can be treated in the early stages with home remedies. The best ones are drinking lots of water and cranberry juice.

Water I had covered. Cranberry juice required a trip to the store, which I did not feel like going to. Since there are only two other people in the house who can drive my choices were Melinda and Jerry.

I knew if Melinda went the task would be quickly and easily accomplished without further input than I needed some cranberry juice. I also knew she would not want to be disturbed at that hour. Being neurodivergent she gets testy if her set schedule of doing things is disrupted. Grocery shopping is done on Friday or Saturday morning. Also, it just happened to be around the time she would insist on beginning meal prep for our dinner. Now she can switch gears for an emergency, but I didn’t think this was serious enough to disturb her.

Besides, Jerry was just across the room rather than on the other side of the house.

With my beloved husband, I not only had to be extremely clear about what I wanted, but I had to write it down. Even then, he wasn’t sure he’d get it right and therefore roped the only other person in the house to go with him for help and moral support. Therefore, I also had to tell Royce explicitly what I wanted.

Thankfully, the mission was accomplished.

However, within a day or so I figured out I’d miscalculated. My infection was more advanced than I expected and did not quickly respond to the juice.

I found myself at the stage where pain and difficulty using the bathroom meant it was time to see the doctor. By this time, it was late evening on a Friday. This was not waiting for office hours.

Jerry took me to the nearest urgent care that was open at that hour. (Meaning an emergency room.) They ran a couple of tests and agreed with my diagnosis. They sent me home with antibiotics.

I’m really good at taking my medicine so I figured that issue was dealt with.

By Wednesday the pain had moved up into my back. I’ve had Kidney infections before.

I called the nurse's line. She said to be seen within the hour. I did try my doctor, but he couldn’t fit me in until the next day. Back to the urgent care I went. I figured they’d run some tests and get me a stronger antibiotic.

When the doctor told me they were admitting me I was floored.

Then they spent the entire night requiring blood samples that took no less than THREE pokes each time to just get any blood. I was tired (they kept waking me up) and my arms were starting to fill up with bruises from all their efforts. They had put in an IV, which was receiving the fluids they were flushing just fine, but it would not let them draw any blood from it.

So, they decided the best option was a PIC line. Which required them to first locate the vein with ultrasound. It took most of the next day for the tech needed to do it to arrive, but she managed to get that line in.

Thankfully, they managed it before my IV decided to stop working so I didn’t get poked and prodded anymore. Though, of course, the damage had been done. My arms were full of some very colorful bruises.

After two days they sent me home with stronger antibiotics and I’m doing much better now. However, I did spend an additional couple of days in my bed recuperating from the experience. A full week later and my arms are still recovering. The smaller bruises on the back of my hands are nearly all healed. They are not nearly as visible though if I happen to hit them they still feel bruised. The ones where the IVs were are still very colorful.

After all of this, Melinda, Jerry, and I discussed what we needed to do this week and discovered that our week, especially Tuesday, was packed. Three of us had overlapping appointments.

I took Jerry to his morning appointment so Melinda could have the car for hers. I was supposed to take Paratransit to mine, but they were running late. Fortunately, Melinda took less time than expected. Jerry was supposed to run his second errand while I was at the doctor's but delayed it until I got back.

It was a bit of a stressful and long day.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.