Sorry for my lack of posts - and for my lapse in attention that left four days this week without a story chapter! (Embarrassing!) I've got chapters queued up for about two weeks again which will take me through our vacation.
Maybe a vacation is exactly what I need to regain the pep that I've lost this summer - a summer which has been too hot and has had unanticipated challenges of its own.
Writing
I'm working hard on Decima 3 (still untitled) which I need to have done by the end of September to avoid another gap in chapters. I'm also working on an erotic fun write to precede my next Swan Valley story. (Possibly my Nanowrimo write for this year??? Though my next Ash Creek story or my next Velantia story are vying for that honor right now.)
I love finding out that people have been buying my books. Not a lot, but a few. It's just awesome! So far, my most popular book is the erotic work "Exploits of John McNally" - which was written someone impromptu to precede "Phantom Road" which was last year's Nanowrimo write. I find it funny, because I don't think it's my best storyline, just a bit of adult fun. But apparently, people want some of that, so I'll keep working on "12 Months of Jade" which will be shared at some point - just before the reader gets to meet Sparrow.
Diet and Health
I've been getting benefits from eating a largely carnivore diet recently. My energy levels seem to improve when I do not eat plants - especially grains. I'm not strict, and monitor my blood pressure to see which foods I really can't have. There have been some surprises along the way, such as the fact I can't seem to tolerate nuts and seeds at all. Disappointing, but better to know and eliminate than continue to suffer from them!
Still making adjustments, but my blood pressure is returning to a normal reading. Hopefully, the bathroom scale will start working with me as well, rather than me having to remind myself of the fact that muscle weighs more than fat!
The next thing I'm doing is supplementing iodine at a therapeutic dose again. I have struggled with hypothyroid in the past, and though I was able to achieve normal results on my own (after discovering that thyroxine was a major chronic fatigue trigger for me), I am aware that subclinical hypothyroidism is still a possibility. Listening to an interesting doctor that I respect, I've decided to supplement again, remembering that it helped in the past.
Although we're told to be afraid of iodine, I know that we can use more than we're told - and with my strong seafaring Viking heritage, it's just about possible I need more iodine than the average person - due to ancestry. I'm aware of possible symptoms of overdosage, so will keep an eye on things like heart palpitations, but I'm increasingly aware that iodine deficiency is very common in the population at large. I'll let you know if it helps - probably by increasing my posts again!
Fire and Heartbreak
I learned on the 5th of July, that a place I used to live had burned to the ground. It was an important place to my family - having been lived in by my aunt/uncle, cousins, one of my brothers and then by myself and daughters. It was sold in 2014, I think it was... and the new owners didn't take very good care of it. (To the degree that the publicly available overhead Google Map images were replaced with the older ones!)
It appears that it was arson (thrown fireworks from a passing vehicle) plus the fact the place was such a mess that the firefighters had a hard time getting to the building. A 1912 church, lived in as a residence for more than 25 years, gone in the matter of minutes. Heartwrenching. I will share more about this place at some point, I'm sure.
Before
(Google Streetview)
This was after the place was sold and the new owners started storing literally hundreds of mannequins all over the property (which confused firefighters at first.)
During the blaze
(from one of the newspapers - now in my personal archives for obvious reasons)
(My room was at the leftmost part of the house as we see it here.)
The morning after
(another newspaper image - now in my personal archives)
No one was hurt in the blaze, but the house, 1912 church and several outbuildings were completely destroyed. One of the places of my past is now completely gone.
Animals
The fish are doing well, now that tanks are established. I've made some local friends who grow plants to improve the quality of the water. We have baby guppies and baby mystery snails that I need to start selling when we get back from vacation.
We have guinea pigs who have been a fun adventure, though we need to work out how to increase their space without losing floor space (that we don't have spare).
The girls are looking after a group of mice, which really do make great pets.
The chickens are also pretty happy, though as all but one are older, they don't produce the eggs that we'd like to see, but that's okay for now.
Gardening
I simply haven't been able to do as much as I wanted this year. First of all, we had those stupid, hot temperatures in early May which really just knocked wind out of the sails. I discovered that I really dislike Jiffy peat pellets - they are as bad as toilet paper rolls were in my experience... hard to keep moist. I had a lot of early success, but most of the plants died after that.
Add to this the fact that I'm working out what I want to do as a long-term gardening strategy in light of my dietary changes. I think the long-term plan will be to focus on fruits, rather than traditional vegetables. Which is what I like to eat more anyway - and what is most cost effective for growing oneself.
We might also tackle a better autumn strategy this year to help the girls do 4-H next spring.
Vacation time!
I have my chapters queued up, so I will still appear active, but I won't expect to have much internet while we're off to the Black Hills of South Dakota... one of the states I haven't been to before, despite being to every state on every side of it! So, hopefully lots of pictures coming up!
Fire images from local newspapers, used for personal reasons (grieving) only.
River photos taken in June 2021 along the North Platte River, here in Casper with my Nikon D7200.
Past issues...
2021
Happy 2021 to Everyone! (New Year's Day)
June 6, 2021 - Fish, Farming and the Future - including feature photo of Paul R Tregurtha
2020
Feb 2, 2020 - Flu Sucks!
Feb 9, 2020 - Planning 2020
Feb 16, 2020 - Skating and Eating and Writing, Oh My!
Feb 23, 2020 - Chicken Scratchings and Graphics
Mar 1, 2020 - Inspections R Us
Mar 8, 2020 - New Chicks
Mar 15, 2020 - Pandemic Hits Writing
Apr 5, 2020 - Fools in April?
Jun 14, 2020 - Of Gardens and Vibes
Oct 6, 2020 - Drawing the Line - When it is time to quit (Not Sunday)
Dec 15, 2020 - Winter, Writing and Winging It (Not Sunday)
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
(Buy my work at RedBubble, TeePublic, PicFair and DeviantArt.)
verified author on Goodreads
(Buy my books at Books2Read and at LBRY)
find me on Twitter
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