Lest we forget

Never forget.

How fast can I write?

My Harlequin editor wasn't crazy about the latest Amish proposal I sent her, and asked for improvements. Within minutes of receiving the email, I shot back a somewhat different outline and then heard nothing for a week and a half. Early on Monday morning she emailed and said, "This sounds great! Can you please whip up a 1-3 page synopsis for me to look over? And if it won’t take too much time, 1 chapter?"

I told her I'd have it to her ASAP. How fast can I write?

I was able to punch out a five-page synopsis within a couple hours, and wrote an entire chapter in a day. (I can't take much credit for that. A lot of it was cut-and-spliced from the original three chapters I sent.)

But I got the proposal out the door on Tuesday before noon, about a 24-hour turnaround.

Now the waiting game begins again............

The magnificent photo you'll never get to see

I rarely leave home without my camera, tucked in my purse or pocket. However the other day when Don and I were on our way to town, I noticed the camera had a low battery, so I plugged it in to charge while we were away.

It was one of those, "What can possibly go wrong?" moments. Don always jokes that the one time I'll leave my camera at home, we'll see Bigfoot or something.

Well, I left my camera at home ... and we saw Bigfoot. Sort of.

We were driving along a beautiful stretch of river and passed a small sandbar. An antlered bull elk was on the sandbar, drinking from the river. The dappled sunlit forest was behind him and the sparkling river was before him. It was one of the most visually stunning images I've seen in years.

-----> INSERT PHOTO OF GORGEOUS BULL ELK DRINKING FROM RIVER <-----

And. I. Didn't. Have. My. Camera. With. Me.

Arrrggghhh. I've been kicking myself ever since. It would have been a magnificent shot.

Cue the obsessive carrying of my camera with me everywhere I go from now on.

Product Review Monday

This week's book review is a volume by a delightful author named Tim Young. He's written many books, but the one I'm highlighting today is his classic "The Accidental Farmers."

I've interviewed and been interviewed by Tim Young several times over the years. I tell ya, he's a younger version of Joel Salatin: Someone with a farming vision that goes far, far beyond sustainable and organic.

Here's the Amazon summary: "When Tim and Liz Young decided to leave their comfortable suburban life and become first-time farmers in rural Georgia, they embarked on a journey that would change their lives. The Accidental Farmers reveals how the couple learned that hamburgers, bacon, and eggs don't come from the supermarket but from real animals that forge emotional bonds with their human caretakers. Seeking a middle path between a meatless lifestyle and the barbarism of factory food, Tim and Liz created a sustainable oasis where rare breed animals and humans live together searching for something nearly lost by both humans and the animals...how to live naturally off the land.This book is a personal memoir of the Young's journey to farming and is sure to delight those interested in moving to the country or simply learning more about the struggles of sustainable farming."

"The Accidental Farmers" is a highly inspirational book.

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Don's product recommendation is something he uses so frequently that he just keeps it in the house (rather than the shop). I refer to his faithful stud finder. Specifically, it's a Zircon StudSensor Pro SL Edge Finder Deep-Scanning Stud Finder with SpotLite Pointing System.

Don writes: "I've had this model for over 10 years, possibly longer. It is great for locating studs behind sheet rock and plywood. It locates the edges of the studs very exactly and it's easy to use. The model I have doesn't come with the locator light on the front (but it's a good addition). Works every time for me and does what it says it does. A great tool for a reasonable price."

(Obligatory disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, if you purchase through those links, we earn a small commission.)

(Don't forget: A complete list of all our book and product recommendations are linked here and at the upper-right column of the blog.)

Peachy keen

We planted four peach trees a few years ago at the same time we planted our blueberries. Despite being chewed unmercifully by deer since planting, they're doing reasonably well.

Peaches are, hands down and by a wide margin, my all-time favorite fruit, so this year I was pleased to see the first real crop.

Evidently I'm not the only one who enjoy peaches. I noticed a bunch of pits on the ground.

I had already picked (and eaten) the peaches on the other trees, so this one tree was the last to be harvested.

The fruit came to about seven pounds. I estimate I picked about three pounds from the other trees earlier. So, total, about ten pounds.

We're planning on reconfiguring the fencing around these peach trees to keep the ding dang deer away from the tender leaves. But meanwhile ... yum. Peaches!

Moving the composter

For a variety of reasons, we wanted to move the compost tumbler to another spot. This was easier said than done, because it was quite full.

Still, it's not such a bad thing to clean it out before winter. So I gathered what I needed and got to work.

The tools necessary for emptying the composter include gloves (duh), a bucket or tub to put the compost in...

...and tools to pull the muck out. These tools need to be long-handled (to reach in back) and short-handled (to get everything in the front). My long-handled tool was a triangular hoe:

My short-handled tool was a three-pronged cultivator:

The idea, of course, is to scoop everything out of the composter into the tub. I've learned from experience not to overfill the tub or it's too heavy to move.

The next question is, what to do with the compost? In the absence of chickens, for whom a muck of compost would be welcome diversion, I opted (as I always do) to bury it in one of the garden beds.

At the moment we have two empty garden beds, added too late in the season to plant anything.

So I dug out a bunch of the dirt and dumped the compost into one of the beds. This is the actual purpose of compost, after all: To enrich garden beds. In fact, even after we get chickens, I'll probably keep this up. (If you wonder how I get volunteer plants in the garden, this is why.)

Here, the entire contents of the composter has been deposited in piles.

The next step is to sorta flatten the piles...

...then rake the dirt over it.

It's a dirty job, but only has to be done about once a year.

The empty composter was easy to move. For the time being I just stuck it in the garden itself. At some future point, we'll reposition itself in a more suitable location.

Time to hose (and scrub) off the tools and tub.

There was only one problem with this otherwise routine task: Mr. Darcy now can come into the garden with me (since it's completely fenced), and he can smell the compost. He's fascinated by the smell.

I've told him "No" a few times when he gets too interested, and he hasn't attempted to dig anything up. Still, I don't leave him in the garden without supervision.

Just another autumn task.

Squeeee!

I received some stunning news yesterday: My latest Amish inspirational, "An Amish Marriage Agreement," hit the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST!!

I mean, some of my books have hit the Publisher's Weekly Bestseller List, but this is the first time a book was on the New York Times mass market list.

My Harlequin editor sent an email to the two authors who made the list: "I am so proud of you both! This is wonderful news! NY Times bestsellers!"

The funny thing is, I'm not crazy about the artwork on the cover, which can often make or break a book.

But for whatever reason, the image of the dorky-looking Hero hasn't hurt sales.

I'm thrilled! Squeeee!

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UPDATE: As if this wasn't enough, ALL the Love Inspired releases this month hit the Publisher's Weekly bestseller list:

La Niña

A reader made a tongue-in-cheek observation about my last post, "Quantities of Quail," observing: "Tell-tale sign of long snowy winter!!"

Tongue-in-cheek or not, winter has been on our minds a lot lately. Last week, Don read an article on how a La Niña event might cause a snowier-than-usual winter across the northern U.S.

The trouble with many winter forecast predictions is that Idaho falls into something of a dead zone. There are predictions for the Pacific Northwest, New England, the Atlantic coast, the mid-Atlantic Mountains, the Great Lakes region, the Northern Plains, and other regional designations ... but none of them really cover the "Inland Northwest," which is what we are. The Pacific Northwest tends to "stop" east of the Cascades, and the Northern Plains doesn't include anything west of the Bitterroots, so our specific area gets glossed over quite a bit.

However for the La Niña forecast, it specifically did include Idaho: "Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho) usually turns wetter than average, with strong storms and heavy mountain snow."

The Farmer's Almanac confirms the prediction: "The season’s coldest temperatures will be found from the Northern Plains to New England. Readers in the Northwest should also prepare for a cold winter, especially in Idaho and Washington."

So whether the weather can be predicted by the quantities of quail, or the quantity of wild fruit, or the thickness of the stripes on woolly-bear caterpillars, or La Niña, or any other index, we're putting up firewood.

Quantities of quail

I was working in the yard one day when I heard some soft peeping. I turned around and saw quantities of quail (parents and endless babies) on our porch steps.

They were heading from one side of the yard to the other, you see, and the porch was just ... in the way. So they climbed the steps, scurried across the porch, and jumped off the other side.

I think there were four adults and upwards of two dozen half-grown babies, still in the soft peeping stage. I couldn't even begin to get them all in the same photo, unfortunately.

The parent birds shepherded their offspring through the yard and out the other side.

(These are not photos of the same birds. These are separate photos of different parts of the group. As mentioned, there were quantities of quail.)

They slipped through the wire yard fence and disappeared down the slope. Just one of those trivial little interludes for which I was glad to have my camera on hand.

Product Review Monday

I don't like credit cards. Don and I were in deep credit-card debt for many, many years while we raised our girls on a shoestring budget and an unsteady woodcrafter's income. Now we live an all-cash lifestyle with the exception of our regular monthly bills (about $500/month) which are on automatic payment on our (single) credit card. Needless to say, we pay the bill off in full the instant we receive it in the mail. Now that we no longer owe money, the sense of freedom that comes from not having revolving debt on the [bleepity] credit card never stops.

Which is why this week's book recommendation is entitled "Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders" by James D. Scurlock. Written in 2007 just before the 2008 recession, if anything it's even more relevant today as it discusses predatory lending practices by the credit-card companies.

Some of the stories in the book are ugly. Many are heartbreaking. But all underscore the importance of not enslaving one's self to credit if at all possible. If you're vaguely aware that credit cards are bad news but can't quite pinpoint why, this book will explain. Highly recommended.

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Don's product recommendation this week is his good ol' Yankee push-drill. 

He keeps this in his everyday toolbox for those times he needs a fast hole drilled in wood or plastic. It's non-electric and fits in tight spaces.

The drill bits are stored in the top of the handle.

Don's a tool guy, and while he has the full cadre of power tools, he also has a lot of hand tools for times when batteries die or power isn't available or (in this case) spaces are too tight to permit a power drill. An excellent stocking stuffer for your DIY types.

(Obligatory disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, if you purchase through those links, we earn a small commission.)

(Don't forget: A complete list of all our book and product recommendations are linked here and at the upper-right column of the blog.)

Hostility in the garden

Don called me outside to the back porch the other day to see a visitor. "Bring your camera," he advised.

This was the visitor:

This lady seemed wary of all the attention she was getting, but praying mantises are always calm, cool, and collected.

She s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out and climbed onto Don's circular saw, which was lying on the porch.

Eventually I scooped her onto a stick and brought her into the garden.

I got distinctly hostile vibes from her, y'know? I think all praying mantises are hostile by default.

"You lookin' at me?"

But that's okay. She can be as hostile as she wants in the garden.

Now go forth and conquer.

Interestingly, Older Daughter found this beauty in her shop just a few hours later. 'Tis the season for praying mantises, it seems.