Fridazed and confused…

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It’s been an unusual week, to say the least. Things seemed normal, at first. We had our annual inspection of the apartment which went fine, and didn’t last longer than about 5 minutes. I think they’re actually wanting to just make sure we weren’t trashing their property. After living here for the last year, I can fully understand why.

Not fifteen minutes after the inspection ended, someone on the fourth floor decided to light the garbage room on fire, setting off the entire floor’s fire suppression ceiling faucets, thereby drenching every apartment below, and nearby. We had responders crawling all over the building, and water flowing freely from light fixtures, as well as power outlets. Needless to say, we pulled all our computers free of any plugins… and then waited for the water to stop.

Eventually we stopped leaking everywhere, but it took a full two days of de-humidifiers humming nonstop in all the hallways, to help the drying process. We are still waiting for maintenance to get to us, in order to replace the bad light fixtures and outlets that were affected by the water. Thankfully, we really didn’t have any damage to our personal belongings, but it did scare me enough to do an updated triple back-up of all my literary and illustration work. There’s far too much material to just do over again, before I’m ever even able to submit them to someone for publishing.

That last word, publishing, has me headed to the next issue I’ve been mulling over… trying to produce a manuscript that might rival all those new fangled ai editing and content creating applications. We now have to compete with computer generated books. I woke this morning to a commercial offering a program that will write all your ebooks for you from start to finish… it’s kind of sickening to me, if I’m to be honest.

If everyone is filling their carts with no-brainer e-books, what are us real authors left to work with? How on earth am I to get these books into readers hands, if they don’t care to look beyond their little electronic brain suckers?

I feel truly sad for all those amazing and fantastic authors out there, who slaved away to create such beautiful works of art, in literary form. They were the real trailblazers for most of us wordsmiths, and they didn’t need a smart phone to do it! Will anyone ever put proper guidelines, rules, and stipulations to how much we should use a computer to do our thinking, talking, acting, singing, writing, and surviving this world. Guess what folks? A computer is only meant for housing usable information for us to access when necessary, but the computer doesn’t think, feel, or have any awareness of itself, beyond what someone programmed it to believe.

Sorry, but that commercial really rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t disagree with the helpful usability that modern technology affords us, including some areas of ai technology. The problem I have is the lemming mentality that much of society has begun to propagate. That means when one person jumps in a particular direction, and everyone in their proximity chooses to jump along with them, just so as not to be left behind.

Seriously, are we in that much of a hurry to dumb ourselves down, and allow government, news media, and most of TikTok to regulate how we think, act, and behave? No Thanks!

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, how about we all celebrate the end of the work week, yaaaayyyyyyyyyyy! Gooooo Frrrriiiidddaaaayyyyy!!!!!

I shall now head into an Icarus adventure, donning my high powered Sniper Rifle, and collecting my pack of wolves, in order to do some hunting for our prospecting crew. Have no fear… my puppies will keep me safe. Plus, I ride an arctic Moa named Kevin. If he doesn’t like you, he’ll swing his neck and smack you with his head. It’s rather unpleasant for whatever predator thought he’d be an easy meal.

(2024) Just for a Day…

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Daily writing prompt
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
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Mary Poppins… Definitely!

I don’t desire to actually look like Mary Poppins, nor am I dreaming of being a Nanny to any child in particular.

To be the woman who could travel by umbrella, I could go anywhere… but that’s not it!

To be able to pop in and out of paintings, allowing me to travel through space and time to visit places I would otherwise never visit… nope, not that either!

For just one day, I would absolutely love to be Mary Poppins, in order to use her magical bag! You know, that carpet bag that could pull out any sort of useful or magical item I might need at the moment. The things I could do with that bag, even if it were only for the time stipulated by the daily prompt.

Just within walking distance of my RV, there are so many things I could use that bag for… like feeding the homeless I see walking around, or going door to door looking for things to hand people, hoping to lighten their burdens and brighten their day. The bag could house money, food, clothes, toys, tools, and/or vitamins and medicines they might not be able to locate.

But it’s more than just using the bag for things… no no… it is the freedom to give, that the bag offers! You see, Mary Poppins took the bag with her everywhere she went. Whatever was inside the bag needed to be taken to where it belonged. Mary Poppins never sent things in her bag through the mail… she always did the foot work herself… or the umbrella travel… or the horse racing… or the tea time on the ceiling… see?

I don’t need Mary Poppins magical loving heart, as I’ve got a real one that offers its own sort of magic… I just need the bag for the day.

Here, have some Mary Poppins style treats…

Thursday Thoughts…

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Just as the mountains cast a perfect reflection of themselves upon the water, so to does a man cast a perfect reflection of his own character through the words coming out of his mouth.

It’s no wonder that the bible speaks constantly about things like being quick to listen, but slow to speak, or guarding our lips. And, don’t forget how many times scripture warns of taking every thought captive, as well as, every word.

We humans can be very nasty if wronged or offended. In some instances, we do it without any provocation, at all!

While reading the book of Matthew, I found myself circling and recircling chapter 12:33-37, where Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees for their blasphemous words against the Holy Spirit. I want to share the passage with you this morning, and you can take from it what you will.

33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Personally, the truth of how powerful words can be, strikes a chord within my spirit. How many times have I encountered someone whose vile speech completely envelopes their character, possibly smothering anything good that may have been there? How many times have I, myself, spoken out in anger or frustration, thereby marring any good fruit that I may have wished to offer others?

Apparently, God knew that we would struggle with things like anger, hurt, resentment, or even arrogance and cruelty. Often we say what makes us feel better, before ever considering the outcome of our words on those we use them against. Notice how I say we, because I’m not immune to this naughty human nature. The struggle is real!

Nearly two years ago, I made a bold commitment to God, and myself, to no longer use any profanity, derogatory speech, or disrespectful words, so as to no longer offend the Holy Spirit. For the most part, I’ve held true to my word. But then there are those days where I find myself slipping a few potty words into my vocabulary when no one is nearby.

While the scripture I shared is in the context of rebuking the hypocritical Pharisees, I believe that it goes far deeper than that specific sinful behavior, being displayed by those questioning Jesus at that moment.

Without going out of context, I think Jesus was speaking, not just to the Pharisees, but to the many people observing the situation. What was spoken by those men, as well as, how Jesus responded to their accusations and statements was being witnessed by many. Not only am I confident that Jesus put those men in their spiritual place, but he also left a lasting example of how dangerous one’s words can be to their own eternal soul.

I will probably still have those times where my mouth gets the better of me, but it won’t stop or discourage me from trying to be better, think better, speak better, and reflect His perfect love in a manner that honors my creator! While I am confident of my own eternal spiritual future, I’ve no desire to ever do or say a thing that might cause another to be damaged, discouraged, or dissuaded from seeking a soul saving relationship with God, his son Jesus Christ, and God’s precious Holy Spirit.

Sorry, not sorry, about going deep on this subject. I suppose that I feel very convicted about my own silent grumbling and potty words. Psalm 139 prevents me from using any excuses about my hidden slip-ups, as it speaks clearly of how closely God watches our every word, thought, action, and motive. If my maker knew if me before the creation of the world, and Jesus gave his life ages before I was ever formed in my mothers womb, and God knows the exact number of hairs on my head… there’s no hiding a single sin or shortcoming from him, is there?

One of the best exercises one can do, in regards to changing one’s speech and behaviors, is to try walking through a single day, considering that Christ is right there in the room with you the whole time. Whenever something comes to your lips, try asking yourself if you feel comfortable saying it in front of Him. Oh, and also ask yourself one other question (this is one of my own)… are you ok with how you say it, what your tone of voice is, and most importantly, what is the expression on your face?

By the way, God speaks all languages, including sign language, pig Latin, and Navajo Wind talk… just sayin!

Hugs

(2024) Tunnels…

Wiwohka2 Comments

Daily writing prompt
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
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As a parent, we all know that when your kids are not making noise, it never bodes well! When it gets silent… we usually go looking for the noise makers that are now abnormally quiet!

Not my parents… no no… somehow, they were never really concerned about where we were, or what we were doing. Due to this lack of supervision, we tended to get into trouble.

Some time ago, I shared a funny story about how we let nearly 2 dozen baby mice loose in the house by accident, only to have my mother discover the mass graveyard in between the cushions of her favorite couch, some months later!

There was also the time when I was riding on the back of my brothers bike and he nearly decapitated me while trying to cut through a trailer park that had one of those steel cords strung across the driveway! Try explaining the burn mark to my parents… there aren’t many believable stories to cover over what looked like an attempted murder.

Then there was the time we tied helium balloons around our cats tails and they tore through the house in terror, knocking over anything that wasn’t nailed down… that was a crazy mess! We hadn’t thought about how hard it would be, recapturing the the little fur balls, in order to remove said balloons.

Anyway, I think you can see a picture developing in your minds, as to how unsupervised we were, thereby providing ample time for one of our best DIY projects!

My brother was about 9 and I was barely 7, when we came up with an idea to build a fort, but not just any fort… we needed a secret one! The problem lay in the fact that we lived in Eastern Oregon… hot, dry, and flat, with no trees available for making into forts!

What’s a kid going to do? If you can’t build up, then the logical thing to do is to build down… but where?

We decided among ourselves that the back yard seemed the best place to work, because no one went back there and it was easy to hear my mom call us in for dinner.

At first it was easy to cover the hole with the grass we had cut out for digging down underground, but eventually we had to steal a plank of wood to lay over the hole, covering that with the grass. We had nearly dug up against the foundation of the house, before anyone noticed the mounds of dirt we had been throwing willy nilly over the backyard fence.

Yup!

Got our hind ends paddled and the hole was caved in, refilled and the grass restored.

If you’re thinking that this was the end of our DIY ing… think again, my friends!

All true DIY ers know the golden rule… if you fail the first time… try, try again! And again, we did!

We simply moved our construction zone further out into the desert behind the neighborhood we lived in at the time.

First, we set to work digging down nearly 6 feet, carving out steps for us to climb up and down out of the hole. From there we dug straight in nearly 15 feet before carving out a hobbit house sized hole under the desert above us. We took the dirt from the hole and spread it all over the area nearby, so that there would be no mounds to be seen by spying eyes; lessons had been learned from our first attempt. We spent nearly a week sneaking blankets, toys, food and water from our home, to stock our new underground bunker.

It wasn’t until my brother got a spanking for stealing candy out of the cupboard, and angrily running away to hide in the tunnel, that anybody had any reason to go looking for our hideaway. All the grown-ups cornered me and questioned if I knew where he was, scaring me into giving up the coordinates of our outlaw camp… the gig was up!

It was a good thing that we were in the heat of summer, when there was no rain to fill the hole and drown us, or worse yet, cave in on us. I will never forget the look of shock, surprise, fear, and awe on my stepdads face as he climbed 6 feet down into our DIY creation. He was both impressed and terrified at what we’d managed to do without accidentally killing ourselves. But he also never trusted us again, regularly patrolling the property and surrounding areas, and locking up all of his tools!

What can I say… if I’m gonna DIY something, I say, “go big or go home!”

Here, have a cookie…

Wednesday Words…

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Note to self… a little bit of fertilizer goes an awful long way. Less is more, my friends. No wonder Eustace is always so tired, what with trying to manage this vegetable bonanza.

While I certainly don’t wish for our resident camel to overwork himself, I’m secretly drooling over those giant squash. What I wouldn’t give to see this kind of produce on the shelves in Walmart.

Maybe Eustace has stumbled upon something amazing, and together we will take over the world, Pinky… oh, wait… that’s from Pinky and the Brain, sorry.

If you think I’ll be able to eat all this stuff, you’re mistaken because I don’t think I could get past even one of those squash. This leaves the rest to all of you, so strap on your feedbags, as they say, and dig in…

(2024) When Will We Learn?

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Daily writing prompt
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
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Words can be weapons, same as guns!

When will we learn that words, just like guns, can be use for both good and evil alike?

You can remove all weapons from the hands of a man, but if his heart is still filled with wickedness, he will find a different weapon to replace the one taken!

If you’ve unsuccessfully changed the heart of a man, it won’t matter what words, weapons, or any other tools you give or remove from him… the heart is what determines how the tool is used!

Last I checked, only God can change the heart of a man. So, there simply aren’t any words worth removing, in my humble opinion. There are, however, a couple nefarious characters I’d like to permanently ban, but that’s not what the prompt was asking. We must stick to the prompt, right?!

Here, have a cookie, but you might want to pick off the cartridges first…

Tuesday Tinkering…

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Yes, Osrig. Today is gonna be all about you, my sweet boy!

It’s high time we do some serious work on our favorite flying canine. From the very beginning of his creation, I struggled with making him look realistic instead of resembling a Claymation character. It’s always been a bit of a challenge to give the dog realistic traits, while also making his imaginary ones look adorable and endearing. If I can make an avatar of myself look real, then so to shall I embark this editing journey for Osrig. He’s worth it, I think.

I already went ahead and took the plunge last week, by upgrading his character images into the advanced avatar that we’ll be using today. I must say that as much as I loath to admit it, Norbert (resident openart ai) actually did me proud this morning, for the most part. There were a few moments that I wanted to say something snarky, but I refrained, for your sake!

Surprisingly, this was the very first image given this morning, and in all honesty, it seems perfect! I even made you a short video of it, so as to reflect the improvements they’ve made on their video creation section. I know it’s not much, and I am far from a videographer, film maker, or tv producer, in any real sense of the words. But it’s still cute, so I’m using it…

The reason I have to give so much credit to Norbert today, is because I only had one image that we didn’t see eye to eye on, literally, because the ai never could correct the problem. Here, I’ll show you…

This image would’ve been perfect, aside from the demon glowy eyes… sheesh!

I asked the ai to change the dog’s eye color to a gentle green, but ended up with a radioactive dog…

As I’m not one to give up on a thing so easily, I had a rather short but meaningful chat with Norbert…

“I’ve never met a dog with glowing green eyes. Please look up images of what a canine’s eyes should be, and then color them a gentle soft green please.”

It took several more tries, but we finally got a compromise out of the deal…

The image is alright, I guess. It’s certainly nothing to write home about, but definitely far better than the alien shots we started out with, in my opinion. I will say that the ai is doing a fantastic job of textures and realism, both in the scenery and also the dogs fur. But, unfortunately, I can’t really use the image because his wings are missing.

I pressed on, wanting to get a real handle on the realism of the dog’s fur, expressions, and body posture. You should feel as if you could reach out and touch him, you know? I put Norbert through his paces, and got a solid handful of really decent images. Take a look…

Aside from the image with the strange looking arrow head on the end of his tail, these images took no editing at all. But I’ll certainly be fixing that tail… ugh!

I did make another little video, but the first one is still my favorite, over all…

So, that’s it for today’s tinkering session. All in all, it was a very successful day, and I hope it wasn’t too boring for you.

As a sign of good will, and also my willingness to share with others, I’ve made you some homemade virtual oatmeal. It’s got a little brown sugar and some blueberries, too…

Breakfast is really the most important meal of the day, or so I’ve heard. They also say that it’s good for your heart.

You’re welcome!

How should I know?

Wiwohka6 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
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What a silly question to ask me? Six months is a long ways from here, so I really can’t tell you what challenges I’ll be facing, as I don’t fully know what they are yet!

Until such a time as I actually have a challenge worthy of bringing up to everyone, you’ll just have to make do with my stories, antics, ditties, and pity party shout outs… sorry. Don’t take my response as one of sarcasm, or even one that takes challenges lightly. If you know anything about my story, you know that I’ve had my share of challenges over the last several years. By no means do I think this prompt is a bad one, but it’s just not one I wish to dwell on.

I can imagine that there will be a large number of responses to the prompt, regarding other’s upcoming challenges, some good, and some quite difficult. For all of you, my heart goes out to you, as well as my prayers and well wishes for success in these challenges. I pray that you’ll be a go getter, tenacious, and dedicated. If I’m not going to share my challenges, the least I can do is support you in all of yours, right?!

Actually, if I had to come up with an answer for this prompt, I could talk about baking. Every morning I make you virtual cookies, and since they were a bit of a chore to create without adding in any calories, we can use that task as one of the challenges I’m facing.

If you think about it, I suppose that virtual cookie baking will still be one of my bigger challenges six months from now. That is, unless they come out with those food replicators that Star Trek always had. A girl can dream, can’t she?

Enjoy these challenging virtual cookies…

Monday Messages…

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You thought Mary Poppins came up with the most nonsensical, and difficult word to say out loud. I beg to differ!

While Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious might take us on a fabulous carousel ride, this next word will take us for a somewhat different journey. What is this word in which I speak? Let me check google for the correct spelling, as it’s a doozey!

Juxtaposition!

Personally, I find it easier to remember the song by Julie Andrews about her super word, comparatively. At least she used a great song to help remember how it’s pronounced! Unfortunately for both words, breaking things down to each’s roots can be a fantastical journey, in and of itself! But, as I’m a staunch supporter of the English language, no matter how ludicrous it may seem, I shall press on for all our sakes!

Here we go…

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

jux·ta·po·si·tion

noun: juxtaposition; plural noun: juxtapositions

  1. the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.”the juxtaposition of these two images”

So, the definition’s great and all, but I wonder where it originated from? Here’s something that makes me laugh. We are reading, writing, and speaking an English word that originated from two differing languages, neither coming from our home land.

Juxta comes from Latin, and position comes from the French… go figure!

So, in order to speak in English form correctly, apparently, one must first pilfer all it’s bits and pieces from other languages. The whole robbing Peter to pay Paul thing, I surmise. Maybe that’s the reason English is such a complicated language, with all sorts of rules, exceptions, and spelling bonanzas, but I’m only speculating.

For the last several days, I’ve been attempting to find uses for this extravagant word, in replacement of simpler terms. Not only is it rather stupid, as very few people even use it nowadays, but it just seems over lengthy for no apparent reason.

Why can’t we keep things simple?

Just say, “Hey, those two things are different” verses the alternative…

“The juxtaposition of two such facts seemed to me auspicious. The juxtaposition of those two is comprehensible. The juxtaposition of the two names was probably not accidental. The juxtaposition of the two items suggested a programming muddle.

It seems to me that they added more big words, with each passing sentence. Great! Now we have to look up auspicious and comprehensible, as well. Nope!

Until somebody can come up with songs for all these fancy words, I’m sticking with my favorite Mary Poppins word!

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

su·per·ca·li·fra·gil·is·tic·ex·pi·a·li·do·cious

/ˌso͞opərˌkaləˌfrajəˌlistikˌekspēˌaləˈdōSHəs/

adjective

informal

adjective: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious; adjective: supercalifragilistic

  1. extraordinarily good; wonderful.

Yep! I love a two word definition, don’t you? So much easier to remember. But, to be honest, I just like singing the song…

(2024) I Wouldn’t…

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Daily writing prompt
What advice would you give to your teenage self?
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Between my husband and I, we have raised 6 teenagers… boys and girls! One thing I have learned over the years is that the moment you attempt giving advice, they will bolt like a Ferel animal!

Why? Hormones!

Teenagers are similar in behavior, to a hot blooded Thoroughbred race horse… always hungry, mad, excited, horny and quite sweaty!

You feed them the best you can, and try to sooth them when they are angry. You try to calm them when they won’t stop bouncing off the walls, and diligently make efforts to coral them from freely using their private parts.

Daily, you make every effort to hose them off before they leave the house… throwing a stick of deodorant in their general direction. Ok, well, a horse may not know how to use a stick of deodorant, but then again, neither do most teenagers. I caught one of my kids using a can of Febreze for body spray… not even kidding!

I will go back even further, into my teenage years, confirming that I myself had intentionally assigned ALL adults with the label of ENEMY #1. Whether it was hormones, a traumatic upbringing or both… I did NOT listen to anyone!

No amount of coercing could entice me to go back and re-experience my teenage years, and quite honestly, kids today look the same as we did back then… hungry, mad, excited, horny and, yes… sweaty!

If I were to do anything for my teenage self… it would be to protect her, shelter her, encourage her, and guide her through my example, instead of my wordy grownup words…

Here, have a cookie…