Category: Children

Tuesday Tinkering…

WiwohkaLeave a comment

Well, I think last weeks tinkering session was a total success!

Not that I’ll be winning any academy awards, or anything. I just mean that I challenged myself to do a thing (creating a new character on Tuesday, and then writing a story about it by Friday), and it worked out.

So, it got me to thinking (I know, dangerous pastime)… what if I sought to write a whole series of children’s character books, only employing my tinkering sessions and a two day rest before kicking out a little story, song, or poem to accompany the images. I don’t see why I couldn’t, what with todays insta book mentality flooding across the web.

While I get my jabs in at all the ai created mumbo jumbo being printed out there, currently, I’m not being snarky when I say that I believe it’s possible to actually write imaginative content without my computer telling me how… or worse, doing the writing for me. Not on my watch!

Anyway, getting back to the tinkering plans I’ve set for us, I plan on making a habit of mixing up writing styles, as well as, continuing to expand my illustration skills. My hands on learning is all that can be afforded, at this present moment, so if I wish to become a better writer, more brain stretching work is involved.

I know your probably saying, “Great, now she’s gonna start wearing even bigger hats on her noggin.” Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but if I do then that means my cookies will need to be bigger, as well.

Go big or go home, right?!

For today’s next challenge, I went with another water baby, but on an entirely different patch of sand…

This isn’t the finished character, by the way, but it was the first image offered by the ai. All I typed in was “a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus”.

While the little guy seems awful cute and chubby, we’re nowhere near satisfied. He’s got no nostrils, for one thing. So, I used the auto-enhance on the prompt…

“a photorealistic image of an adorable baby walrus, trying to learn to swim along the shore of a beautiful sandy beach”

Getting a better shot of his nose, but now his eyebrows look like they were individually stuck into his little forehead. It made him look too much like a plushie toy.

Again, I returned to the auto-enhance feature, asking it to expand the prompt even more…

“Imagine a photorealistic scene at a picturesque sandy beach where gentle waves lap against the shore. The sun casts a warm, golden glow across the landscape, illuminating the fine grains of sand and sparkling blue waters. In the foreground, an adorable baby walrus, with soft, wrinkled gray skin and big, curious eyes, awkwardly paddles in the shallow surf. Its flippers splash playfully, sending droplets gleaming in the sunlight, while a few sea gulls circle overhead, drawn by the joyous scene. The sandy beach is dotted with tufts of sea grass swaying in the light breeze, enhancing the serene atmosphere of this tender moment.”

At least he has more expression with his eyes, even if he lost his eyebrows. His facial expression seems far more realistic, though his fat rolls look rather like sweatshirt material than skin. I kept at it for nearly a half hour before, coming up with numerous images that were similar to this one, but with differing poses and expressions.

Now that we’ve come this far, let’s give the ai our best 10 images. From there, we’ll generate some possibilities for a solid Avatar.

I’ll be right back! Give me about 10 minutes, or so….

Everyone, meet our newest character…

I’ve decided to name him Booker, though I’ve ne earthly idea why! The ai decided to give him tusks, even with him only being a baby, but I think it makes him super cute.

Norbert gave me several differing shots, but I think he looks most realistic in this one…

… minus the grown up tusks, mind you.

I don’t think Booker took nearly as long to create, as it took me last week, during pumpkin’s creation.

Now that he’s here, I’ve only til Friday to create his story, so I best get moving!

See you Friday… hugs

Eyes before ease…

Wiwohka1 Comment

… except after seas?

No, that’s not right. I believe the English language rule states that it’s i before e, except after c’s. What I’d like to know is why? If they both sound the same, why on earth are we throwing in a complicated if and or but with these words. Didn’t anybody ever hear of the adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” ? I’ve heard of it!

Before I get myself in an unnecessary bother, maybe we should first ask Mr. McGoogle to try and work out the problem.

Question #1 should be to establish what the actual rule states. No one should go on here say about a thing, but should instead seek the facts. Let’s do this…

According to the AI Overview,

In the English language, a common mnemonic spelling rule is: “I before E, except after C“. 

However, the full, more accurate rhyme often includes: “…or when sounded as ‘ay’ as in neighbor or weigh”. 

Key Details Regarding the Rule: “Cie” Words: Sometimes ie follows a c anyway, such as in science, glacier, ancient, and sufficient.

The “C” Exception: When the i and e combination follows a c, the order is usually ei (e.g., receive, ceiling, deceive, conceit).

The “Ay” Exception: When the ei combination makes a long “a” sound (like “ay”), e comes before i (e.g., neighbor, weigh, vein, sleigh).

Other Exceptions: There are many words that break this rule, such as weird, seize, leisure, protein, and foreign.

So, ok, I can agree with this ruling as long as it can be clearly determined by the pronunciation of the word. That part makes sense, but what screws everything up is the fact that there are so many varying accents from differing nationalities. What then? Unless one is prepared to pull up a voice modulator every single time one of these words come up, the margin for error is incredibly wide… in my humble antsy opinion.

I suppose if we only had a handful of words that utilized this particular linguistic merry-go-round, it wouldn’t cause me such aggravation. But guess what? The English language is smothered in the ie, ei, except after c, or ay rule. Not just that but we get to also separate words like weird, seize, leisure, protein, and foreign, as these words break all the rules. What’s an ant to do, here?

Well, figure things out is what I need to do, if I’m to make a top-notch journalist! If children can learn it, then so too can an ant… this ant, to be exact!

Pumpkin is her name…

Wiwohka7 Comments

My name is Pumpkin, but don’t wear it out!

This is the story of how my name came about…

I think I was born in the water

but I’m not really sure

I simply recall waking up in a puddle

and the rest was all just a blur…

My family was gone

There was no one to be found

Just me and my little puddle

so I played and splashed around…

But the fun didn’t last very long

as the sun dried up my puddle

I’d nowhere safe to go

and no family there to cuddle…

I went to the river

and I tried to make friends

But the crocodiles only wanted to eat me

No water were they willing to lend…

So off I went to find another puddle

My tummy was growling so loud

But once I found a good resting place

All the other hungry animals crowded around…

Just as I thought I’d be somethings dinner

They all suddenly ran away

Along had come a bus filled with tourists

their noisy chatter had saved the day…

Sadly, they continued on their way

And the sun began getting hotter

But when I arrived at another puddle

The elephants stole all the water…

No water, no food, and no safe place to be

what was a hippo to do?

I waited and waited, lost and afraid

Til this man came and offered me food…

He put me in a box

and we went for a ride

They gave me my own special puddle

with yummy pumpkins on every side…

What’s smooth and round on the outside

but squishy and sweet in the middle?

If you didn’t already know my name

I think this would have made a great riddle!

Wednesday Words…

Wiwohka7 Comments

Eustace is so proud of his corn crop that he’s already set up a popcorn stand to sell his wares. I tried to tell him that the corn hasn’t been harvested yet, nor is it ready to be picked, but he was just too excited.

Now all my popcorn’s missing, and one of my good slippers is stuck to the kitchen floor, somehow.

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know how to get caramel out of camel fur?

Tuesday Tinkering…

Wiwohka6 Comments

Perhaps you’ve asked yourselves how I get from an idea, all the way to producing an actual story, here on WordPress. Well, I doubt you were actually wondering that exact thought, but for all intents and purposes, I’m going to act as if you asked. Humor me, if you would.

We will just call today’s tinkering, a tutorial on how to create a brand new story character from scratch. Did you know that I usually develop the character, or Avatar, if you will, before I even create the story that goes with them? While there are some stories that are born in my imagination first, most of the children’s stories are born upon the visual produced for the main character… that first few, rough around the edge images that are produced by Norbert, the OpenArt ai assistant.

So, today I want to create a brand new character, build up a supply of appropriate images, and then on Friday, I’ll hopefully have a cute little story to post. I’m by no means expecting you to anticipate an academy award winning performance, or anything.

I suppose that one could say, it’s an exercise in story development. Hopefully, I will learn a good many things about my own writing style, how accommodating Norbert can be, and how flexible I’m willing to be, when it comes to my own content. While I might need Norbert for producing the right images, I don’t need any assistance in the imagination process, nor in my ability to write a decent story.

For this particular act of literary science and exploration, I randomly selected a baby hippo, as our story subject.

My first query was simply asking for a photorealistic image of an adorable baby hippo, but before finishing the prompt, I selected the auto enhance option for a more complete description. This was my first full query…

A photorealistic image of a baby hippopotamus joyfully playing in a sun-drenched meadow, surrounded by vibrant wildflowers swaying gently in the breeze. The lush green grass glistens with dew drops, catching the soft, warm sunlight that filters through a few wispy clouds in the azure sky. The baby hippo, with its round, cherubic face and big, glistening eyes, frolics playfully, splashing water as it leaps into a small, shimmering puddle. Its skin glistens with a hint of mud, adding a touch of earthy charm to its playful antics. In the background, a gentle stream sparkles, reflecting the peaceful atmosphere of this idyllic setting. This photorealistic scene captures the essence of childhood joy in nature, filled with colors and a warmth that embodies happiness.

These were the first images offered…

So far, so good, though I notice that Norbert wasn’t willing to actually put the hippo in the water, for some odd reason.

Without overthinking it, which I have a tendency to do sometimes, I took the very first three images offered, and then I went straight to character creation.

After only a few moments, Norbert gave us our newest character, and I’ve named her Pumpkin…

She even has a little tuft of hair on her head, like little bangs. I think it will be so fun to put a bow in her hair, and I can even change the color of the ribbon, depending on the day. Don’t ask me why I opted to name her Pumpkin. It just sounded like a sweet term of endearment, I guess.

Anyway, throughout this whole creation process, Norbert did fairly well, and only had to remove an object from one of the images. For some reason, the ai thought a hippo should wear a crown on their head. I’ve no earthly idea where a crown was mentioned in my query…

I told Norbert to get rid of the crown, and he actually did it without changing too much else in the image…

Unfortunately, her bangs disappeared, which I really wanted to keep.

For that reason, I asked for a different image, all together. But, still not enough hair on her head…

I spent nearly fifteen minutes arguing with Norbert over the stack of ridiculous selections I was given…

I even tried putting bows in her hair, to see if that would improve things.

Nope!

Sometimes, you just have to go back to the drawing board, as they say. You simply have to query a new background, and/or positioning of the character, in order to produce a workable image…

See what I mean? Change the background and her hair returns, just as I hoped it would.

Now that we’ve a loveable image to work with, the task at hand is to gather a decent supply of differing images that will aid in the building of her story.

By Friday, I should hopefully have a wonderful tale to share with you about our newest guest, here in the Barnyard.

Yikes! Friday’s only a few days away, so I should probably get started.

Hugs

(2024) Tunnels…

Wiwohka3 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…

Monday Messages…

Wiwohka10 Comments

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…

The Barnyard is changing…

Wiwohka1 Comment

I can hardly believe that it’s been over two years since Barnyard Business began. So many changes have occurred in the lives of our little babes, with some changes being bigger than others.

Time waits for no man, as they say, and in terms of barnyard life, it couldn’t be more apparent! I wanted to share a big change that’s coming to the barn, but while looking through the old photo albums, I found myself lost down memory lane… in a good way.

Sometimes it just feels good to look back.

I’ll admit that it’s a mixture of bitter and sweet, realizing how much all the babes have grown, and reminding myself that they can’t remain the same forever. I know that I’m certainly not who I was two years ago. I cant expect them to stay babies, nor can I treat them as such.

You try bossing a two ton dragon around. Let’s see how far you get!

Remember when Brutus was just a baby?

He’s far from a baby now…

I could spend hours looking back over their baby photos! Why can’t they stay babies forever, though?

I do actually have an answer to that last question. The babes have grown and changed because I have, as well. Within my imagination and dreams, the babes don’t stay the same… they can’t. With each and every adventure I write about, all the creatures within the barnyard grow a bit, depending on the lessons learned, if that makes any sense.

I never expected to become so attached to these wonderful creatures, nor did I plan their paths out for them, as you may have thought. What I see in them, and write of them, is fully dependent on the way my journey affects my perspective. I shouldn’t feel so surprised when I compare their mature images with their baby ones. I still recognize the baby in them, though they appear far different on the surface.

If I hadn’t have had those dark days of struggle, I may never have imagined Nugget. Remember our little guy from my bedside table drawer?

He’s still in residence, but doesn’t sleep in the drawer much. He prefers to sleep on my pillow, just behind my head. Fortunately for me, this little guy seems immune to aging, in much the same way as our little Dinky Do.

I think characters like Dinky, Boomer, and all those Twilight Dreamers will always be my safe space, my comfort zone. Maybe my anxiety is just a bit more manageable with these little ones. Who knows, right?!

Now Eustace… he’s quite a camel!

But, as much as I loved looking back at his baby pics…

I simply adore the adult camel that he’s become, don’t you?

You’re probably wondering what’s got me all nostalgic and melancholy, so I’ll fill you in on the changes occurring at the Barnyard, and those to come.

It’s been a difficult winter for most of the residents in the barn, as miss Tilly has moved down to the church, where Henry has taken on the roll of pastor. His father was quite aged, and far too old to perform his pastoral duties any longer.

While I realize that she’s got a whole new life ahead of her with young Henry, it hasn’t been so easy explaining things to the babes, if I can still even call them that. Tilly was like a favored auntie, always caring for them, feeding them, and tucking them in each night… I try to do it, but I’m just not her!

Slowly, but surely, they’re coming to accept her absence. Both Boomer and Brutus have helped immensely, in this regard. While Dinky remains small, with only the mind of a child, her brother has begun to grow, and has taken up the roll of caregiver for the others. While Boomer cares for the babes food and bedtime routines, Brutus has been frequently taking them to visit Henry and Tilly, down at the church.

Things are about to change, once more.

Our Miss Tilly, or more aptly referred to as Mrs. Tilly Munster, is expecting her first baby, or possibly babies.

We won’t know how many babies, til the big day arrives. Tilly isn’t due til the end of March, but her belly looks as if she could deliver next week!

We’re all very excited about the newest change, as the babes are now all practicing the art of babysitting, in hopes that Tilly will call on us to help out.

I must admit that the excitement is very contagious! I’ve already added a crib to SugarPlum’s bedroom, just in case. I can’t help but get excited along with all the babes, but it’s so hard to imagine our Tilly having a baby of her own.

I still see the wee little thing that Santa dropped in my Christmas satchel, two years ago. It seems like only yesterday…

From that tiny little ball of love, came the Tilly that we’ve watched grow up…

Time for a bath…

She began changing overnight, it seemed…

Then love found our young mouse maid, in the form of young Henry…

The beautiful thing about our small ones growing up and finding their own way is that we must have done something right. While I can’t take credit for how wonderful Tilly turned out to be, I would like to think that I played some small part in who she is now. Who knows?

So here’s the fun part! We get to throw Tilly her first baby shower, and I want to make it something special. For that, I’ll need some help with ideas for gifts and decorations.

If anyone wants to suggest some things, I’ll bake virtual cookies, in trade.

No worries about thinking things up right this second, as the shower is still several weeks away. I don’t want to wait too long, however, as she might deliver early. You know how babies can be. They seldom operate during normal people hours…

See ya next week..

Tuesday Tinkering…

Wiwohka4 Comments

So I decided on the final image for mini Wiwohka, and went ahead with the character creation feature, using the image you saw last week.

Let’s made a whole new portfolio for her this morning, now that we’ve a new and revised avatar. I started with collecting some profile shots…

So far, so good. Now let’s try changing her outfit…

Wow! I’m really impressed with how they’re keeping her so true to the original. But, what if we take her out of the studio and into the real world…

She’s coming to life, in my opinion. And, she fits in perfectly at the Barnyard, both in doors…

… and outdoors.

Well?

What do you think?

I know that being the one who created her images, I feel rather partial to mini-me. If it were possible, I think I’d adopt her and bring her home with me!

I haven’t tried to alter her hair color yet, but I’d like to see if we can change that little red streak to another color… just to match her outfits. I think we’ll try that next week, right before we move on to some more work with Brutus.

I think it’s time to go deeper into the dragons facial features, now that OpenArt has revamped their system. I’m kind of liking the changes, but don’t tell them that… it’ll probably just go to their heads.

I do a little dance…

WiwohkaLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
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While I could show you a video of my own very excited, and amazingly fantastic news dance, I’ll show you the video of how I learned to do it. No one does it better than Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska…

Seriously though, I really do dance a bitty Jig when I get really happy. You should’ve seen the crazy dancin that went down at the birth of each of my grandbabies. I could have been a star (not really).

The next best thing to do with good news is to bake cookies, and I’m very good at that! Well, at least I think so…

Wait! Does my hat make those cookies look funny?

Hang on, cause I think I can fix that…