Happy June! May was a very busy month with some novel experiences such as...finding morel mushrooms during a light snowfall while we were out woodcutting. We got out into the woods early this year for fear that drought would end up with a woods closure early in the summer, so we were out on the first day possible--May 1st (Forest Service in our region doesn't open for firewood cutting on our forest because of deciduous conifers--tamarack/western larch--that don't start budding until then)....
4 months ago • 4 min read
(ps. look closely at the flower, even click on the picture. There's a nice little surprise there if you don't see it clearly!) Sorry to start with a quick business overview, but Marker news and other stuff further down! What a month April has been! No sooner did I think that yay, I could finally get back to writing because we had wrapped up house renovations when I got clobbered by Draft2Digital's announcement that they were planning to institute a yearly fee for accounts netting less than...
5 months ago • 4 min read
It's been a busy time in my world these days! Boy horse got moved into a pen, which means I'm filling up nibble nets for his hay because Marker is a slob. He dumps his hay all over his pen, and then makes a mess out of it, which gets into his hooves and creates the not-so-lovely stink and problem of thrush. So it's back to the world of making hay nets until November or so, with perhaps a few weeks out when he's on pasture. As you can tell from the picture, he's a chonky boi so we have to be...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Still not much in the way of snow these days, unfortunately. It's going to be an awfully dry, smoky summer here, I'm afraid. At this point it's late to be counting on a March snowfall. Oh well. Life is proceeding. I managed to get Vision of Alliance released on time, which...more on that further on down. At the same time, we've been driving two hours one way every other day to finish off prep for a rental house we're selling...simplifying life in our elder years, especially since I'm not...
7 months ago • 3 min read
THIS is what February is supposed to look like here. Snow on the ground, and mud where there isn't snow. There's no snow. A little bit of mud, but...no snow, unlike other places. (Picture features the late great Mocha mare returning to the herd after a ride.) It's shaping up to be a busy short month. Besides painting another house, I'm in the final stages of preparing Vision of Alliance for its February publication date--February 24th. This time around I'm not setting up preorders...
8 months ago • 2 min read
Winter clouds using filter on digital camera, by Joyce Reynolds-Ward So here we go, everybody. First working week of the New Year for many of us. Even in retirement, I find myself still holding to the work week schedule--and where I'm at, that's frequently a four-day schedule because all of our local schools run on a four-day schedule. Cost-saving measure for rural schools. We've not had a lot of snow this winter in this northeastern corner of Oregon. Oh, it's snowed, but then we get an...
9 months ago • 2 min read
A Newsletter Exclusive...Solstice Shadows, set in the world of Goddess's Vision. The first book of Goddess's Vision, Vision of Alliance, will be out in late February. Happy Solstice and enjoy! You will pay for what you caused to have done to me, sister. You will pay. Betsona jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath, unable to banish the lingering remembrances of that nightmare, again, ending in Chatain’s disembodied head laughing evilly at her as he pronounced his death curse. For a moment...
10 months ago • 9 min read
How on earth can it already be December? It almost seems as if time has flown by this year. Which...all things considered, might be a good thing. Weather has been back and forth here between snow and rain--we're now getting our share of the atmospheric river (as my aches and pains are telling me). Riding Marker in the field has varied from mud to hard frozen ground and back to mud again. He's been telling me that he thinks it's time for horses to get hay, but...that's not my decision and in...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Tamarack (western larch) in the snow All of a sudden it's November. Where on earth did 2025 go? Seems like it was a really busy time. I took the picture above with my Canon Power Shot set on art filters when we went out to cut one of our last loads of firewood. It's melted now at that elevation but we still have snow up top on the mountains. We have two more tickets on our firewood permit for the year, and that should be plenty, not just for this winter but going into next winter. At our age,...
11 months ago • 2 min read