The third image is the same huge yellow tree, among others, viewed from my bedroom window. Each season brings a new scene. This season is the most stunning.
Veterans Day affords each of us the opportunity to join our fellow citizens, in communities across the Nation, in honoring those whose love of country knew no bounds — those to whom patriotism was principle, not mere sentiment. Without the sacrifices which our brave veterans made so freely and so generously, our cherished freedom would long ago have vanished. ~President Jimmy Carter, Veterans Day Proclamation, 1979
Image Credit: ©catsplayer DepositPhotos
These females made their entrance on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020.
Male Butterfly
Pictures proudly taken by my son and daughter-in-law who are giving these beautiful creatures a chance at life by “protecting them from predators during their vulnerable metamorphosis.” ❤ ❤
Howdy! Welcome to another Short Snippet Saturday post. Sure has been a while, huh? Finally, something different from my #WordlessWednesday posts of late. Here’s a snippet from my upcoming release.
I titled this snippet Firstborn. Today is my firstborn child’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Chris! It finally happened. He’s now older than me. 😀 Below, Judy mentions her firstborn. When I began this series, I didn’t know her secret until later on in the series.
Judy has two men interested in her. Which one will she choose?
This snippet features our ranch matriarch Judy Carlson. She’s leaving the home of one of the men after a pleasant sunset walk together. However, before leaving, he revealed information she didn’t want to know. She’s disheartened on her lonely ride home. I changed one of the lines to avoid spoilers.
“Get home safely.”
It had been her intention. Her shoulders shook due to the uncanny chill that had passed over her. She drove away. No, no, no. She couldn’t deal with his issue. Bill. Why’d you have to die on me? Tears slipped from her eyes, but she cowgirl’d up and swept them away. Grown women didn’t cry. No matter how much she swiped, they continued to fall.
Judy started the CD, turned up the volume, and blasted Alan Jackson’s tunes. “Chasing That Neon Rainbow” came on at the perfect moment. Thank you, Bill, darlin’. Time flew by too damn fast for her. All she wanted to think about now was the happiest moments with her Bill. Their wedding day, the birth of their boys, and buying the Double Dutch.
How handsome and gallant a young man Bill had been standing at the alter in a rented suit, his blue eyes twinkling in the little church near their college campus. He wore his dark hair on the longer side, kind of how Jase wore his now. How the two of them had said I do. Eight months later, their firstborn had arrived in the world. They knew how it looked, but Jase had been born a month early. That was her story, and she stuck to it to this day.
She took the long way home to allow for a good cry because she couldn’t deny, grown women did cry. By the time she’d arrive home, her eyes would’ve lost the redness surely to be there. At the Double Dutch, one never knew which family member would be at her home. Tristan could be in one of the barns doing his own evening chores.
This is book #5 in the Double Dutch Ranch Series: Love at First Sight. See the other books in the series at this LINK.
Begin the series with Book One now.
Stay safe and well. Thanks for reading.
Sunset image: rauschenberger at Pixabay. Judy in a field of flowers: Created by me at PicMonkey – Image from PicMonkey.
Mom with her two little ones that aren’t so little anymore!
Oops, it looks like I cheated a little bit with words on #WordlessWednesday. Thank you for still hanging around. I miss you all.
I thought I’d adorn my blog today and share these beautiful words from Maxima. So fitting for the times. ~Mary
Written: © Maxima
Fragments of the vanished summer live in me like a far off city.
I breathe and exhale them as a weeping sky low and gloomy.
I intertwine my fingers and feel warm rains of memory fill my mind
Like tender words of passion spoken before our summer disappeared.
The vows engraved in the bark of the Tree I guard jealously […]
When You Aren’t Here
Howdy, folks. It’s really me posting.
Please forgive the length, but if I go back again and try to shorten it, I’ll never get this posted.
Thought I’d post something before passers-by and visitors think I’ve abandoned my home here. Believe me, I never intended to become invisible. Nope, I haven’t neglected my website and you or your blogs by choice. Due to a lingering illness, my life has been put on hold. Needless to say, my upcoming book due out for release this past spring, then delayed until summer, will continue to be on hold for a while longer. The same with Two-Five Ranch Outlaws, Book #2.
I don’t have anything that can be caught by another human. A sinus infection and low electrolytes, especially sodium, have ruined my life.
Even before June, I hadn’t felt myself for some time, and I didn’t know what was going on. A sinus infection made all the other symptoms feel worse. In early July, I emailed my doctor with my symptoms because I continued to get worse, even losing weight.
Almost to the big white tent.
She told me to get tested for the dreadful “virus” because of my symptoms. After a two-hour wait at a drive-thru testing site in ninety-one-degree heat, I had an antibody test and nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19. It took days of going to hell and back to get the (negative) results.
Unfortunately, my troubles didn’t stop there. We discovered my electrolytes had dropped dangerously low. Let’s also add dehydration to this bag of hell! Through my own research, I suspected a drop in sodium because I take two medications that deplete sodium. I’m off of one of them now. This ain’t my first rodeo with low sodium. In the past, a couple of bottles of an energy drink put me back to normal. By the way, sodium controls fluid levels in the body. Hence, dehydration.
Some symptoms of low sodium include: Nausea and vomiting, Headache, Confusion, Loss of energy, Drowsiness and fatigue, Restlessness and irritability, Muscle weakness, spasms, or cramps, Seizures, Coma.
Emergency Room During a Pandemic:
Before having my results back from the Antibody and COVID-19 test, I called 9-1-1 because the symptoms were taking over my body and mind. My body needed something I could no longer provide, and it was SCARY.
2020 Safety First:
On this night, only one tech came inside in full protective gear because I had told them on the phone, that I didn’t have results back yet. After he determined I’d be transported, I chose to walk out. The last thing I wanted was to draw attention at midnight with the sound of a gurney rolling through the door. Five EMTs waited on the walk outside the door with the gurney, while one remained at my side. They had sent two trucks, as they always do here.
I said, “A girl never minds seeing five firemen waiting for her.” I don’t know how I had the sense to think of something so flirty. Once a romance writer, always a romance writer? On the way, the tech with me said he didn’t think I had the virus. My lungs were clear. I barely had a fever.
I ended up going to the ER twice a couple of weeks apart for the same symptoms—low electrolytes. The first time, they also did a nasopharyngeal swab test and bloodwork. This ER nurse did both nostrils. The drive-thru testing guy did only one side as I sat in my car. If you’ve had a nasopharyngeal test, you know what I’m talking about.
Soon after arriving in the emergency room, they attempted a bag of saline for dehydration while waiting for test results, but I blew a vein and the IV stopped dripping. Then they gave me a Sodium Chloride drip. Altogether, I blew out four veins in two visits.
This is how my boat floats, people.
Aside from low electrolytes, other tests came back normal. We still had no COVID-19 results when I had been discharged the first time, though the nurse in the ER said I had no markers in my blood to indicate the virus. So, I was kicked out released with antibiotics for the suspected sinus infection, Sodium Chloride tablets for low sodium, and instructions to eat salty food. French fries would raise sodium. Oh, yum. If only I could eat. *Don’t try this at home without medical supervision. Too much sodium can be just as harmful.
GOOD NEWS! A couple of days after my return home after the first visit, I found out all the COVID-19 tests, including the antibody test were NEGATIVE. Thank the good Lord. Thank you, thank you! THANK YOU!
I learned that when someone offers to help, you have to say okay.
The Waiting Game:
This was the end of July. *Since the second ER visit, and under my doctor’s direction, I’m drinking energy drinks with electrolytes instead of water–which dilutes sodium, while keeping Sodium Chloride tablets on hand for an emergency. I’m eating salty foods to keep my sodium level up until I see a specialist (waiting list) to determine what we’ll do about the medication. Hope all this salt doesn’t cause a stroke.
I’ve made an in-person appointment with a new primary care doctor. It’s time for a change and new set of eyes on my case. The appointment is in September!
Let’s Get Back to Life as a Writer: If Only I could.
Publication? It’s hard enough focusing on dinner, getting my mail, or taking a shower, and it’s taken me longer than three weeks to write this post. But we will see this book published one day. I haven’t given up. I keep trying. I’m too damn stubborn to quit, but I’m thankful for my persistent nature. As if I don’t feel guilty enough, a new holiday story has been calling me to write it. I want to slap my muse upside the head for doing this to me now.
Regardless, as bad as I feel for not getting my books out there, I need to think of myself and my worried family because this is my new reality.
Anyone have any answers? Is there a better way to keep my electrolytes stable? I’d like to be normal again.
I MISS YOU ALL. Thanks for reading. Continue to stay safe.
*Disclaimer: The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his or her health, particularly with respect to any symptoms or accidents that may require diagnosis or medical attention.
Everyone Stay Safe and Responsible.
I call 2020: “The year that wasn’t.”
Image from Pixabay: JRMarketingDesign
New Release from Ed Hoornaert, also known as Mr. Valentine. He writes Science fiction with romance and humor.
Part love story and part adventure tale, The Saint of Quarantine Island is told against a backdrop of the relationship between madness and creativity.
I don’t Reblog often, and I especially don’t two days in a row, but I wanted to help Ed share his new release.
Maybe you’ve read about viruses that turn people into zombies. But how about a virus that turns people into madmen, some of whom become creative geniuses?
Spurred by her husband’s infidelity and haunted by abandoned aspirations, Janet, a suburban housewife smuggles herself into a wilderness quarantine. By catching the disease, she hopes to write a book that’ll redeem her empty life — and maybe, just maybe, find love with the man they call the Saint of Gilford Island. She’d once spent a memorable, though chaste, night with him. Surely he’ll help her build a new life.
But exile on an island of madmen is crueler than any suburban daydream. Instead of a quiet writing retreat, Janet finds pirates who steal everything but the clothes on her back…
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Sharing from My Reality Show blog. This touched my sentimental soul, and I wanted to share it. Love what you did with this, Mary Ann.
Buttons were calling me. Button artwork showed up on Pinterest, and I saved it. Fancy buttons, from grandmas gone by, revealed themselves to me. While searching for measuring tape in an old sewing basket, a decorative button appeared, from a Great Great Grandma. When looking for a sewing tool in another spot, impressive buttons from yet another Grandma showed up. My own buttons, the ones that come with a newly-purchased piece of clothing, piled up in a drawer, reminded me of their whereabouts.
Wouldn’t it be cool if I could combine a bunch of buttons from the grandmas and give it to my granddaughter for a birthday present? Here’s how I made that happen.
Directions:
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