Writing Update

     At almost the last hour of the month, I wrote the last hundred words that I needed to hit my 30,000 word goal for my fifth novel.  Wow, I was beginning to doubt I would make the count.  Now, going into next month, I only have 10,000 to write to finish the book and get it to Dean.  I will write another 10,000 to be that much ahead for the final book.  I will then be able to take a few weeks off to recuperate from surgery.  I am very happy about all of this.  Watch out finish line, here I come.

Winter Activity: Making Sausage

For the last few years, we have been making homemade sausage.  Jerry is getting really good at the process.  The recipe he has tweaked is delicious.  I help when the meat is loaded into the casings.  We have become a pretty good team with this task.

Our first batch for the season turned out pretty good.  We worked on it all day.  Most of it will go to our son's roommate.  He wanted some made out of a deer he shot.  Good stuff.  The best part is knowing what you have in the freezer is done with good ingredients.

Book Review: Hillbilly Elegy

This past week, I began thinking of memoir, again.  I write so many words of non-fiction that I just feel that I could add page numbers and publish.  Then I go out and look for a reading project.  If I want to write memoir, I should be reading memoir.  I found the book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance.  I was riveted.  He talked about a life that paralleled mine in so many ways; yet, in other ways his story looked so different, leaving me feeling very thankful.

Growing up in Northwestern Montana, no one would call me a hillbilly, but redneck is definitely a term that I refer to as my background.  I am proud of my redneck nature as J.D. is proud of his hillbilly background.  We both came from poor working-class.  We were both blessed with people who loved us, supported us, and mentored us in seeing a different life.  Neither of us had family to help guide us through college.  After high school, he joined the military.  I was a little slower and joined a few years after high school.  We both worked multiple jobs to get through school.  Yes, I felt a kinship with J.D.

Our differences were fewer but bigger.  His mother was addicted to drugs and made his home life hell.  Many times, he stayed with his grandparents.  Sure, my mother caused some episodes at home.  But I never feared going home.  His only father figure was his grandfather.  His mother had many men in her life that tried to be a father to him, but they were never around for long.  I had my dad.  He was there all the time and kept life stable for me.  My immediate home life made all the difference where it was his grandparents’ home that helped make a difference for him.

The culture we came from was good at its core.  However, the influence of drugs, helplessness, hopelessness, and dysfunction with the background of dying industry creates a loss of the American Dream when the culture turns to blaming others.  I was fortunate to not have the negatives in my life.  My dad pushed me out the door towards a different life that didn’t rely on a dying industry.  He also instilled in my a very strong hard work ethic.

When it comes to our problems with aspects of the poor, the government can help, but it can’t fix the problems.  We make the choices, we create the problems, only we can fix the problems.  I saw truth near the end of the book.

“I don’t know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better.” page 256.

Through the entire book, J.D. never made excuses for the state of his life to just give up.  He could have.  He would have if not for the good influences in his life.  Through hard work, he made the American Dream possible.  I made my own American Dream by working hard.  Most people I know have created their American Dream.  None have done this task without support from family, friends, teachers, faith family, and/or mentors.  Most of us worked hard.

I hear in the news that college is impossible.  No, it isn’t. I will agree that it is hard.  I worked three jobs while I went to school fulltime while being a wife and mother.  That was in the early 90’s.  My son is doing college differently.  He is attending part-time while working one job.  That works too.  He is paying everything on his own.

The American Dream is still attainable.

Writing Update

My latest paperback novel came in the mail this week.  I am amazed at how quickly the months go by with this challenge.  The stack of books in my writing room is getting bigger by the minute it feels.  Once the challenge is over, I will show a picture of all of them.

For the current challenge novel, I have 19,500 words written.  I have been shooting for 30,000 this month to be done early before the surgery at the beginning of March.  I am plugging away.  Sleep is getting a bit difficult, so this is a bit entertaining.

I am excited by the editing I am getting accomplished with my Living the Tenets novel.  I have finished up the first eight chapters.  I still have a long way to go, but I am making steady progress.  My goal is twenty minutes a day so it doesn't all seem too overwhelming.  So far, so go.

Happy Weekend.

Enjoying Winter: Crocheting

Wow, I meant to write more about the winter and doing things I enjoy.  Looking back since that post on December 2, 2019, I talked about attending the Festival of Trees and baking for the Christmas season.  This month, I have talked about my trip to Houston, which traveling always helps the winter go by quicker.  But now, Christmas, New Year's, and travel are over.  I do have the Super Bowl to look forward to.  Yay, 49ers!!!  I am excited my team is going.  But, what else am I doing to keep entertained this winter?

In all honesty, the winter has been very mild.  This is a year that walking everyday is very doable.  Right now, the roads are clear and the temperature has been averaging in the mid thirties.  Beautiful.  Of course, I am not walking.  My hip is way too messed up.  So, I am homebound.  What have I been doing?

Of course, I am reading and writing.  I just finished The Black Prism by Brent Weeks this morning.  My son recommended the novel at Christmas.  The book is a fun fantasy with a flawed protagonist.  The magic system was fun.  The read has given me hours of entertainment and discussion topics with Clay.  Always a win.  I am almost halfway done with my next novel.  Good things to keep me busy.

I have also been watching movies and television.  Yes, the experts say this is a waste of time.  I disagree.  While I watch, I listen to dialogue and watch plot points and all those fun literary terms.  I also work on crocheting while I watch.  With my hip being so bad, I am doing a lot of nothing and the crocheting helps tremendously.  I have something to show for just sitting around.  In fact, last week, I finished a blanket.  I think it turned out quite nicely.

Moving is getting harder and harder.  I think this will be the majority of my activity for the next six weeks.  Well, that is when my surgery is scheduled.  I am sure I will have another couple of slow weeks after that while I recover.  Once I am doing well, I hope to see tulips coming up in the garden.  Okay, that might be a little early for tulips, but the snow will be melting.  Fingers crossed.

Space Center

The last day in Houston was a pleasant surprise for me.  We jumped in the car and headed for Space Center.  Shortly after they opened, we arrived.  The parking lot was filling up fast.  We walked through the door amazed by all the activity.  I was overwhelmed with the whole video arcade atmosphere.  Of course, it wasn't a video arcade.  It was a science arcade of smartness.  So, not my thing, but right up Jerry's alley.

We found a long line for a tour of the campus.  What a mess!  For a bunch of smart people, they really need to take some pointers from Disney.  There was supposed to be two lines for two different things.  We never knew what line we were in and when we reached the door, we still could have went to either ride.  Crazy.  Even worse, the wait ended up being well over an hour wait.  I have never stood in line so long either in Disney or in the military.  Really, it was quite ridiculous.  My hip was killing me.

Finally, we loaded up into an open air cart train like thing with super uncomfortable seats.  Normally, I wouldn't care but the whole hip thing.  The day was beautiful.  The biggest thing I learned while riding around the area is that in space, a person will have bone loss.  This one astronaut was up in the solar system for over 300 days but a little shy of a year.  He came back very messed up.  I would give you stats, but I have forgotten them.

In the first building we went into, I took a few pictures.  I loved the huge flag, very patriotic.  I liked the piece of equipment with patches on it.  I was reminded of the military.  The best part was seeing the two robots named Valkyrie.  They look like they could be in a movie.  I would have loved to see them walking around.  Very cool.

The second building and last stop was the icing on the dry cake for me.  I was enjoying spending time with Jerry, and I loved his enjoyment of everything.  But the space shuttle was spectacular.  I was in awe.  I was also in pain.  I sat a lot as we made our way around it.  Jerry read every plaque I think.  He was in heaven.

When we returned to the Center, I swear the crowd multiplied by 100.  The line that was long for us actually snaked all around the inside of the building.  Crazy.  I don't get anxiety from crowds, but this was huge.  We went to the gift shop and left the area.  Now, I recommend going to see Space Center if in the area, but go on a day when kids are in school, not during the holidays.

Our last stop was a mall.  I loved the skating rink and Christmas tree.  I almost felt like I was in New York or something.  A fun little side trip.

Game Day

We woke up on game day to a cloud cover sky.  My husband was very kind and let me hang out in the hotel all morning to rest.  My hip had been hurting a lot.  I wanted to save it for the big event.  He took the car for a drive to get out and about for a little while.

I am glad I took a heavier jacket.  When we made it to the stadium, the weather was a tad bit chilly.  We went early to check out all the tailgating going on in the parking lot.  Yep, we hung out for a good two and a half hours outside the stadium.  After our first fifteen minutes, we were invited by Mike and John to join them.  They were the best of Texas hospitality.  I finally tasted some amazing Boudin.  We had some in New Orleans a few years back that I didn't like at all.  Looking back, I think the sausage was made out of seafood.  This was made of pork, rice, and all the good seasoning.  Excellent.

I saw some fun stuff.  I always love the band.

I was excited to see some old school represented.  I didn't take pictures of the people wearing the Oiler gear, but I loved the combination of new and old with this trailer.

The vehicles that represent the military climate I loved!!!

The stadium was nice.  I will say that I still think Denver is my favorite.  I loved the energy before the game.  Unfortunately, Houston had their starters sit out much of the game so the energy dwindled.  In fact, the stadium wasn't all that full.  I enjoy the games where both teams hit it hard and the crowd goes wild.  Still I loved being there.  I loved spending quality time with my husband.  If I lived in a NFL city, I would have tickets.  So much fun.

Hyde was one of my boys on the 49ers.

I loved the hat until it got in the way.

Houston Museum of Natrual Science

For me, the best part of living in a big city would be the museums.  Okay, I would also love the prospect of zoos as well.  These are my favorite places to visit on my travels.  Even in our small state, I love to go to our museum in Bozeman to see the cool traveling displays that we are so fortunate to visit the state.  And our tiny zoo in Billings, I love to go for walks there when I have time.  So, when we travel, we try to make time for going to museums and such.  In Houston, we made it to the museum but unfortunately not to the zoo.  This just means we need to go back someday.

Now, I have to admit that I do get tired of dinosaurs.  With my aching hip, I wasn't excited to go to Houston's Natural History Museum.  I thought I would go to a section, wander a bit, and sit while Jerry took in the sights.  I was so excited when we walked into one of their traveling displays.  The Gerd Dreher, Life in Stone exhibit took my breath away.  My artist date started right there.  I only took pictures of my favorites.  But, I know they will show up in a novel one day.  In fact, I know exactly which series that I will have an artist like Gerd show up.  I am pretty excited.  Though he is the one showcased, his family is five generations strong doing this work.  Amazing.  Out of curiosity, I went out on the internet to see about buying a piece.  Nope, I am not rich.  Maybe someday.

Next we wondered through the space stuff.  I loved the wheel of the rover.  Jerry loved this section.  I was hurting.  We took a break and watched a planetarium show about black holes.  I enjoyed the rest.  However, with the five miles of walking on a bad hip the day before, I was getting done with the museum.  I found a comfy bench and watched people as Jerry delighting in walking around the dinosaur section.

My bench sat across from a Jurassic tree exhibit.  Another artist date type experience.  I snapped a few pictures and will work this somehow into a different series I have in mind in a few years.  I would love a table made of this wood.  Beautiful.

As we thought about leaving, we stumbled across and Egyptian exhibit.  I love them as well.  Jerry was so gracious and offered for us to just leave, but he loves this stuff.  I told him to enjoy as I made my way through and we would meet at the end.  He followed me, so I stopped at a few of the benches.  Someday, I would love to do a study of Ancient Egyptian History and then go to a bunch of museums.  They were a fascinating people.  All in all, the day was a delight.  I would have loved to go to the zoo, but I was unfortunately done for the day.

Moody Gardens

I drag my husband to planetariums and aquariums everywhere we travel.  I love them.  So, the Moody Gardens was a must during our stay in Galveston.  For some reason, my phone was draining power in Galveston, so I didn't get many pictures.  I relied on Jerry do to most of the picture taking.  Here is what we did get.

He loved the penguins.  I enjoyed them as well, but my hip hurt.  Actually, it hurt a lot.  Since I had been through a lot of aquariums, I didn't stop much unless it was to rest.  I also didn't take many pictures.  But here are a few of the penguins.  I have to say this is the best habitat I have seen for them.

I loved the planetarium.  Inside, they had a ton of birds, a couple of sloths, and two monkeys.  I wished I had my real camera for this part of the trip.  The birds were fantastic and beautiful.  My phone was going to go dead, so I was pretty disappointed about the pictures.  I saw a six foot fish.  Jerry wasn't with me, so I didn't get the picture.  If I go back to Galveston, I will go when the kids are in school and spend a ton more time there.  The place is fantastic!

For the past few years, the gardens fly a bunch of sculptures into town to work on Ice Land.  They also bring in a huge tent and 2,000,000 pounds of ice.  Yes, the zeros are correct.  Two million.  They gave us a parka to wear.  I froze because I wore sandals.  Opps.  I loved the displays.  I wanted to take a ton of pictures.  Darn!  There was the Eifel Tower, the Great Wall of China, and so many beautiful sculptures.  Here are just a few.  And of course, I did buy a souvenir for the Christmas tree.  A beautiful bird ornament.

We ended our stay going to the Pier.  Basically it was a carnival.  We goofed around playing air hockey and a motorcycle game.  All in all, Galveston was a fun little stay.