It's Election Day and I'm Running Late

Today I'm rushed. I actually slept until my alarm went off - a rarity in my life. Of course, I was up at 1:14 am but decided to go back to sleep. That my 3:00 am alarm would be coming all too quickly, and I needed my sleep. Wise - I sometimes can be wise without really thinking about it. It took all of a fleeting thought before I turned over and was asleep again - LOL. 

I actually had a good night's sleep last night, woke up 
when my 3:00 am alarm went off. Yippee. Now for a 
good swim to continue a good morning. 

I did cobble together one story for the current prompt yesterday morning. I'll read it over again today and decide whether to submit it or try again. The deadline is Thursday night, so not a lot of time, but some, and that's really all that's needed. 

We won't be able to escape Winter for much longer, 
I suspect. We still have a LOT of leaves to rake up, 
so hopefully DH will get working on that today. We're 
running out of time. 

I believe that Winter has now come to stay. We're much colder and, even though we haven't seen snow that actually stuck around, it's coming. Last winter was an anomaly, and I enjoyed it, but I'm sure we won't qualify for bare minimum snow two years in a row. That's actually not good, but it is what it is. Hopefully DH can get to the leaves today. We have a LOT of them, and they need to be raked up and put into our compost pile before much longer. We'll see what my front yard looks like when I get home tonight. 

I ordered a new parka last week. The same 
style as my old one (love it!), but two 
sizes smaller. Right now my body heat 
is only heating air. I need the coat to fit 
me much closer to be warm, and I would 
like a functional zipper as well - LOL. I got 
a great deal on it, so I'm happy. 

I also bit the bullet and ordered a new winter parka a couple of days ago. I adore my parka, but it's HUGE on my now, and the zipper pull is broken, replaced by a jumbo paper clip (not nearly as effective, but it works ... somewhat). I ordered the same style/color, but in an extra small. That should be the proper size for me and I'll be much warmer without the oversize air pockets to have to heat. I'll find out - this winter won't be as forgiving as last winter was. 

Please make sure you vote, if you haven't already done so. 
It's crucially important in this contentious election, to have 
your individual voice heard. 

So, since I'm running late, I'm cutting this off here. Have an excellent Tuesday, I'm off to the pool. If you haven't voted, get out to your local polling place and get your vote in. It's VITALLY important to express your voice in this contentious election. Slava Ukraini. 

It's Voting Time With a Twist - PLEASE Read and Vote For My Story This Week

Gary is making things VERY interesting this week for votes. Instead of just checking a box, you actually have to email him about the story(ies) you're voting for. So here's the link to all of the stories. Each person has their individual link in their comment. Then, you read and vote. Now here's the killer - whoever wins this week has IMMUNITY. Now that's HUGE. So, I'd very much appreciate your taking that extra step and emailing him at clauderainsrm@gmail.com before Friday (today) at 7:00 pm. If you're voting for more than one, please make it alphabetical by author, it's a bit easier for him. He will email you in return, acknowledging your vote. 

Once again votes are open, but there's a different 
twist this time, and a VERY short timeline. Please 
send your email as stated above, and I hope you 
enjoyed reading my tale in six drabbles. 

That's it. Votes need to be in by 7:00 pm Eastern Time Zone TODAY, and I'd VERY much appreciate your votes. I decided to dive back into a format that I've loved for years, and made my story a series of six drabbles. The theme was "bycatch" - a term I'd never heard before, but apparently a lot of people were familiar with it. 

Bycatch - it was a term I wasn't familiar with, and I 
suspect I did a different take on it with my entry this 
week, but I like what I did, and I hope you enjoy reading 
it and voting for it. Voting is a bit different this week, 
but it's really not horrid, just different. 

I only get two more weeks of working with Chickie before she heads to the East Coast for a two-week vacation. I may be in prison for killing DH by the time she returns - LOL. But ... we've done it before and we'll do it again. It's not easy, but far from impossible, to work two six-day weeks in a row. I'll be cranky and a bit out of sorts, but at least I'll have my swimming and that will help. Still, that's two weeks in the future. I don't have to deal with that this week. 

DH finally read my story and really enjoyed it. Asking 
him to vote would be an exercise in futility, however. *sigh* 
At least he read it, that's a start. 

So, I do hope you read my story and vote for it, and read some of the others too. There are some really excellent authors out here in this group, and I'm always honored that I seem to be able to keep my head above water with them. Have an excellent Friday. I'm off to the pool for a rare Friday swim (since I missed my Tuesday this week). Slava Ukraini, I'll be back tomorrow to wrap this week up. 

A Short Post, A Request for a Vote and This & That

Just a short post today since today is my Wednesday ... yeah. Monday holidays can really mess with my schedule, and this time is no exception. So ... today is trash day - the trash bucket, the recycling bucket AND the yard waste bucket all have to be at the curb no later than 6:00 am. I take the trash and recycling out of the garage and put them down there before I leave for the pool, but I really can't see the west sidewalk in the dark, so the yard waste bucket gets put out when I get home from swimming and the sun is up and helping me see where the sidewalk ends and the dirt begins. 

Our raspberries didn't bear much this year - DH was in them early in the Spring thinning out the plants and doing some trim work. He warned me that we wouldn't have much of a crop this year, and he was right. Next year, however, should be abundant because the plants just LOVED that extra bit of attention and a year off to recover and grow. They're very high and very bushy and I'm expecting a bumper crop next summer. 

Although this is NOT my raspberry patch, in a good year, 
it's exactly what my patch looks like. We knew we 
wouldn't get a crop this year because this year was a 
rebuilding year, but next year should be spectacular. 

I got the check from my account delivered to my front door yesterday, and quickly took it to my bank and had it deposited into my account. I'm set to pay for my treadmill now, and left a voice message for my sales rep letting her know everything was set to go on my end. I'm sure yesterday was spent unpacking and going through all of the various orders collected from the Fair, but I'll hear from her soon, hopefully by the end of tomorrow. My next concern is a delivery date that will mesh with Chickie's East Coast trip. I have faith it will all work out in the long run, however. 

I have this week's story up. I almost took a Bye, but an 
idea came to me and I'm quite pleased with the end 
result. I'd very much appreciate your vote. The person 
with the most votes from this week wins IMMUNITY! 

I'm in a bit of a rush today, and although I have some photos to share, I think I'll save those until Saturday when I have a bit more breathing room. I'm swimming today and tomorrow since I didn't get my Tuesday swim in this week, so my schedule is shifted slightly. I also have a new story up in LJ Idol ( https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1159092.html ) and, as always, would very much appreciate your reading, commenting, and VOTING. The person receiving the most votes this week receives IMMUNITY - that's HUGE. So, read, and please vote for me. Have an excellent Thursday and Slava Ukraini. I'll be back tomorrow. 

The Fence, The Ditch and A Vote - A Busy Thursday

Today is a busy day for DH. He's spray painting the front side of our fence with water proofing, and he also is meeting with the County "Ditch" guys about our Eastern border - the ditch and stream and undergrowth and trees - lots and lots of trees. So he'll be a busy, busy boy today and (hopefully) exhausted and able to get a good night's sleep tonight. 

DH will be spray painting sealant on our side of the fence 
today. He said that he splashed some water on the other 
side to check how it reacted, and the water beaded up, so he 
was happy. That's what's supposed to happen once the sealant
 has been applied. Thank goodness we won't have to 
repeat this for another ten years. What a chore! 

Yesterday's "day off" didn't require any real cooking, so I did some housecleaning instead. I was determined to work on my corner in the computer room. It's getting a bit out of hand. I actually didn't accomplish a lot in that corner, but I did tackle my closet.  I tossed a bag of clothing away - simply not good enough even for Goodwill. I also found three VERY nice shirts I had purchased years ago. They were still in their original packaging. All "Large" and I'm wearing "Small", so definitely NOT for me. I'll think a bit about where to bring them. I could bring them to the Y with me - I know they'll find a good home there. I could give them to Goodwill ... maybe I'll post them to my blog later this week and send them to whomever requests them. That might work. We'll see what happens. Right now they're out of my closet. I'll figure out their next home within a day or two. 

I love handbags, I have a lot (these AREN'T mine), 
and I keep them on my upper closet shelving. However, 
looking through them, I'm out of control on these and 
have to cull them down. 

I realized, looking at my closet, that I'm a total handbag fiend. My Mom loved them - but she was really good about keeping her "collections" under control. I'm going to have to do a serious cull of my handbags, and I have some exceptional ones. But I rarely carry one. I use pockets whenever possible. *sigh* It's a dilemma ... I will get this one figured out, though, and at least I did manage to get my closet slightly cleaner. It's got a ways to go, but it's a start. 

I'd appreciate your vote. At this point, anyone 
can vote for a story. Later the voting will be 
restricted to participants only, but I have to stay 
in this longer than three stories! LOL Your 
vote is important, and very appreciated. 

Voting for my story on LJ Idol closes in late afternoon. I'd very much appreciate a read and a vote if you feel my story has merit. I write under Erulisse. My entry can be found here: https://erulissedances.dreamwidth.org/1041072.html, and the voting is going on here: https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=31569. Thanks for reading and voting, and have a great Thursday. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

I Need to Vent - Checking My Calendar, I'm Going to be VERY Busy

Here it is, another Monday, the beginning of another week, and another new prompt for LJ Idol. I'm a bit disgusted with LJ Idol right now. It's quite obvious that stories are not voted on because of their merit, and that some people have a cadre of outside friends who will vote for them, no matter what. I fully admit that I have three outside friends who are kind enough to read my works and vote for them, and I appreciate each one of them. But my friends also are voting because they feel what I put out there is tight, cohesive, fits the challenge, and is good writing. If not, they would let me know because that's the kind of good friends they are. 

It's not SUPPOSED to be a personality contest, 
but it certainly seems to be one. That's very 
disturbing to me - I think the writing should be 
voted on by merit - how cohesive is the story, how 
much fluff could and should be edited out of it, 
and how well was it told. I've been up against 
some powerhouse writers over the years, and 
there are some excellent ones in this group, which 
is the only thing keeping me in it. 

It seems, however, that this group, a group I really wanted to believe was above that, is actually more of a personality contest, not a writing contest. That's a great disappointment to me, although not entirely unexpected. I am the new kid, and that's only going to carry me so far. I've now got two strikes against me, and that both saddens and angers me because I know what I've written has been strong, cohesive, and (usually) well edited. I'm certainly not expecting to hit everyone's buttons every week, but I'm also not going to push on friends and family to vote for me either. If I did that, I would make it nothing more than a beauty contest - a Miss America in words. I've done that, and it's not as much fun as many people think it might be. 

In 2007, Miss Teen Colorado won Miss 
Teen USA. That didn't happen when I 
was participating. Of course, I was also 
participating in the days of B/W photography, 
bathing suit competitions (which I was 
glad I didn't have to do), and many ridiculous, 
rather sexist attitudes. 

When I was in High School, I was a finalist for Miss Teenage Colorado, the precursor in many ways to Miss Colorado, which was a stepping stone to Miss America. I didn't come from a pageant background, I only gave it a shot because the first step to getting into the running was passing a day-long standardized test of basic subject matters - history, mathematics, English and other school subjects. It was a pretty rigorous test, and I wanted to see how I matched out against others of my age group - curiosity, mostly. 

Standardized testing really isn't a great indicator of 
subject matter knowledge and/or intelligence. At the 
time I was in school, it was mandatory and used 
often, so I was curious how I would rank compared 
to others of my general age. 

Well, I passed the test. I don't know how high or low I placed, but I was one of the 20-25 who were moved on to the next level which is where we actually had to perform for the talent portion, answer questions, and parade in evening gowns. We were all photographed, interviewed, and televised for the dance portion, and it was fun. It was a good time. I played the cello, of course, and I made it through the semi-finals to the finals. Mom made me a lovely deep blue velvet evening gown and I once again did the required song and dance stuff. The eventual winner wasn't me - LOL. It was a truly lovely girl who read a poem for her "talent". She got to go to the nationals, but I don't think she got any higher. Me, I returned to normal life as a high school student once again. 

I wonder if a system of ranked voting might not 
work better in this instance. Each participant 
being limited to five votes per time, ranking them 
in their votes and submitting them to the moderator 
who would then crunch the numbers to come up 
with a winner for the challenge. 

Why does this come to mind? Because after the initial examination, the judging was subjective and not really based on talent. I didn't really mind, because I wasn't into the whole "pageant" aspect of it, but part of the prize would have been a scholarship for college and my parents could have used that assistance. That's the way I'm feeling about LJ Idol right now. I'm gritting my teeth, thinking about the next prompt, and contemplating pulling out of the competition completely, because the voting seems to be based on number of people each contestant knows who will vote for a contestant's story, not actually reflecting the person's writing skill. 

I just needed to vent because I'm a bit 
upset at the format. Still, I walked in eyes 
wide open, and have no-one but myself 
to blame. So I'll continue until I'm 
either voted off or simply don't have the 
time to participate and pull myself out. 

OK, I've now had the opportunity to vent, and that's what I needed to do. Now I'll do a re-set in my life and look at the current prompt (lalochezia, for those who might be interested), and think about whether I want to continue writing for the group or not. I'm coming to the busiest time of my year now, and my time will be quite limited. Do I have the desire and the ability to put my best out there when I'm crunched for time? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I love writing, and I love writing to a prompt, so I'll at least do the current challenge, but I have to think seriously about whether I can or even want to continue on with the group right now. On that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

My Eyes Are Still There - LOL - But Of Course My Vision Changed Yet Again

I managed to get to and from the eye doctor in one piece yesterday. Actually, the getting to was easy, the getting from is always more of a challenge. Even though I always request "reversal drops" for my eyes before heading out, I was under a time deadline and couldn't sit around long. Chickie and ChickieMama had to get down to the Mayo Clinic and have their meeting with the team of doctors helping ChickieMama with her recent cancer diagnosis. I couldn't waste any more time than I already had. 

I've always been nearsighted. Apparently, now my 
right eye is farsighted. It's no wonder I've been 
having problems with focal areas. 

The thing that really surprised me about yesterday's appointment was that my right eye, instead of being near-sighted as I've been throughout my life, is now far-sighted. Wow! That was really unexpected. I now have a new prescription in my hands, and I'll start searching on-line for a new set of glasses. I love the pair I've been wearing for the past 1-1/2 years, but new prescription/new glasses. 

Using the extra eye darkening lenses that they will provide at the reception desk upon request, I was able to drive safely home. DH had forgotten his phone at home and requested that I drop by and pick it up on my way in to the shop. It wasn't far off my route, so I made the detour. After finding the phone and putting the empty garbage bins back into the garage, I headed south to the shop. I entered, ChickieMama left to wait for Chickie in the parking lot while she punched out, and then they were gone and I was working my day off. 

It was fun seeing my eye doctor again. I always forget 
how young he is, and he's Egyptian, so I'm quite sure 
he recognized me because of my tattoo. But his first 
words were "I think I've been sharing the swimming pool 
with you at the Shoreview YMCA some mornings." 

It turns out that my eye doctor has actually shared the pool with me over the past month or two. Although he often swims at White Bear Lake's YMCA (which I've also used occasionally), in the summer, he comes over to Shoreview along with many of the WBL members, to use our outdoor pool. I think it was my tattoo that he recognized - LOL. I don't fade into the background any more - I'm "front and center". 

Voting is now open and if you read my story and 
liked (or hated) it, I'd sincerely appreciate your 
vote. I've put the link in the paragraph below. If my 
story was a trigger for you, I apologize, but would 
still appreciate your vote because it had an emotional 
impact on you. 

On that note I'm out of here. Hopefully I can find some lenses I like today and get something ordered. I'd really like to see the world in focus once again. My story for kintsugi has been posted and I put the links into my blogs yesterday. Voting is now open. I'd REALLY appreciate your votes, but I will also re-iterate my warning that this story could be a trigger for some readers, so approach with caution. I've already had one on-line friend tell me that she had to stop reading it, and I totally understand. But I also know that sometimes strength can only come through challenge, and that life is not always singing birds and dumplings. If you vote for me, here's the link - https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1123027.html and I thank you in advance. Have an excellent Thursday, I'm off to the pool for my final swim of the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Growing, Autumn and Voting - It Was a Busy Wednesday

It's 5:00 am, pouring rain, and DH has already bustled into the computer room to grab the flashlight and umbrella and go outside to take a look at his drainage, trying to make sure it isn't overflowing or doesn't need tweaking in any way. Of course, he also scattered the last of this year's grass seed on the bank only two days ago, and a good rain may well sweep all of that away with the water. I'm hoping not, since we're not going to buy more grass seed until next Spring. 

We've talked about using a grass seed blanket 
on our slopes, but they're expensive. So we still 
bought grass seed to scatter instead. We might 
look at a blanket for some of the steeper slopes 
next year, but for now, we'll stick with the 
old fashioned way. 

I took the time yesterday to fill out my absentee ballot and then drove over to the Library to turn it in. The line of people waiting for early voting was quite long - it's nice to see that people are still concerned with democracy and anxious to have their say in the direction of the nation and the state. Fortunately, since my ballot was filled out, I was able to go right in, show the election official my sealed and signed ballot envelope, and deposit it into the locked bin for ballots. I picked up an "I Voted" sticker for November and headed back out. 

I've voted Absentee before and always feel pretty comfortable 
with the process. The ballot is exactly the same as the one 
I would fill out at the precinct. I filled it out, folded 
it back up, and put it into the "Secrecy Envelope" which 
then got sealed. That envelope then went into another 
envelope which identified me with a unique ID, and 
I also had to sign that and provide my ID number 
(in this case, my Driver's License number). At that point 
I could have put it into the final envelope and mailed 
it back, but I felt better about actually dropping it off. 

My grocery bill yesterday was slightly over $100. ACK! But understandable when I looked back over the invoice and realized I had spent $20 on grapes and $10 on blueberries, not counting any of the other groceries I had chosen. I do love my fruit, and this late in the season, I'll be getting my oranges soon, which will have to carry me through until April or May. I'll pay for fresh fruit when it's the good stuff, and the grapes (which are washed and in the refrigerator waiting for me to indulge) are absolutely lovely - large and sweet. I'm hoping my weekly shop will be a bit less later in the Fall and into the Winter. 

I adore fresh blueberries. I have them with my morning 
oatmeal, and often on my evening salad as well. The 
berries I got yesterday were HUGE! Soooo tasty! 

I spent the rest of my day doing boring things - housecleaning (not too much this time, I was still a bit overdosed by my marathon cleanup on my sewing closet), laundry, and grabbing the chance to weave another row when I could. I probably should have washed the kitchen floor, but gave it a solid brush instead. I was running short on time by then - needed to get the dinner into the oven and wrap things up for the day. I think I ended up getting at least five rows woven. I have a total of 900 threads for the shawl, and I finished the first 100 yesterday at some point. Progress ... LOL. 

I took this very autumnal photo of my front yard fencing 
yesterday to share with all of you. I just love the colors 
I get during this time of the year. 

Have an excellent Thursday. It sounds as if our rain has already passed over and we're back to silence once more. DH said the drainage was working well, except for pine needles, which we can't really do a lot about. He's concerned about the drip line on the back of the shed, but hopefully it will rain again during the day today and he can get a better look in the light. I hope your day is one of fulfillment and happiness. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of "Random Thoughts". LOL 

It Was a Women's Celebration In the Frozen Northlands

On Facebook, after I had voted, I posted a quick note about how after DH and I had negated each other's votes, we headed off to have a nice breakfast before I continued on to the shop for a day's work. I must admit that DH and I didn't cancel each other's votes out 100%. There was a single candidate that we both voted for - Amy Kloubachar, our US Senator. DH voted for her because she didn't advertise, and the few ads she did run were positive, not mud-slinging hatred. I voted for her because I think she's totally fabulous! 

I really like Amy Klobuchar as our Senator. She's intelligent and
truly "Minnesota Nice", but not afraid to express an opinion. She's
effective and respected. 

But with that single exception, he and I voted completely opposite candidates. Yet, somehow, we manage to make things work in our shared home life. It's NOT easy. We ride a river that alternates between smooth waters in stunning landscapes, to vivid rapids and whitewater whirlpools confined between steep canyon walls. I'm not sure if all relationships are that volatile, but I can tell you in all sincerity, it leads to an interesting life. 

I wasn't sure if Tina Smith would pull it off. She had been appointed
by the Governor to take over Al Franken's Senate position when
Franken retired suddenly. But Tina managed to pull off a win
against a strong female opponent. I'm very pleased. 

How do DH and I make it work? Obviously we must be doing something right, we're coming up on our 40th wedding anniversary next year. Still, we stumble - a lot - we have our own ways of interacting through the rough spots, and I'm not sure if we manage to actually do it right. When push comes to shove, however, I usually count on time working some magic. It usually works. 

Ilhan Omar pulled in 78% of the vote, becoming
the first Somali Muslim refugee female elected
to the House. Bravo! 

I'm proud of my state, though. We retained our reputation for Democratic and liberal views at the polls. We elected a preponderance of Democratic candidates, among whom was Ilhan Omar, a Somali Muslim refugee who now represents our 5th District in the House - by more than 78% of the vote. We also elected Angie Craig and Dean Phillips - two other Democrats who had fought hard-fought campaigns. Even if DH voted Republican, my liberal leanings called it! I'm rather happy today - LOL. 

Angie Craig managed to defeat incumbent Jason Lewis and take
over his seat in the House in a contentious and hard-fought
campaign. She probably would have won in the last election, but
there had been a third candidate who pulled votes away from
her. No third candidate this time - she was a clear victor. 

I hope you have a tremendous Wednesday. I have a 7:00 am!!! meeting with the insurance company to get Medicare sorted out and DH enrolled for a December 1st start. It seems that the easy-going hours and walk-ins of January through September disappear as sign-up deadlines arrive - 7:00 am is a pretty early appointment time and it was the ONLY time open when I set the appointment up more than three weeks ago! I'll return tomorrow, hopefully with health insurance nailed for another year. 

An Unusual Allergy Left Me Perplexed

I voted - had breakfast first and then went to my polling station. When I went it wasn't busy, but friends who voted elsewhere later in the day said their locations were filled and hopping, and statewide numbers were higher than expected. That makes me happy, because primary elections are often either forgotten or ignored, yet they are so important. Primary election winners go on to the final ballots and election in November. 

We have a ballot system and counting machine similar to
this. There's really only one way to feed in the paper
ballot. Top or bottom doesn't matter, but sideways
just doesn't work! 

I had an older lady in front of me when I finished marking my ballot. We have a system where we mark paper ballots and feed the sheets into a machine that counts the blackened circles on each ballot to come up with the total number of votes for each portion. It's pretty easy. Use the pen, mark the circles, bring the ballot to the machine, feed it into the CLEARLY MARKED WITH BRIGHT GREEN ARROWS slot, turn away from the machine and leave. Duh! 

The lady before me seemed not quite awake yet. I'll just assume she hadn't had her coffee. She was having all sorts of problems feeding her sheet into the machine. She tried it facing sideways - didn't work. Then she tried to feed it in, holding onto the paper for dear life. The 'machine vs lady battle' went to the lady and the machine failed yet again. Finally, on the third try, she followed the directional arrows and the trough width designation, released the page, and it was sucked into the morass. 

After voting, I usually grab an "I Voted" sticker
to wear on my shirt for the remainder of the
day. It can remind people who see you to get
to the polls and vote, if they haven't done so
already. 

On the way out of the area, when asked if she wanted an "I Voted" sticker, she said "No thanks, I'm allergic," and continued walking. The election judge and I looked at each other quizzically as she walked out. "I'm allergic?" The stickers are normally pressed onto clothing for the day and she was clothed in a rather nice summer dress. We just couldn't figure out what part of the dress would be allergic to the sticker. I fed my own page into the slot, accepted my sticker, and headed on to the shop. 

Looking at my calendar this morning, I have three Wednesdays before my friend Sharon arrives for her annual visit. I guess I'd better try to get some housecleaning going, even though it's beastly hot today. Maybe I'll sweat off some weight - LOL. Still, since the majority of the candidates I voted for made it to the next round, I'm pretty happy. Lots to do today, so no taking it easy. Hopefully Aearwen and I can link up for a phone convo later today - it's been FAR too long since our lives got in our way. 

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Enjoy your day. 

Whatever Happened To Issues?

We're winding down to election day here in the USA and it's been vicious. For months! Actually, for well more than a year. I'm not just talking about the national election for President, but also the local elections for any national or state-wide ... even city-wide offices. All I have to say at this point is "What's up with this?".

The ads may be all attack ads, but I still feel obliged to vote. It was a
hard-fought battle to get the right for women to vote. I'm not about
to minimize that struggle and pass on my civic obligation. 

Once upon a time, elections and their associated advertisement were focused on the issues. The candidates wanted the voters to mark their ballot for the candidate who would provide them with representation to vote in the laws they thought would be beneficial, and represent them on the national or international stage without embarrassment. Well, I have to say, at this point it's looking like anyone voted into office next month will be an embarrassment - local, regional or national candidate.

My correctly sealed and witnessed absentee ballot went into
the mail yesterday morning. Huzzah! Now I won't have to
stand in a long line to vote, and DH, if he decides to vote after
all, can head over to the polling place any time during the day
and miss the "going to work" rush. 

Nonetheless, because it is my civic duty and I can't shirk that, I did cast my absentee ballot over the weekend and dropped it into the mail yesterday morning. I was pleased with one aspect. It's been a long time since I last voted absentee, and I know the last time I wasn't able to vote in anything except the Presidential election. This time my ballot came to me, exactly the same as I would have had if I had been standing in a long line in the cold to put my marks on the paper. I had all of the candidates, even the judges and those without anyone listed as running against them - all of which were specifically for my little piece of the greater metro area. That pleased me a great deal.

He laid out capstones on the steps to see what needs
adjustment. A couple of steps are slightly off true, so he'll
be seeing what he can do to adjust them a bit today, then
he might start gluing some of the capstones on. 

Today DH will be working on capstones, and maybe re-doing one or two of the steps. The castle is looking pretty fantastic at this point. We'll need to get a palette of capstones ordered in the spring to put on the tiered walls, but that's next year. We're almost finished with this year's work (and weather in which working is sensible). He's been getting his exercise working on the castle, I've been getting mine in the pool. Time to go sweat in a large, chlorinated area of water once again, so I wish all of you a wonderful Tuesday.

Election Day and Contracts

I left for the polls at 6:00 am this morning. The church where we vote is six blocks away from my house, the polls didn't open until 7:00 am, but I left at 6:00 am. I had no intention to wait around a long time for people to vote ahead of me. I wanted to be one of the first twenty through the door so that the rest of my day would be open.

This long and twisting line was for people waiting

to vote in Zimbabwe. I'm always impressed by how

seriously other nations take their civic rights.

It was sleeting and cold, but we were early enough to stand in the entryway alcove, dry and 'warm' or at least warmer. By the time we were let into the building at 7:00 am the line was out of the entryway doors, down the walkway to the parking lot, then turned the corner heading towards the street, and turned one more corner to bracket the church in voters. DH and I were out of there by 7:10 am, our bright red "I Voted" stickers on our shirts. After a quick breakfast I dropped DH off at home and continued to work. I was thankful that I had gotten my 2000 words in on NaNo before I left to vote because I ended up with no time during the day to write another word.

I took a class in contract law shortly after I moved

up here, a long time ago. I always enjoyed the subject

though and I'm looking forward to reading my contract

and examining it in detail.

Tonight I got home and finally had a chance to catch up on some work. Among the things waiting for me in my in-box was my contract from Untold Press for "Dragon Seeks a Wife" along with a short email confirming that we will have at least one more joint edit between us before publication. It's a much larger and more detailed contract than I have had for nonfiction that I have published in the past, and I'm brain fuzzy today, so I'm letting it sit in front of me, unread, until after I have my 2000 words done tomorrow. Then I'll take it with me to breakfast and coffee and red-pen it. (For those of you who may not know, my short story was accepted for an anthology due for publication in 2013 in both e-format and paper. That's who the contract mentioned above is from.)

I'm very homesick when I look at this pic. This is

the entrance area to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Pretty, isn't it?

I am hip deep in my NaNo story. I love my main characters and even though I see areas that I will probably leave on the editing room floor, I love the glimpses of their lives that they are allowing me to view. My miner has finally reached the mountains and is getting ready to be introduced to the life that will be his until his death. My musician has been given her purpose and it's up to her to move with it. Now I just need some good music...

Ink Masters is a tattoo competition. I'm generally

not impressed by the contestants' tattoos, but I do

love watching the show.

I'm tired of the election so I'm watching Ink Masters which is just making me wish I had my other two tattoos already. But they are larger and my DH isn't pleased about my having them. They also won't be inexpensive and I just don't have the dinero right now. Oh well, all comes as it will... Enjoy your night and may the candidates and issues dear to your heart win.