Dixiereale's Weblog

THE WORLD DID NOT END!

dixiereale — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:47:48 +0000

On the weekend that the world was supposed to have ended a couple of writing buddies and I went to Boise to a writer’s conference concerned with agents — their value and why a writer needs one. On Friday afternoon we toured the old penitentiary then attended a reception Friday evening and writers’ conference on Saturday. Had a great time and gathered lots of useful tips from the agents.

Friday evening we were evacuated from the hotel for a six alarm false alarm fire. Stood around for about half an hour in the parking lot in our P.J.s. Then were allowed to go back into our room.

On Saturday the conference lasted most of the day. The best piece of advice I gained from the conference was to celebrate writing, Celebrate every step along the way: finishing a sentence, finishing a paragraph, finishing a chapter and celebrate finishing a book. This is great advice, As a writer there is not much praise, and few times to celebrate. I think I’m going to reward myself when I finish a set amount of writing and celebrate regularly.

The old story

dixiereale — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:46:29 +0000

I connected with a stone age author recently. He had etched petroglyphs into boulders in southern Nevada. Although I couldn’t read and understand all the nuances of the story the subject matter was pretty clear. It had to do with hunting animals. The story was estimated to have been written some 10,000 years ago. That is the definition of immortality in my book. How great would it be to be read 10,000 years hence?

Here are some photo of the ancient manuscript.

Connecting across the years

dixiereale — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:42:16 +0000

Christmas Gift

dixiereale — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:02:29 +0000

I found a baby kitten a few days ago trapped in the floor my old derelict hotel. The little guy had somehow found his way into the space between the floor of the old hotel and the ceiling of the grange hall downstairs. I had just arrived for my weekly opening of my rock shop and had gone into the living area of the grange hall to start a fire in the wood burning stove. It was close to zero degrees outside. I could hear a kitten crying for help somewhere. I built the fire then grabbed a flashlight and went searching for the cat. I finally located it in the space between the ceiling of the grange hall and the floor of the hotel It was very cold and the light frightened him and he ran away. I left him where he was and the next morning while cooking breakfast I turned the heat down low so the food wouldn’t burn, grabbed a cooked bratwurst and went back upstairs. I opened the access doorway to the pipes and electrical works under the floor and and it took about 15 to 20 minutes of me meowing, calling “Here kitty, kitty”, patting my leg and waving the sausage into the hole in the floor to convince the kitten to come close enough for me to get my hands on him. He was skin and bones, about half lethargic and one of his hind legs wasn’t working very well. I put him inside my shirt. He immediately started purring and I took him downstairs and fed him. He ate half of a bratwurst all by himself. The first day he stayed inside my shirt. The second day he would venture out to sit on my shoulder but at the smallest little sound he was back inside my shirt. Now it is five days later and his separation anxiety is going away. He is playing around the house and as long as he can come find me occasionally he is happy.
He is an adorable little fuzzy black and white baby, just out of the nest. He still nuzzles and roots around for his mommy’s breast when he feels fuzzy blankets. I have named him Ice Cube after the black musician and the fact that the little guy was nearly frozen (suffering hypothermia) when I finally got ahold of him.
I am taking him everywhere with me. In the car, etc. I want him to be my rock shop cat figure I have to take him in the car all along to get him used to it.

swallows nest

dixiereale — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:29:45 +0000

Earlier this spring I had a family of swallows above the door to my rock shop. About the time those babies were getting ready to learn to fly and leave the nest another young pair of birds started building a new nest right next to the original one.

The second pair were younger and slenderer than the first. I’m assuming they were last summer’s babies. The young couple worked tirelessly for probably a week, maybe more, patiently building the nest out of grass, mud, feathers and even some horse hair. The young mother finally settled onto the nest to lay eggs and incubate them. The expectant father brought her food faithfully several times a day.

Once the babies hatched both parents kept busy feeding the babies. It was cute when one of the parents flew into sight four wide open mouths appeared at the edge of the nest. Mom and dad poked food into the babies faces.

They are finally gone, flew away this past week but were fun to watch while they were there. Even if they did leave droppings on the door step. It’s a small price to pay for the entertainment. I do love to watch them swooping and catching mosquitoes in the evenings.

Check out the natural creativity the parent birds displayed in building this nest. Note the horse hair hanging down. There is a feather caught in it and even the bird droppings that have coated a couple of the horse hair strands. It looks almost like a dream catcher doesn’t it? Wish my creativity was that spontaneous and natural.

King and Queen’s crowns

dixiereale — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:34:01 +0000

I’ve added two more stained glass windows to my rock shop Kounting House located in king Hill, Idaho. The windows represent the king and the queen in the nursery rhyme “Sing a song of sixpence” and contain the king’s crown and the queen’s crown. The blackbirds and the pie they were baked in are on the front double doors to the shop. A picture of them is shown in the December 2008 post. Come by and check them out whenever you are that direction.

Grand Daughter’s Trip

dixiereale — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:30:10 +0000

White House

Viet Nam Memorial

Revolutionary War Historic site.

I was right, the granddaughter was much too busy to email me photos while she was on her trip. However, she did bring her camera to me over the weekend, three weeks after she returned home, so I could download all her photos to my computer and print up copies of the pictures for her. She had nearly 300 snap shots — some good, some not so good. I am now sorting through them and will print up those that are worth making copies of and give her CDs of all them (good and bad included). Here are a few of the sights she saw.

American Heritage

dixiereale — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:41:30 +0000

During spring break this year, my granddaughter is going on an American Heritage Tour with her eighth grade class to Washington, D.C., the American Civil and Revolutionary War battlefield parks, Philadelphia, the United Nations, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, plus all the historic sites in and around Boston. She is leaving on March 21, from the Salt Lake Airport for a week of whirlwind travel.

When I heard about the upcoming trip, I felt it was an important enough experience that I volunteered to help her with the travel and hotel expenses. I am so excited for her – she is 14 years old and grew up in a single parent family in Pocatello. Although she has had some rough spots during her growing up years she has also been sheltered.

I was an adult when I was first visited our country’s birthplace and revolutionary and civil war battlefield parks and was amazed at how close all the places are on the east coast. Here in the west everything is so vast and spread out we think of distances in terms of how many hours or days it takes to drive there. On the east coast everything is so close travel time is estimated by how many minutes or hours it takes to drive there.

My husband and I lived in Fredersickburg, Virginia for a couple of years when he was in the Marine Corps stationed at Quantico. I thought it interesting how historic markers were welded or bolted to the sides of the buildings and stores in downtown Fredericksburg. The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in the area where the city park is now located. The stonewall, where according to local legend Stone Wall Jackson got his nick name, still stands there in the park. One can find old civil war lead slugs, from the soldiers guns, in the woods there much like we find Indian arrow-heads in the desert here in southern Idaho. There is the remnant of an old slave-market in town and one can purchase slave auction posters from souvenir shops. Place names like Jefferson Davis Boulevard, Robert E. Lee Street and Martha Washington University abound. The pilgrims, the revolutionary and civil wars are as much a part of east coast everyday life as the gold rush, or cowboys and Indians are part of everyday life here in the west.

This trip will bring history and our nation’s birth and historic struggles alive for her. She is in for a great adventure. I told her I expected an emailed photo from her every day. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll bet she’ll be too busy gawking at the sights.

Animals have the right idea, they hibernate.

dixiereale — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:00:44 +0000

I hate January! I always try to leave town to escape it. Over the years I’ve gone to Hawaii, Arizona and California in an effort to get away. When I am stuck at home during January I like to hide in my house by the fire and count the days till it is over. Unfortunately, there are always walkways to shovel and cars to dig out from under the snow. Once the shoveling is done I go from the warmth of the house to the warmth of the car, then to the warmth of a store, back to the car and so forth. I don’t know why but, January always seems three times longer than any other month. This year it seemed like an endurance test but I survived it. It is again in the past. Hallelujah!

I have a proposition for those in charge. Let’s draw up a law forbidding Januarys. That way New Years Eve would be celebrated shortly after Christmas and New Years Day would be February 1. We’d be that much further toward spring and nice weather. And we’d get rid of most of the cold, snowy, blowy, slick road, frozen pipe, nastiness that greets us every new year.

What do you think?

Stained Glass Windows

dixiereale — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:02:32 +0000

As part of my old building repair project, I asked one of my nephews, a couple of years ago, to design and put together some stained glass windows for my rock shop. He does stained glass as a hobby.

After a few false starts he got a design that I liked. Then he stalled again for almost a year. My niece, his sister, asked if I cared if she took over the project. I said, “go for it.” So she got busy with his design and her energy and a few weeks ago the two of them brought the windows down and installed them into the front doors of my rock shop.

The installation was not without problems and delays. We had a plate glass window shatter all over the floor and had to get another window cut. We had to board up that window until we could get the replacement glass cut and transported to the shop. That postponed the stained glass installation for a few days. But the windows are finally in and they are beautiful.

The doors face the east and I love to look at them from inside the shop early in the morning when the sky is clear and the sun is shining. They are gorgeous.

Check them out.