Fiction, Websites, and Trying to Stay Cool

I've been writing on a fiction project every night.

Also I've made progress on a few webdesign projects.

I'm nearly done with the Chamber of Commerce website... or I should say I'm nearly done with the second phase of the project... there's a lot more I can do for it. Eventually I will turn that front page into ... a flash or javascript slideshow. I'm also building an interactive street map for that site that will be lots of fun to play with... hehehe in case you don't have anything better to do with your time.

For the Fight CPS And Win site I made a mock up for a redesign. The links at the top don't work yet.

This week I started another new project associated with that, for a national class action lawsuit.

This website will be for the purpose of collecting evidence from people who want to support the class action. We don't have a lawyer to handle it yet but... a well-known family rights lawyer in Massachusetts offered to give us some pointers next week on what we can and can't do with class actions. A secondary mission for the website is to locate a lawyer to handle the case. The website isn't quite ready to go public yet - which is why I don't link to it.

I finally figured out how to keep my house cool for the summer by letting the swamp-cooler air flow out a window in the back of the house only. I used to do that when I lived in the San Joaquin Valley - but forgot the process until today. It is so much cooler in here now!

Oh - one more thing I'm kind of happy about this week - I have been appointed to be a board member for our local Chamber of Commerce this coming year. Since I like attending the meetings, at least I'll be one more person there who can help make a quorum.

Let Parents Know Their Rights in CPS Cases

Disclosure of Parental Rights Petition

I have just read and signed this petition.

Please help by signing this petition. It takes 30 seconds and will really help.

[Update: Petition is closed but you can still look at it.]

Writing, Writing, Writing

News... there's not much new going on here. Things are starting to get so peaceful here again, I've started back into my writing projects. I spent a peaceful afternoon letting the waiters at Indian Creek Café fill my coffee cup, while getting some preliminary writing done to plot my protagonist's inner turmoil and progress. Yes, it is another novel in the making - this one for the young adult age (teens).

The helicopters were making so much noise today, Keith and I decided to take a drive to see what they were up to and get fire pictures for Happy Camp News - but as it turned out, it was only a training exercise.

A Trusting Cat

I guess our cat trusts us. After spending about two weeks avoiding us, hiding in the woods, she's glad to be home and has taken up a new sleeping spot - on the back of our sofa. My daughter took a photo of her resting there, on her back, stomach exposed.

I just showed my daughter a website about sleep positions and every time we looked at a page she said, "that describes me!"... it makes me wonder if all the descriptions work for everyone... something like astrology.

"Well it did describe me very well," she said, "go back to that website!"

Fire at the Top of the Town Trail, Near Happy Camp

There was a fire near here on Thursday June 13, starting at about five pm. By the time I saw it at six there were two helicopters and an air tanker hitting it pretty heavy and by sunset most of the flames were history. Firefighters were on their way uphill while the person who set the fire was on his way down. Rumor has it that the arsonist confessed.

This was close to Happy Camp, at the top of the Town Trail.
Not a very friendly thing for someone to do.

Too close for comfort!

I live right on the other side of the Klamath River, from where the fire was.

However, I knew our firefighters would put it out quickly - of that I had no doubt. Fortunately the wind wasn't blowing very hard and they had fifty people on the scene to control it right away.

Aretha

After writing in this blog that I haven't seen Aretha for a week, I went outside late last night and called out her name. She immediately emerged from the shadows (she's black so if she doesn't move you can't see her at night)... and came up on the porch with me to eat kitty food... but she didn't want affection. I love a cat that will come when you call her name.

Hmmm... I'm using the w.bloggar software to write this. So far I like it a lot. Well, it is time for Coast to Coast... tonight's guest is... Nancy Lieder...... but that's another blog.

Cherokees, Noise, and Pets

Today while websurfing I came upon the Cherokee website for Western Cherokees.. which my grandmother was... her father was Cherokee. Its a beautiful website and there's some great downloads including free music, screensaver, and language help. I never have been able to find my great-grandfather's name on the census, as I've never been able to find the census. Any leads? His name is Samuel Miller and he was from Talequah, Oklahoma.

Wow.. this house is too noisy! Keith is practicing electric guitar. My children are watching TV. Does anyone think about noise levels besides me? I'm listening to MP3's with my headphones on to try to block out some of the other sounds. Right now I'm listening to the Minarets of the West CD - The City of Love - they sing so beautifully. Too bad they're not singing together anymore.

We have a border collie - Mairi - she's so sweet. I'm the only person here who doesn't really play with her... but she seems to prefer me. She is constantly coming to my side. First I feel her hot breath on my leg... then I look down and she's looking up with a dog smile, big brown eyes full of adoration... and if she wants to sleep, it is often under my desk that she retreats to. Dogs are great - they make you feel so loved.

Cats are another story. So far since the weather got warmer the girl cats have disappeared into the woods and only the boy cats are still hanging around the house.

We saw Sabrina yesterday when we drove up the hill at sunset, but when my daughter and I got out of the car and went to greet her, she avoided our attempts at affection and ran quickly back to the woods, turning from a safe distance to look at us in horror at the thought we might touch her. What got into her? All winter long my bedroom was her sleeping spot. Now she wants nothing to do with me?

I haven't seen Aretha at all in about a week, but that's not unusual for her and I know she can take care of herself. She has her own house out in the middle of a blackberry patch and I'm sure she's very safe there.

My Daughter Now Has a Social Life

Last night Keith and I finally made the trip over Grayback to Oregon to go shopping. We left just before sunset and returned after dark, listening to Art Bell's hour-long Kreskin exposé. Oregon was a change of scenery - something I really needed. Still lots of trees there but different stores, different streets, different people. We also got a lot more groceries than we usually get here with the same amount of money.

I was hoping for a UFO sighting on the way home over the mountain, but all we saw were stars and planets. Lots of them. Back when we lived in the Bay Area there was so much light and smog, we were lucky to see 20 stars in the night sky. Here, we can see them all... it is so beautiful out there. I thought I'd be most likely to see a deer, and more likely to see a UFO than a Bigfoot. As it turned out we didn't see any of those. Oh well... there's always next time.

As my kids are getting older I'm seeing less of them. My daughter in particular is developing a teenage social life for which I should be grateful. Yesterday she put on a dress and went to M.'s 8th grade graduation and dance. When they called here at 11 it made me feel good that she still feels like she needs me. When I pulled up in front of the school to pick them up, she ran out to greet me. Cool. Then M. was telling me about all the guys she danced with and how my daughter wouldn't dance with anyone and turned some guy down and made him feel bad. Oh well. If my daughter doesn't want to dance with guys that's fine with me. She said she was dancing with herself and she sounded really happy about that decision. That sounds good to me, really. Safer that way.

M. had an amazing new full-length satin dress on for her graduation. I kept telling her she looked like a Barbie doll. Really. When I was a kid, they first came out with Barbies, and there were blonde and brunette Barbies. My sister got a blonde to match her and I got the brunette to match me, so M. looked just like my childhood doll. Then she said, "No, I look like M.." So I was thinking of a great new M. doll. That would really catch on, I think.

Well, I took them to M.'s house and they went on the bus to Yreka with M.'s mom and younger kids today. It is so quiet here without my daughter! Our neighbor is replacing broken windows for us today and Aaron is playing with Nintendo (quietly thank God)... Keith is spending money, paying bills (I love that he does that for me)... and got us each a new shirt downtown.

There's something wonderful about a day when I get to stay home most of the time. It was great. I got a lot of work done, finishing the forms for the River Run section of the Chamber of Commerce website. Hooray! I'm really pushing to get that done now. They are just simple printable forms. I would have liked to do interactive forms but since the chamber doesn't have a credit card processing account it wouldn't help matters. They need people to print out the forms and send them with checks. I know there's other options like online checks, but I'm hoping not to confuse and distress prospective participants in the River Run. ((For those that don't know, the River Run is a 3 day motorcycle event on the Klamath River Highway in July.))

Tonight I had a bit of fun writing about one of Art Bell's guests. Check that out at my Coast to Coast AM Weblog. That weblog can be so entertaining and fun to write, I really should do it more often.

Well, I have a writing project in mind for tonight - the start of "A Healing Journey"............ something that came to me as I was resting and meditating this afternoon. Guess I'd better go write it down before the idea is lost.

Today (June 1) was Aaron's 12th birthday. I have always tried to give my kids a choice of what to do on their birthdays or treat them to a special event. This year Aaron said he wanted to go shopping in Yreka and check out their new skateboard park on Miner Street. We had a great day though that drive to Yreka and back always tires me out. I also spent too much money... but we all got new clothes. I got Aaron new bedsheets and a new pillow, plus the helmet and pads you see in the photograph below. He used the money his grandparents sent him to buy a new remote control vehicle.



Click to see the larger image... [99886 bytes]

As always I was so glad to get back to Happy Camp and to be with Keith again. He spent the day with our neighbors and looked all rested, relaxed and happy when I got back. Sheesh. If I have to travel, I want to go someplace I haven't seen before... next time.

Right before we left Yreka we stopped at Rays Food Market to get Aaron a cake. When I came out of the store we noticed two deer in the field between the store and the freeway, just chomping away at the grass, completely at ease with all the people, cars, and activity. Wow. They aren't like that here! Bambi lives in the forest, not right next to the store. When he sees cars and people, he turns tail and runs. I wonder if those two deer were born in the area and accustomed to Yreka from birth. A few months ago we saw a deer in Greenhorn Park in Yreka too.

Aaron just finished putting the sheets on his bed, and getting ready to sleep, said, "Today turned out better than I thought." I'm glad he had a good time.

I'm sitting here listening to Art Bell talk to Ed Dames about an "impending gigantic event". How many times I have heard this same kind of conversation from them and nothing Ed predicts comes into being, so far as I've seen. Maybe someday... but I won't bet my lunch money on it.

His newest dire prediction is an attack on the power plant at Shasta Dam. Paranoid people living downstream might take this opportunity to panic and move elsewhere. Either that or tough it out bravely. I used to live in Redding so I know the city well. I've also been to and through Shasta Dam several times. They used to give tours, prior to the terrorist attack on New York City.

While listening to this I made a graphic for my new desktop wallpaper:



I'll be putting this wallpaper online, with a lot more, when I start my new website. Soon. You can consider this yet another prediction of dire world events.