Digital Camera Binocular, With Night Vision

I'm putting this link here to remind myself to buy one of these when we can afford it.

Digital Camera Binocular - Night Vision

Why would I need this?

Well, I'm looking for visual proof of strange beasts who dwell in the night.

I imagine myself hearing bumps in the night while sleeping in a van in the forest, then grabbing my night vision binoculars to look out the window, to see --

Well, I won't see a thing without the night vision.

Am I a Descendant of Neanderthals?

Am I descended from Neanderthals? I've always wondered where my red hair and freckles came from - I've always felt like such a freak because of the freckles, though my red hair is dark enough to look brown at times.

Red hair a legacy of Neanderthal man

Red hair may be the legacy of Neanderthal man. Oxford University scientists think the ginger gene, which is responsible for red hair, fair skin and freckles, could be up to 100,000 years old. They say their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man, who lived in Europe for 260,000 years before the ancestors of modern man arrived from Africa about 40,000 years ago.

Warm Daughter and Writing

I'm happy to report that my daughter is now wearing warm winter clothing. She decided she likes sweatshirt jackets with the huge pockets in front. She has a gray one she wears almost every day now.

I've been staying out of the chatrooms lately... no time for that anyhow. I joined a writer's community online after finishing NaNoWriMo on November 17 - and went to one of their chatrooms but for only a few minutes - then I had to go get busy on my current writing project. I want to go back to the AOL writers' chats, but just didn't have time this week.

I think my email this week is kinda boring too... I couldn't find even one thing I wanted to share here today. I put a lot of my creative thinking into fiction this week.. not into blogs or emails or anything else. I wrote a children's humor story that I hope to revise and send to a magazine publisher.

Webshots

I just started a new photo album account at Webshots.

Webshots is a great place to get beautiful desktop wallpaper. The photography is amazing!

Writing on Message Boards and in Chat Rooms

This is stuff I said in email and on message boards in the last week:

"I've been thinking about writing about my life too. My oldest daughter asked me to write my life story - as a family history document. I'm in the middle of another writing project, but have been thinking of how I could go about doing a life story manuscript in a creative and artistic way.
"I already have a small collection of short memoirs, and a pile of journals dating back twenty years. I'm considering writing my life story as a collection of short stories, or maybe three or more novel-like segments.. part fiction, part reality."

"I was kind of planning to hide my face for a few more weeks due to the fact I haven't updated Happy Camp News in over a month."

"...that water heater has worked just fine for 2+1/2 years since we've been here and suddenly this guy we don't even know declares it a hazard. Did [company name] change owners or something?"

"Anyhow, she got her eyes checked today and we ordered another pair of glasses - but she keeps saying she won't wear them. I still feel it is my responsibility to make sure she has a pair available. The last pair, she broke on purpose because she doesn't like how she looks in glasses. She wants contac lenses but her insurance from her father's job doesn't cover vision."

"Thanks for your evaluation of my website - I just deleted the whole thing."

"I've had problems connecting to the internet during the storm - have you noticed that too?"

"The story on my novel left the plot behind about five days ago - and took off in directions I never imagined. It is terrible not knowing what this protagonist will do next."

"I gave a few years of my life to researching that information and now am on to fiction projects. Of course, it all is grist for the mill."

"My new novel is 41% done. Last night I worked on it until 5 am. It is really slow going at times. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth it or if people will think my novels are as weird and offbeat as I do. I mean, who really cares about some girl running around in a forest and dealing with unfriendly villagers in order to find her father? I have no idea where I'm going with this. I offered to show my brother my first novel when he was here a few weeks ago and he just asked what kind it was. I said it was an adventure novel for kids and he didn't even want to look at it. Geez... I was thinking it was so cool I at least had a manuscript. oh well. I keep wishing I was writing about sophisticated city people in modern times... wouldn't that be easier?"

"You can always reel me in with the promise of a good cup of coffee. :)"

"We must learn to show more love and tolerance and compassion than others. To expect or demand it of people who have not received the benefit of His guidance is wrong. Sorry if I seem like I'm on a tangent just because I am.. I see this kind of impatience in the chatrooms and it just makes me want to cringe... so I encourage love, tolerance and understanding. I hope some out there are listening."

"And yes, sometimes it is needful to experience rough exchanges - because it can serve to wake up heedless people. However there's always the danger it could also hurt and distance them. Who among us has the wisdom to wield that kind of power? Not very many."

"In some ways I agree with you ... , but unlike you, I'm not willing (or able) to get totally sarcastic about it. My solution is that if I don't like it - I don't have to participate any more than what feels comfortable for me.
"I think I'm one of those people you speak of who was pushed overboard - but don't believe I've ever been better qualified to lead. Maybe I'm just not the control-heavy type. I don't much respect overly-controlling types of people - just thinking of the way they hurt others saddens me.
"I've had to come to the conclusion that not only am I not able to fit in with the pack, I don't even want to fit in with the pack! I need to be true to my own nature... loving myself as I really am, not trying to be what someone else imagines I should be."

***That's about the best snapshot of my life I've ever posted in this blog!***

An Injured Child, Writing, Waterless and Halloween in Retrospect

Today Aaron's friend was swinging one of our hammers in the backyard and got it caught in the clothes line... then pulled on it and hit his own head - hard. He didn't pass out but got a huge bump on his forehead. I felt so sorry for him. Fortunately his mom came to get him soon enough.

Novel writing is going pretty good. I've done 6000+ words so am ahead of schedule so far.. but it has been only two days.

There's no water service in Happy Camp today! They are replacing pipes and other system parts. Why can't they do this kind of thing at night when people are less likely to use their water anyway? We can't do dishes, can't do laundry, can't take showers... etc.. it is one of those things... you don't give much thought to it until it is gone.

The kids had fun on Halloween. My daughter went out with her friend. Her friend was a cheerleader and my daughter was gothic. Aaron went with Shane and his family, dressed as a criminal. I didn't appreciate his garb but at least he was warm and stayed out of trouble. I hope.

Aerobics, AOL and Writing

I rediscovered eBay and quickly ran out of money to spend there. I managed to get another copy of an old aerobics video tape I lost after moving, and since it came in the mail I'm been doing that every day. I still haven't gotten all the way through it but every day is a little better. Today I did the wamup, two routines, and then fast forwarded through the third to get to the cool down routine. I feel so much better, getting a little exercise these days. It takes only 1/2 hour to do as much as I did today.

Now all you anti-AOL people can just vomit or whatever it is you do - but I recently downloaded AOL 8.0 and just love it. Always before I've had connection problems with AOL and well, the service wasn't all that exciting. I don't know what it is about this version, but I love the colors, the interface, the new features, the way it works, everything. And - I got my old screen name back after 2+1/2 years and I'm so happy about that.

NaNoWriMo starts again on November 1 so I will be busy writing my fourth novel. If you want to be updated on my progress, zip over to my writing blog where you can read all about it.

By the way, my webdesign site is done, for now.

Right Now

Right Now

Webdesign and Homeschooling

I finally came up with a design I really like for my new webdesign website. It is complex to build but when done will be simple to view. I'll let you know when its ready! (This is my third attempt to get something on the web for Klamath Design.)

Homeschooling is going great this year. It is just Aaron and me (my daughter is at the local school) so we have lots of time to work one-on-one with just Aaron's interests in mind. It is lots of fun.

Peaceful Day

This hasn't been a very eventful day. I made a to-do list and got only about half the things done. I've been indoors almost all day - except for the time I spent writing in my journal, out in the meadow. Ah well, at least I got some housework done. My daughter wanted her ears pierced and I did that, and then she surprised me by cutting her hair. It looks nice.

Free State Project

Listen to Free State Project founder, Jason Sorens . . .

Free State Project - I signed up

Recently I found the Free State Project and signed up. I am so excited... at the thought of moving to a state where there will be an opportunity to live free - really free... no abusive government regulations, no fear of the gestapo showing up at the door (for those of us who are normal law-abiding citizens)... just freedom and peace of mind. I love this idea!

I like the idea of helping with a new alternative society. Yes, it is an experiment, but one that I expect will benefit a lot of people. If we can be successful in one state, the freedom may spread.

Anyhow, the goal is to get 20,000 people willing to move to a solitary state to promote freedom initiatives and end government abuse of citizens. Our society will be based on a desire for a civil government whose only role is to protect the life, liberty and property of the citizens.

The Homeschool Table, State Line, Indian Town, and Bolan Lake

Today my daughter and I drove to Grants Pass to buy a card table for Aaron's homeschooling. He really likes it and I think he appreciates that his education is important enough to warrant a whole new table this year. I also got more art supplies... but I need more. I want better quality water colors for him and a new set of oil pastels. I love his artwork!

On the way back we stopped to take pictures at the state line but we didn't like the way they turned out... so we will try again some other time. Her idea is to get photos with us standing in both states at the same time. Also on the way back we went to the site of Indian Town. A friend here told me how to find it and I believe from her directions I found the right place this time. There's no signs from the road... just a gravel road going downhill and a flat place at the bottom. There's a sign saying "Day Use Area" which I think means they don't want people spending the night down there. It used to be a town larger than Happy Camp, I've heard, but I don't see how they could fit that many people in the area. They must have spread out quite a bit from the clearing I was in today. Of course absolutely nothing is left of the town - not a trace - but I wonder why it isn't marked as a historical place. In fact, there are no California historical markers around here... and there's so many cool history spots, I don't see why not.

The other day I was telling people at one of our meetings that there's no sign from our direction telling where the road to Bolan Lake is. (That's up there on the road to Oregon too).. and so to find it, people have to pass the road, and then turn around and come back to see the sign that tells there's some lakes down that road. We went there twice last year and there's still no sign from our direction. So Eddie took the information and indicated that he was going to make a request that this be fixed by the forest service... now why didn't I think of that! I will look forward to see what kind of response he gets. If that works, how about a historical marker about the bowling alley that used to be up there in the middle of nowhere next to Bolan Creek... "Bolan" being a mountain-man way of saying "Bowling" I guess.

Physically Fit? Also: The Children's Fair, Karate Classes,

Good news - yesterday I passed the physical for the ambulance driver's license! I wasn't sure I would because I'm a bit overweight now, age 50.. just had a major operation last year.... but as it turned out I passed. The hardest part was running in place for two minutes. I never jog and running isn't my idea of fun. I like long walks though, and have taken quite a few lately for conditioning. That may have helped, because my pulse rate was just fine (within the limit) after the two minute run. I'll admit my breathing was a little bit labored though.

A few nights ago it was cool enough at sunset to walk, so my son, Aaron, and I walked across town to the post office. There's a big, long hill on the way there... no matter which direction we walk in. We chose the highway... so I was nearly to the top of the hill before I felt like slowing down, but I was starting to ache and breathe heavy and sweat. My son had none of these symptoms. Now, I may be 50 but I honestly believe that if I take the walk every day I'll be doing better in about a month. Keith picked us up at the post office because by the time we got there it was dark.

***

Today was the annual children's fair sponsored by the Family Resource Center. It started at 10:30 with a karate demonstration from the class this week. The man who ran the class was from Southern California, and it was was co-sponsored by the Family Resource Center and the Karuk Tribe's Education Department. I'm glad they have these opportunities for kids here. Since we're so far off the main roads, it is the only way for kids here to get the classes.

At the children's fair my daughter got to decorate a shirt and a cloth tote bag, make a beaded scarf and bracelet and necklace.. and she got a bunch of goodies. About fifty kids and their parents showed up... so it was a good crowd for such a small town.

***

A few months ago we bought an old truck for hauling things around town. Now our neighbor is using it for firewood and in exchange does mechanic work for us. Today he tuned it up so I decided to drive it to the children's fair... and... amazing how much smoother it runs after a tune-up! I might even get used to driving it. Its a 1970 Ford... and reminds me of the old 1969 GMC my grandmother gave me years ago... I wish I had kept that one!

Mom Was Here

Today my mom left - I think it was too hot here in the Klamath River Valley ... or maybe there just wasn't enough to do. Too bad she didn't get here a few days earlier when the temperatures were down.

After she left, Keith and I walked from here all the way to the other side of the Elk Creek Bridge and back, for exercise. We both need exercise so much. It used to be that we walked together all the time, when we first moved here... but when I got sick and had to have the hysterectomy last year, we quit and we're both so out of shape now. He needs to walk because of his diabetes and I need to walk because I'm overweight and because of high blood pressure... so hopefully we'll keep walking every morning now... at least, that's the plan.

I also finished chapter three in The Artists Way. This is like the third time I've done chapter three but probably the first time I actually did all the tasks. Instead of trying to keep up with the one-week schedule, I'm just going at my own pace.

Later we went on a tour of a few river access places we've never been to before. One was China Point. It is still a bit smoky here. The smoke is coming from the Florence/Biscuit fires in Oregon.

Going to China Point helped get my mind off the misery I was feeling because of my mom leaving.

Flash! Mom!

I learned to do flash today! I'm so thrilled! I put it on the Chamber of Commerce website.

My mom is here visiting me from Texas... it is really nice to have her around. She's actually staying in the campground on the other side of the river.

Learning More About Webdesign

I've been busy working on my webdesign site. Tonight I'm studying CGI/PERL to use with the request form. I know there's other ways to do forms, but this is the only book I've got on it and besides, my current server doesn't offer PHP or ASP... at least not to lowly people like me who don't pay much.

Anyhow, I'm so glad to have the site nearly done. You can look at it now - but don't laugh - if you want to make constructive, polite suggestions, that would be welcome. :) Sorry you can't use the form for that since it isn't ready yet.... but there's always email. If you have Netscape Navigator 4.7 for a browser - don't bother looking at the site because the inline frames won't work for you and I haven't set up any other options. I would suggest an upgrade... try http://www.mozilla.com for a change... for example.

So... I plan to go to Yreka on Monday for my business license. I'm taking my son ... Aaron wants a video game and I want to buy him clothes. My daughter needs school clothes. Her friend predicts she'll last two weeks in school before quitting. We'll just have to see about that. I remember in third grade she lasted just one week before all hell broke loose ...but she wants to try this so in the interests of her having the kind of educational experience she wants, she's going back to public school this September.

Graphics Tutorial and Weather

Today I worked for a while on a graphics tutorial... to make chrome letters.

Now it is starting to rain outside... and I hear lightning.. thunder... how unwelcome. I really don't want any fires and this is how they usually get started around here. :(

Shopping, Restaurants, Water, and the Webdesign Business

Tonight my daughter and I drove to Oregon to go shopping. Well, on my birthday, which is already passed, I wanted to go out for dinner in Cave Junction (Oregon) and everyone I mentioned this to was telling me there were no restaurants there except a pizza place and a Chinese food place. So today we went through the town looking around and saw a lot of restaurants, both large and small, cheap looking and expensive looking... really a variety - and I wonder why those other people don't realize how cool it is to have all those places to eat out just over the hill... accessible in the summer when the road's not closed, anyhow. There were actually at least two pizza places and two Chinese food places. Anyhow, should we ever be able to afford it, we will go out to dinner there. Right now we barely have enough money to buy groceries until the end of the month.

When I got home, there was an email waiting from a guy who wants to talk to me about redesigning his website. I know I should be excited but for right now I'm having a panic attack. I don't know if I'm ready to start earning money! I don't even have my own webdesign site done, my business plan is only about half written... and I'm just plain scared. I'll go ahead and check out his project anyhow.

I love good bottled spring water. Now, if you happen to be in Mt. Shasta City or Dunsmuir, you can take your bottle and get your own fresh spring water at the source... filted through miles of lava within Mt. Shasta... I just love that. Here in town I'm at the mercy of the local grocery store, but usually there's some kind of good water. However....... over the hill in Oregon, there's some really interesting water. Right now I'm drinking Mountain Mist - premium artesian spring water - from Washington. It is so good! I also brought home four large jugs of Earth2O water from Opal Springs in Oregon - one of my favorite waters... and I don't know why it isn't sold in California... but every time I go north of the border, I get some of this.

My favorite water of all is Castle Rock spring water from Dunsmuir, CA... but the company changed hands and it is hard to find. I can only find little 16.9 oz. bottles here in town now. Castle Rock was my constant water source when I lived in the SF Bay Area - and when I moved north I found their bottling company in Dunsmuir - where I stayed for two months while looking for a home. The Dunsmuir site tells the story of The Best Water In The World... well, I believe it!... their "water supply" is piped into fountains all over town that run constantly (no on/off valve) so to get some, all we had to do was take our gallon jug to the nearest fountain and fill up.

Now if you look at a photo of Mossbrae Falls in Dunsmuir - you'll see where Keith and I went on our first "date" if you want to call it that..... the Falls are about 1/2 mile down the railroad tracks in northwest Dunsmuir and if a train comes you have to step aside... or else. Well, two trains passed us when we went to the Falls that day. It was fun and Mossbrae Falls is one of the most beautiful places in the world... just very hard to get to... so it is not crowded. :)

Fires continue and he air is smoke filled ... and fire crews were coming into Cave Junction to spend the night - at about the time we were leaving. There was so much smoke in the air tonight that on the way home the nearly-full moon looked like it was behind a cloud... barely visible. So far it hasn't been enough to make my eyes sting.

Pink Scrollbars

Well, I wanted pink scrollbars.... and now I have them. If you're not using Explorer, you might miss that fact... but believe me, matching scrollbars are the in thing these days...

[Update: The pink design on this blog went away a long time ago.]

Project of the Day & The Internal Alarm Clock

My project-du-jour was my webdesign website. This is actually my second attempt at getting this together. Tonight I changed the photograph, wrote the HTML and javascript, and worked out some problems with the graphics. I haven't got the individual pages done yet so.... it will be a while before this is ready to be looked at close up.

Isn't it strange how our internal alarm clocks are so often right-on? Lately I've been leaving the computer from 7 to 10 pm for my daughter to use. During those three hours I like to lay down and relax. Well, since I'm fifty now and stay up all night most of the time, this is reasonable... so I lay down at seven, fall asleep, and suddenly just before ten every evening I wake up... via internal alarm... not a physical one. I think it is just amazing. So far it has always worked just fine for me.

My Fiftieth Birthday

Well, Saturday July 13 (which has been over for 2 hours and 20 minutes now) was my fiftieth birthday. It wasn't so bad. I realized, "I'm fifty, I'm not dead." Yes, it could be worse. I think the day before was worse... I sat thinking all day that it was the last day of being in my 40's. That was just so wretched, because you can't hold onto it, can't keep it... time just slips away and there's no controlling it.

Speaking of controlling time - it is really beginning to bug me that people say "I don't have time" [to do something]. I've probably said it a thousand or more times myself... but that is so bogus. EVERYONE has time. Why don't people say "I chose to do something else with my time" instead? I'll tell you why.... it is TOO HONEST.... something like saying "your concerns are not a priority for me".

So anyhow - to celebrate my birthday - well, I didn't get the dinner out I wanted because we're low on income this month. I went to a great community picnic here in town - really wonderful to be there - and they even acknowledged my birthday as one of the musicians played the birthday song on the keyboard... really cool if you ask me. Because I couldn't take my whole family out to dinner for my birthday, I ended up going to the café by myself to re-write the outline for my novel in progress. I can spend two hours writing there for less than three dollars (I always buy coffee and garlic bread).

Anyhow, I just wanted to add something in here about how my fiftieth birthday went so now you know how old I am and when you get to fifty (if not already) you'll know it really is quite painless.

Website Success

I'm celebrating!

I logged on to my family rights website tonight and saw the counter is up to 10,000 now!

10,000 Hits!

Don't you just love it when you open your daily paper and see "news" that everyone already knows... like:



If you stayed in an air-conditioned building all day, this could be news to you. For the rest of us with real life jobs, trips to the store, and kids begging to go swimming, the heat wave was very obvious already. My landlord came over and fixed a broken fan inside our swamp cooler so we're.... cooler now. :)

I spent most of the day updating Happy Camp News. I made a new popup window to advertise the new Chamber of Commerce Website, so those of you who are using anti-popup software, just think of what you're missing! Just in case you missed it, here's the popup window -------------->

EMT Ride-Along, River Run, Fiddle Music

Wonderful news - I took my first ride-along on the Happy Camp ambulance last night. We took someone to Yreka. This is my training... I've already passed the EMT-B test but still have a lot to learn.

More wonderful news - I finished the initial phase of my writing website: http://lindajomartin.com.

Today I was at the Happy Camp River Run where 225 bikers registered over the weekend. This is about 100 more than last year and we expect the event to grow, year by year. It was a lot of fun! I worked at the registration table for four hours.

In the late afternoon Friday and Saturday, some very talented teenagers and their mom entertained the crowd... Tristan, 15, is the youngest-ever Grand National Champion... winner of the 2002 National Old Time Fiddling Contest in Weiser, Idaho. His sister, Tashina, 16, won third place. We thought it was awesome that they wanted to come to Happy Camp to play at the River Run and the bikers loved their music!

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.

Today I put a cgi guestbook on the Happy Camp News website. I am so excited about it, because this is the first time I did a cgi script and got it to work right. Before, I always used Dreambook and services like it - like the guestbook I have on this site. Well, this opens a whole new world for me. I'm going to put the same guestbook script on the Happy Camp Chamber of Commerce website!

My project-du-jour... well, before I get to that I want you to know I worked on the Chamber of Commerce site for a while today. I'm getting the community information page in order as I expect the site to launch within the next week or two at the most.

This evening I let my creativity go free... you know, I just have to spend time using my right brain... so this is what I did. It is a website for publishing my songs to the web.



The name "Lifesong Press" is one I've used for many years, for copyright of my music.

God bless and good night.

Minimalist Daughter and a Broken Window

May is nearly gone. Just tomorrow is left then May 2002 will be no more.

We've been cleaning the house today. My daughter gave me two bookcases from her bedroom and I put them here in my dining room which is really more of a computer room and study. I straightened up in here, moving books into the new bookcases, while Keith and Aaron worked in the living room, moving the furniture around and washing the walls. We are planning on washing all the carpets within the next couple of days.

My daughter has developed a need for cleanliness and lots of empty space. In the last year she has gone from having the most unbelievably cluttered room, to having the emptiest room. Very annoying, when you consider that she cannot even stand for me to store a few boxes in the top of her closet now.

Well, it finally happened. Aaron and my daughter were roughhousing in the living room and a window got cracked because of their disturbing activity. How many times have I sat here and worried about that happening? Well I guess they just wouldn't believe me so finally it happened. Now I have one more window to replace. I have two others cracked right now. I don't much care for replacing windows but it has to be done. Last time I did it myself. It takes hours.

I am getting old. I'm going to be fifty in about six weeks. I need a nap. My daughter just got home from her ballet class. In two more weeks they're having a performance for the families.

I've been a little depressed recently. I don't know why... it comes and goes. I've heard so many sad stories in email. I'm considering taking a one week 'away from email' vacation. If you don't hear from me that is probably why. It isn't just that I need to get away from email, but I need to stop reading for a while. This is not my idea - it is something I'm supposed to be doing as part of my Artists' Way group... one week of reading deprivation. Maybe my depression is related to that need. At least I've kept up with my morning pages (three pages of writing daily)... I don't always do them in the morning but I have been getting my writing done.

Things that can contribute to depression are not enough water and not enough exercise. I should be taking better care of myself, perhaps. I'd like to get back to walking every other day like Keith and I used to do together when we first moved here. After my hysterectomy last year... well - just before then and certainly afterwards, my ability to walk failed... I was so anemic from blood loss. I'm recovered from that now and feeling better than ever... except that I really need to regain my dedication to exercise.

Tonight I did a little poetic graphic:



Happy Camp was overcast with clouds tonight as I drove through town, but there was so much beauty in the dark skies above the green of the hillsides. It was an inspiring sight despite what some might see as bad weather. I enjoyed the little rainstorms we had today... well... I should say slight sprinklings, not rainstorms, really.

Socks got bitten by a big insect today. The kids said it was a monster sized insect, and that Socks ended its brief existence after being bitten by it. It left a terrible hole in him. Really scary looking. The kids are going to show me what's left of the large insect tomorrow. They claim this is about 3 inches long and they saw another big one a couple of years ago when their aunt was here.

A caseworker posted to the message board of my Fight CPS website yesterday and really irked me so I exchanged a few messages with him today. See first posting from "huskerfan"... he's the one. Or is he a she? So many insulting things were coming out of his mind, I felt that mother-bear protective instinct to rush to the defense of all hurting CPS victims out there, so he got what he got. I wonder if he'll be back after today. I really don't need my claws sharpened anymore, but if he insists, I will take the opportunity.

In contrast there's a CPS caseworker on another message board who we've known online for over a year. He has sparred with us so many times, now his philosophy is becoming more like ours by the minute. Today he posted saying all fosterers should quit, in order to reform the system by shutting it down. Awesome! I could have written that myself!

Writing for Happy Camp News

Tonight I added a couple of articles and pictures to Happy Camp News. One of the articles was about the trial of Brian and Ruth Christine. Please read it!

Teen Foster Child in SF Turned to Prostitution

I had such a quiet day today. Just what I needed. I stayed home all day except for taking my daughter to her hiphop dance class and picking her up afterward.

I spent a lot of the day researching news about child welfare. San Francisco's Examiner has a really depressing series this week about a girl who was in state custody who became a prostitute. She was living with her mom in SF when that started, and when mom found out she took her daughter to another town where they were staying temporarily in an old hotel. Child welfare workers didn't think that was good enough, so they took the girl from her mom and took her back to SF. There, the girl ran away from the fosterincarcerators and entered the prostitution world full time, at the age of 13.

She was refused re-entry into a foster custody situation after six months. Whenever the police picked her up for prostitution, nobody ever bothered to call her mother. Instead the police just dropped her back off at the dept. of human services, and she would walk in the door, out the back door, and go back to her pimp.

This is all sick enough but at age 15 she was found dead in a lake... that's why she's being written about in the paper. The paper is accusing the city and social service meddlers of being responsible for her death as much as the actual murderer, who got away with it. I agree - they made a good call on that. So anyhow, I went through a terrible depression over that this afternoon. ::sigh::

Okay... so then I had to rest in bed for a while to get over it. Now I'm up again and listening to an old Art Bell show from 1997, about Atlantis. I decided to make another graphic..... this one is called, "Something's Missing."

Keith likes this one...... he said it would make a great CD cover. My daughter prefers a different one.... strange... well, the graphic she likes (Pink World) is really too strange for me. My favorite from this week is Leaves.... I made that one into this week's desktop wallpaper, and when I get ready to put up my design website, I'll be putting my wallpaper online for free use. That's the plan.

End of EMT Class, Art, Sleep, and Plans for Tomorrow

Well. Tonight was my last EMT class and I am so happy about that. The final is in a few days. Maybe now I can start going back to that great writer's critique group I was participating in on AOL... on Tuesday nights. I feel like such a fool for admitting I still have an AOL account! ...But I love their writer's section... especially the chats which are so very helpful! Also it is where I chat in IMail with my mom, my daughter Simoné, and my son Joshua, who maintains AIM, not AOL... but still it works to keep in touch. Oh, also Garrison is there. LOL.............. an old friend I like to chat with sometimes.

Anyhow, I created more art tonight. Just something to work off some energy................

[Commenting on the art, which has been lost in the bit bucket of time]
I've had something like this in my mind for years... since I had a vision of it one night long ago. This world is different... the original version wasn't pink and didn't have green citizens. For your information... like anyone cares. Oh well.......... I care... it means something to me.

Well, upward and onward.......... it is midnight and I want my children to disappear into slumberland for the next 8 hours.......... and then I will sleep too.

I'm glad to see that Aaron has been doing some artwork tonight. I have noticed since he was very small his artwork is especially eye-catching, and I've wanted to encourage that as much as possible. I've considered enrolling him in one of the community college painting classes.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, and I know I'm supposed to be at the Chamber of Commerce meeting... they will want people there to discuss the Canoe & Kayak Family Fun Festival on the Klamath River this weekend. After tonight's EMT class I just want to take a shower and sleep. I was a victim in class tonight -- but so was everyone else. We were pretend victims for each other to practice on. I got picked up off the floor and strapped onto a backboard, had my leg put in traction, that kind of stuff. After all that, no wonder my writing is disjointed tonight...............

Enough of this... for now.

Journaling Ideas and Books

I've been keeping journals for about thirty years (on and off) and now am doing daily morning pages. My journal-life changes like the weather, so I've done a lot of different types of journaling. Today I took a day for reading about journaling (between bouts of EMT class study)... Here's part of what I came up with:

"The unexamined life is not worth living for man." - Plato, attributed to Socrates

Journaling ideas: journal in candlelight, write "unsent letters" to those who get your pen going the most, shoot a roll of film and then write captions for each of the pictures, put journal ideas in a jar and choose one each day, include sketches in your journal and journal entries in your sketchbook... (yes, I have a sketchbook too)...

Reading list for journaling:

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Dorothy Wordsworth's Illustrated Lakeland Journals

Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth - Open the Door to Self-Understanding by Writing, Reading, and Creating a Journal of Your Life, by Kathleen Adams

The New Diary by Tristine Rainer

The Journal CEO Magazine: A Personal Journaling Magazine

Shelie Bender's Keeping a Journal You Love

Also, check this out: Live Your Dream

Studying to be an EMT-B

I'm so glad it is only one more week until the EMT certification exam. The anticipation bothers me. I went to the two 8-hour observations this last week - first 8 hours observing a Yreka ambulance crew, and then 8 hours observation in the Fairchild emergency room. I learned a lot in the ER but enjoyed my day on the ambulance a lot more. The ER was boring in comparison, but they gave me lots of opportunities to do vital signs and I got much better at it.

If I pass the certification exam, I'll be an EMT-B which is the lowest EMT position (under EMT-II and Paramedic). I hope to be able to help the Happy Camp ambulance service, which won't keep me busy all the time but what would Happy Camp be without it? I'm sure everyone out here appreciates that there's an ambulance crew to help them if they get hurt or sick.

Today and last night I made a poster/graphic thing ... just to exercise my creativity. It is a response to how I feel about coming home to Happy Camp from Yreka (like I did yesterday) and also how I love this little town. I'm still working on The Artists Way... it inspires me to do things like this. When I started the 12 week course this time I expected it to help with my writing but I find myself drawn to graphics and drawing and nature sculpture.

Vehicle Extrication

This weekend I'm taking part in a Vehicle Extrication class. What's THAT? Yes, everyone is asking me. It is a class to tear apart vehicles to rescue accident victims. I'm taking an EMT-B class this semester and my instructor suggested this.

As part of this class I got to break two car windows and used the infamous "Jaws of Life" to cut a steering wheel into history.

Kids and Cats

Well...... I've been having a great week. We went to Eureka on the 23rd. My daughter's birthday was the 20th and Joshua's was on the 24th. My daughter had friends over this weekend (Sarah and M.). I'm still doing the Artist's Way morning pages every day - usually sitting out in the south meadow enjoying the sunshine. The cats play in the tall grasses nearby and Mairi, our border collie, comes close to guard me.

Today I saw Sabrina trying to quietly get some rest in a bed she made for herself in the grass, and along came Mocha and spied on her, then took a flying leap at her from a distance of about four feet. I was surprised at his pouncing skill. Sabrina let him know that his sudden appearance in her territory was unwelcome.

Watching the cats is like a microcosm of human adult life. I identify so much with my two female cats, Sabrina and Aretha. They are also the oldest cats - we brought them with us from the Bay Area. Neither of them wants much to do with the boy cats. Sabrina has mellowed very slightly in the last two years. Aretha has become more independent while Sabrina wants to spend a lot of time indoors.... sleeping.

Okay, enough cat talk. I took some great pictures of the kids on our Eureka trip. One is of my daughter playing in the fountain there. The fountain was one of my best memories of the trip, because my daughter became like a little girl again, she had so much fun playing there. Sad to say, I'm losing her to teenage years (she just turned 13 and has an attitude to match) and now am trying to relate to her in ways we are unaccustomed to.

I took a photo of Aaron a few days ago in our south meadow. Lately he has been asking me to take photo shoots of him. This time he was getting me to snap pictures as he rode his bike. At the end he put down his bike to pet the cat and I got the best picture of all.

Classes: Weather Spotting and It's Your Business

Wednesday night I went to a Weather Spotting Class and now I'm a trained weather spotter for the National Weather Service office in Medford, Oregon! About eight of us were trained and signed up for the job. It was fun and I learned a lot about summer thunder storms.

On Thurday night we had the last "It's Your Business" class ... it was a lot of fun listening to and giving presentations about what we learned and what our next steps are in forming our businesses. I've decided to start a webdesign business believe it or not. It will be Klamath Design and the website won't be up for another month but I'm already busy making websites for the Chamber of Commerce here. In exchange they gave me the software I've been needing to start this business. I'm also doing other things besides webdesign but that is what I like doing best.

Of course I'm still writing my novels and I'm also putting up an author website that will hopefully help me sell my stuff.

In other news - my daughter's birthday is tomorrow! We got her a karaoke machine and are paying for her to have a pizza party downtown with a few friends.

Working Through The Artists Way Again

I wrote a new song for the first time in years. I was so inspired... :) I've started working through The Artists Way again - its a great book for artists, by Julia Cameron. This time I'm doing it with an online group of women, mainly webdesign people.

Anyhow, part of working through the book is to write "morning pages"... three journal pages... each day. Yesterday the morning pages brought up some intense feelings I've been stuffing... having to do with pain inflicted by a family member and more pain inflicted by other family members who support the first one in her cruelty to me. I just can't take it anymore! After many years of this BS I've decided to take action... because I have no choice. They will never understand how I feel unless the same thing happens to them.

Happy Camp History Research for my Novel

When I woke up this morning ... first thing, I picked up a copy of the Siskiyou County Pioneer - the historical society's annual publication.

The one I own (the ONLY one I own) is about the history of bootlegging and prostitution in the county, the 1994 edition of the Pioneer. The reason I bought it was... because I have in mind to write a children's book about this area.. taking place in about 1920. I'm trying to get a good grasp on what the culture of that era was. Still I have so many questions. Were there telephones in Happy Camp then? If so, were they just on this side of the Klamath River or were they on the other side too? Were there any wild horses then? Were bootleggers out here very concerned about being caught? How many elementary schools were there in 1920 in this area, and where exactly were they?

Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott
Buy at Amazon

Sure, I could make up a lot of stuff and probably most people would never know the difference, but do I want to do that or do I want the absolute facts? How deeply must a historical novelist dig in order to find factual data for a good novel? Somehow, it is much easier to write a fantasy... and that's why my first novel IS a fantasy... at the time I didn't want to stop to research because I knew I was going to write that novel in a hurry. (It took 17 days to write 50,152 words, and since it is a children's novel, that's more than enough.)

Writing Down the Bones
Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg
Buy at Amazon

At night now I'm reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott... I just love that book. It is strong on both humor and good writer's information. I like it better than the book I read last month - Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, though that's one of the classics for writers.

Keith stayed up all night last night. Now he looks so tired. He says he couldn't sleep... like he really tried.

(later...) Now it is noon and he is resting. He said he planned to wake up in an hour and I told him I wouldn't wake him up. We'll see what happens.

All I've done so far this morning is write this and read my email. I have too much email coming and and must delete most of it. I just scan for information except on the lists I own, and the web design lists - I try to get as much information out of those as possible.

River Girl
by Linda Jo Martin
Buy at Amazon

Update: My novel, River Girl, was published in 2011.

St. Patrick's Day in Happy Camp, 2002

Tonight we're having a St.Patrick's Day dinner and dance here in town. The Chamber of Commerce does this every year. I'm so excited.. I'm taking my daughter and a couple of her friends. Meanwhile I'm making a new website for the Chamber of Commerce. I'm excited about that too because I just finished phase one of that project and now am ready to get feedback on the designs from the Chamber members.

Thursday night I got to meet Chris, who teaches the business class I've been taking through College of the Siskiyous. The class has been via video-conferencing... so this is the first time I've actually met her. It was fun. I'll be meeting with her later (probably online) for an individual consultation on the business plan I'm writing. After meeting her, I got more enthusiastic about searching the web for business support, and I found a lot out there! Now this has revolutionized my life. I'm planning to start a virtual assistant business and to keep writing children's novels. After the class ends, I'll be writing a business plan for a pet store business - for the rest of the family to work in. We'll see how that goes!

Okay, on to other things. I'm going to run down to the Family Resource Center to see how the St. Patrick's Day festivities are progressing.

LATER...

The dance tonight was wonderful. My daughter and her friends had a great time. There were about 30 people there. I had to get tough with some of the kids who walked through the doors without paying. It is so hard for me to be tough on anyone... but I bounced them anyway. There were a lot of little kids there, and towards the end there were lots of teenagers. My daughter got a nice pair of sunglasses for a door prize. I got a nice wooden recipe box to hang on my kitchen wall - from the silent auction.

*we should do this more often*

Riding the Stage to Yreka

We had a wonderful trip to Yreka a few days ago. My daughter wanted to ride on the Stage (our bus) with two of her friends. Aaron and I went in the car, and met up with the girls at Walmart. They had a great time shopping on their own - I was mainly there to make sure they got back on the Stage at the end of the day. It is a two hour trip down a long winding river highway, so if they were to miss the Stage there's no second chance... only one bus runs, and that's only two days per week.

On the way to Yreka Aaron and I stopped on the cliff overlooking the Tree of Heaven river access.

411 Rally Website, and Other Websites Planned

Website projects update - the 411 Rally website is as done as it is going to get for a while. It is very plain. All I plan to add to it is printable press releases, posters and flyers, yet to be written and designed. Since then I was given the graphics software I needed to do better sites, and will be using the new software to design the Happy Camp Chamber of Commerce site so it will look better than the ones I've done before, hopefully! I made two design samples for them and will be working on one or two more designs during the coming week. I just accepted another design project for the California Family Rights Association.

People here are pestering me for chocolate bars and pastries so I need to quit writing and go to the store.

Later... I'm back. I remembered one more website I'm supposed to do - for the new Klamath River Writers Club. I also offered to do free websites for each of the members that don't have one yet so we can all start offering our writing skills for sale online. After that I should put up a website for website design... maybe I can start doing this for money soon, especially now that I have the software I needed.

Daily Writing Practice Continues

I've been continuing with daily writing practice. Some days I don't get much done but other days are very productive. I've posted bits and pieces here ... I've posted four memoirs and one poem so far, and will try to remember to keep adding to the site as I write.

Classes, Webdesign, Writing, and a Truck

I have suddenly become so busy! It all started about ten days ago. My friend, Judy, mentioned she was going to a business class and was worried that there might not be enough students for the class to continue. I thought about that... and realized that I too would benefit from taking a class on small business setup and management... so I volunteered to go with her. It turned out to be a class through the college extension program. Walking into the room I met Tracey for the first time and found out we would be televised for video confrencing. I found that very shocking, but adjusted soon enough.

Tracey mentioned that she was taking an EMT class that I could still get into, though I'd missed at least one class... so I decided to sign up for that too. I don't know if I'd ever get a job with an ambulance service (okay, maybe...) but it will help a lot to have some medical knowledge in case my family or neighbors need emergency help. This class is on Tuesday nights and the other class in on Thursday nights. The EMT class has a lot of required reading. The business class has less reading but homework that is aimed at setting up a small business plan.

Besides all that, I took on two web design projects this week. I'm very excited about both - they are professional level jobs that I'll be able to use as references for other customers I may have in the future. One is for the Chamber of Commerce here in Happy Camp and the other is for the 411 "Information Day" Rally - a nationwide initiative planned by a friend in Sacramento. I have the framework for that one set up already - we're now just working on adding content. The Chamber of Commerce website will feature a page for each event and a page or link for each member business.

---

Next... I'm trying to keep up with the writing prompts in A Writers Book of Days and have a group of writers I'm doing this with - via a mailing list.

I'm coming up with some fantastic writing... in my opinion... I'm improving my skills as a writer quite a bit by doing these daily writing practice sessions. That brings me to where I am today - I just wrote a seven-page entry for writing practice and like it well enough that I'll be using it as the start for a novel about CPS. A few weeks ago I set up a mailing list for writers who want to do work on CPS related works. I'm planning to do fact-based fiction and philosophy for my first CPS related writing project.

---

We bought a used truck a few days ago. A very very used truck - I think it is a '71... but... it is a nice big 3/4 ton pickup... good for hauling and camping trips, pulling utility trailers.. things like that. Since we live so far from the stores, it really helps to have a big truck of our own. For example - recently our washing machine went out. We had to pay someone else to haul it to the nearest repairman. Another example - if we ever want to buy new furniture, we'll have to truck it in here from the nearest furniture store, which is either 70 or 100 miles away. Anyhow, the truck won't win a beauty contest but it is strong and should last a while. The man who sold it to us said it will probably still be running long after we're all gone. I agree with that... they don't make them like they used to!

My Letter to the Editor About CPS

This came as a surprise to me... I wrote a letter to the editor three days ago. It was in response to a letter from a victim of CPS in the Siskiyou Daily News. Right after her letter was printed, the editor printed a long op-ed from a friend of the victim-mother.

I was very moved by these letters, which explained that the girl has completed her entire reunification plan, but was not being given back two of her four children. So I decided to answer, but the muse didn't get here to help me out for a couple of weeks. I finally wrote my piece, which was way too long, and sent it in on Saturday night.

Right after I sent it in, I opened Friday's newspaper and saw that a program manager in the local CPS agency had written an op-ed explaining her side of the controversy. So... I thought it all very interesting... and I didn't expect my piece to be printed for another couple weeks, if at all. Well, here it is in the paper, on Tuesday, just three days after I wrote it! He put my website URL for Fight CPS And Win, and my phone number at the bottom. I've received a few calls...

Unusual Homes

I'd love to have a little house like this one: The Art of Natural Building. I've always been fascinated by unusual places, unique locations, strange buildings, and the odd, unusual, artistic ways that some people live.

More on Pinterest:

Website Work and Judy at Ferry Point

I just added a prayers page to my website. Over the years I've written many prayers, and I want to share them with others. I also posted a poem I wrote years ago to my poetry page and added some other things to my site.

Last night I worked on Happy Camp History and contacted a few out-of-towners who I thought might have local history information. I was so happy to hear back from Judy of Judy's Genealogy this morning!

Update: Since I wrote this, Judy died, and is now buried in the old cemetery at Ferry Point, on the Klamath River Highway.

New Multi-Function HP Printer Ordered

We ordered a printer! I'm so excited about it. First we ordered a Canon multi-function printer/scanner/fax/copier... but AOL told me they had to cancel the order because the manufacturer would not be able to deliver more of them... so I ordered the Hewlett-Packard multi-function printer/scanner/fax/copier instead!

I told Keith today that with this machine I could open another office support business. I probably wouldn't make enough here in Happy Camp to earn all we need to live on, but it would help. I used to have a business like that in Tulare, when Cimmie was a baby, and found several good repeat customers to keep me busy. I'm a paralegal, typist, editor, website designer... etc.. etc.. and the money I make from my writing will help too.

Speaking of writing, I'm currently 44,000 words into my second novel... that's more than half way through the first draft! Today I wrote the scene that made my protagonist into a criminal... it was quite heart-wrenching for me to do that to her. Now she's afraid, and doesn't know what to do next. Crime never pays.

Noise and Shopping

Keith is playing his guitar out here in the living room and that infernal TV keeps noise-making even though the kids have moved on to another room. ::I got up to turn it off::

I have to drive into Yreka tomorrow to do some shopping. The kids got Walmart gift-cards for Christmas from their grandfather and his wife, and they want to buy some things now, of course. My daughter wants a CD player and my son wants some kind of add-on hardware for his Nintendo.

Cat Comment

My cats, Mocha and Snookums, are friends.

I'm glad they are getting along so good with one another, especially since Socrates (Socks) has been so testy and unfriendly towards both of them lately.

Linda's Life - first posting ever (on Blogger.Com)

This is my first posting for January 2002... and the start of a new blogger.com interface for Linda's Life.

[There were earlier postings for Linda's Life on a plain HTML blog but I've lost them now.]