Phew – NaNoWriMo is done! That's why December 1 is always something I look forward to. The daily slog of word count is over and done and I can relax a bit. But NaNoWriMo is beautifully useful for getting stuff done. This time it was roughing out the sequel to "An Amish Marriage Agreement" (due to be released Aug/Sept of 2025). The working title for this new story is "Adele's Redemption." I'll edit this manuscript and send it off to my editor, and then it's on to the next challenge ..read more

I was just about to step outside onto the back porch the other day, when a movement caught my eye. A male pheasant flew into one of the apple trees in the driveway, and sat there apparently gobbling up an apple. A partridge in a pear tree, Idaho style ..read more

We held our Thanksgiving on Wednesday, since I work on Thursdays. For the last few years, our celebration has been small, just the three of us (Don, myself, Older Daughter), though we spoke to Younger Daughter in the morning at her overseas duty station in Europe. Older Daughter and I started cooking the day before since, of course, it would be foolish to try and cram all the dishes we wanted to make into one day. For dessert, I made very easy pistachio pudding pies. These are light desserts, not too heavy after a large meal, and nice and refreshing. Graham cracker crusts: Mixing the fillin ..read more

Almost exactly seven years ago, I posted my requiem to our bread machine. We bought this bread machine back around 1998 or so, when I finally realized I don't have much by way of breadmaking skills. Don is a sandwich guy and loves bread, so if we bought all bread from the store, it would have cost a fortune. Over the subsequent years, this faithful machine made literally thousands of loaves at a cost of probably thirty cents a loaf (ingredients + electricity). Sadly after 20 years, it finally bit the dust. Fortunately, some years before that machine died, we had found an identical machine at ..read more

We missed most of the dramatic bomb cyclone + atmospheric river that blasted the west coat over the last week. These storms did a massive amount of damage over the region, including multiple feet of snow in the mountains that snarled traffic and caused horrific accidents. We can usually expect the residuals of such storms to hit our inland area within a day or two. To that end, we battened down the hatches and prepared to hunker down for the duration. The rain moved in late Friday night, after I'd gone to bed. We had hopes the newly installed roof-runoff water tank, then about one-third full ..read more

I'd almost forgotten this story until a reader's passing comment sparked the memory. Back in college (I majored in zoology), I spent the summer of 1982 working for a graduate student named Hannah Carey who was doing her Ph.D. field research on yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris). (Yes, that's 1982 me. On the right, of course.) We were stationed at the White Mountain Research Center. The home office is in Bishop, California, but we were at the Barcroft Station, located at elevation 12,500 feet. I adapted very well to high-altitude work, and spent an extraordinary summer exploring th ..read more

Older Daughter came into the living room the other day, laughing her head off. It seems she had been scrolling around the website Realtor.com and stumbled across a listing so extraordinary, she had to share it. She was right. These pix are too good not to share. (Click here to see the rest, though be aware realty listings come and go.) In the town of Ramona, California, there is a time capsule for sale. From the outside, the house looks quite "meh." Nothing notable about it, but not bad. But the inside is a whole different story. Can we say "Seventies"? It will take a special buyer to fal ..read more

I looked out the window a few days ago and saw three deer bedded down in our lower field. Here in our little valley, no one hunts (in their own backyard), so the local deer are very relaxed, even at this time of year. When I stepped out onto the deck, the deer lazily got to their feet, stretched, and looked at me. Then they all casually moved off into the woods. I like their attitude ..read more

I finished feeding the cows late one afternoon. Walking back through the barn, I almost stepped on a woolly-bear caterpillar on the concrete floor. These are the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth. I scooped it up and brought it outside. It had curled into a ball at this indignity and refused to uncurl. The reason I was interested in having it uncurl was because I wanted to see the proportion of black to red. Legend has it woolly bears can predict the winter. If their rusty band is wide, it will be a mild winter. The more black there is, the more severe the winter will be. While the ..read more

Blueberries are amazing plants. Not only do they produce an abundant harvest... ...but they put on a show as well. The leaves turn brilliant scarlet. It's like their last hurrah before they drop all their foliage and prepare for the next year. It's a win-win no matter what season ..read more