It's waaay too early to plant much outdoors – we're still seeing the occasional below-freezing temp in the early morning – but it's not too early to plant indoors. Most things I plan to direct-seed in the garden when the weather warms up, but I wanted to get a jump-start on tomatoes, basil, and cayenne peppers. I set up a card table in front of our western window to supply light. I also put the trays outside in the sunshine when temperatures permit. Here are cayenne seeds from our last garden. They always take a long time to germinate, but grow very vigorously once they do. I'm trying a new ..read more

As a writer, I've been keeping an eye on AI writing programs such as Chat GTP. So far, I'm not overly worried. Most AI-written pieces are a lot of blah-blah nothing, but of course the technology is still in its infancy. Interestingly, Older Daughter is in more of a position to observe AI usage than I am. She volunteers in screening applicants for a live-action roleplay game, and per the rules she must refuse any AI-written applications. As a result, she sees TONS of AI stuff, and has learned instantly to identify the fake from the real, even if the fake has been run through a "humanizer." One ..read more

Robins have always been one of my favorite birds. There's just something about their cheery appearance and perky personality that I like. So when a pair of robins decided to build a nest in the rafters of our barn, who was I to object? The barn door is almost always open, so there's no issue with the parent birds coming and going. In many ways, this is an ideal spot for the robins to nest. There's far less chance the nest will be raided by magpies, one of the top predators of baby robins in this area. Plus, there's utter protection from rain and snow. What's not to love? I climbed into ..read more

After we purchased Maggie, the little heifer who will become the start of our dairy animals, we knew we needed to purchase another cow to keep her company. We came across an Angus cow/calf pair for sale. Meet Filet: This will be our first time owning an Angus. She's not halter broken (a former range cow), but the sellers have managed to tame her down quite a bit and she's friendly enough. Polled, too! Filet comes with a very young polled heifer calf, also pure Angus. We haven't really chosen a name for the calf yet, but somehow I suspect she'll end up being called Mignon. (Filet and Mignon ..read more

Woot! I just crossed the 50,000-word finish line for the NaNoWriMo project I started a month ago! As always, the website provides festive congratulations. Finishing NaNoWriMo is a relief in two ways. One, it frees up a block of time each day for other writing projects, of which I have several stacked up. And two, the completed NaNoWriMo manuscript will, hopefully, become the basis for a future book with Harlequin. I'm still waiting on a new multi-book contract – I've already submitted the proposal (synopsis + three chapters) for this story – and I'm confident a contract will be pending sh ..read more

Back at Christmas time, if you recall, Older Daughter surprised us with a culinary treat correlating with George C. Scott's "A Christmas Carol." (See this post to see what I'm talking about.) As part of that fun gift to us, she included some chocolate coins ("half a crown") to represent the pay Scrooge gave the boy at the end of the story for fetching the poulterer on the next street over. There were about six coins left over, and for the longest time these chocolate coins were simply stacked on top a little shelving unit in the kitchen. Every so often a coin would disappear, but I didn't th ..read more

I guess today is Earth Day, right? Yawn. Most Earth Day celebrations are empty bits of nonsense. However Don and I did something fairly extraordinary today, something I suppose could be attributed to our desire for clean food and self sufficiency. We bought a heifer. Dear readers, meet Maggie. With all the crazy stuff going on in the world, it's been on our minds to get cows sooner rather than later. Then yesterday morning just before church, Don got an email from an acquaintance who told us this family had a little Jersey heifer for sale, and were we interested? You bet! We called the seller ..read more

Our strawberries are starting to bloom. We don't expect ripe fruit for a while yet, but it's yet another sure sign of spring. At her European duty station, Younger Daughter has a balcony off her apartment where she keeps a few potted strawberry plants. Interestingly, though, many of the flowers aren't white. Some are light pink. Some are dark pink. Some are dark red. And yes, some are white. They're all strawberries – she regularly gets fruit – but I have no idea why the blossoms vary in color to such a degree. Does anyone know ..read more

Tiny homes are all the rage lately. We know a business in which building tiny homes is a brand-new side project. This is the company's first completed project, custom-tailored to one customer's specific requirements: The business was having an open house before the customer took possession (hence the paper taped to the floor), so I took advantage of a tour. I'd never been in a tiny home before, and was surprised to see how spacious it was. Per the customer's instructions, it didn't have a kitchen range, but it did have a full refrigerator (with the blue protective film still on it). (That's m ..read more

Despite being in the middle of a chilly spell (windy, scattered rain, high of 50F), spring is indisputably here. One of the surest signs is the blossoming of the arrow-leaf balsamroot. These large, showy blooms prefer shallow soil and sunny south-facing slopes. During this time of year, they positively carpet meadows and light up distant hillsides with color. Another sign is deer. They're everywhere. I mean, deer are always "everywhere" here, but this time of year they're more "everywhere" than usual, if you know what I mean. No fawns yet, though. It's too early for that. the oak ..read more