Corona Time

 Apparently coronavirus is a time now. 

"When are you gonna be around?"

"Probably not until tomorrow or coronavirus."

Sunset in Beaver Shores

Go For It

I haven't really had much to say lately. I did manage to get a fragmentary trilobite article out yesterday, but I wrote most of that closer to New Year's. Since then I've been focusing mostly on moving out and settling in, with a little bit of real writing thrown in here and there, but not much. 

And that's the thing. I've been writing this one book since... what? 2015? People are starting to snicker when they say, "Oh, that's right, you're working on a novel." At least, snickering is what I hear. Sure, I'm making steady progress, but it's slowwww progress. I need to try something different if I'm going to finish this before I'm seventy.

Well, here's something I've never done: the writing retreat thing. It's expensive, and the idea seems to have made some of the humans close to me and one of the cats think I don't love them, but we can sort all that when I get back. Truth is, they enjoy being outraged. I just need to lock up all my stuff so nobody pees on it.

I'm gonna spend a whole week alone in a cabin in my favorite park (although it won't be all green like in the picture). That area is what the wilderness in the first half of the book was based on so, y'know, bonus.  

The goal is to finish the draft. It won't mean the end of the job, but it'll get me to a point where my constant prodding and patching will be a good thing. I have no idea how this is going to go. I might come shuffling back with nothing but a few trail pictures and an embarrassed shrug, but at least I gave it a shot.

Echo of a Trilobite

This is one of my most prized possessions. It's not the most expensive, but that's different.

I bought this when I was desperately poor. (Again, I guess, qualifiers. I knew I was going to be able to eat. I knew that, if I couldn't support myself, I had a place to go. I'm well aware that other people have endured hardship that makes my "desperation" look like living in my own private mansion. The point, though, is that I was scared.) 

I had just gotten my tax return and, because the business in which I was a partner was constantly hemorrhaging dollars, it was pretty generous. Like a lot of people low on cash, I wanted to enjoy some of this before I squirrelled away the rest. 

This was my indulgence. This thing speaks to me. These creatures used to be everywhere. I mean, I don't even know which species this is, and the trilobites were an entire order. (If you never had to memorize the steps in that classification system, google it. The answer is readily available.) 

. . . I started this the day before the move from Cleveland kicked into rush mode. It's been a few weeks and I've kinda lost the train of thought, so I guess I'm just gonna post what I have and move on.

Office / Nerd Sanctuary

Okay, the new Robin's Nest (still not sure about that name) is done!

More pictures below:

Drill My Brain

I've been watching the Phantasm movies by way of "A Very Joe Bob Xmas" and I wandered off on a tangent from one scene:

TALL MAN: Let me free you of this imperfect flesh that binds you to time and space!

ROBIN: Okee-dokey.

TALL MAN: It's no use struggling. There is no esc-- Wait, what?

ROBIN: I'm down with what you're selling. Bring it on!

TALL MAN: Look at this freaky drill thing I'm gonna use. Doesn't that terrify you?

ROBIN: LOL. Stop teasing me. Eternity's a wastin'!

TALL MAN: I -- I think I need to go pray.

ROBIN: Hey! Where are you going? GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND DRILL MY BRAIN, MOTHERFUCKER!

Fiesta Snow

I took a peek outside with my cat and it's snowing a bit today. Speckle wasn't too happy about that. 

The funny thing is that, while the snow was blowing around, someone was blasting salsa music across the neighborhood. 

So there she is, covered in frosty confetti, looking at me like, "This is the worst Mexican restaurant ever."