Sat. morning, July 28, 2007

Good morning, everyone,

Wow! What a great author's workshop in Cleveland yesterday. I met some very enthusiastic and wonderful people, inspiring authors, and established authors, at the workshop. I sure learned a lot! Every time I attend one of those, it has always been worth the time, money, and effort.

I left at 5:30 a.m. and it was raining like crazy. Almost the whole way up there it rained very hard. Nasty driving, and it was so dark! I got there about 7:30 a.m. (found a Starbucks and had delicious coffee and a coffee-cake). Also found the Joseph-Beth Booksellers book store in the Legacy Village area. Gosh, what a nice place. What a huge bookstore! The bistro on the first floor was very nice. A little pricey for a salad and iced tea, but oh, well.

I had the pleasure of meeting a lady named, Nancy. We struck up a conversation right at the beginning, and had lunch together. She may even come down to my author's workshop I am holding at the Art's Center in Carrollton on September 15th. That would be great if she could make it. She is trying to write a children's book. She works with mentally handicapped children. Her book sounds really nice. I wish her well. She was very excited about all the information and encouragement she recieved at the workshop too.

When we had our break for lunch, the sun was shining and it had warmed up considerably. The way home was something else. I turned the wrong way when I left the Legacy Village area, and went about three miles, asked directions from a lady sitting in the car next to me, turned around and went back to Legacy Village where I should have turned right instead of left. Oops! When I finally got on I271, it was bumper to bumper (5:20 p.m. traffic), for miles. It was not until I almost reached Akron, that the traffic finally started to thin out and moved along. I was so thirsty and had left my water bottle in the car. Well, warm water is better than none, so I drank most of it. Yuck. Anyway, I finally got home around 7:10 p.m. I was sure glad to be home and thankful I made the trip without incident. Gosh. I don't know how people in the big city areas drive in that traffic all the time. It has to be frustrating at times when it is so congested and heavy.
I emailed my computer guy already this morning to make some changes on my website to make it easier to navigate for those visiting.
I just love learning new things. It sure keep my brain functioning.
I'm also going to have my computer guy put some links on the website for anyone wanting information on becoming an author.
I added something to my blog earlier this morning. Comments on my blog. Love to hear from you!
Gotta go for now. The birds are singing already this morning. Oh, hubby said it rained here until almost noon. Great. That will sure help the garden! I will probably have zucchini now the size of Rhode Island.
Hubby and I are going down to Philly this morning to get electrical supplies (wiring, etc.) for the new baseboard heaters that arrived. Might make a trip to WalMart too and get a few groceries.

Take care, be blessed, and have a great weekend.
Becky :)

Thursday morning, July 26, 2007

Hi, folks,
What a great morning. The birds are singing their beautiful songs already at 5:45 a.m. So nice.
I am off to Cleveland tomorrow, near Cleveland, for a WriteStuff, writer's seminar at a very large book store. It lasts all day and should be quite interesting. I haven't been able to get to one nearby this whole year, so I am looking forward to it. I should be on the road by 5:30 a.m. and hopefully, get there by 8 a.m.! It lasts all day until 5 p.m. so I should make it back home by 7 or so. Although leaving that area around rush-hour might be a bit hairy, but oh, well. I'll take my time.

Hubby and his dad are going fishing this morning. He should be here around 7:30 a.m. I would go, but I have to much to get done around here!

We received the ten electric baseboard heaters yesterday by truck from Pa. It took the driver forever to find us. He kept turning the wrong way even though hubby was on the phone with him giving him mile-by-mile directions. And they say women can't navigate or follow directions! Ha! Not. Anyway, hubby is going to install them. He is so knowledgeable about that stuff. With the increasing cost of fuel oil, we decided to take this step to heating our home. Our furnace has never worked right a month after the warranty was up eight years ago. Every winter we have a furnace man out to fix it numerous times during the winter. It always goes down when it is really, really cold, or just whenever. What a pain. We will keep it where it is to use the air conditioning when we need it.

How do you like the music I had added to my website? Pretty cool. I am going to add more to different pages as I find songs that are fitting.

The garden is flourishing, but we do need more rain. I am amazed the cucumbers, green beans, and zucchini, are coming on rapidly. The tomatoes are ripening slowly, but those I have picked have been awesome. I planted Roma's for my father-in-law, and picked about twenty for him to take home last Sunday. Most of them were green and I suggested putting the green ones in a paper bag to ripen. It does work. Takes some time though.

I sent out fourteen of both of my books to domestic violence shelters throughout Ohio this past week. As I get some more money, I will send out more. I just want someone to read them and know they are not alone, and by reading them, they will recognized an abusive and violent situation and get out before they suffer the lasting effects of abuse and violence against them.

This is just a quick blog, as I have a lot to do today and I need to get started. I'm going to hang the bed sheets outside. Love that fresh smell!
Keep in touch. I appreciate hearing from you!
Stay safe, be blessed, and enjoy the beautiful weather.
Best regards,
Becky :)

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Good morning, folks,
This morning is bright, beautiful, and cool. Love it.

A very dear friend of mine is suffering terribly with several physical ailments. She is in her 50's. This friend, has a mitro-valve prolapse, extremely severe fibromyalgia, plus, she has recently been diagnosed with central pain syndrome. She is in constant, severe pain. The specialist she went to recently, (about 7 weeks ago), put her on a drug to help with the pain. Now she is so bad she can barely brush her teeth. It is such an effort to get through a day, or even a night. I looked up the drug she is taking on the Internet, and the side effects are unbelievable! She suffers a lot of them anyway, so is the drug causing an increase and new symptoms, or is it from her debilitating physical ailments or both? Sometimes I really wonder what the doctors are doing. Aren't we all just their guinea pigs? Do they really care? Of course when she called the specialist, (he wasn't in on a Friday), the nurse suggested she go to the hospital. Then she called her family physician shortly thereafter, and he wasn't in either. Again, the nurse suggested she go to the hospital. Well, okay. Drive all the way up there, and they more than likely would give her a strong dose of something for the pain, and say, "You really need to see your regular doctor." How frustrating! Please pray for this woman! She really needs it! She has an appt. with the specialist next Wednesday. She can't even drive, so I am going to take her up.

How come we can send men/women into outer space, that costs billions of dollars, but there isn't money for research to help people like my friend???

Yesterday I worked outside almost all day. I worked on a corner flowers/bushes area near the driveway and front walkway. I was trimming the forsythia and discovered a bird nest nestled below some overhanging branches. I left the bird nest and just trimmed around it. Not sure what bird was in it, but it thrilled me to find it. Neat. Hubby and I tilled the garden yesterday. I have a zucchini the size of Rhode Island. It wasn't that big the other day, and then the rain came! Wow! Huge! Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, and more coming on. For the first time in years, the zucchini is doing well. Hmm. Why did I plant so much?

The garden is doing well, at least my plants are. Hubby is discouraged with his corn. We have only picked about 12 ears of corn so far, and there is hardly any left to pick for supper tonight. That should be the end of the first planting. Not enough rain. The second planting, "candy corn" is doing well though. It is the best and most delicious corn. We should get a good crop of it. The third planting is well on its way too. He hilled-up the third corn yesterday so it doesn't blow over in a wind storm. (hopefully, anyway.) He dug down into the potatoes and brought out a nice size one. He was surprised at this because of the lack of rain for the last two months. Now we have to keep a constant eye on the dogs, as they love potatoes. Especially Woodrow, he will sneak out to the garden and dig up his own! Stinker!

I am getting a kick out of the battle between my husband and the squirrels that keep invading the bird feeders. He has now put a piece of metal, about two feet long, around the pole that holds the feeders high off the ground. Has this stopped the squirrels from climbing the pole? No!
They are still getting on the feeders. He is getting frustrated. Soon he will probably have the metal all the way up and down the pole. We'll see how that works!

I am going to donate both of my books to various domestic violence shelters across Ohio. I have talked to ten so far that are willing to accept them.

I signed up for a Writer's workshop in Cleveland. I will attend this next Friday, July 27th. It sound really good. I will have to leave around 5:30 in the morning to make it there in time because it starts at 8 a.m. It lasts until 5:30 p.m. Plus, I am going to enter a poetry contest with a couple of my poems.

Until next time, have a great week, stay safe, be blessed, and learn all you can about domestic violence and abuse. It could save a life! Every life is precious. Again, please pray for my friend.

Best regards,
Becky

July 18, 2007 - A busy two weeks!

Hi, Folks,
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. It has been really busy here with lots of company from out of state, reunion, holiday, garden, (green beans galore), work, elderly neighbors, CCAPL, and just keeping up with stuff.

Something strange really happened yesterday. After hubby let the dogs loose for their exercise, he saw a little groundhog up in the Maple tree! Goodness. In all my years, I have never seen a groundhog up a tree before! So we had to tie up the dogs again, then try to get the little fellow down out of the tree and send him packing to the field next door out of dog-range. Well, things don't always work out as planned. He dropped out of the tree (hubby had a 5-gal. bucket to catch him), but he scurried away and ended up underneath our back porch. We let the dogs loose again, and hubby discovered the groundhog made his way over to the side porch by the garage! Uh-oh. I put Lucy in the garage, and we put a lease on Clara, and I held onto Woodrow. Mandy was on the back porch. While I watched, he got the little fellow off of the porch and he made a bee-line into the flower bed that has a stone planter around the house. We waited and watched the dogs and would not let them venture out front in case "Chuck" was making his escape via the front yard!

He must have left the area, as we did not see him tonight at all. I am glad. They can be a nuisance to farmers, but I kinda like the little guys. Just so Clara and Lucy don't see one, they are safe. But then, living in the country, things happen.

We sure need some rain. It was suppose to storm last night but it didn't do hardly anything. We are supposed to get more tonight and tomorrow.
Hubby and I took a chance and went fishing this morning. We caught lots of fish, but nothing to keep for supper!

Another strange thing we saw the other day. There was the most beautiful goldfinch in the back yard. It was extremely plump, but also seemed to have a problem closing its beak. It did eat at the feeder on the ground, and did fly to the birdbath and got a drink. Yet, while it was on the ground below the feeder, it seemed so preoccupied, we were able to get right up close to it. At one time, it did manage to get on the post of the finch feeder, but it did not stay long. I haven't seen it now for two days. I was going to try and net it, to see if it had something stuck in its throat, but it has not been around. Sometimes nature plays tricks, and it could have had a genetic defect. Not sure.

The other day a little wren landed on the back porch. It looked similar to the house wrens we have, but it was different. I looked it up, and it was a Carolina wren. Really cute!

My elderly neighbor has two cataracts, plus macular degeneration in one eye. The doctor is going to remove one of the cataracts at the end of this month. He gave her vitamins to help the macular degeneration from progressing. That is cool.

Hubby is done with his class for his Masters for this summer. He got an "A" and I am so proud of him! He is so smart!

We are having our first corn tonight for supper! Yum, Yum! It is about three weeks overdue!

With the price of fuel and heating oil, we are going to put in electric (energy-saving) baseboard heaters very soon. Hubby ordered them the other day. Fuel oil is out of sight, along with gasoline!

Be sure and check out new additions to websites I am having my computer guy add soon.

I also have been calling different domestic violence shelters in Ohio. I am asking them if I can send them my books to help someone going through the abuse and violence, and hopefully get out before they die, and get a better life for themselves and their children.

It can be done. It just takes a lot of strength, will power, belief in yourself, and courage.

Gotta get supper started, and lots to do tonight.
Stay safe, be good to yourself, and remember--- No one deserve to be abused or have violence against them! You deserve the best as do your children.

Take care, and keep in touch.
Best regards,
Becky :)

Sat. morning, July 7, 2007

Hello everyone,
Wow. What a glorious morning it is this morning. The sun is shining brightly and the fog has lifted.
We received some much-needed rain this week, and the garden plants are not wilting. Hubby's corn has shot up about a foot. The ears are forming and it will be a matter of a short time before we can enjoy the bounty! (hopefully it will rain some more to fill out the ears.)

Miss Clara-Bell (our Lab), got in trouble this past week. She and her sidekick, Lucy, the new beagle, took off towards the woods the other day, and Clara nailed a young groundhog. Hubby went after them, and while I was screaming for them to come back, I saw and heard Lucy yelp and jump in the air, and then she came running back. The little groundhog nailed her on the lip. Well, serves her right. When hubby reached the little groundhog, it had made its way down into the thick bushes, and he said it was injured in its back. He came back to the house and got the rifle to put it out of its misery, but when he returned to where it was, it was gone. Bummer.
Then two days later, Clara and Lucy took off again. This time, it was a bigger groundhog and as we were running after them, shouting, they came back, but Clara had blood all down the front of her. I took (dragged) her over to the water bucket and washed off the blood. It wasn't her blood as I could not find any wounds at all.
Hubby went searching for the groundhog but could not find it. Bummer again.
Yesterday, Lucy went into the field, and pretty soon she came back dragging something with her. It was a carcass of a very large groundhog, and there wasn't much left of it. The buzzards must have been at it. Sheesh. Dogs. They do these things when you live in the country, but good grief, it was awful.

I think I have pretty much recovered from the preparations, and the relatives/company this past 4th of July day. I made lots of food that morning. Up at 4 a.m. I had the potatoe salad started at 6 a. m and finished and in the frig by 8 a.m. Company came around 1:30 p.m. and stayed until 10 p.m. Whew. I was beat. We had to enlarge the dining room table, and set up another table and eat indoors. Around 5 p.m. there was tornato watches all over the state, and the basement was closer to the dining room than the garage, so we opted to eat inside. Earlier in the afternoon, the sliding screen door on the back patio broke. One of the rollers fell off. Hmm. Hubby tried and tried to fix it, but it would not open very well. We got by, and took turns lifting it up so company could go back and forth from the dining room to the patio/porch. I got a roller on Thursday and hubby fixed it. It is working okay for now.

According to the newspapers, the actions of Bobby Cutts, Jr. and his accomplish, Miesha, are headed for the Grand Jury.

It is possible more company is coming tomorrow, Sunday. Haven't heard yet, but we will see. Not sure what to fix in the way of food for this visit.

We have a big family reunion next Saturday. We will have relatives staying with us from Georgia. They will arrive on Friday the 13th. and stay the weekend with us. There should be about 40 people including the little kids. It is over at husband's cousins. They aren't too far from us at a campgrounds.

Lots to do outside today. I have to get some work done on the pond and my flower beds, etc.
I am still working at the office, and trying to get some gals in for the W.I.S.H. sessions. Hopefully Monday some will be able to make it and possibly Thursday evening as well.

Take care, be safe, and tell others about my website so they can get the help they need.
Best regards,
Becky :)

Sunday July 1, 2007-The Jessie Davis/Chloe murder

Hello,
So very, very sad. A wonderful young life, Jessie, and her unborn child, Chloe, wiped out, just like that.

Did Bobbie Cutts, Jr. "just lose it" as so many abusive and angry men claim? No, they don't "Just lose it." They absolutely know what they are doing because they feel totally justified in their actions. They blame everyone else for what happens to them, except owning up to their own faults and abusive nature, and it all revolves around them and their feelings and the heck with what anyone else feels.

When dealing with a person who seems so wonderful, cheerful, fun-loving, charismatic, funny, etc, etc., on the outside, do we really know what they are like behind closed doors? No. Not unless we were there.

Do we really know what goes on in the minds of angry and controlling men? No. Not unless we were there living with him, having a relationship with him, and possibly cohabitation with him. I do believe his first wife came forth and told it like it was, behind their closed doors.

As a victim and now a survivor of domestic violence and abuse from a former marriage partner, I could tell from the beginning, just by looking at Bobby Cutts, Jr.'s face, body language, and demeanor that he is and has been a very angry, cocky, coercive and controlling individual for a long time.
It is all about him---his wants, his needs, his life! He knew what he was doing the whole time. He did not lose control, he was in control the whole time, feeling justified in his actions. It is all about "power and control---his power over women and his control of their lives regardless of how they felt---their lives revolved around him.

He put on the façade for the world outside, just like my ex-husband did, as do many other abusive, violent and controlling men in this world. But but behind closed doors, there was and still is an angry and controlling person. I'm sure it will be revealed down the road in time.

That is all for today, folks.
Stay safe, get educated about domestic violence and abuse. Don't close the door on the information that is out there and on this website. Deal with it! Please learn what signs to look for. Think with your mind and not your heart so that you do not get coerced into a relationship that could escalate into your death!

Becky Conrad