Mississippi Bound - Day 3

Whenever I leave on one of these tours, friends say, "Have a good trip."  I say, "I hope not. If nothing goes wrong, I don't have anything to write about."

Today seemed like a normal day, and I wondered what I would write about. We visited Aunt Shirley who is making the staff of the nursing home miserable with her antics. .  

A nurse came to tell her they would be coming to take her to lunch. She is not supposed to go anywhere without assistance since she has seizures.  As soon as the nurse was out of the room, she got up, walked over to her walker, grabbed it and went out the door directly to the lunch room, grinning at the nurse as she passed, with me following. I was grinning, too. She is a Harms and that means stubborn resistance to any rules.  I live with Gary so I know all about that.

Later, we went for a walk through the farm fields.  The sun was shining on a warm winter day. We walked down cow lanes worn deep by a hundred years of cattle going to and from the barn.  We went into a gully and noticed the coyote tracks.  A flock of robins flew over.  It sure felt like spring was on its way. Then I took a tumble while crawling under a barbed wire fence.  No damage but later I found out I had lost my sunglasses and a pair of readers.  They are not worth going back for, I bought them at a dollar store.

Gary's niece Amanda and her husband Craig were in Dixon for a couple of days to visit Shirley. They came out to the farm to look at old family photos.  

It was simply a pleasant day and then we heard the weather forecast.  Tomorrow, starting early, there will be freezing rain,an ice storm so severe that power outages are expected.  Craig and Amanda cancelled their motel stay and headed back to Wisconsin.  

Gary said that power outages often affect this old farm house, so off we went to Sterling to get his propane tank filled so that we would have emergency heat. We can always cook on my little camping stove.Then we went to the grocery store to get what he considered needed supplies:  carrots, broccoli, chocolate chip cookies and rocky road ice cream.  He says that rocky road ice cream is perfect because it contains nuts which are good for us plus if we lose heat, we won't have to worry about the ice cream defrosting. He said we could always burn the chocolate chip cookies, then admitted he was thinking about buffalo chips. 

Gary says we could go into business thinking up rational excuses that would allow people to do whatever they wanted to do anyhow. We are both good at that.

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My latest short story is at Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com
I'll write more about that tomorrow.....if we have electricity.

Mississippi Tour Day 2 -Reagan

I'll be at the Dixon, Illinois farmhouse with Gary until Monday.  Other than visiting Aunt Shirley at a nursing home, there doesn't seem much to do in the city.  There are no good hiking trails in the winter and no malls to walk around. We wind up going to Walmart every day to walk around and around.  I would walk on the road in front of the house, but we had freezing snow last night. I don't want to break a leg on an icy road before I get a chance to reach the Gulf of Mexico.

Looking for something to do this weekend, I asked Gary about going to see President Reagan's boyhood home. I've passed by it many times during visits to Dixon but I haven't been inside yet. I assumed it was run by the National Park Service like so many Presidential homes, but when we looked into it, we found it was privately run..

My Senior Pass is good any any national park, national monument or government run Presidential home but here but at the Reagan home, we would have to pay a fee. Since neither of us were Reagan fans, Gary said we should not go.  He figures I would make some kind of obnoxious comment and get us thrown out.

Besides, if I want to go to an historical place, he told me, this weekend I was living in one.  When Reagan was in college, one of his chums was a cousin of Gary's father, so they often stopped by the farmhouse.  My, I said, looking around the parlor, Reagan was in here?  Not so.  Reagan came to the kitchen door to say hello, but was never considered important enough to go on to the fancier room.  He was just an Irish kid who got to hang out with a boy with a respectable German heritage.

I looked around the kitchen.  The chairs are really old.  So Reagan sat in one of those chairs?  Nope, said Gary.  I doubt he was ever asked to sit down.

Well, at least he stood on this very floor, I said.  No, says Gary, the linoleum is new (meaning only fifty years old).

At least while he was here, he was looking at those old cabinets and the wood stove, I said, and he allowed as that was probably true, though the paint on the cabinets was likely no more than thirty years old.

However, this makes the kitchen historic, so I took a photo.

Gary said to avoid mentioning the address or he would be over run with Reagan pilgrims.  So that ends today's history lesson.

Day 1 - Mississippi Tour

I woke this morning to frigid cold, -2 degrees F.  I didn't have time to deal with candles or cooking to warm up the house. I threw on a winter jacket, a scarf and a hat until the heat, on automatic, kicked in. I couldn't pack yesterday because of the cold.  Computers, cell phones, and cameras and their ilk should not be left out in freezing temperatures.  Neither should some kinds of food.  This meant last minute packing.

I put clothes in the plastic dressers (both cold and warm weather expected so everything from shorts to long underwear),  put the camping gear in, laid out the mattress and sleeping bags.  No problem.  But before the electronic gear could go in, I had to start the car.  In ten minutes, the car was warm, everything in, and it was time to leave home at 10:30.  Rascal pouted but he's used to it.

One stop at the library to pick up a book. One stop at the ATM to get some cash. Then the stop at the Shell station to get some cappuccino. I was pleased I bought gas yesterday for $3.16 a gallon because this morning it was $3.26.  Then I was surprised by the manager who heard I had written a book. She insisted on buying one for $8.00.

I was off.  I watched the car's exterior thermometer the whole drive. It was six degrees F. as I left Seymour.
At Beaver Dam, the temperature was ten degrees.  At Rockford, Illinois, it was 17.  The bank clock in Byron said 23 degrees.

And along with rising temperatures, there was sun all the way.  I put on my sunglasses and prepared myself for a southern trip.

Tonight I am staying with Gary at the farmhouse in Dixon, Illinois.  Lily and Mama Pajama, the two cats that spent thirteen years of their lives in a chicken coop, are now happy in the house.  As I type, Mama is purring loudly.  She is de-clawed, so we know that she started life out as a house cat.  She adapted to Gary and his indoor life immediately.  Lily, who was a kitten when she was locked in the coop, is still learning, but with a few more sardines, she should be fine.

I'll be here until Monday, then it's on to Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi.  The days will be longer the temperatures warmer.  Today it was 68 degrees in Pass Christian.

Here and there

This morning the temperature was 2 degrees F. when I woke up here in Seymour.  I looked at the weather report from Pass Christian, Mississippi and it was going to be 68 degrees.  This is why I plan winter trips.

It works the other way, too.  Seymour in July can be brutal with high temperatures and humidity.  So I am going to Ontario where the temperatures will inevitably be ten degrees lower.

Today I set the car up for the trip.  Gary thought of the system several years ago and I like it.  I have a four door station wagon.  Behind the driver's seat, I have a plastic dresser with two drawers.  When I am camping I only have to open that car door to have all my clothes accessible. Behind that there's a tub with my shoes and boots.  Underneath that tub is another with winter jackets and summer jackets, because at this time of year, I need both.  I won't know what I need until I get there.  And behind that is another set of drawers that open to the end of the car.  Those contain first aid stuff, my performance clothes and nightwear, plus a hot water bottle to fill with hot water and stuff at the foot of the sleeping bag before I turn in at night.  

Also back there is a crate that contains my cookware and some packages of hot chocolate, teas, oatmeal and dried foods I can cook with only water.

Directly behind the passenger seat are my tent and canvas chair. The rest of the right side of the car contains the inflatable sleeping mat, covered with a heavy duty sleeping bag and above that the lightweight sleeping bag.  In case of rain, I can keep them inside the car and sleep right there. If the weather looks good, I back the car into the campground site.  The tent goes up and the mattress and bags slide right into the tent.  Easy. The entire process takes about fifteen minutes.

In the passenger area I have my purse, my books, my files, my computer,anything I need to get at quickly. In the morning, there will be a little cooler there I'll fill with snacks for the trip. I like nuts, fruit, and fresh vegetables.  

I'll be out of here by ten tomorrow morning.  

Good-byes

Today, Wade and I met at Copper Rock North for the last time.  Wade is moving to Arkansas at the end of the month and I am leaving for a tour to the Gulf Coast until the first week of February.  

We've worked together for three years, writing our short stories.  Over two years ago, we started Black Coffee Fiction, our short story blog.  http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com  Its readership has grown dramatically in the past month to 600 readers a week. 

In September of last year, we self-published an e-book and followed that with a paperback, available at Amazon.com   Today, Wade gave me my second royalty check, all of $5.25, but it is a thrill to get paid for our stories. It means we are officially writers. 

So today we met for goodbyes.  Another writer, Felicia, took this photo.  I don't look happy.

I know that we will meet through Skype and that the blog will go on, but that face to face support will not be there for either of us. We must write without that wonderful encouragement we gave to each other. 

Arctic Air Cat

It's -6 degrees F, with a wind chill of -25.  It made sense to me to stay inside, but then I haven't been in charge of this house since Rascal arrived in 2001.

Poor Rascal. He stuck his nose out the door this morning and retreated in shock. Then he turned to me and yowled. This is obviously my fault.  Fix it!

I opened the drapes on the south side so that Rascal would have his living room sunbeam.  It is his sunbeam, no one else's.He sprawls on the floor and basks in its warmth. Should I walk into through the living room and get between him and the light, I am chastised with another plaintive yowl. I hurry by.  Sometimes I circle around him so as not to disturb him.

When the sunbeam quits, then he insists on lap time. This cut down on my working time, but yowls are yowls.

Then I discovered we were running out of cat food.  I had enough dry food but he expects his canned food, too.  Gary spoiled him by buying expensive brands so I am stuck now.

I roasted a couple of chicken breasts last night.  One for him, one for me.  Yesterday and today, I sliced of pieces for him, but it wasn't good enough.  He wanted his canned food and nothing else would do.  More yowls.

So with the temperature hovering at zero, I got into my car and drove to Family Dollar for Nine Lives.  But they didn't have 9 Lives Mixed Grill.  As cold as it was, I wasn't going to go to another store He will have to do with Super Supper. We'll see tomorrow. It won't be any warmer.

But I know who is in charge so if I have to, I will follow orders.

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Today, my paperback romance got final approval from Create Space.  It is already on sale there and soon will be at Amazon.com.  However, I couldn't get my own order in time for me to take copies with me down South.  I'll have them when I get back for a booksigning in February and to sell at workshops.

Cold

The weather worsens.  The highest temperature today was 15 degrees.  As I write, it has dropped to 5 degrees.  The blinds are down, the drapes pulled across the winter to hold in the heat.  I burn the candles I bought at rummage sales to give me the illusion of comfort. I didn't go anywhere today and won't tomorrow.

I had been stuffing Christmas things in Gary's office so we could organize the cubbyhole logically.  Today, with the weather getting colder and me leaving in a few days, I gave up on that idea.  That storage area is not heated, nor is it cooled in the hottest days of summer.  The only logical time to straighten it out is in the spring.  I threw everything in there willy-nilly.

The big Christmas tree is still in the dining room in two big bags.  That will wait for Gary's return. Dragging the bags upstairs is a two person job.  They are heavy and unwieldy.

I finished the novel and posted it at Create Space. I expect by tomorrow it will be reviewed and posted at Amazon.com.  I'll order a dozen or so copies and send them on to Gary in Illinois to pick up on my way south, to sell at the libraries I visit.

I realized today that I only had two cans of catfood left for his majesty Rascal.  I didn't particularly want to go out in the cold so for supper I made a chicken breast and cut part of it up for him.  That will take us until Tuesday when I have to go out anyhow to go to Copper Rock North for my last meeting with Wade.

By the time I return from the south, Wade will have moved to Arkansas. During our time as writing partners, my output has been enormous.  I hope that I can keep it up long distance.

As I finish writing, the temperature has dropped another two degrees.  Time to turn on the electric blanket to ready the bed.

Errors - Caught in Time

When General Dwight David Eisenhower wrote Crusade in Europe, his memoir about his time as Commander in Chief in WWII, he wanted it to be perfect.  Typing errors annoyed him in his own reading so he wanted to make sure there were none in his own book.  He gave the proofs of the book to his friends and asked them to read the book for mistakes.  They did so and proclaimed it a wonderful book in every way.

The book was published.  There was a typographical error on the first page.

It isn't easy to proof read. If the book is interesting, our minds don't notice errors. A fast reader tends to skip over articles like "a", "an", and "the".

I've been proof reading this book one way or another for years through many edits.  When I put it into the paper back, I thought I had caught everything.  I was wrong.  Today I found eight errors.  Most of them were minor, a missing "a" here, a paragraph indentation there.  I corrected them all.

But one was pretty noticeable and funny, too.  My heroine has "ears running down here cheek".  I put the "t" in.

I can make the corrections but I must be very, very careful to not change the top or bottom of a page because it could throw off the entire book.

It will all be finished tomorrow.  My guess is that the book can be ordered next week.  My copies will be sent ahead to Gary so I can take them with me.  And that, I hope, will be that!

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For some reason, our short story blog has taken off. For months, the most "hits" we had hovered around a hundred.  Now we have caught on.  Almost 600 readers a week are checking us out.  That is very gratifying.

Check out http://blackcoffeefiction.blogpost.com  This week's story is a sample of microfiction.  Wade wrote the story.  I have tried my hand on it, but I need more than 350 words to tell a story.

Books

We had some snow this morning, not a lot and I could have left it alone since it will probably melt tomorrow, but I was restless.  Waiting to see how things work out in so many arenas was getting on my nerves. I want some things settled before I leave.

So I grabbed a shovel and cleared the sidewalks and driveway.  I was just finishing when the mail carrier showed up and bless her heart, she had a box for me.  It was the proof copy of the novel.

I brought it inside and immediately admired it.

It's an attractive cover, but how about the interior.  First I looked at the margins.  I managed to get them right on. How about the pages?  Again, perfect.   Everything is structurally right.  Now I have to read the thing for mistakes, typos and logic.  So far, so good.  I've gone over the first three chapters.  I found one "a" was missing in a sentence and a little centering error on a paragraph.  That's not bad and if the rest of the book is like that, I won't have to make any corrections and order another proof. I'll finish the proofing tomorrow.  I'm hoping I can go ahead and place it in Amazon.com and have some copies sent to me in Dixon.  The time frame seems about right.

I first began the book in the 1980's. I typed the first two drafts on a typewriter.  The third was on a Kaypro computer, storing it on those big disks.  The fourth was on the smaller floppy disk.  The fifth and final edits were on this computer.

After all these re-writes, I confess I am thoroughly sick of this book.

I went down to the library to pick up a book and show off this one.  There I found Black Coffee Fiction sitting on a book shelf.

Readers can now check the book out.  We are listed in the library district's catalog.  Slowly, we are gaining our readership.

So I sit and re-read Yesterday's Secrets, Tomorrow's Promises one more time.  Then it's on to other things.

Waiting

These are days of waiting.

The proof copy of the novel is on the way.  It could arrive any time now.  Until it arrives, I can do nothing about publication.  I wait at the front window each day, waiting for the postal carrier.  Maybe tomorrow.  All my writing has come to a stop.

I wanted to begin packing the car today for the trip, but with frigid temperatures I couldn't do that.  It will wait for a warmer day.  I can gather the camping gear together until then.

I have to look presentable when I tell stories.  Today I tried on my costumes and washed the ones that needed it.  I went to Hair Graphics to get a haircut from Melissa.  She is a wonder at her craft.  She even trims my eyebrows!

I worked on my itinerary.
On January 29:

            1:30 p.m Performance

            Parkway Cove Assisted Living

            805 Bert Johnston Avenue

           Covington TN 38019

           901 313-8618

After the performance, drive to Grenada 2-1/2 hours

            Motel 6 Grenada, MS (if the weather is cold)

            I-55 and Exit 206 Hwy 8W

           234 Frontage Road

           Grenada, MS 38901

           662-226-1111

Motel 6's are inexpensive.  No frills but since I only need a place to sleep, that's all I need. Motel 6's have the advantage of good internet service. 

That night I could also drive to Goodman, Mississippi - 3 hours   (If the weather is warm enough)

         Holmes State Park

         5369 State Park Road

         Durant, MS 39063

         662-653-6888     (Hunting season so there will be dogs in the park.)  

This time of year, I have to have alternate plans depending on the weather. I don't mind rain, but these old bones now ache when the weather is too cold.  For each performance, each stop, there will be a map.  

And so the itinerary goes, all the way to the Gulf and back. Of course, there are always adaptations as a trip progresses.  When I traveled through the West for over a month, I only stayed where I expected to stay three nights.  

I wait, too for news from Gary.  His aunt has become unresponsive and will not live long.  

So he waits, as do I.