Hello. It’s Monday calling. You might wonder why I keep track of the days of the week on the blog. It’s simple. Doing so ensures that I might actually know what day it is without having to look at a calendar.

I really don’t have much to relate. Again. It’s summer. It’s hot. We did get some rain early Sunday morning. We also had a huge branch come down in the backyard. I’m hoping the yard crew comes this week, chops it up and hauls it off. It’s that big. We don’t let LG have chainsaws. The last time necessitated a trip to the ER.

I’m catching up to my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Last week I was 12 books behind meeting my goal. This week, I’m only 7 behind. This is partially due to my marathon relisten of Jayne Castle’s Ghost Hunters/Harmony series. These books are a mix of light SciFi with paranormal. They are interesting tales with a touch of humor and lots of action and romance. It’s been four or five years since I’ve done a complete series relisten. Did I mention the dustbunnies?

It’s still hot. Not quite as hot today but due to get hotter by the end of the week. As a result, I’m not doing a whole lot of cooking that creates heat. Oh! I did do me a splurge last week. I bought a multi-funtion air fryer/toaster/broiler/oven combo. I’ve used it to air fry egg rolls and to toast toast. It works great for that. My gently used (less than a year old) toaster oven is moving to the Kids’ house. I should explain. My gas stove is 40 years old. It’s gas. It has two ovens–one smaller upper overn and one giant lower over with a broiler drawser beneath it, plus four burners. I love my gas stove. I love my double ovens. But is is 40 years old and I’ve used it hard. I’m going to have to replace it sooner than later. The thing is, most of the new overn don’t have broilers. I don’t use mine as much as I used to but I do use it. Hence, when I saw the new “critter” on the Hamilton Beach site with a 25% off sale, I ordered it.

Speaking of the branch that came down, Toby barks at it every time he goes into the back yard. He also barks at the neighborhood rooster, that lives like 8 blocks away. Except he barks inside the house. He is quick to remind us that he is a guard dog! Gruff-ruff-RUFF. But the squirrel mafia bouncing off the windows in my office? Nope. Nada. Not even an ear flick. 🙄

Writing. I’ve actually made progress. I went back to the beginning and started tightning up the timeline and adding in some of the random scenes that have accumulated. That was 13 chapters and the prologue. Today, I start a new chapter. I think I know where I’m going with it. We’ll see. Still, 🤞🏼.

That pretty much sums up my life of late. If you’re under the heat dome, stay cool. If you’ve been affected by the rains/flash floods, stay safe. If you’re looking for a book to read and you haven’t read all of mine yet, the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is still going on and my books are still 50% off. Just click the pic or use the QR code. Have a great week, all.