When Your Pet's Missing...You Can Think Of Little Else

It was a mystery.

A real head-scratcher. 

Thankfully, the mystery was solved...

Sort of.

Today, we were busy, moving things around. The front door was wide open a lot. The puppy was behind a gate to avoid him bolting, but our indoor cat. Well...no worries there. Because our indoor cat is always indoor. This thing hates being outside. We've got two cats, one a hunter who spends equal time inside and outside.

When we adopted our other cat, we just assumed he would do the same. That did not happen. We even put him in his kennel and carted him outside to see if he'd end up liking it. Turns out he stayed inside the kennel.

So, after we moved everything that needed moving, we turned around and asked, "Where's the cat?"

No clue.

We searched every inch of our house and, nothing. We thought the cat might have gotten scared or mad and just bolted out the door and into the great wide world. The only problem is, since he hates outside so much, we could not have imagined him even walking through the door.

That was around noon.

At 10:30pm tonight, the cat gingerly walked out of our master bath. We have no idea where he was. Each one of us checked that bathroom over and over again. We even opened the cabinet door to see if he had been shut in.

Point is, the cat either obviously didn't want to be found all day (he's got a very loud meow...), or he was abducted by aliens and returned hours later.

See what I mean, a mystery...a real head-scratcher. 

We're just glad he's been found.

That Time I Was An Award-Winning Photographer...

Did a little cleaning tonight and I came across three photos, three photos I took I think back in 2013. I've taken at least one picture every day since January, 2011. I chose three of those photos to enter them in our county fair photo contest.

I remember thinking I ought to send in some photos--that year I did. There was a time when I wanted to be a professional photographer. That never worked out, but I do consider myself a photographer. I had to scramble to find three pictures I felt were good enough to enter. I'm sure I've taken better pictures than these three, but I was also satisfied with the ones I submitted.

I also remember not knowing anything about how to prepare the pictures, how to showcase them. Needless to say, I did a poor job. I actually used Elmer's Glue to stick the photos to the board stock. You can even see the glue bubbles in the pictures I took of the photos.

Definitely bush league. 

So, I was kind of surprised that I even placed. After looking at the other photographs, I realized almost everyone placed, and if they didn't place, they received a "Participant" ribbon, sort of the "participation trophy" but for pictures.

Each year I've thought about entering other pictures, choosing the best ones from the previous year. But then, the deadline always passes and I forget or get busy with other projects. Of course, this year, the entire event was canceled. 

I've always thought of my photos as a hobby, a fun one, and sometimes one that generates some amazing pictures. Who knows--maybe one day I'll remember the deadline, find some good shots, property mount them on the boards, and enter them in the fair.

I could use some more participation ribbons in my life.

Time To Vote Early...For Dave And Michaelbrent At Dragon Con!

Almost seven years ago, to the day, I walked into the Salt Palace Convention Center excited and a little nervous. It was Day 1 of the very first Salt Lake Comic Con (later, Salt Lake FanX Comics Convention...). I arrived early, having picked up my "Special Guest" pass. I was a panelist and I didn't know what the crap I was doing or what was about to happen.

I ran into a friend, Blake, who was on the executive committee. It was Blake that signed me up as a panelist. While he and I chatted, a distinguished gentleman approached. I recognized him immediately.

Michaelbrent Collings.

Best-selling Horror author.

I met both Blake and Michaelbrent years earlier at a writing convention. They presented a panel on screenwriting. I attended their panel because a few years earlier, I won a screenwriting contest and my script was turned into an award-winning short film. Blake and I kept in touch.

Blake left and so Michaelbrent and I chatted. "There's an author you should meet," he said. "He's here from Boise."

"Sure," I said.

I had no idea that what came next would sort of change my life.

I met Dave Butler. He had spent the previous few years writing several books that he published himself, but you could tell he was destined for bigger and better things. Fast forward seven years and now both Michaelbrent and Dave are finalists for the Dragon Awards. According to Wikipedia (the fount of all surface knowledge...): 

The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards voted on by fandom and presented annually since 2016 by Dragon Con for excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels, movies, television, and games.Wikipedia

Both of these amazing authors are up for awards this year, Dave for Witchy Kingdom, and Michaelbrent for Scavenger Hunt. You can help them out. The rules are such--click: HERE to register. Once you register Dragon Con will e-mail you a ballot. Follow the instructions and, BOOM! You've done your part to help humanity! Is this voting as important as the votes America will cast next November?

Of course!

But seriously, the Dragon Award is a highly respected recognition of science fiction and fantasy voted by you, the readers. It's a chance for us nerds to have our voice be heard, and counted.

Seven years ago, I met two former attorneys turned writers. Now, they're being recognized for their hard work and talent. If you have a moment, vote. It's a good thing.

The Ladders Don't Necessarily Scare Me...It's The Heights

Ladders

Something about gravity and ladders that don't work well with me. Maybe it's because the only time I've ever broken a bone (knocking on wood as I type...) was when I was either a pre-teen or a new teenager, while picking cherries I was on top of a very tall ladder and it opened up sending me crashing to the ground. My arm--my right arm I believe--was broken. Since then, me and ladders have had a rocky relationship.

It's not the ladders, but the heights. I'd say I have a fear of heights, not a disabling one, but it's there. The thought of not being on the ground where--in my mind--there's security causes that wrap in my gut. I admit it. And I've lived with it for almost fifty-five years.

Then, add a ladder, which usually has an unsteady foundation anyway, and that's when things come together. This past couple of weeks, we've had painters, professional painters, paint our house. It's something we considered doing ourselves, but the thought of climbing a ladder to reach the top of our 30 or so foot tall home gives me the willies. On breaks from work I would walk past the painters and both marvel and cringe at their skill. But, they pulled it off and it looks beautiful.

We didn't have the painters do the entire house--we saved the back deck for ourselves. We thought it would be easy, and compared to the rest of the house, it was. Still, it required time and energy.

And a ladder.

I used the ladder to paint the bottom of the deck from below. I was not 30 feet up, more like 10. I can work with 10. After two coats, it turned out pretty good.

I still marvel at the pros who can scale ladders with ease and seemingly, without fear. I hope they get paid well. It's something I wouldn't do.

This Summer's Been A Season Of Firsts...In The Back Yard

I don't know what it is about this summer, but there's been several "firsts" occurring in our back yard.

The first, was the rattlesnake. 

That was big. Well, big for me, anyway. Like I blogged about when it happened, it was the first time I had seen a rattlesnake on the hill. Thankfully, it was in a protective bottle. Otherwise, I would not have gotten anywhere near it. Snakes, in general, don't freak me out too much. As a kid, I even caught a gopher snake and kept it as a kid for a month or so. I had it in a fish tank on our back porch and it escaped. Just as well. But rattlesnakes...no thank you.

The next surprise came in bird form. 

I saw a raptor hanging out on our neighbor's playhouse. I snapped a few pictures and was lucky enough to get it in-flight. I posted the picture, saying I did not know what kind of bird it was, and the consensus from more knowledgable friends identified it to be a Cooper's hawk. To my knowledge I've never seen a Cooper's hawk before. It's likely I have, but didn't know what it was.

Then came death.

The last event--and these all took place within a few days--was our hunter cat stalking and eating a baby quail. We've had the cat for more than a decade and over the years I've seen corpses of animals unfortunate enough to be slower than our cat. I've seen bits of mice, rats, squirrels, bats, even a bunny. But, I've never caught him in the act.

The wonder and danger and death happened weeks ago. Since then, it's been pretty quiet. At least, I think so. Maybe I'm just unconsciously avoiding the area. Who knows what's going to happen next?

Who Says No One's Making Anything New Anymore...?

I've blogged about Liz before. She's been my choreographer, my director, my assistant my interviewer, and my friend. Look up "creative" in the dictionary and you may see a picture of her. Today I watched a short film she wrote and produced called, Go Assistant. 

Who says no one's making anything new anymore?

You can access the film's link by clicking: HERE. It's a short film, less than eight minutes long. What is the most impressive thing to me is that the entire production was done during this unusual pandemic time we're now in. She's assembled many talented friends to make the film possible.

Liz's film is not the best film ever made--that's not the intent, but it did make me think. I thought about technology, about relationships, about priorities, about taking another look at our modern world and is it everything it promises to be.

If you've got a minute or two (or eight...), check out Go Assistant. Proof that there are people out there creating...and that's a beautiful thing.

Who Needs A Time Machine...When Google Maps Shows You How Things Used To Be?

The other day I was messing around with Google Maps and I decided to check out our street. When I clicked on the satellite photo, I saw something I hadn't seen in many years...

I saw the way my childhood home used to look.

It was like stepping back in time.

The photos taken by the Google Map vehicle of the house my dad designed and almost lived long enough to see it fully completed looks so so different.

Oh, that yard.

I was not big on yard work, even as a kid. My mom, being alone a few short years after they moved to Farmington, had to not only raise three kids by herself, she had to take care of a 1/2 acre yard that, for many years, butted up against the mountain. You ever try to weed a mountain? It ain't easy. My mom landscaped it so the yard would required a minimal amount of work to keep it respectable. 

The main thing I remember (and the first thing I saw when clicking the Street View...) were the pfitzers. Those things were an entire ecosystem--or several ecosystems--all by themselves. They were thick. We planted them to hold the hill back in the 1970s, and they did a terrific job. They were also famous for eating things...frisbees, baseballs, Hot Wheels. Like goats, the pfitzers would eat anything.

The owners who bought the house after my mom passed ripped out the pfitzers--thank goodness. They also took out the mini trees that resembled green sentinels keeping watch over the Taylor fortress.

If you drove down our dead-end street now, you'd see a whole new building on the north side. Gone are the cement steps and that driveway--talk about eating things. That driveway ate show shovels. Shoveling that driveway was more than a chore. It was a battle of man (us kids...) vs nature (snow...) vs the immovable object (that uneven driveway...). Eventually, the kids won, which meant the car made it safely up the hill, but the wars were epic.

Living across the street from the home your parents sacrificed so much to build and upkeep can be difficult...the memories, the conversations and hugs that can no longer take place. But, seeing it again, after all these years, when my mom lived there. Well, that kicks it into the bittersweet category. 

No, sometimes you don't need a time machine--just access to Google Maps when they haven't updated the picture for fifteen years or so will do.