Blindsided

Anne and I took a walk in Cheesequake Park yesterday along the Blue trail. That's about 2.5 miles along various water features. We were surprised that we didn't see a single animal or bird. We arrived at a bird viewing blind by a lake and went inside to see if we could spy a fowl. We saw nothing. Anne didn't like the height of the viewing windows, so she stepped outside to get a better view. A great blue heron squawked and flew out of a tree right next to the blind and flew across the lake. I guess you could say that we were blindsided.

Okay, Writing

On the last post I said I wasn't writing, but then late at night I did write. I guess I have written something every day, except today. Today we talked to my cousin who lives in Toms River and Florida and we were considering the possibility of doing something similar, that is having a home in an adult community here and one in an adult community in Florida. Then I found out that living in an adult community wasn't the same as watching an adult movie. In the former case the word "adult" just means "old." I also felt that if this idea should leak out, our children might start commitment proceedings against us. We had been talking about buying a house in Rochester and now we are thinking about being snow birds? I think that we have abandoned that idea although my cousin thinks it is the best life possible.

I don't feel like writing every day. It's a good thing I'm not trying to make a living by being a writer. I would be very poor. It's just that I don't get inspired each and every day. Some days I think of something to write and other days I don't. Creativity can't be rushed, so I will not worry about it, at least not tonight.

I did do something useful today. I grilled some nice London broil. I used my grill light because it was very dark outside. The light worked fine and the meat came out fine. I even found my way back into the house with it. The characters in my novel aren't too helpful. They can't seem to decide what to do next. Do they expect me to decide for them? Maybe I need some new characters.

Does anyone know how to make the task bar go away in Windows 7? I have set it for "autohide," but it doesn't do it. That's probably why I can't write, because I'm distracted by the task bar.

Not Writing

I haven't written a word today toward the end of completing my "novel" by the end of November as per the nonawhona site, or whatever it is that my daughter got me sign up on. I may write something, but I have not so far and it feels liberating. I was busy though. I had to go out and get a new smoke alarm for our upstairs hall. The old one started chirping the other morning about four or five o'clock. They can never chirp during the day; always at night. Are they programed to run out of battery power only when it's dark? I got it down and figured I would change the battery. But, no, not so fast, innocent consumer. There is no battery to change. This was one of the new, "maintenance free" smoke alarms. You can't replace the battery. You must take your smoke alarm to the nearest trash can, throw it in and then go to the store and buy another. Marketing people must get a tremendous rush when they think of things like this. "Don't let him just have to buy a battery for a few bucks. Make him go out and get a whole new alarm." And you have to go out because, while you may have had the foresight to have a new battery on hand, I bet you don't have an extra smoke alarm sitting in a drawer.

So, I have not written yet. I have been smoke alarming. That's my excuse.

I went to the dermatologist this morning and try as they might, they were unable to discover any part of me that needed surgery. I have to go back in three months at which time they will scan me and try again.